History, Snatched from the Jaws of Defeat by Himring

History, Snatched from the Jaws of Defeat

He picked up the book, found the stack was now too awkward to carry, ripped down the curtain and improvised a kind of sling.

The din of battle, not far off--and flames in the night sky, perhaps even closer.

Oh, Gondolin, Gondolin!

'What are you doing?' shouted Galdor, seeing him come stumbling along the street, weeping. 'You need to be unencumbered to fight, Pengolodh!'

'Hush, Galdor', said Glorfindel. 'Pengolodh, stay at my back. But if it's a question of the books or your life, drop the books.'

Pengolodh nodded mutely, clutching them even more tightly.

Gondolin's story would live.

Chapter End Notes

Copy of original end note (from back in  2016):

Pengolodh carrying books of history--some written by others, some his own--on the flight from Gondolin is canonical, according to Tolkien's essay "Quendi and Eldar".

I learned this from Dawn Felagund's bio of Pengolodh--and the recent Tolkien Weekly prompt "S/he picked up the book" reminded me of this.

[100 words in MS Word and on AO3]