Shadow of Mirkwood

The unseen gaze

The sound of weapons is my favorite music

The sound of the new bow was something; it was almost like singing to the elven general. One arrow after another, they all flew to the tree Lytharial chose to fire at. She loved the sound of her new bow, she liked its elegance, its strength; she had just come back from the town of Minas Tirith, and bought the best bow she had ever seen. The bow was wooden, made from ash with great durability, and elasticity. With its strength, she could fire arrows from her horse all day; it was a horse bow, and she loved it very much, and it was worth all the money she just spent on it. 

She had little time to try it out, because soon enough a lot of young elves appeared, and she was supposed to teach them how to use swords today; she had to recruit new elves to the army, and it was up to her to select the best of them and to make them the greatest warriors. 

Lytharial's life was simple enough; she was the general of the Mirkwood's army, sworn to protect her king Thranduil and his son Legolas, even if it meant she would lose her own life. She did not value her life much; being general was tough, and she worked hard to become one. At the early age of 4, her parents were killed in front of her, her sister went missing and her half-brother never came back. After that, Thranduil took her in, and trained her hard; every day, she would learn how to do archery, how to use swords and knives, how to throw axes, how to fight with bare hands... 

At the age of 8, she had her first kill. She still remembers that day; it was sunny, and a few of the elven warriors took her hunting. They saw a few Orcs on the way, and they started fighting. She saw one Orc running towards an elf that had his back turned to the Orc, so Lytharial took the axe and threw it in Orc's back, and saved the elf. 

At the age of 12, she was already fighting with the best warriors of Mirkwood, she went to numerous battles and was the key to winning them. A lot of times Legolas was near, fighting with her, but he never knew who she was. Nor does he know now, even though she is the general of his army. She saved him a few times, but he saved her a lot more. He always shielded her when she needed the shield, and always looked after her back, but he did that for everyone. He was protecting so many elves, humans, and dwarves, and he could not possibly know who she was. 

At the age of 17, Thranduil declared her as a general and his right arm, and ever since she listened to him, and did everything he wanted her to do; she killed for him, killed in his name, and went wherever he sent her, did the most dangerous jobs for him. It was her "thank you" for saving her from death when she was a child. 

Thranduil, on the other side, even though he did not show it, cared for Lytharial. Maybe he just wanted to use her as much as he could, or he just knew that she was the best fighter he had in his kingdom, and he could not lose that. He knew that at a very young age, Lytharial defeated some of the best warriors he ever had, and a few of the generals of his elven army. That is what he trained her for - to become an elven weapon, to endure every possible kind of pain, to be the best archer in his realm, to fight with a one-handed sword, two-handed sword, and with two swords at once, he wanted her to learn to throw daggers perfectly and precisely.

And she learned. It was a hard path, full of sweat, blood, and bruises, but she succeeded. When the world fell for her, she did not quite understand what happened, she was only a child, but she could remember, oh, she will always remember till the day of her death; she will remember the blood, spilled over her wooden bed, the bodies of her parents, shaking while taking their last breath, her half brother with his knife covered in blood, pulling her sister away for her hair while she screamed to him to let go. 
Did he kill her parents? Yes, she was certain; even though the air was smoky from the fire, she saw it through the smoke, she saw him raising that knife on her parents, that was not a dream, that was a harsh reality she went through.