"Gil-galad," hissed that terrible voice. "You have come at last. For two ages of the world have we contended with each other. Too long have you meddled in my affairs, Ereinion. But now you are finished."
"It is you that has met your doom, Spawn of Melkor," replied Gil-galad. "Your allies are destroyed, your hordes are in flight. You have managed to creep back up here to your hole, but you will never go down the mountain again. You are trapped."
"You think you have me trapped?" sneered Sauron. "Do you think we are all here by accident? I planned this meeting a thousand years ago, and now my efforts have borne sweet fruit. Don't you see, old fool? You were brought here, every one of you, by me." He raised his hand, and on it they could see a plain golden band.
"Behold the One," he said. "It was forged here in the Sammath Naur, for one purpose only — to bring all the Great Rings to me here. This it has now done. Now all my plans and labors of a thousand years are complete. I already hold the Nine and all of the Seven that survived. And now I have the Three. Once I slay you three Elves, I will take your rings and meld them together with the One. All the might of all the Great Rings of Power will be mine alone, and none shall ever dare to threaten me again."
"But first you must slay us, Unclean One," said Gil-galad. "And before you can do that you must first taste this!" And he stepped forward with his spear held before him, and its point gleamed white and pure, like moonlight on new-fallen snow. "Behold Aeglos Snowpoint, that was forged to be your doom."
"And this," said Elendil, stepping up beside his friend. He held up his sword, and red flame ran along its edge. "This is Narsil, and it is thirsty for your blood."
Sauron gave a harsh croaking laugh. "Do you think that I, who made the One and who bear it now, who can raise up mountains and cause the seas to boil — do you think I fear such puny weapons as these? Behold now the inconceivable power of Udûn!" And he raised up his arms like the wings of some terrible bird of prey. The flame shone in his eyes.
"Behold, despair, and die!"
Isildur saw his father suddenly rush forward, sweeping Narsil above his head, then there was a blinding flash and a clap of thunder like the end of the world. He had a quick glimpse of his father rising into the air. Then he felt himself being lifted and thrown backwards. His limbs flailed helplessly. Then he was smashed down on the ground and his world went black.
Elendil was closest to Sauron when the blast came. He took the force of it full in his face, and he was crushed by it. His body was lifted into the air and thrown backwards like a discarded doll, every limb twisted and broken. Narsil flew spinning from his lifeless hands, and his body landed on it with such force that the tempered steel blade snapped beneath him.
The Ringbearers Cirdan and Elrond were further away, but they were knocked over backwards and tumbled along the ground by the force of the blast. Though burned and bruised, they were not seriously injured. But some sorcery of the One Ring seized on them and left them powerless. Their bodies would not respond. A great weight held them motionless. Strive as they might, they could only lie and watch in horror as Sauron slowly emerged from the tunnel. Massive and dark he was, with great long arms and thick legs like the trunks of old trees. Great leathery wings rose above his shoulders like those of some immense bat. His face was flat and scaled, with glowing red eyes that gloated now in triumph.
Gil-galad had been a few paces behind Elendil, but he too was flung high in the air and smashed brutally down on the lava. He lay stunned but conscious. He could feel the stabs of many broken bones and his breath gurgled deep in his chest. One leg lay twisted at an impossible angle, and he could taste blood rising in his throat. He knew he was mortally wounded, but he found Aeglos somehow still clutched in his hands. Then he looked up and saw Sauron stooping over him. That hideous face came down to his. He could smell sulphur and decay. The cold red eyes burned down at him in triumph. The lips curled back, showing long curving yellow teeth.
"You ignorant fool!" hissed Sauron. "Did you really think you could contend with me? I am one of the Ainur, older than the world. My kind made this world, and we made your kind as well. We made you, and we can unmake you. You have no concept of the power I wield. The One is master to the Three, you see, even as I am master to you. While you wear them it can hold you as helpless as a fly in a web. I can slay you all as easily as I would step on an insect." The horrible face cracked in a crooked smile. "So here ends the great Ereinion the Gil-galad — not nobly, marching bravely forward against a foe, but lying helpless on his back like a grovelling dog. Long have you been an annoyance to me. Though you die here now, know also that after your deaths, all that you have worked and fought for will be destroyed. Now the Three are mine, and soon all the world will be mine. I will rule in Gondor, and Lindon, and in the Golden Wood as well. Farewell, old fool. But before I kill you I want you to watch how easily I take your beloved Vilya from you, and know that its power is mine forever."
He reached down toward Gil-galad's hands, but then the glow of self-satisfied triumph disappeared from his face. A flicker of doubt came to his eyes. "What? He does not have it? Then where…" But before he could straighten up, Gil-galad with the last of his strength thrust upward with Aeglos, driving the shining steel through Sauron's body. The spear point tore from his back and the shaft burst into flame. Gil-galad fell back dead.
With a piercing scream of pain and rage that echoed across all of Gorgoroth, Sauron rose to his full height, the burning spear protruding from his chest. He clutched at it, but the fire swirled up his arms and enveloped him. He stood there a moment more, a terrible shrieking, writhing figure of flame. Then he collapsed forward across Gil-galad's body. A long rending howl rose above the roaring flames, and for an instant something could be seen moving, rising with the oily black smoke. It drifted away and dissipated in the breeze, and the unearthly shriek faded slowly into a gurgling moan, then silence.
Isildur woke lying on his back, staring up at a sky streaked with smoke. He became aware of a crackling sound nearby. He rolled over with a groan and discovered that he was badly bruised and his face had been burned. He struggled unsteadily to his feet and looked around. A few yards away lay Elrond and Cirdan, both motionless, their eyes wide and staring. His heart sank at the sight. Two noble Elf-Lords, slain at one stroke. Then he turned and saw something burning fiercely near the mouth of the tunnel. He stumbled to it and saw to his horror that it was a body, perhaps two. Then he saw a blackened head wreathed in flames, and it bore the crown of Lindon.
"Gil-galad too? And Sauron escaped." Then he looked around wildly. "Father? Father?!" There was nothing else to see on the stone platform. Then he remembered that last glimpse of his father darting forward with Narsil before him. Fearfully, Isildur went to the mouth of the tunnel and, shading his hand against the glare, peered within. A figure lay sprawled in the tunnel. It was his father.
He stumbled in and fell to his knees beside the broken body. "Dead! They are all dead! Oh, this the end of all our hopes! Oh, my father, I would have died for you. I should have died for you." And he put his head down on his father's chest and wept, great racking sobs that shook his body.
When at last the sobs stopped, he sat back on his heels and looked at his father's body. He saw Narsil broken beneath him and he pulled the broken shards free. He looked at the beautiful blade, still as sharp as a razor. For a wild moment he considered throwing himself on the blade and ending his pain. But then he knew that he had to find Sauron. It was up to him now. He was alone, and he had no ring and no enchanted weapon.