AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi everybody! I can't wait for you guys to get into this one. I just recently saw Battle of the Five Armies, and (spoiler alert) Tauriel lives! This basically leaves Tauriel's fate completely open-ended, so who knows where the end of the series will take place in the timeline. Only time will tell! I would also like to make a note about a continuity issue I now have. BOTFA made up an explanation for what happened to Legolas's mother which, as I'm sure you can guess, really makes things difficult for my own backstory and fate of Legolas's mother. For now, I don't have any plans to try and retcon it, so this is going to have to be an 'alternate universe' of Middle-Earth that borrows from the books and the movies of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I will definitely have a story arc where Legolas goes to Gundabad though, and he may meet Bolg there. We'll shall see! Anyway, hope you guys like this and tell me what you think!
*Beneath the surface of the Woodland Realm was a dungeon so dark, it would never come to light. This was the dungeon meant for the most dangerous beings that Thranduil has ever apprehended. However, for now there was only one. He was known as Dae, though that was not his real name. Thranduil had given him that name to shame him for his behavior.
Thranduil entered the dungeon, his kingly robes trailed behind him, getting swallowed up in the darkness. There was nothing that even Thranduil could see in this darkness. In the dark, he could hear a throaty growl.
"My king, you've finally come to visit me," a raspy voice said.
"And too late it would seem. You are beyond saving now," Thranduil replied.
"What of my daughter?" Dae sneered. Thranduil allowed an unsettling silence for a few seconds before answering.
"She is dead."
There was a hoarse scream that sounded like a woman in pain during labor. Thranduil's glance jerked in the direction where the screams came from, and he felt grimy, wet hands grab him by the shoulders. Thranduil's back hit the wall.
"This was all your fault! You kept the gem, which led to her doom!" Dae cried.
"The Barrow-Wight within Meleth called for others. The gem had nothing to do with it," Thranduil insisted.
"You only say that because you don't want to face the truth!" Dae shrieked. Thranduil wearily sighed. He easily reached his hand up and gripped Dae's throat.
"Are you saying that the gem would have been better off in your care?" He yelled. Dae cried out in anguish and anger.
"It's…mine! Mine!"
Thranduil dropped in the miserable Elf in disgust and turned away to leave.**
*Tauriel watched Arwen impatiently while she fingered a strip of athelas, otherwise known as kingsfoil. It was a green plant that served as a healing herb. Combined with the healing power of an Elf, it can cure any wound, no matter how fatal or poisoned it was.
"Aren't you going to show me how it's used?" Tauriel asked. Arwen smiled very gently.
"How can I do that? There is no one around that needs treatment. I will teach you through words, but you must learn to do the action yourself when the time comes," Arwen said.
"How is it done?" Tauriel pressed. Arwen frowned, and it was obvious to Tauriel that she noticed how impatient she was, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to know. She wanted to be useful for something in the kingdom.
"By taking a small sample of athelas, press it against the wound, and it will act as an instrument as you command the wound to heal."
"What are the words? What must I say?"
"Say these words, and it will be enough:
Menno o nin na hon
i eliad annen annin
hon leitho o ngurth
May the blessing that was given to me
Be sent from me to him
May he be released from death
Tauriel was struck silent by the words. They were mesmerizing and certainly enchanting. A lot of times, the beauty that was the Elves' culture was taken for granted by the Elves, but Tauriel, despite being an Elf herself, was always fascinated with what she saw and heard. Tauriel pressed her hand against her lips in thought, then realized something.
"You said 'he'. The spell sounds as though it is meant to heal a man," she pointed out. Arwen's expression changed, looking as though she was slightly embarrassed.
"I believe that we as She-Elves are meant to be healers to the males," she said.
If Alagos were here, Arwen would've loved to test her healing abilities for his poisoned leg.**
*Sealed within his private room full of treasure, Thranduil slowly opened up the chest at the far end again. He wanted to have another look at it. The black gem that Meleth's father and mother had been affected by, which also ended up affecting Meleth too.
The gem seemed a little bit brighter than he remembered. It had a slight glow that made Thranduil feel almost sick to his stomach. Thranduil couldn't get his eyes off of it. A sadistic whisper emanated from it.
"What is that?" A young voice asked behind him. Thranduil quickly shut the lid of the chest and turned around to face his son.
"How did you get in?" He asked.
"You left the doors open," Legolas replied. Thranduil turned away from him and his gaze fell to the ground.
"I was too hasty. I just wanted to see it again," he said. Legolas took a step forward.
"The gem?"
Thranduil took his time to answer. "Yes."
"Why do you keep it?"
"Every king needs his own weapon to confront whatever evil crosses our borders," Thranduil said.
"But what of the power it holds? It can serve as a beacon to the darkness."
"Yes it can, and we will face that evil and destroy it. We will become a feared kingdom. No evil no matter how powerful will dare to trespass."
Legolas said nothing in reply.
"May I see it?" He finally asked. Thranduil's eyebrows rose in surprise. He couldn't think of any reason to object. He trusted his son. He opened the chest again and grabbed the gem with a spidery hand, as if he was afraid it would leap out and get away. Thranduil felt the muscles in his wrist twitch.
Without another word, he handed it over to Legolas. Legolas took it and stared at it. He seemed perfectly calm and his expression never changed. There was no twitching or hint of unease. Then suddenly, his expression completely changed. He looked up in horror.
"Dae has broken out."**
*Meleth. Meleth is dead. This is the king's fault. All the king's fault. She must be avenged. The gem must be taken. Get the gem, get the gem, get the gem.
"I'm sorry, Meleth," Dae whispered. With whatever remaining power from the gem he had, Dae had managed to bend the bars of his cell and blow the dungeon's door open. Complete darkness warped into blinding lights. It's too much! It's too much!
"My king! The prisoner!" A voice cried out. Dae screamed as the lights continued to blind his vision, until he couldn't see anymore. He was blind. After ten years in darkness, the lights were too much for him to handle.
Though his physical vision was gone, he could still sense the incoming arrow from the front of him. His hand shot up and he grabbed the arrow before its tip could pierce him. Two guards attempted to grab him by the shoulders. Dae screamed again and hurled himself backwards against the wall, taking the two guards with him. The guards released their hold on him and he ran.
"Thranduil!" He cried out.**
*Legolas already had his bow ready. He knew his father's orders. Take down Dae but don't kill him. That was all fine with him considering that he had made a promise to never kill one of his own kin before. He didn't have to go far from the treasure room. Dae, wearing a tattered, rotten Elf's tunic, came running towards him. A thick line of saliva swung just below his chin. His eyes were wide and unseeing.
"Stop!" Legolas commanded. Dae drew a bloody knife from his belt, which he had apparently stolen from a guard. Legolas pulled out his daggers, twirling them in his hands to familiarize himself with the feel again.
"You don't have to face this threat alone," Thranduil declared next to him. He drew his long sword. Elros and several guards ran up behind Dae.
"Leave him alone. This is our fight," Thranduil commanded. Legolas frowned and looked questioningly at his father.
"Consider this a test," Thranduil defended. Legolas decided to give in and embrace this fight. Dae growled and launched himself at the two Elves, moving deadly fast and with more grace than Legolas would have expected from him. Dae's blade locked with Legolas's daggers crossed before him.
Legolas uncrossed the blades to push Dae back. Dae leaped over Legolas's head, spun around, and aimed a kick at it. Legolas felt the bottom of Dae's foot smash against his forehead. Legolas stumbled back, dropping one of his daggers. Thranduil sprang forward ahead of his son and attempted several brisk swings at Dae's torso, all of which Dae parried as if he knew what Thranduil would do before he even did it.
"Give me back the gem, and this will stop," Dae yelled. The words seemed to anger Thranduil even more, and the two swung and parried at an overwhelming pace. Legolas attempted to swing at Dae's leg to immobilize him like he did with Tharbadir.
Dae saw it coming and stomped down on the blade, wrenching Legolas's hand down with it. Legolas fell off his feet hitting his face against the ground. Bright lights exploded in front of him and his head felt like there was nothing in it. He struggled to get back up, but he then felt a foot stamp him back down.
"Stay down," his father warned him. Then with his foot down on his son's back, he defended him from Dae, parrying swing after swing without ever moving from his position.
"You know I can kill you with no problem, I just choose not to," Thranduil said.
"Then you are a much bigger fool than I thought," Dae replied. He attempted to strike down upon the king's head, but the king managed to swing his blade in a one-eighty. The side of the blade smashed against the bottom of Dae's blade with so much force that it spiraled out of the mad Elf's hand. Thranduil aimed the tip of his sword at the villain's throat. Legolas then saw a small smile slip on his father's expression.
"Go back to your dungeon where you belong, filth," Thranduil said. Dae grinned, revealing missing teeth.
"Tempting, but not my plan," he said. Before either Legolas or Thranduil could see it coming, a small dagger appeared in Dae's hand, and he threw it so that it spun in the air, and the tip of the blade sunk into Thranduil's side.
"Father!" Legolas screamed. Thranduil's foothold on him weakened, allowing Legolas to get up. He threw himself at Dae, knocking him off his feet and pinning him to the ground. Legolas immediately had his blade at the Elf's throat.
"You tempt me to cut your throat every second. Don't tempt me more," he warned. Dae laughed, which was suddenly silenced when Legolas knocked him out cold with a violent strike across the head with the hilt of his dagger.
"Quickly, get my father out of here," Legolas ordered Elros.**
*Among the crowd watching the fight was Tauriel. Tauriel shook from head to toe hearing Meleth's voice in her head again.
"We can't let them do this to my father. They have been keeping my father prisoner. He only wants to get out to find my mother. Please Tauriel, you have to free my father."**
To Be Continued…