The ElvenKing [A thranduil fanfiction]

Chapter 1

Greenwood T.A 2048

          It wasn't even past mid-day when I entered the forest. The silence loud and barely disturbed by my own soft steps. The snow that had fallen last night and covered the lands, crunched softly beneath my feet. It was the only sound that followed me when I passed the edge, entering the forest of Greenwood.

The air was thick and heavy, not even the sound of birds disturbed the silence. A single bird had lifted from a nearby branch when I entered the forest, startled by something or someone else. At first, I had feared it was my own carelessness, but when the soft steps of someone else close by followed me, matching my own pace almost perfectly but not enough because I knew from that moment that I wasn't alone.

The guards of Greenwood had found me quicker than expected, or it had merely been by chance that he had been nearby. I kept moving, carefully walking along the elven path that I knew like the back of my hand. I made sure my hood was pulled down and my hair covered when the figure passed from one tree to another, making more noise than intended.

I acted as if I hadn't heard it and continued down the elven path. I had decided to take the path despite my extensive knowledge of the forest because I needed time to gather my memories and the overwhelming feeling of familiarity that swept over me. When I turned around the next large tree, I was forced to make a halt. One of the trees had fallen over, hindering any from following the path.

The sight saddened me. How had this happened. The trees of Greenwood did not idly fall. I pressed my palm against the fallen tree, the bark cold and dead beneath my hand. It had been dead for years. I mumbled a soft prayer before starting my climb. It was done with deliberate slowness because my pursuer was still watching me. He had been closer than I had expected, and I couldn't keep the smile from my lips when I jumped down onto the ground behind the tree.

I landed on the ground in a controlled crouch, lowering my hand to the ground for support because my pursuer had in that moment decided to reveal themselves. The smile lingered on my lips as I dropped a knee into the snow, twirled around to face him while reaching for my weapon.

The second he stepped out behind a tree on my right, bow in hand and an arrow aimed at me, I had already lifted my own weapon. My bow creaked when I drew the arrow back, the one I had pointed at him, just a few more inches. I was sure his grip faltered for a moment, surprised I had acted so fast with my own weapon. Like me, his face was hidden below a hood, but his guard uniform gave him away. The revelation made me loosen the tension on the arrow, but I had no intention of lowering my own weapon. Neither did he, and I straightened my back to lessen the strain on my arms.

Snow crunched beneath his feet when he inched forward again but without lowering his weapon. The unknown man tightened his hold on his bow, the weapon creaking under the new strain while clearly considering what to do next. Even he was unsure about what to do next. When I lowered my weapon just a bit, the movement made him draw his arrow back a bit further, his chest straightening under the strain.