The Wind Fell Silent

19. Undone

Arenna's Point of View

I had stopped trying to count the hours that had passed since I had lost the company. I was sat in what seemed to be a storage cupboard for uniforms with my wrists and ankles tightly bound. I had been deposited there when the elfin guard that had caught me on the bridge had taken me in, but it would be a while yet until Thranduil had the time to question me, for all hell had broken loose above. Every once and while, a female guard would come and ask me if I needed to relieve myself or needed a drink, but other than that I was left alone in the dark room. The time in confinement gave me time to think on what had happened over the past few days, which was a prison of its own. Immediately after his barrel disappeared over the falls, I had begun to regret the way I had treated Kili, for I feared it would be the last time I would see him. Over and over again, I imagined the different scenarios of peril that he and the company faced, all made more dangerous for him because of his wound. Despite myself, I kept replaying the dream I had in the forest- his lips hot on my own, his hands on my body. But the moment ruined by the taste of blood and the bleeding wound on his stomach. I could not help but think that this was an omen.

My stomach twisted with worry and angst at the bloody picture that swirled in my mind, and I longed to pace. Even if the company was successful, it was doubtful that they would return for me or bargain with the contemptable king for my freedom. My only friend would no doubt be hunting orcs for hours to come, and was the son of my jailer. I slammed my head backwards onto the stone wall behind me. I was on the brink of tears when the door cracked open and light spilled in, but before I could tell the guard to "bugger-off you great arse" (Gloin had taught me to curse proficiently in Westron), they spoke.

"The king wishes to speak to you" said the flaxen haired she elf as she walked over to cut the bindings around my ankles.

It seemed to be late in the night from the lighting in the open, the company had escaped in the early morning, so I had been held for the better part of the day. My palms began to sweat as she led me away, this would be my chance to talk the king into releasing me, though I did not know how.

His voice was cold, but coursing beneath it was anger.

"I grow impatient with your insolence. Now I won't ask you again, how did thirteen dwarves and a sprite manage to escape their locked cells under the noses of my guards?"

I had been silent, though I didn't know why. Telling Thranduil that Bilbo had freed us couldn't harm the company now that they had escaped, I guess I did it to rattle him a bit. Finally, I decided that aggravating him would not compel him to release me.

"There was a fifteenth member of the company. A hobbit. He seemed to be roaming your palace, waiting to release us. And before you ask, I don't know how he got in, I was unconscious" Thranduil looked placated, if somewhat unbelieving, "but I do know that the dwarves thought that he was lost in the forest."

"And how did a hobbit manage to escape the forest and run about my kingdom for two weeks without being detected?" he asked, rolling his unnaturally blue eyes.

I shrugged, with a mocking look of feigned confusion, "Skill?" I smirked.

The king flared in anger at my disrespect.

"Right now your friends, if they are still alive are bobbing down the Anduin half drowned. One of them, pierced with a poisoned arrow and will surely not live to see another dawn."

My body seized at his words. The arrow was poisoned. I nearly began to cry and Thranduil knew it. He smirked, having hit my soft spot, Kili. I knew what he wanted in exchange for my freedom, he wanted me to betray Thorin.