The Silvan (Lord of the Rings-Legolas)[Wattys2016]

Chapter 61: Royal Blood

"What do you mean?" he asked, his own skin beginning to crawl painfully.

"Bandorion.... I told you we were there the day he took her life... we were in the tree. She left me with you and led Bandorion away from us she, she took your blanket," she sobbed, eyes pleading with Legolas to understand, "she bunched it up before her, as if you were there in her arms," she explained, carrying out the movements herself, "and then he killed the 'child', she laughed almost hysterically, her voice rising uncontrollably as her tears fell, and Legolas listened in horrified curiosity.

"He stuck his dagger into that blanket, through the empty cloth and into her loving mother's heart."

Legolas' own eyes closed as the story continued to unfold, as he witnessed Amareth's utter distress at the distant yet vivid memory.

"He stepped back first in shock, and then horror as he realised there was no babe, only the woman he had instantly killed - the king's lover no less. The rage," she sobbed, "the utter wrath upon his face was the most repugnant of things I have ever seen, Legolas. His fury was hideous, disturbing beyond anything I will ever see in my life - I still dream of that face..."

"And you kept silent, in the tree?" asked Legolas.

"Yes - but it was a talan, Legolas, he should have been able to see it and yet he did not come for us. It was as if he could not see it at all and he did look...

Both elves came to the same conclusion at the same time, and at last, a nascent smile blossomed on Amareth's tear-streaked face. "She was watching over you, even then... she whispered as her questing fingers reached out to touch his face tentatively."

"She? How did you know who..."

"It can be no other, Legolas. To command the trees, the colour of your eyes..." she whispered.

He nodded his confirmation and then smiled himself. "I remember that tree... I have seen it .... I saw a woman I first thought was Lassiel but now that I have seen my mother, I know it was not her - no - it was my Lady in that tree - "

Amareth sobbed in relief, as if all the pieces of her complicated plight had finally come together and she could breath once more.

"I did my best, Legolas... I tried so hard to protect you. By not speaking of it I would not fuel your desire for knowledge - I could not risk that for you were such a bright child. That is my excuse, for what it is worth, yet now, in hindsight, I would not have acted in the same way, not after seeing what it did to you, how you suffered... had I known..."

"I know, mother. I know your heart and I will never question that - I just - I just wanted to know that my father was honourable. I could live with being a bastard, so long as I could believe that my father was a good elf..."

"I am sorry, Legolas. I could not trust them any more, not after Bandorion. He was Oropher's brother, a man of such influence I was terrified even that Thranduil would bend to his wishes, for had his own father not yielded to Agrareb's family's outrageous accusations? - I had no way of knowing his heart, no way of knowing what Bandorion had told him, or whether he simply had not spoken of it... There is nothing worse than the fear of losing the one you most love, Legolas."