My Guiding Starlight (Thranduil x OC)

Prologue

As my bare foot stuck on something, I opened my arms and my left wing to not tumble and fall on the ground. Once I gathered my balance, I continued to run. Looking back, I could see those disgusting creatures still following me, their vile shouts and laughs echoing around me. After climbing up a little hill, I noticed the start of a big forest right in front of me. The trees looked old and wise, surrounding both North and South, only separated by a river that I had been following since my escape. After a short moment's rest, I continued to run. My right wing was dragging on the floor. It was broken and was sending agonizing pain through my body. But I had to continue. I could not stop now. I needed to-

I heard a whooshing sound followed by a thud and a hurting feeling on my left shoulder. In pain, I yelped and collapsed on the ground. Before I could pull myself up and continue running, the creatures were already on top of me. One of them stepped on my broken right wing, making me scream in anguish as jolts of pain travelled along my body. It didn't take long before they bound my hands and ankles. My mouth got stuffed with a dirty brown cloth as they started to use their clubs to beat me. I could hold on for so long before passing out into blissful darkness.

---

I was patrolling the east side of my adar's halls when I heard the scream. It sounded feminine and filled with pain. That was all I needed to start running towards the sound. My feet carried me on the soft dirt effortlessly as I raced with the wind. I hoped to hear the female's voice once more so I could pinpoint where it came from, but my hopes were in vain. Instead, I followed my instincts and ran near the river, following it while searching the horizon with my sharp eyes.

It didn't take me long to find the troublesome scene. I saw an orc pushing a woman's head into a rather large and dirty sack. I couldn't see anything but her slightly dirty grey hair. But that was enough for me to grab my bow and aim at the vile creatures. There were a dozen of them. Shouldn't be a problem...

My arrow flew and embedded itself in the closest creature's forehead. The second arrow followed its friend and landed on another orc. The scream the creature let out was enough to make them all turn in my direction. But by the time they charged at me, I had already downed two more of them. While three of them pulled out their own bows, two grabbed the brown sack and started to run away with it. Like it was something very important and they needed to take it back to their master at all costs. I could see it in their twisted eyes—they were ready to sacrifice themselves over their prized possession.

This only made me wonder what was in it. Or rather, who? But I couldn't focus on that now. A black arrow flew past my head as I dove at the last second. I quickly moved to the side and sent arrow after arrow to the archers. The remaining seven were too close for me to use my bow. So I put it away and grabbed my knives. I gracefully spun and danced around the orcs, using my weapons for what they were made for: killing.

I cut the last orc's head clean off of his shoulders before stopping in my tracks. My blades, armour, and arms were covered with black blood. But that was not what I was worried at that moment. I was worried about the female in the sack that the orcs have captured. Looking up, it didn't take me long to see their distant figures. They were running towards East, away from my ada's woods. I couldn't let them get away.

The good thing is that they weren't that far away, and their cargo was slowing them down significantly. I grabbed my bow and put an arrow in it. Pulling its string, I aimed at one of the orcs. I held my breath for a split second before releasing the arrow. It went out, flying in the air effortlessly and finding its place on the orc's back. He fell down with a squeal, causing the other orc to lose his balance and fall down right next to his friend's corpse. The sack followed gravity and fell on top of the orc. He yelped slightly and started to struggle to free himself.

Proud of my shot, I quickly ran towards them. I put my knives back in their respective places and grabbed my dagger from its sheath. By the time I reached them, the orc on the ground was about to free himself from the assumingly heavy weight. But feeling my dagger on his throat, he stopped all of his struggles and looked up at me with pure hatred in his yellow eyes, growling.

"Tell me, creature, how does a handful of orcs find the courage to come near the Elvenking's woods?" I spit out my dislike. His vile smell was enough to make me feel sick. But I kept my mask on my face, like many times I observed my adar do. The creature growled but didn't answer at first. I pushed my dagger more into his neck, drawing black blood from the small cut. He hissed in pain and gave a malicious smirk.

"You do not scare me, elfling. You will watch your pretty trees burn when my master-" I didn't want to listen the rest. He was not going to give me any information. So with a swift movement, I slit his throat.

The orc coughed up and drowned in his own blood, dying slowly. But once he was dead, I moved towards the sack on top of him. I quickly grabbed it and dragged it to the side, being very careful not to harm the one inside of it. It was heavier than I first assumed, like I was carrying two people. And there were no sounds coming from it. Which made me worry: was I too late? Oh Valar, please tell me I was not too late.

I used my dagger to cut open the brown fabric, letting the evening air fill inside and allow whoever was inside the crumpled-up space to breathe. I heard the person's laboured breathing and exhaled a sigh of relief. However, I didn't let this small victory stop me. She could be severely injured. For that, I continued to free her from the big sack as well as the ropes around her wrists, cutting them. When I placed my hands under her armpits and pulled her out of the cloth, I gasped in shock and let her slip down onto the ground with a soft thud.

The woman in front of me had wings! A beautiful pair of feathery black wings. Black as the night sky. There were certain areas where it appeared to have stars in it, shining lightly, and large enough to reach all the way down to her feet. But they looked dirty and covered with blood. Some were black, and some were red—hers, I assume. I noticed how crooked her right wing looked. It was staying at an unnatural angle behind her back. I deduced that it was possibly broken. There were bruises, cuts, and deep wounds all around her body. Her hair that looked grey from distance now revealed itself a dirty white, messy and tangled with dried blood and dirt. Her nose looked broken, and her upper lip was bleeding. She was wearing just a simple dirty grey dress, which looked more like a stitched cloth piece to cover up a small part of her body, leaving her arms and legs below her knee exposed. I averted my gaze and my eyes spied her pointed ears, which made my astonishment grew more. What was she? Who was she?

It took me a few minutes to come back to mysenses. No matter who she was, she was clearly an elf, and was severelyinjured. She needed to be seen by healers. And that was what I was going to do.