The King's Heart (Thranduil Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

(Miniel)

"Ada!" I heard someone scream, waking me from a dreamless sleep. I slept for maybe three hours while I had been hunting orcs, so I was pleased to know I had slept for closer to five this night.

I threw a robe on and went to investigate. The guard that had been posted to my door was sound asleep, an empty wine glass on the floor beside him. Shaking my head, I stalked through the halls, worried that I would be sent back to my room before I could find the source of the screaming. But no one was walking the halls at this hour. No guards, no late night readers headed back to their rooms. Strange.

I headed down a short, open staircase and the screaming came again, louder than before. I looked to my right and noticed a large pair of doors. They were intricately carved with battle scenes past, many of them I did not know from my studies.

The screams came again, from within this room. I pushed the doors open without bothering to knock, who ever was in here was in serious pain and needed help. I ran through the room, it had several different chambers, far more than my own. I passed a pool of clear blue water, one big enough for two elves. Finally, I threw open a plain door and found the bedchamber.

The curtains were nearly transparent, but I could not make out any specific traits or indications as to who it was, though I already had an idea. And my theory was verified as I silently pulled back the curtain,

The king was wearing a red silk shirt that hadn't been buttoned, and light trousers that clung to his muscular legs. I could see the muscles clenching and relaxing through the material, including his parted shirt. Nearly his entire chest was visible, and I could see beads of sweat formed there and on his forehead despite the chill of the room.

"Thranduil!" I whispered at first, gently nudging his shoulder to wake him. Suddenly his hand was around my wrist, and I was thrown onto the bed. Before I could make a sound, a dagger was at my throat and the king was kneeling on my chest.

"Easy, easy!" I said, trying to move as little as possible. I could have easily disarmed him, but somehow I felt that would get me thrown in the dungeons. I raised my arms slowly in surrender, trying to wake the king from his drowsy state.

He shook his head, as if he had just come up for air after a long dive, and looked down at me. A warrior's face covered the face of a sleeping king, one of anger and determination.The blade did not move from my throat.

"What are you doing in my chambers?" he snarled at me. I stared blankly at him. I could not look away from his face; a dark outline of an old injury began to take shape, but quickly faded. The king pressed the blade against my neck, but he did so with the flat of the blade, so I did not believe that he intended to hurt me.

"I only came to aid who ever it was that was screaming like an man under a fire blade. The incessant screams led me to your room, King Thranduil." I said. "I only wanted to help." Thranduil pressed harder still, but then snickered and removed the blade. I relaxed a little more, before I noticed his eyes trailing down my chest. My robe had parted a bit during the struggle. I glared at him and thrust the silk back together and tied a knot in front. He laughed.

"Last time I saw an elleth naked, she screamed and ran out of my room without a robe. Which of course only mortified her further," he chuckled. I simply shook my head.

"You are not the first royalty to see my chest. A few have actually seen more than the sliver you saw." Thranduil hadn't seen much, just a strip of skin from the nape of my neck to my stomach no wider than my hand. I don't know why he insinuated that I had been completely nude.

"Oh? And which royalty would that be?" He asked innocently. Nuuta. I can not let information like that slip so casually. I stared at him darkly, trying to communicate that it was part of a past I was unwilling to share. Thranduil laughed and climbed off of me. He walked to the edge of the room and looked at a large bow I hadn't noticed on my way in.

He lifted it away from the pegs it hung from, and pulled gently at the strings.
"Do you have idea as to where this came from?" he asked me gently, but a dark shadow had passed over his face.

"No, my lord, I can not say I recognize it." But I was not really looking. When I did look, I recognized it immediately, but did not let it show. That would give too much away, so I let him describe what it was to him.

"This is the bow I used to kill a northern serpent during the battle my father was slain at. I was screaming because I had relived that awful day in a nightmare, one worse than any of the past." Thranduil was caressing the hand carved bow, running his hands over the runes I had carved so long ago...

"I have asked every elf in Greenwood to look at it, to see if it belonged to one of their kin. I had picked it up when my own was lost and the dragon advanced. It was done so beautifully, I thought it belonged back with the family its bearer came from." He sighed deeply and returned it to its place of honor on the wall. I stared at him. How could a king with a stone heart speak so kindly of a family he did not know? And how could he be so honorable; that bow is worth more than a stack of gold, why would he return it?

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wave of nausea, one so strong I was forced to lean on the bedpost or fall over. I groaned in pain. Stupid spiders. I should have seen the web. Then none of this would have happened.

Thranduil had heard me. He walked over to me and placed his hand under my chin, gently urging me to face him. When I finally allowed my chin to be raised, my gaze fell into his eyes. They reminded me of the sky after a storm. Hazy blue, but I could see the pink that circles them. He hadn't been getting enough sleep for a long time now.

"Are you alright, Miniel? Is your head bothering you?" he asked gently. I wanted to hear more about his dreams, so I could not tell him of the pain I felt.

"I am fine, I only need to sit for a while," I lied. He helped me over to the table in the room just outside the bedchamber. He eased me into a chair that had an extra bar between the legs, it reminded me of a step. Legolas. This must be his chair. It was slightly raised, so he might be able to reach the table and a small step so he could climb into it himself; clever of the carpenter who made it.

"Tell me more about these nightmares of yours," I said, trying to get as much information out of him before he started asking questions about me.

"They never stop. I have tried every theory I have ever heard to end them, but they never cease," he sighed. Being king had its disadvantages: late meetings, annoying counsellors, constant threats, mountains of paperwork, the list went on and on. I knew of these disadvantages better than he thought.

We talked for another hour about royalty and the duties of it. I understood very clearly about what his father was to him, mine was the same way. All was going smoothly until he asked me again what Legolas had said at dinner last night.

"My lord, would you really ask me to betray your own son's confidence?" I said in mock disbelief. Of course King Thranduil would rather know than have a secret between his son and an elf he hardly knew. Thranduil scoffed at my question, he thought I was serious!

"My lord, if I may suggest an arrangement," I said. He raised a bushy eyebrow at me. "I will tell you if or when the subject comes up. Does that sound fair?" He just grunted and nodded ever so slightly.

"So tell me more of your task, Miniel. Tarawen tells me you have been hunting orcs along the border," it was a question disguised as a request. If I didn't answer honestly, I would be in deep trouble.

"Yes, I have been raiding their camps just inside the tree line. They have been growing in number as well as size lately, and I fear they have something terrible planned."

"When you say raiding..."

"I mean only that I enter their camp under the curtain of night, just before dawn when they are asleep. I quietly cut as many of their throats as I can before one sounds the alarm. I then ride off faster than they can follow, and return to a different camp the next night and repeat the process." I look away, it's hard to share my objectives with the very person that was never supposed to find out.

Thranduil only looks at me. His gaze is not harsh, but sympathetic. As if he knew my struggles better than I knew them. We sit for a moment in silence, but he is the one who breaks it.