A/N: Hey again, guys, what's up? Ok, Ashley wrote this chapter, it's the feast and the first day of the tournament. Enjoy!
Glorelwen- Thanks a lot, happy you liked it so much :)
Raider-K- The original idea about the conspiracy against Legolas belongs to Ashley and we developed our characters together :) Hope you'll like the second chapter too.
Disclaimer: No matter how much we want it, neither Ashley nor I own the 'Lord of the Rings'
A month had come to pass since King Thranduil's invitation had been sent to all corners of Middle Earth. One hundred men had come in response to the King's invitation, the group of competitors mostly consisted of just Elves and Men and, shockingly, two Hobbits. Even less shocking was the fact that no Dwarves were present, it was amazing how well they were able to keep a grudge.
"Welcome!" exclaimed the King, "Welcome to my home. I wish your stay to be a most pleasant one and I extend my gratitude to every one of you for coming. Tonight a feast will be held, a feast so spectacular it will be worthy of the Valar. Tomorrow shall mark the beginning of the three days tournament. There will be three events that you all must compete in, archery, hand to hand combat and combat with close range weapons of your choice. There shall also be three victors as well. Once our champions have been chosen on the third night, a feast to commend these great warriors will be held. Now, tents have been set up for you to use during your stay, go and prepare for tonight's festivities and ready yourselves for tomorrow, the first event will be to test your skill with a bow."
With that the King gave a slight bow to the group that stood before him and retreated to ready for the feast that was to come.
Later on that night, as groups of Men and Elves made their way to the banquet, all had seen that the King had been true to his word. This was a feast to rival anything in the Valar. Various types of food and drinks had been laid before their eyes and from the sight of things, most of the Elves had already partaken of such drink, for their was quite the carefree and untamed atmosphere about them. Elves had either been eating and enjoying a good laugh with their fellow kin or were out on the dance floor. Soon all the competitors had gladly joined the merry bunch in their drink and merriment.
Shortly before the celebrations had begun, Legolas had heard of two Hobbits being among the group of Elves and Men that answered his father's call. Having no doubt that it was two of the Hobbits he had grown to deeply care for, he sought them out during the celebration feast, knowing he would easily find them, surely to be the center of attention. And as sure as he was about hitting a target it had in fact been Merry and Pippin. Smiling and chuckling to himself he gently pulled them off to the side.
'My dearest friends!' he cried out while kneeling to embrace them both. 'Pray tell, what are you doing here. Surely you do not plan to compete in the tournaments? Granted I do not doubt your heart, but I fear you may be out numbered here" said Legloas, while looking slightly guilty for even saying such a thing to two brave Hobbits. But much to his relief both Merry and Pip had just started laughing at the thought of being a competitor.
'Heavens, no! Merry and I just came for the free food' cried Pippin in between fits of laughter.
'Everyone knows a hobbit would never give up the chance at free food and to catch up with an old friend of course' Merry chimed in.
'Very well, I suppose it best that you do not fight in the coming days, I fear you would frighten the rest of the men away' Legolas said with both smile and laughter in his voice. 'Come' he said, 'no friends of mine will be sleeping in a tent, come with me and you shall rest in the palace and join me in watching the tournaments over the days to come' Not but minutes later, the three had left the joyous crowd behind them and left for the palace to seek both rest, and for the prince solitude.
The next day had turned out to be rather interesting. The first event to win had been archery. Legolas had naturally made himself the judge of the event. The rules were simple, one had to simply out shoot the Prince. However a very impossible task, Legolas did go easy on all the men. There were three rounds. The first round was very simple, all one had to do was hit the center of the targets before them and as the events carried on throughout the day the both had gotten harder and with less men to compete against. Much to the King's surprise, there had seemed to be a sense, or feeling if you rather, of childlike behavior. What he saw before him was not that of men being proud and arrogant to try and prove their worth, but more of them forming bonds with one another as if they had nothing to win and nothing to prove. If they had not been up for their turn at using a bow, they were simply relaxed and engaged humorous conversation with each other, all but one. All but one was willing to converse with others. This one man, hooded with a cloak and mask was nothing but focused. Having already done extremely well at proving his skills with a bow, the King was intrigued to see how he would fair during the next couple of days. With that look of determination he knew this stranger, the man in the black hood, would end up going far, perhaps even to last rounds.
By the end of the first day, many had been felt as if they were beaten down, for the Prince had not gone too soft on the group of Elves and Men, challenging each person differently and seeing that they had all been pushed to their breaking point. By the end of it, only sixty of the one hundred men had remained and stood before the King, Prince, and two devious Hobbits.
'Congratulations to all who stand before me now' addressed the King. 'You now get to move on to the next round, hand to hand combat. Go rest now, for tomorrow shall be proved more difficult than what you went through today. We begin at dawn'
A/N: Alright, folks, that was it for now :D You'll have the next chapter as soon as possible. We can't wait for your reviews xx
