The Beginning of a Beautiful End

Chapter Four—An Early Grave

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Avey—Yes, indeed, I am on a high!Holds up Red Bull Wait…not that kind of high?

Lamoo—Hah! I do pride myself on my cliffhangers.rolls neck And thank you, thank you, thank you for the compliment on the spider. I had a lot of trouble trying to explain the creature that was in my mind, and I was worried it wouldn't sound good. But, I'm VERY glad you approver.

Elraralia—Yep, spiders are pretty disgusting. They really gross me out. Actually, pretty much anything with more legs than four at the most grosses me out. .

Well, there's a little different approach to this chapter. I'm not exactly taking it directly from anyone's viewpoint; it just takes place in the palace at Mirkwood. Oh! And, seriously, I need someone to tell me about the time period that Greenwood became known as Mirkwood, because I can't find out. Right now I'm just riding it safe with Greenwood, ya know. So, come on, someone help me out here, please!

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The Palace of Greenwood was in an uproar. Ever since King Thranduil had called to the parents of his son's best friends, the king had been near hysterics. Elros' mother and Ireth's father, in desperation, had gone to the palace asking if he knew about the location of their children. Thranduil had replied that, not only did he not know their children's location; he neither knew the location of his son. Ireth's father, Lord Amras, in all of his calm logic, immediately suggested that they wait it out for a while and see whether the children returned within the hour. When an hour had passed, Lord Amras was paling, Thranduil was screeching at his advisor, and Elros' mother, Lady Merenwen, had fainted at least two times. So it was that Thranduil ordered the immediate dispatch of a search party. Thranduil and the parents decided that they too would join the main party and along with Thranduil's Head Advisor, Aerandir, and Greenwood's most renowned tracker, Lord Gelmir, the group set out from the palace stables in search of the trio of mischievous elflings.

Four hours later, there was still no sign of the elflings, and the spirits of the parents were falling dramatically. Search parties had headed out in every direction but had found nothing. Evidently, any tracks that could have been found had been washed away in the storm, and any tracks that they would have found would probably have been so light they might have passed them up.

The parents each looked ready to weep, for they were all worried to their wits ends. After another hour of searching in futile, the main party of nobles, parents, and warriors headed back to the palace and dismounted outside the stables in order to rest and resume their search in the morning. Thranduil stayed upon his horse, as did the other parents, Gelmir, and Aerandir, who seemed just as worried about Legolas as Thranduil did. Turning on his large bay stallion, Thranduil spoke to those who were still mounted, "I am not abandoning my search just yet. If any wish to come with me, I will welcome their help."

"We are loath to stop as well, my lord," said Amras, "I worry desperately for my daughter."

Lady Merenwen nodded, "Elros is out there somewhere, and I shall not leave him in the woods whilst I still have strength in these legs." After a moment of quiet, Thranduil twisted his head and looked towards Forest River.

"Just this moment I realized something of importance," he looked towards Merenwen, "Our children all love trees, do they not?"

Amras and Merenwen's eyes both grew wide.

"Why did we not think of it before?" whispered Amras to himself.

"My son has never traversed past the places we have already searched except for one place. I brought him to a small lake a few times when he was very very young; it seems to me that he might have gone there with his friends maybe for nothing else except to swim for a while. It is a small chance, but it is the single place I can think of that my son might want to go off to. And I have a slight feeling that if my son went there then the others would have gone with him." Merenwen and Amras nodded silently. They both knew well enough that Legolas was the sort of "ringleader" of the group.

Lord Amras looked thoughtful. After a moment in which he seemed to be contemplating something, he finally spoke, "My lord, where is this lake?"

"Past Forest River."

"Forest River?" Gasped Lady Merenwen, "surely they would not have disobeyed us all so blatantly; Forest River is a good three leagues from here."

"I know," said Thranduil, "That is why I shall throttle Legolas when I find him."

Amras chuckled, "Indeed, I shall do the same to my daughter. Hopefully, Ireth will be so terrified of my fury that she will never disobey me again."

"Do not count on it," Merenwen replied, "I think it is a curse which the Valar has laid upon us. Since we shall live forever we must have an even longer period of time to be tormented by our children. That is one thing I envy of the mortals: their children's short growth period." They all laughed lightly at this, but the laughter was far off and disconnected, as though it was someone else who was mirthful.

"My lord," said Aerandir, turning his horse to look at his king better, "perhaps we should be getting on. It is near dawn now and no doubt the river is in a literal uproar. If we wish to cross then we must first find a shallow area."

"That will not be necessary, Aerandir, I know the exact place my son would use to cross the river, but you are right, we should be on our way."

So the group again set out, this time without their extra horsemen. Thranduil led them by a trail, avoiding the darker part of the woods just in case of spiders. At last they reached the river, just as the sun was just beginning its ascent. Thranduil brought them to the banks and then turned west. They followed the side of the river for about three quarters of a mile before Thranduil stopped abruptly. His face had paled, and he was looking ahead at the river in shock. "What is it, Thranduil?" asked Amras, riding up to the side of his lord.

Thranduil pointed up ahead where a charred tree stump was. Its trunk was split and half of it was still clinging to the stump, half merged in the rushing waters of the river. Gelmir joined them at their side, as did Merenwen and Aerandir. Thranduil's voice was a bit shaky as he spoke, "That is the crossing point."

Indeed, it could have been. Fully intact the tree would have leaned right over some boulders that were situated in the river like steps. The party felt a sudden horror wash over them as they thought of the possibilities that were presented in this picture. Now there were three potentials to the location of the elflings. One: they might still be somewhere around the palace, and they just hadn't been found yet—highly unlikely, two: they'd crossed the river, and before they could return the tree was struck down by the storm, or three: they were killed as they crossed, and their bodies washed away in the river. The last one seemed too horrible to even contemplate, and the party quickly dashed this option from their mind…or, at least, for now.

Finally, Gelmir cleared his throat and spoke out loudly, "Well, we'll just have to cross by a shallow area instead, then. The elflings might still be on the other side, and we must check before we jump to any conclusions." The parents nodded numbly, and they resumed their travel along the river. After they'd traveled another mile, they came upon an area where the water cascaded into a small waterfall and the waters at its bottom were relatively calm. Gelmir judged that the deepest part was near the bottom of the waterfall and it was around nine feet. The rest of it was about five feet deep with only a slight current. Leading the way, Gelmir led the group of anxious and bone-weary elves across the river. The horses had to swim a little and get quite a bit wet, but none of them seemed to mind due to their knowledge of the elves' recent quandary. They also seemed eager to help the small elflings. On the other side, bottom halves wet and muscles sore from riding on a bony back for over 6 hours, the elves decided to play it safe and went back along the river to reach the same spot they'd reached earlier, save this time they were on the other side of the river. When the sight of the burned tree loomed back into view, Thranduil felt his stomach give a jerk as he imagined a fork of lightning striking it in full force with his little son trying to climb from it to the rocks. Internally, he heard the sound of the wails from his son, Ireth, and Elros as they died. It made him sway dangerously on his horse, and Aerandir was quick to steady his lord and communicate some comforting words to him. It was here that Gelmir switched places with Thranduil to allow him to lead the way to the lake. Aerandir came up alongside his king. Gelmir and the others respectfully backed up to allow them privacy to talk.

"You look ready to chomp on nails, Thranduil," said Gelmir, addressing the king informally now that no one could hear them. For, in truth, the two were long time friends and never addressed each other formally while alone.

"I assure you, Aerandir, I do not chomp on anything." Replied Thranduil, not even turning to look at his advisor.

"I do not doubt it, but you do look like you could if you wished. You're as angry-looking as naugrim whose favorite axe has been stolen. Now, typical elves look miserable when one of their family is in danger, especially their only heir, but you, you look like you're ready to devour anyone who should stand in your way."

"Do you have a point in this?" Thranduil sighed out in exasperation.

"I thought I'd just call attention to the fact that you're very resilient in the face of danger."

Thranduil gave Aerandir a blank look that made the advisor chuckle, "You seem at a loss. Very well, I'll explain. Your son has very much the same characteristic as you. He's brave and there's little he will not stand up to. He is also very resourceful and knows a thing or two about Greenwood. In short, he will not act like a complete fool. His knowledge of his surroundings, and his ability to deal with situations is a bit lengthier and more acute than the average elflings'. Now that I've refreshed all of this information in you, I shall ask you this: How much of a chance do you think your son has at survival in a wood that he knows and understands? Do you really think he'd be foolish enough to cross across a river on a tree when lightning was flashing overhead?"

Thranduil considered these questions within him and gave no reply to Aerandir, who it seemed, did not expect an answer. Falling back with the others, Aerandir left his king to muse over the possibilities. It wasn't long after this slight conversation that Gelmir suddenly halted and raised a hand in the air. Thranduil had already stopped and so did not continue. His head was held high, his eyes alert as though he was looking for something that couldn't be seen. There came a sound, drifting upon the air like pollen from a bud, wafting over the breeze, its quiet message dancing about the ears of the party like a tantalizing smell that one could not dismiss. Thranduil's wariness vanished, and he urged his horse forward, but slowly. The sound grew and with it a melody and a voice that rose like mist over a roaring falls.

Silver flow the streams from Celos to Erui

In the green field of Lebennin!

Tall grows the grass there. In the wind from the Sea

The white lilies sway,

And the golden bells are shaken of mallos and alfirin

In the green fields of Lebennin,

In the wind from the Sea!

Thranduil trembled, and spoke to his company now, "I know that voice." And with little caution, the elven-lord abandoned his fears and rode forward to receive his son.

Song Reference-- Book 3-Page 156