Daughter of The Darkness

Chapter 34

"Tell me!" demanded Elfreda. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the cup that she was holding like a constricting snake killing its prey. She wanted to scream and cause havoc in the palace of Thranduil, destroying the eerily sense of quiet and peace. However, Elfreda knew she was better than that, and besides she had to keep up the distraction so that Bilbo could free the dwarves.

"The story of Legolas' death was... necessary to get you away from here." King Thranduil said bluntly. Elfreda glared at him, pushing back the tears with her hatred for the elvish king.

"He was my closest friend! So you decided to send me away to what? Make him what... better?" she asked, her harsh tone breaking between each sentence. Thranduil remained completely emotionless as he stood watching Elfreda's hate and anger pour out of her like a waterfall.

"To make him stronger, to be a better king" he replied. Elfreda's mouth dropped. To make him a better king. Elfreda dropped her cup. It made the only sound in the silent room. Water splashed on the floor, covering her leather boots in pure water.

"He was spending too much of his time wandering around outside the forest when he should of been attending royal duties" continued Thranduil.

Bilbo had scurried round most of the palace and still he could not find any way to sneak thirteen loud dwarves out. He was wandering through a long corridor when he heard some familiar voices. He had found the rows upon rows of prison cells, mostly filled with his friends. Bilbo was wearing his ring and therefore was completely invisible to anyone around.

"Better stay out of their way until I find a way out," thought Bilbo. He heard someone coming so he quickly hid behind a post. As soon as the guard had left, Bilbo made a quick dash out of the cells. He was going to have to think of good plan to get them out of here.

Elfreda was fuming, Thranduil was deliberately pushing her over the edge. She stood there in front of the king with her hands on her hips, awkwardly trying to think of what to do next. Thranduil just stood and gazed off into the distance, occasionally taking a sip of his water. Elfreda breathed deeply and closed her eyes. She would not let the elvish king push her too far so that she would cause havoc and get thrown out of the halls. Elfreda would not do that to Bilbo-he trusted her to keep the king distracted. But the king had different ideas.

"I think you have outlived your stay, Daughter of Darkness, my guards will show you out," commanded Thranduil. Elfreda looked rather shocked, that was quick! She looked confused so Thranduil repeated his last statement.

"My guards will show you out, Daughter of Darkness"

Elfreda glared at the king.

"Elfreda, my name is Elfreda. I don't call you Burned Face do I?" she replied mockingly. Thranduil's eyes went hollow and dark. The horrific burns on his face slowly came back into view. Elfreda's spine tingled as the fleshy wounds grew until they covered at least half of his face.

"You might want to get that seen too, it could get worse." she said bluntly. But the king ignored her. He gestured with his arm towards a dark stair, spiralled stair case,

"Get out," he said "leave, before I change my mind" Elfreda nodded, knowing she had pushed it too far and followed the directions up the stair case.

Bilbo had snuck down another set of stairs. Just as he was about to sneak out he was almost knocked over by Elfreda who was storming out of the room. He was slightly taken aback but he refocused on his mission- Elfreda would be fine he thought.

Tauriel had been sent to report to her king. She lightly stepped down the spiral stair case. The flame haired elf almost bumped into a strange woman, she was no elf. This woman was young and dark blonde braided hair fell lightly over her shoulder; her eyes were a deep blue yet sad and angry. In this brief moment both Elfreda and Tauriel smiled at one another before passing each other and carried on to where they were going but both knew an amount of trust was gained in that split second.