As Caledorn ran, he could hear Flicker's battle cry echoing in his mind. Like the fleeting call of a shore bird departing for Valinor in the West, his voice would never again be heard in this world. But the memory of it was etched into the elf's heart and mind like a carving into wood. The suddenness of the ranger's death had affected him more than anything had in many years... For the first time since he was a young elf, he felt helpless. His pale hands trembled as he tightly grasped his daggers, but despite that he attempted to keep a confident demeanor as he led Gelon's family to safety across the rooftops.

The flames, the cries of despair... They all reminded him of a time long past. In the billowing, dark smoke he thought he could make out the shape of a small girl, helpless and alone as the fires consumed the city. Caledorn felt that the girl was familiar somehow... The way she looked at him, the way she beckoned him into the flames...

But as suddenly as she had appeared, the mantle of smoke transformed and she had disappeared. Caledorn's eyes widened, and he struggled to catch his fleeting breath. Am I going mad? He thought as he gazed once more into the flames. Nothing.

Gelon seemed to notice the warrior's distraught countenance, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "What is wrong, mellon? Are we trapped?"

Caledorn shook off the elf's hand slightly more roughly than he had intended to. "No. It is nothing, continue on."

Even as he spoke the smoke once again revealed a figure... This one tall and fair. This time, he recognized it immediately.

The sight of her brought back a flood of memories that he could not control. Memories of a meadow filled with white flowers and laughter. Of a warm hearth and loving arms around him.

It had been nearly a millennium since he had seen his mother, yet her warm smile was as familiar to him as if he had seen her yesterday. He reached out to her, almost unconsciously. He couldn't feel the flames as they licked his outstretched hand, and he couldn't hear the shouts of warning from Gelon. All he was aware of was his mother.

"Look out!" Gelon cried as a portion of the roof collapsed in front of Caledorn, causing him to snap out of his trance just in time. The flames roared through the newly created opening, and Caledorn looked into it wide-eyed as he balanced precariously on the edge.

"Are you alright?" Gelon asked as he noticed that Caledorn's hands were shaking.

"I-I don't know..." He replied absently as he tried to recover from his momentary lapse in focus. "Let's continue on, more of the roof may collapse."

Gelon and his family needed no encouragement. They leapt across to another roof and kept running at a pace that even surprised Caledorn. But he was barely focused on their escapade at the moment...

Pull yourself together! He told himself as he followed after the family. But no matter what he did, the vision of his mother was ingrained in his mind now.

They managed to make it to the observatory without further issue, and once the doors were bolted shut behind them Caledorn collapsed against a wall. He cradled his burnt hand as memory after painful memory flashed through his mind.

His father, his mother... Even Flicker. He couldn't save any of them. He had been little more than a boy when his parents had died... But Flicker? He had left him when he could have saved him. The ranger had deserved better.

And now no grave would hold him, there would be no tombstone to mark his passing. His life would be to future generations as nothing, yet he had paid the ultimate price to save those he cared about. It filled Caledorn with a sorrow that was almost too much to bear.

Taliel found him several moments later, and as he drew closer her eyes widened at his disheveled appearance as she approached.

"What happened??" She asked as she offered him a hand up. He didn't take it, instead staying where he was with an empty look in his eyes.

"Flicker didn't make it," he replied emotionlessly, staring past the elleth.

She looked down at the ground, her face straining in sorrow. "Did you see it?"

"See it?" He let out a mirthless laugh that surprised several nearby families. "I was there with him... And I left him."

"I'm sure there's more to the story than-" She began, but was cut off by Caledorn.

"I could have helped him. I could have. But I didn't. And I can still hear his voice in my head, his last words. They won't go away."

"What did he say?" Taliel asked as she sat down beside Caledorn.

"He said 'defend the North'. The Dunedain rallying cry. The words themselves are not what haunts me. It's the image of him as he said them, running toward the enemy alone. I should have been there next to him." Caledorn slammed a fist on the cold stone floor, wincing as he did. He had done it harder than he intended and the rough stone had drawn blood.

"What would have been different, had you been there?" Taliel asked as she studied his expression.

"He wouldn't have died alone," Caledorn replied.

"True. But his sacrifice would have been partly in vain then, he did it to save your life and the lives of that family," she said, pointing to Gelon and his family. They were standing at the other end of the room, eating from bowls of soup that some of the elves were providing.

Caledorn raised his head slightly and looked over at them. Lithiel was laughing and poking her brother, who seemed perturbed at her actions and was trying to get the attention of his mother.

The sight of the family now that they were safe gave Caledorn a slight feeling of peace. Taliel was right, Flicker's sacrifice hadn't been in vain.

"Forgive me, I'm not thinking,' Caledorn replied after a moment. "My mind has been playing tricks on me and leading Gelon and his family to safety was a struggle for me."

"I can see that," Taliel said. "Rest up, we'll need your help before all of this is over."

She stood up to leave, but Caledorn grabbed her arm.

"Any word from Gerithor? Or Imladris?" He asked.

Taliel shook her head. "No... We can no longer rely on them for aid, we must stand and fight ourselves."

Caledorn watched her as she left and noticed that she was walking with a slight limp. Evidently even she hadn't escaped unscathed.

He looked around, observing the room that he was in. At least twenty separate families had found their way here, and they had all claimed their own corner of the building as their own. A few guards stood watch, but other than that there were no soldiers remaining. Either they were guarding the outside of the building or they were dead... Caledorn hoped for the former but feared that the latter was true. The guards that were there seemed exhausted; They were most likely survivors of the main battle.

There's no chance that we can survive this, Caledorn thought with a grimace. Still, he forced himself to stand and decided that his time would be best spent looking over the defenses. The main doors were blocked closed by great wooden beams, and several elves were hammering reinforcements into them. The doors were tall and wide, for they had been designed to accommodate the large machinery that was occasionally brought into the observatory. They were easily tall enough for a troll to pass through them.

As he was observing the doors he felt a presence approach behind him.

"If I had known we would come under siege, I would have built my doors in a less troll-friendly way," Cirdan said as Caledorn turned to face him. The elf was one of the few of his people to sport a beard, but it fit him well. Along with his long white hair and muscular frame, it gave him the appearance of a master sailor. Which indeed he was, for he was the one in charge of all comings and goings at the harbor.

"If you had known we would come under siege, you'd have been able to repel the attack before it got this far," Caledorn replied wryly. Cirdan shook his head.

"I am unsurprised that the goblins took us by surprise... But the corsairs? We should have seen their black sails from miles off! Some dark magic kept them concealed I fear... Or perhaps my eyes are not what they once were." The elf scratched his beard and began to pace.

"You cannot blame yourself for what you could not see," Caledorn replied. He did not realize that he should be listening to the words for his own sake.

"Ai! If only that were true!" Cirdan exclaimed. "If only I had relied on my own eyes! But no, Caledorn. We were deceived."

Caledorn raised a dark eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I have..." Cirdan began, but faltered slightly before continuing on. "I have used tools that we of the Eldar should have known to stay far away from. I looked into the palantir! I looked into the Seeing Stone!" His eyes widened and he grabbed Caledorn by the shoulders. "And I saw much, Caledorn. Much that I thought was true, but now I know that much of it was mere illusion, lies even."

"What did you see?" Caledorn asked.

Cirdan's expression visibly darkened, and he put a hand to his head. "I saw the destruction of all. The sights I saw did not begin until my second time looking into the stone. But that time I heard a voice speaking to me. It seemed familiar yet foreign all at once. It told me first that the light of the Eldar was fading, and that our people's time on Middle Earth was at an end. Somehow, the voice convinced me to trust it, to believe its words. But after it gained my trust it showed me things. Terrible things that I wish I could erase from my memory. Minas Tirith burned to the ground, the people of Rohan slaughtered in their homes... The dwarves slain by an army from the East. But somehow Mithlond still stood. It became the last haven for the Free Peoples. The voice lulled me into a false feeling of safety, for I believed that we would not be attacked.

"The voice told me that the corsairs would be destroyed in a battle with Gondor, so I had nothing to fear from them. I had no reason to suspect that the goblins would attack here. And so I grew complacent.

"After several weeks the voice ceased all communication with me. But I still used the palantir to watch the waters, for it was easier to use it than to send patrols. That is where the blame falls upon me."

Caledorn stood for a moment in silence, attempting to process all of the information he had been told. There was much there that he wanted to ask Cirdan about... The destruction of Minas Tirith, the army from the East. But it would have to wait. For now, saving this city was all that mattered.

"Where is the palantir now?" Caledorn asked suddenly.

Cirdan's gaze shifted to the ground uncomfortably. "It's still in the tower. I never brought it into the city for fear of my advisors finding out about it. But at this point it matters not, they know now."

"A pity. It could have been useful to us still," Caledorn replied. "Regardless, we need to decide upon a course of action. We cannot simply let them starve us out."

"You're right," Cirdan said. "Glorfindel and several of my advisors are discussing just that upstairs in the Room of Sight. We should join them."

Caledorn followed the other elf past the frightened families that looked anxiously at the gate as the howls and growls of orcs could be heard outside. It sounded as though they were gathering just outside the doors, for the sound grew louder and louder. Caledorn hurried his pace as they began to ascend the stairs. They were running out of time.

Do you think they'll survive? Make sure to leave a comment!