Once Upon A Dream | on hold |

Chapter Five: Fading light

"Life is for the living.

Death is for the dead.

Let life be like music.

And death a note unsaid."

- Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems

The orc drew in a last breath that was full of wheezing and then stilled, the unsettling smile still playing on his lips. Arielle started shaking all over and took in sharp breaths. She had just heard the most frightening thing imaginable, she knew she needed to calm down so she could warn the others but she couldn't calm herself.

Legolas was immediately in front of her, "Arielle, look at me. Its fine, they're dead." He wiped away the tears that she hadn't known had fallen from her eyes. " We need to get back, there might be-"

Arielle wriggled free from him and started running as fast as her feet would carry her to her home.

Would she be too late? Would she even have a home anymore?

She pushed the horrible thought to the back of her mind and kept running, Legolas caught up to her and grabbed her arm causing her to stop.

"Arielle, there might be more, we need to be careful!"

"No!" She gasped between heavy breaths, "We need to warn them!"

She turned to start running again but Legolas held his grip.

"Warn?" He asked. " Did you understand what they said?"

Arielle nodded quickly, " Its a long story." she said with a wave of her hand. " But we have to go!" She pulled free and this time Legolas ran beside her.

"What did they say?" He finally asked after the trees were starting to thin out.

"He said that we would all be dead by morning." Arielle said grimly.

" A surprise attack." If it wasn't for the fear building in her chest making her feel like she couldn't breath, she would have rolled her eyes at him pointing out the obvious.

With a new sense of urgency, Legolas sprinted ahead of her with a speed she had never seen from him before. She did her best to speed up to him and was close enough to touch him by the time the entrance to Greenwood came into view. The guards eyed them curiously but stepped aside for their Prince.

"Where is the King?" Legolas asked as they both came to a sudden stop.

" In the Great Hall, my Prince." One of them answered.

Legolas nodded and he pulled Arielle along with him as the ran to the Great Hall. Arielle tried to focus on the sound of their feet hitting the stone beneath them, the worrying thoughts were clolecting lnside her mind like a grey cloud ready to unleash its plunder upon the earth.

They rounded the corner and they were faced to the Great Hall. A long table made of strong oak laid in the middle, a meal laid upon, still steaming. There her mother and King Thranduil sat, awaiting their childern and talking happily. They were both smiling and it had been awhile since she had seen her mother or Thranduil actually look entirely happy. It killed her inside that this moment would end, that their happiness would be replaced by worry. She didn't have to glance at Legolas to know that he felt the same.

Just as she had dreaded, when the two at the head of the table saw the panic in their children's eyes the smiles quickly disapeared from their faces.

" Whats wrong?" Thranduil and Eremelda asked at the same time, and stood up from their chairs.

" The orcs, they intend to attack us tonight."

"Orcs? what orcs? how do you know this?" Eremelda asked as her eyes darted from between her daughter and Legolas.