Ja-zel gave a low, involuntary growl. A growl that was echoed by Erestor, as he responded to his mate's distress. For a few moments, all others seated at the council were forgotten, as Lyon and Lyoness locked gazes in silent communication.
{ Beloved, it pains me to see you continue, when the telling is causing you so much pain. } He sent.
{ But I must continue, my mate. Yet I would have your essense anchor me, as I go on. }
Immediately, she felt the tendrils of his love pulsing through their mental link. Until they wrapped around her own heart, holding it safely within a golden net. Strengthened anew by his support, Ja-zel's attention returned to her awaiting audience.
" It began with an attack upon the Ral-Kir tribe." She said, her eyes taking on a faraway look.
" Before the breaking of the dawn, they struck. And unlike the other foul creatures our tribes had already encountered, these did not withdraw when the bright sun chased away the shadows of night. No. They remained and killed nearly every man, woman and child before, as one, their great heads lifted towards the Northeast and as if obeying some silent command, they departed.
This is what the few survivors told the elders of my tribe, the Jal-Pur, when they managed to reach us, after a grueling trek through the desert. Putting our exhausted brethren upon the backs of our Ka-mels, we then set out for the grounds of the Teh-Ran tribe. And from there, we all went on to the great Oasis at the very heart of Harad, where the Ber-Ber roamed.
We held our grief until we were all gathered at the great Oasis. But that night, beneath the full moon, our men cried grim tears as we women rent the very air with our ululating cries. All through the night, did our outpour of pain go on. Until the rising of the fierce sun scorched away our tears, replacing them with incandescent fury.
The Be-D'uin would cry no more.
Thus did the war for our home begin in earnest. During the course of the next year we would learn, to our horror, that the formidable new beasts we faced had been fashioned out of the darkest magic. A fusion of the predatory wolfs that were known to roam the forests of the western lands and of our own, equally fearsome Hyenas, for that had been the purpose behind their initial capture. Wargs. That was the name given to them in the guttural tongue spoken by the other minions of the dark God, who sought to conquer all the lands. Wargs..."
As Ja-zel paused, a sympathetic murmur arose from the gathered elves at the council, though it was Aragorn who spoke.
" Aye, lady. Long have these creatures been a blight upon Arda. And many, both eldar and edain, have fallen to their kind."
A bitter smile marred the features of the Lyoness as she nodded. "And Be-D'uin. For in the span of that year-long battle, they all but decimated my people."
There was a moment of utter silence, as all were briefly lost to their own painful memories of lost ones. But then Ja-zel shook her head and in a clear voice, took up her narrative once more.
" Their attacks were nearly relentless, yet erratic, and seemed designed to keep us always on the edge. Sometimes, they would simply stage a short raid upon our livestock. Other times they came head-on, fighting furiously, only to inexplicably withdraw. In the dead of night. At the breaking of the dawn. During the hottest part of the day. We never knew when the next strike would come. And as more and more of our people fell to their evil toying, it became harder to keep ourselves at constant battle-readiness.
But we were not the only ones suffering such ravaging. As we continued to lose ground, we came across whole herds of wild animals, all slain and just left to rot. Such senseless slaughter made it brutally clear to us that we were dealing with an enemy bent solely on total anihilation. It was then that all hope of reclaiming our desert home finally left the heart of the Be-D'uin. Our forced retreat became a concerted exodus and we began to move downwards, towards the shores of the Southern Sea.
Escape. That was our sole purpose now. Yet even that seemed but a foolish quest, for what would we do, once we reached the land's end? Though we knew from the lore passed down from our Haradrim ancestors that another vast land lay across the Southern Sea, how would we manage to stave off the wargs long enough to build the barges needed for such a crossing? Yet to remain was to die. And so we continued our retreat, until the air became tinged with the scent of salt, and we heard the cries of the seagulls.
It was then that something wondrous happened. The wargs, who had deviled us every step of the way, suddently disappeared from sight. One day passed, then another, and another...and yet another. Our people wasted no time of this precious reprieve. Though greatly diminished in number, we set about splitting into separate task forces, plying ax and hand-saw to the rugged trees that grew near the shore.
It was during the scalding afternoon of the sixth day that one of our sentries spotted the figures off in the distance. Their forms distorted by the heat waves rising from the ground, as they made their way directly towards us.
They were three..."
TBC...