(A Tribute to J. R. R. Tolkien)

A Fantasy Novel By A Stanley

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (WITHOUT EXCEPTION)

Dedicated in fond memory of a dear departed friend John "Kenco" Kennedy.

Also To My Wife Joy, My Daughters Nicola, Charlotte and Jade. And my Sons Zac and Brandon, Ken Thomas, Floyd and KT, Eve Strong, for their help and encouragement

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Please call in with your comments and remarks! or email.

Contents

The Maps

Preface

The tale told within occurred some time in our ancient past. The War of Terror had now become firmly fixed into the annuls of the Ancient Lore's of Earth. Each culture had their own Lores, which was relevant only to that individual civilization, but it came to pass with the War of Terror, that the Lore's of each culture would be irreversibly inseparable. Yet for the humans of Earth It was as though it never happened. Contact between the humans and the other species of earth was kept to a minimum. The elves, dwarves and other species knew man as a terrible warring tribe, whose greed took all that was good from mother earth giving little or nothing back. For this reason mankind was avoided for the best part. Only a very few humans were privvy to any form of contact to the lower "Sub-Species".

It was thought the War of Terror was to be the first and last of such Conflicts. Sadly it was not to be. Some years later a soothsayer of some repute had a vision which foretold of two other happenings which would cause a blight upon the lands and people of Earth. All of which must occur before a total cleansing of Earth could or would happen. The evil would gain a foothold thereby being a scourge upon the peoples and lands... The first of these events had been called The Creeping Darkness. No-one knew or understood the meaning of it... All over the lands, bands of ghedi orcs and trolls roamed freely. True, for the best part the bands were small and not much of a problem, but with the coming of the new ' Evil One ' the beasts had a new master. The bands grew larger, more villainous and savage... Our story really begins at the end of the last war. The War of Terror. The then Evil One sought a magic ring, which was so powerful it would make him invincible. The whereabouts of the ring was known to him...

In an attempt to defeat the evil one, the ring was sent to a place of destruction deep within the bowels of Earth. While it was possible to destroy the ring within the fiery depths, it would not be possible to destroy the magical properties it held.

Some years later an eruption occurred, at which time a semiprecious stone was cast out from the fiery depths far below the fertile lands. The Stone had all the properties of the ring, making it the most powerful magical item anywhere on earth.

Fortune smiled upon the people of Earth, for the Stone was found by a band of wandering elves who took their find to Eldor, Lord and master of all the elves. The new owner soon discovered it to have all the properties of the ring of old. Fearing the worst, Lord Eldor had the stone set by his finest jeweler into an amulet which he then gave to his beautiful sister, Galana. Eldor then charged his sister to take the amulet to a secret place of hiding , where she would remain as guardian until the time of the prophecy.

Galana went far into the Red Mountains of Erun where no - one dared go. The stone became known as the ' Amulet of Galana '...

One other thing had been discovered about the amulet. The fires had cleansed its evil power, making it neutral, being neither good nor evil.

The prophecy had foretold of an elf like creature, though it was not to be an elf, who would come in the time of darkness. He would be the key to the destruction of the Evil One. This person would be pure of heart and caring ..

Some of the lore had been lost to the Cotchit race. No one could remember the whole of it due to a freak accident some years ago. One night there had been a terrible thunder storm. Lightening had struck a tree which fell killing the Keeper of the Lore.

Reading and writing had been learned by only a few, so it was the job of the Keeper to commit to memory the whole of the lore. He had started to keep a book, but alas it was premature in its writing when he met with his untimely demise. The Keeper was considered young and so there was no Keeper's Assistant, not even a trainee.

So it was, much of the lore was lost to the cotchit race. Only the most popular stories could be remembered.

ABOUT COTCHIT'S

Cotchit's are of the same genealogical race as elves, though elves tend to be taller, the shortest elf being taller than the tallest cotchit.

Many of them lived in small cabins deep within the woods, or even caves. Often surrounded by many of the creatures of the woods.

Cotchit's were given their name by the dwarves. It was derived from the Dwarvish word ' Cotchi ' which means ' To Care '. Originally they were cave dwellers, but over a good many years they had built small cabins to live in . They are childlike in manner and appearance...

Author's note

This true account of the events which took place were translated into our language by Teedol with the use of the Stone. I was the lucky person who was in the right place, at the right time. Therefore the story was told to me at first hand.

This is their Story.

This Novel that was Originally written as a Sequel to J.R.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings, Alas! Permission could not be obtained

Link to Chapter One

© MCMXCI - MMI ••• A Stanley