The Forgotten Fables
Chapter One: Bittersweet
It was a day like any other. The Arrow Tree Elves, a particularly happy sect of Woodland Elves, were celebrating the coming of summer as Entlings ran about carefully watched over by the Ents and Entwives. These Elves lived in Fangorn Forest and were quite common during the beginning of the War of the Jewels. They were a lively group and liked the company of Elves and Dwarves and Men. They had even given life to the Ents, who became shepherds of Fangorn Forest.
These Elves were excellent crafters and could create the best known arrows in both Beleriand and Middle Earth. Their arrows were tipped with silver on the end of oak wood topped with eagle feathers. These arrows shot farther and faster than any arrow ever created in the history of Middle Earth.
This day was also Leenia's day of becoming an adult Elf, her thirty and one hundredth birthday. She received a beautiful white mare, the daughter of the King and Queen's horses, and a magical saddle that made her horse as vulnerable as an Elf. This meant that her horse, whose name was Ardinia, could not die of old age or of disease. Ardinia could however die of grief or mortal wound.
It happened just as she received this gift, when out of the Fangorn came the enemies. Three Balrogs, two Trolls, and around two thousand Orcs came upon the two hundred or so Arrow Tree Elves and attacked. Many Elves were slain, but more so were the Orc bodies that lay hewn upon the ground. Leenia rushed to aid Eréndëror, King of the Arrow Tree Elves, who was surrounded by Orcs.
Leenia tried to kill all the Orcs she could, but one of the three Balrogs came up from behind her. They fought until dusk and both were weary at the end, but Leenia was triumphant in the battle and slew the Balrog. Unknown to her during the battle were the two Trolls who had come up behind her. She struggled but could not break free from their grip and in the end was captured; her hands and feet bound.
Fifty of the eleven and two hundred Elves that were in the village managed to escape from Morgoth's Balrogs and headed towards the western shore to sail to the Undying Lands, since the Arrow Tree Elves were of the ancient race of Elves known as the Calaquendi, or "Elves of the Light" or "High Elves." This means that these Elves could sail into the West without punishment, unlike the Nolder Elves, who had angered the Valar years before. The Elves that escaped included Eowynéra, Queen of the Arrow Tree Elves. But her daughter, the Princess, was nowhere to be found. The King and Leenia were both forced against their will to be taken to Angband, where Morgoth, the Dark Lord, dwelt. Many times the two captured Elves tried to escape from their captors, but all times failed, for the enemy was too numerous to elude.
The two Elves did not speak, but instead shot glances at each other when the Orcs were occupied. Both knew that if they uttered a word, the Orcs would eavesdrop and report anything that they had heard to their master. When the Orc party and two Elves arrived at Angband, the fortress of the Dark Lord Morgoth, it had been six days since they were captured. Leenia and Eréndëror were thrown in front of Morgoth but showed no signs of fear or hatred. They only got up and stood there like stone statues, staring strait ahead.