The Witch of Mirkwood

Chapter 3 - The blonde elf

Legolas, son of Thranduil and Prince of Mirkwood, had returned to the palace with a group of scouts who had been out hunting spiders and checking the boarders were safe. They glided through the doors and over the bridge dismounting to a stern looking king Thranduil who stood waiting for him.

"Where have you been? you should have been back days ago" His fathers annoyance was apparent.

"Apologies Ada, the spiders are becoming more resilient, it took longer than we thought to rid them from our boarders".

"Very well" said the king "but now you are needed here. We have captured a witch, she is an evil sorceress, I do not want her at the Palace any longer than necessary" he spoke slowly as he paced up and down "I want you to take the creature to Rivendell at first light. The council of Elrond will decide her fate".

"Yes my lord" legolas confirmed as he nodded his head and moved past the stone faced king.

Legolas returned to his quarters to freshen up out of his hunting clothes. He had not heard of many witches in Middle Earth, of course there were the 5 Wizards, and he had met Gandalf the grey many times. But a sorceress round these parts, he had not heard of. He thought the rumor was just scaremongering among the nearby villagers who did not know what else was causing the sickness. After dinner he headed down towards the dungeons, he had been warned not to go there but his curiosity overpowered him, and he wanted to see the Witch for himself. He spotted a guard carrying a tray of food towards the cells.

"I will take that" Legolas hinted to the guard.

"But my lord..." Legolas removed the tray from his hands before he could finish speaking and continued down the steps towards the prison ignoring his protests from above.

As he approached he could hear sobbing, another guard stood at the top of the stairway above the cell where the noise was coming from. Legolas nodded to him as he passed, the guard opened his mouth to speak but then closed it again and said nothing, after all he was the Prince and could do as he pleased. He reached the cell where the Witch resided and edged himself towards the door. He bent down and slowly pushed the tray of food beneath the gap under the bars, his eyes scanned the inside of the dark room and he could see a hooded figure crouched in the corner, he stood up and turned to leave when a soft voice cried out to him.

"Please...my lord" he turned back to face the door and the hooded figure had moved and was now standing in the light of the doorway, he stood back slightly startled.

"Do not speak sorceress, it is forbidden" his voice was smooth like silk but his tone was defensive.

"Please, I cannot eat while my hands are still bound" she said softy. Legolas paused and thought for a moment, he looked the creature up and down, she seemed fearful of him, so he removed one of his daggers and signaled for her to come closer "turn around" he said "come closer to the bars" she did as he asked and lifted her arms towards a gap and he slid his knife between her hands releasing her bonds, she glanced sideways and bowed her head gratefully and whispered.

"Please help me, am not who they think I am...." She dared not say any more, then she disappeared back into the shadows.

Legolas moved away from the cell, mystified, there was something about her voice, she was softly spoken and polite, but he could sense anguish and hurt in her tone, he almost felt sorry for the creature, it was not how he expected a witch to sound, he did not know what he expected, a screech maybe? or a deeper, older sounding voice. She sounded young and feminine, her words repeated in his head and he tried to push his thoughts to the back of his mind as he retreated to his quarters.

Nicassius ate the food on the tray, it was plain but not tasteless, and she didn't know when she might eat again so she forced herself to eat even though she was not hungry, she would need to save all the energy she could. She did not find it easy to get back to sleep, her dreams had been dark of late, like something was stirring inside of her, and she felt weak, unusually so, maybe she was getting the same sickness that the villagers were plagued by. Or maybe this was just her fate.

Legolas tired to shake the words from his head as he rested, but they kept repeating "I am not who they think I am", "please help me..." he sensed something, he could not put his finger on it. His intuition rarely failed him, the words lingered so he got up and went for a walk. Curiosity dragged him back down to the dungeons and he stood on a ledge above gazing down at the cell where she was, he could hear nothing, no sound at all.