Bard of Laketown

Part Fifteen

PART FIFTEEN

AREYA'S POV

"Why did you leave Mirkwood?" Legolas asks me.

"For the same reason you did," I say.

His cheeks flush pink. "I doubt that."

"You came to be with Tauriel?"

He nods. "I'm not going to tell her, Areya. She fell in love."

"With who?" I say, surprised. Tauriel never let anything distract her from her work.

Legolas' eyes darken. "One of the dwarves." He spits the words out angrily.

I blink rapidly. This is too strange to think about. An elf.. with a dwarf?

"Try not to think about it," I say, wrapping my arms around Legolas. I gasp with pain as I move my shoulder. Legolas notices, and his forehead creases. "Are you injured?" he says worriedly.

I try to brush it off. "It is nothing more than a scratch," I say, trying to smile.

Tauriel comes over to us. "What is wrong?" she asks.

"Areya has been stabbed by an orcish blade."

"We have to bring you back to Mirkwood," Tauriel says.

"No! What about helping the dwarves?" I say.

"You'll be no help if you can barely move you arm," Legolas says.

I frown. "I'll be fine."

"No." They both say. We turn back to Mirkwood. I feel dread pinching at my chest at what King Thranduil will say when he sees me.

"W-was the king very mad when he found I was gone?" I ask.

Legolas chuckles quietly. "Mad? He told at least half of the elves to go and search for you, and he didn't leave his rooms for weeks. In fact, he might still be in them now."

"I do not understand why I should matter so much to him," I say. "He is always angry at me."

Tauriel sighs in exasperation. "Do you truly not know?" she says.

I shake my head. "I haven't the slightest idea."

Legolas chokes.

"Well, won't one of you tell me why?" I ask impatiently.

Tauriel smirks. "Sorry, Areya. He will have to tell you himself."

BARD'S POV

I soon begin to regret helping these dwarves. They are noisy and rude, much like my neighbours.

"You live in Esgaroth, do you?" asks one of them, with a gruff voice. His bald head and hands are tattooed with dwarvish runes.

"Yes, but hardly anyone there calls it by that name anymore."

"Why not?" The halfling, Bilbo Baggins, speaks up.

"It reminds them of when the dragon attacked."

"Oh. O-of course." Bilbo stutters. He is strange, so different from anyone I've met before. So are all of these dwarves.

I know Bilbo wants further explanation, but I don't give it to him.

He sits down with a sigh. I wonder what could have possessed him to come with this Company. He is so out of place here. It is clear that he has never been on a journey in his life... he is wearing a velvet coat, and a pair of knee-length pants. Even stranger, no shoes at all. His feet are abnormally large, with tufts of hair growing on top. He doesn't seem to cold... but the rest of the Company is all wearing steel tipped boots. I don't know why he is the only one without shoes on his feet.

I speak to Balin, who is standing behind me. "Tell me, were there others in your Company?"

I feel the piercing eyes of Thorin Oakenshield upon us.

"Aye," Balin says. "A wizard, Gandalf the Grey."

I've never seen a wizard, and I don't have any desire too. They are too dangerous to get involved with.

A/N: THE MYSTERY DEEPENS!!! WHY DO YOU THINK THRANDUIL IS SO CONCERNED ABOUT AREYA LEAVING??