CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Woodland Realm
Farren didn't know what to do with herself. She had been left alone in the largest room she had ever been in, standing before a magnificent throne made of winding oak with her hands tied ruthlessly behind her back. Her cloak lay discarded behind her along with her sword, her leather coin purse and her beloved necklace. She felt bare without it. It had been a gift from her mother on her twelfth birthday, a simple black choker with a pure with opal embedded in the middle yet Farren treated it like it was her most prized possession. She had cringed at the way the guard had mockingly taken it off her, inspected it smugly and tossed it like dirt to the floor.
"Lady Farren Mirkwood," came a soothing, sensual voice from behind her and Farren twisted her head, spotting no one. The voice echoed all around her, up into the caverns of the room that seemed to extend upwards forever, with winding bridges of oak stretching far above her,
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you," the voice came again and a figure stepped out from within the shadows of the throne, coming to a smooth halt before Farren. He seemed much like the elf that had seized the Company, only adorned with a crown made of redwood and encrusted with fiery gems, his posture was stiff and his blue eyes hard. He kept his gaze set on Farren as he walked in an agonisingly slow circle around her, taking every inch of her in,
"The last dragon tamer," his voice dripped with syrup, his lips stretched into a thin line, "Set out on a quest to tame the great Smaug,"
Farren was silent, her throat dry and her limbs tense, as if she was expecting him to suddenly lash out. However, he merely reached out to stroke her cheek, closing his eyes at the coolness and sighing deeply, as if he did not believe she was real and standing in front of him.
"Tell me Farren," she did not like the way he said her name and averted her eyes, "Why are you accompanying a dwarf?"
"Because I chose to," she sneered, her lips curling,
"Quite right," the elf muttered, settling comfortably in his throne, "Why don't you seek out the dragon yourself?" he asked and Farren wondered why he was asked her so many questions, and why she was answering them so.
"Why do you wish to know an answer you already have?" she replied hastily and his eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"
Farren had obviously offended this noble elf for he stood quickly, his chest heaving and his eyes burning with anger,
"How can you not recognise me? Have you never heard my name?" he seethed, striding very close to Farren's face and his hot breath hit her eyes, forcing them closed, "Have you not heard from your dwarf friends how, at a time of desperation, how I abandoned them? How I looked on as if I wanted the pale Orc to murder Thrain?"
"I apologise," Farren muttered, remembering that horrible night when Thorin had been forced to recount the battle that many died in, just to quench her curiosity, "King Thranduil,"
He stepped back with a smile; one that Farren did not like for it did not reach his eyes,
"I sense you have magic," Thranduil asked, still smiling eerily, "Deep within you and it is growing stronger, why is that do you think?"
"Why do you ask such questions?" Farren was getting desperately impatient and her eyes begged for him to release her, "Questions I do not know the answers to. Elves are renowned for their wisdom yet you interrogate me like a prisoner,"
"You are my prisoner," he snapped though his voice smooth and trim, "However I am not interrogating you, I am curious as to what why you agreed to help on the quest,"
"I do not understand," she begged, her eyebrows furrowing, "I was asked, I obliged and I accompanied,"
Thranduil pressed two fingers to his thin smile, closing his eyes for a moment,
"What has the dwarf ever done for you - what will he ever do for you; in return for your life?" his voice seemed to touch everywhere inside of Farren, even the furthest parts of her soul and mind and she realised what his question was, why was she even here?
"Why does he deserve your protection, your defense, and your skills? You are not bound to him, you have no contract - nothing is stopping you from leaving," the king continued, his voice deep and echoing, "So why do you stay?"
"I chose to stay so I can bear witness to a king returning to his kingdom," Farren uttered, bowing her head yet her confidence growing, "So that I can be a part of a Hobbit's tale; so I can slay a dragon that has taken so many lives,"
"Because you are the one who can kill such a beast?" Thranduil chuckled, stepping back in front of Farren and she clenched her teeth, her eyes turning dangerously to his, bright gold burning into clear blue,
"Because I'm the only one who will,"
Farren hadn't been the only one interrogated by the elven king. Not long after she had been kindly shown to her rather cramped cell that smelt quite like rotting pine wood, several guards hoisted Thorin away, ignoring his kicking and shouting. The others had asked what had happened for she had been gone a worryingly long time,
"He was merely curious as to why I was accompanying you," she replied angrily, thumping her fist against the wall, "he wanted to know why I didn't kill you now and take Erebor for myself,"
"I hadn't thought of that," Fili mused, pressing his face up against the cool bars of his cell door, "Why don't you take Erebor and the Arkenstone? You would have a kingdom, an army and treasure beyond your wildest dreams,"
"I do not desire treasure and I am my own army," Farren uttered, speaking as if she were a leader, "And my kingdom is waiting for me, further than the Northern Waste, within the Desolate Mountains that one has yet to venture to,"
"There are more of you?" Oin asked excitedly, marvelling at the thought of hundreds of dragons and their tamers waiting to strike at Farren's word,
"No," was her sad reply, "I am truly the last however, my people used to dwell in those mountains and although I have never set eyes upon them, within the mountains lay mine and my dragons armour,"
"I've heard tales of a dragons armour," Nori said, also raising to stand against his cell door, "I've heard that it is impenetrable, made of the toughest metal forged by the tamers themselves,"
"It is called Aereet Ferro," Farren closed her eyes, reminiscing how cool the metal felt against her cheek when she polished her father's shield sometimes as a child, "Sky iron take from the core of the mountains,"
Her memories were suddenly plagued by the heat of the flames, the burning of the soot that ruined her family and left a scorch within her soul. She flinched violently as the cell door next to her was flung open, Thorin being shunted to the back wall by three elven guards,
"Did he offer you a deal?" Balin asked hurriedly, waiting for the guards to sneer away and Thorin sighed deeply,
"He did and I told him he could - ," Farren couldn't understand what Thorin had said for did not speak Khuzdûl however she assumed it had been the wrong thing for him to say, for she heard Balin puff out in exasperation,
"Well, that's that then," the elder dwarf muttered, "A deal was our only hope,"
"Not our only hope," came a muttered reply and Farren's eye lit up, while also slapping her thigh in anger.
Bilbo was still out there.