You Must Have Faith

Chapter One

Thranduil Third Person POV:

He had started his day as usual.  Getting up, allowing his servant to brush out his hair, getting dressed, placing his crown on his head and then heading to the throne room to hear the night watch's report.  He sat down and motioned for the Captain of the Guard to come forward, an elf named Vindar.  He bowed, and commenced with his report.

"There were no signs of orcs, My Lord, but something odd happened regarding some spiders.  They had found a sizable nest, and the leader of the patrol was giving his orders on how to attack, when they heard what sounded like a giant cat fighting.  By the time the sounds had died down and the patrol investigated, the entire nest was demolished, with spider carcasses everywhere, and there were giant paw-prints leading to and from the nest, though they left in a different direction than they came."

He sat in silence for a few minutes, then stood.

"Lead me to the place that this happened."

Soon, he was dismounting his elk at the battlefield in question.  He examined the ground thoroughly, his confusion rising by the minute.  He had never seen anything like this before, or even heard of anything like it.  He made up his mind quickly, and turned to the guards.

"Inform my son of the story of this place, bring him here and show it to him, and tell him that I have gone in pursuit of the creature and he is in charge while I am gone."

And with that, he leapt up onto his elk and sped off, following the retreating footprints into the depths of Mirkwood.  He soon had to slow down, however, because the footprints he was following were meandering, never staying in a straight line for long. 

He had been following it for two hours when he realized that the prints had suddenly stopped.  He looked around in bewilderment, looking up into the trees, when he was suddenly awestruck.  The prints stopped about five feet away from a tree.  Around twenty feet up the trunk, there were deep gash marks carved into it, with similar marks on a branch about ten feet higher up and to the left.  The sheer size the creature astounded him, he had never heard of a cat that big, in all of the centuries he had lived.

He knew he would never be able to track it through the trees now that it was airborne, but he headed in the general direction it had seemed to be going when it left the ground.  He was rewarded when he heard a low snarl coming from directly in front of him.  He quickly dismounted, ordering the elk to stay where it was before creeping forward, sword drawn, until he spotted another spider nest, this one even bigger than the last.  His keen elven eyes searched the shadows, scouring for his quarry, before a flash of luminous green caught his eye.  What he saw next astounded him, knocking him speechless.

A mountain lioness, six feet tall at the shoulder with a length to match, body lithe and muscular, with a beautiful golden pelt and luminescent green eyes.  The lioness prowled into the nest, looking around as if sizing up her targets; the spiders that were screeching at her.  She hissed in return, crouching low, tail lashing in preparation for the attack. 

The spiders attacked, and the lioness MOVED.

She lashed out, faster than any elf, despite its size.  Fierce snarls and growls erupted from her as she slayed her prey, executing swift and deadly moves, but in such a way that the movements almost seemed choreographed; as if it was a dance that was already planned out and was simply being followed.  The cat held her own easily, demolishing the spiders and the webs, when the unthinkable happened.

The dance became flawed.  The beast got caught in some webbing, only for a second, but that second was all the spiders needed.  One of them bit her paw, and another impaled her side with one of its legs.  The beautiful creature, tawny pelt now stained with its own blood, let out a roar that shook the trees and almost knocked Thranduil over. 

She seemed to be consumed by rage.  Heedless of the damage she was doing to herself, she ripped her paw from the spiders mouth, before whipping said paw into the side of the spiders head, breaking its skull open and killing it instantly.  Then she whirled around and ripped the leg that was impaling her out of her body and disconnected it from the spider that it was attached to, breaking free of the webbing and decapitating the last spider.

She stood still for a moment, breathing heavily, swaying on her legs.  Thranduil stepped forwards hesitantly, causing her to bring her head up and meet his pale blue orbs with her own glowing green ones.  Her eyes widened, and she took a step back before rising up onto two legs.  Her body began to shift, to shrink, until standing before Thranduil was a human woman of about his own height, dressed in a green shirt and brown pants, bare feet, with twin swords in brown-leather sheaths, one hanging from each of her hips.

Her hair was tangled and knotted, but it reached down to her thighs in a golden wave, dulled by dirt and blood.  Her eyes, though still a bright and vibrant green, had lost their luminosity and life, and were now dulled and glazed over with pain. 

Thranduil noticed all of this in a split second's time, subconsciously noting all of the details as the woman dropped to one knee before him.

"My Lord...Thranduil."  She breathed out, her voice silky smooth, almost a purr, and slightly deeper than one would expect, though it was shaky and weak.  He raised an eyebrow.

"You know me?"  He questioned, confused.  But she didn't answer, she had passed out and collapsed to the forest floor.  He quickly caught her before her head collided with the ground, and laid her down with her head in his lap.  He whistled, the signal for his elk to come to him, and then examined her injuries.

Her hand was mangled, but the bone structure was luckily still intact.  It was the stab wound that worried him, for although it was thin, it was deep.  She was bleeding internally, and he was certain that some of her organs had been punctured.  Luckily it had missed all of her bones, but the bleeding concerned him.

His elk ran thundering up to him, coming to a stop and kneeling so that he could mount.  He thought quickly, and decided to bring the skin-changer back to the palace with him and get her healed.  So he picked her up bridal style and climbed up onto the elk, whispering spells of speed into its ear, causing it to move as fast as the wind back towards the palace, hoping it was fast enough to save the woman's life.