Story Summary:
Set before, during, and after the War of the Ring.
During the War of the Ring, Legolas has left his wife Vanelossë and
their children in Mirkwood in the care of his father, King Thranduil.
When Mirkwood and Lothlorien are attacked, she is taken along with
other ellith from the two elven realms. Legolas must band together with
both elves and men to find them. Will he be able to save her and bring
her home to their children?
Warning - Deviation from the book and movies.
PLEASE NOTE - A COUPLE OF CHAPTERS (Chapter 3 and 5) HAVE STRONG
VIOLENCE/RAPE IN IT. IT IS PERTINENT TO THE STORY OR I WOULD NOT HAVE
IT IN THE STORY AT ALL.
Rated - NC17
**2005 Mithril Quarter Finalist for Het Romance and New Author**
**2005 Mithril Semi-Finalist for Drama**
Sounds in the Forest
Vanelossë watched Legolas ride away until she could watch no
longer. Her heart broke with every inch of distance that grew between
them. She knew she had to be brave for the children so, gathering her
courage and schooling her features into a smile, she turned and asked
them if they would like to go swimming. Séro screamed with delight as
the girls reluctantly allowed Calime to lead them home to change.
King Thranduil handed Séro over to Vanelossë. Embracing her, he told
her that all would be well. He had grown as close to her as Lord Elrond
had once been, and he hated seeing the sadness on her normally blissful
face. Though she smiled reassuringly at him, her smile did not quite
reach her eyes. They were sad and fearful, and the look in them marred
her radiant face.
It was over a month before Vanelossë heard news of Legolas. When Mehtar
and Tauro came back alone, she feared the worst, until they explained
what had happened at the council meeting that Lord Elrond had called in
Imladris about the One Ring. She was proud that her husband was
considered to be so honorable to be asked to go on a mission of such
importance, but at the same time, she was scared. She was also angry
with him for voluntarily leaving them for so long. Realizing that this
new trip was going to put him in more danger, and that he would be gone
longer than she had thought, she wondered if he even considered how she
would feel. She tried to control her anger, realizing that had he been
given the option, he would never have left. She was glad that Aragorn
and Gandalf were going with him, but she would have felt better if
Elrohir and Elladan had gone as well. She knew that if anyone could
take on the forces of Mordor it was her husband, with Aragorn and the
twins by his side. But she had to be content that Mithrandir was with
them as the twins were not making the journey.
Vanelossë had just found out that once again she was with child, and
she felt worse than both of her previous pregnancies combined. She knew
it was due in part to the fact that she missed Legolas. Séro was still
a handful and the girls seemed to grow more needy the longer he stayed
away.
As the weeks grew into months, Vanelossë’s stomach swelled, making her
miserable. She feared she was having twins again, and was even more
frightened at the prospect of the possibility for two more boys like
Séro. She loved her son immensely, but she did not think she could
handle more than one of him. She could not have managed at all without
Calime, who helped care for the children when Vanelossë was too sick to
take care of them herself. She also kept them all busy when their
mother was too tired to do so.
The king spent a good deal of time with them as well, and took Séro
with him often so he would have the male influence he needed as an
ellon. Séro had calmed down a little over the year because he sensed
all of the sadness within their home, and he did not understand what
happened to his Ada. Initially, Séro had asked every day where his
father had gone; only after months did he accept his father’s absence.
The fact that he stopped asking hurt Vanelossë almost as much as it had
hurt her when he would ask daily.
When the time came for the baby to be born, she had to go through the
birth without Legolas, which made it that much more painful for her.
There had been complications with the twins and he had stayed by her
side the whole time as well as with her long labor with Séro. This baby
didn’t take as long to arrive and she cried when she saw another blond
haired little boy. She named him Anarion because it was the name that
she and Legolas had thought about for Séro. He was a quiet baby and
hardly ever cried. The king was so happy to have another grandchild.
She knew that he was thinking he might have lost his son so another
grandson would help ease the suffering. She had feared the same thing
in the darkness of the night but she would not allow herself to think
that in the presence of their children.
Word had come from Lothlórien months ago that they had passed through,
but they had lost Gandalf. As the elves of the city mourned the loss of
the wizard, she was dying inside of sheer terror. If Mithrandir could
die on this mission, Legolas could as well. The last report was a month
or so ago, then they heard that Lórien and Imladris elves led by her
friend Haldir, a Marchwarden of Lothlórien, had gone to Rohan to help
out King Theoden. She had been told then that Lord Elrond and Lady
Galadriel felt that Aragorn and Legolas, and whatever remained of the
fellowship, were there in Helm’s Deep with the King of Rohan. She had
also heard that Arwen was leaving for the Gray Havens with her kin,
except her brothers and her father. That scared her more than anything
did. If Arwen had lost hope, then she was a fool to hope. But if she
had no hope, she had nothing, and she would not allow her children to
think he was not coming back.
One quiet day when the baby was a couple of weeks old, she and Calime
had taken Séro to the lake to play by the water. It was very quiet
except for the other women around them talking softly. and Séro
playing. As was typical of Séro, he had run off, and she was getting up
to go chase, and hopefully capture him. She saw him a few yards from
her, scampering up a tree. When she started going towards him, she had
this eerie feeling that something was wrong. The forest that had just
been so quiet before seemed very noisy although, she could not decipher
what the sounds were, or where they were coming from. She tried to get
her son so they could go back to the king where his servant Lienilda
was watching the baby and the girls. She had just taken two steps when
she heard Calime gasp.
Turning around to see what was wrong, she felt rough hands cover her
mouth and drag her into the trees, away from the side of the lake. She
saw Calime had been grabbed as well. She heard screams, and the sounds
of struggling from the other ellith. The men who had grabbed Calime,
and the other women were all Easterlings from Mordor. She tried not to
panic, and prayed that Séro would not come down from the tree, or back
to the lake.
She felt a hot breath in her ears as the man who was holding her said,
“You are a lovely little she- elf, are you not my beauty? I might just
have to keep you for myself.”
She started struggling as she heard the sounds of the forest getting
much louder, and could hear the sounds of a battle raging in or near
the city. She was worried about getting to Séro before he was hurt or
someone else found him. As she watched him, he seemed to be transfixed
by something, and was sitting on a low branch of the tree. She was
scared he would fall or someone would see him. Her motherly instincts
were causing her to fight off the man with more strength than she knew
she even had. The Easterling grabbed her hair and gave it a vicious
twist pulling her head back.
“If you struggle, you will get hurt,” he said menacingly. She could
feel him groping her breasts with one hand and felt sick. He threw her
down on the ground but before she could get away, he was on top of her
pinning her to the ground.
One of the other men yelled at him that they did not have time for that
now, as Vanelossë tried to fight him off. The guy on top of her yelled
back with an evil laugh.
“Let the orcs kill the elves. That will give us plenty of time to have fun with their women.”
Holding her down with his weight and one hand, he started ripping off
her undergarments as his hand stroked her thighs. She tried to get
away, and when she could not, she refused to open her legs. He reached
up and backhanded her, and for a second she was dizzy. In that second
of dizziness, he forced her legs open and shoved one of his fingers up
inside her. She cried out in shock and pain.
He laughed and said, “Scream for me. I love it when they scream.”
He slammed his finger into her with a viciousness she never knew
existed. She had never been struck before, or touched in a violent
manner so her mind was reeling from shock and sheer terror while the
mother in her was still screaming to get to her child.
Suddenly, there was a commotion near the lake area where Séro was.
Jumping to his feet, the man jerked her up with him holding her in
front of him. There were eight Mirkwood archers looking for them.
When Mehtar saw her, he brought his bow up and said “Let her go or you will all die.”
Pretty soon all of the archers were focused on the Easterlings that were holding the women.
Seeing her chance, she screamed out to Mehtar in Elvish to get Séro and
get him out of there. Seeing Séro in the tree, he told one of the men
to take him to the king right away. Next thing she knew, the man
holding her had a knife to her throat.
Another Easterling had run up and was telling them that most of the
orcs had been killed. Even though they had penetrated the city, they
were not able to get near the king at all. The king had apparently
barricaded himself within his hall with three children. His guards had
fought them off and no one could even get near them. They had a great
number of Easterlings on this side of the city, but there were only
seven Elven archers left with them and the women. Knowing that even
though they were two to three times more skilled than the Easterlings,
they were still outnumbered, and the elves, unlike the Easterlings,
would not do anything to endanger the women.
Mehtar stepped forward and said, “Now is your chance to leave or die.
If you hurt any of those women, we will kill you before you get away.”
The man holding her dug the knife a little deeper just to get a drop of blood to flow.
“Why would a warrior elf care so much about a child playing in a tree?
It seems strange to me that the King’s guards are protecting three
small children with their lives, and you have just risked danger to
save another child from the tree. That says to me that those children
are important, and would be worth a lot to your King if they were
taken. And you are their mother, right?” he asked, pulling her head
back.
When she did not answer, he screamed at the man holding Calime to cut her throat.
Vanelossë screamed “No!” and he told the other man to wait.
“Are you going to tell me who you are, or do I start killing them one by one?”
“I am the boy’s mother,” she whispered.
Twisting her arm behind her back, he said “And why is the king
protecting you and your children so fiercely?” When she did not answer,
he whispered. “One word from me and she is dead.”
As tears sprung to her eyes, she said, “I am his son’s wife.”
Laughing evilly, he said to Mehtar “It appears that we have something
of value here. Are you her prince?” Twisting her arm a little tighter,
he said to her “Is that your husband, the prince?” She shook her head.
“Then where is your husband?”
“I do not know,” she whispered.
“Kill the woman!” he yelled.
“No, please! I really do not know. He has been gone for months to aid in a mission. I do not know where he is right now.”
“You are telling me that the Prince of Mirkwood is such a fool, he
would leave a woman like you alone for months. I bet you miss having a
man in your bed,” he whispered in her ear as her skin crawled feeling
his hot breath. “Only an elf would be such a fool.”
Mehtar and the other men were ready to strike, but Vanelossë knew they
were too outnumbered to live through it, and half, if not all, of the
women would get killed as well.
Swallowing hard, she asked the man, “What do you want?”
“You let us leave with four of these women and the prince’s wife, and
the rest of the women go free. You do not agree then I cut her throat
right now, and we will fight you to the death,” he said to Mehtar.
“Never.”
“Think about it elf. You know you cannot save her in time and kill me.
If I die, so does she. How would your prince feel if her blood were on
your hands?”
“Mehtar, do not do anything foolish. Let him take me, and let the other women go,” she said.
“Mehtar, you do not have any options,” the man said with a laugh. “You
can lose five women as hostages or twenty as dead bodies.”
Knowing Mehtar would not be able to make the decision without guilt,
she said, “Let the other women go. I will go without a struggle.”
“I guess the woman has made the decision for you.” As the men started
backing away to their horses, he yelled to one of his men, “Pick three
others and grab her friend.”
“No!” Vanelossë yelled.
“But she is the best way to manipulate you, my lady. I am not a fool.
And Mehtar, do not bother following us or they will all die.” His men
had let the other women go and they ran to the elves. Vanelossë felt
guilty that they were taking Calime just because she was her friend.
Mehtar was looking at the man holding her as if he wanted to rip him to
shreds. He looked at her and told her in Elvish that they would find
them. She nodded and told him to make sure her children were taken care
of, and not to tell them what had happened to her.
The man twisted her arm even harder and said to Mehtar, “If you two are
done with your sweet farewells, I will be taking her with me now.”
“You better hope death finds you before her husband does,” Mehtar answered.
The man dragged her into the woods, staring down Mehtar until he was
out of sight. His men had already mounted, and were starting to ride
out of the forest.
He shouted to the men, “Ride quickly! Get out of here before they
regroup. Two of you ride ahead and tell the others we are on our way.
If you see any of their men, kill them.”