With a secret mission to marry an elf, Wynne must join Legolas' and Elvenking Thranduil's new quest as a horsekeeper. She begins an adventurous journey, encountering orcs and monsters, friendly uruk-hai, a lady dwarf and many Fellowship heroes - but...
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~ Wynne feels post-traumatic stress and Legolas comforts her. The elves have made a useful find. ~
15. Finding a Map
When Wynne and Legolas joined the others for a late dinner, Thranduil had a piece of dirty parchment in his hands.
He looked up, greeting them with a nod. "Ah, there you are. I hope you are feeling better, my lady."
"I do, thank you. And please, after all this, call me Wynne."
"Of course." He turned to his son. "Come take a look at this, we found it in the orc den." He spread out the parchment on his lap.
Galion offered Wynne a bowl of stew. "I took the liberty of using your supplies. I figured after this we could all use a warm meal."
"Smells delicious. Thank you." She sat down next to Legolas, eating without tasting the food.
He was examining Thranduil's find with interest. "It looks like a map. There, the arrows seem to point out the direction, and those suns could mean days."
"That is what we thought also," Thranduil agreed.
Wynne looked over Legolas' shoulder, trying to seem interested, but she was still too agitated.
Every now and then the other elves sent quick glances in her direction and she knew they too must think the orcs had molested her. But how could she explain? Maybe she could ask Legolas to tell them nothing happened. Or, at least nothing too bad. The orcs had scared her, and Lug had ruined her clothes and touched her breast, that memory still sent chills down her spine. But it could have been much worse.
Now was not the time for explanations, however; the elves were occupied with the map and trying to decipher it.
"What if those triangles are orc hideouts?" Nodir leaned over and pointed with a slender finger. "If this triangle is where we are right now, then that one up here could be where we were ambushed the other day – in the place with the elks. See, the direction is right. And the number of suns matches as well; if they travel on foot it would probably take that many days."
"It makes sense," said Legolas. "We never found that den, but naturally there must have been one."
"We can investigate it on our way back." Thranduil looked pleased. "If this really does point to orc dwellings the difficulty of our task will be greatly reduced. We shall ride to the first triangle tomorrow and if there are orcs, or an abandoned den for that matter, we shall know for certain."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Then perhaps we should do something more cheerful," Galion suggested. He had pulled out his flute. "Let us forget orcs for a while and have an evening of merriment and music!"
