Sooo lovelies, I have a bit of bad news for you. I have no idea when I'll upload the next chapter. Exams start on Monday so the next three weeks will be kind of hectic for me. I'll do my best to keep my one-chapter-per-week rhythm, but I can't promise anything given how much we have to study.
But for now, enjoy this chapter, darlings, and don't forget to toss me a little review :D
P.S. Every The Hobbit character belongs to Sir J.R.R. Tolkien; I only own Faelwen :)
9. Kings and Lords
In the deathly silence which had befallen the crowd gathered around him, his painful shout of anger and despair rang out over the desolate remains of Lake-town still burning on the water.
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"There are people on the lakeshore."
Turning his azure gaze to where Legolas was pointing, the Elvenking finally motioned his army to move and steered the moose toward the crowd. Though his face did not show it, he was joyous in his heart at the dragon's fall and felt grateful that he had been there to see it. He would offer his help to the survivors of Lake-town as payment for their deed.
Soon after approaching, the crowd began to part to make way for him until at long last he set his gaze upon Bard and the female he was holding... and his eyes widened as his heart cringed at the sight. And then he dismounted and approached on foot, whilst Tauriel walked to Legolas once the young prince had left his horse as well.
"What happened?" he asked.
"She... she fell with the dragon..." the she-Elf replied in sorrow.
Shying away beneath Legolas' shocked glance, the redhead turned her eyes to where Thranduil had knelt onto the grass after Bard had set Faelwen down again, the crowd now murmuring in regards to his unexpected presence there.
For a moment even the Elvenking's expression betrayed a shade of shocked grief; but then he set a hand upon the woman's forehead, the other embracing her slender fingers in warmth whilst he closed his eyes. And next to him Bard was silently watching and praying, knowing that Thranduil was now the only one who could save her.
Sure enough, a few moments later the young woman's chest began to heave and her body started shivering from the cold, and Bard found himself unable to hold back a smile.
Upon opening his eyes, Thranduil briefly pulled the blanket aside to check for wounds whilst Faelwen slowly opened her own eyes, staring at the blond Elf leaning over her.
"My Lord..." she whispered, making him turn his eyes to her.
By his expression, she would have to endure quite the scolding when she felt better. But for now the Elvenking settled for looking over to Bard with a light nod and moving to his feet.
"Set up tents for these people. Send a group back to Mirkwood to bring food and water. Bring healers with you as well and new clothes." he said to one of the nearby Elves who now rushed to fulfill his order.
Looking up from Faelwen, Bard exhaled a relieved sigh.
"Thank you, my Lord." he replied, utterly grateful that he would not have to watch his people starve and freeze to death.
"Esgaroth has always been in good relations with my people."
With that unreadable reply, Thranduil now walked away to rejoin his army whilst Bard again gathered the she-Elf in his arms.
"There are no words to say how happy I am right now..." he whispered.
"Indeed..." she replied, pressing her lips to his still wet cheek whilst he stroked her hair. "But you saved them..."
Opening his eyes, the bargeman now turned his teary gaze to the burning ruins.
"Not all of them..."
Leaning back to sight his expression, the she-Elf took to caressing his cheek.
"You saved as many as you could... no one will hold you guilty for those who died."
"My Lord?"
Looking up at the unfamiliar voice, Bard sighted a dark haired Elf standing nearby.
"Lady Faelwen's tent is ready." he said gently.
Nodding, the bargeman now stood while cradling the woman and moved to walk past the young warrior.
"I am no Lord..." he replied with a faint smile, leaving a puzzled Elf in his wake.
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"You're alright!"
The next thing Faelwen knew, she was nearly thrown back when Tilda lunged herself in the she-Elf's arms where Bard had set her down onto thick blankets. Smiling warmly, the woman set her arms around the small girl whilst Tilda curled up in her lap.
"Forgive me if I frightened you..."
"Da!"
Looking up once more, to sight Sigrid and Bain embracing Bard, Faelwen again smiled; her humor took a turn for confusion, however, when the two elder children then embraced her along with their sister.
"We were so worried." Sigrid breathed out in relief.
"We thought the dragon was going to kill you both." Bain agreed.
Sighting Bard's warm smile and the loving shade in his eyes as he watched them, the she-Elf ultimately set her arms around the two elder siblings while Tilda cuddled to her chest in between them.
"Thank you..." she said softly.
It was a few moments later that Legolas entered the tent, stopping in his tracks at the sight before him.
"Come on... let's leave her to rest." Bard said reaching to retrieve Tilda.
Stepping aside, Legolas nodded in return when Bain and Sigrid bowed to him before leaving the tent, whilst Tilda waved to Faelwen over her father's shoulder.
"Thank you..."
Stopping in his tracks at Legolas' words, Bard now turned his puzzled gaze to the young prince who met his eyes with his own.
"She is as a sister to me... and I am grateful that you saved her."
Lightly bowing his head with a shade of smile, the dark haired male finally left the tent as well while Legolas approached Faelwen.
"My father is quite upset with you... as happy as he is that you're alive."
"I expected that much from him." she replied with a soft chuckle.
Though Legolas opened his mouth to speak again, his gaze was now drawn to the entrance where Tauriel dashed inside, her expression still concerned.
"My Lady..." she breathed in relief upon seeing Faelwen alive.
"It's alright, Tauriel..." the she-Elf replied, holding out a hand which the redhead grasped with a relieved smile as she knelt next to the blankets.
Silence lingered between the three Elves for a few moments, before Faelwen chose to speak again.
"Where are the Dwarves?"
Indeed, she didn't recall seeing them on the lakeside and when Tauriel's expression took a turn for sorrow, her heart cringed.
"They left shortly after the bowman shot Smaug. I tried to convince them otherwise, but they said they wished to reach the Mountain and see the halls of their fathers."
"My father is leading the army there..."
Startled by Legolas' reply, Faelwen set her azure gaze upon the young prince.
"Why?" she breathed out in horror at the idea of a battle.
"To reclaim something that belongs to him... at least that is what he told me."
Again silence veiled them briefly, before Faelwen stumbled to her feet; fatigue still had a strong dominion over her body, but still she pushed herself onwards.
"What are you doing?" Legolas called out, following her as she left the tent.
"I will not let him start a war!" she hissed.
Her loud reply drew Bard's attention, as the male had just stepped out of his tent after changing into the dry clothes Sigrid had taken for him before leaving the house.
"Faelwen..."
Ignoring the blond prince's attempt at appeasing her, the female turned her back on him and walked to where the Elves had just finished setting up the king's tent.
"What happened?" Bard asked upon catching up to her.
"He means to take his army to Erebor."
When exhaustion caused her to trip on her own legs, the bargeman set his arms around her to hold her up.
"Faelwen, you need to rest... you are in no condition to speak to anyone of anything right now."
"Just come with me..." she pleaded, lightly squeezing his arm.
Sighing in defeat, the male nodded with an amused huff.
"I don't believe I've ever met a more stubborn Elf."
"My uncle often tells me I'm as stubborn as a Dwarf." she replied with a light smile. "But I believe that's a good thing."
"One can only hope..." he retorted humorously.
Ultimately her lips curved into a grin and soon enough the pair arrived at the large entrance to Thranduil's tent. With the two guards bowing lightly to her, she nudged Bard to follow her inside.
"Ah, good... I wanted to see you." the Elvenking stated before Faelwen could utter a word.
When he glanced at Bard and the male tried to leave – understanding that Thranduil desired some time alone with the girl – Faelwen grasped his arm.
"Please do not send him away, my Lord."
Returning his sapphire gaze to her, the Sindar Elf pressed his lips together in annoyance.
"Very well... then I will scold you in front of him."
With the young woman lowering her eyes, he watched as Bard slipped his hand in hers whilst Faelwen eagerly returned his grasp, lacing her fingers with his. Ultimately deciding against his initial desire, he somewhat softened his expression.
"Can you imagine how worried I was, when you did not return from the forest?" he said softly, his tone betraying a sorrowful shade beyond its warmth. "You know of the darkness that lies in Dol Guldur... how could you leave without telling anyone?"
"My Lord, I know what I did was wrong..." she replied, finally raising her gaze. "But it wasn't all wrong... I left to save the Dwarves' lives. Had I not done it, Smaug would still be lurking in that mountain now."
"You almost died tonight... do you know the pain you would have caused Elrond, had you perished here? You are as his own daughter."
Clenching her jaw as tears twinkled in her eyes at the mention of her uncle, Faelwen ultimately hung her head before the Elvenking. The only thing to give her enough courage to answer was the warmth of Bard's strong yet gentle grasp on her hand and the harsh but pleasant touch of his calloused palm.
"I did what I judged to be right, my Lord. And my heart weeps for each man, woman and child who died in Esgaroth tonight, because of the events I set in motion when I kept the Dwarves alive."
"No..."
With both Elves setting eyes upon him, Bard frowned lightly as he fixed the woman's gaze with his own.
"This is not your fault... I heard your attempt to stop them; to make them understand the doom they would bring upon us. Don't bear the weight of the dead... it's not yours to carry."
Silently watching the two, Thranduil found himself with mixed feelings in the face of the obvious; while he disliked the fact that he had failed to convince Legolas to marry Faelwen, he cared too much for her so as to not rejoice in the fact that she had found a good man to love. What he could not deny was that Bard so strongly reminded him of another Man... a Man whose humility, despite his royal bloodline, made him so admirable... a Ranger – by his name Aragorn, son of Arathorn.
"I wish to speak to the ruler of these people." he finally said, looking to the bargeman. "If you are he, stay... if not, then bring him to me."
Before Bard could reply, the sounds of a commotion broke outside mere moments before the Master burst into the tent.
"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" he snapped at the guards who had been trying to keep him outside.
"Leave him." Thranduil replied, and both soldiers bowed before swiftly leaving the tent. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Oh, my Lord... I am the Master of Lake-town." the fat male replied with a courteous bow, whilst casting a murderous glare Bard's way.
"Pay this old fool no heed, my Lord." Faelwen stated with a stern expression.
When Thranduil arched a brow and glanced her way, the Master gulped and forced a smile onto his face.
"My Lord, I speak the truth... Bard can tell you."
Visibly flinching when Faelwen set her piercing gaze upon him with narrowed eyes, the male then looked to Bard who went to answer only to have Faelwen grasp his chin and turn his face back to her.
"Do not deny your bloodline... that is a far more shameful act than what this fool has done." she pleaded.
"Faelwen..."
Looking to Thranduil when he called out to her on that ever so slightly scolding tone, the young woman then once more glanced to Bard with a begging shade in her eyes. Ultimately sighing, the bargeman stepped forward and set his eyes upon the Elvenking.
"I am Bard of Esgaroth... and I am descended from Girion, Lord of Dale." he stated humbly.
"Then you are the one I will speak to." Thranduil replied.
At his words the two guards returned and the blond king merely gestured with his hand, watching as the two soldiers grabbed the redheaded male and dragged him outside, ignoring his vehement protests.
"Come..." the Elvenking now said, gesturing to the back of the tent where a few armchairs had been placed.
Offering Bard an encouraging smile, Faelwen then moved to follow the two males, only halting to stand at the bargeman's side after he seated himself; leaning his elbow onto the chair's arm, the young male now gently grasped the hand she had set onto his shoulder, although his focus turned to Thranduil.
"Now... tell me everything that happened." the Sindar king requested, leaning back into his own chair.
Sooo today's replies for my darlings :D
1. Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967 - I agree, a lot of scenes were very startling and abrupt, but it was still a great movie, for what it was. As much as I complained in my review about all those things, in the end I'll still buy the movie on DVD and complete my collection and watch it again each time I do a Hobbit marathon.
2. SuperNaturalxxFreak - I know, I'm a visual person myself so after watching all three movies I can much more easily picture each scene as I write it, because now I have an actual face to stick to each character so that makes it a lot easier.
And I'm so glad we discussed the movie so much, actually. I always love discussing movies with friends and some of them have told me that I should make a tumblr or another kind of blog with movie reviews. The problem is I usually do reviews with spoilers and all, so I'm not sure that would be a good idea. But who knows? I have a tumblr that I haven't used so far, except to follow some blogs. So who knows?
3. Shiva - Because I am Sauron in disguise... no, really, because I'm evil~ :D
Joke aside, I always love good cliffhangers; I love to hate them. So I always try to make good cliffhangers for my stories, because that's what keeps people hooked. The sensation they get from a good cliffhanger, that leaves them wanting more and wanting to know what happens next. It's harder than it seems to do that for a story where pretty much everyone knows how it'll end, but I'm hoping that I've done a decent job so far.
4. Guest - Haha I actually liked Legolas in The Hobbit trilogy; he was much better than I expected. And yes, I know he's not in the book but I kind of feel like he had to be there, because his father was an important part of this story, so it would have probably seemed a bit too awkward if he was nowhere to be seen. So I don't really mind that they added Legolas to the story... Tauriel... yeah, she wasn't really needed for the story and I probably would've liked Kili more as well, if she hadn't been around. I do wish Legolas would've been this badass in The Lord of the Rings movies too, that would have made for such an epic trilogy.
And sorry, I know I talked a lot about Alfrid; I actually didn't even realize how much I complained about him, because I felt like there were so many things to complain about, related to him xD
5. gostcat - Muahahahaha mission accomplished :D
But seriously, I'm so glad to hear you liked the story so far and that you're so emotionally invested in it. And thank you so much for the heartwarming compliment, darling. And no worries, I'll definitely keep writing, I love writing stories too much to just drop it ;)
6. ViolaPearl - Oh my God, darling, you have ruined my life and I love you for it :D
But first things first, I'm so happy to hear you liked the last chapter. I was actually a bit afraid that I'd written a scene for Smaug that was too long, and that people would feel as if the fight was dragging along. So I'm really glad people seem to have loved the 3 chapter conflict between Bard and Smaug. And I know, I feel a bit sad that he had to die, too, but ultimately he was pure evil so no chance of redemption for him whatsoever.
But yes, I have taken your advice and watched the three seasons for Sherlock; and darling, let me tell you that I LOVED it. Ben and Martin have such great chemistry (not unlike RDJ and Jude Law actually) and it was deliciously fun to watch Sherlock Holmes fiddling with an iPhone or a laptop instead of pen and paper. While I still love RDJ's take, Ben was just wonderful in this role.
I think it's not far from the truth to say that RDJ's version of Sherlock Holmes is the best Victorian London Sherlock rendition for the screen, while Ben's take on the character is the perfect version for a modern-day setting Sherlock.
But yes, I loved it and I loved Ben in that role, and Martin finally got to use his dry humor to the fullest and he was wonderful. And I loved Rupert Graves as Lestrade, he was the perfect pick for the role. I actually had to do some research to see why he looked so familiar to me, and finally I realized that I knew him from the 1999 four-part TV mini-series Cleopatra, as Octavian, Caesar's adopted heir.
But to keep my rant short, I probably love this Sherlock series much more than I should. They took quite a risk with making a younger Sherlock AND a modern-day Sherlock at the same time, but it paid off; it's wonderful.
7. guest - Ask and thou shalt receive :D
But joke aside, I'm really glad that you enjoyed the story so far. Hope you enjoy this chapter, darling, and that I'll hear again from you soon :)
So these are my replies for today. Cheers, lovelies~ ( ˘ ³˘)❤