A/N: A bit earlier than I said, but I have lots of time to make up for. Thanks to DeLacus, Applejax XD, AdalineXC, brankel1, Raider-K, Kiliforever8, heroherondaletothe resuce, HyacinthiaPheonix, theviolinxx, KD Skywalker and horseyyayfor your reviews! Means a lot and I really missed writing for you all.
Enjoy the chapter!
A Road Less Traveled: Chapter 6
Tauriel quickly ran through the trees with the rest of her scouting party, keeping a careful eye on the forest canopy for any signs of a disturbance. Outside the king's borders, the spiders were bolder and their numbers uncontrolled, especially in the area surrounding Dol Guldur.
They'd been searching for the prince for weeks and still there was no sign of him. He'd simply disappeared without a trace and the king had allocated all of his forces to scouring the kingdom and the forest beyond. Not only had Legolas gone missing, but so had Veryan and Tauriel felt his absence every single day that he was gone.
She sighed as she finally caught up with the rest of the Mirkwood guards, but her musings were short lived as Aearion, her second in command stopped dead in his tracks and quickly unsheathed his sword.
"What happened here?" he whispered to himself, his eyes narrowing as they came upon a scene that could send a chill through the heart of the bravest of creatures. Hanging from the trees were several large cocoons made of spider silk surrounded by what appeared to be the remnants of a battle between the dark, hairy creatures and the group of unfortunate souls that had been unlucky enough to run into them.
"These are elves," Tauriel said concernedly as the party examined the mangled bodies on the forest floor, "They must have become overwhelmed by the spiders."
"These elves are not our kin," confirmed another one of the guards.
"They are not," Tauriel agreed with a perplexed frown, allowing her thoughts to consume her for a moment. She knelt down next to one of the elves, noticing the long, dark hair braided in an unconventional style unseen among the Mirkwood elves. Her eyes roamed away from the paleness of his face towards what remained of the arrows in his quiver.
Tauriel grasped one of the arrows tightly in her hands – these were not Mirkwood arrows. The fletching was unlike any she had ever seen and yet she could not place the origin of the arrow. As though she suddenly remembered where they were, Tauriel stood briskly, still clutching the arrow in her hand.
"Search the area for any more of these fowl creatures," she ordered, "Prepare to bring any survivors back with us so that the healers may see to their injuries."
Aearion nodded and beckoned for some of the guards to join him in scouting the area; the Mirkwood elves would be ready and waiting if the spiders decided to return. In the meantime, Tauriel gathered the rest of the guards and continued to examine the scene of the battle.
She shook her head, recalling several conversations with the king during which she had warned him of the growing strength of the spiders and the evil surrounding the fortress of Dol Guldur. Again and again, he had rebuffed her pleas to allow the Mirkwood guard to attack the creatures at their source - the scene before them was but a confirmation of her fears. What if a day came when they could no longer hold back the spiders? What then? These would be Thranduil's people lying lifeless on the ground.
As she continued to scour the area, Tauriel's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as her eyes caught sight of the familiar yellow fletching of a green arrow shaft buried deep in the side of a spider carcass. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she slowly approached the creature and the moment her hands pulled out the protruding arrow, her fears were confirmed.
"Legolas, Veryan," she said barely above a whisper, forcing back her tears as she ran her fingers over the fletching.
"Tauriel."
The sound of Aearion calling her name brought her back and she quickly swallowed her tears. She showed him the arrow and he pressed his lips into a thin line as he read her thoughts – their finding arrows that belonged to the Mirkwood guard was not a coincidence and yet the scouting party had found no sign of the prince or Veryan among the dead.
"We must return to the King," she said gravely, brushing back a lock of red hair that had come undone from one of her braids, "He will want to see this."
… …
In the great halls of his underground citadel, Thranduil sat on his throne of gnarled tree bark and majestic antlers. For the last several weeks he'd become unusually quiet, consumed by his thoughts and an infectious feeling that gnawed at him from the inside. For the first time since he was told of the attack on Maerwen's convoy several millennia ago, the king was beside himself with worry, though he chose to hide it from his subjects under a mask of silence.
His only son, his only reminder of his departed wife, had disappeared into the night and the worst part of it all was that he had no way of knowing if Legolas was safe or where he could be. They had searched and searched every square inch of the forest and turned up nothing. Not so much as a clue to his whereabouts.
Staring into a void of nothingness, the king secretly blamed himself. He'd been too hard on Legolas and he'd been less than a stellar father. He hadn't even been able to tell his son that he loved him with every fiber of his being. If given the chance now, things would be different. He would make them different.
The sound of Gliron's footsteps on the cold stone floor pulled the King from his thoughts and he willed his sorrow away again until that night when he could reach the safety and solitude of his bedchambers.
"My Lord. Tauriel wishes to speak with you. She says it is urgent."
"Send her in," replied the King with a swift motion of the hand.
Several moments later, the Captain of the Guard entered the large stone hall alone. As she climbed the winding walkway to the throne, the light filtered down from the skylights above into the room, bathing Tauriel's face in its golden warmth and revealing the subtle tear stains on her cheeks.
Thranduil gazed at her curiously and pressed his lips into a thin line. "You said it was urgent."
Tauriel nodded and stepped closer to her King. "We searched the perimeters of Dol Guldur and came across the feasting grounds of some of the spiders. We found the bodies of elven warriors and only a handful of survivors – though our healers say there is very little chance for recovery from the injuries they sustained. It appeared as though their convoy had been ambushed."
For a moment Thranduil said nothing and continued to gaze contemplatively at Tauriel, making her feel slightly uncomfortable.
"These elves were not from Mirkwood," she said finally, exhaling slowly, "I did not recognize their armor nor their weapons-"
"No, you would not," Thranduil began, cutting her off.
Tauriel knit her eyebrows in a puzzled frown, looking to Gliron for explanation but the advisor made a distinct effort to avoid her gaze. What information had they kept from her?
"The Dorwinion King, Aradan, sent a procession to escort his daughter to the Ered Luin where she was to meet her betrothed. Aradan requested safe passage through the forests of Mirkwood through the East Blight," Thranduil said aloofly, "I did not refuse."
As his words resonated, Tauriel felt as though she could not breathe. "I do not understand," she said.
"What is not to understand? The convoy you found originated from Dorwinion."
Tauriel raised her gaze to the meet Thranduil's and as images of the slain elves flooded her memory, she felt herself getting more and more angered.
"You knew," she spat.
Thranduil motioned to Gliron who appeared more and more uncomfortable by the moment. "Leave us," said the King and the advisor did not argue, disappearing almost instantaneously from the large room.
"Of course you knew," Tauriel said, almost disbelievingly, "You despise the Dorwinion elves and you agreed to their passage because you knew what kind of danger awaited them. You knew they would be slaughtered!"
"I did not order their deaths, Tauriel," Thranduil said, his voice taking on a warning tone as he rose from his throne, "I simply gave permission for their convoy to pass through my lands. What happened along their journey and what they encountered was through no fault of mine."
The Captain of the Guard soon found herself face to face with her king, her green eyes and his blue ones challenging one another.
"You share more blame in this than you are willing to admit," Tauriel said, her jaw tightening, "You knew what creatures dwelt in those parts. I'd informed you several times of the danger, asking your permission to clear out the dark fortress and you would not grant it. You granted them passage through your lands but you did not warn them! You sent them to their deaths."
The last words struck Thranduil like a knife and he nearly recoiled from the anger in her voice.
"I simply afforded Aradan's people the same courtesy that he would have afforded mine," his voice of velvet now resonated throughout the hall as his own anger rose, "Do not dare question me Tauriel. I took you in, ensured that you were cared for and I gave you your post. I can easily take it away and banish you from all that you know. Tread carefully."
In the face of his threat, Tauriel reached back into her quiver and cradled in her hands an arrow with a green shaft and yellow fletching with black spider's blood dried on the tip. Thranduil's anger soon gave way to perplexity as she handed it to him.
"We found this at the site of the massacre, buried deep into the carcass of one of the spiders," she said meeting the King's gaze as he slowly took the arrow into his hands, "This is one of ours."
For a moment Thranduil said nothing as every single fear imaginable overwhelmed him. The yellow and green seemed to meld together and as his eyes took in the crusted black blood, all he could think about was Legolas.
It took everything he had in that moment not to fall to his knees.
As though reading his mind, Tauriel bit her lip and found herself holding back a fresh wave of tears. "You had better hope that you did not send Legolas and Veryan to their deaths in your attempt to show Mirkwood courtesy to Aradan's people," she spat, quickly turning away as Thranduil's traditionally unreadable features began to show more visible signs of distress.
As soon as she'd reached the safety of her chambers, Tauriel slumped down against the wall. An incredible ache weighed heavily on her heart and she buried her face in her hands as the tears became uncontrollable.
… …
A/N: I know this was a short one by my standards, but I felt like these scenes were sort of stand-alone. I also wanted to give you guys an update sooner and develop some of the other characters a bit more.
Would love to hear what you think so please review! I'll be updating again within the week!
Also, don't forget to check out one of my favourite Lotr fanfics: Reflections Remixed by KD Skywalker. She's going back and editing an already amazing story as well as adding new depth to the plotline. It is truly well worth the read!