Archive of Our Own ^beta

Eärendil was woken by a loud rumble. His first thought was a thunderstorm, but this was beyond the dimensions of any thunderstorm he had ever experienced.

There was an urgent knock on his cabin door.

“Come quickly! You have to see this!”

Eärendil jumped up from his bed, glad that the heat of the south made it unnecessary to pull on a jacket like he might have otherwise.

“What is it?” he asked as he climbed the well-worn birch wood stairs onto deck.

“One of the mountains is on fire,” Ceiron replied, pointing to starboard.

The summit of the mountain indeed shone orange with fire.

Eärendil joined the others at the railing, slowly joined by the rest of the crew.

A deep rumbling filled the air and suddenly, fire sprang from the mountain. Millions of glowing orange sparks erupted into the air around the peak, reminding Eärendil of watching Rhíwen’s work in the forge.

The sparks split into a dark cloud above the mountain and a flow of sparks and what looked like molten metal pouring and tumbling down the mountain. Lightning flashed in the dark cloud as they watched the progress of the burning mass towards the sea.

“Is it Morgoth?” one of the men asked in a low whisper.

Eärendil had asked himself the same question, the sight reminding him of tales from the north. He had asked himself if one of the dreaded dragons was attacking them.

But now, it looked like the activity was mostly contained to the mountain and the immediate area around it.

“If it were Morgoth, I think we would already be under attack, which we aren’t,” Eärendil decided. “I think this may just be a strange natural phenomenon.”

“What should we do?”

“We watch. Anybody who is not officially on watch may return to bed, or continue watching.”

Not a single one of the men wished to return to bed. Instead, they all watched the series of eruptions that lit the sky and sea throughout the night.