(My first fanfic. Please don't be too hard on me :P I've merged a few of my favourite books, as well as some slight influences from computer games. )
Chapter 1: Lost
They had been hiking along for days, yet they were not even close to realizing where they are.
Thankfully they weren't humans, Ruby thought to herself, or they would already been weakened by hunger.
Seth walked wearily beside her. But it wasn't because he was tired. It probably was more out of boredom than anything.
"It's weird to know that one can actually feel grateful when trapped in such a situation." Adam muttered, so softly that Ruby almost missed out on his speech.
Ruby exhaled and smiled at the same time. It was always great to have Adam around. Unlike Edward who may unintentionally 'stumbled' upon your personal thoughts, Adam's gift was that he was blessed with the ability to sense the emotions of those around him.
It was great. Whenever the animals had anything wrong with them, Adam was able to tell it straightaway that they are in discomfort.
Esme had been very supportive of her keeping animals back at home while the others had disapproved. It was bad enough that they sometimes had to resist the urge to attack humans, but it was worse that they had to put up with animals conveniently situated at home.
But Ruby could not tear herself away from thee stray dogs that she chanced upon. Moreover, she had done her part by housing them away from the main house as far as possible, in vampire terms.
How she missed them.
She stopped in her tracks when she realized Adam had stilled. Looking ahead, she understood why. It was a clearing of some sort. A small one, but nevertheless, the sunlight shone through.
"It's alright, I don't think there will be humans passing by this area anyway. Nobody will see it. Besides, we would have sensed it from way off before they could even reach us, right?" Seth argued. "I don't want to have to re-route just to avoid the clearing!"
As usual, Seth demonstrated his impatience, a typical characteristic that accompanies the young ones. He would have been 18 if he were still a normal human though he already looked like he is 25.
"He's right, you know." Ruby said.
Adam tilted his head in thought for awhile, before moving forward.
They were halfway through the clearing, with Seth who avoided looking at his two companions due to the way the sun reflected off their skin. The sight of it had looked amazing and pleasant at first, but the novelty had worn off awhile later when he realized that looking at the brightness of it hurt his eyes a lot. Suddenly, he started growling.
It was not due to fear. He had sensed something nearby and it was not human. The sound was getting louder. Like dozens of footsteps pounding.
Adam and Ruby concentrated on the trees ahead of them and waited for whatever it is to appear. It must be massive as the ground under them trembled ever so slightly.
"Seth, get back here. You wouldn't want to be knocked unconscious by whatever it is and miss out on the fun, would you?" Adam joked, always one to find humour in all sorts of situation.
Seth, who had already transformed into his wolf form, reluctantly took a few steps back, falling in line between Adam and Ruby.
Finally, the intruders burst into sight. And a sight it was!
'Filthy, gruesome, drooling and snarling. . . what?' Ruby thought, lacking a noun to call their attackers. She could easily think up of a few other choice words to describe the creatures but what exactly are they?
Whatever they are, they clearly are not intellectually-gifted. For although they charged at the three surprised onlookers with brute force, there was only strength and nothing else. No strategy, no plan, no organization in this surprised encounter.
There were not more than twenty creatures that assaulted them. And even so, they were quickly put to rest by Adam and Seth, leaving Ruby with just a few to deal with.
A swift and easy twist of the neck and the last one fell dead at her feet.
"What on earth…?" Ruby trailed off.
By then, Seth had already changed back to his human form, unable to tolerate the lack of communication with his friends while he was a wolf. He was excitedly rattled about how much faster he was able to bring the attackers down and how he had not been through that much action since….. his voice trailed off despite none of his comrades paying attention to him.
Ruby looked questioningly at Adam who was sniffing in the air. "They must have been attacked before they met us. Look at their fresh wounds." Adam pointed out. "They must have been running away from something. I don't know… I could only sense fear… And hunger" Adam added.
It must have went on for quite awhile but Seth finally realized that no one was even listening to him. What amused him, however, was that his two vampire friends were staring intently at the dead creatures lying around them.
Unbeknownst to them, a figure that had witnessed it all slipped back into the shadows where the trees lovingly enveloped his presence.
King Thranduil sat down with as much grace and pride as he could muster. For a split second, he pondered if a human ruler facing similar problems such as his would actually slump down on the chair. The orc problem was weighing on him enough and yet his scouts had reported a new sighting of three intruders in the Woodland Realm.
Thinking that they were men who unwittingly stumbled into the Realm, Thranduil had considered sending one of the scouts to deliver a plain and simple warning and set them on a direction out of his land to have one lesser problem to worry about. But things have just gotten complicated.
For, as Erurost had witnessed, their movements had been swift and their actions, deadly. For mere humans to take down 20 orcs within a short time was no easy task. Adding to the shock was Erurost's startling observation that one of them had turned into a wolf-like creature in a blink of the eye.
Instructions had been given to the Scouts to continue the surveillance more carefully than before. There was nothing more to be said, since only time, and more observation, could tell what they are up to.
Thranduil was beginning to wonder other than orcs, what other Evil lurks in the forest?
Absent-mindedly, Thranduil scratched his chin in thought when someone entered the room. Troubled as he was, Thranduil could not stop the smile from spreading across his face.
"Adar!" the Prince shouted. However, all traces of his smile disappeared when Thranduil noticed the serious look on the Prince's face.
"It's about Gollum." Thranduil stated, for that could be the only valid explanation for Legolas' pale and solemn face as his son could only look downwards and nod his head.
"Revolting" Adam said, before Seth could even ask.
"Does that make you less of a vampire now? I've never seen you guys turn away from the sight of blood just like that!" Seth said excitedly, snapping his fingers to emphasize his point.
"That isn't important. The main thing now is where on earth are we? Much as I know about Esme's understandable and forgiving nature, she would be still capable of making us feel guilty and ashamed for missing school for almost a week!"
Ruby clenched her fist at the thought of a worried-looking Esme. Her other 6 adopted siblings were bound to be off on some lovey-dovey excursions, whereas Carlisle would have been busy at the hospital as usual. Even Renesme was always off with Jacob on some random hunting trips. Adam and Ruby were the only ones who were always around accompanying Esme at home since they are still attending school whereas the rest have already graduated.
Her thoughts were abruptly cut off when she realized Adam and Seth were arguing.
"You already smell like a wet dog, I didn't know it could get any worse!" Adam teased.
"Well, you aren't any better! You smell like some vain little flower pot who had gone way overboard on perfume! I thought it'd do you some good to get into the lake before we started hunting!" retorted Seth.
Boys! Ruby thought, and rolled her eyes.
"I felt that!" Adam shouted at her direction.
"Anyway, if you guys would keep it down, I would like some peace for awhile while I try to figure a way out of here. If we hadn't all taken a plunge into the lake at the beginning of the hunt, we wouldn't have ended up so lost!" Ruby said. Good-tempered as she is, she had had enough with days and days of hiking.
She had pitied Seth because at least she and Adam did not require any rest at all, whereas Seth who was aware of this fact, had continuously pushed himself to the limit so that they may cover more distance and hopefully stumble upon familiar scent that they had left earlier.
The whole trip was a mess. They never should have left familiar territory; they never should have left Forks.
"Let them." Thranduil ordered.
"My Lord that would mean risking the entire village!" his loyal subject, Sivia insisted.
"Do you not trust our soldiers then?" Thranduil questioned, with a gleam in his eye.
Red with embarrassment, Sivia answered confidently, but in a softer voice "Of course I do, my Lord."
"Then so be it. See that it is done." Thranduil stood up from his seat signaling the end of the conversation. Sivia hesitantly signaled to the awaiting guard to pass the message down.
For awhile, Thranduil heard his loyal subject took a deep breath and was awaiting another flurry of questions directed at his decision, yet all he heard was "My Lord, if there is nothing more, I shall take my leave."
Thranduil had not yet answered but Sivia had already taken a bow and left the study room before more could be said.
Thranduil respected Sivia. He had been a great aid to the King and the people. The fact that SIvia was not one to disobey or to openly express disappointment at the King's many decisions made Thranduil appreciate this particular Elf even more, for Thranduil is a proud King and would do it his way despite protests, as long as he sees it as for the good of his people.
Having one less elf who disagrees with you would mean one less to convince. But yet this does not mean Sivia had never defied the King before.
However, Sivia had his own way of indirectly expressing himself, such as the way he took his leave. Thranduil chuckled to himself as he recalled when he had just ascended the throne and insisted that he should not have personal guards who shadow his every move. Fearing for the King's safety, Sivia had been unhappy about it and promptly sent a selected few of the elite elves in to 'show' that the palace was not completely safe to prove his point.
It was after this incident that Thranduil saw Sivia as more than just a loyal subject. He was a crafty and loyal subject, for the good of the King.
The news that Erurost had sent back yesterday was not well-received by many.
The 3 intruders had traveled much faster than he thought, and were apparently heading towards the nearest village almost as if they knew there was a settlement there. Such a strange and accurate sense of direction would not have been possible without a scout, yet as Erurost had stated very clearly that there were none, unless they had ways to communicate with a scout without him returning to them at all.
The King had to be consulted on whether the village should be abandoned.
Thranduil had thought over it the night before. They would never be able to know for sure what the intentions of the 3 trespassers were unless they came face to face with them.
It should have been done much earlier when they were far off from any settlement, but Thranduil thought that it would have been wiser to wait and see if they would just turn around and leave Mirkwood.
Now that they are fast approaching, there was no other way than to intercept them straight despite being so near one of the farming villages. It may not be disastrous after all, Thranduil thought.
Other than hunting down a few animals every few days, there was not much trouble stirred up by them.
In-between, attacks by orcs were still as per normal, unpredictable, random and annoying (as Legolas puts it). The attacks had not changed nor deviated from the norm despite the appearance of these intruders. Erurost had not been successful in getting help from the trees. Old as they were, the trees were uncertain of their intention but one thing for sure, they did not detect any hostility from their uninvited guests.
