Amaris forced herself to her feet with less difficulty than she had anticipated. The company was now becoming aware of the source of the sudden rain of impeccably aimed arrows wizzing by to embed themselves in spider flesh. Though the spiders were being killed, the sight of pointed ears and elven styled clothing did not bring them any joy or relief.
The only minor, and albeit unintentional, relief the elves brought, apart from killing off the filthy spiders, was the warding off of the forest's dark magic. An elf's aura, in essence, posses a sheild of magic, much similar to the bubble that Gandalf could have created to protect their minds, that wards off dark magic that would do harm. As proof, the woodland elves lived here day and night, and yet seemed unbothered by the effects of the magic plaguing their woods.
With the feeling of health of body and mind along with her alertness returning to her, Amaris could see flashes of silver steel glinting in the gloom and birthing sharp sounds by slicing through thin air. Hear the sharp whizz and dull thud of arrowhead shooting through the air finding its home in its target. Feel the thundering crash of a spider's body hitting the forest floor.
The elves made quick work of the giant eight-legged creatures and turned their weapons to the dwarves. Surrounding the company with bowstrings notched and ready and yellow feathers tickling their cheeks, glinting arrowheads itching to be pierced into their target. But not before a male, presumably their leader, found himself before Thorin with his bow aimed at the King of Erebor.
"Do not think I will not kill you, dwarf-" he tightened his hold on his bowstring by pulling it back a notch as he gave cocky smirk, "-it would be my pleasure." Amaris mentally groaned as she held her hands up in surrender at the centre of the circle, not wanting to come face with the weapons aimed at her form.
Everything was tense and silent for a few heartbeats, and then the silence was abruptly interrupted by a scream little ways afar that made evryone turn in it's direction. Amaris's eyes grew wide as her body went rigid; the voice that was screaming was familiar. Her brain was going a million miles a minute trying to proses what what going on and who was screaming. It didn't take some other dwarves long to figure it out.
"Kili!" shouted the King's nephew in despair as he started to shove his way through in the direction of his brother's screams, causing commotion to boil up.
"Fili, no!" Hissed Amaris as she hurried over to him in long strides along with several other company members attempting to stop the young prince. The dwarves out of not wanting Fili to get hurt or lost, Amaris after noticing the amount of arrowheads now pointed at him as she whisper-yelled frantically to him.
"No-no-no-no-no! Fili! Fili stop! Stop! Stop-stoppety-stop-stop!"
The elves closed their death circle in tighter as the dwarves seized a struggling Fili from advancing any further.
"Kili!" He shouted as he struggled and squirmed in the company's grip, "Let me go! Let me go! Let me-Kili! Oin let go!—"
"Fili, hush!" His uncle shushed him harshly as he maintained eye-contact with the leading elf who held a menacing look in his eyes. He shouted an elvish command over his shoulder to his soldiers before turning his attention back to the dwarves and woman at hand. The scout party reacted and proceeded to search the dwarves, much to their discontentment.
Amaris took calming breaths as she subtly did a quick headcount of the company surrounding her as she mumbled under her breath.
"Fili, Dori, Ori, Dwalin, uh-Balin! Uh, Nori, Bifur, Gloin, Bombur, Bofur," she continued mumbling as she turned around slightly, "Oin, aaaand Grumpy Badger— oh no." Realization dawned on her; Bilbo was not present.
She gave a sharp pivoting turn to look for him only to come face-to face with an elf scout that gave her a jump. The elf was quick to grab her forearm as she flinched away, thinking she was trying to get away from him and reached over her shoulder to strip her of her blade. Amaris gave an irritated grumble with undertone of a wolf's warning growl as she wrenched her arm away from the elf's grip and held them up in silent surrender as she let him take her weapons. She used that as a cover to scour for her misplaced Little Bunny with her eyes.
Bilbo was nowhere to be seen, from her point of view anyways, and Amaris stayed calm. If he was not there with them he was surely taking cover somewhere and drawing attention to his disappearance would potentially blow that cover. She didn't want him getting captured along with them and worst-case he might be able to break them out.
She came to her mental conclusion just as she locked eyes with the leading elf from before who was looking at her with a great amount of suspicion. The Wolven had to bite back a groan just as Kili was roughly shoved forwards from the bush by redhead Elleth, and the leading elf was handed Thorin's sword.
The blond inspected the blade carefully and spoke she elvish words about it, Amaris could roughly translate it to how it was of elvish make as he turned and glared at Thorin.
"Where did you get this?" He asked in a dark and almost scolding tone, like someone finding a personal thought to be long-lost belonging in their sibling's possession.
"It was given to me," said Thorin earnestly if not in a very moody tone. The leading elf pointed Orcsist's tip a Thorin threateningly causing the rest of the company to tense.
"Not just a thief," he said, "but a liar as well." Amaris had to muster all of her willpower not to roll her eyes at his petty assumptions. The leader then shouted an elvish command pushing his party to round up the dwarves and push them towards a path. Out of the corner of her eye, Amaris could see the scout that had searched her hand the leader her Wolven forged blade, Hermod, and clenched her jaw at seeing it in their possession. The leader studied to blade curiously and then turned his hard gaze at Amaris, now around ten times more suspicious of her. Wonderful.
Amaris turned around and looked straight ahead of her to wherever the elves where leading them, even though she could feel distrusting blue eyes boring a hole in her back. A boiling irritation at the events she predicted to happen coming true and Gandalf still taking off distracting her from nosey and suspicious elves.
As the path progressed, the trees became lighter and and more spaced out, and soon you could hear rushing water under the bridge that lead to the massive elven palace gates carved from stone before them. The palace inside was even bigger, it looked like someone had taken a cave and carved out and planted an underground forest to create this. Naturally, if the elvenking of Mirkwood was going to be a hermit, might as well make it worth staying inside. Amaris almost forgot she was being escorted by guards in chains for a second, almost.
Like in Rivendell, the younger dwarves were captivated by the elven structure, the older ones less so, but everyone could tell that the place was a wonder to behold in awe. Even if they'll never admit it.
The elven guards escorted the company in a two by two line bound in chains with Thorin, Balin and Dwalin at the front and Amaris surprisingly bringing up the rear with the younger members. Amaris peered down the railing-less walkway to certainly fatal drop below and gulped.
"Yes, because railings and safety measures are for chumps, obviously," she grumbled to herself earning her a curious look from one of the guards who shoved rather roughly in line towards a throne. A huge, towering throne that had antlers as a means of decoration and looked down upon the entire room. And upon it, sat the Twig King of Mirkwood, Thranduil.
As the dwarves approached the first set of steps leading to the elvenking's throne, the leader and the redhead turned to 'inspect' the fist half of the line even after having stripped them of their weapons. The dwarves growled and grunted grumpily at their poking. Dwalin was particularly fed up and sneered and the Twig King who was literally looking down upon the lot of them under his ridiculously thick eyebrows.
"So much for the benevolence of Thranduil, Lord of the elves!" He called out, "Is this how you treat travelers to your lands?" He asked in a challenging tone, motioning to his bonds. The elvenking smirked ever so slight yet ever so arrogantly.
"Only the ones who annoy me." his deep voice boomed through the cavernous palace, this was his domain.
Even for an elf, the elvenking was tall. About seven feet tall or so, which was fitting for someone who spent his time looking down upon the rest of the world. He peered down at them silently, studying each and every one. When his eyes fell on Amaris, there was a spark of intrigue yet an overflowing ocean of suspicion. The look was almost identical to the one the scout leader had given her. She was surprised when he looked down to the leader and shared a look. That's when she put two and two together.
The two shared strikingly similar features; long blond hair, similar build, eyes and facial structure. As well the leader's armor being far too decorated to simply be a scout or even captain of the guard. Thranduil had a son, and this must be junior. Amaris suddenly had a deep frown upon her face.
"Twig Prince has my sword," she grumbled very quietly to let her unhappiness out in some form. But elves have ridiculously sharp ears and the elvenking smirked.
"Bring them forwards." He beckoned his guards with a wave of his hand to bring him Thorin, with Balin and Dwalin at his heels, up the first set of steps.
"Is it a crime now," asked Balin shrilly as he mounted the steps, "to be lost in the forest? To be hungry and thirsty?"
"It is a crime," Thranduil spoke slowly, "to wander in my realm without leave. If you forget you are using the road my people made." He looked at them with a gleam in his green eyes as he showed them he was at advantage here. "It has been a long time, since Thorin Oakensheild traveled so far East." He begun to smile, it was an arrogant and cheeky smile, "For what purpose? Where does your journey end?" His smile told everyone he knew. He knew the answers to his own questions. He knew why, and where and he knew he was only asking to get them nervous. His eyes changed focus.
"And who is this you have brought along?" He said, nodding towards Amaris, who was standing patiently at the back. The entire company tensed at his statement as the guard at her side grabbed her arm and the King's son marched up his father's throne to hand him a blade—Hermod.
"She is none of your concern," spoke Thorin. His voice was low and his words were a warning, a warning that would possibly turn to threats if pushed. The elvenking gave him a passively amused look as he let out a low hum.
"However, she is traveling with you," he countered, returning his gaze to Amaris's for a moment, "and anyone traveling my realm armed with weapons forged as these," he showed off the Wolven Blade accompanied by Amaris's twin daggers, "is very much of my concern." His face was riddled with smug power and victory as the dwarves steamed silently in anger.
Thranduil rested his blue gaze on Amaris and spoke to her directly, "Do these look familiar?" He asked, motioning to her blades at his side. Amaris gave no response other than looking off to the side with an overall uninterested demeanor. Although she couldn't see his face, his voice gave away his intrigue.
"Very well," he said dismissively, "take them to the dungeons, Oakensheild can stay, at least until I'm done with him."
And oh, what joy that conversation must be.
End of chapter thirteen
(A/n): Hello..... I would just like people to know that I am not dead... (Just lazy)
Sorry for the long wait guys!