16. Maidens of Dale
'Later [Smaug] used to… come by night to Dale, and carry away people, especially maidens, to eat…' The Hobbit, ch 1.
At the cut straw, it was not real. At the midwife's fingers, it was not real.
And now the birds are shrieking southward. Now the wind is hot. Now the man and woman who have her arms tremble as they thrust her over the cobbles. And she is outside the gate, her feet numb on the bare rock.
Behind, she hears them scatter into doorways.
Her hands are only loosely bound, but there is nowhere to climb to save the spine of blackened granite curving up into the mountain.
And now a shadow limned in fire tears open the sky.
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.
