It was a cold wintermorning in the forest of Mirkwood. The elves were patroling the borders as usual. Among them were the young prince of Mirkwood, Legolas Greenleaf. This was a beautiful morning and the elves was merrier than usual, they have not met any foe this day on their patrols and they hoped it would stay that way. What the elves weren't expecting was that this morning soon would turn into a disaster.
*Legolas POV*
Legolas was sitting on a thick branch watching the forest as it slowly came to life, Tauriel soon accompanied him and they sat there just watching, neither of them wanting to break the silence. Suddenly Tauriel spoke up: "Have you seen anything today?" "No I haven't. It has been calm and quiet the whole morning and I hope it will stay that way." A horn blowing in the distance made them both jump up grabbing their bows preparing for what was to come. But what came was something they didn't expect.
Spiders came jumping on through the trees but that was not what gave the elves a shock, it was the orcs that rode the spiders. Elves, orcs and spiders started battling but the elves quickly realised that they were outnumbered. One young elf managed on the orders of his prince get away from the battle and head towards the castle to get help. Meanwhile the fighting elves were pushed back against the riverbanks of the Forest river.
Legolas was fighting the oncomming orcs side by side with Tauriel when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, he can see the shaft of an arrow stick out. With as much selfcontroll as he can muster he drags the arrow out of his shoulder and throw it away. Next he feels a blade slising through his right calf. He falls to the ground with a thud and before he can get up he receives a strong kick to his stomach and soon he can feel someone stand on his wrist pressing down until a "crack" is heard and Legolas lets out a pained whimper. He receives another hard kick that sends him down the riverbank and before he can grab something to hold onto, he falls into the ice cold river that knocks all his senses out and drags him away from the battle.
-After the battle-
*Tauriels POV*
A few moments later another company of elves breaks into the clearing, soon all the spiders and orcs are dead. It's when Tauriel is walking around the former battlefield that she realises that something is wrong. She turns around to look for Legolas when she realises what's wrong. Legolas isn't with them. She starts to panic slightly but is not able to voice it cause she is interupted by a beautiful stag trotting into the clearing with a majestic elf that practicly shines of power on his back. The elvenking has come. The stag stops in the middle of the clearing. The king looks around for a moment, eyes searching after a pair of familiar eyes. When he can't find the eyes he is searching for he turns to Tauriel that stands to his left side. "Where is my son?" he asks, cold eyes boring into her head makes her shiver. Tauriel takes a deep breath before she answer her king: "I do not know my lord, after the battle I realised something was wrong and was going to tell Legolas when I realised he wasn't here." Before the king could say anything a call from the riverbanks interupted them. "I found something here it's prince Legolas bow!" Both turned to the guard that had called out and made their way to the riverbank. The king jumped of the stag and looked at the bow before looking around for any sign of his beloved son. Suddenly something green out in the river caught his eyes. It was not far away so he managed to get down on his knee and reach for it. He studied it carefully before realise what it was. It was a piece of green fabric that belonged to a tunic a certain prince had left the castle dressed in. What made his heart beat hardly against his ribcage was the blood mixed with water that dripped from the fabric.
*No ones POV*
A rough cough drew them from the river. A dying orc laid a couple of meters away from the water looking at the elves. "You won't see that little blondie again, that I can promise you" he said. Tauriel lost her temper rushed towards the orc but was stopped before she could reach him. "Tauriel leave it!" the king said with a voice colder than ice. He maybe didn't look angry but those close to him knew that he was fuming with rage because of what the orc said, cause the only blonde elf that was fighting here before was Legolas the prince of Mirkwood that in this moment is missing. Thranduil walked forward and with a voice so icy that the orc started to shiver with fear he said: "What did you do to the prince, what happened to him!?" The orc hid his fear and laughed. "I struck him with an arrow before I slised through his leg and kicked him nearly unconsicous, then I kicked the little blondie out in the river. You will never see him aga.." his laughter was cut off by a sword cutting his head in two pieces. Everyone looked at the owner of the sword with pain and symphaty. The king was silent for a while before he looked up and said: "A company led by Tauriel go downstreams and search for the prince, the other company follow me upstreams"
The elves were soon divided into the groups. Tauriel led her company downstreams while Thranduil led his upstreams. And so the search for the elven prince began.
-Somewhere along the river-
*Legolas POV*
He woke up to the sound of rushing water on the riverbank. He did not know how he came up and out of the freezing water. He must have used his last strength to drag himself out of the river. "Where am I?" he silently asked himself.
Suddenly a great pain shot up from his leg and shoulder. He looked down only to see a hole in his shoulder and a big nasty cut on his right calf. In other words he was right now vulnerable and completly helpless, he had no weapons and he was injured, cold and alone. "Please someone find me, ada I need you" he let out a silent whimper. He doesen't often call for his ada but right now he did not know what else he could do. He finally made a decision, Legolas managed to crawl using his left side and through the deep snow. He managed to get under a tree with low hanging branches. He had now used all of his energy and could only wait and hope that someone would find him and help him. Legolas soon drifted of because of the loss of energy.
-Meanwhile somewhere not far away-
*Orc commanders POV*
Those stupid elves! They had ruined everything, they had almost managed to kill them all but if it wasn't for that little male elf that ran away they would have won. He looks around the little clearing to look at the orcs that managed to get away when suddenly he could felt a smell on the breeze. Elvenblood. There was a wounded elf not far away. Maybe they had some luck left after all, they could make sure that this elf would suffer greatly before he died. He commanded the other orcs to follow him and soon they could see a bloodtrail leading from the river and head further into the woods. They followed eagerly to see what was at the end of the trail. Soon they found what they were searching for under a tree sleeping and exhausted.
*Legolas POV*
He woke up to rough hands lifting him up and throwing him to the ground. He let out a pained moan and looked around. He was surrounded by orcs not many but many enough to not let him escape even if he was uninjured. "Look what we found here boys a lost little elfling, let's see what we can do with him!" Legolas looked at the orc that had spoken, horrified of what was waiting for him he let out a small whimper pleading: "Ada save me!"
-At the riverbank-
*Thranduils POV*
They wandered along the riverbank when one guard exlaimed: "M'lord I have found a bloodtrail that leads out of the water and into the woods!" A stone fell from the kings heart. His ion-nin had survived and managed to get out of the water. Soon the relief turned into worry. A bloodtrail must mean that he is seriously injured, he also came out of the cole water just to walk in deep snow. He hurried over to were the bloodtrail led further into the woods. As soon as he came up to the trail his worry turned into fear and panic. There were a smell of orcs lingering in the air and footprints covering the ground. He quickly turned around and called: "There are orcs nearby, we must find the prince before they do!"
Soon all the elves were riding through the forest trying to find their prince before it was to late. "Hold on my little leaf I will find you" Thranduil silently promised under his breath. The elves closest to the king could hear what he said and smiled a little despite the situation. Even thought the king seemed coldhearted he was on the inside a kind and loving king that looked after his kingdom with greatest care. Soon the elves came to a clearing. They stopped horrified at the sight before them.
*No ones POV*
Prince Legolas stood bound to a tree surrounded by orcs. The only thing that kept him standing was the ropes that bound him to the tree. The orcs were laughing and took turns delivering kicks and blows to the nearly unconsicous prince who at this rate hung from the ropes.
*Thranduils POV*
The king was shaking with rage. How dared they do this to his ion-nin, his precious little leaf! He saw an orc cut his ion from the tree and grab him by the tunic slapping him across the face. Hard. That was it. Whithout any words the king jumped of the great stag and rushed out into the clearing to save his only son followed by the other elves.
*Legolas POV*
When they finally stopped with the kicking and beating he looked up to see what was going on. An orc came up to him and cut him loose. Before Legolas could fall to the ground the orc grabbed him roughly by his tunic and slapped him across the face. Hard. But before the orc could do anything more a blade cut off his head. The headless orc fell to the ground letting go of Legolas. Legolas stood there for a moment shaking before he started to fall to the ground but before he reached it a pair of familiar strong arms grabbed him gently and embrace him. He looked up to find the familiar ice blue eyes of his beloved ada. He managed to smile a little and say: "Ada you came for me!" "Ofcourse my little leaf, I would never leave you! Now let's get you home to the palace" Legolas smiled a bit as he felt himself being picked up by his father. Soon he found himself on his adas elk and in the warm and beloved embrace of his ada. He snuggled into his adas warm cloak that smelled of rain and pine. "I love you my little leaf" was the last he heard before he fell into a deep sleep in the arms of his ada.
*Thranduils POV*
"I love you my little leaf" he said before he felt his ion fall into a deep sleep. He was still shaking but this time not with fury but with fear. What would have happened if they hadn't reached Legolas in time? "Stop worrying about that the important thing is that he is safe!" he scolded himself silently. He then promised himself that this would never happen again. "I love you Legolas more than you can ever know" he said, then the elves rode back to the palace. Peace was once again in Mirkwood.
The End