The King's Heart (Thranduil Fanfiction)

Chapter 15

(Thranduil)

I could not believe that the lost princess I had been engaged to was standing in front of my in the middle of Greenwood as we were about to face a few hundred orcs. I was relieved that she was safe, everyone I had written letters to presumed she was dead. That day in Lothlórien was one of the worst days of my life. It had broken my heart to think that a girl I could have saved had died because of me. To know that she was alive and well, I could not keep tears out of my face.

"I thought I knew those eyes," I whisper. Her head jerked up again, she had not known that I recognized her. I could not place them at first, but when she touched my face, I knew she was not who she claimed to be. I had only felt hands as soft and strong as hers once before.

When she told me she had to get water, I knew she was lying, but I didn't know who she was, and I knew that I couldn't keep her in one place if she did not want to be there. I had had to let her go. Now that she was with me again...

"Rhovanel, I have something for you." She looked at me curiously. I had kept her knives and had them cleaned and sharpened. They were magnificent, with gold hilts and red leather grips. The tempered steel was riddled with runes that spoke of agility and grace. I had noticed many of the same runes on the bow in my chamber. I pulled the blades from my sheath, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"I thought they had fallen when I tripped on the web," she cried. I placed the twin blades into her open hands and stepped back. I then turned back to the forest and started walking toward the camp. I heard her footsteps behind me, Rhovanel had finally gathered herself and was following me.

We were silent the rest of the walk. I would look at her periodically and I would catch her looking at me out of the corner of my eye. It was odd. Whenever we happened to glance at each other, she would turn away quickly, cheeks bright red.

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We reached our rendezvous point at sundown. We climbed a large tree, one that still had the majority of its leaves, and crawled onto thick branches to sleep for an hour.

After our brief nap, we readied ourselves for the first raid. Rhovanel's shyness was gone, replaced by grim determination. As she prepared herself, I could not help but watch. She was so elegant with her weapons, spinning them into place, wiping them with a cleaning cloth. Her golden hair tumbled down her shoulders, hiding her face from me. She was especially beautiful in the moonlight.

She looked up at me with her deep blue eyes, but I didn't see the impatience in them until she cleared her throat. I went back to arming myself. I had five knives in my belt and my short swords were sheathed in my boots. My bow was slung across my back with a full quiver. Rhovanel was armed similarly. She had her knives in hand and was without a bow.

Our plan was to shoot the watchmen quickly, then enter the largest dark tent first. If we saw a hint of a fire or other light source, we would leave. It would be better to kill a few and escape with our heads than kill many and be slain ourselves.

We approached the camp from the east and began to prepare for our raid. We were both silent, and as I pulled an arrow from the quiver, I saw a hulking orc along the boundary. He was three times bigger than any orc I'd ever seen, maybe topping three meters tall and two wide. Its teeth were all crooked, I could see that even from this distance with my own eyes. It wore a nasty piece of cloth around its waist, nothing more. I wanted to throw up just from the sight of the monster. I turned to face Rhovanel, she had already dropped her gaze and covered her mouth in disgust.

I peeked up again just in time for the beast to turn away from our position. I pulled two more arrows and loaded all three at once. Each hit its mark; one in the head, two in the back of the neck. As it fell, we ran out to slow its crash. Rhovanel threw herself under the beast's shoulders and I joined her shortly after. Disgusted, we lowered it to the ground and I removed the arrows. We then crept further into the camp, and found a large tent with no light.

Silently, we pushed the thin cloth away and found ourselves in the midst of twenty sleeping orcs. They were snoring like a wasp nest, loud and methodically. It was good that orcs were heavy sleepers, or the snoring would have woken them.

Rhovanel crept to the back of the tent and took the left side of orcs. I took the right from the front. Unsheathing my short swords, I positioned myself in between the first two orcs. I cut the first's throat before it could even open its eyes. I did the same for the next four orcs. None even knew there was an intruder before they were dead.

We continued like this for twenty minutes, creeping along in silence, slitting orc throats and shooting the watchmen. When we came to a large central fire pit, we stopped. It was time to retreat. Thirty orcs in one night was quite an accomplishment, and we did not want to squander it with the severance of our own heads.