his exception

chapter thirty-two: war

Maethel rode for days until she reached the forest of Mirkwood. All seemed quiet and she knew she would soon be surrounded by their elvish guards. The words of her father rang in her head and stabbed her in the heart like a cold dagger. "I'm disappointed in you Maethel" the king of Mirkwood said, "you are my daughter and you betrayed my trust." 

"Why?"  She had retorted, "just because I am friends with a couple of dwarves? Father, when are you going to understand that they are my friends! I care about them as much as I care about you and our people! Why can't I just be myself?!"

"Because you are a threat to our kingdom! This... friendship of yours with these dwarves will cause your ruin! Don't you remember what happened to your mother?! Haven't you learned everything from our loss?!" 

"Mother was a hero! She ran into the battle against a dragon while you cowered behind safety ! She saved dozen of dwarfs' life!"

"And caused the death of many our best warriors! Your mother was a brave woman, but she was stubborn and reckless! And you are just like her! You can't even follow a simple order. I can't let you risk our people safety because of your stubbornness." Maethel paled when she heard these words. "You don't mean... you banish me?"

"I do."

Tears blurred Maethel's vision and she felt herself shaking. "But... But this is my home! I have always lived here! You cannot do that!"

"I'm the king of Mirkwood; he said with a fearful tone, I have ALL the rights to do it!"

"You banish me... just because I'm different from the others?" The features of her father seemed to soften a bit. "If I banish you, this is only for the sake of my people. You can say goodbye to Legolas, but then you will have to leave us once and for all. I'm sorry Maethel, but this is my duty as a king."  

She remembered her brother not stepping in and saying anything. Tears blurred her vision again. She wiped them away eagerly and as she went back on her steps, she heard a crunching noise. She notched an arrow and listened carefully. Suddenly, something jumped out of the bushes behind her with a loud scream. Maethel drew the arrow and turned around to see she was surrounded. One Ellon stood forward, "You shouldn't be here Maethel.." He spoke harshly. Maethel glared at him and walked closer until their noses almost touched. "Who are you to say, hmm? Who even are you?" She shot him a confused look. "Nobody important I see.."

She looked at him up and down before she turned to a nearby elleth and walked closer with a softer look. "Why are there so few of you? It is not safe for a group of five to guard our forests.." The younger elleth gave a small smile before she replied, "Your father took most the army to declare war on the Lonely Mounti-"

"The Lonely mountain? When did they leave?" She interrupted. "Not any longer than three days ago." Another elleth replied and Maethel turned to face her. "Tell any elleths you can find that are willing to fight to meet me at the front gates in half an hour, we're heading to the Lonely mountain to stop this war. Too much blood has been spilled already." The elleths nodded as they made their way back down the path. "That is an order from your princess." She glared at the ellon.

...

The world was dying. Deep down everyone knew this day was coming, even as they foolishly believed they had beaten the radiation and were bringing back life to the destroyed world and would maybe one day rebuild civilisation. 

The air was thick with dust and the rank of orc. Clangs and the clash of steel on steel rang around him, and King Thranduil let his sword fall again, and again, feeling it slice through warg and orc alike, indiscriminate between the two. "We can't hold them for much longer." He heard Feren shout over the noise of humans and Orcs. He didn't reply he just continued to fight his way through the hordes of enemy. A tidal wave of orc was upon them. Thranduil and Feren hacked their way through the latest batch.

The battlefield was full of screams from both sides and the Elven King himself was starting to lose hope. Hope looked lost until he saw something on the horizon. A long line of dots stationed on the horizon. Suddenly the dots drew closer and he could make the outline of people, elves in fact. The army of elves drew closer and Thranduil noticed they were all female. The army shot past him and held out their swords and started to swing them into the orcs hacking off their arms and limbs. The leader of the female elves turned around and they caught eyes for a second. She then turned back around, not wanting to look at her father anymore. She continued to fight.

The three front ranks of Elves he had been with were all around her, pinned to the ground with countless orc arrows. The ground looked like the carcass of a hedgehog, the blood had strange patches of dust floating on it, and insects were starting to arrive. The stench was like some thick liquid oozing over the ground around were she stood, not just blood and other body parts that should never see air, but some orcish filth on the arrows themselves, and there were arrows everywhere.

"To the city!" called Gandalf, "Maethel! This way!" They ran into the city and as it was stormed by orcs, they held their own against them as best they could. "Woah," breathed Maethel, looking at her dwarven friends carving their way through the army. "They're rallying to their king," Gandalf told her. She wanted to continue watching the dwarves fight but was prohibited to do so by the orcs who were once again streaming their way. "Gandalf!" They heard someone shout from behind them. "Legolas!" Gandalf called.

Maethel was busy looking her brother, the look on his face evident that he was shocked to see her alive and breathing. "They will attack Ravenhill," the wizard told her. "Huh?" Gandalf sighed, "I will ask Thranduil to dispatch forces to Ravenhill. The elves are their only chance."

"Naa rashwe?" (Is there trouble?)  Her brother asked the wizard. Gandalf stayed silent and was beginning to speak before Maethel interrupted him. "The dwarves are going to be overrun," Maethel realised and she looked at her brother. "I will warn them."

"Don't be ridiculous. You'll never make it."

"No, they won't. I've got plot convenience on my side, don't worry."

And so she made her way north to save her friends.