Courage ✔

Chapter 1

A/N: Just a quick heads up that I translated this story about ten years ago when my English was absolutely terrible. This is linguistically probably the worst story on my profile but I still love the plot. Also, this story was written before the third movie was aired, so after the second movie, I went my own way. ;D 

. . .

A sigh echoed through the pitch-black chamber deep inside the mountain. A sigh which was heard by nobody, except for the owner, who had less freedom than the breath she exhaled.

Alyssae was sitting with her back against an ice cold wall. A wall which never became dry and made her shiver the whole time. Her legs were spread across the floor and her feet rested against the wooden bars. The cell was too small to walk in, which was why it felt like someone had been torturing her for days.

A passerby wouldn't dare to associate her to the beautiful, magnificent elf race. Her face was covered in a thick layer of dust and mud. Her lips were full of cracks.  Her shiny brown hair was so messy it looked like it had never seen a comb. The fresh cheeks she once had, were hollowed and her cheekbones were visible. Her once bright eyes gazed forward desperately, accompanied by red and purple bags which doubled her age.

The only things showing that she was really an elf, were her pointed ears, which were covered by her hair at the very moment. And still this was the reason she was stuck here, in a dungeon forgotten by the world.

She did not know how many days had passed, sunlight never reached this place. The only creatures she had seen were the goblins who brought her water and bread once in a while, although they barely deserved these names. The bread wouldn't be fed to the animals at home and the water was too muddy to sprinkle the plants. Yet, Alyssae did not complain, for it was everything she had. Everything that kept her alive. That and her willpower. The inability to give up, even though all hope seemed gone.

She could think of only one reason why she was here: she was kept for ransom. Her father ruled Chyndall, a small kingdom. It however could take years before the goblin king managed to contact her father. 

It was a wild guess, but Alyssae believed about two months had passed since the goblins ambushed her in the woods. She had just been strolling around, enjoying nature while trying to get some facts straight. Father told her that Thranduin had asked for her hand, an elf prince from the South. She met him twice, but she had always enjoyed the man's company and so she had consented with the marriage, knowing there were worse people to share her life with.

How would he feel about her now? Was he trying to find her? Or had he given her up already? That thought made her flinch. It would be awful when others abandoned her, while she held on to every spark of hope. Hope to escape this dark hole.

. . .

Alyssae was separated from the rest of the world for such a long time that she barely paid attention to the distant muttering. Who else would it be, except for the goblins? In the beginning of her captivity, she had been visited by one other creature. She had been unable to identify it, but it had hissed at her while trying to grab her with its long, bony fingers. Its arms had been too short to actually touch her and once it figured out she was out of its reach, she'd never seen it again. 

The voices became louder and Alyssae realized that they differed from the screams of the goblins she had gotten used to. Although she couldn't identify the words that were spoken, the voices were deeper than those of her guards. She raised herself with help of the bars and ignored the splinters drilling in her skin. Her breathing sped up while she tried to catch the new sounds.

An odd light approached, accompanied by a lot of footsteps. Other sounds reached her sensitive ears, people were screaming.  Something was definitely going on.