Back to Middle-earth Month 2010 Stories by Dawn Felagund

One Thousand Times*

Maedhros in Angband. A drabble. Warning for implication of torture and death.

Challenge: Show us a character having or coming to terms in the aftermath of a near-death experience.

One thousand times I died.

One thousand times I was

starved
beaten
burned
bled
frozen and

forgotten

One thousand times torment nearly became death much as exhaustion will soften into sleep. I ceased feeling the rocks my wounds the hunger the terror of dying.

One thousand times Námo stood before me. Hand outstretched. Like a pillar. Face emptied of emotion. One thousand times I extended my arm to grasp his hand. One thousand times my fingers slipped from his lineless palm and banged against the rock.

One thousand times I awoke.

One thousand times I died again. One more time.