Isildur

his face. A tall thin figure stepped out onto the rough pavement and they could see it clearly at last.

'Malithor!' cried Isildur.

'We meet again, Isildur Elendilspawn,' sneered the Black Numenorean. 'As you see, all your plans have come to naught in the end.'

'We have destroyed the fleet of Umbar, retaken Minas Ithil, and defeated the army of Mordor,' said Isildur. 'Is this what you call naught, Mouth of Sauron?'

The thin lips pressed even tighter. 'Your petty victories are meaningless while Sauron rules the Flame. These crimes against His Lordship shall be punished many times over. Though you shall all die here, your people will soon find He is not a forgiving Master. Your insolent pride shall be cut from the flesh of your families and subjects until no trace of it remains. They will come to curse your names.'

'You shall have to slay us first,' growled Isildur.

Malithor actually laughed. 'You cannot still hope to prevail, you fools. Do you not see where you are? You are come to the Flame of Udun. Here is the seat of His power. Here He is supreme. If you have come here to attack Sauron, you are even greater fools than I thought.'

'Fools we may be,' said Gil-galad, 'but we are not fools enough to heed your words. Stand aside, traitor. Our quarrel is with your master, not with his slaves.'

'I am no slave, you meddling Elf. I am Malithor, of the house of Ar-Pharazon the Golden. I am Sauron's spokesman when he deigns to treat with fools such as yourselves. I am his treasured colleague, and it was through my efforts that your every move was thwarted.'

'Why does a Man of Numenor,' asked Elendil, 'stoop to aid a thing of evil like Sauron? And against your own people. We are cousins, after all.'

Malithor wheeled furiously on Elendil. 'Because you and your family caused the eclipse of the glory that was Numenor, you arrogant traitor! You Elf-lovers were ever in league with the Valar who destroyed our homeland. And now you think to set yourselves up as overlords in Middle-earth. We shall drive you and your meddling Elvish friends back into the sea. Middle-earth has belonged to the Men of Umbar for these long ages, and when Sauron has destroyed you all, I shall be Emperor of Umbar and lord of all the lands you now think to rule.'

'You blind fool!' cried Elendil. 'It was your master with his treacherous lies who brought about the downfall of Numenor. He pretended to advise King Pharazon, but in the end he destroyed him and his whole kingdom. The Valar destroyed our island of Elenna only because Pharazon violated their Ban. Sauron knew what would happen. He well knew that Men could not become immortal merely by sailing to Valinor. He used Pharazon's pride to destroy the kingdom that had humbled him. He betrayed the king, and he will betray you as well. You will never be an emperor, Mouth of Sauron — you will be his lackey!'

'Enough!' came a voice like thunder from deep within the tunnel. All fell back before it. Even Malithor cowered before the hatred in that voice.

Then a second shape emerged from the glare, taller and broader and blacker. It stepped forward, but it was so wreathed in its own Shadow that they could not see it clearly. It seemed to be generally man-like in shape, but much larger, and it had great vast wings that loomed above it, so that it towered even taller. The head might have been that of a vulture, save that it was scaled like some hideous viper. The eyes glowed a baleful red from a flat reptilian face. It loomed over Gil-galad like a cobra over a mouse.

'Gil-galad,' hissed that terrible voice. 'You have come at last. For two ages of the world have we contended with each other. Too long have you meddled in my affairs, Ereinion. But now you are finished.'

'It is you that has met your doom, Spawn of Melkor,' replied Gil-galad. 'Your allies are destroyed, your hordes are in flight. You have managed to creep back up here to your hole, but you will never go down the mountain again. You are trapped.'

'You think you have me trapped?' sneered Sauron. 'Do you think we are all here by accident? I planned this meeting a thousand years ago, and now my efforts have borne sweet fruit. Don't you see, old fool? You were brought here, every one of you, by me.' He raised his hand, and on it they could see a plain golden band.

'Behold the One,' he said. 'It was forged here in the Sammath Naur, for one purpose only — to bring all the Great Rings to me here. This it has now done. Now all my plans and labors of a thousand years are complete. I already hold the Nine and all of the Seven that survived. And now I have the Three. Once I slay you three Elves, I will take your rings and meld them together with the One. All the might of all the Great Rings of Power will be mine alone, and none shall ever dare to threaten me again.'

'But first you must slay us, Unclean One,' said Gil-galad. 'And before you can do that you must first taste this!' And he stepped forward with his spear held before him, and its point gleamed white and pure, like moonlight on new-fallen snow. 'Behold Aeglos Snowpoint, that was forged to be your doom.'

'And this,' said Elendil, stepping up beside his friend. He held up his sword, and red flame ran along its edge. 'This is Narsil, and it is thirsty for your blood.'

Sauron gave a harsh croaking laugh. 'Do you think that I, who made the One and who bear it now, who can raise up mountains and cause the seas to boil — do you think I fear such puny weapons as these? Behold now the inconceivable power of Udun!' And he raised up his arms like the wings of some terrible bird of prey. The flame shone in his eyes.

'Behold, despair, and die!'

Isildur saw his father suddenly rush forward, sweeping Narsil above his head, then there was a blinding flash and a clap of thunder like the end of the world. He had a quick glimpse of his father rising into the air. Then he felt himself being lifted and thrown backwards. His limbs flailed helplessly. Then he was smashed down on the ground and his world went black.

* * *

Elendil was closest to Sauron when the blast came. He took the force of it full in his face, and he was crushed by it. His body was lifted into the air and thrown backwards like a discarded doll, every limb twisted and broken. Narsil flew spinning from his lifeless hands, and his body landed on it with such force that the tempered steel blade snapped beneath him.

The Ringbearers Cirdan and Elrond were further away, but they were knocked over backwards and tumbled along the ground by the force of the blast. Though burned and bruised, they were not seriously injured. But some sorcery of the One Ring seized on them and left them powerless. Their bodies would not respond. A great weight held them motionless. Strive as they might, they could only lie and watch in horror as Sauron slowly emerged from the tunnel. Massive and dark he was, with great long arms and thick legs like the trunks of old trees. Great leathery wings rose above his shoulders like those of some immense bat. His face was flat and scaled, with glowing red eyes that gloated now in triumph.

Gil-galad had been a few paces behind Elendil, but he too was flung high in the air and smashed brutally down on the lava. He lay stunned but conscious. He could feel the stabs of many broken bones and his breath gurgled deep in his chest. One leg lay twisted at an impossible angle, and he could taste blood rising in his throat. He knew he was mortally wounded, but he found Aeglos somehow still clutched in his hands. Then he looked up and saw Sauron stooping over him. That hideous face came down to his. He could smell sulphur and decay. The cold red eyes burned down at him in triumph. The lips curled back, showing long curving yellow teeth.

'You ignorant fool!' hissed Sauron. 'Did you really think you could contend with me? I am one of the Ainur, older than the world. My kind made this world, and we made your kind as well. We made you, and we can unmake you. You have no concept of the power I wield. The One is master to the Three, you see, even as I am master to you. While you wear them it can hold you as helpless as a fly in a web. I can slay you all as easily as I would step on an insect.' The horrible face cracked in a crooked smile. 'So here ends the great Ereinion the Gil- galad — not nobly, marching bravely forward against a foe, but lying helpless on his back like a grovelling dog. Long have you been an annoyance to me. Though you die here now, know also that after your deaths, all that you have worked and fought for will be destroyed. Now the Three are mine, and soon all the world will be mine. I will rule in Gondor, and Lindon, and in the Golden Wood as well. Farewell, old fool. But before I kill you I want you to watch how easily I take your beloved Vilya from you, and know that its power is mine forever.'

He reached down toward Gil-galad's hands, but then the glow of self-satisfied triumph disappeared from his face. A flicker of doubt came to his eyes. 'What? He does not have it? Then where…' But before he could straighten up, Gil-galad with the last of his strength thrust upward with Aeglos, driving the shining steel through Sauron's body. The spear point tore from his back and the shaft burst into flame. Gil-galad fell back dead.

With a piercing scream of pain and rage that echoed across all of Gorgoroth, Sauron rose to his full height,