Chapter Thirty: Two Kings too Many

"Bollocks." Thorin immediately grabbed Emelia by the shoulders and hauled her backwards. Her arms flailed out involuntarily. His fingers dug into her boney shoulders, but he didn't seem to notice or care. She tried to look at him while simultaneously keeping her gaze on the elves that were advancing towards them. He wrenched her close enough to whisper harshly into her ear, speaking almost too quickly for her to understand. "Whatever happens, do not…"

"Tell them about Erebor." Emelia whispered back, feeling panic welling up inside as the elves got closer. They were moving faster than she would have thought possible, faces oddly haunting in the dim light from their torches.

"Well yes, but more importantly, do what you can to stay in their graces."

Emelia was acutely aware that Thorin had very little time to explain, but she couldn't stop herself from asking for clarification anyways. "What?"

"It would not bode well if we were to both be chained and locked up, as is likely to happen to me."

"I don't kno…"

"Drop your weapon, dwarf." Emelia felt Thorin step back from her, releasing her shoulders roughly. She made to follow him, feeling instantly panicky at the sight of all the weapons being pointed at her, before she stopped herself. He had said to stay in their good graces and stay in their good graces she would.

Whatever the hell that meant.

Her hands dropped down to her shirt, finger playing with the frayed edges of her shirt. She looked down for a moment, resolving herself to be braver than she normally was, to be smarter, to be better. When she looked back up, she almost forgot that entirely. She went slightly cross-eyed as one of the elves shoved an arrow dangerously close to her face.

She tried to move backwards, only to be stopped by Thorin's body blocking her way.

"Now, dwarf, unless you would prefer to give me a reason to kill you where you stand."

And she thought Thorin was sassy.

After a silence that Emelia was sure lasted forever, she heard the sound of Thorin dropping his sword to the ground. She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Maybe they would be favorable to him once they saw that Emelia and Thorin weren't being outwardly hostile. Well, Emelia wasn't. Thorin's default emotion was hostility, so she didn't think there was much that could be done to keep the elves from noticing that. The elf with the arrow in her face still didn't lower it. In fact, he moved it closer, if that was possible. If she moved forward even an inch her face would be skewered. She couldn't bring herself to look away from the arrow tip, hands working at the end of her shirt more feverishly.

"You are in the Woodland Realm, speak your purpose." Emelia heard Thorin shuffled behind her, a deep sound of anger rumbling through his chest. Her eyes fluttered shut as she waited for the undoubtedly rude thing he was going to say.

"I am a merchant. I was a simply passing through and lost my way." Emelia could tell it was taking all of the self-control Thorin had to keep his tone relatively civil. She cracked open one eye reluctantly, peeking out around the arrow ever so slightly.

"Dwarves do not simply pass through. I suggest you start telling the truth."

The elf who was addressing Thorin was almost too attractive to look at. He was the only one with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, making him stand out amongst the numerous elves with reddish brown hair and darker eyes. He had a jaw line that looked like it could cut glass. Even his glare was attractive. He motioned with a jerk of his head to his side. Emelia, having found herself distracted, didn't even notice the elf had lowered his bow and arrow away from her face. There was the sound of great shuffling behind her, followed by even more curses from Thorin, before they were thrown into awkward silence.

Emelia was finally shaken out of her reverie when she heard the sound of what she knew to be metal cuffs snapping shut. She immediately turned around, looking at Thorin with alarm. He was flanked by two elves, one holding the chain that was attached to his wrist, the other busily removing all of the weapons in Thorin's possession. They were both looking down at Thorin with disdain and Thorin was gladly returning the favor. She looked at him for a moment longer before the blonde spoke again, pulling her attention away from Thorin.

"Who are you? You do not look like a she-dwarf." The blonde elf said, narrowing his eyes slightly as he took in her appearance. Emelia felt her face turn red under his scrutiny. She reached her hand up subconsciously, messing with the ends of her ratty hair.

"Emelia…" He voice squeaked horribly, causing some of the elves to raise their eyebrows at her. Emelia felt her embarrassment mounting. She cleared her throat, feeling Thorin's gaze on her back as she did so. "Emelia Montgomery. Emelia Kinsington Montgomery. Emelia. You can call me just Emelia." She finished lamely, wanting nothing more than to crawl under a rock.

"You are not a dwarf." The blonde said, eyeing her facial features.

"Erm, no." Emelia said, thinking it best not to lie. "You would think people would recognize a human when they saw one." She said the last part before she realized it might have been a little rude. "Sorry. That was snarkier than I meant it to be. I human, I mean, I'm a human." She finished with an uncomfortable laugh, feeling very much like she was oozing embarrassment. All of the elves had to feel it by that point.

"Human. And why would a human be traveling with a dwarf? I cannot fathom it would be by choice."

"It's a long story, and it's kind of complicated. I'd be happy to tell you over a nice meal." Emelia imagined it would be better if she stopped talking altogether, considering what was coming out of her mouth. "Oh god, I promise I'm not asking you out. Not to say I wouldn't want to go out with you, because you're absolutely dreamy. Shit, I'm sorry. No. Not dreamy, well you are but..." Emelia brought her hands up to her face, feeling the heat from her cheeks. "I'm just really hungry. I haven't eaten in like four days and I think I might be going slightly delirious."

The blonde waited to see if she was going to babble anymore before he spoke, addressing Thorin instead of her. "The barbaric nature of dwarves never ceases to amaze me. Would you care to enlighten me, dwarf."

"Do I need to make it simpler for you to understand, elf? We lost our way."

Emelia wished she had been able to do the talking. Even all of her embarrassing babbling was better than anything Thorin was likely to say. At least she liked elves. She had been told she could be slightly charming on a good day. Well, more charming than Thorin Oakenshield, that is. She cringed to herself, mind immediately setting to work to think about how to get her and Thorin out of their current predicament. He was already in handcuffs, so things were already not going as well as she would have liked.

"And kidnapping the female, was that before or after you decided to trespass in our realm?" Kidnapping seemed a little harsh, while not technically untrue.

"Emelia." Emelia mumbled that part more to herself than anyone else.

"What is your name, elf?" Thorin sounded like he wanted to murder something.

"Mind your tone." The blonde elf spat, moving towards both Thorin and Emelia. "Bind his mouth and cover his eyes."

Emelia stood in her spot, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do. None of the elves moved to bind her hands or mouth. In fact, the only one who paid her any sort of attention was the blonde. He moved closer to her, eyes narrowed slightly. She had managed to pick up on the fact that dwarves didn't like elves and elves certainly didn't like dwarves. She was a human and she wasn't exactly sure how humans fit into that complicated sort of relationship. Emelia didn't imagine it would be a good idea to try and get in the middle of the elves and Thorin, but she also didn't think doing nothing would be the best idea either. She had just finished insulting him and if she did nothing, he would be well within reason to return the favor.

"Sorry, but what's going on?" Emelia asked finally, watching as they put a gag in Thorin's mouth. He tried to fight them, but couldn't do much with his hands chained. "I-I mean, can't we all talk this out? You know, peaceful negotiations. U.N style. I'll be Switzerland. It'll be great."

"Blindfold her as well, and chain her hands until we are sure of her involvement."

Emelia stepped back as soon as she saw the chains, shaking her head violently. "Please, no." She raised her arms in front of her, hands shaking. "I don't want any chains." She was reminded, rather vividly, of the trolls. They had used chains on her as well. She had never had a negative experience with chains prior to coming, resulting in being rather passive towards them. She knew she hated them now, however. She still had calloused sores on her wrists and ankles from the last time.

She was able to take only two steps backwards before she was grabbed by a pair of elves and handcuffed. The metal was bitingly cold against her dirty skin. Her body froze slightly, from fear or panic she wasn't sure.

She caught one last glimpse of the blonde before she was blindfolded as well, throwing her into even more darkness than before.

The elf that was holding her chains was very polite, Emelia was surprised to discover. He, or she, held them loosely, choosing instead to guide her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. They were far nicer to her than they were to Thorin. Even with his gag, he was giving them hell. The elf guiding her would pause every once and a while to lift her over an obstacle, which was slightly awkward and weird. She didn't complain, however, based simply on the idea that they would start treating her like they were treating Thorin.

The walk did give her ample time to think about, well, everything. She thought about the trolls, which disappointed her. She hadn't thought about them in so long, she had almost thought she was getting over them. Kili had helped. He was what she thought about second. She hoped he wasn't starving to death like she was. She hoped that he and the rest of the dwarves and Bilbo had somehow managed to find a way out of Mirkwood. The thought of him lying in the dirt made her eyes sting underneath her blindfold and her head hurt worse than ever. She thought about Fili third. Last time she had talked to him, he was still being odd. If he died, she wouldn't get to tell him that she definitely thought he was achieving best friend status. Like real best friends. For life.

The elf leading her lifted her up once again, carrying her for longer than normal. Her arms swung down, knocking into the elf's back. She allowed her head to rest against the elf's startlingly muscular back. All of the excitement had exhausted her. The elf kept carrying her while the temperature around them changed suddenly. She felt goose bumps spring up on her skinny arms for the first time since she had left Alaska, making her feel both nervous and comforted. It was an odd feeling that she found she couldn't process without first having a proper meal.

"Open the gates." She knew that was the blonde. "Send for the king."

She wasn't sure why, but she was of the opinion that this place had too many kings for its own good.

Emelia was finally set down after another awkwardly long walk. She shifted her feet, subconsciously scooted closer to where she hoped Thorin was. She did not like the situation they were in and she liked the way things were turning out even less. She reached up her chained hands to her face, attempting to remove her blindfold. She was stopped by a hand on her forearms, however. The hand forced her hands back down to their position in front of her stomach, lingering for a moment to see if she would try it again.

"What do we have here?" The voice was smoother than silk and smarmier than a used car salesman. "A dwarf and a…" A pause, longer than Emelia would have liked. "And a malnourished human."

"The dwarf and his captive were skulking about near our hunting encampment. They showed up just as we were about to start our feast."

Thorin struggled again.

It was silent for a moment. Emelia shifted on her feet, wishing something would break the uncomfortable silence. She wished it until her stomach let out the most horrific growl of hunger she had ever had the misfortune of hearing in her entire life.

"Remove her blindfold."

Soft hands worked at the tie on the back of her head, before the dark fabric was replaced with a warm light. Emelia blinked for a moment, looking around at her surroundings before she turned her gaze onto the elf, or king rather, who had been speaking.

She was visually assaulted, once again, by yet another supremely attractive being. He had blonde hair as well and eyebrows that most women would kill for. They were perfectly shaped, highlighting his intensely blue eyes and straight nose. This attractive one was a king, apparently, which made Emelia instantly feel even more like a dirty cave cricket.

"What is your name?" The elf king moved closer to her, bending down slightly to address her at a more even level. It was odd looking, considering he was about two feet taller than her without the crown. With the crown he might as well be a giant. The crown was a peculiar thing, what with its branches and little bulbs of a substance she could even begin to identify. She would have said berries, but last she had checked, berries didn't emit a soft glow.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery." The blonde elf that had captured them in the woods provided, eyeing her from where he was standing. He was next to a female elf who was slightly shorter than him and about as attractive. Emelia immediately wished she still had more hair, now that she got a look at the red hair the female elf was sporting. Her hands twitched, attempting to move in the direction of her hair before they were stopped by the chains.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery." The king said name in a curious tone, taking in her attire and state. "You look positively dreadful."

Emelia looked down at herself, observing of the odd stains on her clothes. Her boots were caked in dirt and grime and her pants were practically falling off her body. She looked at her hands, taking note of dirt covering her boney fingers and wrists. They looked positively disgusting. She knew her hair and face were worse. She didn't even want to start of the state of her chest area. All in all, she thought the unfairly attractive king was correct in his assessment of her.

"Not my best, I do have to say."

"Perhaps you would like to enlighten me in regards to this current predicament." He did not phrase it as a question.

"Oh, lack of soap and an unfortunate hair cut isn't really doing much for me. I swear I don't normally look like an ugly extra from Oliver Twist."

"I am not referring to your…" He looked her up and down, lip curling slightly as he focused on her boots. "Personal state."

Emelia blushed, glancing over at Thorin. He was glaring at her, or the situation; she honestly wasn't sure which. She looked at him for a moment longer before she turned back to address the other king in the room. "It is a really long story."

"I have nothing but time."

Emelia wished he had said for her to be allowed to eat something before she was forced to tell her story. She needed to think of the best way around the whole Erebor situation. It was harder than she would have thought, considering Erebor was kind of the whole reason she was with them in the first place. She glanced at Thorin once again, rubbing her hands together in front of her stomach. His eyes were narrowed into slits, jaw working furiously despite the gag.

"It seems the dwarf is making her nervous. Take him to one of our isolation cells and feed him. I will have words with him later. Perhaps then he will be inclined to tell the truth."

The elf king waved with a simple flick of his wrist, not even bothering to look over at Thorin. Emelia could do nothing but stand there, hands chained and stomach aching, as they dragged Thorin away. He managed to kick one of the elves, which caused him to receive a rather swift smack to the back of the head. Emelia leaned her head to the side, watching him until she could no longer see him. She felt she should have said more, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say.

"Now that that is taken care of, where were we?"

Emelia kept her gaze on the spot Thorin had just been in, apprehension filling her up. Now that he was gone, she had no one. Thorin wasn't fond of her most of the time, but he was still a dwarf, he was still one of her dwarves. The thought of being without them scared her. She hadn't been without them for months and now that she was fully alone she found she didn't like it at all, as much as that surprised her. She could feel the elf king watching her, but she paid him very little attention. She was feeling the beginnings of a panic attack creeping up on her, starting from her stomach and blooming outwards. She felt she was pro at recognizing it by that point, considering she had had more in the last couple of months than in her entire life combined.

"Emelia, was it?" Emelia finally tore her gaze away from the spot, turning to face the elf king. He was peering down at her with interest, one eyebrow quirked up ever so slightly.

"Y-yes." Emelia felt very small being surrounded by the elves. They were all looking down at her, judging her, sizing her up. She noticed the woman seemed the most curious. She was leaning forward slightly, a wondering expression on her pretty face. "My name is Emelia Kinsington Montgomery."

"A very peculiar name." He moved closer until he was practically standing above her. "I am King Thranduil of the Woodland Realm."

"That's a peculiar name, too." Emelia said, not entirely sure why she was so verbose as of late.

Thranduil gazed at her for a moment, eyes trailing to her hair. Emelia noticed he did not seem impressed with the scraggly ends. She didn't blame him, his hair was fabulous. "I am curious about what has happened to you to put you into such a state of disarray."

"Everything. Literally everything you can think of." Emelia reached up her pointer finger, itching underneath the metal cuff.

"Danonril, remove her cuffs." Emelia had hoped they would pick up on her signals.

A brown haired elf bent down in front of Emelia, removing her cuffs. She noticed he didn't make eye contact with her and his nose twisted up with disgust when he moved closer to her. He made her miss the dwarves even more. They had never said anything about how bad she smelled. Kili had said something once, when they had first met, but she didn't really count that time. He didn't know her and she didn't know him. She was quite certain anything either of them had said during that time was officially null and void. She rubbed her wrists, forcing her attention back onto the elves. She blamed her hunger for her wandering mind, but part of her knew that that wasn't the whole reason. Kili son of Mirwi probably had a lot more to do with it than she cared to acknowledge.

"Elaborate, if you will."

"Well," Emelia glanced around, stalling for a moment. "I guess it started with some trolls and," She paused again, remembering what Thorin had told her. "And an unfortunate encounter of the dwarvish variety."

"Unfortunate." Thranduil repeated. There was something about the way his face didn't move when he talked that gave Emelia the creeps. He also liked to stare a lot, which made her even more uncomfortable. "Legolas." He spoke suddenly, startling Emelia. "Where did you find our charming guest?"

"She was with the dwarf."

The blonde that had captured her and Thorin spoke up, moving away from the pretty red-headed female. She wondered if she would ever encounter someone with a normal name again. Like Charles. Or James. Or Peter. Or anything besides the ridiculousness that was Legolas, Thranduil, and Danonril. Thranduil looked at the blonde, Legolas for a moment before he turned back to Emelia suddenly, causing her to jump once again.

"Did the dwarf cause you such injuries?" Thranduil asked, the concern in his voice not quite reaching his face.

"Directly, no. Indirectly, yes."

"Clarify."

"Well he didn't beat me."

"A comforting thought."

"But he did kind of drag me all about creation, being a general curmudgeon the entire time." Emelia felt rather terrible talking about Thorin in such a manner. While she wasn't lying, she still wouldn't have put her journey with the dwarves in such absolute terms. It was much more complicated.

"There is no need to thank us for freeing you of such monstrous conditions." Emelia wasn't going to, but she let him think she would have anyway. "I am sure you will repay us in time."

Emelia shrunk slightly, thinking of all the ways the elf king would make her repay them. None of them seemed particularly appealing to her. She shifted on her feet, looking around the grand area she was in as a way of avoiding looking at Thranduil directly. It was an odd place, strictly speaking. It looked like it was made up of vein like things, like giant tree roots that had rooms and hallways built into them. She could faintly see walkways up at the top of the dimly lit room. Elves were peering down at her from little causeways and pockets. They looked like hulking shapes in the poor lighting, making Emelia sink in on herself even more. She thought elves would make her happy, like they had the first time, but so far all she had felt was fear and anxiety. If the hall or the king was any indication, she wouldn't stop feeling that way any time soon.

"Now, you must be exhausted. I welcome you, Emelia, to the halls of the Woodland Realm. I wish to speak to you more about the events that transpired to bring you to us, but I think I will excuse you for a bath and a little something to eat."

More than a little something would do her better, she thought.

"Thank you." She stuttered over her words, hoping her apprehension didn't show in her voice.

"Tauriel will be your guard, for the time being."

Emelia got the sudden and very distinct impression, seeing the red-headed elf moving towards her armed to the teeth, that she wasn't as welcome as Thranduil had just said.

Emelia knew, without them needing to say it, that she was just as much a prisoner as Thorin.

"How could you be so mean?" Wenny sounded truly horrified. She looked up over her completely forgotten bowl of food, glaring at both her father and grandfather. Legolas, who had been whispering something in Nim's ear, looked at his daughter with surprise.

"I was not being mean." He said, sounding indignant. "It was a different time, Liluwen."

"They were starving!" Gimli could not deny the little bit of pride he felt to know that Wenny was taking what he said as truth.

"And we fed them." Legolas responded, trying, and failing, to change Wenny's mind. Her lips pursed, an even more unimpressed look twisting her pale face.

"Perhaps I should clarify." Thranduil extended his arms out, gesturing to Wenny. She immediately jumped down from her chair and bounded over to him. She threw herself into his arms, laughing when he wrapped the long limbs securely around her. "We will let your Ada spend some uninterrupted time with his friend while you and I go for a walk."

Gimli watched the oldest elf for a moment, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He knew Thranduil was a proud king and an even prouder man and Gimli had never taken him to be the sort to show affection. He had been surprised when he had first arrived in the Woodland Realm to see him so willingly affectionate with his granddaughter. It was hard for Gimli to see the man his father described in the king currently holding Wenny. He had always imagined a brutal, cold, uncaring man with little concern for anyone beyond himself. His father had told him truly terrible things and Gimli couldn't quite get those notions out of his mind, regardless of how Thranduil acted.

"Wait, do you know about Kili?" Wenny asked, leaning back in Thranduil's lap to look up at him. "Because I have to know what happened with him and the other dwarves. I might die if I don't."

"A facetious fallacy, Liluwen."

"He isn't dead, is he?" Wenny asked. She peered around to Gimli, a look of horror on her face.

Gimli debated for a moment, thinking how best to phrase it. "No. He isn't dead in the forest, and neither are any of the other dwarves for that matter."

"Good. I don't think I would want to finish this story if he died." Wenny admitted, vaulting herself off her grandfather's lap. "They all have to end up happy. That's what happens."

"Not all the time, it doesn't." Gimli said simply, catching Nim's eye. She shook her head, facial expression fierce."But I'm getting ahead of myself. Go enjoy your walk and we will resume when you return."