Our Song Lives On

Death

Legolas was six when a new threat arose in the north. Thranduil spent long days in his office, planning if he wanted to be involved, and if so, how. It was a letter from Elrond asking for a joint attack that helped Thranduil make up his mind. Thranduil tried his best to keep Eluriel from finding out, even suggesting that she take Legolas to Rivendell.

But Eluriel didn't fall for his tricks. The minute Legolas went to bed, she would visit her husband's office. She bothered him for days until he caved in, and an entire month for her to convince him to let her come along.

Once the plan was set, Thranduil and Eluriel spent all their time with Legolas, making sure he knew his parents loved him. Their goodbye with him was long and sad, and Thranduil urged Eluriel to change her mind, to stay with their son. Eluriel took a long look at Legolas, but it had the opposite effect. She wanted a part of this fight to personally ensure a future for her son.

Eluriel took her husband's hand and took a long look at him as well. Thranduil was the best fighter Greenwood had ever seen, and Ellie was second. If he was going to fight dragons in the North, then she would fight with him. She let go and picked up Legolas, hugging him tight. She held his hand, feeling at peace with his small, warm hand in hers. Ellie pressed his head to her chest, smelling and memorizing his scent. She didn't know it would be the last time.

Legolas stood tall near Fenrir, watching his parents lead away a large troop of soldiers. Halfway to the North, the Greenwood army came across Rivendell's, and they marched forward together. They saw the dragons first, circling the hill like vultures. The elvish army split into platoons, spreading around the land. Thranduil made Euriel stay with the troop that was farthest from Mt. Gundabad as he and Elrond led their troops forward.

The dragons saw them first, and swooped down upon them, beating their wings and roaring currents of fire. Eluriel wanted to charge forward, but was distracted by Warg attacks. The other two battalions had thinned some as they reached the hill, and called for backup.

Eventually they'd all made it inside, keeping in the orcs that wanted to wreck the world. The elf army was large, but the Orcs kept coming. At some point they found the cesspit from which the creatures kept coming, and assigned their archers to destroy it. Finally there was one building left, both orcs and elves thinned by now. The ruin allowed little cover from the dragons that now seemed more.

One winged beast had seemed to target the elven king. It followed him from every direction, using both fire and claws against him. Thranduil fought back, keeping up better than any normal elf could, but he was faltering still. Eluriel had her attention on the dragon as she fought her way to her husband. She could tell the dragon was gathering for a final blow. She yelled for Elrond, alerting him as she made to Thranduil.

Thranduil put up his shield as the dragon belt out a torrent of fire, but it wasn't good enough. Suddenly, he was launched out the way, and he screamed more than he had when he was burning in the fire when he saw Eluriel take his place. The king thrashed under Elrond, the fire on his face the least of his concerns. He was safe, but he'd rather be in that orange pool that drowned his life.

"Retreat!" Elrond's scream was faint in Thranduil's ear.

A few elves picked up their king and ran him back to the camp across, but he'd left his heart in Gundabad. Thranduil let go, having no energy or reason to live.

They took him to Rivendell, treating his burns. They kept him for months, but they couldn't heal his true wounds. They even brought him a visitor from Greenwood, the boy who embodied his love, but Thranduil didn't turn.

He hated them. He especially hated Elrond, who took his love from him. When he remembered, he raged, struggling against his bonds to send Elrond to bring her back, or to send himself to her. Once he was empty, he rode back to Greenwood without a word. No one knew when the king came back, not even the prince.

Elrond rode out after his friend, but he would rather have attended his funeral. Thranduil threw everything he could reach at the elf he blamed for killing her, taking his life from him. What he didn't throw, he drank.

Elrond arranged a lament for the queen, which Thranduil attended only to announce a statue in her memory. Everything else about her he took away and locked in her ancestral halls. He didn't even stay for his son.

Legolas stood silently in the sidelines, watching his father who once loved him forget everything that wasn't Eluriel. He found comfort in his friend, who'd lost her father in the war that had took his mother. But even Tauriel couldn't make him stay in Greenwood a second more. When Elrond came for him, he went.