Out of Mirkwood

Scribbles-on-Parchment

August 17, 2019

Chapter 6 – Missing

Legolas waited for a moment before dropping silently down from the oak. He landed lightly at the base of the tree and brushed back the hood of his cloak. The young elf felt elated. He had tried to escape the palace before but Êmand had followed him, stopping him at the gate. He couldn't help but grinned as he thought of the look that would be on his adar's face if the elven king knew where his youngest son was.

The ellon glanced at the gate to the palace one last time before disappearing into the forest. He was free; no Êmand breathing down his neck this time.

Legolas didn't really know where he was going as he walked through the shadows of the trees, yet he could not bring himself to worry about it. He had never been out of the palace alone before and was feeling incredibly confident after his escape. This was his chance to show everyone he could take care of himself. He could prove to both himself and his adar that he didn't need Êmand as his babysitter.

The young Sinda continued to wander through the forest for what felt like hours, listening to the murmur of the trees and attempting to clear his mind of his troubled thoughts. However, try as he might to distract himself, his adar's harsh words kept ringing in his ears. Feeling increasingly frustrated the elfling pulled out his bow and fired an arrow at a nearby tree. He cursed loudly as it missed the sapling entirely and flew off into the forest.

Legolas kicked at a rock hidden in the undergrowth and growled as it refused to move. He glared furiously at it before slinking over to a nearby tree. The eldar leaned against it for a moment before letting himself slide to the forest floor. Could nothing go right for him today? When was the last time he had even missed a target?

The young elf wanted to scream in frustration. This wasn't working. Getting out of the palace was supposed to calm his emotions, not make them worse. Feeling utterly defeated, he leaned his head back against the rough bark of the tree and closed his eyes. Why did nothing ever work out for him?

The sound of loud scuffling reached Legolas's ears causing the young ellon to jerk awake. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. Apparently, the stress of the day had worn him out more than he had thought. The first thing he noticed was that the sun had begun to set making the forest around him become shadowy and dim.

The prince groaned as he realized he had fallen asleep leaning against the tree. His adar really would kill him now. He had never intended to stay out this long. The eldar scrambled to his feet cursing himself for allowing this to happen.

CREAK

Legolas jumped as the loud sound came from behind him. The ellon whirled around and looked around wildly but saw only shadows and branches swaying gently in the breeze.

Calm down, he thought, it's only the trees moving in the wind.

The young elf shook his head. His confidence was fading as quickly as the sunlight as he was now beginning to realize the consequences of his actions. He was alone in the Greenwood at dusk. He had no idea how far he had come or how long it would take him to get back. For the first time in his life, Legolas desperately wished that Êmand was with him.

The prince closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to stay calm so he could focus on getting back to the palace. The sound of scuffling and tree branches creaking came again, this time louder. Legolas felt his heart stop as he realized the noise was coming from directly above him. He dared to glance up and gasped in horror as he found himself looking at the dark mass of a huge spider that was in the branches above him.

Terror took hold of the young Sinda and he stumbled back several paces. He watched as the huge arachnid dropped down from the tree and landed with a loud thud on the ground in front of him. The hideous creature stood taller than the young prince and its red eyes glowed eerily in the quickly darkening shadows.

Legolas frantically reached for his bow before putting an arrow to the string and taking aim at the hulking beast. That was when he realized that his arms were shaking. Why in the Valars' name had he ever decided to leave the palace at all?

The spider scuttled several paces towards the trembling prince before coming to an abrupt stop, its many eyes seeming to mock the young ellon.

The eldar ground his teeth. He was a prince for Eru's sake; he had been trained to fight and would not allow this creature to take him down so easily. Legolas forced his limbs to stop shaking before giving the evil arachnid the coldest glare he would muster.

A second later he let the arrow fly.

The green fletched arrow flew through the air and a moment later was buried deep in the spider's head. The creature gave a shrill scream before falling to its side, eyes dimming in death.

In a different situation, the young prince would have felt proud of himself for bringing down the huge beast with only one arrow. It was a feat not many eldar could boast of, but instead, Legolas just felt sick. To be attacked by a spider meant that he had traveled quite far from the palace. With the quickly fading light and in a forest infested with large arachnids and yrch, this was not a good thing.

The elfling looked at the corpse in disgust. He had never seen any of the giant creatures before and it was far more hideous than he had imagined it to be. All he could do was pray that no more of these spiders would find him before he was safely back with his kin.

I need to get out of here, Legolas looked around at the dark shadows forming between the trees, Which way did I come from?

However the more he tried to remember which way the palace lay, the less sure he was of the path he had taken. All of the forest around him was beginning to look exactly the same. Fear began to immediately set in as he realized he was lost.

The young prince bit his lip. It would do him no good to panic now. Had Êmand not told him to seek help from the trees if he were to ever lose his way?

The elfling retreated to the tall oak that stood behind him and gently put his hand to the rough bark. The soft glow of his inner light that always surrounded him seemed to pulse in the dusk that had settled over the woods. The young eldar closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the tree; however, unlike the trees he had encountered before, this one seemed to draw back from his touch as if burned.

Anno dulu enni, Legolas pleaded.

His inner light flared again trying to calm the oak down and this time he broke through. But instead of the gentle voices of the trees, he had come to love, his mind was quickly overwhelmed with a painful screech. Legolas cried out and jerked away from the oak, falling to his knees in the thick undergrowth. He understood immediately, the tree had been overrun by darkness.

How far must I have come to run into dark trees? The young elf scrambled to his feet and backed away from the oak suddenly feeling utterly alone.

How could he have not noticed himself that the constant murmur of the trees had gone silent?

The young ellon glanced around again and noticed that the shadows had deepened as the sun dipped below the horizon. The gentle light radiating from the Sinda was quickly becoming more and more visible in the gloom. He quickly pulled the hood of his cloak back up in a vain attempt to dim it. The last thing he wanted was to attract more unwanted guests.

CRACK

Legolas's head shot up again, his heart racing. It was just like before; something big was nearby. He peered across the large black carcass in front of him and went deathly pale. It was another spider.

The prince froze, his gaze fixated on the beast. The spider's numerous red eyes briefly passed over him as it scuttled over to the dead body of its kin. The elfling felt sick as the creature eyed the carcass greedily. He had a horrible feeling that he knew what the arachnid was going to do.

So focused was he on the threat in front of him, that the Sinda did not notice the dark figure creeping up behind him.

Legolas was trying to figure out a way to slip away without the second spider taking notice when he was suddenly pulled backward. His startled yelp was cut off by an arm snaking around his neck, squeezing his neck, and cutting off his air supply. The prince clawed at the arm, all the training he had learned leaving him in his battle for oxygen. Terror had once again taken hold of the young elf.

Maetho, his mind screamed at him as his mouth opened and closed in a useless attempt to draw in air.

He could already feel his struggles growing feebler as a voice hissed,

"I think it is time to say goodbye to the young son of Thranduil."

The words were filled with much malice and hatred that it caused the elfling to involuntarily shudder in the ellon's grasp. The pressure on his throat increased for a moment and Legolas felt his hands fall uselessly to his sides as his strength abandoned him.

He was going to die.

"Navaer Legolas Thranduilion."

With this, the arm suddenly fell away and something hard struck the young prince hard across the temple instantly plunging him into darkness.

The figure quickly drew a knife and cut a strand of golden hair from the elfling's head before letting the limp form crumple to the ground. He delivered one hard kick to Legolas's ribs before the ellon spat,

"Na vedui. Achared mîn."

Satisfied with his work, the eldar walked away, disappearing into the darkness. A moment later the greedy eyes of the spider came to rest on the seemingly lifeless body of the prince.

Two hours earlier at the palace...

Kélion walked slowly beside his adar as they drew close to his brother's room. After telling all that had taken place, Thranduil had decided it would be best for his eldest son to come with him when he delivered the punishment to the young elfling. The last thing either of them wanted was for another physical confrontation between the two ellyn to take place.

"Legolas?" Kélion knocked loudly on the door, "Will you let me in muindor?"

There was only silence on the other side so Kélion knocked again.

"Adar and I only wish to speak with you."

Still silence.

"Do you think he is asleep?" the elven king's brow furrowed.

"I doubt it. He is most likely still angry."

Thranduil took a step closer to the door,

"Penneth? I know I am the last ellon on all of arda you want to see right now, but I only wish to talk with you. I wish to apologize for my actions for I did not think and acted only out of anger. It shall never happen again ion nín."

All remained quiet which led Kélion's irritation to build.

"Legolas! Stop acting like an elfling. I will give you one more minute until I swear I will force my way in. I will not allow you to sulk your own self-pity. If you want to be treated like a grown ellon then you will have to stop acting like one."

Both Sindar thought this would elicit some kind of response from the young prince, however, there was none. This was the last straw for Kélion.

"Fine! I am coming in, Legolas."

He twisted the doorknob as he shouted this expecting it to be locked. When the door easily swung open Kélion gasped and was almost sent sprawling face-first into the floor in his brother's room. Catching himself from a very embarrassing fall, the crown prince quickly straightened up half expecting to hear Legolas laughing at him.

Both ellyn looked around the large bedroom, but the occupant was nowhere to be seen. Thranduil immediately felt dread take root in his heart.

"Alright Legolas," Kélion said loudly, "You can stop hiding now. It is not funny. Come out."

The crown prince walked over to the bed and frowned as he saw the crumpled sheets and pile of discarded clothes on the floor. His brother needed to learn to take better care of his things. He was about to move on to the washroom when he spotted something red on the once-crisp white blankets. Blood, Legolas's blood. All the color immediately drained from his face. The elfling was hurt.

"Adar!" he asked as calmly as he could hearing the Sindarin king come up behind him, "Was Legolas hurt on his outing this morning?"

"No. He seemed well. Frustrated and angry, but not in pain. Why do you ask?"

Kélion just numbly nodded towards the bed and watched as his adar's face as realization began to sink in.

"Did I do this to him?"

"I do not think so. I would imagine that it was likely only a scratch from this morning. Êmand did say that Legolas was grazed by an arrow."

Thranduil hurried over to the door to the washroom to see if his son was there while Kélion finished searching the room. Both were empty.

"His bow and quiver are gone too. You don't suppose he would be foolish enough to run away, do you?"

The palace was in an uproar. It had been an hour since the youngest prince had been found missing from the royal quarters. The entire place had been turned upside down in the ensuing search for the elfling. No sign of Legolas was found.

The elven king was frantic to find his son and Thalion refused to leave his side until the possibility of a kidnapping was ruled out. When the king was shown the small blood stains on the young prince's discarded clothes, the faithful guard had had to run down to the kitchens to get the Sinda another glass of wine to help calm him.

Kélion knew his brother well enough to know that he was not still in the palace. Every time he heard footsteps, he hoped to see a smirking Legolas come walking through the door and ask about what the fuss was all for. However, as the day wore on and there was no sign of the elfling, his worry began to turn to dread.

Dusk was quickly settling over the forest when Thranduil, at last, decided to send several patrols out in search for his son. Êmand had been the first to volunteer, adamant that he would go even though his leg was still causing him discomfort. The poor ellon had been so distraught when Thranduil had refused, that the healers had been forced to give him a calming draught. The crown prince, however, had insisted that he be the one to lead the search parties. His adar had grudgingly agreed.

Thranduil stood at the gate to the palace and watched the ellyn disappear into the forest. His heart felt heavy and he prayed to the Valar that Legolas would be brought back soon.

Elvish Translations:

adar – father

yrch - orcs

anno dulu enni – help me

maetho – farewell

na vendui – at last

achared mîn – vengeance is mine

muindor – brother (Sindarin)

penneth - young one

ion nín – my son