The next day, Thea and Nikandros woke to the opening of the door. A party of five elves came in, all clad in green and brown with daggers at their waist.
Nikandros stood up, stretching. He had slept fitfully on the bed, his arm wrapped around Thea. However, his dreams had been plagued with visions of Gondor and torture, and he was almost glad to have been woken.
A tall elf, with long brown hair strode forward. "It's time to leave." He explained.
Thea swallowed hard as she quickly stood up and walked over to Nikandros. She gripped his hand tightly between her bound ones, trying to keep her terror at bay.
Nikandros squeezed her hand in return. "Alright." He answered the guard.
Immediately the five guards stepped in surrounding Nikandros and Thea. The elf who had spoken produced more rope and tied Nikandros' hands tightly together. He stepped out in front, and an elf walked in between him and the couple. The elves began to walk towards the door. Nikandros and Thea were forced to walk to avoid tripping.
As they walked out the door, Nikandros saw a glimpse of the untouched food tray. 'Too late to ask for it now I suppose.' He said to himself humorously.
The elves walked swiftly along the paths of the Woodland Realm until they eventually arrived at the gate where Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood was waiting.
"My lord, the assassins." The elf announced in more of a formality, as the prince knew they were there.
"Thank you, Aratên." Legolas turned his attention to Nikandros and Thea, "Please do not try to escape, because then I will be forced to treat you harshly."
Nikandros said nothing, but inwardly he knew that at the soonest chance possible, Thea and him would escape.
Legolas, hoping his message got across to them, untied both of their hands. He gathered the other elves as well and soon they were on their way.
The two prisoners each had an elvish guard assigned to watch them even though their hands were not bound. For now, the group walked, but horses were tugged along for when they exited the dense forest.
The traveling seemed to be endless for the couple and they didn't stop to camp until they were completely out of Mirkwood. That meant that they had walked for two days straight.
When they finally made camp, Thea practically collapsed in Nikandros' arms. She fell asleep instantly.
Legolas turned a concerned eye on them and hastily walked over, "Is she ill?"
Nikandros looked up irritatedly at Legolas, "No, you idiot! She's exhausted!" He practically yelled.
Legolas looked confused before realization hit him, "I...apologize. We should have rested before now."
Expecting Legolas to snap back at him, Nikandros was a little confused, and fell silent, stroking Thea's hair.
"I must admit that I am not familiar with the ways of men. It is easily forgotten that you can not handle as much." Legolas said honestly.
Nikandros sighed, "I suppose."
Just then, another elf came over, "The camp is ready, my lord." He told Legolas.
"Thank you." Legolas led Nikandros and Thea into the middle of the camp where two blankets were spread out on the damp and chilly ground. "Rest now. We will be traveling early again tomorrow."
Nikandros nodded and gently placed Thea down on one of the blankets. He laid down beside her and wrapped the other blanket tightly around them, trying to keep warm.
She shivered slightly and opened her eyes, confusion clouding her features, "What happened?"
"It's okay. You collapsed from exhaustion." Nikandros explained.
"I-I'm so tired. And cold." Then, she noticed what was around her and bolted upright, "Where are we?"
"We are in the elves camp." Nikandros soothed, "Everything is okay."
Thea took a deep breath and laid back down, "What kind of camp is this? There are no tents or campfires or-" She sneezed right in the middle of her sentence.
"Apparently the elves know very little about humans." Nikandros commented dryly, "Also they seem to be resilient to the cold."
"But it is gets quite cold outside at night. We will...freeze." Thea uttered the last word in horror.
Nikandros frowned and looked around the camp. Nearby, Aratên stood by on watch.
"Could we have some more blankets?" Nikandros asked.
Aratên looked a little shocked, "You are cold?" He asked genuinely.
"Yes, we are cold, that's why we are asking for more blankets." Nikandros said, a little bit irritably.
"I'm sorry." Aratên apologized, "I am unfamiliar with the ways of humans." He walked over to one of the horses and grabbed two blankets. Walking over to Nikandros and Thea, he handed them over.
"Thank you." Nikandros said simply, and spread the blankets over himself and Thea.
Aratên nodded and went back to where he was previously.
Thea huddled up closer to Nikandros, grateful for the extra blankets. Soon, both Nikandros and her had fallen into a fitful sleep.
Poor poor Thea and Nikandros...man they have been through a LOT. Like seriously. A ton. I could make a huge list only consisting of all the horrible things they've been through...like why are we such meanies to our characters????? Seriously! We are crazy.
Well...welcome to writing.
Ithildae, Evara, and Aris
Writers:
Thea/Ithildae
Nikandros/Evara
Legolas/Ithildae
Aratên/Evara
Random elves/Evara and Ithildae
( Evara's account-> BananaBam03 she's awesome so check her out because this was just as equally her story as mine and Aris')