runando ~ A Thranduil Story

Revelations

"Duvainion, I suggest that you pray to Illuvatar, because if you keep acting up like this, I'm going to toss you in that river and drown you with my own hands, understood?" Laineth kept her voice low but the amount of poison on her words suggested that she was in a hideously bad mood and should not be messed with.

This was understandable, it was late at night and both her and Duvainion had been walking for days through the thick wooded forest of Greenwood. To add to the pain, Duvainion was beginning to act up again, like an insolent child whose toys had been taken away and was now throwing a tantrum over it. He was elbowing and kicking Laineth, who stood behind him, constantly urging him along. While she certainly didn't injure easily, a gift passed down from one of her parents, she was certain that she would have a few decent bruises by the time she returned to Thranduil's halls. The fight she'd had early on with Duvainion had already spawned a black eye and a few decent purple-blue bruises on her stomach and face.

In a huff, Duvainion responded, "I doubt even Illuvatar will save me now."

With a roll of her eyes, Laineth nudged him along, walking past the river. This was a good sign, the only river that she knew of in the Greenwood was the one that ran just before the gates to Thranduil's caverns. She remembered the sound of it very fondly, even if it was when she was the most anxious she had been in centuries. She knew what he had done to become such an enemy to Thranduil, although it was highly doubtful that the King even knew his name.

He would certainly know his face, though.

|\|\|\|\|

"Maethon," Talion called from among the throng of soldiers that had been sent out to search for the kidnapper and his hostage.

"Hush, Talion," Norgon answered back to him, "You must be quiet, otherwise we'll be giving our position away." Then, he ushered everyone further along from the front of the group, joined by Maethon.

Talion frowned but did as he was told, he couldn't just snap back at one of his superiors. Norgon of all people will never let him live it down. He's probably one of the few captains who take laying a formal complaint to the King seriously. Old and professional, that's Norgon in a nutshell alright.

While the rest of the men marched forward, Talion stayed put, glaring at a piece of fabric caught on a tree branch. No one else had seen it, and since Norgon had told him to stay quiet, all he could do was just sit there until someone noticed that he wasn't moving and actually requested him to speak.

It wasn't until Maethon had finished his head count as they passed over the bridge that he spun around, noticing that there was one missing.

"Talion!" He called, completely disregarding Norgon's previous warning, "What are you doing? Let's go!"

The younger soldier turned to face Maethon, "Captain," He reached down and picked up the small piece of lace, "Does this look somewhat familiar to you?" Raising it up to the Captain's eyes, both Talion and Maethon studied it for a moment before Norgon came along and snatched it right out of Talion's grip.

"Looks like the trim from the bottom of Laineth's dress, don't you think?" Maethon turned to Norgon, who was now eyeing it carefully.

"Possibly, but she couldn't have been on this path, the guards patrolling it have doubled over the past few days. She would've been captured by now," He replied, handing the lace to one of his trackers, who began to try and pick up some sort of trail from it.

"Perhaps it was picked up by the wind, captain," Talion pointed out, pointing further into the forest, where it grew dark.

Giving each other a curious look, Norgon and Maethon trudged into the woods a bit while Talion called out to his companions to come back and follow. Norgon knelt down on the leaf covered ground, it was descending into autumn, so the leaves had a certain crunch to them.