Ruins by StarSpray

Ruins

The gates of Nargothrond had been broken long ago, and lay in a twisted wreck inside what had once been a beautiful, cavernous hall filled with carvings and intricate reliefs and statues. Remnants of banners and tapestries clung, decaying, to the damp stone. The gold and treasure had been looted long ago, dragon-cursed. 

Finarfin walked slowly through the halls and tried to imagine what it had been in its glory, when his son had set upon the throne in the great audience chamber, and laughter and song had echoed through the halls. He had wept when Elwing had told the tale of its fall and now he wept anew to see it for himself.

Finrod was lost, and Orodreth too, and now only shadows haunted their halls, and the only sound was the faint echo of the River Narog that flowed uncaring past, down toward the slowly encroaching Sea.