I just want to say that last chapter I used a weird site to write and it didn't register the barrier lines I put when I skipped ahead time so any one who read it and had no clue what the hell was going on I am sooooo sorry, that was all my fault.
Any way. I will keep this brief. Thank you for reading. It means a lot. Comment. Review. Whatever. Also I'd like to dedicate this chapter to this book's first follower! LauraB90.
I do not own any one but Jackie and self made characters. The plot is also Tolkien's, for now. I also used phrases from the movie.
By the way, at the beginning all the speech is elvish, when the dwarves come in I'll put it back into elvish.
WARNINGS: language!
Pulling herself up out of bed and doing her morning routine, Jackie groaned. She had stayed up way too late last night mulling over maps of the forest boundaries, trying to find a new way to deal with the Giant Spider problem.
The sun hadn't even risen yet but she got up this time every day. Long before the other elves of the guard were up to ruin the beautiful mornings. Occasionally Tauriel was up as well but they were friends so she didn't mind. They spent almost every waking moment together. And Jackie knew how much the prince liked her, even though he hadn't said so, he was around them a lot lately.
Going down to the shooting range with her bows and arrows she got ready to shoot. Guards were allowed to make or use their own weapons so naturally the dwarves had made hers. Keeping in mind they had to use an elvish style they had made a longbow out of light brown wood from great oaks of the Land of the Ents with swirls of Mithril engraved into it. Her quiver was the same just with light brown leather not wood. For her arrows, well her collection grew every year. The tradition started with Thrain, each King Under the Mountain had the ability to make an arrow for her, and they all did. Of course that meant that each and every one of her arrows were unique and beautiful, some even had special abilities, and they could all return to her if they were not damaged beyond use. It was making a lot of the other guards what would be called jealousy if they were fickle human beings, but they are elves, so such a primitive emotion does not exist in their bodys. She smirked to herself. But just saying if it did…
Thunk!
Her arrow went through the target and hit the wood behind it. The same thing happened with all the other targets. Clapping came from behind her, someone else entered the training room. It was probably Tauriel, no one else was insane enough to get up at this hour.
"You know Tauriel, I know you have a secret crush on me but really, I could do that in my sleep." She jested without turning around.
"I am sorry to disappoint but I do believe that Tauriel is still in bed." Came a deep voice, too deep to be female.
Turning as quick as she could, which is probably faster than the human eye can register. Legolas stood in the hallway, his normal tunic on and his golden hair already perfect despite the hour, unlike hers that she just threw up into a high ponytail to get it out of the way. He was leaning against the doorway, arms were crossed over his chest and one eyebrow was raised. With his bow and quiver of arrows over his right shoulder he really did look like a prince.
She and him never did get along the greatest. Legolas was the best archer in the kingdom but she was a very good archer as well, close to rivaling him, and he knew it. Sure he is overall a nice person but to her, well he can be quite an orc sometimes. They had their moments though, mainly when Tauriel was around or they were out patrolling. It was really a friend-hate relationship.
"Your Highness, I did not know it was you." Bowing quickly she swiftly looked back up at him.
"That was obvious." He said as he moved past her to one of the targets.
"I was training." She spoke meekly, feeling the need to justify why she was here at such a ghastly hour. "Your Highness." She added quickly.
Nodding his head he pulled one of her arrows out of the target and examined it closely, twisting it over in his fingers. Then reaching to the other target and pulling that arrow out as well, he examined the two side by side.
"Your arrows," he said softly, "are unlike any I have ever seen. They are kingly gifts, these two are unique and I have no doubt that it is the same with the others, which you seem to have many of."
Rubbing the back of her neck she looked up at the prince who had taken his eyes off the arrows. "They were made for me by my family. As a gift whenever I am able to return to them on my days off. It is tradition now to make them."
Raising his eyebrow once more he asked. "The other guards are fond of telling stories to while away the time on-duty and it is hard not to overhear. One of the most common are where you get your fine arrows, and bow to match. Some of the stories are not for your favour."
This is what you've always been afraid of Jackie, she scolded herself, and now your loud mouth idiocy has led him straight toward the off-limits topic. You should be proud. Hiding her past has always been her uttermost important, and hardest, task. It was no secret how the elves viewed dwarves, and any kindness towards them made you an outsider, the elf no one wanted to hang out with or be seen talking to. She had learned that the hard way, it had taken her years to regain just a minor social status, and even now some elves who still remember avoid her as much as possible and having the overly fancy stuff did not help her cause at all either.
Narrowing her eyes and voice cold, not really caring if he was royalty any more, she spoke. "Is this a polite way of asking where I got my weapons prince?" Exaggerating the word a little. "Because if so I am afraid you will receive the same answer as everyone else for once. It. Does not. Concern you. And you do not. Need. To know."
And just for extra measure yanked the two arrows from his grasp. Although if he reported her for taking out of hand to a higher rank, the freakin prince no less she would probably be whipped, released from the guard and then banished or put in prison she really didn't care. She was raised by dwarves and if they had one shortcoming it would be anger-management issues. And not even the decades of mental training can squash the habits of upbringing.
"How respectfully you speak to me." He said. "That can be considered a major crime, it would be a pity if any one found out."
"And now you pull the prince card my lord. Are you threatening me?" He really is acting like a prick. She thought scornfully. So much for being a humble kind prince.
"Yes, I suppose I am."
"Well then I guess I'll have to answer your question." His face showed surprise at the fact she was giving in so easily for just a second before he schooled it back into an unreadable expression. "I got my arrows from my family, now, the sun is rising and I'd rather not talk about this anymore. I answered your question, you asked where I got them from. Now we can forget that entire conversation." Walking to the door she could feel her eyes on her. Then stopping turning and bowing once at the door she spoke a stiff "Your Highness." And left.
The sun was officially up, it's golden rays peeking through the dense tree trunks of Mirkwood. She wished she could have seen it as the beautiful Greenwood the elder elves talk about but King Thranduil moved the Kingdom before she was born. The other elves were getting up and grabbing their weapons, then moving down to get in line for roll call and disbursement.
Taking her place in line, 3rd from the top due to her position and skill. Just above her is Aegnor and at the start is Tauriel, head of the guard.
A sentry in silver elven armour came out of a door in front of them and began roll call. Legolas entered the yard-like space just after him. He must not have reported her for her outburst earlier on or she would have been punished already.
"Dornessiti (Dwarvish: Princess), Jackie!" The sentry called. So far in her two thousand, nine hundred and seventeen years of being in the guard no one had ever discovered that her last name was taken from a dwarvish word. If they did then it probably would not be long before they discovered her weapons and then background, but honestly, the elves don't give a time of day even thinking about dwarfs unless in scorn, they would never dream of trying to learn their language.
"Mind, body and soul prepared and here!" She responded in the expected response.
The sentry continued to call names off the scroll until he reached the looking up he began to assign groups. "Tauriel, Aegnor, Alene, Dalyor, Hagduin and Dornessiti, you will be with Prince Legolas. Your duty will be to take care of a spider nest that has stationed itself 3 leagues east of the road." Nodding respectfully on the outside but iternally cursing in dwarvish that would have made Thrain proud she joined the others who were called in her group at the far side of the yard.
It was not hidden from her that most elves tried to use her last name. 'Jackie' is definitely not an elvish name. Hence it was not perfect and definitely not worthy of being spoken from an elvish mouth. Or at least that's what she thought most of the elves believed, save Tauriel of course.
Legolas walked over to the six elves all standing in respectful attention. Not bothering to talk to them he just nodded at them to follow. He was still mulling the conversation he had had with Dornessiti that morning in the archery room. How dare she speak to him that way! She is just a guard, easily replaceable if she were kicked out, and she knew that, they instilled that fact in guard training. Yet she still lost her temper, he could see the annoyance and anger on her face when he indirectly demanded about her past. He didn't turn her in, it would be too fun to bait her, besides he needed her around if he was ever going to find out about her past.
He had tried to find out about her background before in her files but the background part of the scroll was empty. Of course supling ones past when one applied was not mandatory, it said so on the form when you applied in small font underneath the question, most people did not notice it, so for to know that it was aloud meant that either she was looking for a loophole in this question or she liked reading the questions thorough, and from what he knew about her it was probably the former. What was she hiding?
Risking a glance over his shoulder he found that she was chatting with Tauriel in whispers at the back of the group. They were around each other a lot, it was hard to find one without the other, which was annoying. But it may play to his advantage, if Tauriel knew something she might tell him, he was a prince, it would be her duty to tell him anything he wished to know, even if her infuriating friend refused.
"How many do you think there are Jackie?" He heard Tauriel ask after tuning into their conversation.
"Just like the others I guess, five to ten alduts, maybe one or two young ones." She replied
"You've been paying attention."
"Yes, I've been staying up late to figure out where they are coming from, I believe it is from Dol Guldur."
"Dul Guldur! Is that not the old fortress of Sauron?"
"Yes."
"You're planning something."
"Yes." Was Tauriel's only response. A smirk found its way onto his face. Dornessiti would not give any information willingly on this subject, even to her friend.
"Tell me Jackie." Silence, the smirk on his face grew. "Jackie." Silence rained for a while. He could envision the conversation. Tauriel trying to figure out what her friend would do while said friend walks beside her staring stubbornly ahead. A gasp from Tauriel meant that she had finally figured it out. "Jackie you're not going to go to Dol Guldur are you."
"Yes."
"Jackie, going there is punishable by death!"
"Quiet!" He heard Jackie hiss. "I have to figure this out, something is happening Tauriel, darkness is returning to Mirkwood. The ravens are returning to the lonely mountain!"
"Is this about the Lonely Mountain? Because if it is it is not worth losing your life over!"
"It's not about that! But if it was it would be worth it. It would be and nothing you can say will change that!" He could picture her trying to calm down. "You have never been outside of Mirkwood, you do not know or understand the beauty of the outside world. Besides, even if I don't go I may be kicked out."
"What do you mean?"
"I may have had a slight disagreement with the prince this morning."
"WHAT!" All the other elves, including the prince turned to look at them. Cursing Tauriel in her head for her big mouth she waited for everyone to turn around before responding
"It was about my past Tauriel, you are the only elf I trust with it. I will not tell the prince! It's almost the same as telling the king and he hates dwarves with a passion."
"Fine, but don't change the subject, if you're going to Dol Guldur I am too."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"NO."
"YES."
"Fuck you, fine."
A small smirk appeared on Tauriel's face. "I knew you'd give in."
"Very mature, I only gave in because I don't want attention, and wipe that smirk off your face."
She was about to reply but the prince stopped. For the first time she realised what the section of the forest they had now entered looked like. The tees now looked dark and wicked. The sun didn't penetrate the dense foliage above them making the entire area have an air of evil. The place made Jackie shiver, it reminded her of her… accident. She subconsciously touched the long scar underneath her shirt that she always kept hidden from everyone, not even Tauriel knew it existed, trying to act like a 'normal' elf without elves knowing that she wasn't perfect.
"Split up." The prince called. "When you see a spider kill it. Once they are all dead we will regroup and check the nest for others." Disgust was all over his usually expressionless face, it was plain for all the elves to see. To the elves these spiders had grown almost as bad as Orc's. And for once Jackie agreed with them.
Taking to the higher ground of the trees she ran nimbly along the branches. It was a few minutes of running, following the increasing spider webs, before a spider jumped up right in front of her.
Idiot. Pulling an arrow from her quiver she shot it right in the neck, falling over off the branch it landed with a dull thud on the ground far below. You don't jump in front of an elf that's trying to kill you, at least try to make it hard or demonstrate some common sense. Never stopping she continued to run, stretching out her hand beside her the arrow she had used flew right into her hand.
Notching it in her bow again she frowned. There was yelling and scuffling ahead, obvious signs of a fight but elves are silent when fighting which meant the spiders prey were fighting back.
Reaching the nest area twelve web covered dwarves were fighting the spiders as best they could without weapons in a tight circle, obviously not being able to reach them under all the webs . Save their asses now, ask questions later. Pulling arrows from her quiver at break-neck speed, a satisfactory thud every few seconds telling her that she had hit her mark. The arrows were returning to her quiver, occasionally going straight to her hand when it was empty, she had only brang fifteen arrows due to the fact she was using a small quiver. Slowly taking backward steps toward the dwarves she joined their fighting circle. Giving a arrow to the dwarf to her right she only hopped they would leave the stupid dwarf-elf hate behind to accept a weapon.
Drawing two arrows she shot two spiders that came up when she handed the dwarf the weapon. Shooting the last one that came forward she turned to the dwarves. Opening her hand the last arrow she had used flew into her hand, the one she gave the dwarf she decided to leave for the time being.
"I nar -idë, i -ië -cca condo? (Elvish: Who are you, who is your leader?)" She asked the dwarves. Taking in their stares of distrust, hate and confusion she amended herself, not missing how the dwarf she had given her arrow to was examining it and her closely. "Rumol ath othok, rumol tul your Rikkin? (Dwarvish: Who are you, who is your leader?)"
A dwarf pushed past the others, he looked extremely familiar, they all were, but she was too preoccupied with looking for other spiders to look at them at all closely. "Tha yol da Rikkin, othok Zal da voice eron someone thamar know, tell me rumol othok ath Nar Ekor Kav othok know our language. (Dwarvish: I am the leader, you have the voice of someone we know, tell me who you are and how you know our language.)"
"My name tul none eron your concern, nor Ekor Tha know othok language, tell me rumol othok ath. (Dwarvish: My name is none of your concern, nor how I know your language, tell me who you are.)" She replied evenly.
The dwarf she had given the arrow pulled their leader away to talk so she turned to continue scanning the area but kept her ears turned into their conversation, thankful for her knowledge of dwarvish.
"Thorin," She started, how many dwarves out there were named after her brother? Or was it her brother? Impossible, Thorin would never come this way. "Look at Laad arrow, Dwed made, look at da quality, E gift from E Thrummaz (Dwarvish: look at her arrow, dwarf made, look at the quality, a gift from a king)."
Walking up to the elleth in front of him who dared speak to him in his tongue Thorin grabbed her arm and yanked her down to his level, staring into her arms trying to ignore the feeling that he knew her growled, "Ihonlor did othok get anek, yir Dwed did othok steal ill from? (Dwarvish: Where did you get this, what dwarf did you steal it from?)" Realisation rushed into her eyes as he scowled at her.
"Thorin?" Taken back he let go of her arm, she hadn't even bothered to use dwarvish when she said his name. He glanced at Balin, who just stared back shrugging his shoulders, obviously just as confused as he was
"How do you know my name elleth?" He replied, using the common tongue as well. Her face fell a little bit almost like she expected him to know who the hell she was.
"Do really not remember me, you'd think the twins dumping green slime on my head would engrave my face into your thick head otorno (Elvish: brother)." She watched as realization dawned on her brother's face, not being able to stop the smile that crept onto her face.
"Jackie?"
She bowed in the typical dwarvish fashion, "at your service."
Pulling her into a big hug the other dwarves swarmed her and crushed her in a big embrace, Dwalin grabed her head and headbutted it. Laughing in happiness when he pulled away. Fili walked up to her and pulled her into a hug for extra measure.
"It's good to see you again showrumm lady. (Dwarvish: Shower lady."
"Good to see you again to Fili. Where's Kili?"
"I don't know, we were separated during the fight."
All the dwarves began to call his name, Jackie on the other hand was listening, she could barely hear the light steps of elf feet drawing nearer. Jumping away from the dwarves she summoned the arrow from Thorin's hand, notched it pulled back the string and aimed it at the dwarves, not moving from that position even when the dwarves began to curse and betrayal spread across their face, then followed by anger. Thorin just stood there staring at her as the elves burst into the clearing. Tauriel walked through the trees on the other side holding Kili at knife point. Prince Legolas slid through the leaves of the underbrush shooting a lone spider that attacked him from above.
"Good work (Elvish: Good work) Dornessiti." The elf who slid in said. Thorin didn't know or care what he said, he was still staring at his elven sister in everything but blood. Who was still pointing her arrow at them, himself in actually. How had she betrayed them after meeting for the first time in decades? Wait a second Dornessiti? Finally taking in blond haired words. That's dwarvish, she used a dwarvish word as her last name? He looked into her eyes, they were pleading, he understood now, he was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. She was living in a dwarf hating society, if anyone knew she had a connection with them in any way she would be shunned or worse. She was only doing this to protect herself and the way the elf with long red hair who was holding Kili at knife point was looking at her the red head obviously knew something. He stomped on Dwalins foot hard and glared at the others just as they were about to shout out her name. Effectively shutting them all up.
"Search them!" Prince Legolas continued in common tongue. She tried to convey all her thanks to Thorin through her eyes, he was no longer looking at her like a man sent to the slaughter but was smirking. He dipped his head the smallest fraction but her keen eyes caught it. Little did she know so did Legolas.
He frowned, what would a dwarf have to do with Dornessiti? Pulling out a locket from under a dwarfs disgusting tunic he opened it up on either side was a picture of a dwarfs.
"Give that back." The dwarf growled
"Who's this, your brother?" He asked, smirking, it was amazingly fun to annoy these idiots.
"That's my wife." The dwarf replied in the same tone.
"And the other one, that horrid creature, is it a Goblin mutant?" He jested again.
"That's my wee lad, Gilmi."
He turned to Dornessiti as she approached. "Are i spiders firn? (Elvish: Are the spiders dead?)"
"Anthon, ach mor innas tùliel. Ti arë olea canya. (Elvish: Yes, but more will come, they are growing bolder)" She responded. Her silver hair was a bit disheveled but you would not notice unless you looked close.
Dalyor passed him the sword of one of the dwarves. An old elvish blade. Where in the world did dwarvish filth get such a blade? "Si -ië an yára -ya hyanda. (Elvish: This is an ancient elvish blade)" He whispered softly, turning to the dwarf it was taken from he asked, not even trying to control his anger. "Where did you get this?"
"It was given to me."
Anger washed through his bones but his face remained expressionless. But that didn't stop him from raising the sword to the dwarfs neck for good measure. "Not just a thief but a liar as well. Lanu laituvalmet au (Elvish: Lead them away)!"
Making their way all the way back to the Mirkwood Kingdom the prince had time to think. What were the dwarves doing in their kingdom? And what of the nod-like thing he saw one of the dwarves give to Dornessiti. He knew it wasn't just a figment of his imagination, the look on Dornessiti's face was a mixture of relief, happiness and pure joy. What could have possibly happened that made her have that expression, and the look on said dwarfs face when he said her name was like he was laughing on the inside.
"Á sac' i andon! (Elvish: close the gates!)" He called. His elf ears perked up, the sound of light footfalls came from behind him, if he wasn't an elf he wouldn't have heard the noise. Looking behind him he checked to see if anyone was following. No one.
Sooooo what did you think?