An iceling in mirkwood ~ thranduil love story

Chapter 9 ~ helke is taken

Thunder cracked loudly in the sky but it did not bother the king. He rolled over and reached out to feel the body of his iceling but she was not there. He sighed and sat up. She could not seem to understand that to many she was an item of value and would happily hurt her and would often go walk-abouts at nighttime. He sighed again and went down the stables where he found her asleep, cuddled into his elk and her calf. Helke did not like extreme weather like thunder but also didn't like waking the king so would often slip down and sleep with her favourite elk (who had recently given birth to a calf)

He stepped forward and shook helke's shoulder very gently. "My love" he whispered and she woke.

"Come to bed" he said as she petted nervously at the calf's fur. "Come" he repeated as he straightened up. She got up tiredly and the calf tried stumbling after her.

"No baby, stay with your mummy" said helke as she noticed. She pouted at the sad look in it's eyes but the king said "you will have plenty of time to be with him tomorrow, but for now I want you close by" pulling her close and she nodded.

Although it was nighttime helke did not feel sleepy whereas the king felt exhausted. Helke fetched some spare parchment and began sketching the king on it with a quill. She smiled as it began to take form, It was of the king perched upon his throne. She looked as the king slept and noticed how tired and warn out he looked. She timidly move some hair away from his face and smiled at his ears. She always found elven ears to be most peculiarly shaped. She ran her finger along the shell of his ear and he shivered involuntarily in his sleep. She giggle quietly to herself and withdrew her hand from his ear. She but her lip and pulled down the covers of the bed and studied his body. He had a muscular build on his shoulder and chest and defined muscles on his abdomen.

She ran her fingers down his body until thranduil said "helke darling go to sleep" helke blushed at the fact she had been caught and lay down with thranduil so they were in a spooning position.

The king was woken the next morning at an ungodly hour when she sun wasn't even up by one of the members of his court. He dressed quietly so not to wake the iceling and left swiftly.

"M'lord. There are rumours there have been strangers spotted coming our way" said one of the guard as thranduil was perched upon his throne.

"How many?" The king asked.

"Only three. We think they are dwarves, we're not sure what they want" explained the guard. Dwarves. The king hated them with a passion. They were greedy, filthy creatures and he had a strange feeling he knew what they were coming for.

"Let them be for now. If they come any closer inform me at once" commanded the king and the guard nodded and hurried off. The king scowled in thought once the guard had left. He was sure that they would be coming for helke. He drummed his fingers against the wood of this throne as he thought hard....

Meanwhile...

When helke awoke she still felt quite restless. She ran down to the stables, (not bothering with shoes or dressing out of her nightgown) and the calf jumped up excitedly. "Hello" she whispered gently as she stroked it's tiny nose. For the first time since she had found the stables she noticed a brown leather contraption hanging by the side of stall on a peg. When she took it and straightened it out the mother elk obediently placed her head through the headpiece as she had been trained to do. "Oh, this must be for riding you" said helke fascinated by the elk's behaviour. She unlatched the stall and lead the elk out as the calf tried to follow its mummy.

"Stay there, she'll be back soon" helke said softly, pushing the calfs nose gently back into the stall and locked it. The elk nudged a blanket on the top shelf and helke had to stretch to get it. She guessed it was to put on the elk's back? The elk kneeled down and helke climbed onto her back timidly. She wobbled slightly and grabbed the elk's neck when she stood stood back up but soon regained her composure.

She held on tightly as the elk trotted out of the stable and towards the forest on a small dirt track as helke wondered whether this was safe. She decided that the elk was trained and should anything happen it would react quickly. As the elk lead helke deeper into mirkwood forest she couldn't help notice how wonderful things looked from up high, or at least they would if the trees were a little healthier. Suddenly the elk stopped, it's head upright and twitched her ears. "What's wrong?" Asked helke, listening herself but hearing nothing to cause alarm. Suddenly she heard the trudging off boots on the ground, but it was no way an elf would walk. They were loud, heavy and uneven footsteps.

"And how are we suppose to get the iceling once we get in?" Asked a voice not too far away. Iceling? Wasn't that what she was. Suddenly three small figures rounded the corner and stopped once they saw her. The grins that they held on their face showed helke they were not here as guests. The elk bolted the opposite way, sensing the danger the dwarves bought. Unfortunately helke was not prepared and slipped straight off her back and landed on the floor. She looked up at the dwarves edged towards her, chains in their hands.

"Easy" one of them whispered to the others, trying not to alarm helke and set off her powers.

"Stay away from me!" Helke shouted as ice began to cascade out from her.

"She's the one alright! Chain her up boys!" Said one of the men, running to her. They were quite short but much stronger than she was so knocked her over easily.

"No! HELP ME!" Helke shouted as sharp ice began shooting out from the ground to the men. Were these dwraves?! those creatures that had performed that terrible ritual on her ancestors?! is this why they had come for her?!

She slammed her fists on the ground and a shape icicle impaled one's leg. He cried out and fell, clutching his thigh.

"She's a fighter!" One of the called as he roughly yanked the chain around her.

The chain they used were no ordinary chains. Forged from dwarves, passed down from when icelings were hunted this chain prevented icelings from using their powers. Melting the ice crystals in their blood, but not enough to kill them.

Helke fell to the ground as more and more chains were pulled around her small body.

"Come on" said one of the ginger bearded dwarf pulling her to her feet roughly. Helke stumbled to her feet, wishing she had worn shoes on and followed them as she looked back at mirkwood, hoping her king would notice she was gone.

Meanwhile --->

A guard ran in to the kings chamber suddenly, panting for breath.

"Your highness" he wheezed and the king looked down at him. "Your highness, your elk had returned from the forest in distress" he panted. The king stood abruptly. He had not given expressed permission for his elk to be taken out. The only person he knew that would visit the elk...helke...

He stormed out to where a guard held his elk, trying to sooth the unnerved creature. The king took the reins and petted her head, calming her down. "Is this where you found her?" Asked the king and the guard nodded "no rider?" He asked.

"No your majesty" the guard replied, shaking his head. The king breathed deeply, trying to calm himself.

"Where is your rider?" the king asked his elk's softly but the elk nudged him. "Take her back to the stables" he said handing the reins back to the guard and venturing out into his forest.

His heart skipped a beat where he saw sharp ice scattered around and finally collected in one place. And blood. There was blood on the ground. He knew it was not her's for iceling's blood was not red, it was a silver almost transparent colour, but it told him that there had been a struggle. That she had felt in danger and had acted out. And he had not been there to protect her. His jaw locked and his fist clenched as he stormed back.

"I want all warriors to search for the iceling up to our boarder! Report any sights to me immediately!!" He called sharply and all the guards ran out into mirkwood forest. He was going to find her. And have those dwarve's heads....