An Unexpected Romance

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

They threw us in the dungeons, stripping us of the very few possessions they hadn't taken in Mirkwood.

After much fighting, a punch thrown in here and there, and a few bitten elves, they let me keep my locket.

"Why do you care so much about the damn thing?" Kili asked, watching me struggle with the guards. "Just give it up!"

"No!" I told him. "I won't!"

One of the Elves shoved me hard into a cell. The momentum propelled me into a stone wall before I could stop. My shoulder cracked and I let out a deep groan.

I heard the cell door slam behind me and I knew that any attempt to escape would be pointless. These were no Orc dungeons. These were the halls of the Woodland Realm. The halls of King Thradriul.

I heard many of the others trying to break their cell doors off the hinges or crack the bars.

"There's no point!" I yelled to them. "These are Elvish dungeons, not the holding cells of Orcs or Goblins."

"Don't you worry, lassie!" Dwalin called. "I'll have us out in no time."

I just scoffed and shook my head. "Idiots."

"Ariel is right!" That was Balin. "Settle in, boys. We may be here for a while."

I was resting my back against the stone wall when I subconsciously reached up for my necklace.

"What is it?" Asked the elf.

"Personal!" I yelled.

And it was.. very personal. With a click, the two parts of the locked sprung open, revealing what was hidden within. On one side, there was a small drawing of my parents. On the other, it was an image of me. A very, very long time ago, while rummaging through the aftermath of a deadly orc raid. Trodden into the blood-soaked dirt, it was the chain I had seen so often around my mother's neck. I'd kept it, thinking I would give it back to her when I found her.

When I couldn't find her.. I kept it. I'd wandered for hours, lost and afraid. I was surrounded by strangers in a place I didn't know. I was terrified.

Two days later, after searching through the entire town numerous times, I'd learned that my parents had been captured defending the armory. They'd been found just outside the town walls, dead. I hadn't been allowed to see the bodies, but the Master of the town had presented me with my father's sword as a thanks for my parent's bravery.

I'd kept that sword with me ever since. It was a broad sword with a left-handed grip and an inscription etched into the flat of the blade.

"We are the few, the brave, the Dwarves."

I'd built the foundation of all beliefs off of this sword. My father had taught me the meaning of honor and how to always be brave. To my father, bravery wasn't charging into stupid situations and pretending not to be afraid. It was knowing when something was dangerous, being afraid, and doing it anyways. Doing it because it's right. We do what we do because of who we are, because it runs in our blood and our very bones.

Thorin had kept those beliefs strong and burning within me all these years. As soon as he'd heard about my parents' death, he rushed to collect me. I was.. oh, nine? Thorin had raised me with my fathers morals and kept me good.

I was jarred from my thoughts by a clang on the bars of my cell.

"C'mon." Snapped a grumpy looking elf. "The King wants a word with you.

I glared at him skeptically. "Why me? Why not Balin or Thorin?"

He just looked irritated. "He is interrogating Oakenshield as we speak. Look, you can come with me or I can drag you. I don't really care."

Angrily, I pushed myself off the floor and stood as straight as I could. The elf let me out of my cell and lead me up many stairs and down many corridors. Finally, we came to a set of grand, golden doors. We waited for a moment, and then they opened. Thorin was brought out, being held by several guards.

"Give them nothing." Thorin mumbled as he passed by. "Nothing."

I nodded and set my shoulders back. Nothing.

Thorin was out of sight, and the elf holding me marched us through the grand doors.

The Elven King was sat down on his throne, his dark eyes piercing into me.

"I understand.." He began slowly. "That you are the adoptive daughter of Thorin Oakenshield."

He said the name like it was a foul taste on his tongue.

"Does that make me worth something?" I said dryly.

"Hardly." Said Thranduil. "But I have to believe that you may be more.. Reasonable than Oakenshield."

I barley stifled a laugh. "Reasonable?"

The King stood and strode towards me, his lean figure almost twice the size of mine.

"Your Prince has denied me what is rightfully mine." His words were clear, deliberate. He seemed to be almost analyzing me as he spoke. "There are gems in that mountain which belong to me and to me alone. I want them back." He nearly spat.

"And you think I can give them to you?"

"I think you can reason with Oakenshield."

I didn't bother hiding my laughter this time.

"No one reasons with Thorin." I told Thranduil. "He does what he wants and we back him all the way."

"So you would let your company sit in a dungeon and rot because of the stubbornness of one prince throwing a temper tantrum?" the King scoffed.

With determination, I stood up straight and locked eyes with Thranduil.

"Yes."