When I awoke again I was still in Maera's room but she was no where to be found, my head ached as I lifted myself off the floor, concerned for my friend's welfare but confused as to how I had ended up on the floor with a rather large bump on my head. Looking around I found that the room was still intact although it appeared as though some of the more valuable knick-knacks that usually graced the smooth wooden shelves were now missing, leaving behind a dust mark of where they had once stood. Immediately I feared kidnapping and theft as a possible motive for my headache and for her absence but vaguely, in the shadows of my groggy mind I remembered someone else in the room. I could not for the life of me describe the person who had been there, only remembering the flash in the mirror before my untimely unconsciousness. Immediately alarm bells went off in my head, I had no idea how long I had been out and I was sure that something was wrong, I strode to the door of her room and dashed into the hallway. I found the hallway, that was normally quiet due to its unoccupied status, was filled with the sounds of guards talking, my head pounded for a moment in the din.
"You there!" I heard a voice calling to me. I ducked my head but realized too late that there was no where to go. "Did you see the woman in the red cloak?"
Red cloak? They must be talking about Maera. "No, although this is her set of rooms." I replied.
"You are her escort." A man dressed in a silver tunic and black leggings strode up to me. "Where did she go?"
"I am unaware of her whereabouts." I replied, a grimace tightening my lips. I knew this man from before, once again I am face to face with the prince, I bowed low in deference.
"I know that you follow the red cloaked woman everywhere." His voice seemed to have an edge of accusation.
"On regular occasions, yes. It appears though, that is no ordinary occasion."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Not a moment ago I rose from the floor of her dressing room with a pounding headache and confusion unlike I have felt before."
"She knocked you out?" The prince seemed incredulous. "You are a guard of Mirkwood and a simple woman knocked you out."
"No, sir." I replied, my fingers curling into fists. "I was knocked out by another I had not seen until it was too late."
"You believe she has been kidnapped then?"
I pondered that question for a moment, although the strange person knocking me out indicated that this might be a kidnapping, the way she had looked at me, and the words she had spoken previously lead me to another conclusion. One that causes the bottom of my stomach to drop out.
"I do not claim to know, sir." I know that my face is paling with the lie.
I watch his eyes narrow in suspicion. "You will assist in the search then."
I nod, watching him turn back down to the exit of the hallway, the gathering of guards around him following him at his hand wave. I follow them as well although I choose to hold myself back, I know that if I wish to find Maera before they do, I have to find a way to sneak away. At the end of the hall, the crowd splits into groups and I follow the one that doesn't have the prince at the head, knowing that it would be easier to disappear if his sharply trained eyes were not following my every move. At the juncture to the kitchens I slip unseen into a darkened hallway I know leads into a private garden, I wait until the thundering of boots fades away and slip silently down to the double doors at the end of the corridor. From my years of working in the palace I know that this is one of a few ways one may leave the palace grounds without anyone being the wiser, it was infact the one Maera and I used to slip out into the forest when we should have been working. I prayed to the Valar that she knew not the other ways and would be here, prayed that she would not be found before I could speak to her.
I waited at the doors, listening to the sounds of the garden outside, waiting for any sign of life. I closed my eyes and pushed my hearing to the limits, blocking out the sound my heartbeat so that I may hear any subtle clues. I was rewarded after a few moments as I heard the scuffle of a leather boot on the smooth stones of the winding path within the garden. Slipping out, I had to avoid lamp light that split it ethereal glow to avoid being detected by whoever was stealing into the night. I spotted two figures almost at once, both wrapped in thick cloaks to avoid the chilled air of night, they appeared to holding hands and whispering. I moved closer, staying close to the bushes that lined the path.
"Maera!" I hissed quietly.
"Lilith!" she gasped.
"Who is there?" The other figure spoke, the voice of a man coming from the shadowed depth of the hood.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh Lilith." The crimson cloaked figure moved closer to me, careful to stay out of sight of the windows. "You don't understand, I have to leave."
"Leave?" I replied.
"Kendahl and I are leaving the palace tonight." She said, her voice wavering slightly.
"Who is Kendahl?"
"That would be me, stranger." The other figure spoke.
"We are in love, Lilith and we are fleeing the palace."
"Love? When would you have had time to fall in love?"
Maera scoffed at my disbelief and clung to Kendahl, I looked to the two with confusion, when would she have had time to meet him let alone fall in love when both of us were forbidden to show our faces within the palace. "He's a guard."
"A guard?! Have you lost your senses?"
She sighed in the shadows. "I cannot discuss this further, find us in the village when you have a chance."
All three of us froze as the sound of footfalls storming into the gardens, Maera looking to me as though I had betrayed her, and although she could not see my face through the mask, I must have a similar expression at her leaving without so much as a goodbye.
"Stop! You three!"
Maera grasped her thick robe and skirts and must have intended to make a dash through
the bushes but was stopped by my own hand as I reached out and grasped her upper arm with steely resolve. She tilted her face to me but I could not look her in the eyes. She would not understand why I had stopped her, and I hoped against all hope that she might forgive this, but I could not let her run away knowing that she would be hunted in her own forests. Running from servitude to a royal family in any position was an offense close to treason, as it implied that said servitude was unjust and spoke volumes of a royal family. For all the years I had been in this position I had never even considered the possibility, the very idea of upholding law ingrained so deeply in my core that even our deep friendship could not unroot it.
"Please…" she pleaded, I could see her eyes watering in my peripherals.
I looked the guards surround us, the prince who watched the scene with suspicion, his eyes not missing any movement from any of us. "I will escort her." I said to him, my eyes catching his, he nodded once and gestured for the Kendahl to be taken away as well.
"Why are you doing this?" She whispers to me softly.
"You do not understand the full repercussions of your decision."
"Have you not felt love?" She asked of me.
I chose to ignore the question in favor of following the precession of guards, not bearing to look at the woman I held close in my heart. It was unsurprising to both of us that we were being brought to throne room, to my mind it only made sense that the king himself would pass judgement on the woman he had been intimate with. The room itself was unchanged, still presided over by a throne of antlers but the king was not seated in said throne by standing at the bottom of the dais with his signature look of disinterest. Like the room, the man remained unchanged even though years had passed since I had looked upon his countenance.
"All but the three may remain within these chambers."
I stood between the man and Maera, my helm hiding my intimidated look. Without question, the rest of the guards and the prince left, closing the door in such a way that brought the memory of our first fateful visit here that had changed both of us. He looked to Maera with disdain.
"You planned to run." This was said as a statement and not a question.
"I cannot live like this any longer." She asked meekly, so uncharacteristic of the woman I knew.
"This much is obvious." he paused to consider the man. "You are a guard within my home."
This was a surprise to me as I had never seen this man before. "I am, my liege." He knelt to the ground before the king.
"Maera, Captain. Your crimes against this house are grevious."
"Love is considered a crime?" She spoke softly.
"I care not that you consider yourselves in love, I care that you chose to run from this place with intimate knowledge of this kingdom and of my personage without first informing me of your intentions."
"I knew that you would not let me leave this place."
"You are correct, I couldn't let you leave, but I could've let you leave your service."
"There is nothing for me here but rumors and snide gossip."
He seemed to think on this for a moment. "This is akin to treason."
I held my breath, I knew what the punishment was for this crime. "Your majesty."
The king looked to me, peering through the openings in my helm where my eyes stared out back at him, he seemed to remember for a moment that I was here as well. "When I found them they were discussing returning to the palace." I lied.
Maera looked at me sharply. "Is this true, Maera?"
"Yes, it is, my liege." The man spoke again, backing up my lie.
The king's eyes never left my own, I felt gooseflesh rise all over my skin as he smirked. "Perhaps you speak truth, but you must be punished. I believe a century or two within the dungeons should be appropriate for the crime." he paused again. "Separate, of course. To see if this love the two of you share will stand the test of time."
"But that is cruel!" Maera exclaimed. I agreed, this seemed to be a far from fair punishment.
"You have betrayed my trust, my home and have shared yourself intimately with another in my employ when you were expressly forbade."
"My liege…" my voice trailed off, trapped in my throat. "...can there be any other way?"
"Who are you to question how I punish?" he asked, his lips thinning.
"I am only her personal servant, sir, been at her side for as long as she has resided here."
"So you know of her position?"
"You appointed me directly sir, as her escort, guard and handmaiden."
He raised one silvery eyebrow at me. "Remove your helmet."
I hesitated. I was not the same elf who had come before him in her youth, but it was an order from my king and I could not disobey it, removing my hand from Maera I lifted my helm from my head and shook out the raven tresses that fell.
"Ah, yes. I remember you. The meek girl who followed her everywhere."
"Yes, my liege."
"I remember when the two of you last came before me, you accused of theft and her taking the punishment for you." I cringed. "Now we have come full circle but instead it is Maera who must answer."
"As she has taken my punishment on herself, so must I offer myself to take hers."
"Interesting." He said, reaching a hand towards me to pull a lock of hair from my shoulder. "Alright, since I have given leeway once before, so must I again. Maera and Kendahl, you may leave the palace with the knowledge that should you ever divulge any of what you have learned here, you will be hunted down and you will face punishment. With this, I also decree that both of you are banished from my lands, never to set foot here again."
"Your majesty!" Kendahl rose from his kneeling position at last, shouting.
"Be silent!" the king replied. "Both of you are stripped of all of your titles, but I will be kind and allow you to take your possessions with you."
"Thank you." Maera whispered, looking at me.
"You are both dismissed."
I stood my ground, wishing that I could have remained unconscious as the lovers past me and left the throne room, my heart broke knowing that I would never see my dear friend again but our pact was fulfilled and her path now lit. My hands trembled as I clasped them loosely behind my back, facing the king with a blank expression.
"Remove your armor." He ordered me.
In my mind I knew he intended to strip me of my guard status, that as a prisoner within the dungeons I was in no need of such armor. Placing my helm upon the ground I began to pull on the buckles and straps that held my leather jerkin in place and placed that on the ground as well, next I removed my belt, pulling the knives I had strapped there and placing them beside it. Once I was divested of all of my weapons and was now clothed only in my leather boots, pants and a green shirt that had been tailored to my body as well as to be worn under my armor. I looked to him, watched him cross to the throne and sit upon it, resting his head on his hand as he watched me.
"Continue." He said simply.
I stood floundering in my confusion, did he wish for me to remove all of my clothing? "My liege…"
"I said remove your armor, all of it."
The question now answered, I frowned by knelt to the ground pulling on the lacings of my boots and pulling them from my stockinged feet which soon after were removed as well. I struggled with myself for a moment as I reached for the lacings of my pants, a heat was rising with my chest and in my face. I felt embarrassed for my current predicament, that much was obvious, but there was also an unknown emotion rising within my body that I could not begin to understand. I stipped the pants methodically, pulling them down muscled thighs and calves with the expertise of one who did this regularly. A felt a chill on my now bare legs and wondering what the king's expressive eyes saw, but I banished this thought and finally removed the thin shirt to reveal what was underneath. I was considered rather shy, not bathing with other elven women, not undressing before anyone other than my own mother, and this is perhaps why I always wore bindings around my full chest and a piece of makeshift underclothing to cover the vital parts of my womanhood.
"You have grown since the last time I have seen you." He said as his eyes wandered along my straightened form. "I remember the slip of a girl you were, barely out of your majority."
"Yes, your majesty."
"With a Maera's position now vacated, I propose a new idea. Instead of imprisonment as I suggested, perhaps you would prefer her position instead."
A blush stained my cheeks, I knew what position he was offering me and for a moment I almost denied it out of hand, but I had seen the dungeons of this palace, albeit accidentally, but still the memory brought a shiver to my body. I did not know for sure if I could stand a century trapped in stone without a window with which to see my beloved forest hearing the moans of the abandoned. The alternative was one I had never considered for myself, seeing the misery that it had put my friend through, but it was one that I was now moving through my mind.
"Well, what say you."
"I-I accept." I said demurely.
"Good. I'll escort you to your new quarters myself." He rose from the throne and walked towards me with a smile on his beautiful face.
I turned to follow him as he glided past me but was stopped short when he paused and turned back to me, tilting his head. "Seal the deal…" he voice was breathy for a moment. "...with a kiss."
I had but a moment to prepare before the king's lips slanted across my own with a passion I had not known possible, their softness akin to pillows but the feeling was disorienting. It was over before I knew and soon I was following him down a new path.
