AN: Review Responses are up, and for those of you who are still interested there should be a new chapter of Elladan's Grand Plan Friday, and this weekend I will finally update my website including archiving all old responses and completed stories.
Chapter Five: A Spark of Light
The hunt in the forest had lasted until nightfall, with elves combing every tree and branch for the elfling with no success. Though most were forced to return as darkness made the search nearly impossible, a few had moved on through the night to the village to see if Legolas could have made it that far.
Now the searchers were taking up from where they had left off, and Thranduil was at a loss. He no longer had any doubts that Legolas was somewhere in the palace. Unfortunately, that still left a lot of ground to cover.
With most of the guard still combing the forest or the grounds, Thranduil had assigned teams from the serving staff and those who dwelled within the palace to search it from top to bottom. Every room, passageway, and cupboard was to be checked.
He was running out of options. It was quickly approaching midday, and he still did not know where his son might be.
The search of the palace had to cover delicate ground. There was the question of searching the living quarters, to see if he might have hidden in someone's rooms. But Thranduil was not so ready to invade his people's privacy like that, and for now the search was voluntary only. There were also a number of dignitaries in the palace, one or two just unsavory enough to kidnap Legolas for ransom or leverage. Their rooms should be searched, but how was he to do that without offending them all?
"Ada?" Crown Prince Aranion opened the door to the study just enough to look inside. "The representatives from Lothlorien wish to see you."
Thranduil sighed. "What do they want?" he asked.
"They want to know if they can help search for Legolas."
The king nodded and waved for Aranion to send them in.
He felt like he was running out of time, and could use all the help he could get.
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The noises had come and gone, seemingly focused on other areas and even though Legolas had thought he heard something come into his cell nothing had come near him. He didn't know when but sometime he had passed into an exhausted sleep, only to wake up several times haunted by nightmares of Amarthwen's threats and giant spiders attacking him in the dark of the dungeons.
He could hear the noises again; a sort of rustling and chattering. Legolas shivered and shifted his position slightly. When he'd heard the noises in the hall he'd retreated back to a corner away from the door. The crack underneath the door was too small for him to squeeze out, but he didn't know what might be able to squeeze in.
Something came into the cell, and he heard it squeak. Suddenly Legolas knew what he heard, and he curled up even tighter.
One time Eldawen, one of his sisters, had brought him down to the storerooms, and as soon as she shone her torch in dozens of small creatures squeaked and scurried out of the way.
Rats.
The squeaking grew nearer and he stiffened in fear, squeaking himself when something brushed up against his foot.
He could hear Eldawen's voice in his mind telling him the rats were more afraid of him than he was of them, but he wasn't entirely convinced.
Another rat chattered its way over, and the pair seemed to get into some sort of tussle. He relaxed just slightly. Maybe they were just interested in playing? They didn't seem to be as dangerous as the spider.
Then the two rolled into his foot and he moved it, and one scampered away with a startled squeak. The other stayed to investigate, and Legolas could feel it sniffing the edge of his foot.
"H-hello," he whispered, holding his hand out, a bit amazed when the rat didn't run away.
The rat snuffed it, and seemed to take it as an invitation to crawl up on Legolas.
"No, get off," the prince hissed, pushing the animal away. He didn't want it to crawl on him, he just wanted it to be nice to him and not mean like the spider had been. "Get off," he said louder, pushing harder against the rat's nose.
He cried out as the rat bit down on his hand before scurrying away.
An answering hiss from the corner told him that had been a bad idea.
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Princess Meluial hurried down the corridors as fast as she could, heedless of the elves she passed along the way.
Nightfall was approaching...it would only be two hours before the elves returned from combing the forest and the second night of Legolas' disappearance would begin.
She knew she had no right to say anything, since her duties as archer often kept her away from her family, but she had never trusted Amarthwen from the moment the nurse had been brought from the village. It was true that in the wake of the queen's death they had needed someone to care for Legolas, but couldn't her father have chosen someone with a more caring personality? Amarthwen didn't even seem to like elflings too much.
Not that she suspected Amarthwen of doing something to Legolas, but she wouldn't put it past the nurse to know where he was hiding and just refuse to tell anyone.
"Ada should fire her," she grumbled to herself, barely acknowledging the greeting someone sent her way. She fingered the heavy ring of keys hidden in her pocket, wondering if what she was about to do was a good idea after all. Her father did have searchers scouring the palace, but they were going from top to bottom. It was Meluial's idea to start a new search from bottom to top, and at least eliminate some of the more dangerous places as soon as possible. The river-gate had been eliminated, as it was usually guarded, and most of the dungeons had been left out because they were locked.
But Meluial had the nagging fear that perhaps one of the doors down to one of the deeper dungeons might have been unlocked at some point—until an elfling came down and closed the door, not knowing it would lock behind him.
Legolas had a strong dislike of dark places, so Meluial doubted that he would have run down there. But she didn't want to ignore the possibility.
She was so intent in her thoughts that she didn't notice the danger she was in, and as she rounded a corner she ran into a dark-haired elf, knocking the two of them to the floor.
"Hey, watch were yo—Princess Meluial?"
Meluial groaned. Anything but him. "Captain Brithdil," she said with a sigh, acknowledging the handsome warrior and praying her blush wasn't too obvious.
"What are you doing down here?" Brithdil asked quietly, gently helping her sit up.
"I was looking for my brother," Meluial explained, rubbing at the rather large lump on the back of her head.
Brithdil nodded his understanding. "Are you hurt?"
"Just my head," she said quickly. "I bumped it."
Great. Now she was blushing so much she wouldn't need a torch. Inwardly she cursed her foolish crush on the handsome elf-captain.
"May I ask why you're looking for your brother down here?" Brithdil asked, standing to help her to her feet.
"Um...yes. It occurred to me that the doors to the dungeons lock automatically, so if he came down and a door closed behind him he might be in one of the halls that went unchecked."
Brithdil nodded. "But why would your brother come down this way?" he said with a frown. "I don't even like it down here, and I've been on guard duties in the dungeons before."
The princess sighed. "I have this horrible feeling that he might be," she said softly. "I have to try."
The captain frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "All right," he said in agreement. "But I'm coming with you."
"I can take care of myself," Meluial replied.
"And what if your brother is down here and you can't get him out alone? Would you leave him to go fetch help?"
Meluial sighed. "I guess you're right."
"Of course I am," Brithdil said with a grin, taking a torch from a bracket. "Follow me."
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Legolas had hoped that the spider was dead or gone, but as he heard its feet slowly ticking on the floor as it crawled toward him he realized he was wrong.
His hand was throbbing, so even though he found another stone he couldn't pick it up. And his other arm hurt too much to even move, so he was left defenseless against a now-angry spider.
He curled up even tighter, burying his face in his arms and holding in his sobs. Horrible memories were coming back now—memories of Nana's death and the fight with the spiders in the clearing. She had been so brave, fighting the spiders even though she wasn't a warrior. Legolas wished he could be as brave as Nana, but hurt and alone in the dark he only wanted someone to save him.
You shall not touch him.
A familiar voice seemed to echo through the cell, and whether it was actually in the air or simply a memory in Legolas' heart the spider hesitated.
But then the elfling heard something even better.
"Legolas?"
Someone was calling his name, and when he peeked up he could see a hint of light through the bars of the cell
Someone had found him.
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Meluial's discouragement had grown when she and Brithdil had searched down three corridors with no luck, but she wasn't about to give up until she had determined whether her brother was here or not.
"There are only two left after this one," Brithdil said as Meluial jammed the key into the lock. "If he's not in the dungeons we could check the storerooms in the old barracks down here."
The princess glanced over with a hint of surprise. "What?"
"They have no knobs on the inside," the captain explained. "My friends shut me in one once," he admitted with a rueful smile.
Meluial returned it, but her attention was drawn away as the door finally gave. "Legolas?" she called, taking the torch from Brithdil.
She shivered as a familiar echo seemed to run down the hall. "Legolas?" she called again, following the twisting trail down to one of the deepest cells.
"Meluial?"
Her heart leapt at the faint cry. "Legolas! Brithdil, he's down here!"
She vaguely heard the captain call something before he came running down. "I wedged the door open," he explained to her questioning glance.
"Here," she shoved the torch into his hands, shaking fingers trying to fit a key into the lock. "Legolas, I'm coming," she called.
"Hurry," the pitiful cry tore at her heart, and she nearly shouted in relief when the door gave way. Brithdil followed her into the cell with the torch, and she rushed forward to throw her arms around her little brother, tears of joy running down her face.
"Oh, Legolas," she whispered. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"
The elfling sniffed, nodding his head. She noticed he was cradling both arms close to his body—one arm looked broken, while the other hand was definitely swollen. "Okay, we'll take you up to the healers."
"Ada," Legolas protest pitifully, squinting in the torchlight.
"Ada will be there," Meluial promised, gently lifting the elfling. "Brithdil will find him as soon as we get out of here."
She heard an evil hiss and whirled around, horror-struck to see the spider her brother had been sharing the cell with. "Brithdil?" she asked, her throat dry.
"Go into the hall, My Lady," he said quietly. She did so, carefully shielding Legolas' view but being careful not to leave the circle of torchlight.
As traumatic as the past day and a half had been, she did not want him to see Brithdil kill the spider.
A moment later Brithdil stepped back into the hall, wiping his dagger on the underside of his tunic. Wordlessly he took the keys from Meluial and turned to lead them out of the dungeons.
Reviews? Flames? Tar and Feathers?
AN: All right, I know OC's tend to get on people's nerves (or at least they get on mine when they take too much spotlight), but that part with Meluial and Brithdil is there because their engagement announcement comes in later in the story (they're married in Beginnings). It has a purpose, I promise.