Hi everyone, it's now been over a year since I first started posting this story. If you've been reading that whole time, thank you for sticking with it! If you're newer, welcome and I hope you are enjoying it!
Things have been busy for me which is why I haven't posted recently, but I hope that will change soon. I'm glad at least I finally finished this chapter, which has been giving me a lot of difficulties. I hope you like it!
CW for this chapter is emotional manipulation. It's scattered throughout the chapter, so skim/skip all bits with Thranduil to be safe. Please be careful and don't read if it's a trigger!
As always, I do not own anything except my OCs, and if you have questions, comments, critiques, etc please do not hesitate to leave a review!
The next time an elf comes to bring me food, I send a message to the king.
I'm willing to meet and talk. Not in the throne room, not in my prison. Neutral ground, where neither of us will have the upper hand.
The next time there's a knock on the door, I open it to see Tauriel. I give a sharp smile, and she looks surprised.
"His Majesty King Thranduil awaits you." Her voice is calm and formal, only her eyes betraying a hint of curiosity.
Thranduil. That's his name.
Tauriel leads me up a couple levels in the tree's hall and around, almost opposite from where my rooms are. I follow her, the sounds of the kingdom seeming to fade away as the sound of water seems to get louder.
We take a left turn, and then we're in a small clearing, a waterfall to the far left in the back plunging down a steep hill. I wonder if this is part of the forest river's course. I peer closer, and then blink. A Mirkwood guard peeks back at me, then disappears into the shadow of a tree again.
I turn to Tauriel, but she's no longer there. In her place is the king. Thranduil, I remind myself, trying not to show my nerves.
"Sonia. I believe you requested an audience with me," he starts.
"Aye, I did," I say. "There are things I wish to discuss with you."
Before Thranduil can reply an elf comes in bearing a tray with glasses and a carafe of wine. Thranduil pours and offers me a glass, which I decline.
"Well? Care to discuss?" the king's voice holds a challenge, and I find rise to meet it.
"What you suspected before is correct. I was lying to you." The king peers at me like he's not sure why I would admit this, but gestures for me to continue.
"I wasn't lying about the basics of course. My name is Sonia, and I really don't know that much about the dwarves, or why they're travelling to the Iron Hills. But everything else…"
I trail off, and the king fills in. "Lies need a grain of truth."
"Aye. I didn't know who you were, or if I could trust you."
"And now you think you can?" the king asks, swirling the wine in his glass.
"No," I say, "but I think you can help me."
The king raises an eyebrow, skeptical yet intrigued.
"I still need passage to Laketown. The dwarves still need passage to the Iron Hills. In exchange for these things, I will owe you a favor."
"A favor?" the king echoes.
I hold his gaze and put intention behind my words. "I have friends in high places." Let him interpret that how he will.
"There is nothing I desire," the king says, with a flick of his wrist.
"There is," I counter, and the king stares at my smile.
The king's mouth twitches, his brows furrowing in displeasure. "There is nothing I desire," the king repeats. He spreads his arms in a grand gesture, encompassing his kingdom. "I have everything I need, and want for nothing."
"Nothing at all?" I tilt my head. "Is that true? You may want for nothing, but perhaps there are things you don't even know you want."
"Like what?" his voice can only be described as petulant, the effort to appear uninterested marred by the fact that I've found him out.
"Precious gems, the likes of which you've never seen. Or even dreamed of."
The king looks at me, interested despite himself.
"Emeralds, and diamonds. You rejected them from Fili, but perhaps you'll accept them from me," I murmur, and the king's eyes flash, followed by a frown.
He turns his head to the door and calls out something biting and sharp to the guard who's stationed outside.
"Tell me how you can acquire these, and about your…friends," he demands.
"My family in Laketown. They're distant cousins, well-connected and well-off merchants. I'm only going because my family back home is gone."
"I did not realize that anyone in Laketown was well-off." The comment is snide, and despite me never having been there, it burns and I feel the need to defend my imaginary family.
"I didn't realize the king of Mirkwood cared so much about the Lakemen, or their fortunes."
The king frowns again and says, "I don't. Their lives are of no concern to me."
"I didn't think so."
The king's eyes flash, holding mine in an intense glare, and I get the feeling the king is liking this conversation less and less.
"Continue," he snaps, sipping on his wine.
So I do, weaving together a tale about how my family of merchants supposedly aided various lords of the southern countries, recently come to Laketown to take advantage of new trade routes opening in the East. So new that not even the king of Mirkwood has heard of them, isolated as he is.
The king says nothing, and my heart squeezes. Does he know I'm lying now? I try to provide just enough detail to make my story convincing. The king stares some more.
He's about to speak, but then there's a knock on the door. "Enter," the king commands, and a guard walks in pushing Fili ahead of him.
"Hold them," the king says, and faster than I can blink a knife is at my throat, with another at Fili's.
The king glares at me, and I wish I had taken the wine he offered, because my nerves could use it. A few feet away Fili swallows. He looks extremely wary, and not just from the knife at his neck. He keeps his eyes trained on the king, and his hair and beard are tangled and messy.
"You are still lying," is all he says to me, before he turns to Fili. "Why does this girl insist on travelling with you?"
Fili blinks. "What?" His voice is scratchy and hoarse, and guilt pangs through me.
"She claims that she still needs to get to Laketown, and that she needs you to accompany her. Were she telling the truth about who she actually is, I would offer guards to protect her path. Yet she lies, and insists upon your presence. Why? What is your connection?"
"Only that which we have already told you," Fili answers, somehow managing to sound both respectful and annoyed.
"Then why do you insist they accompany you?" the king asks me.
"I've already told you and I shouldn't have to give you another reason. You've already held us for over a week and we have done no harm to you or yours, so you should let us go. You have no right to keep us as prisoners," I reply.
"I have every right to keep you safe here. The forest can be dangerous, and you were trespassing in my realm and causing a disturbance. You continue to lie to me and therefore cannot let you go."
"I already explained why I lied the first time, and now I've told you the truth, and if you won't believe me then I can't help you. Let us go, and I will give you what I offered before."
Fili has a million questions in his eyes, but stays silent.
"No," the king says, "You still lie."
The king speaks again in Sindarin, and Fili and I are yanked away, marched out of the garden and down the hall with blades still at our throats. The king's words echo after us. "No food or water for three days. Solitary confinement."
I'm hurried back through the halls to my room, the soldier avoiding the common areas as much as possible. I guess the king doesn't want people to see how he treats his so-called guests. I ask them to pull the knife away, but they ignore me and in their haste and carelessness the knife digs into my throat, several thin, stinging cuts forming.
We reach my room and the soldier shoves me in without a word. I stumble and fall to the floor in a heap, the door lock clicking behind me. I scramble up, futilely trying for the knob. "Let me out!" I shout and curse as I pound on the wood.
There's no answer, even though I know there are guards at the end of the hall. I slump, dragging to the table to light a candle, then to the bed to save my energy. It's going to be a long three days.
I manage to sleep some of the time, and when I don't sleep I watch the candle burn down to a nub, then flicker out. I walk around my room a little, and do some stretches and jumps to keep my blood flowing. I imagine what to say to Fili, and the rest of my company.
I imagine it's been about two days when there's a knock on my door. I have no way to track time, and I can't hear the guards rotating at the end of the hall. I hear someone try the knob but it doesn't budge. Then all is quiet again for what must be hours.
There's another knock on my door. I hear a key turn the lock and a sliver of light on the floor about blinds me. The door shuts, throwing my room back into momentary darkness. Then a match strikes, revealing shiny black hair and olive skin.
"What do you want?" I rasp, my throat scratchy and parched.
Tauriel regards me for a moment, then slips a small water skin from under her cloak and holds it out to me. I don't reach for it, even though I want to.
"What do you want?"
"I want to help," her voice is calm and serious.
"Why?"
"Because I must. It's the right thing to do."
I raise an eyebrow. "How generous of you." I flop back on my bed and roll over to face away from her.
When she speaks again her voice is closer. "Sonia, please take it."
I roll over, still skeptical. "What do you want from me?"
She frowns. "I want nothing from you. But I want things for you. I want you to receive proper nourishment, and to be free. You should be reunited with your company."
"You're not going to interrogate me?"
"No."
Perhaps it's the look on my face, or perhaps it's her own need to reassure me, because she continues. "My family was a lot like your company when we came up from the south centuries ago. We were fleeing a massacre, and the king himself found us, much like we found your company. We were hungry and scared. He took us in and treated us like family. I remember the kindness he showed us then and see no reason why we should not show you the same kindness.
"I love my king, and I love my kingdom, but your treatment is not right. This is not how we should treat people found half-dead in our woods."
"Tell it to the king," I mutter, and she tilts her head.
"I have already tried, but he will not listen to me."
"Who will he listen to?"
Tauriel pauses, considering. "He might listen to his son, but Legolas is away fighting spiders near the southern border of our kingdom."
I sit up and take the offered water skin, drinking slowly. The water is cool on my tongue and throat, and so delicious. Tauriel watches me, and I look away from the compassion in her eyes.
"Will you get in trouble for helping us?"
"Yes. His Majesty King Thranduil is generous and merciful, but does not tolerate open dissent. But I must still do what I know to be right."
"The king isn't generous or merciful. He's cruel and manipulative. He's done nothing but hurt us since we got here. And I still don't know if I trust you."
"That is understandable," she replies with a small smile. "I will work to gain your trust."
We're quiet for a minute, then I ask, "Do you know who guards the dwarves and gives them food?"
"I do not, but I can easily find out." She smiles and says, "Being captain of the guard has its advantages."
Something like hope begins to bubble in my chest. "Please can you find out how they're doing? And if it's not too risky, I need you to pass a note to Fili."
"I will attempt it," she says. "I must go now, before I am missed, but I will come back later."
She leaves, and I feel a pang in my chest watching her go. I was telling the truth when I told her I don't know if I trust her, but I suspect that will soon change.
Because if Tauriel is the captain of the guard, maybe she can get the dwarves out of the dungeon. She can do what Bilbo did in the book, getting them in barrels and sending them to Laketown. I'll have to get out another way. My cell is too far from the cellars, with too much risk of being seen if I tried to go down there, and too suspicious.
She comes again maybe two days later to bring food and water, along with fresh candles. I eat a few bites and sip water while she lights some of the candles and directs a servant to strip my bedsheets and put on new ones. Afterwards she helps me stumble to the bathroom where I scrub away sweat and dried blood. My brain is foggy, and for once I wish I were bathing in cold water rather than warm.
When she's sure we're completely alone, I whisper in her ear the loose plan to get the dwarves out, and how she could help, emphasizing the danger. I'm not sure how much she understands, given I don't feel entirely coherent.
"I don't know your laws, but where I'm from treason can be punishable by death, or lifetime imprisonment. Are you willing to risk that?"
She tilts her head, considering, before responding with a quiet and fierce conviction. "Our laws are different, but I would not have offered if I were not willing. I meant what I said before. It is not right, and something must be done. If I am to be banished then so be it."
I stare at her for a minute, thinking if I trusted her it would be well-placed.
She and I whisper back and forth over details, trying to think of other, less-risky ideas. She promises to give the plan serious thought and consideration, estimating we have a month to plan before the Feast of Starlight, when the dwarves could escape. I wish it could be sooner, but there is no way we can rush this.
Then it's back to my room. A little while later there's a knock on my door and the king enters.
I jerk up and sway on my bed. Even though I've had food and water now my body is still weak, and any sudden movement makes me dizzy.
"Your Majesty," I say in what I hope is a polite tone. "What brings you here?"
"I came to inquire on your health. Do you need a healer?" Is he serious? First he starves me and my company and now he asks if I need a healer?
"More food and water would be appreciated, Your Majesty," I finally reply.
The king inclines his head, and goes to the door, where a page waits. After speaking briefly, the king returns and pulls a couple of sheaves of paper out of a hidden pocket in his robe, handing them to me.
I peer at them, but the writing is indecipherable. "It is Black Speech," the king's voice interrupts my musings. I frown up at him, not sure why he's telling me this.
"What does it say?" I ask.
"We captured a scout at the northern edge of our territory bearing that message. It seems that Bolg, son of Azog, is hunting a party of dwarves."
A cold feeling spreads through the cavern of my chest. "What does the message say exactly?"
"Do you know who Thorin Oakenshield is?" The question catches me off guard, but I manage a convincing reply.
"I do not. The dwarves I travelled with never spoke of him."
"How dreadful that they never spoke of him, since he is their king," the king says with a sneer. "Dwarves revere their rulers almost as much as their gold. The message is for the capture of a company led by him, last known to shelter at the house of Beorn and travelling east. It mentions that there might be a human and a wizard travelling in their midst." He pauses for a moment to study me.
"As you know we do not travel with a wizard, and this Thorin Oakenshield person is not with us. The orcs must be hunting a different company."
The king nods. "At first I thought the same, and then I remembered seeing something of interest in one of your companion's packs." He pulls out another piece of paper and shows it to me.
It's me and Gandalf, up in a tree, lighting pinecones with looks of utmost concentration on our faces. There's a worried furrow between my eyebrows as I hold one of the pinecones for Gandalf to light with another. It's a beautiful drawing, though where Ori found the paper is beyond me.
"There was once a wizard in your company," the king states.
I briefly think about denying it, but eventually I say, "Yes."
The king throws his head back, as if he didn't expect my answer. "Then your company is the same Bolg is hunting. How coincidental," he murmurs, but I interrupt.
"I said there was once a wizard in our company. I never said we were the company the orc is hunting. I wasn't lying when I said I don't know Thorin Oakenshield. The dwarves never talked about him."
"Then why was a wizard travelling with you?" the king's voice betrays a hint of impatience.
I gesture to the drawing. "We ran into each other on the near side of the Misty Mountains, where we were chased by goblins. We climbed up some trees and lit pinecones to start a fire and keep them away, but had to be rescued by the great eagles."
The king tilts his head, his look indecipherable.
There's a knock on the door, and the page enters with a tray of food. Like most of the fare here it's rich and entirely too much for me to eat. But under the king's simmering gaze I try a few bites and convey my thanks.
"Even if you are not the same company, it is better to be safe than in danger," he finally says. "We shall allow you to stay here for as long as you need. Now eat," he demands, his gaze lingering at my throat.
I move for the tray again but the king stops me, bringing his hand to my chin and tilting my head up. He looks at my throat, at the scars that must be thin and red. "I will send a healer to you. All injuries, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, must be treated for infection."
He releases me and takes Ori's picture and holds it above the candle on my desk. I watch out of the corner of my eye as he lets it burn to ash, then holds up something else pulled from the pocket. The smell cloys in my nose, and I look over to see him burning golden braids. They burn slowly, the metal beads clinking down on the table as the strands flake away. When the king is finally done he gathers up the beads and sweeps out of my room without a backward glance, leaving me with a picked-at tray of food and the smell of Fili's burnt hair lingering in the air.
