Sorry for the late update! The amount of times I re-wrote this story is insane!
I forgot to mention this in the last chapter but, in the movie it only takes 3 days from when they are captured in Mirkwood to when they leave Laketown toward the lonely mountain. They are on Bards boat during day 2. In my story (I am only saying this once people so read carefully) THE TIMELINE IS DIFFERENT! So just go with it ok. From the day the dwarves are captured to when the dwarves are on Bards boat it has been 3 days. See, different by one day but still, different. As I said go with it because if I go back and change it now I will have to rewrite the story and I am not doing that, no matter how much I love you all.
This is also my last time saying this because I am getting tired of writing it at the beginning of every chapter in some different way. I do not own any of Tolkien's characters or his plot. Challenge: See if any of you can spot something taken from Lord of the Rings, the two towers movie in this chapter.
WARNINGS: Foul Mouthing
They had been walking in silence for hours along the river since Jackie's little slip up of telling the prince about how she may not come back to Mirkwood. The prince had slipped into an unnatural silence and hadn't spoken since. During the first switch where Kili began to carry her, the two males started to argue about how long each would be able to carry her. Sick and tired of their fighting she had told them to make a platform for her to sit on instead. Legolas went back to the flet, a couple hours later he had arrived with a pillowcase full of stuffing. From there they had made her a little hammock-like thing out of some of the bigger leaves, and put the fluff in it making it much more comfy. The result being a dark green pouch one of the boys dragged along the hard forest ground.
The forest itself had seemingly changed over night. It was not the dark, spider infested Mirkwood they were used to. Instead the sun was shining through the leaves overhead, giving the ground below a light green aura. The foliage was no longer dense and gnarly but soft and beautiful, adding to the newfound beauty of this part of the forest. The trees as well had changed. Before they had been dark and foreboding but now they appeared light, happy and welcoming. The river was still in their sights as they were following it out of the forest. The sound of the rushing water joined in the chorus of birds, wind and trees. The light fell on it's surface making it glisten like millions of jewels were hidden under its surface. The reflection of trees on either side coated the banks of the water, adding to it's unearthly beauty. The sun eliminated the entire area making everything look like it came from Valinor itself. Although the sun was slowly leaning toward the west there were still a few precious hours left in the day. And it did nothing to the unearthly beauty of the forest.
Jackie stared at the flowing water, wishing she could be moving that fast but instead she was stuck on the stupid pouch while Kili dragged her along. Legolas's voice brang her out of her brooding reprieve.
"Are you sure you're not tired yet Master Dwarf?" He chirped. A false smile plastered on his face.
"I'm a dwarf. We don't get tired, ye no good son of a cockroach." He snapped bad immediately. The long tiresome walk through the forest and knowing that his twin was far ahead of them, almost completing their goal had made him easier than normal to annoy. And she was fairly certain that Legolas was counting on that.
"I'm sorry, it's just that your kind are not known for their…. Athleticism." Legolas smirked even more at the dwarf easy reaction.
"What are ye implying princling?" Kili gritted out. His fists clenching and unclenching over and over again in obvious attempts to stay somewhat calm. Considering his past attempts in this area Jackie thought he was doing an amazing job.
Legolas made an exaggerated sigh sound and shook his head like he was scolding himself, or childing the dwarf. "I should have spoken to you straight out anyway. Your kind are much too dull to understand complicated, civilized speech."
"Too dull? TOO DULL! Ye shall soon see how dull my axe blade is!" Kili roared angrily. As much as Jackie knew that the both of them should be quiet and that Legolas was being rather unfair she couldn't stop the smile that dominated her features. Kili was soooo easy to annoy.
"I suppose, if you can catch me of course." Legolas stated as if he had just figured it out.
"I won't need to, yill run straight to me. All pretty face, no brain." Very original insult Kili.Jackie thought. Of all the insults you choose to basically copy what Legolas said in different wording. You are putting your brethren to shame.
"At least I have a pretty face." Legolas shot back, not missing a beat. "It's a pity I can't say the same thing for you."
"I am deeply sorry my manly appearance made ye jealous in any way." Kili retorted in a fake apologetic tone. "It must be hard having the appearance of a female such as yers."
Legolas snorted. "We can barely tell Dwarven men and Dwarven women appart! It must be the beards they both possess."
"At least we have women." Kili retorted.
"I don't know." Legolas mocked thinking. "Those things you call children look a lot like dogs."
"I am sure ye would know, ye live among them." Kili muttered angrily, either forgetting elves enhanced hearing or counting on it.
"Boys please~" Jackie tried, fed up with their bickering already and seriously concerned about unfriendly ears.
"I assure you dwarf, if I ever need a fell face to beseech mine eyes I will simply call upon my horrid memories of you." Legolas lipped quickly.
"Both of you~" Jackie tried again, not liking how Kili's fists were gripping her pouch thing.
"Laddie, laddie, laddie." Kili chuckled. Shaking his head the same way Legolas did a few minutes earlier. "Beseech mine eyes?There must be holes in yer special elven education or yer trying to act like normal dispassionate elves. Honestly, I ain't surprised if it's both.
Knowing that she would never get through to both of them at the same time she tried to appeal to her brother. Turning so she was no longer staring at Legolas she menouvred herself to hold the grip area of her pouch so she could stare at the back of Kili's head. "Kili thry. Ov Tha var cause da halls eron Erebor oz fall morred your thick head. (Dwarvish: Kili stop. Or I will cause the halls of the Lonely Mountain to fall on your thick head.)"
"Your speech as well as your face is vile to the ears and eyes." Legolas quipped. Jackie spun around falling back into the bottom of the pouch. The wave that ran over her did not stop her from glaring at the prince.
"STOP!" Jackie yelled, sending another splitting headache through her skull. "You are both acting in the manner of children! There may still be Orcs in the forest and your idiocy will draw them nigh. Sén (Elvish: Children)."
There was a small pause before Legolas spoke. "I stop only because you intervene Dornessiti."
"Fine.' Kili spat. "I still think yer a pompous brat Princeling."
"Kili." She said warningly, not taking her eyes off the now smirking prince and increasing the intensity of her glare.
'Ya ya. I'll stop, hold onto yer breeches, jeez woman."
It was a quiet night. The very trees were silent by the time they reached the edge of the forest. Before them lay a maze of river and land for as far as a normal human could see. The two elves of the company could see just beyond the complex channels to the view of the giant lake resting just beneath the Lonely Mountains feet. A small cluster of huts in the distance was obviously lake town although from the distance they were standing it barely looked like anything. The air around and in front of them was dense and misty, so much so that the dark parts of Mirkwood looked like paradise. The sun had sunk behind the trees a few hours ago and the only light now was from the stars and half moon above them in the sky.
"Here we can rest for the night. I dare say the dwarf needs it." Legolas said.
"I. …. Don't… need rest … I'ma, I'ma …... Dwarf…" Kili responded between pants, dropping the grip of her pouch.
"Mmmh Hmmm." was Legolas's only response.
"Boys, don't even start." Jackie muttered warningly before curling up in a ball on the spot and falling asleep right there.
She woke to something shaking her arm. Legolas' face loomed above hers.
"Your dwarf friend has already arisen. There is something fell in the air. Bad things are about to happen." He spoke softly.
Behind Legolas's back Kili was pacing back and forth, gathering the meager possessions they had brang with them from the flet and shoving them in their respective bags. Stopping every now and then to stare at the trees and grip his sword menacingly.
Shifting herself into a sitting position Jackie rubbed her eyes groggily, so used to the pain that came after any bigger movements that she barely noticed it. "Why did you not wake me sooner I could have been more of a h~"
She was cut off abruptly by an Orc horn echoing from the trees. An answering horn called back from the direction of Laketown. She stiffened. All the Orcs she had ever bettled never used horns ever. And she was glad they didn't. The very sound of them brang her back to the night where her life changed forever. Over and over she relived the horrors of what had happened that night until Legolas shook her from her reprieve.
Then the Orcs attacked.
Dozens and dozens of them seemingly poured from the trees with their horidly formed swords and crude arrows. Each one was more ugly than the last. Almost at once Legolas grabbed her and put her on a high rock, one that reached a bit above his head and then left her there, pulling his bow out and firing at every orc he saw.
Kili was by himself fighting for a time. Jackie watched as he ducked under a poorly aimed swing from an Orc. Coming up he chopped off the offender's head. Spinning around almost too quickly for her still tired eyes to register, he performed the same move on the nearest Orc he could find. Jackie cursed herself for sleeping. She was an elf for Valars sake! They were not supposed to need sleep, sure she reminded herself elves do need their sleep but they do not need it as often as a dwarf or normal human. I should be able to go weeks, even months if I have to without but nooooo, two nights in a row I'm out like a light. And now I can't even help them fight the stupid Orcs.
She turned her gaze to Legolas, who was standing on a much smaller rock then the one she was currently on. He was loosing arrows from his quiver like crazy and Jackie couldn't help but admire how good of a marksman he was. Hitting his target every single time. No orc even got close enough to do any damage or even draw their swords and they were much to stupid to think of drawing their own bows at him.
They both were doing rather well but two against two thousand was not good odds. Even as she had the thought Kili was attacked from behind by one of the smarter ones. Meanwhile the Orcs never stopped pouring out from the trees. Legolas ran out of arrows and while it was only a second he spent groping around the air above his empty quiver, it was all the Orcs needed to surge forward. Drawing out his two matching daggers he began slicing and stabbing just as many as he had shot down. But it seemed with every Orc he killed seven more took its place. Kili was now cornered against a tree with nine of the vile creatures leering over him and his small stature. The feeling of complete and utter uselessness in her only grew.
Finally snapping when both Legolas and Kili were either cornered or overwhelmed completely she cried out as loudly as she could over the raging sounds of battle; "MAIRO -O I EMYN-NU-FUIN TÚL TORNE SÍ ANA -IMA TULCO. LAR- I QUENT -O TUR. LAR- YOUR ESTA-, NÚRE- I NAHÁMË. TÚL ANA -IMA TULCO OH MAIRO -O I ORON TAN!"
Silence. For about five seconds utter silence.
Then one by one all the Orcs turned to her and the battle resumed. Except about half of the Orcs were charging at her and her rock. Bring it on Orc scum.
Kili let out a gruntal yell before pushing through the wall of Orcs that had him cornered, killing each and every one of them in attempts of what Jackie was pretty sure to arrive by her side before the wave of orcs hit her and her lonely rock. She heard Legolas curse profusely in elvish with her elvish hearing and smirked as he attempted the same course of action as Kili, to get to her first. Legolas was moving to her faster, dispatching his opponents before they had time to register he was there to whatever afterlife Orcs experience. But he was still moving much too slow and more and more Orcs were blocking both Kili and Legolas' path to her while the original beasts made their way to her unbothered.
Just as the first of the vile creatures reached the bottom of her rock a large, white, stallion rode out from the very woods that the Orcs appeared from, trampling any of them that had the misfortune to be in its path. Another of the same color jumped over her head and galloped to meet it's brother. All the Orcs backed away quickly from the seemingly glowing steeds, momentarily stopping their siege on her rock.
As the two stallions rounded to come back in her direction Legolas grabbed one of their manes. Swinging himself up under the horse's neck and onto its back he charged with the horse toward her. She couldn't marvel at how well he performed the action because she was stuck watching Kili attempt the exact same menover. Failing when he only grabbed the ends of the horse's long mane hairs and just ended up sliding down into a rather large mud puddle. Drawing her attention back to Legolas who was now standing alongside her rock, him being on horseback making his head almost level with the top of the rock. Sliding down the smooth side of it she landed on his lap and immediately Legolas took off. Kili who managed to use a dead Orcs head as a lever had jumped up onto the horse's back and was struggling into a sitting position followed, an expression of deep discomfort etched on his face. The last thing she saw actually, before passing out.
Legolas stared down at Dornessiti and couldn't help feeling somewhat guilty for new scratches that added to her old ones on her face and the small twigs in her still perfect looking silver hair. If he and the dwarf had not been bickering earlier there was a possibility that the Orcs would not have found them causing herself to over exert herself once more. He was not stupid, he knew what she did. She must have seen them surrounded and decided she needed to help. The horses had not just came there on a whim, not these horses. These were mountain horses, close in kin to the Meras. She had cried out a summoning spell using even more of her already depleted energy, it was a wonder that she wasn't dead already.
The sagging of the small body in his arms brought him back to the present. Dornessiti had fallen unconscious, he was just happy it wasn't death. Why he wasn't sure but he knew he was.
The dwarf had finally managed to catch up to him and he wondered why the horse had not thrown it off. "Well dwarf." He started while his horse made a leap over a particularly large gap between two areas of land, and, for the first time, realising where the Stallions were taking them; Laketown. "It seems you are once again in Dornessiti's debt."
The dwarf didn't even have the strength to respond.
"I know you are there, why do you linger in the shadows." The king asked her as she entered the room. Tauriel had dreaded this moment since she arrived at the palace that morning. They were in the Kings private area. With his two private pools and table with drinks.
"I am sorry my Lord." She said in the normal manner. "I knew not how to approach you."
"Approach me about what? Tauriel." The King replied, not really paying her any attention and his voice never leaving it's usual cool and unreadable tone.
"Your son my Lord." She uttered curtly, knowing that the King could hear her almost silent words.
"He has been gone for almost two days with the other elves in his scout group, which included you." Thranduil said as if to himself. Then turning his full attention to her he continued. "It is very unlike him to disappear Tauriel. What do you know."
Surprised by the full attention and force of the Kings gaze she paused for a second to collect herself before speaking. "You are aware that the dwarves escaped your dungeons two days ago and Prince Legolas assembled a scout group to go after them?"
"Yes Tauriel. I want a full report." Thranduil said sharply, his voice betraying the tiniest bit of impatience.
Tauriel visibly cringed, she knew that if she gave a full report it would mean betraying her friend. But she was loyal to the throne, unlike Jackie she thought bitterly, and she would not hold back information if the crown wished it. "We had the dwarves trapped my Lord. Along the river when we were ambushed by a pack of Orcs. One of the dwarves was shot in the chest by one of the Orc arrows and…" Did she really want to say this? It would ruin her friends reputation. "And Dornessiti ran to help him." There she said it. Sorry, Jackie, if you can by some weird way hear this, I am so so so so sorry.
"Odd." Was all the king said.
"Legolas followed her my Lord. We were all busy with the Orcs so none of our number saw what came to pass but, well …. " She trailed off. This would get Jackie kicked off the guard or worse.
"Continue.' Thranduil snaped, no trace of the serene calmness that had been there mere seconds ago.
"We… we heard Dornessiti use Mel-arée Mirad my Lord." I am so so so so sorry. Forgive my friend.
"What!" the King half yelled half hissed
"Mel-arée Mirad my Lord." She repeated.
"I heard you the first time. Continue your account guard." Thranduil spat.
"There is not much more to tell my Lord. by the time we vanquished the remaining Orc scum the company of dwarves had escaped down the river and Dornessiti, Prince Legolas and the injured dwarf had vanished." She prepared herself for the yelling that was soon to come.
"This was two days ago Tauriel! TWO DAYS!" He yelled, just as she predicted. "Why have none of your company told me of this beforehand?"
"We were searching for them, my Lord." She said softly, trying to return some calm to the room. "But they hid themselves well~"
"My son would not be with them willingly!" Thranduil yelled once more. "That traitor Dornessiti must be holding him against his will."
"Of course my Lord"
"I want all your guard looking for my son." He continued as if he hadn't heard her.
"My Lord!" She cried, asstonishment echoing through her voice.
"EVERY guard. Bring the dwarf back to me alive, I care not what condition so long as it can speak." He growled pacing the floor.
"And Dornessiti?" Tauriel asked, scared of the answer.
"Kill her on site."
Tauriel stared at the Kings back. She had expected nothing less after what she had told him but that did not mean she needed to take several moments to insure she could speak without any tears.
"Yes my Lord." So so so so so sorry.
The plot thickens! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Please! Favorite, follow, review, it would mean so much to me (especially the reviews). And more than anything, stick around for the next chapter! sorry for any spelling mistakes, I really am trying!
Also, I know that twice in this chapter elvish was spoken and I did not bracket it but that was on purpose so don't get made on me.
Goodbye for now!