Legolas walked into his father's business chambers once again and knelt before the King. "Father, I am afraid that war is now adamant. The son of Gloin, Gimli, has confirmed that war is necesary."
"If this is true my son, then the soldiers of Mirkwood will begin training in the marrow of the next day. I suppose that now there is no chance that we are to release Gloin, he will remain in our dungeuns."
"Yes Father, I know that you understand as well that the dwarfs are eager and will spare no time to train as we do so they shall be here as soon as they can." At this the King nodded. Legolas continued. "There was a fallen soldier in the process. My good friend Oloen will need a soldiers memoriam."
As his father nodded, Legolas bowed and walked out into the nearby archery fields to clear his mind. Legolas was not at all happy about having to fight against Gimli in a war. What Gimli had done was horrible though and Legolas did not wish to let himself forgive him. He only wished that he would not come upon Gimli in the fighting for deep inside, he did not want to kill the dwarf.
Gimli reached the mines a week later (or however long it takes to get there from Mirkwood) and emmedietly dreaded speaking with the dwarfs. Surely they would not be too mad at him for bringing in an elf that practically scorched the place, after all, what was Legolas supposed to do? They were going to make him fight to his death. Gimli thought back to that horrible day. That horrible day was the last of their friendship that he had thought would be everlasting. Those thoughts were interupted by the guards who opened the doors for Gimli.
"You did not bring an elf this time did you?"
"No, quite the opposite. Who is in charge now?"
"No one really, Gathor ran out of here in a mad rush after the dragon incident."
"That leaves me in charge I suppose?"
"Yes I believe so since you are Gloin's son."
"Okay, gather the dwarfs in the arena. I have an announcement to make."
Back in Mirkwood the elves were training every second they could. The warriors were always ready of course. Legolas spent all his time at the archery range when he was not somewhere in the palace. The training gave him a chance to get a way from his royal duties. Legolas pulled back the string of his bow tightly and then let go. A loud whistling noise could be heard by all the other archers while the arrow went straight for the bulls eye. This would be thought no great feat by the elves since it is known that Legolas is a great archer, but this bull's eye was farther than the human eye could see.
Legolas thought of the many times they had together. Legolas thought back to when Gimli would ride upon Arod with him. It was most definitely not something that Gimli had planned to do, especially since no saddle was used, but Legolas felt that the Dwarf will at least know how to ride. Legolas wondered if Gimli would ride the horse he recieved to Mirkwood. Of course not, Legolas thought, for Gimli would be too stubborn to the let his fellow dwarfs see him upon a horse. For the first time in a long while Legolas smiled, it was definitely funny remembering Gimli trying ot get upon Arod.
"My fellow dwarfs," Gimli stated, "I have a very important announcement to make."
"Why should we listen to you?" Someone in the crowd yelled. "You brought an elf into our mines even when you knew that your father was being held prisoner!" The crowd nodded in agreement.
"Legolas was my friend and I assure you that I was not informed of my father's imprisonment and neither was Legolas. But that is not what I wished to speak about." Gimli stood tall. "We are going to war with Mirkwood and we shall bring back my father."
The crowd roared with excitement. When it grew a bit quiter, someone yelled, "When shall we leave?"
"As soon as possible. I must warn you though, the elves of mirkwood are great warriors as you have seen of the elf that fought in this very arena. Many will die, so sharpen your weapons and we will be on our way."
The dwarfs scattered out of the arena and began chattering with one another on how they were going ot slaughter the elves. When Gimli heard this talk his heart felt like it was being squeezed by the darkest creature in Mordor. It was wrong, Gimli thought, to feel this way since it was him that had declared war. As Gimli began his walk alll the way back to Mirkwood with his fellow dwarfs, he thought of the face Legolas had wore when he saw of his fallen comrad. Gimli could've died when Legolas had such a look of hatred for him in his eyes. Gimli would surely avoid Legolas, not because he was afraid ot be slain, but because he could bare not ot look upon Legolas again.
Legolas knew that the dwarfs would be approaching soon so he gathered more arrows into his quiver and sharpened his knives. It was then that he heard something change in the song of the trees. His elven hearing picked up the sound of hundreds of marching footfalls. It was indeed time. The elven warriors were already just at the border of Mirkwood so that if they were indeed overtaken, then the townspeople of Mirkwood could have the chance to escape. It was not threehundred footsteps until the Mirkwood army was face to face with the dwarfs. The war begun.