As Thranduil's large elven search party followed the tracks left by the wargs it became all too clear where they were heading. His heart dropped as the image of his son imprisoned in Dor Guldur entered his mind.

What made everything worse was what the orc had said. The one had returned. Sauron. It made him wonder if the beginnings of this evil had started in the abandoned fortress. Tauriel had tried to convince him to attack Dor Guldur early on. Clear the spiders at their source. Had he listened would things have been different? Would he have been able to stop this?

Now riding through the woodland path, the elf king picked up speed, pushing his horse to move as fast as possible. At that pace it only took an hour more to reach the old fortress and as the elves dismounted it first appeared that it was empty.

But after a moment that proved very wrong. There was a sudden yell as orcs flooded out of the stone walls, effectively bringing down the spell that had been weakly holding.

With an icy expression Thranduil unsheathed his sword, Orcrist, the blade that he had reclaimed from that damned dwarf. Moving as fluidly as water, he met the first foe who rushed him, taking no time to cut the orc down and move onto the next.

There were many enemies, but there were also many elves. The shouts and clamor of battle spilled into the fortress itself as Thandruil kept his goal in mind. Find his son.

Just as he easily dodged a sloppy attack and beheaded the aggressor, a massive orc rounded the corner in front of him. Retaking his stance, the elf king glared at the creature. "You have a prisoner here. Give him to me and I will call off this attack." He was here for Legolas, no other reason. But he very mush doubted the orc would take the offer and had no qualms about slaughtering the entire contents of this fortress to find his son. It mattered not to him.

The orc grunted at him, baring a set of disgusting teeth in some sick form of grin. "He's dead." Bolg recognized this elf if only because of his fame. "I tortured and killed him." This was a lie of course. But he was in this to cause as many elves as much pain as possible.

Thranduil's icy calm expression broke, turning to one of fiery fury. With unnatural speed, the elf king attacked, surprising Bolg into a defensive stance. The orc blocked each rapid fire attack with great difficulty before finally finding a second to send one of his own blows forward. When the brute force of the massive blade connected with Orcrist it sent Thranduil stumbling back.

This was all the orc commander needed to change the tides of the battle, now putting the elf on defense. Bolgs attacks may have brute strength behind them but they were slow and sloppy, easy to dodge and spin away from which Thanduil did. Moving with the ease of the wind, he dodged a hard swing of the orcs blade before stepping forward and dragging his sword across the orcs side.

Bolg gave an angry howl and swung backwards without even turning. The blow actually managed to catch Thranduil off guard, connecting with his armored shoulder and sending him spinning backwards. As both parties regained their composure, Thranduil managed to recover much quicker. Shaking off the blow he flew forward again to attack. Bolg turned, blocking the attack.

"It's a pity your friend couldn't fight as well as you." Bolg jeered at the elf king. "Maybe I wouldn't have beaten him so badly."

This only set Thranduil's blood ablaze. But rather than making his attacks sloppy and uncoordinated in anger like Bolg had intended, they only came faster with more fury. The orc was only able to block so many before Orcrist was embedded in his chest.

Baring his teeth, Thanduil was about to pull his blade away when the orc grabbed him by the shoulder, sending a blow into the shocked elf's face before letting go. As the elf king stumbled back dazed, Bolg pulled Orcrist from his chest with a grunt. Although he was now moving considerably slower and was bleeding out, Bolg now had the elf's weapon. Stepping forward he closed in on his opponent.

Thanduil shook off the daze in time to see the orc stepping forward. Narrowing his eyes in anger he moved moved as well. Spinning away from the swing of both swords, he grabbed hold of the orcs iron armor, swinging himself onto its back. It only took him about two seconds to have a set of twin knives unsheathed and see the orcs head separated from its body.

When Bolgs lumbering form fell dead to the ground Thanduil spared not a moment before retrieving Orcist and continuing his search. He refused to believe that that orc was telling the truth. His son couldn't be dead. It was a lie. It had to be a lie.

Most orcs were now felled by the elves, leaving a clear path for Thranduil to enter the fortress. Jogging through the endless halls and turns, the elf king desperately searched for some sign of Legolas. The fortress was a maze; all of the halls looked the same, the stone paths easily able to confuse someone who was not familiar with them.

Now frustrated in both fear for his son and anger at the orcs who had been holed up here, Thranduil found himself bolting down a narrow staircase. He stopped dead at the bottom of the steps, surveying the room with an increasingly horrified expression.

Moving forward he swallowed the panic that rose within him. This chamber was one of nightmares. After a moment he then noticed something that made his blood run cold and breath hitch. Brows drawing together in fear he slowly stepped forward, both not wanting to look and needing to confirm if it was true.

Near a set of shackles by the far wall was a pool of blood, and scattered on the ground near it were blood soaked shreds of what appeared to be an elven tunic.

He couldn't breathe…He couldn't think….this….this could not be. Falling to his knees in devastation, the elf king reached forward and retrieved one of the bloodstained pieces of cloth. Turning it over in his hands he stared down at it before letting out a terrible scream of anguish.

Blond hair dishevelled and falling forwards into his face, Thanduil did not move for a long while, only knelt there, shoulders drooping, staring down at the pool of blood. It took a while but finally he stood, his mind numb with shock and sorrow as he slowly looked around for a body. He was dazed, the anguish leaving him dizzy and reeling, barely able to function.

Where was….where was his sons body….Where had they taken it….It had to be somewhere….

Eventually a small group of elven guards finally found their king. Considering the room and the expression on Thanduils face it didn't take long for them to come to the same conclusion the royal elf had. Their prince was dead.

A couple of them slowly and gently ushered the shocked king out before setting to look for the body of their fallen prince. Still clutching the bloodied fabric in his hands, Thranduil barely recognized what was happening but followed his soldiers gentle nudging regardless. His son was gone….nothing mattered.

When they finally exited the fortress which was now emptied of orcs, Tranduils manner and expression told the elven party all they needed to know. They stood in silence, heads bowed in sorrow at the loss of their prince.

…..
After escaping the woodland realm, Tauriel ran as fast as she could. It took her much longer than she had hoped to 'borrow' a horse and head off in search of Legolas and her king.

Riding through the night her thoughts raced as fast as her hose did. Regret and shame at what had happened filled her; fear for her friend….If anyone would be able to rescue Legolas it would be Thranduil. But what if he was too late? What if her detour to tell him the news had used the few precious hours Legolas had had left?

Swallowing her fear and attempting to banish the dark thoughts from her mind, Tauriel rode on.

By the time she finally followed the tracks of Thranduils search party to Dor Guldur, dawn was already on the horizon, the sky just showing the very first light of day. Dismounting, she sent her horse back to its master before taking the last couple minutes of the journey on foot.

From up ahead she could hear the snorts of horses and the sound of people moving… but it was too quiet. Movement caught her eyes on the path ahead and she quickly decided to dart into the forest and hide. Peaking from around a tree she watched, expression growing slowly afraid when she realized it was the elven party leaving. Eyes wide, she studied their solemn faces, filled with sadness. Understanding crept into her that grew slowly until it solidified with the sight of the king. Astride his horse, it seemed that any want he had for life was gone. Head down, his sorrow filled eyes never left whatever he was grasping in his hands. Tauriel couldn't see what it was from the distance but she could guess.

Letting out a shaking breath, she collapsed to the ground, allowing the tears to finally fall from her eyes. She had failed him…Her prince, her friend…. He was dead because she had failed to come to his aide.

Briefly she wondered where Fili was, another friend she had left without backup. He wasn't with the elves so he must either be either hiding in Dor Guldur or…dead somewhere… She was sure Kili would never forgive her if she had gotten him killed too. Swallowing her tears she waited for Thranduils party to leave before slowly stepping out of the woods.

Turning towards the old fortress she wasn't surprised to find the remains of a battle when she arrived. Orcs littered the ground everywhere, easier to see in the brighter light of the quickly rising sun. Looking them over to make sure none of the bodies belonged to a dwarf, Tauriel eventually wandered into the fortress itself.

It was eerie and still had an evil aura, even abandoned like it now was. She knew that despite the slaughter that had happened today there would be orcs here again soon enough. They never seemed fond of giving up their strongholds. But for now, she used the opportunity to look around in search of the dwarf.

After a thorough search of the stronghold she finally stumbled across the same thing Thranduil had. Breath hitching in her throat when she saw the contents of the room, she fearfully entered. Moving slowly she took in everything before her vision focused on the shackles on the far wall.

Covering her mouth with her hand, tears slipped from her eyes. She imagined Legolas chained there, tortured….how afraid he must have been….the pain he had went through. She could barely breathe when she saw the ripped and bloody pieces of elvish cloth on the blood soaked ground.

Bowing her head she stood in silence in memory of her friend before turning and quickly leaving, unable to bear the sight of where he had perished any longer.

Exiting the fortress she stood out in the morning sun attempting to calm her thoughts. There was no sign of Fili amongst the bodies in the fortress, nor was there any sign of any living creature. Perhaps he had watched the elves come to the rescue and then decided to leave? She had told him to wait for back up before he made a move….Perhaps he had realized that Thranduil needed no assistance and just went back to find his brother.

Praying that that was the case Tauriel spent another moment glancing around the tree line before walking away down the path in defeat.

...
AUTHORS NOTES

Not one but two chapters in time for Christmas? :3 It's because now that I know where I'm going with it the flow is coming a little easier. I don't have to spend so much time pissing around while I try and think of what next.

Next chapter should be up tomorrow, if not the next day.

I send my love to all of you who are following and reviewing and just generally enjoying this. Happy holidays!

(Also, sorry for spelling or grammatical errors. I read these buggers through about 4 times before I post them and so many things slip past my guard. Probably because I write and edit while half asleep...)