Sorry this is posted so late. I've been on a ban for a while, and I wanted to get all my other fics out of my hands before I posted this. Updates should now be more constant, and hopefully a new chapter will be up every two weeks.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I don't own Legolas, I don't own his father, and I don't own the Lord Of The Rings or anything affiliated with it. Got that? Nothing. Well, technically, I guess I own Rûnlain and maybe even this story idea!

Notes:
The rival kingdom, Rûnlain, actually means 'Sunrise of thread' in Sindarin. I just liked the way it rolled of the tongue. I also don't know how old Legolas is, so I just left it as 'incalculable'. ^_^ Another thing: Legolas' archery instructor's name is Celeblach, which means 'flame of silver'. Ah, and one more note: This is new to me, but in elvish, all C's are hard. Thus said, you would pronounce 'Celeborn' as though it read 'Keleborn' and 'Celeblach' as if it read 'Keleblach'.

Enjoy!

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I have lived incalculable years. The eighth year of my life is where my story begins.

It was an ordinary spring day, but a plot was being shaped. A plot that if successful would put Mirkwood out of existence. A rival kingdom, Rûnlain, would be trying to conquer Mirkwood when no one expected it.

As I said, it started as a relatively normal day. My father and his advisors were going over land grants, I was being tutored, and my mother was sewing with her ladies. The guards came crashing through the doors to my father. "We're being attacked, Sir!" The first said.

"The others are alerting the women and children," the second informed him.

My father rose from his chair. "Tell all the men you can to suit-up! Continue getting the women and children to safety!"

The two left the room, and my father stopped the second. "Who is it?"

"Rûnlain, sir," the guard replied.

My father sighed. "There's no need to use all our man-power against, but suit up everyone you can in case they've brought allies."

The second guard nodded and left the room.

My father sighed as he turned to his advisors. "I'm sorry, but it appears that we'll have to save this for another time." He turned and left the room to get his weapons, and to be suited up in his armor.

A guard burst into my room, telling my tutors and me to meet my mother and the others in the middle of the castle. "It's nothing to worry about," he said, "just an assault by a smaller kingdom." He hurriedly left the room to inform others.

"Come, Master Legolas," My tutor said, bidding me to follow him. I followed him out into the hall, but then I slipped un-noticed down the other direction of the hallway.

I snuck out to the battlements easily enough. I still wonder about that today. How can the strongest kingdom for miles leave the back ways unguarded during battles, and remain the strongest? Nonetheless, upon arrival, I realized that the battle would be fought on the ground. The army of Rûnlain was already collected on a cleared out part of our land, and our men were quickly filing out to the fighting grounds. I picked a safe enough hiding space, where I could watch the battle from a safe distance away.

Soon enough, a few hundred men stood on opposite sides of the field. My father and his most trusted guards leading Mirkwood, and the rulers of Rûnlain leading the opposing force. The battle call was sounded, and the front lines of the two forces charged at each other while those in back fired arrows.

There were only a few men on horses who were fighting, and every one of them was knocked off. My father was one of them. From my hiding spot I watched flaming arrows being shot, horses and elves going down. I heard the clanging of metal against metal, and the cries of elves in pain and anger. I could smell the stench of the fresh blood.

The battle appeared to be drawing to a close, and Mirkwood was winning. That was when my father was knocked down after being hit with some projectile in the back of the head. None of his trusted elves were around to see it happen, and all others were focusing on themselves. Risking my safety, I sprang from my hiding place and rushed towards him. I was closing in, when an elf from Rûnlain came onto him from behind, lifting his sword above his head, preparing to drive it through my fathers chest. My father was unconscious, so he couldn't save himself, and no one else was paying attention to where he was. In desperation, I thought frantically of what to do. I stopped half in fear a few feet from where my father lay. Without thinking, I picked up his bow he had dropped, and quickly fitted it with a stray arrow. I took precise aim and quickly shot the elf as his blade stopped inches from my fathers flesh.

The elf warrior dropped his sword by his side. He looked at my arrow sticking out of his chest. His gaze shifted to me, and he dropped to his knees beside my father. I fitted another stray arrow and aimed. I shot the arrow, and it went sailing to his chest. He fell back on contact, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

I dropped the bow, and rushed to my father's side. He was slowly regaining consciousness, and was recovering from the blow to his head. I stayed by his side until the remaining Rûnlainians surrender. They ran back to their own kingdom, with half of their best warriors dead or dying. My father was now nearly at full consciousness, and I helped him to his feet when his guards rushed to him.

He was taken to the hospital along with several other fighters who had been injured. Those from Rûnlain who had died were burned. Those from Mirkwood were buried. I was escorted to my mother, to try and explain why I had been on the field during battle.

A guard took me to my mother's quarters and left me there for her to handle. She was overjoyed that I was alive, but was stern that I was never to do that again until I'd been trained. She'd been told of my bravery with the bow and how I had saved my father's life. She was amazed I had been able to pull it off when I had hardly ever had the chance to practice archery. I told her of my new interest of it, and my new desire to be a warrior, and she was hesitant to let me have fighting lessons. After my father was released from the hospital the next day, he persuaded her to allow it.

I would begin my lessons in less than a week. I assured my mother yet again that I had not been injured in battle, and I was 'allowed' to get back to my studies after I was rested.

It had been two days and we had heard nothing from the ruler of Rûnlain. A few days later it was learned that he was over-thrown and killed, and that the citizens had become nomads until they could find a place to settle, and quite possibly, conquer.

I went through the rest of the week eagerly awaiting my fighting lessons. Finally, the day came. My schooling lessons were cut short, and I was allowed to go to Celeblach, who would be teaching me the art of fighting. I arrived where he had told me too, and he handed me a bow and arrow. "What do you do with it?" He asked.

"Shoot it?" I guessed, wondering exactly what he meant.

"How do you shoot it?"

I fitted an arrow in the bow, and pulled my arm back, keeping my elbow level with my shoulder.

"Good," he said, inspecting my stature, "except for one thing. If you do it like that, the arrow will never travel over 20 feet. If that's how you did it the other day, it's a good thing you were shooting from a short distance, otherwise, you would have never hit target."

I lowered my bow. "Really? What am I doing wrong?"

He took his own bow and fitted it with an arrow, showing my how to properly hold the bow and arrow, and how to aim with exact precision. Soon, I was able to hit targets over 50 feet away. Now, I can send an arrow sailing for hundreds of yards and hit my target, but 50 feet was quite an accomplishment for a child.


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That's chapter two. I'm going to try as hard as a can, (or as hard as I want to) to try to get the next chapter up soon. What do you think of this story? Is it getting better, worse? Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!

Oh yea, a super-special thank you to my beta-reader, Bringer of the Storm! Thanks a lot, if you hadn't proofread this for me, it would have had grammatical errors galore!