Hello everyone. A few of you will be glad to know that I have through chapter 10 written for this story! I really enjoy writing it--it will go one for even longer than that, I think. So heres chapter 3!
It was dark. It was always dark in the southern regions of Mirkwood. The trees and undergrowth grew rapidly and unchecked, the spiders were gigantic and powerful. And it was evil. Evil was a tangible feeling. There were Nazgul dwelling there. Nazgul and another power, one far worse. And he was orchestrating the attack on the elven realms of central and northern Mirkwood. He knew that one of the greatest forces of light and good lived there. And he wanted him dead. Because he had seen in the palantír that he would try to foil his plans. Something he could not, under any circumstances, allow to happen. He would not lose again. Just to ensure the completion of his plans, he was sending some of his…friends. He couldn't trust the orcs not to ruin it completely. Although he had to admit, the elves' plans had been spectacular, countering him at every turn. He needed to make sure he killed the mastermind behind them in an extremely painful way. But first things first. Destroy the powerful force of good, then kill everyone else.
It was two days later and Adlanniel was just having a late breakfast with Thranduil when an elf came bursting in, covered with blood and gore, an expression of paralyzing fear on his face. He just stood there for a moment, trying to catch his breath before saying anything. "King Thranduil, Princess Adlanniel." He said. "It has been a long, hard journey back, and I must say that I-"
"Just spit it out!" Thranduil roared.
"I was in Legolas' squad." The elf said hurriedly. "The spiders have returned, another twenty dead, thirty-seven wounded. The soldiers you sent were waylaid by a band of orcs that have been running rampant, I do not know from where, but they were being cut down as I passed. Seven hundred orcs arrived yesterday, we were nearly wiped out, only four hundred of our six hundred and ninety remained, they took us completely by surprise. But the worst thing…" The elf lowered his voice. "Two Nazgul came from Dol Guldur this morning they killed twenty more, none wounded."
Adlanniel gasped and Thranduil looked angry and worried at the same time. "Continue." He said tersely.
"We tried to fight them, 'twas Prince Legolas who scared one away with a fire arrow while someone else killed its horse. After slaughtering a few more, the other one turned around and fled back where he came from. The strangest thing was that they seemed to always be after Prince Legolas." The elf continued his tale.
Adlanniel jumped up and dashed over to the elf. "Is he alive? Is he hurt? What happened to him? Please tell me everything." She begged.
The elf gave her a small smile. "He is perfectly fine, and he is one of the best warriors out there. He's killed more than my friends and I put together. He received one wound on the retreat from the large horde, but it was not poisoned and it has already healed. He thought you would ask, so he sent you a message." The elf said, handing her a small folded note, "I haven't read it, on my honor." Adlanniel beamed at him before hurrying to the study. Unless her math was wrong, the outcome of this battle could be seriously changed.
Thranduil rose and followed his daughter. "Go get changed and bathed, I do not know what you will be doing after we have figured this out." He ordered the other elf.
"Well?" Thranduil asked when he reached his study, only to see Adlanniel staring, shocked, at a piece of paper.
"Three hundred and eighteen." She said slowly. "Legolas has three hundred and eighteen elves, a force that would be considered quite formidable if it wasn't facing approximately five hundred orcs, uncountable poisonous spiders, and a Nazgul. The five hundred elves have been slowed by a band of orcs that is completely unaccounted for…" Adlanniel pulled the map of Mirkwood toward her, along with several decoded messages. "The troop of orcs on Old Forest Road has been obliterated, every single on accounted for, the elves we ordered to remain there made their way down to help the group facing the nine hundred from across the river, which is winning, but only barely. We are rapidly losing elves there."
"We still have three hundred in reserve." Thranduil reminded her.
"I know, I know. But listen. Thalion was killed and the orcs his group was fighting have been forcing their way into the forest. I don't know why, the nasty beasts fight much better on open ground, but we have been slowly picking them off. The orcs could have come from there, but if they successfully halted the progress of five hundred elves, there had to have been more than the three hundred that were originally there. Two hundred of the orcs are gone, that's an approximate from the reports, and the remaining elves are engaged in battle with them as we speak!" Adlanniel slammed her fist down on the desk. "What am I missing? The orcs in the mountains have been slaughtered, all accounted for, the small number of elves that were assigned to hunt them are helping Thalion's…well, Beriadan's group now. Another group of four hundred is across the River Running, heading for either Legolas or Beriadan's force, but they shouldn't arrive at our borders until tomorrow!."
"Calm down daughter. Come here." He held out his arms to Adlanniel, who was in them in a flash. "It will be fine, do not worry." He comforted her, holding her close.
"Ada, I'm so worried." She whispered into his tunic.
Thranduil considered a moment. "Let us pretend that you are but an elfling again, and you believe that I can do anything. What would you have me do?"
"I would have you bring Legolas home." Adlanniel closed her eyes against her tears.
"Anything else?" Thranduil asked, holding back his own tears.
"No, but if you couldn't do that I would ask you to let me fight with him." Adlanniel pulled away slightly.
"Adlanniel, you have fought the war more effectively here in this room than you ever could have on the battlefield." Thranduil sighed. He walked over to a couch and sat down. Adlanniel stood in front of him and Thranduil held her hands in his own and looked up into her blue eyes. "You have done more to fight this than I have. I sit here and listen to you devise battle strategies, strategies that have eliminated three-fourths of the orcs quickly and with little death of our own people. This would be over without you in this room."
"You can plan a battle just as well as I can, and you are the one arranging for supplies and medicine and healers to different squads." Adlanniel retorted.
"No. Nostariel, the chief healer, has been getting all of the medicines together and assigning healers to squads according to their skill and sending them along to Saeldur so he can look at the maps and find the quickest and safest roads for them to take, roads that you have made safe. Airedheil, the elfess in charge of the food supplies, has been doing the same with the food. I haven't done anything but sit in this room with you all day and look important." Thranduil corrected her.
"That's not true, ada." Adlanniel wrinkled her nose in something that resembled amusement. "I know for a fact that you've been helping Saeldur plenty. Don't understate what you've been doing."
Thranduil plowed on like he hadn't even heard her. "And as for planning battles, how many suggestions did I make at the first meeting?"
Adlanniel thought back. "One, the first one." She answered.
"Why do you think that you have been going to those meetings since you could read a map? Even for the spider hunts you were helpful, even if it was only an accident sometimes. Once you knocked over the box of stones and Legolas realized that where one had landed would be the perfect place to launch his attack. It was only chance of course, but he won that battle because you found the right place. You can plan a battle better than I can." Thranduil admitted.
"You liar!" Adlanniel screamed, all traces of good humor vanished like the wind. "You just don't want me to fight! You don't want to lose me, but you don't seem to realize that you may lose Legolas! Well I think you can plan your own Eru forsaken war!" She stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Thranduil put his head in his hands and a tear slipped down his cheek. Her accusations hurt, and he had been being completely honest. Thalion had known, he had never had much tactical sense, Falanthia had however, and it seemed that Adlanniel had inherited it, her and Legolas. He helped Saeldur plenty, with messages and crunching numbers, often staying up late into the night, but it was often that he turned to someone else for advice. She was right however, about not wanting to lose her. He did realize how close he had come to losing Legolas; he had come close several times, but ever since she was a tiny baby Adlanniel had reminded him of her mother in so many ways. She looked like him, so did Legolas, only Aradan looked like Falanthia, with her doe brown eyes and dark brown hair, but she acted like her. She had the same firmly rooted common sense, the same fiery spirit and sharp temper, although he had to admit he had one too, the same quick mind, the same excellent memory…when Falanthia had died Adlanniel had been all Thranduil had had left of his wife. Thranduil stood and walked over to the desk. He sat in his chair, for the first time in several days, at his desk, and looked at the code books organized in piles, he didn't know why Adlanniel used them, she had them all memorized, the records of elven deaths, orc deaths, the neatly marked maps, and the stones…when she had slammed the door, the box of stones had spilled. Most of them were on the floor, but one was on the map. It was a shiny yellow one, the same color as the one Adlanniel had used to mark the rogue band of orcs, and it was lying right on top of Dol Guldur.
Adlanniel stormed into her room and collapsed crying on the bed. Legolas didn't know about the soldiers coming to help, nor did he know about the four hundred orcs across the river that could be coming his way. He needed help, the relief force they sent wouldn't get there in time, not of the orc horde was as big as she thought it was. He could handle it if he had a warning...Adlanniel jumped off her bed and ran to the chest at the end of her bed. She opened it and pulled out her sword, it was still sharp from the last time she practiced, and her bow and quiver. She pulled out her knives as well, which needed to be sharpened, and slipped into her closet.
When she emerged, she was wearing a light green tunic, a dark green overshirt, dark green breeches, and soft, supple leather boots. She took down her elaborate braids, letting her blonde hair tumble down her back, before braiding it in the traditional warrior style, two braids on the side, and one thicker braid using the top half of her hair to keep it out of her face. She belted her sword and sheath to her waist, and with a small smile she pulled on the gray-green cloak she had gotten in Lothlorien last time she went. She picked up her bow and slid her quiver on her arm, holding her knives in their sheaths in her other hand. She was going to Legolas, he needed to know. He would rather she broke her promise than die, wouldn't he?
An hour later, her quiver was full, her knives were sharp, and she was ready to go. She walked her ebony mare out of the stable before jumping on. "Noro lim, Turtegiel, noro lim!" The horse was off like a shot, her powerful legs churning, carrying her rider quickly out toward the battle. She had brought a map, but she had spent the last few days picturing one in her mind constantly, trying to figure out how to counter the orcs, so she hardly needed one. She needed to beat the orcs across the River Running, the orcs in the forest who were attacking her relief force, and the spiders, whenever they may come again, to her brother's camp. She urged her horse to go faster. She was flying like a shadow in the night, silently through the thick undergrowth and under the dense foliage of Mirkwood's giant trees. The only thing that would stop her, could stop her, at this point was her father, and he was oblivious. Adlanniel relaxed and let the exhilaration of riding her horse flow through her, the light of battle in her blue eyes.
"King Thranduil, Princess Adlanniel, I have the updated count of orcs dead at the battle sight just off the Old Forest Road. The battle has been steadily moving north, I do not know how-" The elf stopped abruptly when he realized Thranduil was the only one in the study, and his head was on the desk, pillowed by his arm, and he seemed to be crying. It unnerved the elf immensely. "I'll just go find Princess Adlanniel." He said, backing out of the room. Thranduil didn't even notice.
About an hour later, the elf returned, puzzled. "King Thranduil, I can not find Adlanniel, and no one has seen her since she was last with you. Do you know where she is? Saeldur is frantic, he said something a horse named Turtegiel missing, and a set of black dual knives not being in the armory…does this mean she's gone?"
Thranduil sat bolt upright. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of the elf, his hands on his shoulders, his eyes pained and worried lines creasing on his face. "What did Saeldur say?" he asked quietly, his voice full of pain. "What was missing?"
"A black horse named Turtegiel and a set of black opal knives." He answered. He was scared of Thranduil like this.
"By the Valar!" The king exclaimed. "She's gone! Quick! Where's Saeldur?"
"He was outside the Princess' chambers when I last saw him-" But the elf didn't get to finish before Thranduil was sprinting down the hallway toward his daughter's rooms.
"King Thranduil!" Saeldur exclaimed, meeting him in the hallway. "Adlanniel is missing! All of her weaponry is gone, her horse is out of the stables, and the gown she was wearing today is in a heap on her closet floor! She must have changed and taken her Lothlorien cloak, for it is missing also!"
Thranduil skidded to a stop, tears in her eyes. He picked up a piece of parchment that was lying on the ground. He unfolded it and saw his son's loopy but neat script filling up the page. "It's Legolas' note to her, he knew she would be worried so he sent it back with the messenger. I should have known I couldn't keep them apart."
"What do you mean?" Saeldur asked.
"She's gone to fight with Legolas. She got angry with me, and she went to warn him of the danger he was in. She loves him so much Saeldur, and he loves her the same, if not more. They would die for each other, and that is what I'm afraid will happen." Thranduil explained. He slid down the wall he was leaning on and sat on the ground, his head in his hands. "I'm either going to see them back, alive and healthy, very soon, or I'm never going to see either of them alive again. There will not be one. It is all or nothing. Ai Elbereth, what will I do without them?" Thranduil started to sob softly, and Saeldur sat down beside him.
"Do not worry Thranduil. They are probably safer together than apart, they will protect each other. Everything will turn out fine, mellon nin." Saeldur tried his best to comfort the king.
"Saeldur, if one dies, the other will die. If not defending the other's dead body until the end, then they will fade from grief. But I can not orchestrate this battle alone, Adlanniel was doing much of the troop moving, positioning, and battle planning, now Thalion's dead, and everyone else I would turn to is out fighting! I can do it with help, I need to sign everything anyway. But I don't know if I can plan a battle on my own, it's been so long…"
"Well maybe you just need practice!" Saeldur said, forcing himself to sound cheerful. "You have been depending on others to do all of your war plans for you, it's about time you got back on your own two feet. I'm here to help you, and you have always been able to plan battles just fine. Come on, let's start right now." Saeldur practically dragged Thranduil back to his study and sat him down at the desk. "I'll handle codes. What you should do is review the records here…"
Well, there it is.
kingmaker: Your review is much appreciated! I had a lot of fun planning the strategy--I even got two maps of Mirkwood and color coded it, and drew arrows and everything! I thought of it like one giant game of chess. I love tactical mind games like this one:gives me mental exercise:) And I think it's horribly cheesy how the good guys are always outnumbered, and still always win. I took delicious pleasure in killing Thalion off this chap: he was quite important! (evil grin). I wonder why someone doesn't make a movie where the good guys outnumber the bad guys two to one and still get severly trounced! He he he. Thanks again for reviewing!
Namarie,
Lady Altaria