The orc looked rabid as he flung his dark blade close to her ears. Sonja dodged the blow and the orc fell forward, accidentally hitting another of his kind. Sonja turned quickly, raising her elbow and hitting the orc behind her right in the middle of his face, shattering his nose. She grabbed a dagger from his belt and threw it at an incoming attacker, then turned around with the sword in her left hand and she let a savage cry escape her lips while she cut the one next to her in half.

More orcs rushed from the cover of the woods, waving their weapons as they approached her. Sonja took a step back. She was struggling to regain her composure, gripping tightly on the hilt of her sword. The blade whipped through the sunset air, as she struck down the first to approach her.

Orc blood sprayed her face and many others fell dead on the ground in a flash. Thranduil was standing tall behind them, black and red staining his blue tunic. The red blood was his, a dagger deep in his right shoulder. The pain was nothing. He had known so much more.

-'Move!' he cried at her to dive out of the way.

She did and he blocked the thrown axe coming her way with his twin blades.

Thranduil was impressed by her skills with the sword and the courage in her heart. He had always considered her in need of protection, fragile.

-'You followed me? ' Sonja asked, feeling surprised by his presence there, so far from his palace.

-'I heard the voice of the forest. It called to me. What were you thinking? ' he asked in a harsh tone, demanding she explained herself - why was she not in his palace like he had commanded?

Before she could answer a new wave of dark creatures overran them.

The King's two swords glistened in the sun and he spun through the enemy ranks, laying black bodies down at his feet as he took down orc after orc. The smell of their foul blood disgusted him, but he enjoyed ending their miserable lives. He enjoyed killing. His eyes were cold as steel, his gaze savage under his brows.

They were greatly outnumbered by the orcs, having to fight multiple opponents at the same time. Sonja was soon engaged by two ferocious beasts with wide mouths and slant eyes, their skin black as the night. One tried to surprise her by flanking her right side, but she lay low and spun unexpectedly, severing his leg artery with her blade. A wave of black blood rushed out and the orc screamed. He screamed so loud that the entire forest echoed around them. Then he crashed at her feet and died in seconds. Her other attacker was much larger than the rest of the orcs and she could barely block his heavy blows. Thranduil threw his left sword deep into his chest, sealing his fate. The other sword slipped from his fingers as he felt the strength leaving his right arm entirely. His mind called out to Legolas and the hope that his guards would reach them in time.

Sonja saw the elf defenseless, barely keeping to his feet. The dagger in his shoulder was poisoned. She knew she had to get to him, but a heavy blow in the back of her head numbed all her senses. Warm blood was dripping on her shoulders and soon everything started to turn dark as she fell to her knees, then all the way down to the forest floor.

* Earlier that day*

The King started to regret how he had handled the conversation with her. He should not have snapped the way he had. He sank in his cushioned chair and poured himself some wine to appease his nerves. But anger was not the real emotion that flooded his heart.

Merfinnil was concerned. Sonja was planning to leave the Greenwood. She felt hurt and foolish at the same time. Merfinnil had hoped to make her change her mind about this, but to no avail. Her human friend proved to be more hot-headed than any elf.

Words of Sonja's plans reached Thranduil and when she refused to see him, the elf threatened to break down the door to her room. He overreacted. Again. But her stubborn refusal to let him in wounded his ego. The one person he needed most in the world was the one he was driving away with his foul temper. He leaned his forehead against the door, taking a few slow breaths and resting for a while on the warm wood, ready to surrender the fight. Yet nothing more came out of his lips when he tried to apologize.

-'I told her she was not to leave these walls', he confessed to Legolas.

-'Did you think that maybe she does not like to be ordered around? '

-'Be that as it may, I am still King. '

-'Truly, father, I do not think there was ever any doubt in this matter. What happened between you two? '

Thranduil exhaled deeply.

-'I made a mistake, Legolas. And now I fear I would find myself unable to draw breath if she were to go. '

He turned and looked absently out the window as he reflected on his own words.

-'You love her! ' Legolas spoke and watched his father's eyes widen at the thought.

-'I... No... I cannot', Thranduil replied, tensing his jaw, unable to admit the obvious.

-'Does she know? '

-'What? ' he asked, throwing his son a cold and indifferent stare.

-'That you love her. '

-'Where is she? ' the King asked abruptly, realizing he couldn't feel her presence in the palace anymore.

* Present timeline *

The poison and the blood loss from his wound brought him to his knees, his mind nearly going insane at the sight of her in the creature's arms. Her face kept coming in and out of focus before his eyes. The orc grinned savagely and took Sonja over his shoulder, disappearing with her into the forest. She was dead or unconscious, the King could not tell.

He urged himself to get up and follow, continuing to ignore the flare of pain in his injured side. He pulled his sword out of the orc's body and kept walking, slowly dragging the blade behind him, with his good arm, and scraping the ground with its silver tip. At that point, everything faded away, the sounds, the smells, even the ground under his feet. He collapsed in a blurry haze of pain and lost consciousness.

At times, he briefly regained some of his senses. He had not been slain by the orcs. How much time had passed with him lying there, with his face buried in the dirt, he could not say. A voice called out to him as a spinning darkness started to claim his mind once more, terrifying numbness filling his body. He recognized the voice. It was Legolas.