Act II Part II: The Númenorian Conquest
It were near seven centuries into the second age, that a great mariner and prince of Númenor named Aldarion and his guild of venturers arrived at the mouth of the river they named Gwathló. They came in great ships, shaped like swans and they quickly settled there, and thus began the building of Lond Daer or Vinyalondë, the great haven of Minhiriath, whence many a ship sailed up and down the coast, and following the river inward they set up camps along its bank and started harvesting the trees for the building of more ships and more ports. So set upon the taking of land and the building of fleets they were, and they carved great roads out of the forests and many trees they fell, angering the Drúedain. Thus there came conflict between these peoples and they warred for many years.
Now Tinnurion learned this, and when he met upon a party of Númenorians, he himself was much displeased. These men were taller and fierce of face and they carried great axes; their minds seemed set upon war and conquest. It passed that this company of men came all too close to his dwelling, espying them from the shadows Tinnurion and his companions watched them warily. These Men now believed they had come across a dwelling of the wood-folk, who they warred against, and they meant to destroy it lest it should harbour any more of them.
But Tinnurion was overcome by malice, for he had grown to like this wood and to see its trees grow old and it was so near to his heart. Striking then from the shadows, they loosed their poisoned darts upon the Númenorian woodchoppers and many fell ere they could respond. But some fifteen others remained strong and swung their axes wildly around them, hoping to hit their assailants. But their sailors’ eyes could not see well in the dark, and by arrow and by dagger they were brought low until at last but one remained and he felt the horrible bite of Nínioleg, the sword of Tinnurion. And though it had but scratched the surface of his arm, it felt like the sting of a spider, burning deep within, and that feeling lingered long after the blow. Then a voice was hurled towards him and he could scarcely discern the face from whence it came, peering out of the darkness. It was Tinnurion’s and it was fierce to look upon.
‘These are the lands of the Drúedain. Go now ere the darkness takes you and tell your kin to take to the sea at once and never return hither, lest they wish to see their ships burning to the tunes of an ominous wind.’
And the Númenorian fled eastward, bewildered and afraid, until at last he came before his brethren and told them everything that had happened in the woods, but the poison took him ere he could guide them thither. This angered them greatly, and because of it they grew more fierce in their warring against the wood-folk and fell deeds were done by day and by night. Yet the Drúedain succeeded in destroying the port of Lond Daer, and they held victory for a brief while. But the Númenorians were relentless, and in matters of war they were bested by few, and so they came again with greater numbers, wielding greater weapons, until at last the wood-folk were defeated, and they scattered far and wide.
Fearing the coming of the Númenorians, Tinnurion left his dwelling with a grieving heart and he cursed them for all that they had done and would yet do. Together with his fellows he travelled along the Gwathló into the land of holly trees. Yet these lands were not as he remembered, for in those very same years that the Men of Númenor had come to Minhiriath, the Elves of Lindon had come to build a new realm of their own, and they called it Eregion, and the city of Ost-in-Edhil was their pride and joy.
Here now much would come to pass in the following years that he had not foreseen.
