Drabbles: The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales by Zdenka

The Last Work

Celebrimbor speaks to Annatar. (Warning for non-graphic torture.)

What wonders we created together, Annatar, once friend. You gave me many gifts. That at least was not a lie. Now it is you who craft, and I who am crafted upon. You are meticulous as always, drawing pain from this body as you would draw out metal into wire.

You think yourself victor. Though my hands are bound, I still have a part in this work. We will create only death between us. You will not gain what you seek, for all your striving; and this endurance, though none shall see it, is the last work of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain.