Beauty and the Beast | Thranduil x Reader

Chapter 8

The forest was dark and the trees felt like they were pressing in on you. The further you ran, branches tearing at your dress and scratching your cheek, the worse you started to feel. The more turned around and lost you became. The suffocating weight of the forest itself came back, settling over you like a heavy, uncomfortable blanket. Tears were blurring your vision as you continued to fight your way through trees and bushes, stumbling out somewhere along a path. You briefly wondered where the spiders were, memories of your journey to this wretched place coming back to you. The thoughts were pushed from your mind by the memory of the King. He'd been so angry and you had been so scared. And his face... you shook the image away, focusing on the woods around you. You wished you had been able to steal a horse but you would have to manage on foot.

You felt like you were running for ages when you eventually came to a stop but you had as much sense of time as you did direction. None. For a moment, you just stood where you were, trying to get your bearings but it seemed impossible as everything just looked the same. You had no idea which direction led back to your village and you had no idea where the spiders nested. You were tired, having spent all day tying stupid sheets together and in a high state of anxiety... which hadn't been helped by Thranduil finding you poking around in the West Wing. Your thoughts turned briefly to Myleth and the others, wishing you had listened to their warnings. You found that you wished you had been able to say goodbye but you pushed that to the back of your mind. You needed to focus, you had to find your way back to the village. Your father must be going out of his mind with worry.

As you looked around, you started to become aware of noises a short distance ahead. With a frown, you moved and parted the foliage, peering between the branches and the leaves. It was dark, being late in the night by now and the forest seeming to be a dark place in general, so you couldn't quite make out the source of the noise right away. When you did, your blood ran cold.

Orcs.

A group of about five of them were lurking between the trees, a short distance away, talking amongst themselves in a language you couldn't understand. Still, the words made you shiver. You could see their weapons glinting through the dark and your heart started to hammer in your chest in fear as you backed away. Silence was paramount and you moved slowly, carefully... but it wasn't enough as your foot came into contact with a fallen twig, the loud snapping sound seeming to echo through the night.

A silence fell and you knew they were listening now, waiting, trying to ascertain what had made the noise. Then you heard them moving, the shapes of them suddenly springing through the foliage towards you, snarling and wielding their weapons aloft. You might have screamed but you couldn't be sure. One lunged at you and, without giving it too much thought, you grabbed a thick fallen branch from the ground and did your best to use it to defend yourself. You got one blow in and fended off the sword once before it was split in half and the pieces tumbled to the ground. The orcs grinned menacingly at you as all of them now began to advance, seeing the easy kill right before their eyes.

This was it. You were about to die.

There was a sudden rush of noise from the bushes on your right. A thunder of hooves and a clash of steel saw Thranduil appear from the undergrowth and dismount gracefully from his horse at speed, drawing his blade in the same moment. As you watched, he placed himself between you and the group of orcs, sword in hand. He started swinging instantly, attacking the creatures with a graceful skill that you had never seen before in your entire life. You stood, stunned, as he fought the orcs back. You were still reeling from how close you had come to death and now the King was here in front of you, saving your life.

One of the orcs got around him and started to come for you again but Thranduil was quicker, spinning and taking the creature down. His eyes met yours briefly as the orc fell and you stood, staring back at him in shock. The moment lasted a few seconds before the remaining orc rushed up on him from behind, sinking a dagger deep into the King's shoulder. He let out a pained sound, forcing himself into a full body swing, his sword cutting the orc's head from its shoulders. His chest heaved as he caught his breath, staring at the remains of the orcs around you both. He turned slowly, facing you again, but in only a moment he was falling. He landed hard on his knees, gritting his teeth in pain. He hadn't been able to don his armour before he left the halls and the dagger had pierced him deep... and he could already feel the poison that had been on the blade working its way into his system.

You, on the other hand, had taken the opportunity to turn back to the horse he had chased after you on, taking hold of its reins and readying yourself to jump onto the saddle and get the hell out of here once and for all. However, your feet wouldn't move as you stood there, tightly clutching the reins. Your head felt heavy and your thoughts were tangled and confused. You could hear the King behind you, breathing shaky, and found yourself glancing over your shoulder. He had his eyes closed. You looked once more from him, to the horse, and back again... making a decision.

When you stepped back towards him, he opened his eyes, surprise written all over his features. He was frowning and you knew that he had expected you to get on that horse and leave... but you found that you couldn't. Truthfully, it wasn't in you, to leave him there injured as he was, after he had saved you from certain death, no matter how he had treated you.

"You have to stand..." You told him gently, knowing that you weren't able to lift him onto the horse yourself but you knew from the look of him, the fact his arm now seemed to be going limp, that he wouldn't be able to ride himself... and you didn't know if he had the strength to make it back to the palace alone. You didn't know that the blade had been laced with poison, none of the attacks on your own village in the past ending that way, and you knew he was an elf King - warrior, even, from the looks of it - but it wasn't in you to turn and leave him. Especially after he saved you.

After a long moment in which he simply stared at you, Thranduil nodded. You reached out carefully for his uninjured arm, not sure if you could really do much to help, but he didn't object as he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand.