Lúthien remained in that dungeon for three days and three nights, refusing to eat or drink anything offered to her. She felt so disgusting but couldn't bring herself to care enough about it.
Everyone in the palace was under some enchantment, for none of them recognized her. Just like the King, everyone was destined to live a lie.
In the night, curled up against the back wall of her cell she'd dream about him. Lúthien dreamt of Thranduil's voice whispering softly in her ear and how it felt to be kissed and caressed. How it made her heart skip beats.
She cursed at herself for allowing her to remember such things. It only reminded her of she'd never have again. Sometimes Lúthien would awaken from her sleep with tears staining her face. It pissed her off more than anything.
It wasn't until the fourth day of being locked away that someone actually came to get her. A guard, who's voice triggered her memory. Elros. He stormed into her cell, throwing the gate open which resulted in a loud clang! To her credit, she didn't flinch at the sudden noise despite the fact that she had been asleep.
"Get up!" He spoke, but she refused
"Elros, remember." Was all she said
"Onna has asked for you, I am to bring you to her."
"Elros please, you know me. You saved me when I was a girl, you must remember."
Elros didn't respond again, he only entered her cell and bound her hands before leading her out. She contemplated on simply falling off of the walkway and into the water. But she knew she probably wouldn't make it very far before they caught her.
On their way up to the throne room, Lúthien passed by many familiar faces. Maids, cooks, guards none of them realized who she really was. It wasn't until they were right outside that someone actually paid attention to her.
When they arrived, Thranduil was leaving the throne room. He was again in the strange get up, not his usual tunic. But shirtless with black markings painted on his chest and face.
Even though he couldn't remember her entirely, that didn't keep him from being curious about her. She had told him that Onna would kill her is she was caught. And for a moment she seemed afraid, but after she realized that the King she knew was gone, what more did she have to lose?
Elros nudged her past Thranduil, Lúthien didn't bother looking over at him. She mentally prepared herself for the pain Onna would inflict on her. But the King grabbed hold of her arm.
"I'll take over from here." Thranduil said, Elros just glared at him "By order of the Queen." Lúthien shuddered
Elros yielded, allowing Thranduil to take over. She wanted to vomit and the feel of his grip on her arm. He was no longer the Thranduil she'd come to love. His touch felt foreign, and wen he walked her to the throne she could tell that there was something he wanted to say.
Little did she know that ever since the King found her in his chambers, he couldn't stop thinking about her. She peaked his interest despite knowing absolutely nothing about her.
There was a wild fire in her eyes that his curiosity just couldn't ignore.
As they walked through the threshold, Lúthien's heart began to pound so profoundly that she could hear it. She didn't want to even entertain the thought but...Thranduil must have noticed the change. His grip on Lúthien loosened a bit, his calluses gently brushed against her skin.
She could easily knock him off his feet and throw him over the edge of the walkway. Lúthien so badly wanted to be free, but deep down she knew that this was bigger than just her and Thranduil. So she willed her heart to be still.
Even though he was a stranger now...she had loved him once and perhaps she still did. The absence of his love left a gaping hole in her heart, one she couldn't possibly fill again. If the price for the freedom of Middle earth was her life, she'd gladly pay it.
Which was why she wasn't afraid of Onna or her wicked smile as she approached the throne. Lúthien's focus was solely on the sorceress until she felt Thranduil's breath on the back of her neck.
"Well, well...isn't this a lovely surprise?" She crooned
"You sent for me so technically this isn't a surprise." Onna chuckled
"If any part of you survives this, it definitely won't be that attitude."
"What do you want with me?"
"It's not what I want with you, it's what I want from you."
"And what's that?"
"To make you suffer for what you've done. And after I'm finished with you, I'll take that lovely soul of yours and devour it." She grinned from ear to ear, showing off her sharp teeth
"Isn't that right, my King?" She said glancing behind Lúthien
"Precisely." He spoke, his voice deep and foreign. Thranduil let go of her and made his way up to the throne.
There was a bit of distrust in his heart, for this girl who claimed that Onna his Queen would murder her if he had brought her there. And he had. He had brought her to Onna and it was likely that she'd die.
As he ascended the stairs, he extended his hand out to her. Onna, the woman he had come to love-no actually the woman he simply remembers loving-took hold of it. Thranduil kissed her hand, as if it were muscle memory. And he caressed her body, because his mind commanded it.
Onna had said she'd make her suffer. Suffer for what exactly? Why hadn't he known if her hatred for this woman? This woman he had found in his rooms. The woman who spoke lies of him loving her. Were they truly lies?
She placed her thin hand on his painted chest. Not once had he noticed how horrifyingly bony they were, even still, he continued to play his part.
Lúthien watched in disgust at how lovingly they touched one another. Even though she didn't love him at all, this was all just some game of revenge. Dispite wanting to vomit, she never took her eyes away from Thranduil.
"Is that all?" Lúthien spat
Onna merely pulled her lips away from him and he began planting kisses down her neck.
"Oh darling, we've only just begun."
"Begun what?" Thranduil thought
*+*
Thranduil's questions were soon answered, Onna had him take Lúthien out to the forest. It was a place where no one would ever hear her.
He personally bound her hands in shackles and strung her up in a tree. She dangled there a few feet above the ground. Onna watched in awe as he tightened her chains, at her request of course. Once everything was in place, the sorceress placed a whip in his hand.
"Whip her." She said as the other guards stripped her upper body from all its garments
"This is wrong." He thought, as the suspicion inside of him grew. He'd have to find out more, he would find out more. But in order to do that, he'd have to play his part.
So he raised the whip above his head as Lúthien dangled there with her bare back to him. There were scars there, she had been whipped in the past he supposed. Thranduil swung the whip and watched in agony as it slashed her skin.
Lúthien didn't scream, she didn't even cry out in pain. She made no sound at all, which was why Onna said,
"Harder!"
Thranduil obeyed, not allowing his traitorous heart to show. Again. Again. Again. He struck, not once holding back.
Lúthien gritted her teeth as the pain shot from her back, radiating to the rest of her body. Though tears fell from her eyes, she refused to make any sound. All she could focus on was the sound of Onna's voice and the sheer anger she felt in her heart.
Onna laughed as blood trickled down Lúthien's body and onto the forest floor. She didn't know how long they had stashed her, eventually the pain became numb and she lost consciousness. Nobody had even realized she wasn't conscious because she hadn't made a sound the entire time. It wasn't until her head fell back, that they noticed she wasn't awake.
That was when Onna ordered Lúthien to be thrown back into the dungeons. Two guards realized the chains that held her up and she fell onto the cold hard ground.
Thranduil watched as her body was soiled with dirt and leaves, he wanted to bring her back himself. "Not yet." He said in his mind.
The guards hauled her up by her arms and dragged her down the beaten path back to the palace. He didn't see it, but he heard them throw her into a cell.
*+*
The following morning, just before dawn, Lúthien stirred. The excruciating pain had pulled her from the darkness of her slumber. Her head throbbed, she assumed that they had just thrown her in there.
She had no shirt, they hadn't bothered to bring her one. They left her down there all night with nothing to cover herself with.
Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. The movement of her back was almost unbearable, but she didn't make a sound. Nothing to indicate that she was awake.
Blood from her injuries had caked onto her skin, the wounds would most likely become infected without treatment. She'd die in here.
Lúthien shivered, her exposed skin and the cold breeze that the waterfalls created were the absolute worst. Gradually, managed to slide a few feet to the end of the cell and curl up. She brought her knees to her chest to cover up a bit. It was only when she closed her eyes, did she let the darkness consume her again.
*+*
Later that night, guards came rushing into Lúthien's cell. They carried buckets of ice water with them and threw them over her sleeping body. She gasped in shock as one of them kicked her in the leg.
"The Queen has summoned you."
"She can fuck off."
One of them nudged her in the back, right in between an opened wound. Lúthien hissed in pain, but said nothing else as they picked her up and dragged her out of the cell.
"What does the bitch want now?"
The guard immediately slapped Lúthien, the stinging in her face was nothing compared to what she felt in her back.
"You will remain silent." He said sternly, gripping her elbow
"She'll have to cut my tongue from my mouth."
"Don't think I won't raise another hand to you bitch-" Lúthien prepared for the contact, but something intervened
She watched in amazement as a scorpion crawled up the man's back, making its way up to his shoulder and stinging him right in the neck. The guard immediately let go of her and staggered back at the sudden shock. He raised his hand to swat the thing away, but by that time it had already vanished. The poison wouldn't kill him...right away, but he'd certainly be out of it soon.
The other guard rushed to grab a better hold of Lúthien's wrist and pulled her away. The second he made contact with her skin, a hawk swooped down from one of the unlit torches. It all happened way too quickly for the guard to comprehend, by the time he realized what was happening it was too late. The hawk shot down at him, his talons ready to latch onto the man's face. He screamed out in agony as the bird pecked out one of his eyes.
Abraxsis....he had arrived
The hawk screeched, "Run." It seemed to say as it continued distracting the guard. Lúthien didn't think twice about it and immediately sprinted as far away as possible.
Once she reached the main level, Lúthien ran to the stables, surely there'd be horses left. She could barely breathe she was running so hard. It was only then that she realized how weak she'd become, her body had began to deteriorate and it was really showing. The girl was winded just by running to the stables.
But once she arrived there, she saw a guard saddling up a large horse. It wasn't until she got closer that she realized it was Thunder. Lúthien picked up a horse show on from the ground charged the guard who carried his saddle. He hadn't seen the shoe coming, she threw it at him and it hit the guard right in the head. His body tumbled to the floor, the saddle crashing on top of him. Lúthien immediately grabbed his knives, bow and quiver of arrows.
"Thunder.." her voice trembled "We must make haste!" She said grabbing a fist full of his mane and pulling herself onto his back. Lúthien didn't have to say anything more, by the time she was seated Thunder was already storming out of the stables.
"She's getting away!!" They yelled
"Sound the alarm!!"
Lúthien could hear the horns being blown as rode through the forest. They would come after her, their horses more swift than her own. Soon they were close enough to shoot arrows, one whizzed past her nearly hitting her in shoulder.
"Come on boy!" She urged "You must run faster-!"
A guard fired another arrow, this time hitting her in the thigh.
"Shit!" Lúthien looked down at her leg and saw that the arrow was lodged pretty far into her thigh. "Shit shit shit." She said to herself
She took the stolen bow and loaded an arrow, immediately turning around to fire it at the closest guard. The one who shot her in the leg was the closest one, and she aimed it right at him. Realizing that he also had an arrow loaded, she didn't hesitate to let hers fly. Lúthien shot him, hitting the guard clean in the neck and he went tumbling off his horse.
But not before he released his arrow, both othe them flew past each other. Hers hitting him in the neck, and his finding itself in Thunder's shoulder. He let out a scream, tossing his head this way and that. To his credit, he didn't stop galloping.
"Fuck fuck fuck." Lúthien whispered to herself as she loaded another arrow. She turned around to find another guard approaching, his horse sprinting to catch up. The man was too far and moving to much to shoot accurately. So Lúthien fired at his horse, hitting it right in the chest. The beast screamed, as it tumbled down to the earth, causing him to flip over its head.
There were three more, but only one of them could be seen clearly. The other two she assumed followed swiftly behind the cover of the trees. Lúthien looked around, attempting to locate them. She was only met with another arrow blowing through her shoulder.
Lúthien screamed out in pain, the momentum of the shot caused the arrows to fall from the quiver. Through her tears, she grabbed hold of the arrow in her thigh and immediately yanked it out. Just as she went to load it Thunder roared, his galloping body stumbling a bit. He had been shot again. She hadn't had the time to saddle him, so when he shifted his weight, struggled to stay in one place.
The motion made Lúthien lose her balance and drop her bow. She put the arrow in her mouth as she used both of her hands to hold onto Thunder's mane. He whinnied out of concern, but he didn't stop, he wouldn't stop unless she asked it of him.
And she hauled herself back up, the guard fired another arrow. This one hitting her in the left hand, her grip loosened and she began slipping a second time. The man could see this, so he commanded his horse to get closer. Both horses both galloped side by side and he reached over, grabbing Lúthien by the hair. Big mistake.
With her left hand still gripping his mane, she used her right to grab hold of her knife. The guard pulled her closer by her hair and that was when she gabbed her knife into his eye. He immediately let go of her and though Lúthien struggled she managed to get herself onto Thunder's back.
Her entire body throbbed and ached, but all she could think about was where the other guards were. They couldn't be seen. Had they turned back? Were they still following? Lúthien searched for them, scanning the brush but they were nowhere to be found. Perhaps she was safe?
Perhaps not
Just as they made it into the clearing, about thirty guards who had already been waiting there fired their arrows.
Thunder took most of the arrows. Lúthien was hit twice in her left arm, once on her right and once in the stomach. Her horse went down, crashing to the floor. The momentum threw her from his back and she tumbled to the ground a few feet away.
There was a ringing in her ears, so loud it drowned out all other noises. Even though every fiber of being barked at her not to move, she shifted her body towards Thunder. Through her blurry vision she could see him sprawled out on the ground, dozens of arrows stuck in his hide. She reached a hand toward him, attempting to crawl over to her friend. Thunder could see this and he tried to get closer, but his injuries were far too great.
She wasn't strong enough to make it all the way, a guard walked over and stepped on her outstretched hand. Lúthien screamed through her gritted teeth, her tears beginning to fall from her eyes.
She spat at him, and the guard responded by kicking her in the face. Thunder saw, and though he couldn't do anything he still roared in protest.
This wasn't fair, Thunder wasn't supposed to die. Not like this. She had done this to him, if she had just grabbed another horse maybe he would've been able to live a longer life.
"Forgive me." She choked and her friend seemed to understand
"You really thought you'd be able to escape us?" said the guard
"Actually.." She said choking on her blood "Yeah...for a minute there I-"
Everything suddenly went black
Darkness consumed her