After passing the great ravine one came to the Second Gate, the Gate of
Stone. Another great arch was there, set in a long
wall punctuated by fair towers. The arch was blocked. It was if a rock had
been set there and the arch was for decoration.
But it was not so. For when touched, like the Gate of Wood, it silently opened.
Beyond was a courtyard of guards robed in
grey, silent but wary, the Guards of the Gondolindrim.
Unlike the long road from the first gate to the second, the distance from
the second to the third was very small and before
long you came to the Third Gate, the Gate of Bronze. Similar to the last
gate it was, being set in a long wall with towers
guarding it. But these towers were square, roofed and covered in Bronze which
reflected the Sun's rays. The gate too, was
covered in bronze, in all types of shapes and forms. Shields and figures and
many different types of signs. Once you had
passed through it you came to a larger court than before with an entire company
of guards at attention. These were different
from the previous, for they were mail-clad and had axes with blades of red.
Then came the steepest climb, the climb to the Fourth Gate, or the Gate
of Writhen Iron as it was known. This was a mighty
gate indeed and it was covered with beautiful traceries of trees and a light
shone through it. Around the gate was a wall,
tall and black, and four towers of Iron unlight loomed over it, threatening
and inspiring. Over the gate and between the two
towers was a decoration wrought in the likeness of the great Eagle-King Thorondor
who had marred Morgoth's face for
ever so long ago. This gate, like those before it, opened by touch revealing
a great highway beyond guarded by mail-clad
elves with mantles of black and visors like an eagle's beak.
After the steep climb to the Fourth Gate the road ran almost level to the
Fifth Gate, The Gate of Silver. The wall on either
side of this gate was marble, low and very broad with great globes set upon
it. The gate itself was of silver and pearl and
above it the beauty of Telperion was cast in silver and malachite with flowers
of pearl. A green and white marble court
was behind with a hundred archers in silver and white on both sides of the
courtyard.
A long white road led from the archers to the next gate being the sixth,
the Golden Gate. This was the ancient gate wrought
before the Battle of Unnumbered Tears and it was brilliant to look upon.
Identical to the Silver Gate it was, except that the
wall was made of yellow marble and the globes were of gold and on a plinth
of a gold pyramid stood an image of Laurelin,
fairest of trees. Garnet, Topaz and Diamond on the solid gold. Brighter than
fire.
The guards of the sixth gate were three hundred in number, archers of guilded
mail with fire-red shields.
Only a short distance away now did it stand. The Seventh Gate. The Great
Gate. The Gate of Steel wrought by Maeglin
after the Dagor Nirneath. Immense it was, the gate that guarded the enrance
to the Orfalch Echor and strange indeed. For it
was not an arch set in a wall like the others had been but a massive trellis
of steel between two round towers. Seven
pillars of steel stood there, each tapering to a deadly spike.
In the center though, raised above all else was the helm of the king, the
Lord Turgon. Yet no gate was visible, an
impenetrable wall it seemed, yet when struck it sounded like a harp and guards
would come forth and Ecthelion, Warden of
the Great Gate, Lord of the Fountain, Servant of Turgon, would touch it and
it would open.
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