Beginnings of a Prince

Chapter 3: Kidnap

In elven culture whether you were royalty or not, there was no question that you were the one to raise your children. To abandon or be neglectful to an elfling was considered one of the most shameful and revolting things an elf could do. Elflings are precious gifts from the Valar and quite rare since Elves are immortal. So it wasn't often one was blessed by the Valar with children. But if you are, you receive one of the purest beings to walk Middle Earth as well as very sensitive. Their sensitivity left them very susceptible to hate, neglect, or anything emotionally or physically harmful, so taking care of your elfling was of the utmost importance.

However this was so far no problem for Thranduil and Lorrain, who even with all their royal duties, required very little assistance with their precious little Legolas. Though after two tiring weeks had passed both parents were very exhausted. Legolas was a very good baby but he naturally required a lot of attention and the late night feedings and changes were a strain on the royal parents. But neither Lorraine or Thranduil would give away their blessed bundle of joy for anything. He was their sun, moon, and stars and he made their immortal lives have true meaning and purpose.

At the moment Lorraine was in Legolas's nursery giving him his mid-afternoon feeding and sitting in the rocking chair. As she did so she lovingly looked at her child, happy to have the little leaf close to her.

"What would your Ada and I do without you ion-nin?" Lorraine asked herself as she finished up feeding her son.

Soon Legolas unlatched from Lorraine's breast and started to fall asleep, but Lorraine quickly burped him before not wanting him to get a stomachache. Then after a few minutes of Legolas being asleep Thranduil walked into the nursery.

"How are my son and wife-"

Lorraine quickly shooshed her husband so he wouldn't wake up Legolas, making Thranduil stop dead in his tracks.

"...doing today?" Thranduil finished quietly.

"Well now that you're quiet, we're fine, thank you."

Thranduil and Lorraine then shared a kiss, happy to see one another.

"Could you please hold him, Melethron? I've held him for so long and my arms are getting a little sore." Lorraine asked, quite exhausted from constant caring for Legolas

Thranduil's eyes lit up like stars as he gladly took his tiny son in his arms. As soon as he was in his ada's arms the babe immediately snuggled into them, drawn to his ada's warm comforting chest.

"Nothing has been as big of a blessing from the Valar such as you ion-nin." Thranduil whispered into his son's ear and kissed him gently on the head.

The rest of the evening went as usual, they had dinner together, spent time as a family, and Lorraine and Thranduil eventually put their little prince to bed together. All was peaceful and as it was supposed to be, or so they thought.

It was quiet in the palace and nearly everyone who lived there was asleep except the soldiers who had the night guard. All thought they were safe and sound but unbeknownst to them there was a threat just outside Legolas's window.

It was midnight and all seemed calm, but silently a small pack of Orcs attempted to sneak into Legolas's nursery through the back window. The pack had been sent by their hoard to kidnap the infant prince so they could take him back to their camp.

They were planning to use the prince for ransom hoping to get a large sum of treasure from the king and queen of Mirkwood. So far they had managed to knock out a small group of soldiers that guarded the eastern border, sneak undetected through the kingdom, and climb up to the elfling prince's window.