Aridel sat up with a gasp as she saw the man standing in the tent, his sword pointed at the two. She cringed for the briefest moment, thinking either her or Legolas would be harmed. But the man didn't intend to hurt them, and started waving his sword towards the exit.
"Come, you two! Let's move, now!" When he saw that the two elflings were just sitting there in shock, he sheathed his sword once more and dragged them up by their arms. Legolas looked around wildly, almost beginning to cry again, but soon enough was standing on his own feet, clinging to his sister.
"Where are we going?" Aridel asked the man, wondering where they'd be taken or if they'd be hurt. He glared at her before roughly picking her up and setting her on a horse. She stared back at him with wide eyes.
"I said where are we going? You can't do this to us, our father's the King! He won't let you get away with this, you know!"
"QUIET!" He roared as he hefted Legolas up in front of Aridel on the same horse.
"I'll not tell you where we're going, and as for your father being the King, I am very well aware of that fact. Why do you think we took you in the first place?" Aridel's fear was slowly giving way to anger as this presumptuous man proceeded to haul them away to who knows where. Legolas started to pull on her hair as the horse started off, and she tried to let go of the anger with a sigh.
"What is it, Legolas?" She looked down at the smaller elfling in front of her, as he put his little head back to stare up at her.
"Are they taking us home, Ari?" He whispered to her. A frown formed on her face as she looked down at him, and she shook her head.
"No, Legolas. But it'll be okay, we'll get home soon. I promise." She tried to smile and be brave for him, but inside she fear and anger raged. He believed her though, and laid his head on her chest.
"Okay, Ariā¦" He was soon once again asleep, and Aridel took the opportunity to try to listen to the men speak. She could hear quite well what they were saying, even though they were whispering to each other rather far ahead. These men were not used to dealing with elves and elvish hearing.
"Why are we moving, Barnir? Was this not to be our camp?" one of them said to the leader. He looked back to the other sternly.
"Yes, but the King's patrols are scouting not a mile off. We need to be further from the Palace. Now hush, you never know with these elves. They could be right around the next bend!" With that he silenced his company, and rode in quiet thought. Not four months yet since the disappearance of his brother's company. They were to travel through Mirkwood and send back a message 3 weeks ago, but no message had yet arrived. Well, he would see to that. No matter what their captain said.
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Thranduil sat at his table sipping his tea. After he had nearly collapsed when sending out the troops, Galion had made sure he went to his chambers to rest. He had been quite frantic for hours, and Galion would not relent, so he had done so. He'd stayed in his chambers for a few hours, in an elvish sleep. However he found he could not stay that way for much longer, so instead sat staring out of his window for any sign of the returning patrols. It had been 5 hours, hadn't they found anything yet?
