Little Legolas Stories

Nana

The winter was colder than usual when two dwarves trudged into Mirkwood. They were travelling to negotiate terms with King Thranduil, and they were incredibly fatigued. Once they gained entrance to the halls, they were lead to the throne room where Culthien and Thranduil were whispering harshly to each other.

'King Thanduil, Queen Culthien,' the first dwarf greeted. He was short and was clothed in navy blue and a wide dirty blonde bead spilled down his front. 'It has come to our attention that the dwarves of Erebor have not been receiving their weekly food supply,' he stated gruffly.

'Does this mean war?' The other dwarf asked in a coarse tone. He was clothed in scarlet and had a short dark beard only reaching his chest.

Thranduil almost jumped from his seat, shocked by the rudeness of the dwarves. 'No, this does not mean war,' he shot back sharply. 'Come, this matter shall be dealt with somewhere else,' he ordered and he rose from his seat.

Culthien followed and gestured for the two dwarves to follow. They obeyed and shuffled after the long strides of the elves.

They arrived in a small frosty courtyard overlooking the river that ran through and around the castle. There was ice and snow at the edges of the river and leaves from autumn browned in the slosh. Culthien would have offered the dwarves a seat, but they were all wet from rain, snow and ice.

'This matter shall only be between us and your King,' Thranduil explained hastily. 'If you want to know why you haven't received a sufficient amount of food, look around,' he gestured to the misty forest behind him. 'We cannot grow enough to feed ourselves, let alone you as well.'

'We are sorry King Thranduil, we did not mean to sound rude, but we need food. We are still giving you our stone and coal and gems, this is not a fair trade,' the first dwarf complained.

'We are sorry, we barely have enough food left to last the winter, we cannot grow more, the ground is frozen solid. We do not want war,' Culthien replied. 'Forgive me, what are your names?'

'I am Bruni,' the first dwarf said.

'And I am Nadin,' the second said. 'We have been travelling for days in these conditions, would you be able to get us something to eat or drink?'

'Sure, I'll be right back,' Culthien said quietly as she turned and left.

Thranduil walked over to the edge of the courtyard, there was no railing where the steep cliff led to the icy water at the edge. Typical elvish designs. 'Forgive me, but I cannot do anything to help you,' Thranduil replied in his lazy tone.

'Please, the King needs you to resume trade. He is asking you for this on behalf of his people,' Bruni begged.

Nadin came closer and he spoke in a grave tone. 'He has told us that... If he doesn't get the crops, he'll... I can't believe I have to say this,' Nadin muttered and then took a very deep breath.

'What will he do?' Thranduil asked, not looking away from the icy water.

'He says-' Nadin was cut off by his own wobbling and stumbling. 'Mahal,' he muttered as he struggled to breathe.

'What is the matter, Nadin?' Thranduil asked in a concerned tone.

'Sorry, King. I am just very weary,' he replied, walking closer to Thranduil. 'The Kings says that he is prepared to fight you for the food, and I don't want that to happen.'

'Your king has sent you here to threaten me to give you our lifeline so we won't be killed by him?' Thranduil hissed. 'Either way we will die, so go back and tell your king to start killing his livestock.'