A Sense of History: Straight Road
The next in a series of articles about ships passing to and from the West, Simon uses "The Fall of Númenor" to attempt to arrive at Tolkien's reading of the exordium to "Beowulf."
The White Tree
Prompt: Sap
Isildur, Elendil, Anarion
In Armenelos, the fire crackles. On its pyre, the White Tree begins to smoulder. The remaining sap, sizzling in the heat, evaporates, the flames catch and, as foretold, the blaze heralds the end of a line of Kings.
In Romenna, Isildur lies in a high fever. Elendil sits at his bedside, wringing out cloths in cold water, attempting to cool his son’s burning brow, while Anarion swears the physician to silence on the nature of his brother’s wounds.
Well hidden, the fruit that Isildur stole merely awaits the right time for the White Tree to grow and bloom again, elsewhere.