The characters are the property of the Tolkien estate.

Written for the There and Back challenge

S - like a sordid Sauron

Phoenix Rising

Head bowed, the young Steward picked this way through the rubble. Mithrandir had advised against it, yet he felt he must see where his father had died. He swallowed hard. It was such a sordid way for a great lord to perish.

 “It was Sauron’s doing. He destroyed your father’s mind.”

Faramir started at the King’s voice. “How can you be so certain, my lord?” he enquired.

“I too, encountered the Dark Lord in the palantír. Merry later told me that it seemed I had aged twenty years in one night. It was a bitter struggle, ere I bent it to my will.”

 “You triumphed, though, unlike my father.”

 “Do not forget that I am Isildur’s heir. I used the stone but once,” Aragorn said gently.

 “Alas, that my father ever touched the cursed stone!” Faramir said bitterly. ”Our House now lies in ruin, our honour shattered like these walls.”

 “I think not,” Aragorn replied, placing a comforting hand on the distressed young Steward’s shoulder. ”Your father acted unwisely, yet ‘twas out of love for Gondor and her people. Sauron’s sordid schemes did not prevail.”

 “You restored our hope,” said Faramir.

 “Together we will build Gondor anew,” the King smiled.

A/N my first attempt at a double drabble.

You can see these drabbles with graphics chosen to illustrate them at

http://www.freewebs.com/lindahoyland/alphabetofarda.htm