Light in the dark

FOUR

While I was laying on my back in the cold dungeon that night, I could hear music coming from the halls above me. It sounded like some party was going on there, and judging from the drunken Elves that passed now and then to go to the wine cellars even deeper in the palace, I reckoned there must be hundreds of Elves there.

At that moment I wished to escape the darkness there. To go up into the halls and see all those Elves together and maybe even talk to a few. I knew it was out of the question, but felt glad as well that I hadn't been killed yet.

The worst thing of these dungeons were the lack of activity. I was bored, and not just a little. There was nothing to do, the only thing for me to do was think.

I listened to the music coming from the great halls above me and stood up, swirled around a bit. It was silly, but I had to keep myself busy, right? There was no one down here at the moment, beside the orc opposite of me, but I hadn't seen him peeking through the bars for a while.

I giggled a little as I felt ridiculous; dancing on my own in the dungeons of King Thranduil of Mirkwood.

Just at that moment, an Elf passed by, looking surprised through the bars of my dungeon. My cheeks flushed red, hoping he hadn't seen me dance or heard my giggle. It was dark down here, fortunately.

"I thought these dungeons were for orcs only," he spoke, his voice soft as honey. The Elf had long, white-blonde hair and hazel eyes. His soft features gave him a kind and warm appearance.

"Please don't tell me you think I'm a dwarf," I softly said.

"You're rather small for a human," he said, but he smiled teasingly. I liked this Elf immediately. "Aren't humans supposed to be around 1.70?"

I sighed, but couldn't hold back a smile. "Do these ten centimetres really matter?"

"Well, I guess not," he said and sat down on a rock next to the door. "What's your name, small one?"

"Roan," I said, while standing awkwardly in my dungeon. As the Elf sat on the rock, he was about as tall as I was standing up. "What's your name?"

"Haldir," the Elf answered with a smile. His face turned all serious all of a sudden, which took me aback a little. "Tell me, Roan, what would a human like you be doing in King Thranduils dungeons? Shouldn't you at least be up there, partying?" he said, and gestured to the halls where the music was coming from.

"Me?" I said in surprise while Haldir nodded. "Oh no... No, no, no, not me. The Elves found me wandering the woods... and that's basically why I ended up here."

Haldir frowned, and the wrinkle that formed between his brows gave his beautiful face a worried expression. "The woods?" he said. "How did you end up there then?"

Just as I thought I had found a kind Elf to talk to, it would all be ruined again. If I told Haldir how I ended up in the woods, he would think I was insane. Lying however, didn't really appeal to me either.

I sighed deeply. "I don't know," I mumbled and looked down at my dirty shoes.

"You don't know? Did you fall out of the sky or something?" he laughed.

"It turns out that's exactly what I did..." I said while finally looking up at him again.

The Elf stared at me, and didn't seem to know what to say to that. If I were in his spot, I wouldn't know either.

He composed himself, and smiled kindly. "Explain, please."

I took a deep breath. "Uhm... I don't really know where to begin... You see, Haldir, I'm not from this world," I started, and cringed at how awkward it sounded.

"Are you from the future?" he asked.

Shaking my head, I tried to explain: "No, not really. Just from another world. Where I'm from, there's a book series about this world. About Middle Earth." I paused, seeing he was trying to progress it. "So basically, this world, Middle Earth, is fictional in my world."

"Does that mean... that this is not real?" he asked.

I shook my head again. "To be honest, I doubt it." I sighed for the second time, then smiled at him. "It's confusing, right?"

Haldir laughed as well. "Yes, indeed."

"It's funny how you believe what I've just told you while the King wouldn't listen to me when I had only started an attempt to tell him that I don't know how I got in his realm."

"Yeah... King Thranduil can be a bit... stubborn at times," Haldir said.

"Stubborn?" I said while raising an eyebrow. "He barely lets me talk. I have to admit that I may have had a short temper..."

"He has inquired you, then?" Haldir asked.

"Yes, this morning he-" I stopped mid-sentence. "Hold on. How do you know the King would inquire me?"

The Elf smiled. "It's quite well-known how things go around here, little Roan. King Thranduil likes to know as much as he can concerning everything in and around his realm. Just to make sure he has everything under control, you know?"

I thought for a moment. "Are all Kings in Middle Earth so obsessed with this? Having everything under control?"

"Not really," he answered. "There was an incident in the past... Even though the physical scars of the King remain unseen in the moment, it has left several scars within the King. He's not one who would forget easily what happened in the past."

"But... what did happen?"

"I think you should ask him that yourself," he said. "He doesn't really open up on that matter."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right... As if he would open up to me."

We both laughed, and it felt so good. The past few days I hadn't exactly a reason to laugh like this, and I felt how it made my body feel a lot more relaxed. And I realized how much I had missed it as well.

From the stairs, another Elf descended and called out to Haldir.

"Haldir! They're looking for you," he said and waited until Haldir got up from the rock he was sitting on and started to follow him, up to the great halls.

The blonde Elf turned around and smiled to me. "See you around, small one."