You Must Have Faith

Chapter Seventeen

Vera realized that night what it meant to be at peace with a person.  Her and Thranduil both sat in silence for the remainder of the night, eyes open and staring at the stars.  Though they were not sleeping, they were resting, and by the time the sun rose they both had reached a level of rejuvenation that neither of them had gotten in months.  Not a word was spoken; as soon as the sun began to rise they departed from the lake and disappeared into their own rooms to get ready for the day.

Vera hummed to herself as she got dressed, happily striding about her room.  Haldir came to her mind as she looked at her red clothes, but instead of letting the smile fall from her face, it became larger.  She dressed, shifted, and padded silently out of her room, wandering about the massive palace.  She scaled the pillars, crawling around the ceiling until she reached the throne room.  Thranduil was standing beside a massive wooden table, discussing the training of his men with his captains.  Vera grinned to herself.

She crawled so that she was directly behind Thranduil, and dropped.  She landed silently, padding up next to him and standing up on her rear legs, placing her front paws on the edge of the table.  The captains glared at her, Thranduil merely grinned and turned back to the table.

"They need to understand that these are not ordinarily stupid orcs, they are Uruk-hai, and as such are not to be messed with."  Thranduil stated, his tone leaving no room for argument.  Vera, realizing that she needed to be a part of the conversation, stood back from the table and shifted, coming back to stand beside Thranduil.

"Your men need to be prepared to fight trolls, and goblins.  The trolls won't be too hard, they will be hampered by the trees.  Your men can attack from above, jump down from the branches.  The problem is the goblins.  They can climb the trees as well, so the men will need to be prepared to fend off attacks from the trees."

She rattled off her strategy, pointing at the various maps as she did so.  A thought suddenly struck her, and she looked up; ignoring the stares from the captains.

"Do your men know how to fight in trees?"

"To an extent."  One of the captains, Captain Aldor she thought, answered her.  "They know how to climb and hide in them, and we use them as vantage points for the archers, but they don't know how to exchange sword-play while in their branches."

Vera nodded thoughtfully.

"I will teach them.  I have decades of experience fighting in trees, and my natural abilities with my animal will aid me further.  I will train them in the art of tree-fighting, if it is agreeable to you?"

They murmured in Sindarin for a moment, unaware of the fact that she could understand them, and then turned back to her.

"Very well, you may."  Aldor told her.  She nodded her thanks, and the meeting continued.

***

Vera stood before Thranduil's army, dressed in full armor and fully armed.  The troops had been told to wear their lightest set of armor, and bring training swords.  This they had done, and now they stood before her expectantly.

"I am here to teach you how to fight in the trees.  Our enemies will doubtless be able to do this, and it is best to be prepared before a goblin catches you incapable.  You will pair off in the branches and fight, I will be supervising.  Preferably you will go two pairs at a time, so that I will be able to instruct you properly and still train everyone in a timely fashion.  Once you get a feel for the trees, I will let you know our next course of action.  Until then, you will follow my instructions regarding this exercise.  Now,"  she leaped up into the trees, "you and you, and you and you, pair up and climb into these sets of branches."

The four she selected did so.

"Fight."  Was all she said, and the four began to spar.  Less than a minute later, they were all on the ground.  Vera shook her head in amusement, leaping down in their midst.

"You are all so stiff, loosen up!  Let your bodies relax, it will be easier that way.  Alright you four, back into the trees and do it again."

Again, they fell.

"Again."

They fell.

"Again."

The third time they fell, Vera growled in exasperation.  She pointed at one of the younger warriors, one that hadn't been in the service long.

"You, up here.  You're going to be my test dummy, I'm going to spar and you will be the example."

The elf climbed up, holding his sword at the ready. 

"Fight." 

The man came at her as if he was still on the ground, walking much too uprightly and poised.  Vera dodged and shoved him, sending to the ground.  He climbed back up, looking confused.  Vera shook her head.

"The main thing I'm noticing, is that you are all so upright and stiff, you are not allowing yourselves to move with the tree.  I'm going to charge at him, watch what I do."

She charged at him, leaping off of branches to get around behind him and bring her sword to his neck.  She held for a second, disengaging and coming back around in front of him.

"You see, I used my terrain in my favor.  The tree can help you immensely, you just have to know how to use it.  If you walk along it like you're walking on a road, you're dooming yourself to failure.  But, if you are, in a nutshell, catlike, you will be able to bend the tree to your will and use it to do what you want."

The men nodded in understanding, and Vera put them back to work.  By the end of the day, they were fairly accomplished tree fighters, though none of them could match Vera.  She moved as if gravity did not have a hold on her, she put them in awe of her abilities at every turn.  She left them on the field, leaving them in the charge of their captains, although she would continue to work with them for the next two weeks; at least that was the plan.  No one was sure if they would have that much time, but they planned as if they would.

Thranduil met her in the halls as she walked to her room, falling into step with her.

"How did you fare with my men?"

"Fine, I suppose.  Their ineptitude was not ideal, but should we have at least a week's time, if not the full two weeks, I have complete faith that they will be competent by the time they must use their skills."

He nodded thoughtfully, walking in silence for a moment.

"And are you prepared?"

She turned to look at him, frowning slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"You know.  Will you face her?"

Her face drained of its color, her features setting as stone.

"I will do what is required."

And with that statement, she shut the door of her room, quickly disrobing and falling into her bed.

A/N:  Well guys, there is chapter seventeen!  We are just about on schedule chapter-wise, I'll give you a little hint about what's to come.  Chapter twenty marks the beginning of the action, it should go at least to chapter twenty-five, with what I've got planned.  I'm thinking about going into First Person POV for the battles, it'll be easier to switch between Thranduil and Vera that way.  What do you guys think, will that be alright?  I'm thinking that this book will be at least thirty-five chapters, maybe forty if I can manage it properly.  I'm looking forward to what's to come, I think it's going to be great and I can't wait to show you guys what's up.  Comment what you guys thought of this chapter, and vote if you liked it.  Love you guys!