Prologue
Restless. That was the thing the young elf seemed to be. And that was not a coincidence. The young elf had just turned sixteen; this made her think like a three- or four-year-old. She could not take care of herself yet. Still, Meredhín decided her child could be on her own for a couple of hours. And at the moment, the blonde-ginger she-elf wandered through their hut like crazy. Every sound made her jump and yowl: "Mommy!" Then she rushed towards the door to open it. But there was nothing outside. Only the cold air and the white flakes, that made Herawen sniff.
Meredhín, the mother of this elf, hadn't been away for a couple of hours. It's been a sunrise passing since she'd gone out to hunt for some food. The small she-elf had been awake until far past midnight; then she fell asleep on a kitchen chair, using the table cloth as her blanket. She woke up early, and figured out how to open the door. Black circles were visible around her blue-gray eyes. Once again, the roof squeaked. And once more her short legs rushed towards the door. It flew open one more time. But it was not opened by Herawen herself. It was opened by someone she did not know. "Who- Who are you?" she squeaked. The dark creature grinned and crept closer, whilst the little elfling pushed herself towards the wall. "Say goodbye to the world, elf." the orc growled. "What... What do you mean... I..." She did not finish her sentence. The small she-elf was scared. So scared. Her mom had been gone, and someone entered their safe place. Someone she did not know. She knew but one thing. This creature was dark. In fact, this orc was not an ordinary case of fowl creature. He and his kin had the meaning to kill all elves of Mirkwood, since they were far too strong, and taking too many of their place in the world. But this orc was worse. Worse than all of his mates. Little elves were his favorite of killing. He liked their screaming. But this kid did not scream or shout at all. The ginger elf just stood there against the wall, silent tears dripping down her nose. "Come on than. Scream. Shout." the orc growled in anger. Why this she-elf wasn't crying for her mother was a riddle to him. He wanted her to do so. "Stop," Herawen plead. "I- I don't like this. I- I... My mother will kill you!" Why was he laughing? "If you won't scream from yourself," his raw voice added. "Then I will force you to it!" The elfling tried to step back once more, but the wall kept her from fleeing, and before she could run, the orc had reached her. He carefully took her head between his filthy hands and searched it. Then, he took out a dagger with a crooked blade en grabbed one of her pointy ears at the top. He cut the point of it. As it was crooked, it now looked like a normal ear, only if there wasn't so much blood pooring from it. Now she shouted, cried, screamed, as the orc had pleased. But he showed no mercy to the young elf and took her other ear, where he did the same to. Herawen could do nothing but cry. This was a pain she could not bear yet. Too young, too fragile, she was. And there was only one question in her little head; will I die? Dying, that was something familiar. She was told that when you eat meat, it would be dead. And her father had died, too. The orc had just made a cut on the upper side of her right arm, and cut it through in a line all over the slender skin. Black flecks were waving in front of her eyes. Was it the feeling of dying? Herawen thought it was. But no. At once, there seemed to be a light. Her blue eyes widened in surprise when a blade pierced the mean creature. A face appeared in front of her. It was a face from someone old, but as it seemed to be nicer than the dark creature, Herawen didn't try to hide away. She understood this face would try to help her. This someone had killed the one who had hurt her. "Are you helping me?" Her voice was nothing more than a high pitched whisper. "Yes." the voice answered. It was a voice Herawen expected. Low, but not dark. A warm grumble, it was. She quickly decided to trust him, and closed her eyes, to shut out the light.
