Summary: My take on Legolas and Tauriel's story in the Hobbit DOS from what I have gathered from the trailer etc, because I don't want to wait until the movie comes out...
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.
A/N: 'Ello everyone. So, I've decided to write a story about Legolas and Tauriel for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, because I have no patience whatsoever and don't feel like waiting until 13 December. I don't get what everybody's deal is about adding a new character to the movie. If the movie still rocks, what does it matter? At the least, I don't think it should be judged before anyone even sees it. Personally, I think you would have to go through quite a bit of trouble to make such an awesome story suck. Anywho, I'm a bit new to fanfiction and I haven't exactly done a lot of research before writing this, so bear with me if it isn't amazing. If I get a good response, I will update as often as I can, but please bear in mind that I have two jobs and night classes that come first.
Without further ado, here's the story...:)
Chapter 1
Legolas let loose the arrow from his bow after taking quick aim, watching it fly through the air and bury itself in the target at the far end of the practice field, splitting the previous one in half. When he reached for another one, he found his quiver to be empty.
He jogged over to the target and retrieved the arrows not split by others and returned them to his quiver, before hearing his name being called. Turning around, he saw Elerion, one of the elves from the home guard hurrying towards him.
"Elerion?" he prompted in greeting.
"My Prince," the elf began, not out of breath in the least, however Legolas could see that he had been running. "One of our scouts has reported a group of dwarves in the forest, heading in our direction."
Legolas blinked. "Dwarves?" There hadn't been any dwarves in Mirkwood for many years. What were they doing here?
"Aye Prince, dwarves," Elerion clarified. "They are perilously close to one of the spider colonies. I doubt they will avoid an attack."
Legolas nodded, his mind flitting between thoughts. It was true that the elves and dwarves were not necessarily fond of each other. However, they were not enemies. These dwarves would not stand a chance against all the giant spiders lurking in the forest. Also, his father, Kind Thranduil, would want to know what they are doing in Mirkwood in the first place.
He looked at Elerion. "Alright then, we should go intercept them. Ready a party as soon as possible to accompany me on the search." With that, he jogged back towards the elven city, grabbing more arrows to fill up his quiver to the brim as he passed a weapons rack set up on the edge of the training field. The familiar weight of his daggers at his side was all else that he needed.
"Tauriel and her guard are ready to leave," Elerion confirmed. "They await you at the East entrance to the forest."
Legolas nodded and quickened his pace with Elerion hot on his heels. In no time, they came to the group of elves standing ready to enter the forest. At their head stood Tauriel. Legolas hid a small smile at the sight. Her face was as serene and calm as any elf's, but he could see from her stance and the way she clutched her bow that she was raring to go.
Tauriel was in no way an elfling, but still quite young for an elf at 600 years old. He had watched her grow up, having taken her under his wing after her father, a close friend of his family, died before she even reached her first decade. He had taken it upon himself to train her in the art of archery and sword/knife play, as well as hand to hand combat to give her something other than the heartache to focus on.
But she had grown into an amazing elleth. Now only he matched her in combat, and she had been named the head of the elven guard of Mirkwood. Her passion and stubbornness was what made her strong and she tended to see things more clearly than other, more world weary elves. Not to mention, that she had grown into one of the most beautiful elleth he had ever seen, with those fiery red tresses, sharp face and piercing blue gaze. Yes, definitely no elfling anymore. Not for a long time.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he approached and she turned her gaze to him.
"Right, let's head out," Tauriel said aloud to the ten gathered elves, casting a small smirk of enthusiasm in Legolas' direction, one that only he would be able to read. He chuckled under his breath and fell into step beside her as they sprinted into the trees, in pursuit of the dwarves.
When they reached the deeper forest, where the trees became darker and more menacing, they took to the large tree branches, creating a better view and simultaneously protecting them from spider ambushes from above. Silently jumping from branch to branch, he kept his eyes peeled and his ears alert for any noise.
It didn't take them long to find the dwarves, after all, dwarves weren't exactly known to be masters of stealth. By the sounds of it, they were in distress. Moments later, he saw three dwarves far below on the leafy forest floor, surrounded by at least ten spiders. A little way on, he also saw more of them entombed in thick webs from head to toe, having been outsmarted by the spiders.
Without another thought, Legolas leapt from the branch he was running on and dove towards a long, thick strand of web spun between a tall tree and the chaos on the ground, grabbing it with one hand. He saw Tauriel leap from another branch in a different direction, but focussed his mind on the task at hand as he swung around the strand of web, heading down towards a spider beneath him at a tremendous speed.
Before the spider even knew he was there, its head was sliced clean off by Legolas' dagger and was sent crashing to the forest floor along with its twitching, headless body. Legolas dropped down next to it with his bow already out and an arrow leaving the string to bury itself right in the middle of another spider's countless eyes.
Out of the corner of his eye, Legolas saw the standing dwarves scramble to slash at anything close by in the sudden chaos, two of them fortunately falling over each other to the ground just as another spider jumped at them out of nowhere, barely missing. Before it could recover, one of Legolas' daggers was sent flying through the air and buried itself in its head.
The sound of battle around him alerted him to the other elves close by. A glimpse of bright red caught his eye and he looked to see Tauriel stab one spider with her arrow before knocking it to her bow and shooting it into the next within the span of a second. He knocked his own arrow and sent it over her shoulder and into another spider behind her.
The battle was over in moments, and soon Legolas and Tauriel was left standing in the middle of a pile of spider bodies, the smell of death rich in the air. She had her bow drawn and aimed at the three dwarves crouching by the large tree, but he doubted they would want to stray far from her protection very soon.
At the sound of heavy footsteps, Legolas jumped over a branch and slid down a small slope covered in leaves to come to a stop in front of the rest of the dwarves. He briefly wondered how they escaped from their tombs of spider webs, but banished the thought for the time being as he aimed an arrow right at the front dwarf's head.
"Do not think that I will not kill you, dwarf," he warned. The dwarf didn't reply, merely stood his ground with his head held high, obviously their leader. "What business do you have here?" Legolas prompted.
"Our business is our own," the dwarf replied, seemingly trying to keep his temper in check.
"Not as long as you are in the king's lands," came Tauriel's soft voice as she appeared next to Legolas, the three dwarves from earlier in tow with several arrows pointed at their heads from the rest of the elves that had joined them. The dwarves matched the elves in numbers, but were no match for the senses, speed and expertise of such ancient creatures.
"We will take you to the king and he can decide," Legolas concluded and finally lowered his bow, but kept alert. "You will come quietly." It was not a request, but a statement of fact, one that the dwarves would not dare to question. The leader bristled with anger, but didn't argue as Legolas and Tauriel started walking through the forest and the rest of the elves surrounded them, urging them to follow their prince and leader.
"Do you also...?" Tauriel said sofly after a moment of walking, her eyes darting between the surrounding trees.
She didn't have to finish her sentence. Legolas knew what she was taking about. "...sense another presence?" he finished for her, having felt the same feeling but not seeing anything. "Yes."
They glanced at each other for a moment, before falling silent and leading the rest of their company through the forest towards the elven city.
A/N: So there it is. Hope you liked it. Please review and let me know what you think so that I can decide if I should continue with the story.