The Ghost Warrior [Legolas Fan Fic]

Chapter Five

This is once again a short chapter. It's the step needed in order to advance to where the crap hits the fan in the next few chapters. I'm sorry that this is late, but I was on vacation for the majority of the past week and was not able to access this story at all (especially since it's saved on Word on my computer). At this rate I'm hoping to get the next chapter out by the end of the week because then everything gets real and I start being mean to Legolas (sorry pal). Look out for that and once again, I am sorry for the shortness of this chapter.

The morning was silent.

The birds were cooped up within the trees, withholding their songs from the sky.

The wind was missing, the waterfalls and rivers as smooth as glass.

The horses stood upright in the stalls, seemingly frozen in place.

The elves were not yet awake, the dawn still an hour away.

Except for three.

Two elves were working away in one of the smaller buildings, having risen earlier to get their chores done.

The other one, well, he rose for another purpose.

And soon, the crackling of flames could be heard.

Then the crackling became roaring.

Then the roaring became screaming.

And a bell rang in the blood red sky...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Three hours later the Lords, Lady, and Maiar were once again within the healing wing, the bodies of two ellyth before them on cold hard tables.

Both were relatively young, only a couple of decades past their majority. They had gotten up well before the rest of Imladris, wanting to finish their chores as quickly as they could. The small building that they were working in was the laundress's space. The girls had wanted to get their laundry done as early as possible so they would be able to go to the begetting day party of a friend later on.

However, the building was set aflame within the early hours of the day, appearing to be only minutes after they had arrived. From the damage that the building suffered, it would seem that someone had committed arson.

They young girls had been trapped inside by someone on the outside, and had perished within the fire. Their bodies were covered in third degree burns and had eventually collapsed from the heavy smoke.

It had taken Elrond and the other healers a while to identify who the young ellyth were due to the condition they were in. Eventually, they were able to conclude that the older one was the daughter of a minstrel, one of Lindir's partners, and the other was the youngest daughter of the stable master.

To say that they parents were upset was an understatement. Nothing can compare to the grief one feels after the death of their child, especially knowing that it was deliberately caused by another person and you were not able to save them.

It was a solemn group that arrived in the healing wing, and eventually they death of ones so young was too much to bear and they left, instead closing up within the library.

What was the hardest blow to the elders was that an elf who resided in Imladris had done this deed on purpose. They could only assume that the elf was an ally of the Ghost Warrior, possibly one of many, but they had no information to help back it up.

Glorfindel had ordered for the guard to tighten its security and had put more on duty than normal. The children were in the library as well with the elders, off in a corner playing some game or other.

The elves that were cleaning up the fire damage had been told to look for any kind of clue, and if they found something were expected to bring it to their attention immediately. They had only put those that they were able to trust on this team, for they feared now that there were elves in Imladris who wished to do harm and could not allow that to happen.

It was a grim group that waited for further news, hearts heavy with death and wariness.

For what now would come?