The Great Sacrifice

In The Halls Of The Elven King

When Ari awoke, she could feel it in the air. A sullen veil of uneasiness had fallen upon the forest. With a weary heart she made her way to the small creek nearby to wash herself, silently offering it her gratitude for its soothing lullaby the previous night. As she returned to her travel companions, she overheard a conversation between Marten and an elf guard. A spring storm was approaching. The elf guards would travel east after their guard duty was over and the company would travel part of the road with them. For some unknown reason, Ari's heart pounded in a joyful beat.

They set out eastwards. Two hours later they arrived at a junction where the forest road continued straight east towards Dale, but also turned left to the Elvenking's halls. A couple of elf guards just arriving from the palace, informed them that they had evacuated the forest dwellings in its surrounding area. The storm would be a fierce one and the travelers were welcome to find shelter in the king's halls for this night.

Ari felt glad they would be able to escape the wrath of the storm and wondered at that moment how the guards had known about their presence. Foremost, she was curious to see an elven home. However, elves were also the cause of her apprehension, as rumors often spoke about their ability to read minds, and even control them, especially the weak minds of humans. Under no circumstances did Ari wish to be an open book to them and concentrated on her inner light, dimming it slowly to make sure she would go unnoticed in case the rumors were true.

Up to that day, she had only heard tales about the beauty of the elven dwellings in Middle-Earth, but had never seen one. Marten had accepted the invitation to shelter in the king's halls and they made their way towards the palace, traveling northwards. It only took a couple of miles for Ari to behold the massive sapphire blue gates leading into the king's halls and she marveled at their size and beauty.

As they rode through the gates, she glanced back to behold huge grey dull clouds now through the canopy of trees. She was once again relieved to have escaped the storm's ferocity. A flash of lightning followed by a deafening thunder shook her out of her thoughts as she rode further into the palace. Ari dismounted, stunned at the majestic beauty before her eyes. Enormous halls and huge pillars constructed of stone and trees? Yes, trees in a size she had never encountered before, surpassing the massive ones in the forest. Ornate lanterns radiated their warm light all over the vast cavern halls and a subtle breeze reminded that of a spring forest. She felt mesmerized by such unsurpassed beauty. The massive gates shut in a quiet motion behind them, and the storm was left to rage outside. For Ari it felt as if she had been cut off from the outside world, as if she had entered a world where time stood still. And time indeed stood still here, she could feel it.

*****

The mighty gates were now sealed and Thranduil was aware of their arrival the moment they had entered them. He had given orders for all elves to be brought inside the halls. When the days grew brighter and longer and the darkness lingered only in certain areas of the forest, the king had given his elven subjects permission to establish dwellings in the forest once again. A great number of elves resided in small settlements outside the protective walls of the palace. Thranduil payed them regular visits, deeply satisfied for having succeeded to bring his people out of the darkness to safer times, where they would hopefully live in peace not only close to his palace, but all over the forest as things were once before that darkness had invaded their land.

In moments like this, Thranduil wished his son would be here to witness this longed-for change. He wished to see the happiness in Legolas' face upon showing him the new dwellings and improvements which had already taken place. Legolas loved the forest but the creeping darkness had caused him great suffering. As the forest had grown darker, Legolas' heart had grown burdened. Numerous times he had pleaded with his father to reach beyond their borders to stop the evil. But to no avail. Thranduil had been stubborn. He would not have allowed the lives of elves to be endangered by such an act. He strongly believed that they would be safe in his realm. Little did he know that this was an illusion, one of many that had haunted his mind throughout the dark times. Thranduil had heavily been under the influence of the growing shadow that stood as a solid wall around his heart and mind.

Never before had he been aware of that, until the day his son left him. It was on that sorrowful day that Thranduil realized that there was a sickness that hung heavily not only over his forest but also over his mind and heart. It had crept slowly into him, faintly at first, and when it was too late, it had consumed him.

The day when Legolas had left, Thranduil had seen the light for the first time in centuries. The excessive pain in his heart had dispelled the darkness for a moment. But it had not lasted long. The darkness still festered within him, his heart and mind heavily clouded once more. After Sauron had been defeated and Lady Galadriel had brought down the walls of Dol Guldor, Thranduil had noticed a change. Not only in his realm, but also in his heart. The darkness had drawn away not only from his forest and Middle-Earth, but it had started to retreat from his heart, too. Slowly yet steadily. However, scarce remnants still dwelled within him and he was not the same he once was. But there was a light, and he knew that he would get there one day.