Chapter 37: The Elvenking's Halls

Not re-read yet so please excuse any mistakes, I just wanted to get this posted as soon as it was done seeing as it has been so long since the last update.

Only Gloin, who had apparently been somewhat awake still, sprang to his feet (if a bit shakily) with a roar.

Before he had even fully straightened an elf was before him and a sharp arrow inches from his nose.

"Do not think I will not kill you, dwarf!"

Gloin froze as still as Dwalin, the expression on his face murderous.

"Who dares wander so far into the woodland kings' realm without leave? State your name and purpose in these parts." The elf did not lower his arrow.

All around the elves in the trees dropped to the ground, armed with their bows and spears and silver knives. They stayed silent and still, and watched the speaker of their group as he stood before the red-haired dwarf. Bella watched too with baited breath, praying that-

"Give me your name, princess, and I shall give you mine."

Bella suppressed a groan, eyes closing in dread.

...That exactly that wouldn't happen.

The speaker, without a doubt the leader of the group of elves, was not impressed.

He was a strong figure with an air of importance about him, light haired and fair faced. He had addressed them first with only slight disdain in his voice and notable dislike on his face, for he was not overly fond of dwarves in general and did not favour trespassers in the realm of his King, yet still attempted to regard them as he would if they were of any other race, impassive as he could be when faced with dwarves. Though he had spoken demandingly he had spoken civilly, something a dwarf in his place would not do. Gloin's stupid words had vanished that civility in the blink of an eye.

Immediately the elf's eyes were cold and dangerous, and his icy tone took on a threatening quality as he glared down at the dwarf. "Unless you are to answer my questions you would do well to remain silent."

Gloin glared and looked like he was teetering on the verge of spilling forth a torrent of filthy curses, but much to Bella's relief he did not open his mouth and say something to further anger the elf. He grudgingly kept all that he'd like to say to himself.

After a few moments of waiting to see if either the dwarf he had addressed or the one standing nearby would answer passed in silence the elf sharply turned his back on them and began to walk away.

Bella saw how Gloin tensed as he was dismissed in such a way: as if he posed no threat whatsoever and held no standing on the situation. It was an insult to his pride, and his anger was fuelled by the knowledge that here and now, he truly wasn't a threat. Dwalin looked no happier.

The elf spoke orders to his patrol which were quickly followed without question.

"Wake them, get them on their feet and bind them. We take them to the king."

And so the unaware company was awoken from their slumber. Eyes opened blearily and looks of utter confusion spread over exhausted faces as they were each hauled to their feet, half conscious and wanting to be left be. They struggled weakly in their confusion and fear, and a pang went through Bella's chest as they twisted and turned with wide eyed panic.

The fair elf turned to spare a glance at where Gloin and Dwalin stood, and addressed them momentarily.

"You are our prisoners now, and are as such prisoners of Thranduil." He spoke evenly as he watched them be tied.

"I am Legolas, Prince of the land you now trespass in. You may deny to answer me here, it matters little as my actions shall not be changed either way, but you will answer to the King. I suggest you rethink your replies before then, for they will not be brushed off so lightly."

And so they were all of them bound (all except Bella of course), hands tied with elvish rope behind their backs and their obvious weapons taken from them. With that they were pulled along and away through the woods in a long line, elves on either side and in front and behind, and every dwarf looking as glum as could be.

Bella waited a few moments before following behind at a suitable distance.

She glanced up at the sky and hesitated. Thorin was still out there, unless the elves already had him or he had fallen into the spiders' grasp. It was with a heavy heart that she carried on through the forest.

To the halls of the Elvenking, it seemed, was where her path was to lead her next.

Thankfully the elves did not hear her or sense her presence, and she followed them for many a mile without being noticed at all.

They travelled slowly – the dwarves did not have the strength to walk very fast, for which Bella was grateful, as neither did she. They just plodded on and on, for much too long on too little energy, until finally they came to the King's palace.

It rose up high above the trees, a hill of unworked rock onto which guard posts had been built. On it trees grew, and they twisted around and in and out of it, their vast trunks built into the walls themselves in places. An entrance way of sorts clear of trees led to tall gates, which were opened at their approach, and to walk through the gates one first had to cross a wide bridge over a swirling river. Bella spent a moment too long looking down, nearly not slipping through the gates in time before they slammed shut after the group.

Inside was not what Bella had imagined at all, but then she was not too sure what she had been imagining, and had only thought briefly of Rivendell – it was the only experience of elvish living she had ever had. The home of the Wood elves, of course, was quite different from the house of Lord Elrond.

Bella almost stumbled. All her breath was knocked out of her at the sight and she had to stop and gaze in awe.

Before her spread a giant cavern, an endless wonder that stretched on as far as the eye could see. It was constructed of rock and wood, and lit by the sunlight that streamed through openings in the cave walls and ceiling.

A giant network of caverns naturally hollowed, supported by tall pillars sculpted by the elves that rose to the roof. Bridges of stone and huge fallen tree trunks created walkways, and below them water that had escaped and taken different paths to the main river rushed and fell over the rocks. The carvings decorating the pillars and bridges were not detailed as such, but twisted as if they were the roots of trees turned to stone, and made the whole place seem very much a living part of the forest. From the high ceiling hung lamps to shed what light the sun could not bring; they burned like stars and cast an orange glow that seemed to warm the air despite the cold chill of autumn. Bella had to shake herself not to fall behind.

They were led over bridges, by a large fall that left Bella's face damp with the spray of the water, up long flights of stone stairs that took them through the walls of rock that separated cavern from cavern. On they were marched, far into the Elvenking's palace.

The passages twisted and turned, though were wide enough for many to pass at once. Elves making their own ways through the palace ran into them on their trek, bowing their heads to the leader of the group and sending the dwarves odd looks as they went by, watching out of the corners of their eyes but not stopping to stare or even slowing their pace.

It seemed like a long journey, though it probably wasn't so far at all. The place was enormous. It made Bella feel, once more, very small. So very very small.

The further in to the halls the more like a dwelling that was lived in the place became. The passages became more connected, closer together - linked like the hallways of a house. The stone walls became smoother, meeting elves in the corridors became more common. At the end of passages leading off from the one they walked along Bella caught glimpses of doors that lead to rooms, and when a side of the passage opened up and allowed her to look across a cavern to its other sides she saw balconies and elves standing on them.

Soon though, for all of Bella's fascination, things began to pass in a blur. Further and further: they were in front of large doors, led into a giant hall, brought to stand before the throne of the woodland King.

And suddenly there he was. Thranduil, the ruler of Mirkwood.

The elf that slouched (gracefully slouched, but slouched none the less) upon his throne spared them an almost disregarding glance, seemingly unsurprised and unbothered by their appearance, and the leader of the group of elves that had brought them there stepped forward to speak quiet words to him that Bella did not attempt to overhear.

He was a cold figure, Thranduil, with a face seemingly blank of all emotion and an icy gaze that inspected those brought before him and missed nothing. Sat upon a seat of complexly carved wood that resembled the great antlers of a giant beast, and on his head a crown of autumn leaves, his presence filled the entire hall.

He was tall, imposing, with light hair and blue eyes and a face fairer and younger than it should have been for all his years and for all the horrors he had seen over them. He did not possess that air that Lord Elrond had, that air that spoke of wisdom, but his face held an intelligence and his gaze a surety that told of many hundreds of years of experience of the world and knowledge of what it could bring. A boldness that did not seem unjust, he appeared unmoveable to all around him.

He addressed them, his voice steady and clear and cold.

...So this was how a King looked, with his kingdom and his throne and crown. Regal, dignified...

The head of the patrol that had captured them stood at the side of the King's throne and observed. Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood. Indeed, he held quite a resemblance to his father, though their difference in age was clear in their manner.

She did not catch most of what the Woodland King said, and truth be told neither did the dwarves.

Thranduil asked them what they were doing in his forest, why they had entered it at all, what their purpose was. He was met with shoulders slumped in exhaustion, dull eyes and weak expressions of dislike. No one spoke until Balin - tired and weary and looking so so very old - stepped forward and answered.

He said nothing of the quest: not of Erebor, or of Thorin, or the dragon. Only that they were lost, they were hungry - starving, even, and that they would soon died of it if thirst or sleep deprivation did not get them first.

But what were they doing in the forest in the first place? The questions came. Where were they going? What business did they have?

They had just been passing through, then the spiders had attacked them. They had been captured, taken unawares, and had barely escaped with their lives.

The same questions were asked again, worded differently. What started as demands for information easily mistaken for simple queries turned into direct interrogation.

The King's voice remained even and controlled, though behind his expression of calm and collectedness Bella could sense he was becoming increasingly irritated as he received the same replies over and over. The questioning was coming to a close.

Indeed, he asked once more where they were going, and this time Balin didn't even try, just remained silent. The old dwarf looked up at the Elvenking and the King looked back down at him. They had both had enough, and both knew that they would get nowhere like this.

Bofur muttered something about inbreeds on his mother's side and being very late -they really should get going now-

"Enough."

Thranduil's voice rang out, and this time a hint of frustration escaped in his tone. Bella looked up to him greatly for having held it so long. He turned and spoke to his guards, giving them orders to take the dwarves to separate cells and to keep them there until one at least was ready to see sense and provide him with some answers.

With the clear dismissal the dwarves were pulled out of the throne room and back into the passages. The dwarves huffed and attempted to shrug off the elves' grips, indignant at such treatment, but ultimately failed in the act. They were led away, even deeper into the caves where light came mostly from lamps and not from the Sun - this time they seemed to be heading downwards.

The winding passageways became more and more thicker walled, and the doors changed from wooden ones to the metal barred ones of dungeon cells.

The dwarves were locked in individual cells as Thranduil had wanted, and not in the same place: the guards hauled them down different corridors, having been given orders to keep them apart and so unable to converse among themselves.

Bella faced a dilemma as the group was split, for who did she follow? She worried for them all, and even though she very much doubted the elves would do them any harm she did not like it when the dwarves were taken out of her sight. It was hard watching them disappear and not being able to follow them all. The separation of course did not go down well among the dwarves either, but most went quietly without a word or a struggle.

Bella thought Dori might break something (specifically an unfortunate elf) when they led Ori away from him. His fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white. But then he let out a breath and his shoulders slumped once more and he stayed silent. There was little fight put up except that of Fili and Kili when they were pulled away from each other.

Elves were not cruel, not even to their prisoners, but it was awful to witness the youngsters being separated. They clung to each other, still confused in their sickness, and all of a sudden found the energy to scream and shout. Their cries tore at Bella, and a wave of angry hatred rose in her towards the elves and towards herself as she looked on and did nothing. She stood there numbly even after they were gone, unable to shake herself to move for many a moment.

What a fine mess they had gotten in.

What a terrible nightmare.

She wanted to open her eyes and wake up to find she was back on the path in the forest, with the company and Thorin all there, and to realise that every event of the last few days had never happened. To wake up to a day of walking ahead and to round a bend in the path to find that they were out of the trees, that they had made it through Mirkwood and that her nightmare would remain only a dream.

She had ended up wandering after Oin, and not too long later found herself standing in front of the bars of his cell, staring in at the dwarf who knew nothing of her presence.

The elves had left, though she did not think it safe to slip off the ring however much she itched to do just that so that she could speak to the dwarf face to face (as opposed to face to thin air, as it would have to be).

Her voice understandably caused the dwarf a great deal of surprise, and she saw him jump slightly from where he had settled himself on the mattress in his cell.

"Lass? Miss Baggins?" His voice was an incredulous whisper, and he moved to his feet to come and stand in front of the bars. He gazed out into what he saw as an empty corridor and looked left and right. He stood directly in front of her and yet looked straight through her. It made Bella feel very odd, and she quickly came to hate it.

She cleared a lump in her throat and spoke. "I'm here, but I can't let you see me now, lest the elves come back and lock me up like the rest of you."

He flinched away from where her voice came at first, though relaxed when he was assured that he was not imagining her words - that she was invisible, yes, but very much there.

He understood that she had to keep out of sight, and was glad that she was there. He had worried she had been left behind in the woods.

"I should go and find the others." Bella said fretfully. "I must make sure they are all alright."

Oin sighed a weary sigh. "I am sure they will be, though I worry for them too... remember to think of yourself also, Miss Baggins."

She gave a tense nod of her head before remembering it could not be seen and giving a quiet noise of acknowledgement.

With that she was off.

She hurried along the passageway, coming to a swift halt near the end as an elf turned the corner. Bella took a sharp breath and plastered herself to the wall, watching with baited breath as the elf strode past her carrying a tray and jug.

It still amazed her somewhat that the elf walked straight by without noticing her at all.

She hurried to the corner when the elf was safely away, pausing momentarily to look back. She saw the elf stop outside Oin's cell, and it relieved her greatly to know that he was being provided with food and water.

When she found Bofur food and water had already been placed inside his cell by the elves. The miner was quickly drawn to the door by her voice, though stood with an expression on his face that plainly said he thought he was going mad, and did not reply to her no matter what she said to convince him otherwise until she took hold of his hands through the bars. The disbelief in his expression was a picture, and he spluttered in shock for a several seconds before a happy grin worked its way onto his face.

He asked a lot of 'How?'s at first, excited with the knowledge that she was standing right in front of him, though he could not see her, and was alive and w...err, yes, alive. She most definitely was not well, but she was as well as could be hoped.

Quickly though the questions died down, for Bofur was rather good at noticing when someone did not wish to or did not know quite how to talk, and he instead offered Bella a share of his food and held his water up to the bars for her to take. He watched in wide eyed wonder as the jug disappeared in her grasp, though she ignored the look on his face in favour of gulping down water to sooth her parched throat.

A silence went on between them as she drunk and ate what of his food she had allowed him to give her. The dwarf all the while watched the empty space where he knew she must be, and the quiet persisted after she had finished and began to feel she must move on to find the others.

She lingered there with Bofur for longer than she had planned and she felt a nagging pull in her chest. She had to check on the rest of them, Fili and Kili...but she was tired. So very very tired and she could have fell asleep there and then. It had been so long since she had slept. Her eyelids felt as if they were heavy weights...

No! Bella shook herself.

She couldn't just fall asleep in the middle of the passageway to later be tripped over by an elf!

"I will come back, as soon as I can." She hurried to get to her feet, but hesitated as she saw his expression drop.

He covered it quickly but Bella knew he dreaded being left alone in his cell. "I-"

"Do not worry for me." He must have sensed her indecisiveness.

"Check on the others," He urged. "And don't forget to take care of yerself as well."

Bella snorted as she turned her back. "To do that I have already been reminded."

She next found Bombur asleep in his cell, and mused to herself that he would not have been had he only known that food lay within his reach. The dwarves it seemed were to be well cared for. It was as Oin had said and she had hoped. She left the fat dwarf snoring on the floor of his cell.

Bella wandered for a while after that. She did not happen across anymore of the dwarves' cells, but she began to feel at ease the more that she thought about it that they would be okay. They could deal with this: dwarves were strong afterall, perhaps the hardiest of all the races in middle-Earth.

Those that she had seen were unharmed by the elves, it was unlikely those which she hadn't were. Yes, her tired mind told her with certainly, they would be fine.

And so when she happened upon a dark corner where she would not be stumbled upon by an unsuspecting wood elf she did what Oin and Bofur had urged her to do and thought of herself.

The dwarves were not going anywhere, not for a long while if they remained as stubborn as they had always been. They would be able to wait for her a few hours...

Curling up to sleep on the hard rock floor she let her eyes drift closed, and was without mind for a very long while.

A good time later Bella woke from her slumber feeling cold and empty. Her dreams had been grey and lifeless, and when she woke she found her wakefulness was not much different. The magical ring on her finger seemed to drain the colour from the world.

She was also very hungry. What food Bofur had shared with her before had been a start, but not enough to dent such an extended hunger.

With food on her mind she set off through the passageways, and after a while she came across a store room where she found what she was looking for. She knew that she had to care for herself. The dwarves may not be happy but they were safe and being fed and given drink, could finally rest. As they needed to regain their strength, so did she.

A few hours of poking about through different store rooms and corridors satisfied her stomach and a good bit of her curiosity, and feeling much more well and happier she moved on to searching for the dwarves.

And she found them - every single one over the course of the day.

It had been around noon when she had awoken, though this she did not know. She had worked out it was daytime - the passages were lighter than they had been when she fell asleep, and more elves were about. Before the end of that evening she had seen all twelve of the company in the cells.

First she had come across Dwalin in the process of breaking the tray his food had been delivered on into pieces. The displeased dwarf was rested enough to be very angry, and sat in a corner seething silently as splinters of wood fell to litter the floor around him. Then she had found Bombur's cell again, and this time he was awake and his food gone to the last crumb. From there she had found Bofur, but had taken a wrong turn trying to backtrack her way from the previous day to Oin, and instead had found his brother Gloin.

She had, while avoiding an elf, discovered Ori's cell. The young dwarf had been quietly clutching his book far from the door, but she left him later standing at the bars and smiling. Not long after Ori she came by the youngest of his brothers and Balin and again saw Oin. She found Fili half asleep, but had woken him with her whispered shouts of his name long enough to convince him that she was there and she had seen many of the others and that they were okay. He asked about Kili and she could not answer. Bifur was hard to convince of her presence, and his raised voice spewing ancient dwarvish had almost brought the elves running, but she got there in the end.

By the time she got to Dori the passages had begun to darken. She had assured him at his incessant questioning that both his brothers were fine. Ori had his book and was comfortable enough and Nori had already attempted to pick the locks. She watched as the tension ran from his body and his hands fell from where he had been squeezing the bars of his cell. She was not sure if it was the light or if he had in fact bent the metal ever so slightly with his grip. Kili she found last, and he immediately inquired after Fili. She was happy to be able to inform him his brother was better than he had last seen him.

That night she slept as heavily as the last.

From then on the days went by each the same as the next. She stole food for herself from the elves' stores, visited the dwarves, and slept in dark corners.

With time the dwarves recovered from their time in the forest - provided with food and drink and having nothing really to do but rest. Slowly but surely they were back to themselves. They gained their strength once more along with some of their fight. Though no knowledge of Thorin kept their spirits from rising too high, it gave them hope that there was someone outside of the cells at their aid. They thought that she would come up with a way of escape, Bella knew.

She spent many hours talking to the company members - they looked forward to seeing her, and spent their days waiting for her to visit to get news and for the companionship. None of them really got over the whole invisible thing though, and most now believed hobbits possessed some kind of magic.

She sat with Bofur often. During the day they would joke and throw comments back and forth, though they seldom laughed at their words, and their talk would sometimes halt suddenly when a guard neared, only to start up again once they were safely out of ear shot. At night Bella would blabber away to herself about this and that and nothing the dwarf hadn't heard before. Bofur would half listen to her words in silence, and when he fell asleep she would carry on to herself for a while longer, then stand and leave and creep off to wherever.

When she could she stole extra food from the kitchens and store rooms for Bombur and smuggled it though the bars of his cell. She reasoned he needed it, he had been hit perhaps hardest of them all by their recent lack of food.

She spent many an hour discussing the idea of escape with Nori, though they came up with nothing. Bella began to memorise approximately how often guards would pass by the dwarves' cells: they did not do so too often, in fact, very rarely when not to deliver food or water, and almost never at night. They knew the dwarves could not get out, and so had no reason to check up on them. It meant Bella was at less risk of being caught. It also would have helped with escape, if only she had a way of getting the dwarves from their cells...and they had a way to get out of the palace undetected once she had...and then out of the forest...

Still, despite the lack of any kind of plan to get away, she was exceedingly thankful for the elves' stand-off approach: it was safe to talk to the dwarves, as long as she kept half an ear out, and for all of their sanities they needed some sort of contact between them all. Physically the dwarves had recovered. Mentally? Some were not so good. They were all rather alone, and Thorin's fate weighed heavily on all their minds. She bore witness to their woes and their worries. She observed them in fits of anger, caught more than one talking to themselves so as not to be subjected to silence, and she knew she would never speak of it.

After the initial drive to eat from starvation Fili began to leave his food untouched, and stared at it as if the thought of eating made him sick. Bifur took a turn for the worst three days in, and many of them didn't sleep at night. Bofur had nightmares, Dwalin smashed his water jug against the wall, Dori worried a lot. Kili was perhaps hit the hardest.

Alone in a cell in an unfamiliar place after the events of the forest, separated from his brother who had always been there to watch over him, so young... Bella knew he believed his uncle dead, and she saw the redness around his eyes whenever she visited him and knew he cried.

They sat back to back at the bars of his cell one night and Bella listened to him sob quietly with his face buried in his arms and his knees tucked up to his chest like a child. Her mind was oddly detached from any sort of thought, but every noise he made was an agonising stab to her heart and she wondered if this was like what a parent felt to hear their child cry with such a pain. After he had fallen asleep that night and she had managed to walk away she did not know what to do with herself. She wandered and watched Ori scribble in his book without announcing her presence.

Balin was a comfort in his grandfather-like way. The old dwarf was good for stories, he knew many that she did not, and was generally willing to tell. He remembered life in Erebor before the dragon had attacked, and so normally that was what she would ask to hear about. He was not of the mood to talk of the mountain however, while he was locked away in Thranduil's dungeons many leagues from it.

Bella knew that there had been disagreements between some elves and dwarves, who the elves accused of stealing their treasure. She also knew, from what Gandalf had told her, that if asked the dwarves would give a different account: that they had only taken what was rightfully theirs, and that the elf-king had owed them pay. She thought it sad that alliances and old friendships could be lost over wealth, for what did hoarded treasure bring one? Nothing hobbits valued at least. While some in the Shire had a lot of money and others not so much, it had never affected anything that truly mattered. She did not know what it meant to elves and dwarves, but for the dwarves it had brought a dragon and she knew what she thought of that.

Regardless, Balin did not want to talk of the great dwarf kingdom. He was eager, however, to hear of how she turned invisible, and so once she had found the right words to tell the tale she told him of that.

She spoke of how she had fought in the goblin caves and had ended up falling off the path and into a lake far below. She told him that she had been rescued from drowning by a mad creature which called itself Gollum, and how it had had the intention of eating her.

When she got to the game of riddles the old dwarf wanted to hear every one, and then she told him of the ring and finding her way out of the caves.

Balin was fascinated by the whole thing, and made her tell it all again leaving out no detail, and when she was done he shook his head slowly in disbelief.

"Well I never..." He said. "Well I never..."

:)