Author notes: For all the reviewers of my other stories I'm posting this short story (Valar be with you!)

IMPORTANT

Please note that this is in the same storyline of "The Truth in those Sad Eyes" (Thranduil had two children, but when the youngest, Vinyaron, was born the queen died and…), so this means that if you hadn't read it, you probably will want to do it to understand this one.

I own nothing but the story; places and characters are for the genius Tolkien and not everything written here follows cannon.

My mother tongue is Sindarin and Quenya (Elvish) not English, sorry for the mistakes.

Southern Mirkwood

By Fantasia of the Moon

Chapter I

For now everything was silent.

The south part of Mirkwood the great was known to be one of the most dangerous places only surpassed by Mordor and Angmar. The weather was always chilly no matter if you were an elf, a man or a dwarf and the sky seemed to be forever gray. Then and again a sound could be heard, but those weren't the usual sounds of a forest, but of a cursed place. Screams out of nowhere, cries of wargs, carrion birds and other evil creatures mixed with the soft steps of the unnatural big spiders and the echo of the horrible voices of the orcs made even the bravest of elves feel his or her blood freeze in their veins.

But for now, everything was silent.

The elves in charge of the southern patrol were perched in the dark, twisted trees, trying to share them their light at the same time they kept watch over the creepy forest. Six in total on that patrol in that part of the southern parts, ten patrols covering all the southern limits, they had to defend the kingdom of the silvan and Sindarin elves from the darkness that covered more terrain each year.

It was very hard to be on this patrols, no matter if you were an experienced warrior or a young elf, the emotional burden as well as the exhaustion of both body and inner magic was very powerful and that was the reason why only the best warriors were required to go and even they went only twice every six months. Everybody but one.

Legolas sighed as he felt the tree stirring from his touch. He was glad that the damaged tree could feel the light he was sending almost immediately, for he was tiring already. Two weeks had passed since he and his company had left the halls of the king, two weeks of having very little sleep or nothing at all, two weeks of fighting constantly with Morgoth's creatures and two weeks that announced the end of the patrol.

For him, this was the third patrol he leaded to the southern borders in four months and before the semester ended he still have one more. Then he will start again.

"The night approaches" Tencrimor, a dark haired elf, said breaking the silence.

"Indeed. We will rest here, below that tree" Legolas, as the leader, said pointing to a big oak not as twisted as the others. " Ranhone, Silgeril you will do the first scouting" both elves nodded and went away. The others gathered and took out their food and water and started passing it around.

Legolas closed his eyes and rested his head on the trunk of the tree. The other elves looked at him a bit worried, for they knew how hard their prince pushed himself, not to mention how much his father demanded of him, but the sympathy they could have shown to him died in their hearts as soon as they remember the younger prince and how he was tormented by Legolas. Or at least that is what they thought.

So there was always a cold distance between the crown prince and the other elves even if they would follow him to dead, for he was known to have a quick mind, that of a tactician; his strategies were brilliant and he was well known in the lore and politics as well.

Suddenly a sound came from behind them, a brushing of leaves along with a scream so terrifying that a chill ran through their backs and everyone knew that one, if not their two scouts had found spiders. Standing up as fast as the light and as silent as a shadow, with Legolas at the front, swords, knives or bows taken out, the remaining elves ran to where the sounds were and were shocked to find five spiders fighting for the limbs of what once have been Ranhone. Another four were trying to trap a wounded Silgeril in their web.

The four arriving elves ran to save Silgeril, but Legolas change direction suddenly and went for the other five, for if they caught them from behind, they will all probably die.

With his bow he managed to kill one of the spiders, before the others attacked him. Tencrimor saw what his prince was doing and catching the thinking of Legolas ran to help him.

Taking out his two knives, Legolas attacked two spiders at time, unable to defend himself of the third and the four, but he was not among the best for nothing. He managed to escape to a high branch of a nearby tree after killing one and with just a gash in his arm and one in his leg, that nonetheless were bleeding. At that time Tencrimor arrived and killed one of the remaining creatures and when he prepared to fight the last one, another two appeared out of nowhere.

Legolas jumped from the tree on the back of one and killed it immediately and firing their bows, he and Tencrimor killed the other. Then they turned their attention to the other group, who had killed all the creatures and were making their way to them.

For a moment they all remained silent, listening intently for other sounds that announced more troubles, but when time passed and nothing happened they allowed themselves to relax.

"Is anyone gravely injured?" Legolas asked.

"Just Silgeril, Lord Legolas" Ioviyer informed.

"Ranhone is…" Velopidal, a young dark hair elf, said with a broken voice

"I know, do not look there. No one look" Legolas said firmly.

"My lord, his body can not remain like that"

"I know Tencrimor, but not all of us need to see it. Just two will burry him, so if you help me I would appreciate it" Legolas said softly.

"But he was our friend too! We have the right to…" but Ioviyier shut up when the crystal blue eyes of Legolas met his green ones. "As you command my prince"

"See to Silgeril and all your wounds, the split of blood would not pass unnoticed and we will have more enemies than we can fight with. We are leaving as soon as Tencrimor and I return"

With that he made his way to where the rests of Ranhone were, followed by Tencrimor. The rest took the opposite way.

When the prince and his dark companion reached the first limb, a leg, Legolas paled and felt the world moving oddly.

"Can you do this?" Tencrimor asked.

"Of course. Let us cave his tomb here" With that they made a hole and put there all the body parts of their dead companion.

"No matter how many times I do this, it always makes me feel ill" Tencrimor said once they had finish with the elven ritual for dead.

"I am sorry I ask you to help me, but if I had done it on my own we would have loose precious time. I want to be out of here as soon as possible" Legolas said softly

"I understand"

"It is a shame the others do not" Legolas whispered to himself, but even he had said nothing his companion would have thought the same. The others saw the prince like a spoil child, even if they respect them, and did not understand that much of what he did, he did it for the good of them. Like a true prince.

"Lets go" Legolas said starting to walk in the direction he knew the others were.

"And the tending of injures?"

"Are you wounded?" Legolas asked surprised and concern, he had not seen any hurt in Tencrimor.

"I am not, you on the other hand…" the dark elf pointed to the prince's right arm and left leg, that were still bleeding.

Legolas, who had forgotten everything of his injures as he had the habit, looked at his bleeding limbs and suddenly what had happened to Ranhone came to his mind. He trembled slightly.

"I am alright, think nothing of it" he said controlling his voice and the fear he felt. It was quite a shock to see what he and the others had seen, and especially for those who had actually touched the body.

"But the wargs and other creatures might catch the smell of your blood, or the trace it will leave. That will put us in danger"

Frowning, Legolas ripped part of his tunic and dressed both wounds. Tencrimor frowned.

"There is not time to do anything else. I told you earlier, I want to be out of here as soon as possible, the Halls of the King are at six ours of journey if we travel quickly and if we do not encounter any more problems. This" he said pointing to his dressed wounds "will contain the bleeding"

"As you command" the dark haired elf said bowing.

When the two arrived where the others were, they say that all the wounds were dressed and taken care of. So they prepared to depart.

"But Silgeril is too wounded to walk" Velopidal said

"We will take turns carrying him." Legolas said after a moment of silence. He knew they were tired, he was too, but the sooner they were in elven territory, the better.

Approaching where Silgeril was resting, he knelt by his side and explained him what they were going to do. After a nod of consent, he took Legolas hand and rested one arm on the prince shoulder, while Legolas grabbed him from the waist.

"My prince, you do not have to" Iovinyer said

"It was my idea; it is only fair that I am the first one to do it. After all, I would not leave anyone behind"

And with that the five elves started making their way to their beloved lands.

TBC…

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