~Chapter 12~
When we reached the Mirkwood home of the elves we were separated, Thorin and I were push along by royal guards while the others were taken to be locked up. Guided through winding wooden hallways we arrived in the throne room. You were held back as they lead Thorin up the steps to talk with Thrandril, the Mirkwood king of the elves. You sighed a little trying to calm your nerves and stop shaking. It had been 40 some years sense you've been in these halls. You had been wounded in a fight and way trying to get to the Lake Town for some help. But while traveling/fly hopping through Mirkwood forest one of the elven patrols had captured you. And once patched up Thrandril decided to keep you as his 'Little Song Bird'. Not knowing that you were an intelligent being, he kept you in a cage like an animal. You were able to escape a few decades later, and had avoided even flying near the forest sense then. But here you were now about to be forced in front of him once more. You can hear Thorin yelling back at Thrandril "Imrid amrâd ursul!" (May you die in dragon fire!). That made you chuckle a little bit, and in turn received a small thud on the back of your head from the guards. You puffed as much as you could and hissed back at him, making him flinch a little. Drawing their swords, they nudged you up the steps. You passed Thorin who was held back by guards at the top of the stairs. You tried to give him a reassuring look with your dirt covered face. "Thrandril what do you want with him? Leave him be!" Thorin shouted after you.
"Seams you went off and made some friends little birdy." Thrandril began as he cupped your chin in his hand. Growling loudly, you shook his hand off and tried to bite it. That earned you a full hand slap across the face from the king before you. You fell to one knee from the force, but quickly stood back up still growling lightly. "Looks like you still don't know how to respect your king." He says bitterly. You face stung more as you smiled wide and started to laugh out loud. A fully belly laugh that made your eyes water.
"You still don't get it do you Thrandril!" you chuckled. "You are not my king! Lle naa haran e' nausalle! (You are a king in your imagination) And I will never kneel to you. I am not your pet and I am glad I broke free of your chains." Thrandril looked taken back at my words. Frustrated he turns swiftly and retreats to his thrown.
"So you do talk little bird. You will soon learn to respect a king." He retorts bitterly from his safe thrown. Guards grab either side of me as I shout at him more.
"My name is and has always been Icarus! Don't patronize me. The only king I respect is Thorin son of Thrain, The rightful King Under the Mountain!" Your feathers are ruffled up and so is your hair. The ropes around you grow tighter whenever your wings try to unfold. The guards drag you away and force you to follow Thorin down the halls. They take Thorin to the dungeon with the others but force you down a different hallway towards Thrandril private chambers. You know what's going to happen and you start struggling more against the ropes. Your efforts are in vain there is nothing you can do to stop what was going to happen behind those closed doors.
You were dragged down into the dungeons later that evening and forced into a cell. You weakly struggled but no longer shouting and screaming. Your bindings were removed before you were shoved into the cell and door locked behind you. You stumbled in and fell with a thud onto the cold stone ground. You lay there for a while listing to the shouts of the dwarves trapped around you. Sitting up and looking out your cell you saw Thorin's cell was directly across from yours. "What did he do to you laddie?" you head Balin shout to you. You don't answer him, ashamed about what happened. You find the bucket in your cell and force yourself to throw up into it as much as you can. Trying to empty your stomach of the forced wine and other things he forced you to swallow. "Ka menu caragu rukhs (he smells like orc shit)" you growled loudly. You tried to stand in your cell but as soon as you were on your feet your knees became week and you collapsed. Pulling yourself forward you leaned against the cell door. "Thorin, everyone, are you alright?" you asked. You heard shouts of yes and you sighed in relief. You caught Thorin's stare and held it for a long time. "Yes, I am unharmed. But I can see you are not well yourself, what did he do Icarus?" Thorin implores angrily. You unfold your wings and wrap them around yourself protectively as you lean against the cell door. "Forced me to drink tainted wine and other things that should not be talked about openly..." You finial say back.
You sit there silent in your cell. Every so often trying to walk or stand, it was getting better but you were still very wobbly. Whenever a guard passed your cell you flee to the back corner and growled deeply till they passed. Hours passed and night had fallen, the only light in the dark twisting turns of the dungeon were from the few torches about the walls. You tried not to fall asleep as best you could as you lean against the call door. But eventually your eyes flutter shut sending your world into darkness. The assault from Thrandril played over and over in your mind.
You were awaken by a gentle touch on your head, knowing it can't be anyone you trust you puff your feathers and wings up fully filling your cell with white feathers. You jump away from the door and growl angrily at the elf who pet you. With your wings pressed painfully against the walls you hiss at Thrandril who stands outside your prison. "Bleil mir fern! Bleil mir fern!" (stay away from me! stay away from me!) you pleaded in German as you tried to press yourself as far back in the cell as you could. Thrandril reached through the bars and placed a pear on the ground then stood and quickly left.
Once you knew he was gone you relaxed a little and folding your wings back against your back. Walking to the door and looking out you could see Thorin still in his cell watching you intently. You grab the bars on the door and give them a strong tug. You ram your body into it a few times trying to open it. "Already tried that. They are sealed by magic." You head Dwalin call out hearing you try to escape.
"Must be nearly dawn I recon." States Bofur sourly.
"We're never going to make it to the mountain are we" Ori says sorrowfully.
"Not stuck in here you're not" exclaims Bilbo appearing out of no were with the cell keys in his hand. Bilbo quickly opens the cell doors containing the dwarves coming to mine last. He tries the key but it doesn't turn. He tries several other keys and none of them work. "Bilbo what's the hold up?" Thorin says coming over.
"The keys, none of the keys work!" Bilbo says frantically as he tries them once more in my cell door lock.
You get up and come over to the door. "Bilbo my cell key isn't on there, Thrandril most likely has it. Go now, while you can. I'll catch up with you before you reach the mountain."
"You must out of your mind Icarus, we aren't leaving here without you!" Insists Thorin as he tries to open the cell. Reaching through the bar you grip his shoulder tightly
"No. You will leave me here and get out of here before you are locked up again. I will see you soon. Now follow Bilbo out." You prompted sternly. Thorin looks at you like he is about to bark back but doesn't. Instead he turns to Bilbo "You heard him. Lead us out Mr. Baggins." He says. Bilbo quickly leads them away and down the stairs to the cellar.
You sit at the door and sigh "Well let's see if my magic does anything to this door I guess." You grip the door bars tightly and press your head to the door as well. You breathe deeply and focus on the door's magic. You heard elven guards yelling in Elvish when they notice the dwarf's cells are empty. Your magic does nothing to edge away at the door. So you try reversing your tactics. Instead of forcing your magic on the door, you try to absorb the door's magic. And it works slowly. After what felt like hours the magic was almost weak enough to force open the door. You hear rushed footsteps coming down the hallway towards your cell. You knew Thrandril would come check on you himself. Quickly you absorbed the rest of the magic and forced the door open with a soft clank. You stood outside your cell stretching your wings fully, all 10 foot wing spaded out down the walk way. Folding your wings lightly you looked down to the corner and saw Thrandril just turn the corner and see you before you dart off in the opposite direction.
Darting past corners and unaware guards as Thrandril runs after you shouting at guards to stop you. You reach the open thrown room and are trapped on the wooden walkway between the thrown and the doors to the hall, a wall of elves on each side. "Icarus stop this. You cannot escape unharmed." Announced Thrandril from his thrown. You crouch down and tense up your wings ready to fly at any moment. "See that's the thing, elf. You have already harmed me as much as you can. And at this point, I know you will not kill me." You reply. You stand on the edge and allow yourself to tip over the edge and fall. Last minute you expand your wings and the force sends you upward. You circle the hall once before crashing into the wall of guards near the door. You feel many of their swords and spears cut your chest and arms and you push through them and take off through the open door. An arrow glanced your cheek causing you to jerk to the right as you fly and another arrow cuts your side deep. You clutch your bleeding side and try to land safely. You can't stop, the guards that were chasing the dwarves are still outside between you and the lake. As you run through the forest you can feel yourself getting light headed from blood lose.
Climbing a tree, you are able to hide for a little while. With the extra magic you absorbed from the cell door you are able to mostly heal your side and cheek. Once the bleeding stops you leap down to the forest floor and make your way towards the river.
After getting turned around a few times you find it and follow it to the lake. You come to the river's mouth and the dwarves are no were to be seen. The sky had gotten dark and night was approaching fast "Maybe they made it into town already." You say hopefully as you walk along the lake's shore towards the town.
In the distance your nocturnal eyes see commotion going on in the lake town. Quickly you take off and fly to the town. As you fly near the towns' center you can see the dwarves had been gathered up by the guards and brought before the town's master. "Enemies of the state, eh?" said the round fat man as he stood in his night robes. The rat like man next to him snickered and added "A desperate bunch of mercenaries if ever there were, sir." You flew over the clearing low and landed in the middle of it between the town master and the company. Gasps came from the crowd of humans watching you as you landed. You left your wings visible and standing up tall you addressed the fat man and creepy rat in front of you "Watch your tough for you do not know to whom you speak! This is no common criminal!" side stepping you gestured to Thorin. "This is Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror." He steps forward proudly. Most gasps and whispers from the crowd of on lookers. "We are the dwarves of Erabor. And we have come to reclaim our home land." He turns to the crowd of people and reminisces of the days before dragon fire, when the city was the trading capital of the north. As he talks of the great wealth this city once had the town's people cheer and shout joyously.
"Death! That is what you will bring upon this town death and dragon fire." Shouts a man as he pushed his way through the crowd. "If you awaken that beast it will destroy us all."
"You can listen to this naysayer but I promise you this: If we succeed all will share in the wealth of the mountain. You will have enough gold to rebuild this town ten times over!" Thorin's proclamation is greeted with positive shouts from the crowd once more.
"All of you listen! You must listen! Have you forgotten what happened to Dale? Have you forgotten those who died in the fire storm? And for what purpose, the blind ambition of a mountain king so riven by greed he could not see beyond his own desire!" The man argues once more. You side step back behind Thorin as the man approaches. "You have no right to enter that mountain." Warned the man.
Thorin's brow darkens and his voice is deep and kingly as he speaks "I have the only right." You step to the side as Thorin turns to the master of the town. "I speak to the Master of the Lake people. Will you see the prophecy fulfilled? Will you share in the great wealth of our people? What say you?" declared Thorin.
Raising a chubby finger, the man declares "I say unto you. Welcome, welcome king under the mountain and company!"
"Aren't you forgetting something sir? That feathered one there," the rat man points at you "he is obviously no dwarf." Whispers and murmurs filter through the crowd at his words.
Thorin puts a hand on your arm reassuringly as he addresses the lake men once more. "This man is the last Great Skin-Changer of the north! Icarus has been a part of this company from the beginning just as much as any of the others here."