You Must Have Faith

Chapter Twelve

"Oh, I had a run in with my sister and happened to get caught by some orcs, nothing special."

She quipped as she limped over to the chair in front of his desk and collapsed into it, heaving a sigh of relief once she removed the weight from her leg.  She stretched it out in front of her, trying to find a comfortable position.

"Oh, also, while I give you your report, could you summon a healer here?  I have a dagger stuck in my side that needs removal."

She shifted slightly, raising her arm with a wince so that he could see the grip sticking through the gap in her armor.  His eyes widened comically, and she had to hold in a giggle.  Her blood-loss was making her a bit loopy, causing her to be more free with her words than she normally was.  He walked past her, opening the door and murmuring something to someone outside, and then returned, sitting back down and meeting her glazed eyes.

"Very well, you may begin your report."

"Dol Guldor is over-run with orcs, trolls, and goblins My Lord.  There are at least 5,000 orcs, several hundred war-trolls, a few thousand goblins, plus however many wargs they have sequestered in there.  I didn't get to the lower levels, though I could hear them howling I didn't get a chance to investigate how many there were.  And then there's their commander."

Here she paused, mouth working but no words coming out, swaying in her seat slightly.  Thranduil leaned forward, poorly concealed concern written on his face.

"Vera?  Can you hear me?"

She jerked slightly, lifting her head up and shaking it, some lucidity returning to her eyes though she still seemed in a daze.

"Their commander is a mutated skin-changer, one who used to be the closest friend I had in this world.  Her name used to be Kira, though I doubt she still answers to it.  She was my best friend, my sister, my older twin.  I saw her there, Thranduil.  Her beautiful golden eyes, shot through with horrible red..."

Throughout her little speech her swaying had increased, until she finally passed out, slumping forward limply.  Thranduil leaped out of his chair, flying around the table and grasping her shoulders tightly, pushing her upright in her seat.  Her head lolled, her face a sickly white.  The door to his study opened timidly and a healer poked her head in.

"King Thranduil, you summoned me?"

"Yes, get over here, she needs immediate medical attention."

The elleth scurried over, bending over Vera and prodding at her a bit before turning to Thranduil.

"I must get her to the healing room My Lord, where I can work on her properly."

Thranduil nodded and stood, bending over and lifting Vera up bridal style, then beginning to walk toward the door.  He turned around and quirked an eyebrow at the healer when she failed to move.

"Aren't you coming?"  He modulated his voice to carry the perfect amount of displeasure to get her to move, for fear of making him angry.  It worked, motivating the elleth to quickly open the door and hold it for him to walk through, then scurry off before him and rapidly disappear from his line of sight in order to prepare for her patient.

He kept his pace steady and smooth so as not to jostle her, and made it to the healing room without any trouble.  He lay her down gently and backed away to a corner of the room so as not to be in the way, watching everything the healer did with careful scrutiny.  For three hours he stood there, not moving a muscle, just watching as the healer did her work.  No one disturbed them, which he was thankful for.  Finally, the healer moved her to a different bed and then stepped back, going and washing her hands.  She walked over to Thranduil with a serious look on her face.

"How long was she like this?"

"I do not know exactly, but probably at least half a day.  Why?"

"My Lord Thranduil, I have never, in all the centuries I've healed, seen a being of any race continue to function with wounds as serious as those.  It should not have been physically possible, and yet she did it."

"She is a skin-changer, they are resilient are they not?"

"I do not care how resilient they are, it should not have been possible.  There is something else about her, a sort of magic that helped her to keep going."

He frowned.

"Why wasn't this detected before, when she was in here because of the spiders?"

"She didn't have a reason to keep going, My Lord.  You found her before she collapsed, then.  I have no doubt that if you hadn't found her, she would have kept going until she found help."

He was struggling to wrap his mind around it, he was not used to discussing healing magic.  He was a fighter, a warrior, not a healer.  As king he had the ability to heal if there was great need, but he almost never used it as it was not his strong suit.

"Where did this magic come from?"

"We will have to wait and ask her when she wakes, I'm afraid.  I've never seen the like of it before."

He nodded.

"Very well.  Alert me if something changes with her condition, anything at all.  And if she says anything in her sleep, write it down."

"Of course My Lord."

He swept out of the room, feeling a wave of fatigue wash over him.  A thought suddenly crossed his mind and he pulled aside a servant in the hall.

"Did Haldir leave?"

"Yes My Lord, he left early this morning I believe, I'm not certain what time he left exactly."

He didn't respond, just nodded and continued on his way.  He went to his chambers and prepared for bed absent-mindedly, falling asleep minutes after he layed down.

A/N:  I feel like this chapter isn't very good, I'm sorry for that but things are going to start picking up soon.  Let me know what you think happened with Vera and Kira, I'm curious to see what you think.  Vote if you liked it.  Love you guys!