You Must Have Faith

Chapter Twenty-One

Thranduil's POV:

Despite the fact that I loved the thrill of a battle, I never looked forward to the waiting before the attack.  The tense silence being enough to make even a seasoned warrior become as taut as a pulled bowstring.  Thankfully, my millennia of training had essentially purged me of that strain, though even I was not completely unscathed.  I could feel the familiar tense feeling in my stomach as I waited, eagerly, for the hordes to come.  My thoughts drifted to Vera who was holding position back at the front of the palace, whilst I and my captains had scattered our positions in the forest proper.

Then, with a deafening screech, hordes of orcs crashed into our lines.  I could feel my lips turn into a feral snarl, the bloodlust filling me.  They dared to attack the Woodland Realm; they would have to face the Elvenking.

My swords danced their deadly dance, extensions of my own will slicing through the foul bodies of the yrch.  Black blood dripped from my blades, fanning into the air with each swing and splattering across my face and my armor.  Despite the glorious rage filling me, I kept a clear enough head to realize that despite the massacre going on around me, the rest of my battalions weren't faring as well.  With a shouted word of command and a fierce gesture, half of my men split up into thirds and ran to the other three groups, providing them with much needed backup.

Even with my own battalion severely depleted, the battle was still going poorly.  To my dismay, the orc's numbers were growing, supplemented by the horrid goblins and Uruk-hai.  The appearance of a troll solidified it in my head.

This is not a battle we can win.

With that thought, however, Galadriel's voice seemed to fill my head.

"An army will come, and you must have Faith lead the charge."

The forgotten line of her letter to me, I had passed over it while planning this attack.  And yet, I could not speak to Vera to call her to me, to lead the charge as was her fate.  I continued to fight feverishly, killing dozens and yet not lessening their numbers.  As the stars began to fade from the sky, however, there was hope.

A pounding of fresh footsteps filled my ears as my own troops were replenished by the men in Vera's battalion.  But to my dismay I did not see the feline skin-changer.  

"Where is she?"  I shouted to one of the new troops.  He grinned wildly at me, gesturing towards the vague shape of the troll who had escaped my blades.  As I glanced at it, I saw a shape pounce on it from above, latching on and swinging upwards again, wrenching its neck in the process.  Flurries of arrows and the continued pressure on its fatty neck forced it to die, and as it collapsed Vera leaped up and away from it.  Jumping back up on top of the body, she screeched.

It was a sound unlike any I had heard before, it reminded me of the sound of a screaming elleth.  Scraping the air with her claws as she roared, she was a terrifying sight to behold.  Much to my pleasure, the orc's and other vermin backed off slightly.  Then, to my horror, an answering screech echoed through the trees, causing the parasite's to come back at her.  I was forced to look away from her then, turning back to the battle at hand.

It seemed like hours that we fought, long enough that the sun had breached the tree tops and was flickering down through the branches.  It had been my hope that the coming daylight would force them into retreat, but the creatures continued to come at us.  At noon, however, my hopes were granted.  A screeching, coughing type of sound echoed through the trees, and the orc's, goblin's, and the two surviving trolls retreated back into the trees.  We slew as many as we could in the midst of the retreat, and I hastily decided to send two of my own men to follow them in the trees, in an attempt to discover where their camp was.

I rallied the troops back inside the fortress, directing small groups to gather our dead and and see to the wounded.  I personally wandered around as well, bringing what healing I could to the worst cases.  As king, I was blessed with the ability to heal, although I didn't use it often as I was more suited to fighting.  However, I was often forced to use it in times of war, as many of my men were grievously wounded.

As I wandered among my troops, calming concerns and healing where I could, I vaguely heard a pounding of soft but heavy footsteps. 

Knowing who it was, I turned around only to be tackled to the ground and frantically licked by a panting Vera.

"Vera!  Get off of me, you're covered in yrch blood!"

She immediately got off, but as soon as I had stood back up she nuzzled her head into my hand, reverting to an animal behavior to show her relief at my survival.  I noticed the wound that was now dripping blood down her fur on her side, but aside from that she looked unscathed.  Her jaws were dripping with black blood, so I could only assume that some of it had been transferred to my own face.  She looked skinnier with her fur matted down with the guts of her enemies, but the purr rumbling in her chest and the top of her head nuzzled into my hand made her seem as harmless as a kitten. 

She reluctantly allowed a healer to come over and heal her wound, shifting back to a human to allow the elleth easier access to the wound.  Once it was completely healed, she roughly sat down next to me with a rather loud "hmf".

"Well, that could have gone better."  The sarcastic irritation was very nearly oozing off of her, and despite the gravity of the situation I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes, well.  If I had looked at Galadriel's letter again, I would have noticed the part about 'Faith must lead the charge.'"

She groaned in annoyance, flopping onto her back with her hands covering her face.  After a moment of silent berating, she sat back up to rejoin me.

"Well, perhaps if I lead the next charge it will fix our problems."  Even though the words were hopeful, the tone was so bleak that even I was a bit crestfallen.

"So long as we continue to hold onto our faith, we should be just fine."  I winked at her, allowing my smirk to be visible.  She shoved me slightly, half grinning back in spite of herself, and together we got up to plan the rest of our assault.

Elvish:

Elleth: Female elf.

Yrch: The plural for orc, singular is orch.

A/N:  Finally!  Tomorrow (for me) is the last day of the semester, and I can get back to my regular writing.  The thing is, I'm going to be updating this as fast as humanly possible (while still maintaining the quality of the writing) because I have a secret thing that I will be doing after this, that I will inform you guys of once I finish this book.  How did y'all like Thranduil's POV?  I had quite a fun time with this, as I love trying to alter his character to fit how I've had him progress, while still keeping him true to Tolkien's vision of him.  Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, and what you think will happen next in the comments!  Vote if you liked it, all that jazz.  Love you guys!