Chapter IX

Sauron had realized that Eruanna was heading towards Mirkwood. He sent orcs after her dragons, but the beasts had grown large and formidable. The orcs were of no match to the five dragons. "Join me, Eruanna", came Sauron's demonic voice, as he tried for one last time to bring her to his side. Eruanna closed her eyes and clutched tighter onto Ceveniel's scales. "Join me and you will be Queen of the skies. You will only get so many chances."

"I will reject you every time", Eruanna hissed. "Even if it means my demise. I am no fool, Sauron. I know you want Middle-Earth to yourself. But that will not happen."

"Reject me and I shall destroy you."

"You can try."

Eruanna let out a cry as a pain went through her head. She arrived in Mirkwood within less than two days. It was there Thranduil saw them and rushed out to meet his granddaughter.

There she was, standing in front of him. Thranduil scampered over and swept her into a protective embrace. "Eruanna!?! You are here? This is WAR! War has come to us! Sauron's forces are headed this way", Thranduil gasped out. "What if he tries to corrupt you?"

"I know daeradar, I know. I am Princess of this forest, do I not have a duty here? And I have brought aid in the form of my dragons", Eruanna nodded to her dragons.

"Celeborn let you come?", Thranduil questioned.

"After he realized there was no changing my mind", Eruanna responded.

Thranduil felt tears in his eyes. "You would risk your life for this land you barely spent half of your life in?", he asked.

"I would risk everything for you, for our family", Eruanna said. "Le melin daeradar, le melin. How can I leave our people to suffer? Besides, this is less dangerous than what ada is doing."

At that Thranduil let out a laugh. "Yes it is sunflower, I must agree." Valar, she reminded him so much of his long deceased wife.

Just then a guard came running in. "My lord!", he cried out. "The enemy is a day away!." He then noticed Eruanna and her dragons. "Princess Eruanna Úlumiel?", he questioned. Eruanna nodded, smiling.

"Gather the council. We must make plans", Thranduil said.

The Royal Council of Greenwood was summoned. "Well, now that the Princess has shown up, our chances may just be better", the oldest of the Council smiled. Lines of strain and stress marred his face.

Eruanna smiled despite the waves of pain Sauron was sending to her head. "Yes. And I already have a plan."

"And how do you propose we drive off at least 30,000 orcs with just 10,000 elves?", asked the Commanding General. The Battle of the Five Armies had been destructive for Mirkwood as well as the many deaths on patrols. The General had especially been under stress since the darkness took hold.

"What a great mood you're in", Eruanna lightly teased him. "The army will stay in the forest and I will go first. I'll take my dragons and burn down as much of the army as I can. This will also ensure that I don't burn any of the trees." The trees were considered sacred to the Woodland elves and Eruanna, thus she had no wish to harm them.

"When the army is weakened, the elves will come in and destroy any survivors. Not a single orc should be left alive", she looked at everyone in the room. "Not a single elf will emerge until I give the signal, or in other words, Sûlion will make a circle in the sky three times."

"Well", said the General. "We may just stand a chance."

"How far is the army?", asked Thranduil.

"A day away, sire", said the General.

"Everyone should get some rest then", Thranduil announced. "Dismissed", with that, the Council left and he turned to his granddaughter. "The fact that you came up with a decent plan in five minutes makes me proud and stunned at the same time."

"It's not a hard plan to come up with", Eruanna responded nonchalantly. "Is victory certain?", Thranduil asked.

"With five dragons? Definitely."

The next day, the elven army was hidden inside the forest. Wood elves loved the trees and were expert climbers. It wasn't uncommon for an elf to be standing on a branch when on patrol or sitting there with friends during feasts.

The orcs stormed towards the forest like a big, dark wave. To Eruanna's shock, they brought in large crossbows loaded with arrows bigger than her, clearly meant to strike down a dragon. Suddenly, a sinking feelings arose in her chest but as Ceveniel and her siblings roared, she immediately pushed those feelings aside.

She gripped the pommel of her saddle with one hand and the other on the pommel of Angoruinë as she stared down the enemy. "Dosta i orcs (Burn the orcs)!", she commanded.

Naurion and Sûlion dove into battle immediately, unleashing a fiery hell upon the orcs. The leader of the orcs barked orders and his comrades began shooting large arrows from the crossbows.

Ceveniel dodged the arrow heading her way. Helegiel rolled over so that the arrows would strike her scales. Upon impact, the arrows shattered against her tough hide. Faroniel repeated the same trick and dove straight into the massacre with her brothers, scattering the flanks of orcs. The orcs panicked.

Suddenly, Ceveniel let out a howl of pain as she was struck with an arrow. The arrow had pierced her underbelly but it was luckily nowhere near her heart, as that would have killed her. "Helegiel!", Eruanna called to her other dragon as she struggled to maintain her balance on a now angry Ceveniel. "Destroy the crossbows!"

The white dragon swooped down and swiftly burned the crossbows to a crisp. Ceveniel began to descend as her siblings made quick work of the army. "Thank the Valar", Eruanna said with a grin as Ceveniel landed. She got down and pulled the arrow out from Ceveniel's underbelly before pressing her hand to the wound. Murmuring a spell, Eruanna backed up as the wound began to heal itself.

Suddenly, the shouts of elves drew Eruanna's attention to the forest. Eruanna's eyes widened. Orcs had been pouring into the forest whilst she had been distracted.

"You think I haven't figured out your plan?", Sauron's menacing voice entered her mind. "I warned you, Dragoness. I warned you what your stubbornness would cause. Now your people shall suffer."

Eruanna let out a growl of frustration. "Sûlion. Naurion. Make sure no more orcs can enter Eryn Galen. Helegiel, stay with Ceveniel. Faroniel assist your brothers", she ordered her dragons before dashing into the woods.

The orcs came into the woods holding large fiery torches. Eruanna watched in horror as they began torching the forest, forcing the elves out of hiding. She unsheathed Angoruinë as Thranduil and Captain Feren joined her. "Attack!", came Thranduil's order. "Archers! Stay in the trees and fire! Everyone else, on the ground!"

The Elves rallied and valiantly and drove the orcs back. Cries of agony were heard from both sides and the trees rattled as if they were grieving with the elves. Eruanna sliced down as many orcs as she could. The distant roars of her dragons rang in her ear.

The fires in the forest raged as the elves fought. Eruanna dove in and beheaded an orc about to deliever a killing blow to one of the soldiers. After helping him up, she continued fighting. Naurion, Sûlion and Faroniel burned any orcs attempting to enter the forest. By the evening, victory had been placed firmly in the hands of the Woodland elves.

The elves rejoiced the next night after honoring their dead. Thranduil and Eruanna were hailed as great leaders in the battle. The next day, Eruanna bid farewell to her woodland kin and went back to Lothlórien.

Lothlórien was undergoing its third assault when Eruanna arrived. It had been assaulted after she'd left for Mirkwood and on the day Mirkwood had been attacked. Sauron had used the Dragoness's absence to attack Lothlórien but Galadriel and Celeborn had repelled his attacks.

The moment the orcs saw Eruanna and her dragons, they began to scatter. Yet, it was no use for them. Eruanna's dragons burned every single orc to a crisp.

Eruanna jumped off of Ceveniel after the fires cleared and the Lothlórien elves, like those in Mirkwood, rejoiced, for hope was high as their Lady had not been corrupted. Celeborn and Galadriel embraced their great-granddaughter in joy.

"Do you know what you did?", Galadriel asked her great-granddaughter that night after she was told of Mirkwood's victory.

"Protected my people?", Eruanna asked with a grin.

Galadriel smiled. "You accepted the power at your fingertips and used it as you always did. To protect your people."

Eruanna smiled. "Without my dragons, I wouldn't be who I am today. And I embraced my power. They believed in me. I could feel it. And they listened to me. They got no innocents killed. It was like... I'd been scared for no reason."

Galadriel cupped her chin with a smile. "You did well, Úlumiel. We could not be more proud of you."

The two ladies embraced each other, relishing in the peace.


Elvish:

Le melin: I love you

Daeradar: Grandfather