Ice Cold *Book one in the IceCloud Series* .:Thranduil:.

Prologue

All that could be heard in the stormy village was coughing. A sickness had spread from a spider bite, and almost everyone had caught it, par three. Two of those three were cubs. They were too small to get help, so the last one, Athelia, set out. She set out for the help of the Woodland Realm, she set out to see the Elven-King.

*Athelia*

She ran, her village depended on her. She had to make it.
Ashlynn, Kuri, Calla-Lily, Raya, they all need me to get there soon. They could die.
The Green-Wood was appearing on the horizon, she could make it. She remembered what Beorn had said,
'Beware the Elven-King, grief has clouded his heart, it has made him cold. Ice cold.' She knew that Beorn was right, and just hoped that the King would help them.
Her sisters had caught the disease earlier in the moon. The sun was rising slowly. She knew that it would be harder to hide if the sun was out. Athelia sped up - she was almost at the forest.
Entering the forest on the elven path was easy, she had hunted here many times - never on the King's land though. Her leopard paced wearily in her mind, the leopard wasn't one for new people. She looked around, the trees all looked the same, but the air smelt different, darker and dangerous. Suddenly several arrows were facing her.
"What is this beast doing in our forest?" One of the elves - obviously the leader - said.
"No idea." Another replied.
Athelia shifted, her leopard changing into her human form.
"Please, I need to see the Elven-King!" She said gasping slightly for breath.
Finally the leader said,
"Follow me." And he lead her deeper into the forest. Finally they reach massive stone gates. Athelia instantly recognized them from legend. The gate to the Woodland Realm.
There are guards stationed both in and outside the gates, she noted. The guards nodded letting them through, one of them moved off, probably to alert the King of their unexpected visitor. She was lead through the massive halls, she had only seen such space once before – in the Orcs' battle arena. Finally they stopped.
"The King wishes you to come through." One of the guards invited her. She dipped her head in respect, and thanked him, before entering the throne-room.
"Who dares enter the Woodland Realm?" A cold voice emanated around the large room. Athelia instantly dipped her head, for she could feel the power radiating from just his voice.
"I am Athelia, King Thranduil, I am a skin-changer. My village and I need your help, my Lord. My village is sick. We do not know of a cure, and we don't know of any Athelas plants, for they don't grow in the Dragon-Mountains." She explained quietly, in fear that he would punish her.
"And how does this concern me?" The King said coldly.
"Please, our village holds the last cat skin-changer safe-hold. If we do not get help we will die out. If you helped us you could be known as the Elven-King who saved the cat skin-changers." She tried to reason with him.
Please, she thought. Help us...
She looked up as a small elven child ran across to room.
"Ada! Ada! I've lost my..." He trailed off as he saw Athelia. "Who's that Ada?" The child asked slowly.
"She was just leaving." The King said slowly. Athelia had a look of loss on her face.
"Please, my Lord. There are children, sick, dieing. They need help." Athelia whispered heart-brokenly.
"Why are there children sick, miss?" The small child asked Athelia.
"My family and friends are sick with a sickness that we cannot cure."
"Ada, can we help them? Please!" The ellon asked.
"Legolas... We cannot help them, what if our people get sick too?" The King asked.

Alright! I'm done. This came out better than I hoped...
Dedicated to Violet, 'cause she took me to a consert (Lorde!) and 'cause she's awesome.
I hope you enjoyed, I'm gonna try to update fridays and/or saturdays. Pic is Athelia's cat.