[Legolas] In every grain of sand, is the story of the earth.

Chapter 4

Keeping my head held high, I forced my gaze to soften a fraction, I needed to gain favour with the King in order for him to release me. I watched as the King tilted his head a little, taking in my words. A silence fell upon the room, the King's graze trained on me for longer than I would of hoped before reluctantly turning to look at Legolas.

"Take her back to the dungeon."

"Father?"

The questioning tone in Legolas' voice told me that he did not agree with the King, his father's decision. I myself was at a loss for words, I was to be imprisoned once again for no reason other than defending my land.

"Do it."

The King's words were calm but there was an undertone of danger that even I managed to pick up on. Without another word, Legolas made his way over to me and grasped by upper arm tightly before dragging me out of the throne room and back down to the dungeon.

This time I struggled against the Prince's hold. This wasn't part of the deal, I was meant to be released after my audience with the King. If I'd of known that I would have been thrown back in  the dungeon, I would have put up a fight instead of being led back here. 

"This was not the agreement. The longer I am held captive the more likely it is that my Father will declare war to retrieve me. This is foolish."

The Prince's grasp on me tightened as he all but dragged me through the city. An exasperated sigh escaped my lips when Legolas refused to answer me. 

Upon being imprisoned once again, I couldn't help but let a groan of frustration escape my lips before I kicked the solid door foolishly.

"Hey, are you ok? What happened?"

I turned my attention to Fili before letting another sigh escape my lips. Sliding down the wall, I sat with my back against the door, my chin resting on my knees.

"The Prince went back on our agreement and the King is unreasonable. Now I'm stuck here until my father wages war on this god forsaken city to free me."

Leaning my head back against the bars, I was surprised to hear a voice I was not familiar with.

"The King is a fool. He is too intent on furthering his wealth that he cannot see the bigger picture."

"May I know as to whom I'm talking to?"

Not that I could see the male as the voice came from a few cells down from mine on the same side of the hall.

"My name is Thorin Oakenshield. I am the leader of this group."

I nodded my head a little regardless of the fact I knew Thorin would not be able to see it. While I never kept company with dwarves before, it seemed like they would be all I was able to converse with for the forseeable future.

"May I inquire as to what you did to get yourselves locked up to?"

"Nothing. We were passing through these lands on the way to our homeland and we were accused of being thieves."

"I guess the people of Mirkwood do not take kindly to strangers on their land."

"Indeed."

As time passed, we spent most of our imprisonment in silence. I was aware that the she-elf, Tauriel, had taken a liking to Kili as she sat talking to him for hours about the world outside of the kingdom. I listened to the two speak of tales of adventure, much like the rest of the dwarves that were locked up.

Every so often one of the dwarves, usually Fili, would ask me a question and I usually answered it as vaguely as possible, not because I did not trust my new 'friends' but because the reality of the situation was still sinking in. How long would I be held prisoner here? Would my father risk a war in order to retrieve me? Why did the King of Mirkwood want to keep me prisoner? Questions rush through my mind like arrows and ultimately, I was left feeling worse than I had before.

It felt like days had passed when the peace was disturbed by the dwarves cheering before being hushed almost immediately. The next thing I heard was the cell doors being unlocked and the dwarves shuffling out in to the hallway. I had no false hope that I would be freed along with them, the being releasing them not knowing of me nor of my location.

"And that one."

The gruff voice of Thorin filled the silence before a hobbit appeared at the door of my cell. He smiled a greeting at me before unlocking my cell and making his way back to the group of dwarves. Containing myself due to the prospect of freedom, I stepped out of my cell before being ushered deeper down in to the city with the dwarves, following the hobbit that had released us.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, we were silenced by the hobbit before making our way through a room of heavily intoxicated elves. The next thing I know, we were being instructed to climb in to an empty barrel. This caused the dwarves to begin arguing amongst themselves and the hobbit I now knew to be called Bilbo.

Before things got out of hand, Thorin silenced the dwarves and instructed them to listen to the hobbit.

The next thing I know, Bilbo was pulling a lever and all the barrels rolled down the ramp before splashing in to a river below. The icy water bit at my skin as I copied the dwarves and grasped a nearby rock as we waited for the hobbit.

I was beginning to think he wasn't going to accompany us before the ramp lowered once again and Bilbo crashed in to the water. With a cheer from the dwarves, we released the rocks and began floating down the river, Bilbo grasping the outside of a barrel to keep afloat.

It wasn't long before the elves realised we had escaped and began pursuing us along the riverbank. At the sound of a horn, I saw a gate closing, cutting off our escape. A frustrated sigh escaped my lips as I hit the metal gate next to Thorin.