Tolkien Fan Fiction
| 6 |
| Annals of the King |
| 'Thus Castamir had been king only ten years, when Eldacar, seeing his time, came with a great army out of the North, and folk flocked to him from Calenardhon and Anórien and Ithilien. There was a great battle in Lebennin at the Crossings of Erui, in which much of the best blood of Gondor was shed. Eldacar himself slew Castamir in combat, and so was avenged for Ornendil; but Castamir's sons escaped, and with others of their kin and many people of the fleets they held out long at Pelargir. 'When they had gathered there all the force that they could (for Eldacar had no ships to beset them by sea) they sailed away, and established themselves at Umbar... 'There was much devastation through the land of Gondor in after years, for war continued, hampering rebuilding. Pelargir was laid low, as was the Ethir, and the settlements along the river in these provinces. Dor-en-Ernil's coasts were ravaged, though the prince of that land gained in stature with Pelargir diminished. 'Thus the Northmen who followed Eldacar once more to the South found many steadings to settle in that lay unclaimed, abandoned or with no one living to claim them, for the people had suffered greatly in the upheaval. Some towns rose again, and others fell to the forests or the plains or rivers. 'The true cost of the Kin-strife remains therefore unknown, for the dead and the ruined were in equal measure uncounted and uncountable...' —Arandil of Minas Anor, Master of the Royal Guild of Scriveners, the year 1510 of the Third Age |