Brightest Stars | Love of Royals: Book I

XXIV: Shield

My fingers become numb clutching the sodden reins I was advised to hold onto. As soon as Tauriel had finished preparing me, the heavens had opened, and so the company of riders are forced to file out of the kingdom in torrential rain. We number little more than four hundred, but Thranduil is convinced that our force is strong enough to combat a rabble of orcs. I, however, while I tentatively ride through the downpour between Thranduil and Tauriel, am beginning to have second thoughts.

The tension between Thranduil and Legolas was evidently not enough to stop Thranduil giving Legolas his own section of the company to lead—the left flank, numbering about a hundred.  Another hundred on the right flank are under the command of an ellon called Feren, while the remaining riders are to be led down the centre by Thranduil.  Tauriel takes care to practically sandwich my horse between her own horse and Thranduil's elk, making the animals' drenched hair brush up against each other and the elk snort in annoyance.  We ride to a certain point, then come to a halt.

'I have not had chance to speak to you at all since you left.'  Thranduil's melodious voice catches my attention, and glancing round to him, I blink away the raindrops that have settled on my eyelashes.  'I see you chose some fine blades.'

'I lent her some of mine,' Tauriel chips in.  I've come to notice how eager she is to please her King since the events of last winter, and the amount the two have reconciled since then is almost unbelievable.  Perhaps Tauriel has noticed how Thranduil does in fact have love in him. I believe that is down to me, which I am extremely proud of.

'It is a pity I am not trained in how to use them,' I admit grudgingly as I tuck a lock of waterlogged hair behind my ear.

'If you stay mounted, you will have the advantage,' Thranduil says after a moment of thought. Evidently, he wishes he could have given me some more pointers in combat skills, but it's too late now. We wasted time locking lips rather than crossing blades.

'Do not forget, the orcs will not be in battle formation when we arrive.' Tauriel attempts to reassure me, and in doing so earns herself an odd glance from Thranduil. Again, his intention is clear: make it obvious that he takes care of me, not her. It's almost enough to make a smirk tug at the corners of my lips—for even now, after all the recent events, he feels the need to mark his territory.

My horse, a rather irritable chestnut mare named Cenlyn, had been the only remaining horse in the stable that did not belong to someone else. She is currently having her own conversation with Tauriel's horse and Thranduil's elk, mainly comprised of snorts, whinnies and tosses of the head. The three of them don't seem to be getting along all too well, much to the amusement of their riders.

I don't ask why Thranduil is waiting so long before ordering the attack, for he surely has his reasons. I do, however, notice a heavily armoured Tavalon out of the corner of my eye, wearing his typical scowl as the raindrops slide down his smooth forehead and into his ebony hair. If possible, the scowl is actually intensifying by the second.

His platinum hair plastered to his back from the downpour, the King calls for us to move out, and the thundering of hooves pulses through my body as the ranks begin to ride in their assigned directions.  My heart leaps into my mouth.  It's actually happening.  My fate could be returning completely unscathed from this battle, having my mangled body left to rot on the sodden forest floor, or somewhere between the two.  It's up to me to decide.

The impact of Cenlyn crashing headlong through a group of shrieking orcs is enough to send my head into a whirlwind.  Unable to control her, I let the galloping mare carry me right around the orcs' camp, trampling anything in her path.  One hand struggles to maintain a grip on the reins, while the other instinctively reaches to pull one of Tauriel's blades out of its sheath, but it's all moving too quickly.  It's all too much for me to keep up with.