Chapter Six--Sudden Sentencing and Alasse's Curiosity
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Lamoo—Ah, my glorious reader has returned. I'd sort of wondered where you'd got. Anyway, I'm extremely glad you think my chapters are looking good. And you seem to underestimate Thranduil and the parents. Arrow-fletching is not all they're going to be doing, as will be demonstrated by this chapter.
Butterfly-elf--You are a very glorious being indeed. All that information will come in very handy, and I thank you for it. .
Avey—You're quite right. Ireth will later regret her decision very deeply, but if I told you why then that would give something away wouldn't it? evil chuckle
Elven Dragon Rider—Thank you for the answer as well. I'm glad some of you people actually figured this out for me, because I'm pretty hopeless at my Tolkien History. Hmmm…they should have a college course like that: Tolkien 101.
Author Note: VERY sorry this one took so long, but you people have got to understand! I just finished my play, Fiddler on the Roof (we kicked butt by the way), and now I've got exams, portfolio, and a very obnoxious boyfriend to worry about. Oh, and also, my computer has this rather awful habit of randomly restarting itself whenever it pleases. I'm not sure if I told ya'll about that, but I'm saying it again. I was thinking about just delaying this chapter until after the 26th, my last day at school, but I knew you guys would gut me, Elven Dragon Rider especially. Anyway, I'm very proud to present fanfare CHAPTER SEVEN—I mean…SIX!
–By the way, I'm using the eights (Look down there) as spacers, because fanfiction is the Devil's favorite child, and it won't accept any symbols for some reason. Hiss Note: this is the reason why some words are bolded instead of closed by asterisks.
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Ireth"We're going to do what?" I heard Legolas ask, tilting his head to the side.
Thranduil crossed his arms (For the fifth time, mind you. He'd been at this fold, unfold, fold game for a good long while) and looked down upon his belligerent son, "Log rolling. Our carpenter has graciously accepted my offer of some elfling help for the next 2 days."
I felt myself blanch at the title of carpenter. My father was going to be overseeing our work. The king had to be joking!
But he wasn't.
We'd done something pretty foolish, but I knew that—deep down—if the king had found out about what had actually happened, with the spider and everything, we would have been punished about fifteen times worse. Legolas' rather rudimentary explanation of his bruise had just barely convinced the healers. He'd told them it had been a large backslap from a branch Elros had pulled back and accidentally let loose on him. It had to have been a very BIG branch, but the healers went ahead and believed him. After all, they were just glad to have their prince back, right?
"All you will have to do is move the large logs from the cleared area into the river. I'm actually being quite lenient with you considering what it is that you'd done. Now, you understand the rules, do you not? No back-talking Master Amras, for he is to be your overseer, and you will treat him just like you would me…"Thranduil paused for a second, "Actually, on second thought, you will treat him better than you treat me. Now, understood?"
Legolas nodded his head, but I kept mine still, for he wasn't talking to me. Thranduil did turn to me though. "And you, Ireth?"
"Yes, my Lord." I nodded my head quickly; "I shall treat him even better than I treat you."
Thranduil chuckled slightly at this but didn't say anything more on the matter. "Now, be off with you!"
Legolas and I scampered out of the room quickly, leaving a very smug king in our wake. Legolas didn't seem very happy though, "I don't like this one bit. Ada has a way of making punishments worse than they actually sound."
"Ah, get over it. I'm sure your father doesn't mean to slaughter us with labor. However, we do need to go unearth Alasse and Elros and find Aerandir, so he can escort us to the clearing."
Legolas nodded his head reluctantly, and we set off looking for Aerandir who usually could be found in the library. Sure enough—he was browsing the ancient volumes in the far back of the library that retold, in disgusting detail, all the events of the First Age. Few elves even went back there anymore (Elros said it was because it made them feel terribly old if they actually lived through it.) But there he was, picking through books as old or older than him. We told him of our errand, and he gladly conceded to taking us to the clearing. Now our only trouble was finding Elros.
He was in the kitchens, of all places, with Alasse, stealing food right out from under the nose of the cook. Luckily, Aerandir wasn't with us when we found them and they were able to escape clean. If he had seen Alasse no doubt he would have instantly made her go with us to the clearing. Elros, Legolas, and I found Aerandir who'd gone off to the stables to arrange for mounts. We all took our stout ponies and bid farewell to Alasse who watched us leave from the stable doors. I figured she would go ahead and return to her home now that we'd left. It was until much later, however, that I learned she did not.
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AlasseMy plans, unbeknownst to Elros, were not going to commence when the festival came. No indeed, they commenced now. As I watched my friends vanish into the forest, I felt more of my mischievous spirit welling up in me, and a plan began to form. This here was a perfect opportunity to do some reconnoitering. I knew that something had happened in that time that Elros had gone to get help, I just didn't know what. Thankfully, Elros' absence was his motivation for telling me everything he knew in the first place, but it also worked against me. I felt so hopelessly left out. And anybody who knows me would know that I'm terribly incompetent when it comes to dealing with my own curiosity and being left out. I loathe being left out of things. I guess that was the main reason I was so adamant on finding out this entire thing in the first place. I'd been left out, and I didn't like it one bit. Also, if all they did was go to the pond-place, then why on Middle Earth were they so reluctant to tell me about it? There was only one answer: something else happened, and they got into staid trouble; as was evident by this new event, this logrolling thing. I wanted very badly to know what happened. There was the crossing of Forest River, Ireth's fall, the lightning-struck trees, Elros' return, the unsolved injury to Legolas, but nothing else.
Oh, it was so tantalizing! I could just taste the answer to it all! Somewhere…somewhere I would find it.
Shaking my head in vexation, I left the stables and returned to the library. Now, I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but most things can be solved in libraries, and I figured that since I had a huge one at my fingertips I might as well use it. Butit wasn't the books that attracted me there…King Thranduil usually spent most of his time in the library; leisurely reading, or just getting away from his normal kingly trials. He was there today, just like always, except that there was an odd person with him: alarge elf that looked like he spent most of his time outdoors. I could easily smell the faint woodsy smell on him that usually comes from riding under the limbs of ancient trees and crouching near to the green-blanketed earth to hear its distant voices. I instantly guessed he was a tracker, and though I'd only come to talk to Thranduil and maybe weasel out some type of explanation, I decided to stay. Now I'll admit it…I eavesdropped, but I'm not ashamed, because I was categorically rewarded for my small efforts.
Thranduil seemed to be in the middle of speaking, and I listened to him attentively. "You're quite sure of what you saw, Gelmir?"
"Aye, my lord. You told me to go back to the exact place and I did. You're instincts were right, something else definitely happened there. I'm not sure if the creature was there while the elflings were, but I couldn't be sure of anything. Most of the rain seemed to have washed all the tracks away, but there was something else present in their area." The tracker, whom I now knew to be Gelmir, didn't seem happy to communicate this knowledge and I sensed more lies from my companions. This proved it, all right. Elros and I had been lied to. But I still didn't know why.
Thranduil shook his head sadly, "I'd so tried to trust them. I couldn't imagine at the time that the situation could be worse."
"I'm sorry, my lord," said Gelmir solemnly, "but they did not tell you the whole truth."
"Of course, you're right. Thank you for your service, Gelmir. If you'll check with Aerandir he will see you are compensated for your efforts."
Gelmir bowed and thanked the king, then left quickly. I wasn't sure how to take in these new happenings. It seemed that all of my assumptions had been confirmed, but I knew that even when the king burrowed the answer out of Legolas and Ireth (and inevitably, he would), I would never find out what had happened. There was no way he'd tell me, not with all of this talk of creatures and such things.
Elros and I were still going to have our little investigation. I wasn't sure what would happen, but I was still going to do it. It wasn't just me that was hurt by this event. Elros was mad too. They'd assumed they couldn't tell us something when we were their best friends. Well, I didn't care about them anymore; I was going to find out with Elros' help, one way or another.
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Wow, this is a really bad chapter, but I had to put something up here to convince you guys I wasn't ditching the story. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, and I'll try to get onto the next chapter quicker than this one, okay.
