I hope you've enjoyed the starting of this story as much as i've enjoyed writing it. In this chapter a few things need to be explained before I continue. I don't mind killing creatures of any kind, especially deer because that would've been a staple in any meal in Mirkwood. The point i'm trying to make in that particular scene, is the very fact that Rhov doesn't belong in Mirkwood and even Legolas, his best friend, has problems dealing with his strangness. Rhov isn't like any elf in Mirkwood or the Golden Wood or even Rivendell (as we'll see later). Essentially, he's not doing what his kind have done. Using metal and turning it into something beautiful or, sometimes, dangerous. Just bear in mind as you read that this poor fellow (happy though he seems) is completely out of his element in Mirkwood and now way to do what his instincts decree. (if any of you want a love story, i have NO ideas and I almost think it would ruin his personality and character. If you disagree, pls tell me 'coz i'm not really sure if i should put one in or not)ENJOY!
Legolas and Rhov arrived back at the elven palace in Mirkwood four weeks after their meeting on the plains, to find the place in an uproar because of 13 dwarves that had been captured. They couldn't get the story out of anyone until they met Hanath who seemed to be the only person unflustered by the appearance of dwarves.
"I suppose they were lost for they kept coming up to our outdoor feast and begging for food. Well, you know Thranduil, he can't stand dwarves of any kind and ordered everyone back to the palace after the third time this had happened and sent me and several others to find them and bring them back.
"Accordingly, the next day we found them in a little huddle having battled their way out of one of the tribes of spiders and were so exhausted they put up no fight. We brought them back and the King interrogated them, but their leader was so very stubborn that nothing could be gotten out of him. They are now in the dungeons until they explain their mission." Hanath took a deep breath and began to walk away, but Rhov grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back.
"What is the leaders name, Hanath?"
Hanath yanked his sleeve out of Rhov's dirty hand and said, "I'll tell you if you both take a bath and get someone to wash those dirty clothes."
"Fine, but tell us the name! Please." Rhov scowled.
"The leaders name is Thorin and then there's Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Gloin, Oin, Bifor, Bofur, and Bombor. Now may I leave?" then turning toward Legolas, "your father needs to see you as soon as possible."
Hanath then whipped around and walked swiftly toward the throne room where, doubtless, Thranduil was waiting for news of the arrival of his son and protégé. Legolas watched Hanath disappear around the corridor, then turned to Rhov only to find him gone, and Legolas had a good idea where his friend had went. He shrugged and walked toward his room to clean up and prepare for the ragging he would get when he met his father.
Rhov was quivering with eagerness as he dumped his cloak, bow, quiver, and pack onto the floor of his room, then raced downstairs to the dungeon to meet his first dwarves. Unfortunately, Hanath had seemed to know precisely what Rhov was thinking and had sent word to the guards to not let him near any dwarf on pain of death. He pouted for a while then decided he could always sneak in sometime and have a nice little chat with one of them.
Thus mollifying himself, Rhov went back to his room to wash the grime and grit of travel off his body and prepare for dinner. He wondered just why there were 13 dwarves, for as he had heard from several sources, 13 was a very unlucky number to dwarves and they refused to have anything to do with 13. Puzzling on this problem for several minutes, Rhov finally finished cleaning up and ran downstairs to dinner.
He ran headlong into Lady Lindwen knocking her down as he careered into the main hallway and tumbled head over teakettle into the opposite wall.
"Can't you ever watch where you're going?" exclaimed an exasperated Lindwen as she helped him up. She actually found Rhov very entertaining and running into a wall like that was so very different from anything an elf would do, Lind was having a hard time keeping her face straight. She was saved from embarrassing herself by the arrival of Legolas and the Elvenking along with Hanath and several of the other higher courtiers.
Rhov was still feeling slightly dazed but brushed Lindwen's hand off and bowed shakily to the royals. Legolas chuckled, Hanath's mouth was twitching, and Thranduil just rolled his eyes. He motioned Legolas to help his friend and then the Elvenking and his retinue continued on their way to dinner accompanied by Lady Lindwen.
"When will you learn that walking is the safest way to arrive at your destination? I dare say that must be the fourth time you've done that on that particular staircase." Legolas was feeling torn between amusement and annoyance. "And you've probably done it on more than just this one. Now come on before dinner starts."
They started down the hall and Legolas steered Rhov into a seat between a pair of twins named Golan and Gilian. Then Legolas went to sit next his father and sister at the head of the table. Gilian leaned over and whispered in Rhov's ear, "Did you fall down the stairs again?"
Golan pulled Rhov over and said quietly, "Tomorrow is the big feast, remember? We're going to go and help Missal and Galion dump the empty barrels for the Lake-men. Are you going to come?"
Rhov had recovered enough to be able to talk and he cheerfully replied, "Of course my mischief-makers-in-arms! But don't forget we get to sample some of that absolutely spiffin' Dorwinion!" The three shook hands under the table and turned to their delicious venison. Since Rhov was thought of as part of the royal family by most, dumping empty barrels with such rogues as the twins would be thought of as most dishonorable so they had to scheme in secret.
Suddenly there was a scream of rage from the head of the table and all and sundry jumped with one accord and heads whipped toward the royal family. Lady Lindwen was glaring accusingly in the direction of Rhov and the twins and everyone turned back to their food. Everyone had seen Rhov in trouble with the Princess before and it was nothing new.
Thranduil shook his head and pushed his daughter back into her seat and whispered, "I will speak with Rhov after dinner, but please refrain from making a scene in front of the whole palace." Lindwen stuck out her lower lip, but capitulated and glared down at her empty plate that had just been full a moment before. That's strange, she thought, I could've sworn had filled it up just a moment before. She dismissed it as some strange trick of Rhov's and contented herself thinking of the haranguing he would be getting in an hour or two. Now she knew why her father had looked at her strangely as they walked to dinner. She had a huge, purple bruise on her forehead where Rhov had slammed into her, and she had just noticed it in her spoon as she picked it up. She couldn't go to the feast tomorrow with such an unsightly bruise. HE WILL PAY FOR IT! She growled to herself as she put more fruit on her plate.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bilbo Baggins was gulping down a plate of mainly fruit and vegetable and little bit of meat. He hat figured out a plan for the escape of himself and the dwarves but it would be tricky. Finding a storeroom with barrels and barrels of wine had given him the idea of slipping the dwarves inside the empty ones. He had heard the butler, Galion, telling the head guard about the empty barrels that were to be pushed into the river tomorrow and sent downriver to the Lake-men of Esgaroth. Eagerly, Bilbo had listened for more, but then they both had started drinking a very potent wine they called Dorwinion and had fallen asleep without delay. Well, thought Bilbo, I most certainly hope they do the same thing tomorrow."
Next morning Rhov woke up to a bird singing just outside his window and the sun shining brightly for once. Unlike most elves, Rhov didn't care for wine so he never drank any or very little if he had to, thus he was one of the few early risers in the palace. He walked over to the washbasin and dunked his whole head into the icy cold water. Rhov hated big, fancy, festive occasions and that was the very reason he was going to disappear with the twins for a while. He chuckled as he pulled his head out of the basin and remembered Lind's face as Thranduil congratulated Rhov upon not breaking his promise but being able to keep Lady Lindwen away from another feast yet again.
Lindwen was mad at him for the entirety of one hour until she realized the humor and forgave him just like she had been doing since he had first arrived, causing trouble. Rhov rarely felt bad about stopping Lind from going to a feast, for he felt he was working for a noble cause because he adored Orophin like a brother and he knew how much the poor elf had fallen in love with Lady Lindwen. But this time, Rhov felt he really shouldn't have done what he'd done for he knew how much Lind looked forward to her first feast in three hundred years. Rhov sniggered healthily at the thought of all the various and different ways he had schemed and one accident completely beat all the others hollow.
Legolas banged the door open just then and broke Rhov's rambling thoughts as he yelled, "We're going on a hunt! Get dressed, hurry!" Legolas always got extremely excited when it came to any kind of stag hunts. Rhov rolled his eyes, dunked his head in the basin again, and then dried off. Peeling off his shirt, he sighed and asked, "I suppose we're going nowhere near the spiders?" Legolas glared at his friend while he pulled on his hunting shirt, gauntlets and cloak.
"If you want to know, my father has banned everyone from going near the spiders for awhile since the dwarves upset them so much. And don't you dare disappear to take them on yourself! Just try and behave today if you can, please!" Then Legolas stomped out of the room in high temper.
The hunting party started out from the palace accompanied by an extremely grumpy Legolas, who really liked his wine and had a very bad hangover from last night. Rhov, consequently, had stuffed small bits of cotton in his ears and decided to ride in the back next to the twins who were perpetually cheerful. Legolas could get a little annoying from time to time, acting more like an extremely bossy big brother.
They were all about 12 miles away from the palace when a stag burst out of a bush right in front of Rhov and the twins and they took after it immediately followed by the rest. Rhov abominated riding horses but as everyone else was on one, he had to persevere and deal with the slap-bang, slap-bang. Being a naturally graceful elf was not one of Rhov's greater strengths, so it didn't take long for him to hit a branch and get thrown back and sideways away from everyone else. In the full career of the hunting party, no one noticed his fall, thus no one came to pick him up.
He sat there for several minutes while he got his breath back, a happenstance that seemed to be happening with alarming frequency. Finished gathering oxygen into his system again, he stood up on good, solid ground where he was more at home than the saddle. Rubbing his stomach and ribs, he began walking toward the sounds of a victorious party; apparently they had brought down the stag. Rhov was extremely glad he didn't have to see the death because he liked stags, they were such beautiful, graceful animals; it seemed a shame to kill them for sport. When he appeared, Legolas (who was in a much better mood) ran over and clapped him on the shoulder. "You missed it! Perhaps we should have Hanath ride with you from now on. We can't have you falling off all the time because one of these days you'll run right into someone's horse's head!" He laughed and dragged the unwillingly Rhov toward the carcass. Rhov felt sufficiently sick at the sight but tried to be polite and grinned at his friend and left as quickly as he could.
Just as he reached the horses, he thought he heard something in the bushes next and pushed them back. There, looking petrified with fright, was a tiny, pure black wolf puppy, related no doubt to those many wolves that ravaged anything they could get their paws on. But this one seemed just frightened and when Rhov reached out a finger and rubbed its nose, instead of biting him, it whined and moved back clumsily. Rhov looked down and noticed that one of the paws looked injured; ignoring the puppy's terrified squeaks, he picked it up and cuddled it to his chest. Feeling the paw, he found a well-sized thorn in the pad and pulled it out. The pup gave out a pained whine, then beginning to feel safe, snuggled into Rhov's shirt and fell asleep. Legolas came up then and Rhov had to hide the tiny puppy into his cloak pocket. None of the wood-elves would allow Rhov to keep a wolf, even the twins who had talked about having a pet spider. Wolves were related to the fierce, man-eating wargs of the mountains; therefore wolves did not get any regard from the wood-elves who had lost many of their kind to wargs in the past.
"Time to go to the palace, my friend. Do you need any help getting into the saddle?" He laughed and slapped Rhov on the shoulder for the second time, and walked toward his white palfrey as Rhov pulled himself into the saddle, grumbling under his breath all the way back to the palace. When the party arrived back at the Elvenking's palace to tumultuous applause from those who had stayed behind, Rhov excused himself, and ran up to his room and made a little nest for his puppy out of an old, green cloak in the corner of his room. The poor thing looked half—starved, but Rhov there would be no time to get food, for the feast would be starting in two hours and the cooks would be extremely suspicious if Rhov turned up asking for meat.
The puppy whimpered in its sleep and Rhov stroked it wondering how in the world was he going to break the news to even Legolas. He knew there was no evil in it, for his senses where very good at picking these things out, but no one believed him at all. Well, he could worry about all this later after the feast.
The feast was going full blast when Rhov and the twins snuck out with a couple other, lesser, elves to roll the empty barrels into the water. Gilian was sniggering uncontrollably and Golan was whistling a very catchy tune.
Bilbo was just pushing Balin into the last barrel when he heard the song and voices winding their way down the stairs. Shoving the top on, he slipped his ring on and moved into a corner away from the activity. He could hear one of them talking about the luscious feast they had all been at and couldn't wait to get back to it.
"Where's old Galion, the butler?" said one. "I haven't seen him at the tables tonight. He ought to be here now to show us what is to be done."
"I shall be angry if the old slowcoach is late," said another. "I have no wish to waste time down here while the song is up"
Then Bilbo saw that strange elf that he had seen around the palace from time to time and even a very ignorant hobbit could see that this elf was very, very different. The elf laughed suddenly and cried, "Ha, Ha! Here's the old villain with his head on a jug! He's been having a little feast all to himself and his friend the captain."
"Shake him! Wake him!" shouted the others impatiently.
Upon waking the grumpy butler, the elves proceeded to dump the barrels into the water without further ado, through a trapdoor in the middle of the floor under which flowed the Forest River. One of the elves, a particularly mischievous one, began to sing a rollicking little tune and the others joined in.
Roll-roll-roll-roll,
Roll-roll-rolling down the hole!
Heave ho! Splash plump!
Down they go, down they bump!
"These seem awfully heavy for being empty barrels. Are you sure these are the rights ones Galion?" The strange elf chuckled.
"Of course they are!" said a vexed Galion ,"I should know, 'twas I who set them out."
"If you are tossing out the King's best wine into the river, be sure to mention when he fires you that we were just following orders!" The cheeky-faced wood-elf laughed.
It was then that Bilbo realized his mistake. He had put the dwarves in barrels and yes, the plan was working amazingly well, but he had forgotten one very important thing. How was he supposed to get out? His only chance was to jump into the water along with the last barrel and that was without letting any of the elves know he was there. As the last barrel was rolled toward the trapdoor he charged toward it, and as the elf pushing it let go he jumped and went flying through the opening.
"Well that's done!" said Gilian brushing his hands. "Let's get back to the feast!" And they all charged up the stairs followed by the sleepy Galion who was getting a little too fat these days to be running around.