CHAPTER 19 - Cloak Of Lies
Two orcs watched through yellow eyes as they sat hidden in the dark foliage of a tree. Black cloaks and hoods covered their features and clothes to avoid any of the elven guards from seeing them. If that happened, Urshak would be far from happy. One smirked as he watched an elven maiden sob her heart out with a group of her friends, each one wailing louder than the last. They were not the only ones to be upset.
After hours of waiting in the tree, the two orcs were finally rewarded. A procession left the halls of the king, bearing three bodies dressed in fine silk robes. The faces of the three bodies lifted up on the shoulders of guards were covered in black veils. As they emerged, the crying elves began to sob even louder. Some of the crowd drifted forward to touch the bodies, but were held back by the guards.
"And they'll be the captains," muttered one of the orcs. His yellow eyes glinted in the light of torches being held aloft by members of the crowd.
Now, the princes had left the palace, their heads bowed, each one of them dressed in black. Their pale faces, even from as far away as the trees, were obviously paler than they should be, the very essence of mourning. The orcs nodded to each other. They had seen enough.
Dropping noiselessly to the ground, the orcs slipped away through the shrubbery of the forest to where their commander was waiting for news.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas kept his head bowed, staring at the ground beneath him as he followed the funeral procession of his parents and sister. They had finally decided on poison, just a couple of drops in the wine at breakfast. The chosen poison only took two hours to work.
Beside him, Astaler flashed a look at him, his face a mask of sorrow. That was all it was. A mask. At the feast after the funeral he, Astaler, would be announced as taking the throne, as few of the elves believed Oroweth would return. In the glint of the torchlight, the crowd could easily mistake their red eyes as reflections. Good.
The crowd, however, was not likely to notice a small detail like their eyes. Legolas had seen them from one of the windows. Many of them were crying at the time, and it seemed that even more were crying now.
The procession came to a stop, and Legolas looked on grimly as the three bodies were taken in to the family crypt. These would not be the first bodies to grace it. Already, the last queen, the wife of Oropher, lay in there after dying of heartbreak when the troops of Mirkwood had come back bearing the sad news of her husbands death after the battle of Dargolad. Her second child lay there also, having died only a few weeks after it was born. The child had been weak and unable to survive, having been born in the middle of a particularly harsh winter. Now, three more were to be taken in there and laid to rest.
'It had almost been me' thought the prince, 'If they had come a few moments later to the pool the day after the feast when the orcs attacked.'
He sighed as the doors to the crypt were sealed, relief flooding over him. Legolas looked again at his three siblings, only half listening as Mithrandir spoke to the crowds.
" . . . And may the souls of the good King Thranduil, his beloved Queen Imlammthien and daughter Calensil find their way to the halls of Mandos where they will find eternal rest . . ."
Keeping his head bent, Legolas began to run over the plan again in his mind. The first part was now completed successfully. The second part, convincing Nilwethion to slip away in to the forest where the orcs waited, would be more difficult. Getting past the guards would be easy enough, but first they would have to escape from all the other elves at the feast. There had already been so many elves telling the princes how sorry they were for the losses. Silly fools. If they really knew the truth . . .
" . . . Reunited with friends and family long past . . ."
It would be much harder for Astaler to slip away. After all, people were already looking to him to be the next king. Men would soon be arriving from Dale and lands further away to wish him well with his future reign.
Legolas suppressed a small smile, remembering that he was supposed to be in mourning. Future reign indeed! It was quite laughable really. Then again, how many people were aware of the plan? Very few people. Mithrandir, the king and queen, the lord and lady of Imladris and Silnan. Not even Nilwethion and Elrohir knew the full plan, though they were sure to find out soon enough. Calensil knew even less, only that she was supposedly dead and had to stay as quiet as possible, and all the warrior posing as his mother's body knew was that she had to sit in a crypt with the king and a couple of dead bodies for anything between a few days and a few weeks.
Suddenly, Nuryávië poked Legolas in the side and he came away from his private thoughts.
"Feast. Were you not paying attention again? Fool!"
Legolas bit his lip to stop himself answering with stupid remark that would give the game away, but followed his brothers to the clearing where the feast was being held. It would be strange, attending a feast where there was nobody to inspect him critically or glare at him until he 'remembered his manners'. Were he and his brothers not in such a dangerous situation, this feast could have been remarkably fun.
As they walked along the dark path with many other elves, Legolas decided to put the next part of the plan in to action. He looked at Astaler questioningly, and the older prince gave a slight nod. Legolas turned to Nilwethion and muttered quietly; "The attention is stifling!"
His brother nodded in agreement.
"If only they would leave us to mourn in peace!"
Nuryávië, walking on the other side of Legolas, turned his head away to hide a smile. This was the part Nilwethion did not know about. He really did think his parents and sister were dead! Legolas felt quite bad for not telling Nilwethion the whole truth, but if he did then the plan would most likely not work.
"Shall we slip away to our glade? Only for a couple of moments. I doubt anybody will miss us for a while,"
Looking around to see if anybody was watching them, Nilwethion nodded. Legolas grabbed his arm and they disappeared in to the undergrowth with hardly a sound. They had enough practise at slipping away by now it was second nature to them.
When they reached the glade, careful for once to keep their clothes immaculate, a shock awaited Nilwethion. Before he stepped through the trees, the prince saw a flash of moonlight reflecting off weaponry. He paused and grabbed Legolas' arm.
"Legolas," he whispered, "There is somebody in our glade with their weapons drawn. We must go back!"
Legolas shook his head, making his hair, now clean and silky again, flop over his shoulders. He grabbed Nilwethion by the arm and pulled him along the extra few steps in to the black shadows where the orcs were waiting.
"No, we must not!" he replied, smiling as orcs appeared around them, encircling the pair. Nilwethion gasped and drew his short sword, adopting a defensive stance. He remembered something Legolas had said five days ago when telling Mithrandir about what had happened in captivity and the reason the were set free. 'We have to make sure we get Nilwethion and Calensil to them. He said he wants all his siblings on his side.' Dropping his sword, he looked in shock at his sibling.
"You did it!" he whispered, "You killed them! You meant for this to happen!"
Legolas nodded once. One of the orcs sidled up and patted Legolas on the shoulder, as if they were old friends. In one hand was a polished dagger, like the ones the elves used. The orc grinned, showing two rows of very sharp, pointed teeth. Urshak.
"Well done, Songbird. I thought yew was going to turn traitor on us for a bit after yew'd gone! Bind 'im!"
When the orcs came forward with thick rope to tie Nilwethion's wrists and feet, the elf made no move to defend himself. Instead, he shook his head in disbelief at Legolas, misery in his eyes. Legolas looked away in to the darkness of the forest, unable to watch as his brother was jostled about by the orcs.
A few moments later, Nuryávië trotted in to the clearing, closely followed by Astaler. They looked apologetically at Nilwethion, feeling as guilty as Legolas. The two princes bowed their heads slightly to Urshak.
"We seem to be missing one," said Urshak, fingering the edge of his knife, "Where is she?"
"When we slipped the poison in to the wine of the king, she drank from his goblet when he was not looking before we could stop her. The poison killed her," replied Astaler. His voice was low and husky, as if ashamed. He looked Urshak in the eye, trying to work out whether the orc had believed the lie or not. Luckily, he did.
"Be more careful next time!" he commanded. The orc turned away and walked over to Nilwethion, looking him up and down.
"I thought yew were dead," he informed the prince, "Seems yer tougher than ye look. Could work well for yew. Move out!"
One of the orc picked up Nilwethion and threw him over his shoulder, like a sack. Within a matter of seconds, the clearing looked as if nothing had just happened at all. The only hint that anything unusual had taken place was the elvish short sword lying on the ground where it had been dropped.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
In a large clearing in the forest of Mirkwood, Mithrandir sat listening to a minstrel lamenting the loss of three beloved members of the royal family. The wizard looked around at the gathered elves. His gaze rested on Elrohir, sitting alone at the end of one of the tables, not touching his food. Mithrandir supposed that Elrohir would be the first to notice that the princes had gone.
"We shall leave for Imladris in five days time," said a voice next to him. Mithrandir turned his head to see Elrond sipping his wine.
"Have the preparations been made?" he asked. The lord of Imladris nodded.
"My son has decided to wait here for news of his twin, though I cannot bear to stay here any longer than necessary after all that has happened. I yearn to be back home. Do such dark occurrences always take place in this forest?"
The wizard looked sceptically at the elf lord sitting next to him.
"That, Lord Elrond, was uncalled for. I am glad to say that no, they do not. It is unfortunate that this forest has become so dark in recent years."
Elrond nodded regretfully.
"I apologise, old friend. I spoke unfairly."
"'Tis not to me you ought to be apologising to."
Elrond looked around, but realised that Astaler and Nuryávië were no longer there. He looked back at Mithrandir and raised a dark eyebrow. Mithrandir smiled grimly and nodded. The princes would not return soon. Finishing the red wine in his goblet, Mithrandir turned his attention back to the lament being sung by the minstrel.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: An extra cookie for anybody who works out what on Middle Earth is going on here! Lol. Anybody confused? By the way, about five days have passed since the last chapter.
PERSONAL REVIEW THINGY
LEXIE ~~ yup, they have red eyes. This is not a good thing.
SONY ~~ ooh, you managed to catch one? Well done! **Whispers** the plot bunny warren is that way.
EBONY FALCON ~~ I know they should know better than that, but remember; they are under the influence of serious evil. Interesting plot bunny, but I've got the rest of the story plotted out. Sauron doesn't come in to it. It would, however, make a very good story anyway. Why don't you write it?
LITTLE WITCH ~~ why thank you!
IMBEFANIEL ~~ you take stuff like that? You're very crazy! However, I still want to know what the berry is called! **Grabs botanical book about herbs 'n' berries 'n' stuff**. It should be here somewhere . . .
LotRseer3350 ~~ yeah, she's gone crazy, poor thing. Calensil is still perfectly sane.
ICED ~~ a sparrow? Lol. I don't think there are any in Thranduil's halls, they all live in the garden. Awww, thank you!
ORODRUIN ~~ it doesn't finish at the end of four weeks, but the most dramatic part is on the last day of the four weeks. If you follow me. To find out what that is though, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a couple of chapters.
Two orcs watched through yellow eyes as they sat hidden in the dark foliage of a tree. Black cloaks and hoods covered their features and clothes to avoid any of the elven guards from seeing them. If that happened, Urshak would be far from happy. One smirked as he watched an elven maiden sob her heart out with a group of her friends, each one wailing louder than the last. They were not the only ones to be upset.
After hours of waiting in the tree, the two orcs were finally rewarded. A procession left the halls of the king, bearing three bodies dressed in fine silk robes. The faces of the three bodies lifted up on the shoulders of guards were covered in black veils. As they emerged, the crying elves began to sob even louder. Some of the crowd drifted forward to touch the bodies, but were held back by the guards.
"And they'll be the captains," muttered one of the orcs. His yellow eyes glinted in the light of torches being held aloft by members of the crowd.
Now, the princes had left the palace, their heads bowed, each one of them dressed in black. Their pale faces, even from as far away as the trees, were obviously paler than they should be, the very essence of mourning. The orcs nodded to each other. They had seen enough.
Dropping noiselessly to the ground, the orcs slipped away through the shrubbery of the forest to where their commander was waiting for news.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas kept his head bowed, staring at the ground beneath him as he followed the funeral procession of his parents and sister. They had finally decided on poison, just a couple of drops in the wine at breakfast. The chosen poison only took two hours to work.
Beside him, Astaler flashed a look at him, his face a mask of sorrow. That was all it was. A mask. At the feast after the funeral he, Astaler, would be announced as taking the throne, as few of the elves believed Oroweth would return. In the glint of the torchlight, the crowd could easily mistake their red eyes as reflections. Good.
The crowd, however, was not likely to notice a small detail like their eyes. Legolas had seen them from one of the windows. Many of them were crying at the time, and it seemed that even more were crying now.
The procession came to a stop, and Legolas looked on grimly as the three bodies were taken in to the family crypt. These would not be the first bodies to grace it. Already, the last queen, the wife of Oropher, lay in there after dying of heartbreak when the troops of Mirkwood had come back bearing the sad news of her husbands death after the battle of Dargolad. Her second child lay there also, having died only a few weeks after it was born. The child had been weak and unable to survive, having been born in the middle of a particularly harsh winter. Now, three more were to be taken in there and laid to rest.
'It had almost been me' thought the prince, 'If they had come a few moments later to the pool the day after the feast when the orcs attacked.'
He sighed as the doors to the crypt were sealed, relief flooding over him. Legolas looked again at his three siblings, only half listening as Mithrandir spoke to the crowds.
" . . . And may the souls of the good King Thranduil, his beloved Queen Imlammthien and daughter Calensil find their way to the halls of Mandos where they will find eternal rest . . ."
Keeping his head bent, Legolas began to run over the plan again in his mind. The first part was now completed successfully. The second part, convincing Nilwethion to slip away in to the forest where the orcs waited, would be more difficult. Getting past the guards would be easy enough, but first they would have to escape from all the other elves at the feast. There had already been so many elves telling the princes how sorry they were for the losses. Silly fools. If they really knew the truth . . .
" . . . Reunited with friends and family long past . . ."
It would be much harder for Astaler to slip away. After all, people were already looking to him to be the next king. Men would soon be arriving from Dale and lands further away to wish him well with his future reign.
Legolas suppressed a small smile, remembering that he was supposed to be in mourning. Future reign indeed! It was quite laughable really. Then again, how many people were aware of the plan? Very few people. Mithrandir, the king and queen, the lord and lady of Imladris and Silnan. Not even Nilwethion and Elrohir knew the full plan, though they were sure to find out soon enough. Calensil knew even less, only that she was supposedly dead and had to stay as quiet as possible, and all the warrior posing as his mother's body knew was that she had to sit in a crypt with the king and a couple of dead bodies for anything between a few days and a few weeks.
Suddenly, Nuryávië poked Legolas in the side and he came away from his private thoughts.
"Feast. Were you not paying attention again? Fool!"
Legolas bit his lip to stop himself answering with stupid remark that would give the game away, but followed his brothers to the clearing where the feast was being held. It would be strange, attending a feast where there was nobody to inspect him critically or glare at him until he 'remembered his manners'. Were he and his brothers not in such a dangerous situation, this feast could have been remarkably fun.
As they walked along the dark path with many other elves, Legolas decided to put the next part of the plan in to action. He looked at Astaler questioningly, and the older prince gave a slight nod. Legolas turned to Nilwethion and muttered quietly; "The attention is stifling!"
His brother nodded in agreement.
"If only they would leave us to mourn in peace!"
Nuryávië, walking on the other side of Legolas, turned his head away to hide a smile. This was the part Nilwethion did not know about. He really did think his parents and sister were dead! Legolas felt quite bad for not telling Nilwethion the whole truth, but if he did then the plan would most likely not work.
"Shall we slip away to our glade? Only for a couple of moments. I doubt anybody will miss us for a while,"
Looking around to see if anybody was watching them, Nilwethion nodded. Legolas grabbed his arm and they disappeared in to the undergrowth with hardly a sound. They had enough practise at slipping away by now it was second nature to them.
When they reached the glade, careful for once to keep their clothes immaculate, a shock awaited Nilwethion. Before he stepped through the trees, the prince saw a flash of moonlight reflecting off weaponry. He paused and grabbed Legolas' arm.
"Legolas," he whispered, "There is somebody in our glade with their weapons drawn. We must go back!"
Legolas shook his head, making his hair, now clean and silky again, flop over his shoulders. He grabbed Nilwethion by the arm and pulled him along the extra few steps in to the black shadows where the orcs were waiting.
"No, we must not!" he replied, smiling as orcs appeared around them, encircling the pair. Nilwethion gasped and drew his short sword, adopting a defensive stance. He remembered something Legolas had said five days ago when telling Mithrandir about what had happened in captivity and the reason the were set free. 'We have to make sure we get Nilwethion and Calensil to them. He said he wants all his siblings on his side.' Dropping his sword, he looked in shock at his sibling.
"You did it!" he whispered, "You killed them! You meant for this to happen!"
Legolas nodded once. One of the orcs sidled up and patted Legolas on the shoulder, as if they were old friends. In one hand was a polished dagger, like the ones the elves used. The orc grinned, showing two rows of very sharp, pointed teeth. Urshak.
"Well done, Songbird. I thought yew was going to turn traitor on us for a bit after yew'd gone! Bind 'im!"
When the orcs came forward with thick rope to tie Nilwethion's wrists and feet, the elf made no move to defend himself. Instead, he shook his head in disbelief at Legolas, misery in his eyes. Legolas looked away in to the darkness of the forest, unable to watch as his brother was jostled about by the orcs.
A few moments later, Nuryávië trotted in to the clearing, closely followed by Astaler. They looked apologetically at Nilwethion, feeling as guilty as Legolas. The two princes bowed their heads slightly to Urshak.
"We seem to be missing one," said Urshak, fingering the edge of his knife, "Where is she?"
"When we slipped the poison in to the wine of the king, she drank from his goblet when he was not looking before we could stop her. The poison killed her," replied Astaler. His voice was low and husky, as if ashamed. He looked Urshak in the eye, trying to work out whether the orc had believed the lie or not. Luckily, he did.
"Be more careful next time!" he commanded. The orc turned away and walked over to Nilwethion, looking him up and down.
"I thought yew were dead," he informed the prince, "Seems yer tougher than ye look. Could work well for yew. Move out!"
One of the orc picked up Nilwethion and threw him over his shoulder, like a sack. Within a matter of seconds, the clearing looked as if nothing had just happened at all. The only hint that anything unusual had taken place was the elvish short sword lying on the ground where it had been dropped.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
In a large clearing in the forest of Mirkwood, Mithrandir sat listening to a minstrel lamenting the loss of three beloved members of the royal family. The wizard looked around at the gathered elves. His gaze rested on Elrohir, sitting alone at the end of one of the tables, not touching his food. Mithrandir supposed that Elrohir would be the first to notice that the princes had gone.
"We shall leave for Imladris in five days time," said a voice next to him. Mithrandir turned his head to see Elrond sipping his wine.
"Have the preparations been made?" he asked. The lord of Imladris nodded.
"My son has decided to wait here for news of his twin, though I cannot bear to stay here any longer than necessary after all that has happened. I yearn to be back home. Do such dark occurrences always take place in this forest?"
The wizard looked sceptically at the elf lord sitting next to him.
"That, Lord Elrond, was uncalled for. I am glad to say that no, they do not. It is unfortunate that this forest has become so dark in recent years."
Elrond nodded regretfully.
"I apologise, old friend. I spoke unfairly."
"'Tis not to me you ought to be apologising to."
Elrond looked around, but realised that Astaler and Nuryávië were no longer there. He looked back at Mithrandir and raised a dark eyebrow. Mithrandir smiled grimly and nodded. The princes would not return soon. Finishing the red wine in his goblet, Mithrandir turned his attention back to the lament being sung by the minstrel.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: An extra cookie for anybody who works out what on Middle Earth is going on here! Lol. Anybody confused? By the way, about five days have passed since the last chapter.
PERSONAL REVIEW THINGY
LEXIE ~~ yup, they have red eyes. This is not a good thing.
SONY ~~ ooh, you managed to catch one? Well done! **Whispers** the plot bunny warren is that way.
EBONY FALCON ~~ I know they should know better than that, but remember; they are under the influence of serious evil. Interesting plot bunny, but I've got the rest of the story plotted out. Sauron doesn't come in to it. It would, however, make a very good story anyway. Why don't you write it?
LITTLE WITCH ~~ why thank you!
IMBEFANIEL ~~ you take stuff like that? You're very crazy! However, I still want to know what the berry is called! **Grabs botanical book about herbs 'n' berries 'n' stuff**. It should be here somewhere . . .
LotRseer3350 ~~ yeah, she's gone crazy, poor thing. Calensil is still perfectly sane.
ICED ~~ a sparrow? Lol. I don't think there are any in Thranduil's halls, they all live in the garden. Awww, thank you!
ORODRUIN ~~ it doesn't finish at the end of four weeks, but the most dramatic part is on the last day of the four weeks. If you follow me. To find out what that is though, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a couple of chapters.