Oriana: The Last High Elf Of Lothlorien

Chapter Seven: A Spark of Hope

***3rd POV***

Years passed...

The dwarves had made a living in the Blue Mountains. With Thorin leading them after the death of Thror and the disappearance of Thrain.

Tales of the Mountain grew when travellers heard pray tell of a White Lady living in the Mountain with the dragon. A prisoner who cannot leave, cannot kill the dragon...others say she is the ghost of Thorin's lost princess. The people of Lake Town tell stories of her noble sacrifice for the dwarves, all know her name...but many think she is only a legend.

***

Sixty years have passed, the quest of Thorin Oakenshield has begun. Months over, they travelled through hardship and near death...all with the help of a very courageous Hobbit of Bag-End...

They travelled along the Path of Mirkwood now, Gandalf was forced to leave them. The sickness of the forest was soon to lead them astray. Thorin wandered, hearing a voice in his mind...one that brought fire back into his spirit.

Thorin...

The voice was soft, he knew it well.

I have missed you, mellon nin...save me. Save me, please!?

The voice became more desperate. "I will...I swear." Thorin mumbled.

Why did you leave me all alone!? Did Thranduil not aid you?!

The voice was crying. "No...he did not, but I don't need his help! I will save you, my Lady..." He began to stumble.

You cannot save what is ALREADY DEAD!!!

The voice screamed in his head, causing him pain, he fell to his knee, his hands to the sides of his skull. "It cannot be! It isn't true! We're so close! Please, my love! You're not gone!" He shouted in grief.

Dwalin and Balin heard his cries. "Thorin it isn't her!" Dwalin shouted.

"The forest is trying to trick you." Balin explained. "We have to keep moving! So that we might save her." Balin pleaded as he helped Thorin up.

"Who is her?" Bilbo asked curiously.

"Her...Lad, she was-...is the Princess within the Mountain. The day that Dale burned...and we lost our home. An elf maiden, Princess Oriana, faced her old foe and gave herself to give our people time to escape the flames. She had only been visiting Erebor a few days, but-...but she was a dear friend, Bilbo. She saved the lives of people she didn't even know...and the dragon took her for a trophy." Balin explained grimly, Thorin looked at the ground, his fists were clenched at his sides.

"She was a beloved friend...the only elf I had ever met who was honest and good...a being of pure beauty like no other." Thorin said with a reminiscent look as he recalled her face so clearly.

They continued walking...

***

The dwarves were captured by the elves, Prince Legolas leading the group. They were taken to Thranduil, all except for Bilbo who slipped out of sight with his special ring.

When they escaped, Legolas and the captain of the guard, Tauriel, brought back an imprisoned orc. They stood before the King.

Legolas held the orc on his knees, a dagger to its throat. "Here in the vast ignorance of the world, it festers and spreads...a shadow that grows in the dark. A sleepless malice as black as the oncoming wall of night. So it ever was, and so will it always be. I'm time, all foul things come forth." Thranduil said as he cirlcled the orc and his son.

"You were tracking a company of thirteen dwarves, why?" Legolas demanded to know.

"Not thirteen, not anymore. A young one...the black haired archer, we stuck him with a morgul shaft. The poison's in his blood...he'll be choking on it soon." The orc smirked devilishly at Tauriel.

"Answer the question, filth." Tauriel said curtly.

"I do not answer to dogs, she-elf!" The orc barked in his tongue.

Tauriel drew a dagger. "I would not antagonize her." Legolas warned.

Tauriel narrowed her eyes on the orc. "You like killing things, orc...you like death. Then let me give it to you!" She lunged at the orc.

"Enough! Tauriel, leave." Thranduil ordered, she looked at her King in shock. "Now." He said further.

She sighed and stood to her full height, walking over to and down the stairs on the throne landing.

"I do not care about one dead dwarf. Answer the question...you have nothing to fear. Tell us what you know and I will set you free." Thranduil offered to reassure the disgusting creature.

"You had orders to kill them, why? What is Thorin Oakenshield to you?" Legolas questioned.

"The dwarf runt will never be King." The orc scoffed.

"King? There is no King Under the Mountain, nor will there ever be. None would dare enter Erebor whilst the dragon lives." Legolas spat.

"You know nothing! You world will burn..." The orc growled.

"What are you talking about? Speak." Legolas demanded.

"Our time has come again. My master serves the one. Do you understand now, elfling? Death is upon you...the flames of war are upon you! And my master shall rule with a White Princess of Lothlorien...turned BLACK as his prize to mock you-" The orc was cut off...as Thranduil cut off his head.

"Why did you do that? You promised to set him free." Legolas asked as he dropped the severed head, the decapitated body left twitching in the floor.

"And I did...I freed his wreched head from his miserable shoulders." Thranduil said as he stepped on the orcs leg to end the incessant twitches.

"There was more the orc could tell us." Legolas said.

"There was nothing more he could tell me." Thranduil said as he turned from his son, sheathing his sword. He walked to the stairs.

"What did he mean by the flames of war? And the Princess...?" Legolas asked cautiously.

"It means they intend to unleash a weapon so great that it will destroy all before it. I want the watch doubled at our boarders! All roads, all rivers!" Thranduil ordered, his voice was powerful. "Nothing moved but I hear of it! No one enters this kingdom...and no one leaves it." He demanded...his expression softened slightly as he looked to his son.

"And as for the White Princess...it means that Oriana lives. All this time she has been in the clutches of the dragon. It is sickening...but she may yet return to her people. Take hope in that she might still be herself, Legolas." He said with disdain over the foul serpent of the Mountain. He then turned and left.

Legolas did feel hope...like a spark in his chest. He went to the gates. "Close the gates! Keep us sealed by order of the King." Legolas ordered the gate keepers.

"But my Lord, Tauriel has not returned. She left down the path with her daggers and bow." A guard informed.

Legolas sighed in annoyance...she is going after the dwarves...