The Ranger And The Prince.

Prologue.

The wind was bitterly cold as it swept through the forest at the mountain side. The company of dwarves that rode through the woods drew their cloaks around themselves as the wind continued to pass over them. Their ponies whined and champed their hind legs in annoyance.

"I would do anything to be back in the mine right now..." One of them mumbled as he passed another that looked just as miserable as the next.

The company of dwarves were traveling with a caravan full of jewels and gold that they were transporting to Erebor. They were charged with protecting the caravan on its journey because more and more reports of orc hoards came in everyday.

As the wind grew louder and colder, there could be heard another noise, this was definitely not the wind.

"What is that?" The dwarf in front of the company questioned as he turned in the saddle of his pony and looked round for the source of the noise.

"I'm not quite sure..." One replied as the rest of the company stopped to listen.

The entire company turned in the direction of the noise which they soon found out to be screaming. They all took out their axes and swords and approached cautiously.

The leader of the company pulled back a tree branch and looked down into a clearing in the forest. There, in the clearing was a broken cart with dead bodies surrounding it. The contents of the cart were ripped or taken entirely. The dwarves concluded that it had been an orc attack.

There came the scream again, this time it was definitely coming from the cart. The leader told the rest of his company to stay put and to guard the caravan while he and three others took a closer look at the cart.

As they approached the cart they saw a bundle moving in the cart and they realised that the screams must have been coming from there.

They drew the blankets of the bundle and stared down at a small baby elf.

"What do we do with it?" One of the dwarves asked, scratching his head in thought.

"It's an elf," one grunted angrily, "Who cares?"

"We're not monsters, we can't just leave it here."

"Well what do you suggest we do with it?," another asked, "It's parents are dead."

It was no secret that dwarves and elves hated each other but the entire company agreed that it would be terrible to even dream of leaving the baby elf. It was nearing winter and the bitter cold wind alone would kill the child so the dwarven company agreed to take the child with them on their journey and try to give it to the nearest elven city, that being Lothlórien.

***

All the dwarves were on edge as they entered the forest of Lothlórien. They had not intended to stray from their path but they had to in order to give the elven child back to its kin.

Eight days had passed since they had found the child and already the leader of the company had grown to be quite fond of the little thing. Though dwarves and elves were not the best of companions, he could not hold any anger towards this small elf child.

She was a bundle of joy. Whenever they made camp, the dwarves would sing songs which she would giggle at and clap her hands along to. Dimble, the leader of the company had taken out a shiny sapphire from the caravan and would show it to her, she seemed to like the way it glimmered in the firelight.

"What is a company of dwarves doing in these woods?" An elf named Haldir asked, coming out from the trees with his guards to meet the group of dwarves with their bows drawn.