First of all, I'd like to apologize as this chapter is shorter than the others, but I didn't want to make all of you wait for another update. My schedule for the next couple of weeks will be quite hectic as I am nearing the end of my college semester, but I will continue to try to update regularly. Thanks for your continued support and your patience! :)
I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping. Stretching out my stiff limbs, I sat upright in my bed. Haldir was gone. He, more than likely, had left earlier in the morning or perhaps he had only stayed for a short time after I feel asleep. Whatever the case may have been, I was beyond grateful to have slept peacefully without being plagued by my usual nightmares. Perhaps it was selfish of me, but allowing someone to share my bed meant only that I was to use them to ward off those devastating nightmares. It was rare that I was able to sleep peacefully alone, and perhaps that was part of my punishment. Perhaps it was what the Valar had in mind as punishment when I didn't honor the agreement of the marriage between Thranduil and I after the death of my people. I knew it was a silly thought, but perhaps some of the Valar were twisted and thought it would be comical to curse me in such a way. I climbed out of bed and changed into one of my usual riding outfits. I was not going to wear another gown just to impress the nobles. It wasn't worth sacrificing my comfort for it. I fastened the belt that held my elbow blades around my waist. Quickly braiding my hair down my back, I left my room. In what I could only consider a daze, I ran my fingertips along the wall as I made my way down the hallway to the banquet hall. There was something wrong here…that much was true but for it to affect me in such a way to daze me was something terrifying altogether. A dull throb made its way through my skull in one swift and never-ending wave. Lightly massaging my temples with my fingertips, I shook my head slightly in an attempt to clear my mind. It was then that a dark hooded figure at the end of the hallway caught my attention. Clad in a dark colored cape, it made its way down the hallway and disappeared into the room at the end of the hall. If I remember correctly, that door led to the dungeons, but what kind of strange person would have any business down there with no escort of any kind? I decided to follow the figure, and I picked up my pace as I walked down the hallway. The dull throbbing in my skull turned sharper with each step that I took. The pain had turned nauseating as I reached the door to the dungeons. With my hand on the door, I tried to regulate my breathing, but it was no use. It was then that I realized that I couldn't feel the barrier anymore. There was nothing left of it. The usual faint and soothing feeling of the barrier that surrounded Mirkwood was gone. With that realization, I pushed through the door and quickly headed down the steps—taking two at a time in long strides. Whoever this person was, it was no coincidence that the barrier's power had completely faded while they were skulking around in secrecy. I needed to find out who it was and what exactly they were. To have such power to negate the protective effects of the barrier was unheard of—even I couldn't have done it alone. Once I reached the bottom of the steps, I caught sight of the figure's back as it entered the guards' quarters at the end of the hall. My vision was swimming slightly as I continued following the figure. It had left the door to the guards' quarters open, and I peeked through the door. The figure stood at around 7 feet fall, and it was simply standing in the middle of the room doing nothing. I grabbed the hilts of my blades and slowly started to pull them from their sheaths. I must have made a noise because the figure jerked its head towards the door in one quick movement. I didn't know who or what I was up against, and in the state that I was in, this was no time to take risks. I slammed the door to the guards' quarters, and, as I did so, a thick layer of ice spread out from my palm. If I couldn't fight it in my current state, I could make sure that it was captured until I could get help to deal with whatever it was. An angry pounding on the door drew my attention. The ice started to crack from the repeated force being placed on it. I backed away from the door as it started to give way. With one final blow, the door was shattered into hundreds of pieces. The hood, concealing the figure, was still firmly in place. As I continued to back away from figure, I tripped, landing on my bottom. A chilling laugh echoed through the dungeons as I stared down the figure. The figure raised its head toward the ceiling.
"Your fear…" The hooded figure said in a deep, scratchy voice. "is intoxicating."
"Show me your face." I commanded. Although, I was certainly in no position to be making demands as the monster towered over me.
"You are weak, and yet you still make demands." The figure laughed again. "Without the barrier, you are being poisoned by the evil that lurks within these walls. You will continue to grow weaker until you won't even be able to say a word."
The figure raised his hand to the hood and pushed it off his head. The gasp that escaped my lips was out of pure shock. The creature standing before me was unlike anything that I had ever seen before. Where its eyes should be was nothing but dark hollows. The markings covering its skin appeared to be characters from the black speech spoken Mordor. The figure smiled at me and showed me its teeth—long and extremely sharp teeth filled its mouth. No doubt the nauseating appearance was due to years of practicing black magic.
"Do you not recognize me, Ileana?" He asked.
The pain in my skull had turned sharp and stabbing as if I was being stabbed repeatedly in the head with a knife. I didn't care. I couldn't stay here. The effects were getting worse by the second, and there was no doubt in my mind that he would kill me if I stayed.
"Perhaps I should have visited you in this form instead of appearing to you as you remembered me, but I don't think it would have had the same effect. I don't know which is better…forcing you to relive what atrocities I committed against you or relishing in your newfound fear as you gaze upon the fruits of my necromancy."
"What have you done?" I asked.
"What I have done is all too clear to you already. You always suspected that I was of far different origins than the rest of the Dorians. Are you so surprised to finally have the knowledge that you were correct in that instance?"
I pulled myself backwards on the stone floor and managed to get to my feet. I turned, and I ran. His laugh followed me as I headed up the stairs. "I will let you go this time, Ileana, but next time, you better be prepared to see this through completely. I will see you soon, my dear."
The pain in my skull was lessening as I made my way away from Viistan or whoever he called himself now. I pushed through the door at the top of the staircase and ran to the throne room, where I assumed that everyone would be. The guards tried to stop me as they looked at the weapons at my sides, but I forced them away from me and pushed through the large doors that concealed the throne room. All heads in the room turned to me in an instant. It would have been comical if it were under any other circumstance. Thranduil sat on his throne, looking at me with disdain. My breathing was still rapid as I forced the words from my mouth. "The barrier is gone."
Gasps and whispers swept through the crowd like a wildfire. Some nobles started yelling while others panicked. Thranduil stood up from his throne and scowled.
"What nonsense are you speaking?" He asked.
"The barrier…it's gone. Nonexistent." I stressed. "There is a necromancer within these walls. I saw him myself. I even spoke with him. Be quick and send your guards down to the dungeons!"
Thranduil threw his head back and laughed. "There is no way that a necromancer has entered the walls of my kingdom."
I clenched my jaw as I stared at him. "He is here. I saw him with my own eyes yesterday and then again only moments ago. Viistan will stop at nothing to bring Mirkwood to its knees. His practice in black magic has turned him into a cold-blooded and deformed monster! He was a monster even when my people were flourishing. You understand that the weakened barrier has already caused you problems in the past yet you are not concerned with its complete failure?"
Behind me, the doors to the throne room opened. Captain Maenor looked about as worse for wear as I had ever seen him. His clothes were covered in blood spray and dirt. His face bloodied from a cut on his cheek. He took to his knees in front of his king.
"My king, there are spiders at the eastern wall. At least thirty if not more. My men are holding them off, but even then, they will not succeed!" Maenor said.
"And you thought it best to inform me of this instead of staying to fight them off?" Thranduil cocked an eyebrow at the captain.
"I was the only one that was not caught in the fray, my lord. The others are too preoccupied with trying to not allow them to breach the wall." Maenor stated with a hint of indignation.
"Return to your men, Captain. Hold the wall if you can." Thranduil commanded as he headed out of the throne room.
"No reinforcements?" I yelled at Thranduil's retreating back. "Without them, you are sentencing your men to death as well as those citizens that live near the eastern wall!"
"Then you reinforce them, Princess." Thranduil said without turning around.
After Thranduil left the throne room, I turned to Maenor. "Gather reinforcements but do not leave the other walls weakly defended. This is only the beginning."
The captain opened his mouth to protest but quickly nodded. "As you command, my lady."
The captain turned and left quickly. The murmurs of the crowd began again. I could hear their surprise that I defied the king and even more of a surprise to them was that Maenor had listened. To my right, Celeborn, Galadriel, and Elrond stood observing me.
"Instead of standing here like the worthless nobility that you are, gather your healers." I said as I addressed the murmuring nobles.
At my command, a few of them scattered to assumingly follow my orders. Elrond grabbed my arm. "Are you mad, Ileana? He will have your head for giving orders to his people."
"If he will not take the steps necessary to save his wretched kingdom then I will. If the spiders breach the wall, all of the army will be redirected there which will leave the rest of Mirkwood unprotected. I either take over command or we all don't stand a chance. Viistan was powerful enough to break the barrier, and what follows will not be good. We will all die." I said as I jerked my arm from his grasp. "Stay here if you like, but I will be at the eastern wall."
Without another word, I exited the throne room. Returning to my chambers, I quickly dressed in my battle armor. The breastplate embossed with the sigil of my people and my family. The black steel infused with starlight shimmered in the sunlight. It had been centuries since I had worn this armor, and the memories that it held were nearly overpowering. I steeled myself for what was to come next. With my current state, I could use my magic for nothing more than a couple of parlor tricks. I would have to rely on my combat skill alone, and even then, I wondered if I was in any shape to be taking up arms against anything at this moment…much less massive and overgrown spiders. Pushing my worries to the side, I started my trek to the eastern wall. Along the way, I saw soldiers hurrying towards the direction that I was heading in. Good. At least Maenor had listened to my orders instead of following the misguided orders of his king. The eastern wall was in my sights. I climbed to the top of the wall and looked out at the battle that was taking place. Maenor was not overexaggerating when he told the king that they were nearly 30. In fact, I think he probably underexaggerated the number if the dead carcasses were included in that count. For some reason, there were very few archers on the walls. Most of the soldiers were on the ground, battling the spiders on their own turf. Captain Maenor was just about to leap over the wall when I called out to him.
"Instruct archers to line the wall. Authorize the use of fire. The spiders may be strong but even they will shrink away from the heat of the flames." I commanded. "If your king decides to join us then do feel free to place the blame fully on my shoulders."
"As you command, my lady." Maenor bowed his head and issued orders to the archers that were just arriving to the wall.
Without another word, I jumped off the wall and onto the battlefield below with me. My eyes scanned across the landscape quickly, and they found their first target. One of the soldiers was pinned underneath one of them. He was barely fighting the monster off as its fangs neared his head. Sprinting toward the two, I leaped off of the ground and sank my blades deep in its skull as I landed on its back. The shriek that the monster emitted was terrifying to say the least. With one twist of my blades, the spider's head was severed clean off. The soldier had managed to scurry out from under the monster before its body hit the ground, which would have left him trapped if he had remained there for only seconds longer.
"Thank you, my lady." The soldier said.
I nodded my head in acknowledgment. "Be careful. Once you are trapped underneath them, it is a feat to escape."
The archers had begun firing flaming arrows at the beasts, which was making them slightly sloppy and panicked in their movements. To my right, I had drawn the attention of one of the spiders. I smiled slightly as I readied myself for it to pounce. I didn't have to wait long. As it made its attempt to pin me underneath it, one of my blades entered its chest. With extreme effort, I forced the blade to slice the beast all the way up its chest to its neck. Perhaps that was not the best way to kill a spider. Their chest wall is much too thick and requires great force to make any progress. At this realization, I shouted at the soldiers.
"Bring them down to your level. Damage their limbs and remove their heads. Anything else requires far too much strength and energy. We will all die if we waste what energy we have left." I yelled as a pulled my blade from the spider's corpse.
Movement on the wall caught my attention. Haldir had joined the archers up on the wall along with Elrond and Celeborn, but that was the least of my worries at the moment. Unbeknownst to the archers lining the top of the wall, there was a spider slowly making its way up the stone structure. There was no way that I would be able to get there in time nor was there any soldiers close enough to take care of it. Drawing a deep breath, I held up my hand towards the creeping spider. Flames began licking at its body as my power overwhelmed its senses. With a shriek, the spider dropped from the wall and scurried along the ground, desperately trying to staunch the flames that threatened to consume it. I suddenly felt something dripping from my nose. With my free hand, I wiped at the liquid. It was blood. I had overexerted my already weak body by wasting my magic on one measly spider. Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I continued roasting the spider until its legs drew up and it moved no more. A wave of dizziness hit me. In my daze, I heard someone calling my name faintly. It was as if the ground was vibrating slightly as I stood there trying to gain my wits about myself. No, no, no. If I was going to pass out soon enough, then I was going to make damn sure that I took as many of these bastard spiders with me as I possibly could. With a newfound resolve, I drew my blades again. If this was to be the last thing that I ever did then I was going to die a warrior's death. My vision was slightly blurry as I scanned the battlefield. The soldiers had made good work of most of the spiders. The number of spiders alive was dwindling fast, and I felt a sense of pride wash over me. Unfortunately, I was far too disoriented to notice the spider that was creeping up on my left side. Within an instant, it barreled into my side, throwing me at least 20 feet away. The back of my head hit the hard ground with a thud, and I saw nothing but stars and inky blackness as my brain tried to refocus itself after suffering such an impact. There was an immense pain in my right shoulder as if it had been dislocated. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't even sure I still had a right arm because I could not move it nor could I feel it at all. The sound of sticky and clicking feet drew my attention. The spider was coming to finish the job and yet I was temporary blind with only one arm that was of any use. In seconds, I felt the air grow warmer, and I felt a sharp pain in my unharmed shoulder and heard the distinct crunch of metal as its weight bore down on my armor. It was pinning me to the ground with one its clawed legs. I steeled myself and took a deep breath. If this was my time then so be it. There was nothing to be done. Suddenly, the monster above me let out a shriek. The weight on my shoulder disappeared. I struggled to force my eyes to focus as I looked up at my savior. The figure above me was blurry at first, but as I continued to blink, my eyes focused. Who I saw above me with his dual swords in hand shocked even me.