The story of Karadiyar is preserved in the libraries of Tien and Sinraen. The miracles, wars, heroics, and follies of past ages are written on these pages alone.
Dark Night in the Golden Forest
The following records are taken from Northern Roads and Shadow Wars, the chronicle of the Sinraen historian Merova. The text describes the famous night raid that took place on the southern borders of the Golden Forest, years before the death of Scout Leader Eva.
Today the roads stretching from Sinraen to Faelwyn are considered safe. Merchants travel fearlessly in daylight, elven couriers move silently along the forest paths, and some children even dare to play at hunting along the borders of the Golden Forest. But in the past it was not so. Especially in the final years of the Second Age, orc packs dwelling deep in the southern forests began descending north more and more often. Caravans vanished, patrols did not return, and some villages were wiped from the map in a single night.
In those years the one who guarded Sinraen's northern roads was Scout Leader Eva. Even today some soldiers speak her name with respect. For Eva was not merely a good hunter. She was one of the rare humans who knew how the forest breathed. It was said that she could read an approaching rain from the direction of the wind, and a hidden enemy from the silence of birds. Some elves are even said to have respected her tracking skill.
In the year of the Dark Night Incident, an orc warlord named Gharuk, one of the leaders of the orc packs, decided to launch a sudden raid on Sinraen. His plan was simple. Since the old stone bridges east of the Golden Forest were held, he would move his army through the shallows farther south. Around two hundred orc soldiers would advance silently through the night, reach the northern roads before dawn, and then set the defenseless trade caravans aflame.
But there was one thing Gharuk did not know: Eva's scouts had been watching them for days.
According to the tales, the first word came from a young scout hiding at the top of an old elm by the riverside. He had seen the orcs moving at night, carrying no torches, their bodies marked with war paint. After receiving the news, Eva moved south that same night with only thirty scouts. Most of the men beside her had been raised in silent wars. Some were master hunters who had not missed with their bows in years. None wore heavy armor. For according to Eva, in the forest it was not iron but silence that saved lives.
Toward midnight the orcs reached the shallows. Moonlight shone pale over the river stones. The creatures had left their drums and banners behind so they could cross the water quietly. Some climbed the rocks while others came up through the muddy banks. Everything was going according to their plan.
When the first orc died, no one noticed.
One of the vanguard warriors climbing the rocks suddenly dropped to his knees. The black-feathered arrow buried in his throat was almost invisible in the dark. The orc behind him thought he had slipped and fallen. But a few breaths later the second arrow came. Then the third.
All at once, sounds like whispers began to rise from within the forest. There were no war cries, no footsteps. Only thin hums cutting through the air... And then bodies falling into the darkness.
The orcs panicked. Some tried to light torches to see where the attack was coming from. But every hand that raised a torch became the target of an arrow within seconds. Some were struck through the eye, some through the neck, and some fell from the rocks into the river and were carried away.
Gharuk tried to gather his men, but he could not. Because they could not see the enemy. The scouts were not attacking from one place. They came from among the trees, changed positions, and struck again. It is said that some orcs swore in their last breaths that they had seen a few human silhouettes in the darkness. But none, it is said, clearly saw the face of a scout.
The battle did not last long. The narrow rocks and dense forest had completely erased the orcs' numerical advantage. As dawn approached, the few surviving creatures began fleeing south. Eva did not pursue the retreating ones. For her purpose was not to hunt, but to protect the road.
When morning came, the riverbank was full of corpses. The scouts carried the dead orcs one atop another. Once a great heap had been prepared, the bodies were set on fire. Black smoke rose above the Golden Forest for hours. It is told that some elven couriers passing through that day said the smell of burned bodies could be sensed from miles away.
Only two of Eva's men had been wounded. None had died. For that reason the event quickly became a legend in Sinraen. Among the people, the saying began to spread: the Golden Forest watches at night with Eva's eyes.
Indeed, in the years that followed, behind many ambushes set upon that ancient road between Sinraen and Faelwyn were Eva and her scouts once again. Orc packs were often destroyed before they could even learn the number of their enemies. Some believed they were fighting invisible spirits living in the forest. Even among the northern tribes, old stories are still told of the invisible arrows that came from between the trees, known as the Green Curse.
Yet despite all this, years later Eva herself being found dead in that same forest remained one of the darkest secrets of Sinraen history. For it was never learned whose hand had loosed the two arrows found in her body.