Disclaimer -Pg-13—obviously I’m not Mr. Tolkien and would never profess to write nearly as well as he did. So there you go.

Rated

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Ten miles between our small camp of elves and the troop of orcs was too close for much comfort; thus once our watch was over I slept fitfully. Every noise awakened me, from the soft hooting of an owl several miles away to the deafening snoring coming from a certain auburn-haired member of our party.

Very early that morning, before sunrise, I awoke from a dreamless doze to the murmur of very low voices. I looked over to the remnants of the fire, where Nurhoth and Tasarë were standing. They were very involved in what appeared to be a serious discussion.

I sat up slowly, not wanting to disturb Legolas, who was curled up against my back, taking up half of my bedroll in addition to all of his. His eyes were still glazed over in deep sleep and his mouth was slightly parted. He looked so young when he slept, so ethereal and innocent, that it made me smile. That was one thing about Legolas: no matter how worried he was about the journey, how concerned he was for the well-being of Mirkwood and all of Middle-earth, he could still sleep like a baby.

It was cold; I shivered as I stood up to don my outer tunic over top of the thinner silver shirt. The snorer across the camp was still going strong as I made my way as quietly as possible to where the captain and warrior were standing.

"Princess," the captain said in a low voice as he noticed my approach. "I am sorry that we have awakened you. Were we quite loud?"

"No, not at all," I replied. "I am afraid I was not able to sleep very well."

"Well, that is understandable," Tasarë said. "Considering someone over there sounds as if they have ruptured a lung." He chuckled.

"It is no matter," I said, laughing slightly myself. "I assume we are to be off soon anyway. Am I correct, Captain Nurhoth?"

He nodded. "I hope to let everyone sleep awhile longer, if that is all right with you and the prince, my lady. But we must not linger here. The trees say the orcs are on the move. I do not wish to be anywhere near here, for we are directly in their path."

I nodded back. "Yes, that sounds fine to me. You have much more experience with these things than I do, Captain. I will trust your intuitions."

"Thank you, my lady," he replied.

I smiled and made my way back to wake Legolas. Now he was sprawled out on his back over both bedrolls, one hand on his chest and the other thrown up above his head. His white-golden hair was spread out around his head, especially disheveled where he had undone his braids before going to sleep. A smile played at the corners of his lips—he was dreaming. I knew not what he was dreaming about; in fact I purposely blocked out the part of my brain that was he. Occasionally, when we were both asleep, we would have the same dream, but when one of us was awake we tried not to stray into the other’s still-dreaming head. We had to allow each other some small privacy.

Reluctantly, I bent to wake him. I smoothed some stray hairs out of his face and said, very gently, " Echoir, meleth-nîn ."

Slowly, after a moment, he stirred, his eyes becoming clearer. He stretched and blinked a few times, then sat up slowly. "What time is it?" he asked, thickly.

" Nev rûn ," I replied.

He nodded and stood, stretching, as I relayed my conversation with Nurhoth and Tasarë to him.

He reached for his bow and quiver, then went off to a nearby stream whilst I cleaned up the bedrolls. After I was finished I went to wash as well.

To my surprise Lady Fânwen was already there, a little further down from where my husband was washing his face, splashing water into her eyes to clear out the last remnants of sleep. "Good morning, my lady," she said, without even a trace of good-will or pleasantry in her voice. She did not even turn to look at me, but finished washing her face and began to brush her dark hair.

So she was still angry about last night. Annoyance washed over me, especially after I glanced over at Legolas, who paused in his ministrations to smirk slightly and shrug. He might think her rude demeanor was amusing but I certainly did not. What right did she have to be angry with me? I had done nothing wrong. Even if I had, what could she say about it? I was the princess—the only people I had to answer to were Legolas and Ada. I did not like to think that way—so arrogantly as to say that I was above other elves merely because of my family—but her attitude was really beginning to irritate me.

"Good morning!" I replied cheerfully, causing Legolas to laugh inside his head. If she was going to annoy me, then I would annoy her right back. Petty, yes, but I cannot say that I did not feel some pleasure at her discomfort. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept well enough," she replied tersely, as she began to braid her hair.

"She is not going to give you an inch," Legolas thought. He was still smirking but trying hard not to outright smile.

I shot a look at him as I finished washing and started to brush my own hair, raising my voice louder so the others I knew were approaching would hear me. "I did, as well, at least until Lalaithion began to snore. I swear, he is so loud he rivals the dwarves."

I turned as I said my last statement, smiling sweetly at Lalaithion, whose hair was in about fifteen different directions. He was glaring at me, obviously not quite awake yet. With him were an equally sleepy-looking Galenparth and an amused Gloriavas.

"I beg your pardon, my lady, but you are mistaken," Lalaithion said, very seriously. "I heard it too, however. I think it was the captain. He ate quite a bit of lembas before bed last night; it must have gotten to him. It was nearly loud enough to wake the dead!"

Galenparth snorted laughter and Gloriavas shook his head as they made their way toward the stream. I smiled a little, but shook my head as well. "It is probably not a good idea to mock Nurhoth, Lalaithion. Especially since he can likely hear you, even down here."

He shrugged. "I only speak the truth."

"The truth?" Gloriavas snorted. "Lalaithion, we all know—"

" Dín, ilye-o le ," Legolas interrupted, suddenly very stern.

I turned to see him staring off into the woods, one hand still on the braid he had been plaiting into the left side of his head. I sneaked a look at Fânwen, who had previously been glaring at Lalaithion with contempt, but was now looking toward Legolas with concern in her eyes.

Galenparth had dunked his entire head into the stream, and after whipping his head out and spraying water everywhere, noticed that everyone had gone very silent and tense. "What is it?" he asked, fully awake now and wiping water from his eyes.

" Lasto !" Legolas whispered severely as he retrieved his bow from the stone he had propped it against. " Ná edno en-nas !"

Everyone went completely silent. The forest around us had gone as still as death; I could no longer hear the birds whose sweet sunrise-song had been filling the air. The trees had stopped murmuring to each other as well, though I could still feel their apprehension. The only sound was the quiet murmur of the brook. A strange smell had begun to waft toward us as well, a mysterious and horribly foul odor that made me sick to my stomach.

"Can you see anything?" I asked Legolas in my mind. I found that even my thoughts were whispered.

"No," he thought quickly, concentrating hard on looking deeply into the forest. The sun was not quite fully risen yet, but none of us had any trouble seeing in the minuscule light. We were all concentrating hard on listening and watching, barely making a sound even to breathe.

I glanced over at Fânwen again and noticed that she too had notched an arrow to her bow. Mentally I cursed myself—I had not even thought to grab a weapon when I came to the stream. How could I have been so stupid? Even the dagger I usually carried in my left boot was sitting back near the supplies where I had removed it the night before. Without saying a word, Legolas reached into his quiver with one hand and retrieved one of his long knives. He stepped closer to me and placed it into my hands. The other he gave to Gloriavas, who was closest to him. He motioned with one hand and the three of us surrounded the weapon-less and very pale Galenparth and Lalaithion.

My skin seemed to crawl. Something was in the forest, but I knew not what. Whatever it was, it was evil. I could smell the stench of it permeating through the wood. The putrid aroma repulsed even the trees. I looked over at the other elves who looked just as nauseated as I felt. Lalaithion was looking rather green and I knew he was in danger of becoming ill.

"What is that?" Galenparth demanded in a severe whisper. No one answered him because we did not know. "Even orcs do not smell this bad!"

 All went silent again as we tried to discover the source of the stench and evilness that had overtaken the forest. Suddenly a bird burst into song in the top of a tree behind us. All six of us whirled toward the sound—Legolas nearly let his arrow fly but checked himself at the last second. Slowly the forest relaxed as the trees eased their tension and the animals came to life again. Apparently the danger had passed; even the mysteriously rancid stench was gone just as quickly as it had come.

We six elves relaxed as well, Galenparth chuckling nervously as Fânwen and Legolas lowered their bows. Lalaithion shook his head quickly, striking Galenparth in the face with his unkempt hair. "Well," he said. "That was quite the wake-up call."

Galenparth glared at the back of Lalaithion’s head as the latter made his way toward the stream again. Legolas smiled slightly at me and said, "My paranoia from last night must be catching—even the forest felt it."

"We all did, your majesty," Gloriavas said very seriously, still gazing out into the forest. "Though I would call it ‘caution’ rather than ‘paranoia.’ I think perhaps we should make haste to begin our journey again."

"I could not agree more," Legolas replied. I nodded in agreement; the others made sounds of acquiescence as well.

I handed Legolas’s knife back to him. He placed it and the one he had given to Gloriavas back into his quiver. He let me finish braiding his hair and waited whilst I did Galenparth’s as well.

We began to walk back up the hill toward the encampment, with Fânwen walking ahead of us, bow still in her hand. Lalaithion lagged behind, as he had refused to let anyone help him with his unruly hair. It was now wet and amess, though he was trying to tame it as he walked. Light conversation began again as we walked up the hill.

Out of nowhere Fânwen stiffened, coming to a complete stop directly in front of me. She turned and looked skyward, her bow tracing the outline of the forest.

"What is it, Lady—" I began, but was cut off by an earth-shattering scream that pierced my very soul and sent the entire forest reeling into death-silence once more.

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1. " Echoir, meleth-nîn "—"Awaken, my love" (actually "Echoir" is the elvish "Awakening" season, but I like the way this sounds. Purists and elvish scholars beware, my elvish sucks but I have so much fun playing with it that I can’t resist. I believe that I probably mix Quenya and Sindarin as well, though I am trying not to do that. As I have stated more than once, this is a first draft so as I learn more elvish I will fix it. I’m currently doing the Sindarin lessons over at councilofelrond.com, it is fun, so all will be remedied once this thing is fully finished.
2. " Nev rûn "—"Near sunrise"
3. " Dín, ilye-o le "—"Silent, all of you"
4. " Lasto! Ná edno en-nas !"—"Listen! Something is out there!" (That is directly from TTT movie, it might be incorrect but the version of the script that I have says that’s what it is. If it is incorrect someone please let me know.)