The Eastern Woman

The shadow of the East

"What's the situation?"  Thranduil immediately asked, as soon as the Elven garrison reached him.

An entire night's journey from Dale to the borders of Eryn Galen, with Roswehn sitting in the saddle in front of him.  He held her waist, because he feared she would lose her balance.  She had not been a good horsewoman at the age of twenty, let alone in her eighties.

An attack was underway south of the Forest.  Orcs had set fire to the area around Dol Guldur.  Thranduil felt every leaf burning, every root getting incinerated, every animal suffocating by smoke, or burning alive.  He could feel his beloved forest dying.

"Legions of Orcs, my lord. The attack started late in the night. We saw the animals in the forest going up north. They ran away terrified. The birds ... whole flocks flew up and ..."  the soldier stopped.  He watched the face of the mysterious figure sitting in the saddle with the King.

"... Roswehn ?!"  asked the soldier.

"Hello, Hazel."  she greeted him.  She marveled at her memory.  In Dale she always forgot what she had done from one hour to the next, but in that Forest she was perfectly able to recognize a face seen thirty years before.  That was an elven captain she had met when he was still an infantry soldier.  Roswehn remembered his beautiful blue eyes and the hazel hair he was named after.

Thranduil turned to the soldier.  "Listen to me. I request a report on what is happening in the South. Which part of the forest has already gone. How many of my Elves have been mobilized for defense. Feren and Varian must join me in the council hall as soon as possible."  then he held Roswehn tight.  "Give the order to Nim: she has to prepare a room in the underground, a cave next to mine. For her."

"It will be done, Sire."  answered Hazel.

"Thranduil ... the forest burns?"  asked the old woman.

"Yes, my love. But you must stay calm. We will hide you in the most protected place of the realm. I will tell Haldir to stay close to you. Don't be afraid."  the King murmured. Then he had a doubt.  He looked at his soldier again.  "Where is my son?"

"The prince is in his rooms, Majesty. As you ordered, we watched him over every minute."  answered Hazel.

Thranduil spurred the horse.  "Hurry up, then. Let's go back to the Palace. There's a lot to do."

"I aran erein!"  shouted Hazel.  In Elvish, the phrase meant: let the king pass.
Immediately the group of Elves in uniform opened in two separate columns, to leave the sovereign and his escort to continue.

Thranduil was thinking about what to do.  Organizing a defense quickly would have been a problem.  The mountains at the center of the gigantic forest closed the border between the area under the influence of Sauron and the territory inhabited by the Woodland Elves.

The key was the fortress of Dol Guldur.  From there came the energy of the Dark Lord, there lived that Nazgûl, Khamûl, called the Shadow of the East.  He was one of the human lords to whom Sauron had given a ring.  A Man of the East, who had become a wraith at the service of Mordor.  He was almost as powerful as the Witch King of Angmar.

It was likely that it was that black creature who led the attack on Greenwood.  But how to destroy him? Thranduil could not go to Dol Guldur with his army.  Too risky.  But that cursed fortress, which had once been the residence of his father Oropher, had to be destroyed.

He felt Roswehn tremble.
"It won't take long. The palace is near."  he reassured her.

His soldiers were many thousands, but he could not push them all towards the legions of Orcs.  With a fire going on, many risked dying before reaching those monsters.