Chapter 24: From the darkness of the past.
Mirkwood:
The new addition to the court did make herself noticed rather fast, after all, she was a new face and more so, a peredhel and few were familiar with such. Thranduil was a bit annoyed from all the questions he did receive and he made sure that Duvaine was kept away from everybody until she could speak properly and had gotten used to this new environment. As of now she was coping rather well, the king had given her two servants who would help her getting used to life there and both Avana and Dhariel were wise and very calm, perfectly able to teach her what she needed to know. And it was a lot, at first the king hadn't really believed that it would be that much but as the days went by they all realized what a difference there was between the life she had lived and this new situation she was in. First of all she wasn't used to the elven etiquette at all. Avana told the king that Duvaine often would wander around in the nude since it was expected of her back where she came from. And she appeared to be shocked by the presence of male guards.
Apparently she wasn't allowed to be anywhere near a man unless her owner ordered it and even the butler did get the shock of a lifetime when she started screaming and throwing stuff at him when he entered unannounced. Thranduil was still very curious about her parentage and he did spend some time with her each day, not much but enough to see how she was faring. Some of the things she did encounter were handled with bravado, she didn't react to her servants at all and obviously took it for granted that she was being groomed and taken care off by them. She never protested to having her hair done or her skin massaged but the fashion of the palace was causing her to rear back in protest more than once. Here the dresses were very elaborate with lots of details and colours and also gems and such sewed onto the fabric but they didn't reveal much skin. She complained about feeling suffocated by the dresses and the idea of wearing a corset almost made her faint. Corsets were the rage right then and every high born lady wore one, even if they really didn't have to. Duvaine had more curves than the average elleth and thus the corsets did enhance her gorgeous curves to an almost ridiculous level and to her that was obviously very disturbing. Naked skin was apparently alright but too much curves were not.
Thranduil did learn that she never had ridden a horse, also that she had no idea of how ordinary folk did live, and she couldn't cook to save her own life. She was an expert at the few things she had been taught to do but she had little knowledge about anything else. Thranduil tried to ask her about the city she came from and the politics of that realm but all she really knew was that the ruler was a very fair man who had gotten into power after the fall of the dark deceiver. And she had hardly seen the world outside of the harems at all before she was sent north. The king did pity her, her life had to have been very restricted but perhaps things didn't seem so bleak when it was all you really knew.
There was one thing which did make him very worried though, and that was the fact that most there now knew exactly what she was and what she had done for a living. Such an existence is incomprehensible to an elf and many did draw conclusions about her moral for which there were no evidence. Some of the elves seemed to believe that she was somehow flawed by her mortal blood and that she would bed anyone and anything and others believed that she was mentally ill and unable to take care of herself. The whole concept of being a slave and having to bend to the will of others was hard to grasp for most elves and Thranduil was afraid that this would cause huge problems later on. The elves couldn't understand the idea of sex for anything else than love and the king knew that she would face a lot of prejudice.
He and the two servants tried to teach her about their culture and she was very intelligent and learned fast but the cultural collision was very tough on her and they had soon discovered that the greatest problem was one they hadn't even thought of when she arrived. The food they ate every day. Duvaine told them that the diet of the country she was raised in was based upon some types of grain, a lot of milk from goats and sheep and then meat, from goats and camels and sheep. They had fruits like figs and dates and grapes but very little greens and since the elves of Mirkwood ate very little meat on an everyday basis she did struggle a bit. Here most of the flavours came from herbs and roots and such and to her that was unheard of. She was used to having wine with every meal and on occasion milk. Here there was no such thing and the king did go to the step of procuring a couple of goats. He did task two of the younger guards with the job of keeping an eye on the goats and it soon became apparent that it was a monumental task.
Duvaine did learn the language pretty well, she had an ear for language and she did also like learning. It was one evening when they sat in the royal garden that she did started talking about her early memories, she had been brought up by a noble man but when he did die she had been sold off and ended up at in the hands of a woman who trained her to become a pleasure slave. Her mother had told her something she just remembered and the king was curious. Duvaine said that her mother had told her that Duvaine's father had a companion, one she had rarely seen but he had been a very tall male with dark hair and he had carried a sort of Warhammer. Thranduil was a bit confused by this, most elves don't use such a weapon and yet Duvaine did insist that this was what her mother had told her. And she was also very adamant that the companion had been an elf just like Duvaine's father.
Thranduil knew of only one group of elves who had used war hammers, the fighters from the house of the hammer of wrath from Gondolin, noldor elves all. And they had been killed to the last ellon but could one have escaped? Or was this just somebody who had decided that such a weapon was suitable for him? Some does like that type of weapon, it is very destructive and cause terrible injuries and using it does require great courage, you have to get close and personal to the enemy for it to be efficient. It was a mystery but he didn't try to push her, if she started to doubt her own memories she could start having false ones and that was no good.
But Duvaine did still have problems accepting that he didn't want her to submit to him and she did at times seem almost lost. Her entire life was based upon the desire of her master and that her new ruler didn't want her in such a manner was hard to understand. So every now and then she simply forgot since it was ingrained in her from childhood to be seductive and try to please her master. She would act in manners which did make the king stop drinking whenever she was near, he didn't want to have any accidents with spilled wine and even if she was very apologetic afterwards he knew that the problem would linger. She needed to change her entire view upon life and it wasn't easy when you have lived for several centuries believing that your sole purpose is to be a plaything. She had no idea of how old she was and Thranduil was rather sure that she had done the choice every peredhel has to take and chosen to be an elf, even if it had been subconscious. She would have been more human if she hadn't and he wondered if she knew anything at all about the valar and the powers.
The fact was that she didn't, she knew only about the deities of her old home and she had never bothered with religion. Slaves were not encouraged to be religious since that could lead to rebellion and she was very down to earth in some manners and yet very superstitious. The primitive understanding of the world which was common among the lower classes had stuck with her and the king had to sit for hours trying to explain the concept of Eru and the valar and everything. Duvaine had a huge problem understanding this, to her it was incomprehensible and the king did struggle trying to get her to understand their faith. But she did provide him with something with which to occupy his thoughts, he didn't spend all his time with the task of ruling and it did in turn make him more patient and easy going. The court did appreciate this and as they were making preparations for the feast celebrating spring he realized that he did appreciate her company. She was different and her presence did challenge him in new and interesting manners.
The feast would be when he did introduce her to the court officially and Dhariel and Avana did spend a lot of time at the seamstresses trying to find the perfect outfit for her. It wasn't easy for she had problems accepting that she was allowed to wear fine fabrics and jewellery, the king had to really work hard to convince her of her right to wear whatever she wanted. In the end they did settle for a very nice velveteen fabric in a nice deep purple colour and it would look spectacular on her for sure. She had learned how to behave at a banquet now and Thranduil didn't fear that she would break any taboos. Most there knew her by now and would ignore any small slips and he was starting to look forward to the feast.
The party was held within a huge garden in the middle of the palace, the cave was so grand it felt like being outdoors and elves had been scurrying around for weeks, preparing for it. Lamps were hung from trees and pillars and tables were placed around with plenty of space in between. The kitchens were also on high alert and preparations were well on the way. Duvaine was a bit nervous, she had never participated at feasts this grand, before she had been told to dance and sing at smaller gatherings and since she was such a rare beauty few had been deemed important enough to enjoy her company. So in spite of it all she was a bit shy. The day of the feast was started with guests arriving from the entire realm, and there were also some elves arriving from Rivendell. After Elrond left the place had slowly diminished, now few did reside there and most would eventually sail but as of yet some did still stay behind.
The twin sons of Elrond were among them, they would sail one day but they had yet chosen to wait and the king did welcome them. With them they brought a few of the remaining noldor elves which were still in middle earth and news was exchanged and polite conversation went on for a while. The party did start just before sunset and the king did return to his chambers to prepare. Dhariel was with Duvaine and she did look fantastic in her new dress. In fact she did look so good Thranduil started to feel a bit nervous, he didn't know if she could handle the type of attention she was bound to get that night. He would have to keep her close, and make sure that she was safe and content.
The feast started as the king did arrive and took his place at the top of the high table. Duvaine was escorted to the table by Avana and she was blushing slightly as she sat down. Everybody were staring at her and he did notice that Elladan and Elrohir were gaping. The king felt a quick sting of a very unusual sensation to him, jealousy. He swallowed it down and raised up, took Duvaine's hand. "This is Duvaine, she is come to us from a far away land and is to live here for as long as she please. Please welcome her among us, she has found her true kin at last!"
Everybody clapped and the king signalled for the servants to start bringing in the food. This evening they would have venison and other game and Thranduil had looked forward to the dishes, the wild boar in special. There had been little game in the woods before, the dark miasma spreading from Dol Guldur had scared the wildlife off but now the woods were recovering and they could hunt again. The dishes were all very elaborate and the smell made many drool, the chefs had been experimenting with spices and created new and exiting flavours and everybody did look forwards to the chance at tasting these new delicacies.
Duvaine wasn't yet used to meat, she ate only a little but this did tempt also her and she smiled and allowed the king to fill her plate. Some servants ran around with wine decanters and others had jugs with ale or juice for those who preferred that.
Duvaine did drink juice and some wine, the wine they served at feasts was strong and would make you drunk rather fast. After the main course there were desserts, some were sweet and others spicy and people did try to taste as much as possible. Duvaine did prefer a sort of pudding made from sweet fruits and jelly and she had quite a lot of it too. After dinner there was singing and dancing and the atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant, everybody were having a good time and Duvaine was chatting with her servants and nipping at the wine.
Thranduil did notice that the twins did approach her and he hurried over, seemingly just to make sure that she understood what was being said. Elladan and Elrohir did introduce themselves and it soon became clear that they were curious, about her parentage that was. She was a peredhel as they were and such were extremely rare. Duvaine had yet again to explain that she had no idea of who her father was and the two did nod and looked very intrigued. She was probably the first peredhel born of a human mother and an elven father, all others had been the other way around and they kept asking questions about her mother, if she had been pregnant for longer than normal and so on. Duvaine didn't know and also, she didn't know how it had come to be that she already was counted among the eldar.
It was clear that the interest the two showed in her was purely academic and polite and the king did relax a bit. Elladan and Elrohir had seen the world and they knew a lot, as their father's sons they had gained a better understanding of things than the average elf and they didn't in any manner reveal that they found her previous way of life shocking or lowly. Both had been to Gondor a lot and knew of the lands to the south from whence she had come and they spent some hours together, chatting and discussing things and the king did enjoy himself a lot. The two were pleasant company on their own and with Duvaine added it became a very nice evening. He was sure that this would be a complete success. Elladan and Elrohir went to have some snacks and that was when things turned a bit more sour. Duvaine and Thranduil did stand by the table with small cakes and other treats when one of the noldor present did approach them.
The ellon had been one of the elves employed by the chief archivist of Imladris, Erestor, and he had stayed simply because the remaining books and scrolls were so many that it took years to catalogue everything and ship it off to Aman. Thranduil had seen the elf at some occasions but he had never spoken to him and now he realized why the elf had stuck to his work at the library for he did lack everything which resembled tact and discretion, at least when he was drunk. The elf was very drunk, in fact he was staggering and he stared at Duvaine the way a dog stares at a juicy steak, it made Thranduil almost sneer. "So, have you tested this little filly yet? Or has she bucked you off?"
The elf snickered and tried to get closer to Duvaine but she stepped back, very elegantly. "Or have you decided against trying? Anything ridden as often and as hard as this one most certainly has been cannot be very tight"
The king almost lost it and Duvaine didn't understand, she spoke Sindarin rather well but this elf spoke with a broad quenya accent and his drunkenness didn't exactly aid the pronunciation of the words. The elf leaned closer to Duvaine, pouting. "What about a swift visit to my chambers ha? I bet you can teach me something new!"
Thranduil did almost growl, he did wave for his guards and they grasped the ellon and dragged him off, but not before he had shouted some rather nasty insults at Duvaine, including words like whore and slut and some even worse ones too. Duvaine was staring and she was a bit pale, she understood the word whore and Thranduil felt anger simmering within. What he would have given to throw that one in jail for a while, or rather, having stopped that moron from joining the party from the start. Dhariel did comfort Duvaine and the king did take her by the hand and lead her away from the crowd. "Ignore it, forget that bastard. He doesn't know you and he knows naught about the world outside of the library. He is as dry and dusty as the books he loves"
Duvaine tried to smile but it didn't reach her eyes. "My king, I…"
Thranduil didn't let go of her hand, it was trembling ever so slightly. "Yes?"
She gathered her courage. "Does everybody here think I am damaged goods?"
He gasped and stared at her, eyes wide. "What makes you think that? No, nobody here does believe that. "
She sighed and had to sit down, there was something akin to hopelessness in her eyes. "Where I came from…if I hadn't been a slave I would have been regarded as ruined, as worthless. A free woman did only have value as a maiden, and as a mother to sons. Otherwise she was just a thing. I guess I was lucky, a slave has value"
The king had to sit down and he stared at her, his eyes were almost as piercing as spears. "You are not a slave anymore Duvaine and you have way greater value than you can ever imagine, forget about the things you have been through, you have a new future ahead of you."
She nodded but her eyes were sad. "I know, I just cannot really believe it. Things were…set in stone and now they aren't. I knew what I was, and what I could do but now I am lost, like a boat without an anchor."
Thranduil did sigh. "You are right that your skills are unneeded here, at least some of them, but you can sing and dance and that is useful? Do you play any instruments?"
She nodded. "Yes, some of the local ones from where I was raised, a sort of string instrument with three strings."
Thranduil did smile. "I am sure we can make the carpenters here create one for you, they are good and need just some drawings and instructions"
She beamed. "They can? That would be wonderful, I love playing."
He took a deep breath. "That is great, I will speak to them the tomorrow." ¨
Duvaine did blush a bit. "Oh that is wonderful. I cannot wait. I will make some drawings."
Thranduil had seen that she was very good at drawing things, and he had encouraged her and told her to make drawings of the things she had seen in her previous home. The images of the harems where she had lived had been excellent but they did tell of a sheltered existence where life was very limited in deed. He had no idea of how she had managed to survive without going insane from boredom and lack of stimuli.
He made sure that some servant brought paper and pens to her rooms and then he tried to make her forget about the incident by asking her for a dance. The dances were rather simple and not at all hard to learn and she was extremely graceful even for one of the eldar so dancing with her was a joy. Duvaine did enjoy it too and her mood did return to its former joyful state. Some of the ladies of the court did compliment her on the choice of dress and she did blush and thanked them in her rather accented Sindarin, most of the courtiers did find her to be rather endearing.
They danced for a while and the king did again wonder about her father for she had something about her which was regal, a sort of natural authority of which she was oblivious. The night was soon over and many did leave the ball room now, the partying was over and those who did remain were rather drunk. Thranduil had never tried to restrict his subjects when it came to partying, he knew that they needed the outlet a real feast did provide and that many were staggering around drunk as skunks was a natural effect of this. He had never had anybody suffer any ill effects from this since elves after all are very steady on their feet even when intoxicated and the occasional fist fight was usually solved rather easily. Some may have to spend a night in the dungeon to sleep off the worse effects of the wine but his people were decent and well behaved. He never worried about them.
He had seen the effects of too much drink in humans though, and it was not pretty and in fact rather scary in some manners. They seemed to lose all resemblance of dignity and self control and their personalities could change completely. To an elf that was hard to comprehend and he had had some nasty encounters back in the days. After the fall of Isildur he and his troops had tried to help the humans in the fights against the orcs and he had discovered that humans do find elves to be very attractive and also that they tend to see themselves as way more attractive than they are and that they tend to ignore the word "no" and think it means "Maybe". He wondered what sorts of experiences Duvaine had with drunk humans, it couldn't be all good. She was a treasure and had probably been treated well but in her long years she was bound to have met with the occasional abusive prick.
Dhariel came by and Duvaine wanted to return to her chambers so she bid the king goodnight and Thranduil did kiss her hand and bid her a good night. The two ellith did leave the ballroom and the king started chatting with one of the counsellors, the ellon had a very valuable foal he was worried about, the poor thing was born with a hoof which did twist outwards and he was hoping that the healers and the farrier could fix it. The foal was too nice to be put down for such a small thing but it would go lame if it continued to run on such a bad hoof. Thranduil was a great lover of horses and somewhat of an expert and they did sit there and talked until the sun did rise outside.
The king wasn't really tired, he didn't need that much rest but he did return to his rooms and got out of the party robes. He always felt like a decorated tree on such occasions, the etiquette demanded that he did dress with splendour but he preferred more simple garments without all the garish details and bright colours.
As a young ellon growing up in the lost kingdom of Doriath his greatest dream had been becoming a marchwarden and he did still prefer the subtle green tones of the uniforms. He placed his rings and brooches on a tray on his dresser and brushed his hair. He didn't require a servant to be present at all times, he did take care of himself and the idea of having somebody there at all times, doing his hair and dressing him made him cringe. Some would perhaps expect that a king did have somebody there tending to his needs but he had been raised as a warrior, if he couldn't do it himself there was no point in doing it at all. He would saddle his own horse and even sharpen his own blades, he was no spoiled princeling who never had had a taste of what life was really about. He had seen his fair share of those over the millennia and most were human.
He sat down in his favourite armchair to do some reading, he had started on a book earlier that week and wanted to finish it. He found some warm water from a pitcher placed by the fireplace and made himself some tea before starting to read. The hours usually passed by rather fast when he was reading like that, it was one of the few ways he could truly relax and it was a very precious thing to him, For once he could be himself and just enjoy something which didn't demand anything back from him. He had been reading for a while when he got a feeling of unease, why he didn't know. He put the book down and frowned, what was it? He had a feeling of having forgotten something, or maybe having heard something he hadn't really registered? He strained his ears, nothing.
But he couldn't relax, something was gnawing at his mind and he didn't ignore that feeling, his intuition had saved his hide more than once and it was the same feeling he had had the fateful morning before the desperate charge at the black gate which had claimed his father's life. He got up, he had a feeling of his skin itching and his hairs were raised along his skin, something is wrong! His inner voice was adamant and he tried to find out just what it could be. There were no sounds to hear, the palace was very quiet and that was normal the morning after a grand feast. Only the guards were awake and they had been told to stay away from the liquor during the feast so they could stay sober and alert.
The nagging feeling got stronger, he couldn't identify it but it was very strong and very nasty. He swore and threw on a robe, then he exited the royal chambers and ventured out into the corridors. The guards stood where they should, at the entrance to the royal wing of the palace and everything was quiet. Some servants did wander by carrying buckets of water and fresh bedding and others were busy clearing the tables and getting rid of the decorations. Nothing was out of the ordinary. He stood there, not really knowing what to do, the feeling was as strong as ever, it felt as if someone was screaming at him at the top of their lungs but they couldn't make a sound, or he couldn't hear it.
He contemplated returning to his rooms when he and the guards were shaken by a sudden sound, a blood curdling scream coming from one of the other chambers there, the rooms assigned to Duvaine. Thranduil did run, before he even had time to think. One of the servants came running out of the door, she was pale and her eyes were enormous from shock. The guards were at the king's back immediately, and one of them grasped the hysterical elleth and held her tightly. Thranduil did rush inn through the door only to see something which did make him stop dead in his tracks. Dhariel lay on the floor, as if she was dead. The elleth appeared to have dropped like she had been shot but there was no blood to be seen, she was unconscious though and there was a broken tea kettle laying next to her. Liquid had seeped into the carpets and he could smell tea.
He ran forth, the bedroom was behind the livingroom and he let out a sort of guttural groan. Duvaine laid on the bed and she was covered in bruises and blood, one eye was so swollen it was invisible and one of her wrists appeared to have been broken. It was almost black in colour and so swollen it was almost round. She had nasty cuts all over, it appeared that her clothes had been ripped off her with brutal force and the king's mind went into a sort of lock down. What had happened? He couldn't think, he couldn't comprehend this at all and he just stood there. One of the guards shook him out of the shock. "My liege!"
Thranduil did take a swift breath, she was breathing but there was so much blood and…He had been used to seeing death and injuries, but this was different. An elleth had been attacked while being under his protection and he couldn't imagine that anybody there were capable of such a crime. "Go, get the twins, and our own healers too, fast!"
The guard did nod and ran off and Thranduil felt his heart beating like a drum in his chest. If she had been violated… She was a peredhel, it could perhaps save her but then again, perhaps not. Elves do die if being raped, their souls unable to cope with the trauma and he swore there and then that if she did die he would chase down the guilty one and have that person killed, slowly. He didn't care if it would make him a kinslayer, he was pretty sure the valar would understand.
He didn't touch her, he was afraid to. But there were some signs there which did tell him a lot about the situation. Her nightstand was knocked over, a wine glass lay broken on the floor and the covers had been thrown into a heap at the end of the bed. She was naked, her dress laid on a chair and it appeared to be in order. But her nightdress was torn to shreds. She had gone to bed before it happened and Dhariel had probably gone to get her some tea before she went to sleep. There was a sound of running feet and both the twins came racing into the rooms, both wore sleeping pants and nothing more and they had their hair braided up in the same manner and Thranduil couldn't tell them apart but that didn't matter. "What has happened…Oh Eru!"
Both let out a sort of wail and Thranduil did cringe, he was a moron, he didn't think. This had to remind them of what their mother had been through and he closed his eyes in sorrow. One of them ran forth and laid a hand on Duvaine's neck. "She is alive but she has lost much blood, help me turn her over"
She was laying on her belly and the twins did grasp her gently and rolled her over with a technique which did reveal that this was something they had done before, and quite often too. They were skilled healers and Thranduil did trust them. The palace's own healers did arrive too, all three of them gasped and looked shocked and Thranduil tried to think. "Check on Dhariel"
They obeyed and Elladan, or was it Elrohir, let out a loud gasp. Thranduil saw why, she was covered with cuts, some were very deep and they appeared to have been caused by a very sharp object. The two did work fast, whispering between each other, checking the body for injuries with almost frightening efficiency. Elladan did straighten himself up and he was pale. "She has a nasty lump on her head, must have been hit with something solid. And her wrist is broken, also her lower arm. She must have tried to defend herself."
Elrohir did take over. "The cuts are everywhere, it is as if the bastard who did this tried to disfigure her"
There were not cuts on the face though, but the swollen eye was bad enough and her nose appeared to be broken too. Thranduil struggled to find his voice. "Has she been…you know…!"
Elrohir swallowed visibly, the tendons on his neck were taut and he was shivering with rage. "Yes, most certainly. If you could turn around?"
He gestured for the guards and the other healers and everybody did turn around, except the king. He felt sick to the stomach and tried to breathe and remain calm but he felt himself shiver, just like the son of Elrond. The local healers had checked on Dhariel and one of them was carrying her off. "She has a concussion, somebody has struck her over the head with something hard"
The king did just nod, Dhariel would be fine, but what about Duvaine?
Elrohir did move the unconscious elleth very gently so he could examine her private parts and he was fast but efficient. "I am sorry, she has been violated, in a most ruthless and horrible manner"
He did hold something in his hand and the king frowned, he hadn't had any objects in his hands when he started and it was bloody? "What…"
The peredhel did hold the object up, it was some sort of wooden handle? Elrohir sighed. "It was left…in her. It is the handle of a hairbrush"
The king felt nauseous, he had to sit down, his head was spinning and he felt as if the room didn't have enough air for him anymore. "Oh Eru, oh no"
Elrohir placed the brush handle on a tray by the bed, his hands were bloody. "But she has been raped too, there is…fluids present. Judging by the amount there were more than one culprit"
The king couldn't contain his shaking anymore, he was practically glowing with rage and the twins stared at him with huge eyes. The only elda they had ever seen in that state was Glorfindel. He couldn't speak, his throat was so tight now he couldn't even croak, he grasped onto the armrest of the chair and heard the wood creak underneath his grip. "Why?!"
The twins did look at each other. "This speaks of more than just sexual assault. This tells of hatred, mindless black hatred. But it must have been done in the heat of the moment, it wasn't premeditated. She had time to fight back"
Thranduil got up, he was a frightening sight there and then. "Guards, gather everybody within the palace, even the stable guards. There is somebody out there with visible injuries, look for scratches and bruises, evidence of a fight. The one behind it will pay with his life"
Elrohir did swallow hard. "It wasn't just one my lord, if they catch the culprit they cannot kill that person right away, there were others who has to be exposed"
The king nodded. "Apprehend the person, but do not harm him. I learned a lot during the wars I have fought, how to torture an enemy was one of the things I never believed I would need again but now I do. "
The guards did take off and he heard alarm bells. The palace was going into a lock down and everybody would gather in the great hall. If somebody were missing, well, that was a confession in itself. Elladan and Elrohir were already busy with Duvaine's cuts and sores. She would have to get stitches for the worst ones and the king's heart was bleeding. This was terrible, no, a disaster! The local healers had gone off with Dhariel and to get equipment and the sons of Elrond were working very fast. When they did get the stuff they needed they didn't hesitate and got to work right away. Thranduil felt sick to the core watching this, he couldn't wrap his poor head around the horror of this. Duvaine wasn't a bad person, she was just an elleth, strangely innocent in spite of her previous occupation and a truly gentle person who shouldn't have been treated thus at all.
Elladan was sweating, he was washing the wounds and wrapping the minor ones with bandages, he was cursing under his breath the whole time. "The person who did this must have been mad with anger, and hatred too I bet. "
Elrohir threw away some used pieces of cloth, he was washing her carefully. "Yes, but I cannot imagine why they would attack her like this? She is too young to be one of the kinslayers and she has lived her entire life in another realm, far away from other elves!"
Thranduil felt a knot in his gut, once he had been filled with anger too, and even hatred. The sons of Fëanor had devastated the place of his birth, and murdered many elves he had regarded as friends. But he had gotten over it, he had enough common sense to understand that those circumstances had been extreme and the one he truly blamed for it all was the former king, Thingol. If he hadn't been such a blockheaded jerk the attack would never have happened and the city would have been spared. If he only had sent the goddamn silmarill back to its righteous owners it would have been avoided.
Thranduil hoped that he was a better king than Thingol, at least he wouldn't risk the safety of his people just because of pride and greed. But his anger was growing, he felt as if he was lit on fire from within and he tried to collect his thoughts. "She will live?"
Elladan did nod. "Yes, but she is very weak, I doubt that she will wake up for many days. We will give her as much healing energy as we possibly can though, it should help a lot"
Thranduil did sigh. "I am grateful my friends. Now, let us see if my guards have found anything interesting"
He threw the robe around himself again and didn't care to return to his chambers, he didn't care if his people saw him like this, hair unkempt and dressed in less than royal looking robes. The guards were gathering everybody, the great hall was enormous and could house the entire population of the palace. The problem was that there had to be some time since the attack happened and the gates had been open the whole time, as had also other entrances to the cave system. There were gardens and servants exits and only the butler had an idea of how many there were and where they were located. Most were concealed and very hard to find if you weren't aware of them from before.
The main guard did make a salute as he did enter the hall, the population was staring at the king, many were still hung over and confused and most were shocked and worried. The king took a deep breath and Feren did make a grimace. "My liege, I have news"
Thranduil did stare at his captain with narrow eyes. "Speak"
The captain took a deep breath. "There are three horses missing from the stable, the stable guard was asleep and we couldn't wake him up at first, we suspect that his wine was contaminated by some sort of sedative"
Thranduil swore. "How long?"
Feren looked down. "Several hours we think"
Thranduil tried to breathe and focus. "They can be far away then"
He turned to the crowd. "My loyal subjects, this night my protégé Duvaine was attacked and violated in her chambers, she will most likely live but her attackers were more than one and have fled, If any of you have seen or heard anything or if anybody is missing I need to know"
The crowd was silent for a few seconds, then he heard a gust of wind, as if everybody gasped at once and many did look very shocked indeed. A couple of ellith almost started to weep. The guards were standing there and looked very intimidating and there was a low murmur spreading all over the place. One voice did raise above the racket, it was an elleth and she was clad in a warm wool dress and a shawl. She wasn't somebody the king had seen before or perhaps he had, he just hadn't noticed all the elves who worked in the palace when there were a feast being held. She did look shaken but her voice was clear and loud. "My king, I am Rheniel, I work in the kitchens, baking bread."
The king smiled at her, trying to make her relax. "Do speak good elleth, I am listening, did you see anything tonight?"
She nodded and stepped forth, she carried a small bundle of cloth in her hand and held it out to the king. "I have a room behind the bakery, there is a corridor there and it leads straight to the stables since the sacks of flour are heavy. That way the bakers won't have to carry them that far. I heard something just after I went to bed and I got out of bed and found this tucked behind an empty barrel"
She handed the bundle over to the king and he did open it. It was a dagger, a very short one with a narrow blade and a lovely hilt carved from dark wood. It had blood on it and he cringed internally. The elleth did straighten her back. "There is a lot of flour everywhere in those corridors, it is inevitable and I saw footprints in it, three separate tracks. Two wore boots and one wore some sort of leather socks"
The king stared at her, three attackers, and they had already run away from him. He wouldn't be able to catch up with them if they had ridden hours ago. He wanted to yell in anger, but who were they? That was the most important thing now. "Is anybody missing?"
Everybody stared at each other and shrugged and the guards stared at him. "Everybody is accounted for my liege"
Thranduil did sigh, he felt a need to rub his forehead for he felt the onset of a headache. Wonderful, the attackers had come from outside the palace and probably entered during the feast when there were few guards around but why had they attacked Duvaine? They had known she was there, that was the only possible answer and that meant that the attack had been personal somehow. If the goal was to attack a noldo elf the sons of Elrond would have been a way more obvious target, heck, some of the elves following them from Imladris had been followers of Fëanor or Fingolfin and there were also a few survivors from Gondolin there. They would have been clear targets if the reason for the attack had been vengeance. Thranduil stared at the dagger, the wood was unknown to him and he realized that this had to have something to do with Duvaine, not as an elf of noldorin origin but as a person.
He would have to find out more about her past, now there wasn't any way back. Difficult questions would have to be asked, she had enemies, there was no doubt about that and the answers were all buried in her past. A slave doesn't have much to say when it comes to how life is to be lived but sometime she had to have encountered somebody who for some reason hated her enough to want to hurt her, and follow her all the way to the woodland realm. He closed his eyes, as if she hadn't been hurt enough already. He wasn't looking forward to this but he had to, as soon as she woke up he would have to interrogate her, even if it did cut his heart to pieces to put such stress on her already fragile mind. Yes, there were no way around it. He returned to his chambers, still seething with anger. He sent the guards out to ask the wood elves and the inhabitants of Dale and Esgaroth if they had seen suspicious strangers there, then he sat down to think and plan. He would handle this, he had no idea of how but he would.