Bow With Honour (Thranduil x Reader)

Chapter 8

It took you about 3 days to get to Mordor. There was not much time to rest, you were allowed to sleep for about an hour. There was, after all, someone in great danger and time was precious beyond measure. With every step you could feel the evil grow stronger and stronger. You could smell the foul scent of the orcs from miles away. Thranduil didn't speak much; he was, as Legolas told you, in his own world where he was safe with his own thoughts. He was able to think straight and come up with soloutions for the most difficult problems. That's why he usually doesn't come out of his chambers for a long time. Pretty amazing, you thought. You know how nice it is to be left alone with your thoughts and decided that you would respect Thranduil if he ever needed to retreat for a while. You'd respect the choices that he would make on not only his journey, but also the life you'd live after this was over. No pressure, no obligations and no worries. This realtionship had to be taken care of very well- there was no way you ever wanted to be without him. This man had come into your life very suddenly and you did not plan on him leaving it any time soon. Yes, this man would be the man you would feel safe with. This would be the man that would stick by your side whenever you needed him. And vice versa. No way you were going to ruin this. You'd respect him and he'd respect you, just the way relationships are meant to be.

As you marched on, you could see the mountaintops and you immediately felt unsafe. Uncertain how this was going to work out. Are we just going to barge in? Fight our way through the orcs? Demand that they would give back our head of the guard? No, we weren't going to fight- after all, that's what you've been told.
Legolas noticed that you were in deep thought and knew what you were thinking of.

"Lady (y/n). Like I said a few days ago, there is nothing for you to be worried about. We will not fight."

"Then why did we bring our whole army of elves? If the orcs see this, it is just an amazing way of saying; look, we've got an army, you've got one of our men. We don't screw around, want to fight?"

Legolas was silent for a few short moments and did not know how to respond to this.
After a while, he spoke.

"It serves as a precaution. You, me and the King will be the only ones to enter those mountains. If we are in distress, we will blow our horn and they will be there for us, to cover us."

"If all goes well, they will not be needed." You and Legolas both turned your gaze forward as the King spoke. "I have a feeling where they might be keeping Loren. It is not so far from where we will be entering the mountains. This path is old and has not been used for a long time. The orcs don't bother guarding it anymore as they believe something lives inside these caves."

"But why, and pardon my language, why in the name of kurznachh are we going to venture there? You know tha-"
Suddenly you thought about the mutual respect. I mean, you weren't really disrespecting Thranduil, but you were not trusting him either. And trust, ladies and gentlemen, is key. If the King says we're entering these mountains through that entrance, then we are. He knows what is best and to be quite honest, he has had way more experience in the outside world than you have. He knows what he's doing.

"Okay. I will follow you through those caves. I will have your back no matter what. Whatever may be living there, I'm sure we will be able to kill it. We have to retrieve Loren." You said as you climbed off your horse. Thranduil smiled and nodded.
"Very well. That is good to hear. I am sure that we will be fine, my lady (y/n)." He said as he looked down at your necklace. His eyes never left it as he brushed it ever so slightly- "this will protect you."

You could feel the inside of your body glowing, and only hope it wasn't visible on your cheeks.
Thranduil turned around and stepped forward.  You and Legolas followed right after. The mountains looked even more intimidating as they did a few hours ago. You looked up and almost felt like you were going to fall, that the rocks would drop down and kill you, right there on the spot. But you were fine. Legolas gave you a reassuring look before entering the caves.

It really was huge. You'd expect a couple of tunnels before arriving where you needed to be, but o h d e a r l o r d, you were so wrong. It felt like it had been hours. Hours of walking through endless tunnels. Beceoming paranoid about the noises, and, wait, did we not pass this stone already? Are we going in circles? Are we lost?
The sticky white webs did not help with your anxiety whatsoever, meaning there could be a massive spider lurking in the shadows of these caves after all. Or a billion tiny spiders. Either way, you were not really into meeting both of those options.

Finally, a speck of light caught your eye. It came from underneath a tiny crawlspace, and it seemed like you were able to fit through there.

"My lord, I think I may have found something." You said as you walked up to Thranduil. He looked at you, confused, before walking along to see the crawlspace for himself.
"It does look like a way out. Legolas?" He turned to look at his son who said;
"We've been walking around in this cave system for a long time and I feel we are going in circles. This is, in my opinion, the closest to an exit than anything else we've seen so far. I say we have to try it."
Thranduil nodded in agreement and wanted to go first. Immediately, you jumped in front of him. "Let me go first. I'll see what's out there and you can come out after me."

"If that is what you wish, then go ahead. I will be right behind you." Thranduil said as he smiled warmly and thouched your hand.
You took a deep breath and went down on your knees, which did hurt a little because of the hard rocks, to look for a way out.

Right. That's chapter 8 done! I hope you liked it. I promise, more action in the next one! I'm on holiday in Spain atm and the wifi here is shit. It's absolute garbage and I can't even send a video on whatsapp like wtf?? I feel like a bloody caveman I'm not even kidding. I wrote this on my phone instead of my usual laptop which was weird but I think I managed?? Somehow?? Kind of?? Anyway, enjoy the story and Happy Reading!
xxxx