Dedication: For Patrick, who loved me and only me.
Chapter 10: The Echo Over The Voice
Something was different.
Coming slowly to consciousness and shifting himself gently, so as to not jar his knee, Legolas settled quite quickly and laid still, trying to determine what had become amiss in his room.
Sighing and forcing himself to grasp a silver strand of courage, Legolas looked up and surveyed his typically messy bedroom. Creepily everything was still in its place, either scattered on the playing rugs or sitting neatly on their shelves, watching him unblinkingly with their painted or button eyes.
The elfling shivered involuntary from the eternal gazes of his toys and again tried harder to focus on the 'missing' feeling.
Since he had been bed-ridden for so long (for a five-year-old, no doubt), he had suffered from mild cramps in his legs and sides and, whenever he felt one coming on, Thranduil or his three older siblings would help ease the muscle spasm with gentle massages. It also didn't help that for the last few days he'd been feeling worst from a slight fever that had been caused from the injured knee.
Feeling a strong tremor coming up in his legs, Legolas rolled over and was greeted with . . .
Nothing.
Panic had now started to streak through the elflings body as he realised that it was his fathers missing presence that had awoken him in the dead of night.
Something terrible was stirring below the surface, he could feel it.
Looking around uncertainly, Legolas didn't know what to do next, the twins and Arwen usually slept in the same room as their friend whenever they visited, to keep the boredom down and especially to keep track of where they were. However, as he was injured and needed rest rather than distractions from the other royal elflings antics Elrond thought it best that they shared accommodation with their mother, who had also come along on the trip.
"Ada?" his voice wavered unsteadily into the night. Hearing no answer, except for a distant echo, Legolas looked about him, wondering if he should risk injuring himself further in order to search out his parent.
His nerves and imagination were already notched to the highest level; the events that happened next did absolutely nothing too calm his mind or quell his fears.
Unknown to him two of Marilla's kittens, Hestia and her brother Salfmiaug, had banded together and were currently running amok with anything and generally harassing all of the elves in the palace. The elves that had taken the animals in for pets were the servants of the palace, while they searched for the little white monsters others were discovering where the culprits had already been.
As they went through the palace, kittens sprinting and crashing into vases and other breakables, their owners were vainly trying to catch them. They shouted commands loudly making any awake being believe that a huge army of dark creatures had come to the forest to take over the kingdom.
Thus Legolas became terrified.
Then, to his absolute horror, shadows seemed to come alive within his own bedroom. The wardrobe rattled and thumps came from within it. There were no weapons to defend himself with, and none of the guards or his nannies had come to protect him.
The wardrobe's door opened slowly, and he threw himself onto the ground, and muffling a scream of pain as his knee slammed onto the hard wooden floor that hadn't been covered by any rugs, leaving nothing to take the shock of his fall.
The shadows were closing.
And then they leapt.
His son as screaming. Pleading. Calling for his mother and father to help him.
Thinking it as only his dreams disturbance, Thranduil rolled over and buried himself deeper in the covers, becoming comfortable, again his mind settled. The desperate pleas continued and the king finally realised that Legolas's voice was echoing off the walls.
Throwing the blankets aside in a desperate bid to calm his son, Thranduil raced down the hall with the speed of an animal escaping its prey, he skidded to a halt outside of his five-year-olds bedroom door and peered in.
Thranduil found Legolas all but pressed against the far corner, Marilla in a death-grip hug, not looking all too happy about the way the elfling had a hold on her. The elflings eyes were huge and contrasted horribly with his unhealthy complexion and thin features. Legolas's eyes shone, but in fever, delirium and terrified tears.
He rocked back and forth, his unintelligible stuttering flying from Common Tongue one minute and Sindarin the next. Upon seeing his father in the doorway, Legolas let out a huge sob of relief and held out his trembling hand to his only link to reality.
As Thranduil grasped his sons tiny hand, he couldn't help but notice that his child's hand was clammy and sleek with sweat when held.
"They found me, ada!!" Legolas panted as his father sat next to him. "They want me, but I locked the door, they can't turn handles, can they?"
Trying to 'see' what his son was so terribly afraid of wasn't to hard to figure out, due to the fact that the supposedly sealed door was, in fact, Legolas's own wardrobe, with chairs and all other light and moveable furniture pressed against the doors.
As Thranduil settled himself next to his child's fevered body, ready for a night on the cold floor, Marilla meowed and Thranduil saw that his sons grip on the poor cat was like a steel trap.
Prying the little sweat drenched fingers off of Marilla's silky fur was harder than Thranduil thought. It was difficult even for the full grown elf to open the tiny hands that held the cat captive. As he finally managed this, his son squealed at the sudden lost grip of his mothers cat.
"Ada!!" Legolas's panicked cried now frantic. "Don't let Marilla loose, an orc will catch her if she wonders."
Setting the grateful cat down, his father turned to him. "I think she's too smart to wonder from you." Thranduil soothed, and true to his word, the white cat snuggled against her kitten instead of disappearing into the night.
Moments passed and the only sound that could be heard was the rapid breathing of the elfling, his father soothing sounds were also in the room, but they were low and comforting to his sons ears and the cat that now sat unmoving on his lap.
Now come to think about it, the wardrobe was also having trouble keeping quiet. A puzzled expression emerged on his fathers face and he rose to inquire about this problem.
"Ada," his son questioned worriedly, "mani naa lle umien?"
"Shh," he held up a hand to gather silence, trying to remember the sounds. "A!" with that, he strolled straight to the wardrobe and, after taking the light chairs away, pulled open the doors, and was instantly in battle with two terrified fur-balls.
When they realised that they were safe, the purring began and they immediately tried to charm their way out of punishment.
Holding them by the scruff, Thranduil placed the kittens gently on Legolas's soft bed. Sure that they were safe, he then bent down to lift Legolas, but stopped as the young elf grunted in pain.
"What hurts?" Thranduil asked gently.
"My knee, I fell on it when the kittens jumped into the wardrobe," he sniffed back painful tears. "It's getting better though."
"I'll still have Taurereg inspect it," Legolas sighed dramatically.
"I'm not dying, ada." He pouted, a scowl on his small features. His father just chuckled at the stubbornness that his youngest showed. Gently, so not to harm the child's already aching knee, Thranduil was a little concern at the slight fever and delirium that Legolas had showed minutes before, now he acted as though nothing had happened.
"I believe you, your elvan glow is like a lamp." Thranduil winked as he placed Legolas on his soft bed.
"I'm not that bright . . ." Legolas saw the trap and tried to stop himself from falling into it. Seeing his sons mouth clamped closed, he was reassured that it might not be anything too serious. But he being a father, besides a king, he still thought it a good idea to at least check on the still injured joint.
A full month had passed, the snow still falling and it was driving the young elflings crazy. Legolas still had a slight limp, but it would fade leaving him with no lasting effects. Sleep was also coming easier for the young prince, as the nightmares were subsiding and leaving him to rest and dream of whatever a five-year-old elf dreams of.
Marilla streaked down the corridor, with four elflings hot on her tail, squealing in pure delight at helping the grown cat escape from the kitchens after having devoured what sugary treats they could lay their hands on, and helping Marilla finish off a salmon that was meant to be a midday meal for Lúrin.
They heard rushing footsteps and attempted to rush faster to a place that was safer, and where they would escape possible punishment. Running faster they saw the stables in sight.
"Jewel will protect us!!" Legolas cried, a huge grin covering his rosy face.
"But there is a HUGE pile of snow!!" Arwen replied, she was starting to fear her father's wrath at finding out they had caused so much trouble. "We'll fall through!"
"We will?" Legolas pondered this problem and suddenly the situation was looking much brighter. "Are you positive?"
"Father had some humans stay for the last winter, they had children about our height, but they couldn't walk on the snow, they fell through." Elrohir explained.
His twin nodded. "They must be able to allow themselves to also walk through the snow as well!"
"Well, then we shall hid in the snow!" Legolas decided.
With that, the four elflings made a jump down the stairs, which was piled high with snow, unfortunately they learned a valuable lesson that day.
While humans can walk through snow, elves, it appeared, could not.
Not daunted at the least the quickly split up and hid in the various stables, sure enough, no one came looking for them for a while. Legolas gave Jewel a quick hug and some apple as a treat for hiding him, as Marilla purred her way around his feet.
Life was getting back to normal.
Translation:
1) Ada, Mani naa lle umien? Daddy, what are you doing?
2) A! Ah!
AN: This is the second last chapter of Marilla, I'll have the Epilogue up tomorrow.
On another sad note my budgie Patrick passed away in October, she had ovarian cancer which is apparently quite common in budgies.
But I still have Max and another crazy budgie called Spook. I have one question though: does anyone know of someone who's had a fic that seems to be cursed? Ever since I started this I've been diagnosed with Deep-Vein-Thrombosis, I lost my pet rat to cancer in April, I was put in hospital 3 DAYS before my Australian Alpaca Championship (I didn't go, cause I was too sick, and I would have won, cause there were only another 2 competitors), one of my goats from school died after giving birth to three babies, and now my 6-year-old budgie passed away. No offence, but I'll be glad when this fic is over.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the fic, and leave a review!!
Smego Baggins