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Mirkwood's Plague II:

Aftermath

Chapter 24 ~ Attack

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Legolas slept peacefully for a couple more hours until a gentle hand on his shoulder disturbed him. "Legolas, wake up, mellon nin," Celeborn said, shaking him softly. "Legolas." The king rolled over in bed, trying to escape the person attempting to rouse him from his peaceful slumber. When the person continued to call his name, he opened his eyes a slit. "Wake up."

"Celeborn?" Legolas mumbled, his eyes slipping closed again.

"I am sorry, Legolas, but you are needed," the Lorien Lord said softly. Legolas moaned, just wanting to go back to sleep. "I know and I am sorry but you need to get up."

As awareness cleared away the fog of sleepiness, a realisation suddenly hit him and he sat up quickly. "Glorfindel…"

"He's fine. It's not him. We need you in the conference room," Glorfindel said as calmly as he could under the circumstances.

"What's going on?" Legolas asked wearily, rubbing his hand over his tired eyes.

"Don't panic…but there was a Spider attack."

Suddenly, Legolas was wide awake and alert. "Spider attack? Was anyone hurt?"

"Perhaps you should come down to the meeting room. Can you stand?" Legolas nodded and Celeborn helped him off the bed, handing him a thick robe to wear over the loose white shirt he had on. They walked as quickly as he could towards the conference room.

Celeborn was worryingly silent during the walk and the tension grew until Legolas had to ask, "How bad is it?" Celeborn merely glanced across at him, not answering the question. Legolas picked up his pace after that.

When they reached the conference room, Legolas was surprised to find it full of people, all shouting, sat around the long table in the centre. Although they were clearly in the midst of a heated argument, they all stopped the moment Legolas entered. They stood and bowed as Celeborn led Legolas to the head of the table. Legolas remembered his father regularly sitting in this chair and although it felt wrong he had no choice but to sit, too tired to remain standing. Truth be told, he was still a little dazed. He looked around the table at what remained of his advisors and at his friends. They were all looking extremely serious and Legolas guessed that before he had arrived there had been a rather heated argument.

"Does someone want to fill me in," Legolas prompted when no one spoke.

Everyone looked at each other, not really sure who should be speaking. Eventually, Elrond answered. "There was an attack in the village. Spiders."

"Was anyone hurt?" Legolas asked.

Elrond looked over at the king. "A couple of children were playing in the forest. One of them was hurt; she's in the healing halls. But the other, a little boy, was killed." Legolas paled but didn't speak, sensing there was more to it. Elrond looked to Galadriel, who nodded softly. "Legolas, it was the little girl you met at the coronation. Mia. She's in the healing halls."

"Is she…? How is she?" Legolas asked in concern.

"Not good," Elrond answered honestly. "But we…you have a bigger problem right now."

Although Legolas wanted to know more about the little girl, he knew that for the moment he had to concentrate on the bigger picture. He nodded for Elrond to continue but it was one of his advisors that answered. "Your father, King Thranduil, led the army to destroy most of the Spiders in the forest but a few remained. So far, they've been kept at bay but lately…well, obviously we've had more important things to worry about, what with the plague…"

"Get on with it," Gimli grumbled and Legolas was glad for his impatience.

It was Aragorn who finished what the advisor started. "You have no defences. Mirkwood has been open to attack ever since the plague started and now they know. Legolas, your kingdom is vulnerable. You have no Guard."

"I don't?" Legolas asked.

"During the plague, your Guard was…broken. Too many of them were hurt or dead or grieving," Celeborn explained. "Elessar has already sent word to Gondor to ask for reinforcements but it will still take some time, especially given they're bringing supplies with them and Mirkwood is vulnerable without any soldiers."

"You're telling me there are no guards left in Mirkwood?" Legolas asked wearily.

Elrond answered. "There are some but they're either at home recovering or with their families."

"Alright." No one spoke. "What do you suggest?" he prompted.

The advisor now spoke up. "Order them all back. Our defences may be depleted but there are still some guards and right now, some is better than none."

"Alright. So what's the problem?" Legolas asked, not understanding why it hadn't already been done.

Elrond looked to the advisor and Legolas immediately sensed the tension. "Not all of the guards will be so eager to return to duty given everything they've lost I think we should have a little sympathy for them."

"You mean, don't recall them?" Legolas asked and Elrond nodded. "Do you have another suggestion then?" he asked.

"No," Elrond answered truthfully. "We wait for Gondor."

Legolas looked to the advisor. "Can we wait that long?"

"Every moment we leave Mirkwood unguarded gives the Spiders a chance to attack us and if they start they won't stop until there is nothing left. We can't afford to get more people injured. We have virtually no supplies and the civilians are panicked enough."

Legolas looked to Elrond for his view. "Even if we did call them up, they're weak, tired and sick," he said.

"A weak army is better than no army at all," the advisor countered heatedly.

"And if it gets them all killed, what then?" Elrond yelled, startling Legolas a little. No one else seemed too surprised by it though and Legolas guessed this was what they had been arguing had been about when Legolas entered. "In case you haven't noticed, Mirkwood has been damaged enough already."

"I don't think anyone needs reminding of what's going on," Galadriel said softly and clearly trying to diffuse the situation.

"Well, obviously they do and you're in no position to comment Galadriel. You weren't here when people were dying in my arms," the Imladrian Lord showed uncharacteristically. At this, more arguments broke out and although Legolas had a go at bringing back some order, he eventually gave in and just sat back, trying to pick out the individual arguments but even that became virtually impossible after a while. He sat back in his chair; his head resting back, wondering how his father had ever managed to control these affairs.

It was a long while before finally Gandalf – the only calm one besides Legolas in the room – stood up and his booming voice stopped all the yelling immediately. Everyone looked up, including Legolas, whose mind had been wandering slightly.

"For goodness sake, arguing amongst ourselves is not resolving this issue. We are wasting time." Even as he said this, Gandalf nodded slightly to Elrond, moving his attention to Legolas.

Elrond took the hint. The arguing was doing him no good. In truth, Elrond had forgotten about the young king. This was Legolas' first proper official meeting, they were supposed to be making things easier for him and they had forgotten. "You're right, I'm sorry. We have had a chance to put forward our views. But I strongly advise…"

Legolas put his hand up to stop Elrond's argument. He wasn't sure he could take another round of shouting. "This is my decision, isn't it?" he asked tiredly.

"It is," Gandalf smiled softly, realising this was hard on the newly crowned king.

Legolas thought for a moment. "Get the Captain to bring every guard that is physically able and set them to protect the people."

"Sir, we should send a group into the forest as soon as possible to go on the offensive," the advisor said, seeing his chance.

"Great, go looking for trouble…" Elrond started but stopped himself, apologising to Legolas.

"Elrond is right. For now we'll stick to protecting the borders. There won't be enough guards to launch an offensive."

"But sir…"

Aragorn stood up at this point, startling everyone. "Your king has given you an order, I suggest you follow it," he said firmly. The entire table was silenced at this and nodded to Legolas who smiled slightly. "My Lord, is there anything else?"

"No, you can all leave," Legolas said, trying to remember how his father used to do this.

Everyone stood up and slowly filed out, leaving only Gandalf and Legolas. "I thought that went well." Legolas looked down at the table. "Legolas, you did fine."

"Fine," Legolas repeated slowly, not believing the assurance.

"It was your first one and you did fine."

"Am I doing the right thing, Gandalf?"

The wizard sat back in his chair and sighed softly. "I'm not sure I can answer that."

"Please," Legolas said softly.

"Yes, I think you did the right thing. If you leave Mirkwood open to attack you leave her more vulnerable. People may not like it but they will understand the logic."

Legolas nodded slowly. "Thank you."

"You should go and rest some more. Things might start getting busy for you soon."

"Don't you think I should supervise…?"

"No, I think you should go lie down and sleep. I'll make sure Aragorn and Celeborn take charge of the recall and get this done for you. We'll wake you if we need you but until then you should try and rest."

Again, Legolas nodded slowly. "Thank you." He managed to pull himself to his feet, using the table as support, but it was harder than he would have liked.

"Are you alright?" Gandalf asked in concern, also standing and walking over to Legolas. The king nodded. "Go on, Legolas. Rest and if you need anything…"

"I can't do this, Gandalf," Legolas said sadly, looking down at the table.

"You're doing fine," the wizard assured.

Legolas shook his head. "That's not what I…"

Gandalf placed his hand on Legolas' shoulder. "What do you mean?" he asked gently, watching the Elf closely.

Legolas shook his head and forced a smile onto his face. "Nothing. I didn't mean anything," he muttered unconvincingly.

Although Legolas went to move away, Gandalf kept his hand on the shoulder to stop him leaving and guided him to sit down and forced him to look at him so they were looking at each other, although Legolas' head stubbornly remained bowed to avoid meeting his eyes. "Legolas, are you alright? Truthfully. Because if you're not, you need to tell someone – me or Elrond – so we can help you." Still, the golden Elf didn't meet Gandalf's eyes and the wizard understood. "Are you in pain?" he asked softly. At this, Legolas looked up, tears brightening his blue eyes and Gandalf knew he was right in his assumption. His face crumbled in sympathy and his hand tightened on Legolas' shoulder. "Why didn't you say something?" he asked as Legolas wiped fresh tears from his face with his sleeve. He didn't answer though, just lowered his head into his hand. "Tell me where it hurts," Gandalf said firmly but kindly. Legolas closed his eyes to ensure he couldn't see the kind wizard. "Legolas, please, it's alright. Tell me where it hurts."

Knowing he couldn't avoid it, Legolas answered the question. "I don't know," he whispered, keeping his eyes closed.

Gandalf frowned, again understanding what Legolas meant. He couldn't pinpoint it because it hurt him everywhere. "Why didn't you say something to Elrond? He could have helped you, given you something."

Legolas opened his eyes and looked into Gandalf's pale grey eyes. "Supplies…" he started weakly.

"Oh, for Valar's sake, Legolas, you've spent the past two days pumping painkillers into Glorfindel. I know Elrond would have given you something if you had asked."

"My Lord," a servant asked at the door, looking to Gandalf.

"Not now," Gandalf uncharacteristically snapped.

"But…"

"I said not now! Go away!" Although the servant was a little startled he left, closing the door behind him. "Alright, we don't have many painkilling herbs left but we might be able to find a sedative."

Legolas smiled softly. "I can't," he said in a small voice.

"Why not?"

"Spiders attacking…"

"Right. I'm sorry, you're right." Gandalf watched as Legolas ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm going to talk to Elrond. In the meantime, you go and rest. Try to sleep for a while. Are you going to be alright for a while?"

Legolas nodded and sat up straight, taking a steadying breath. "I'll be fine."

"Alright." Gandalf stood up and helped the king up. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your rooms." He walked with Legolas outside. He was more than a little surprised to find the same servant still waiting in the corridor. "I thought I told you to go away," Gandalf snapped in annoyance.

"What is it?" Legolas a little more patiently.

"One of the healers sent me to tell you that Glorfindel is awake and is asking for you," he told the king.

A bright smile lit Legolas' face at these words and he looked to Gandalf as if asking for permission to leave. "Go," the wizard smiled gently.

"Thank you," the king grinned, already turning to leave.

To Be Continued….

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