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A Frozen Sun	By : Esequell Category: Lord of the Rings Movies > Hobbit, The Views: 2546 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit and I'm not making any money from this.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
9. From the Past
Thranduil found Anion in the gardens. He was sitting upon a bench looking unhappy. Daeben was curled at his feet. When Anion saw his Ada, he stood up and made to run off.
'Anion. Sit,' Thranduil said. Anion came to join him on the bench reluctantly. Thranduil could see he was very upset.
'Anion. It is best that you saw the truth first. You are my favourite.'
He had said the same to Leesha two days past. Now both children believed they were their Father's favourite and it was delightful to see them both so happy.
'Phe was only having a cuddle with me.'
Anion sniffed and scrubbed at his nose.
'Anion. Why are you so upset? Do you not like Phe?'
'She is not my Mother!'
Thranduil nodded. He does understand, then. I should not have told him how babies are made!
'I understand. But she likes you. She is my friend.'
Anion still would not look at his Ada. He called Daeben and she crawled over his legs to put her feeler arms on his hand delicately. He petted her and she quivered with delight.
'I am going to ride her when she is bigger,' he finally said.
'I think you shall,' Thranduil agreed, putting an arm around the boy to kiss the top of his head. 'And you will be the most feared warrior anywhere. Who would dare to challenge an Ungol?'
Anion smiled. 'Noone,' he said.
'Anion,' Thranduil pulled him closer and spoke gently into his hair. 'Phe is to stay with me. She will want to cuddle a lot too but that does not mean I do not love you and Leesha.'
Anion did not seem best pleased but he seemed to accept that for now.
'Ada, is it...normal? To hear her voice in my head?'
Thranduil stared at him. 'Whose voice, Anion?'
'Hers,' Anion gestured to the spider, who pawed restlessly at his thigh. 'She wants to run. She gets bored in her tank and likes to be outside.'
'Strange for an Ungol to like anything but darkness.'
Anion touched the top of her head and smiled.
'Daeben does. She likes the sun.'
Thranduil reached to rub the spiders back. She made a high pitched squeal of pleasure and came closer to enjoy his presence. He smiled.
'It must be normal,' he said. 'She is no ordinary spider, and you are no ordinary boy.'
000
Thranduil had spent the night making love to Phe. He was sore and tired. Legolas smirked at Olerydes, who kept casting fervent glances at the door. Thranduil had left Phe upstairs bathing. He could tell that Olderyes had missed her presence.
'Olerydes. What has amused you all so?' he asked tiredly.
'Nothing Ada,' Olerydes said quickly. 'Absolutely nothing.'
Thranduil gestured to Legolas. 'Then what has put a smirk on his face and laughter in your eyes?'
Olerydes sighed softly.
'A rumour, Ada. That Phe may now be part of our family in a new way?'
'Are you not all a little old to be giggling at such things?' Then his eyes fell on Lilia. 'Except Lilia,' he smiled fondly.
His youngest looked up suddenly and smiled at her Father. Thranduil went warm and happy inside.
She is such a quiet girl since her Mother's death. I wish she would share more with us.
'Is it true?' Olerydes dared enough to ask.
'It is. But I will thank you to keep your noses out until she chooses to speak of it! All of you. I will not have her frightened away by gossip.'
'Ada! We do not mean it that way!' Olerydes defended their motivation quickly.
Thranduil heard footsteps coming. Phe stepped into the room washed and dressed and radiant. His body came awake again and he cursed the place and time. He wanted to be upstairs with her. He hid a yawn behind his hand as she flowed into her chair. With a little bow of her head, she said, 'My lord,' and sat.
"My lord?" You screamed that into my hair last night, while I was taking you with your ankles around my ears! I hope my children did not hear it.
'Hiril vuin,' he smiled. His attention made her flush and this in turn made Thranduil go warm and needy.
Phe hid her blush behind her hair and began to eat. Here I am sitting with your children and one hour ago you were inside me with sweat glistening on your skin and your hair all stuck to your chest! I want to do it again!
'Aide,' Legolas said suddenly. 'I need another sausage. Make it a big, thick one will you, I am hungry.'
'Legolas! For goodness sakes!' Olerydes shut her eyes in disgust.
Phe flushed crimson.
'Legolas!' Thranduil snapped.
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry!' breathed Legolas and he bowed his head to them all contritely. He was trying not to laugh.
Phe rose suddenly and fled. Thranduil watched her go as though her exit pained him, then he leaned forward with danger in his eyes.
'Make that right,' he commanded Legolas.
Legolas' smile faded. He rose with a bow of his head and followed Phe. He was blushing too when he stopped her by the hand and spoke softly to her temple.
'Goheno nin, Phe. I was only teasing.'
'I do not know what to say to you all-' she started. 'I just cannot talk about this yet!'
'Forgive me!' he licked his lips nervously. 'You and Ada must have privacy. I will not speak of it again.'
Phe bowed her head.
'Thank you, my lord.'
Legolas smiled softly and offered his hand.
'Will you finish your meal?'
Phe nodded. His hand and was dry, warm and strong. She followed him back to the table. Phe was sure that if Legolas had failed to bring her back Thranduil would have made him very sorry.
000
The second letter arrived on a warm spring morning. Phe was readying herself for Thranduil's spring celebration. Olerdes had braided Phe's hair and now Phe was tying a complicated pattern into hers. Olerydes read the letter out loud and tossed it contemptuously onto the desk.
'Phe, dearest, your Father cannot be serious. I mean to say...I know he is serious indeed, but to demand your return in this way is very presumptuous. It is not as if we are keeping you prisoner! Has Ada seen this?'
Phe nodded.
'He is furious.'
'What will you do? It seems your Father intends to come here to collect you himself.'
'I will choose Thranduil. My heart is set. But I do not want him to come here. I do not want to look upon him or hear his voice.'
Olerydes squeezed her hand.
'Ada will not let him take you.'
000
It was not long before Thranduil was due downstairs for the feast and Phe had come to see if he was still in his chambers. She found him pinning a brooch at his collar. She crept up behind him and wrapped her arms about his waist. She laid her head on his back.
'If surprise is your desire, meleth nin, you will have to move more quietly than that!'
'A kiss is my desire,' she smiled against his snow-soft hair.
'My mouth is around here,' he said warmly.
She slid in front of him. He kissed her softly, cupping her face. When he pulled back an inch or two, his brows were knitted together and he looked troubled.
'I thought I was a man of courage,' he said softly. 'But when you are actually here it flees me. I am left weak.'
'Thranduil? Is there something you want to tell me?'
He ran delicate fingertips over the gems in her hair and sighed.
'I have something for you,' he said finally. 'But I think it will be too soon to give it to you, and you will tell me not to presume-' his hand left her face and he lost the words he had been hoping to say.
'Presume what, Thranduil? What are you talking about?'
With nervous hands, he reached into a drawer and picked out a box that he hid behind his back. Phe tried to peer around him but he stopped her with a kiss.
'Sneak,' he smiled.
Phe giggled and brushed her fingers down his overcoat.
'What had gotten you so wound up?' she peered up at him, suggestively. 'Would you like me to relax you, my love?'
'Yes!' he breathed eagerly. 'But. Not before I do this.'
Then he placed a little box in her hands. Phe stared at it in surprise. A gift? Valar, not the sapphire! Do not give me the sapphire!
'What is it?' she whispered.
'It is beautiful,' he breathed. 'Like you.'
It is the sapphire! Valar help me, I will cry and he will think I am ridiculous to cry at a gift!
With shaking hands she opened it. It was a sapphire, but this one was not for selling. It was set into a mithril ring. It glittered and shone from the little box. Phe burst into tears and grabbed his hand.
'Do you not like it?' he raised an eyebrow in surprise.
'It is a sapphire!' she managed to choke.
Thranduil gazed at her as if she was mad. Then he smiled at her sweetness.
'It is not for the cottage, you fool. You are supposed to wear it!'
He took it out of her hands and freed it from its case, then he took her hand in his. 'On this finger,' he said softly.
He slid it onto her ring finger and cradled her against his chest. 'Do not weep,' he begged her. 'I mean to wed you, not send you away. Tell me it is welcome.'
His voice dropped to a whisper, a prayer against her hair.
'Tell me it is welcome!'
Phe found her voice and managed to say,
'It is so welcome,' into his neck. Her tears dried as quickly as they had come, leaving her suddenly tired but so happy.
The ring glimmered on her finger and she sprang off the dresser to throw her arms around his neck.
'You are weeping!' she exclaimed, when she felt wet between them. She held his head and messed his hair with her grip. Neither cared. Thranduil buried his face in her gratefully. He did not trust his voice and there was little he could say which would explain what they both felt.
'Stay with me,' he said in the end. 'My Phe. Stay.'
'Yes!' she cried, 'Yes, yes, yes!'
That night, Phe felt no shame in sitting beside Thranduil and indeed he ordered another seat bought to the head of the table so that she could be near him in the position most proper to their engagement. Phe felt as if the sapphire glinted so brightly that everyone could surely see it. When Olerydes and Legolas arrived, she could not keep herself from blushing when they hugged her and whispered their congratulations. Even Anion gave her a shy hug and went to sit beside his Father.
Phe had never been to one of Thranduil's parties. She felt as if she had so far missed out. More wine flowed that night than there was water in the river and there was so much food on offer that she ended the night stuffed, drunk and barefoot. Olerydes' pregnancy did not seem to be slowing her down. Phe danced with her. Then Thranduil must have remembered the Winter Dance and he cried over the voices,
'A Spring Dance, hiril vuin!'
He laughed as his family cheered her on. Phe flushed a bit but obliged him with the Spring Dance and when she was done, she stood up straight from her bow to see the King coming towards her. He grabbed her and kissed her hotly. Phe tasted the wine in his mouth and hardly cared who witnessed it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed back. When he put her down, he took her by the waist and said;
'A dance with me, my pretty princess!'
Phe put her head on his chest and her arms around his body and let him lead their footwork. When the music stopped and he lead her by her hand back to her seat. When attention had shifted away from them, he made a new symbol with his fingers.
'Timeless life,' he smiled. 'That is an apt description of Spring indeed.'
000
Darkness crept up the sheets and over Phe's naked body. She had thrown a leg over Thranduil in the aftermath of their coupling and now she dozed with her head on his chest. He disturbed her by caressing her breast softly. When the nipple hardened, he took it between his fingers and began to play with it. Phe did not open her eyes but her breathing deepened. Thranduil could tell she was aroused. She wriggled her hips against his thigh and let a soft moan escape her lips when he pinched it.
He had grown hard beneath her. He employed his free hand in her hair and kissed her. Phe made a noise and dragged him closer. Thranduil leaned over her body, forcing her into the mound of pillows they had made and slid gently inside her. She whimpered and gripped him. When he began to thrust gently she wrapped her ankles around his hips and pushed herself eagerly against him.
His breath was hot on her throat, his hair warm and damp on her chest. She caught his mouth and pushed her tongue inside and was gratified when he moaned against her and seemed to lose a bit more of his control.
Phe grabbed his backside and squeezed. He pushed deeper, his eyes half closed and his face pink. She buried her nose in his hair and licked is ear until he shuddered. The lights crept up from below, like a rising tide in her mind. They washed over her and presented her with a blinding brightness into which she felt she needed to fall. Phe felt Thranduil was inside that light, as though he was waiting for a deeper joining that she desperately wanted to give him.
She skirted around the outside of it, her body buzzing with the climb to climax but when the time came she avoided the lake of brightness and buried her face in Thranduil's neck instead. He said nothing of it, though by the way he cupped her skull and met her gaze, she felt he knew what she had done.
He would say a child was a blessing, she thought. But the lights have come too soon! I am not ready, we are not even married yet!
Still, a frisson of guilt went up her spine for denying the Gods what they so clearly wanted.
000
Lord Caduven made his second journey to the Greenwood with much less pomp and circumstance. He came with his Captain of the Guard, Amomen and a cloak of soldiers. He was allowed entry to Sindaroth by the main gate but before he could progress inside to see the King, Legolas came down to greet them.
I see the same strength in his eyes as in Thranduil's. Arrogant boy!
'Disarm them,' Legolas commanded the guard.
'This is an insult!' Caduven protested.
Legolas insisted; 'By the Kings command.'
When Legolas turned away there was the ghost of a smile on his face. It angered Lord Caduven, who sensed that his motives had already been presumed.
With little choice but to obey, Caduven allowed his bow and knives to be stripped from him. He took only Amomen into the caverns.
Phe saw the two figures coming along the walkway. A chair had been brought for her so that she could sit beside the throne. It was white and made of softly curving branches. She grabbed Thranduil's hand where it lay on the arm rest. He turned his palm upwards to take hold of hers.
'I see them! Thranduil, I do not think I can do this-'
'Do not fear, meleth nin,' he said softly.
By the time Lord Caduven had reached the throne he had seen Phe seated beside the King and spied her hand in his. Her engagement ring glinted brightly in the bluish light of the lanterns. Thranduil did not release her, nor try to pretend that their relationship was anything less than intimate. Caduven gave Thranduil a stiff bow which the King returned with a bow of his head.
'Welcome, my lord. You sent no word of your arrival or we would have sent out a party to receive you.'
'I had no need of it, my King. I bought my own guards.'
Thranduil nodded. Your show of force has not gone unnoticed, you insolent swine.
His fingers tightened imperceptibly on Phe's. She felt it and took strength from his support.
'I come in search of one who has forsaken my house,' said Caduven.
Phe went cold. Fear and fury rose together to torment her heart.
I still feel it! The way his hands gripped my gown and hair as he shoved me toward my death!
Confusion warred within her. Her natural love for her Father was automatic but her hate confused the issue greatly.
'Pephennas,' he said, his dark gaze as heavy as she remembered. His voice held its familiar command. Phe wanted to run. Thranduil turned to gaze at her. Phe knew then she was expected to lead in this, for it was her choice whether to forsake her family. Phe found herself short of breath, courage, and words.
'Ada.'
'Come to me. We are going home.'
'Why did you not write?' she asked softly.
'Does a Father need to write to bring his daughter home?'
So this is it. Phe struggled to find her voice under the raging heat in her cheeks and the blood pounding in her ears.
'I cannot go home,' she said softly. 'I have found a life here.'
Caduven shook his head dismissively and held out a hand for her. Phe felt the tug of his expectation. She was sure she would break and go with him for lack of courage. Then a hot stab of pain shot up her back and reminded her of all the pain he had caused.
'I will not.'
Caduven had no patience for her refusals. He took a step forward to glare at her.
'Get down. Now!' he commanded. 'Do you think you are his queen! You are his concubine! For shame!'
Phe shook her head. She was trembling from head to toe and almost weeping. She shifted away from him, so great was her disgust. Her chair squeaked in the silent room.
'No, Ada.'
Thranduil squeezed her hand.
'You have wasted your journey. Tell Mother I am well. I will not leave with you this time, or any time hence.'
'Have you gone mad!' his voice began to rise. Caduven lost his patience and strode toward her.
Phe lurched backwards but a pair of guards crossed their spears with a clang over his chest. Caduven gripped the shafts and hissed.
'I should have known you would betray me! You are not of my house!'
Phe's vision flickered with splotches of dark. Suddenly her trembling, frightened body flushed with strength borne entirely of anger. She stood in a flurry of expensive cloth.
'Murderer!' she yelled, her voice echoing so that all of Sindaroth could hear. 'It was you who shoved me from the walkway! You who tried to cause my death! Murderer! Kinslayer!'
Caduven staggered back, his eyes full of fear.
'What madness are you talking? She has lost her mind!'
'Do not dare to call me mad!' Phe shouted. It was the first time Thranduil had heard her shout. 'Do not dare! You think to cheapen my testimony by accusing me of a womanly fault!'
Then Phe started toward her laughing Father in anger. Thranduil saw her bend for her knife.
'Stop,' Thranduil commanded. Phe paused in surprise. She felt the King arrive beside her. He caught her forearm and tugged her back. Caduven's face twisted in fury at his show of power and his intimate manner. Thranduil gave her a soft push in the direction of his guardsmen and said;
'This is not a woman's work! Get back, my lady.'
I have never heard him speak that way to me. It is as if he is two people! One a King and one a man! For a minute she stood looking at him, wondering whether she ought to be afraid or incensed. Then the secret spot between her legs flushed with heady warmth and she blushed. Thranduil's gaze was penetrating, searching.
He knows! He knows how his commanding tone arouses me! Phe was breathless by the time he looked away.
'Alphiel has a hot temper, my lord,' Thranduil turned to Lord Caduven. 'She is most easily incensed by betrayal.'
'You mock me,' Caduven growled. 'You rename her! She is not yours to claim!'
'She is a free woman now. A child of Sindaroth.'
Caduven shoved away from the spears. He took one last look at Phe and turned. He dragged Amomen with him by a tug on his cloak. They were gone when Thranduil bent beside Phe. He pushed her gown aside with warm fingers and popped the blade free of her leg. He put it behind his back.
'You must put away your claws, meleth nin, before you poke your own eye out.'
Phe turned to him, defeated.
'Give me that. It is a gift from my Mother.'
Thranduil smiled and shook his head.
'No. Not if you cannot control your anger.'
'Thranduil. He deserves my wrath!'
'I do not care!' Thranduil shook his head; 'What were you thinking!? You are not strong to enough to fight a man and win! If ever you try that again I will not give this back!'
Phe accepted the blade and slid it back into place. She sulked until he put a hand gently on the back of her neck and pulled her against his chest.
'A blade cannot settle a matter of the heart,' he whispered. 'But it can give the heart reason to grieve harder. You are young and hot headed, my lady. Still, I am proud of your courage.'
'It is not over,' she whispered. 'I know him. He will not settle for this!'
Thranduil returned to his throne with nothing but a sigh. He laid his hands on top of hers again and rubbed gently as her tears began to fall.
'Sindaroth is impenetrable, meleth nin. What will he do? Throw harsh words at me until I relent?'
Phe smiled slightly.
'He knows some very harsh words my lord.'
Thranduil smirked mildly.
'Yes. Well. He will have to bolster them with arrows. I do not think he would dare.'
000
Phe was tired when the end of Thranduil's day came.
How he can sit on that seat all day and long and listen to this drivel I will never know! He must have the patience of a saint, or either selective hearing!
'My lord, I will take a bath, I think-'
He surprised her as they passed a darkened corridor. He pushed her into it with a firm shove and pinned her against the brickwork.
'I know your game,' he said. 'You little minx. I have suffered this erection all day!'
Phe gasped when he grabbed her hand and put it against his hardness.
'I cannot guess what you mean-' she smiled in the dark.
'On your knees,' he commanded her.
Phe's legs went weak. It was if that tone of voice drained all her strength and made her helpless. It was the voice he used to order his guards around. Phe felt it shiver along the back of her neck. She went wet all over again and gladly obliged him. He freed his erection and pulled her mouth towards the tip. Phe grabbed his hips and sank onto it. She was pleased when he hissed and bucked. He breathed an unsteady 'yes!' as she began to suck.
He let her work her lips and tongue around it, then he pulled out of her mouth with a pop and a breathy moan, and before Phe could protest that this was hardly the place for a lovers tryst, he pushed her onto her hands and knees and grabbed her gown. He hauled it up to expose her bottom and worked his fingers into her silken undergarments to draw them down.
'Someone might find us!' she hissed urgently but Thranduil caught her resisting hands and bent her over in front of him.
'You will do as you are told,' he said.
Phe found herself trembling as he brushed hands up the insides of her thighs. It was not fear that was taking all her control away, it was lust. A glance behind her found the King in the darkness, his clothes still perfect and his crown a spiky silhouette. She felt him poke at her bottom and moaned, her body suddenly on fire. Then she had an idea.
'No, my lord,' she breathed.
It is a gamble! What if he thinks I mean it? But her concerns were unfounded. Thranduil grabbed her and hauled her upright. With a surprising strength he put her against the wall and gathered both her hands behind her back.
'You say only "yes" to me!' he breathed into her ear.
Phe was so wet she could feel it dripping down her thighs. She was trembling too, her whole body on the edge.
'No,' she shook her head.
Thranduil reached between her legs and buried two of his fingers in her wetness. She bucked and whimpered against the wall and squirmed when he moved them around and thrust them in and out. He moved up close to her back and replaced them with his member. Phe shuddered hard.
'N-No-' she tried to deny him but it felt far too good to keep up the act for long.
Thranduil put a knee between her legs and pulled her closer. He buried himself warmly in her body and pressed his chest to her back.
'Thranduil-' she breathed. 'Please!'
'My lord-' he said, his teeth sharp on her ear. Phe arched and tried to get more of him inside her.
'My lord!' she finally cried, when he nipped her earlobe and thrust deeply.
'I am going to take you,' he threatened, as goosebumps raced down Phe's back to pool their sensitivity between her legs. 'You are mine to do with as I wish. You will not refuse me.'
'I might-' she breathed.
'How!' he laughed softly near her ear.
Really, meleth nin, you are a much better actor than I imagined!
'You are smaller, I am stronger. I have both your hands and I am already inside you!' he growled the next in her ear and Phe whimpered; 'Obey your husband!'
Phe convulsed in his arms, her body betrayed her with an unexpected yell. She shuddered as her climax raced through her. She tried to fight the upsurge of light but it was useless. The brightness caught her by the hands and dragged her into its beauty. Before she could do anything it had surged through the open gateway and filled her body. Then Thranduil cried out into her hair, a half cry half moan that wrenched an echoing yell from her and he filled her with a wave of his light.
Phe was gasping when he pulled back to kiss the back of her neck. He was damp and warm. He released her hands and gathered her into his arms. He slipped free of her body. Phe almost fell against him, soft and satisfied.
'Thranduil-' she tried to tell him what she had felt but a lantern light blossomed in the doorway and a guard stood staring at them.
'Begone,' Thranduil said, his voice unusually mellow. 'It is nothing that need concern you.'
The man left, flushed and hard, because he had seen the Kings state of dishevelment and guessed that the blushing woman in his arms had only yelled in pleasure. Thranduil wrapped his arms around her and kissed her throat. Then gently he dropped a hand to touch her belly. The silent communication was enough. Phe buried her face in his coat and gripped the hand he offered.
Not now! Please not now. I am not ready for this!
000
Caduven made a second march to the Greenwood. He bought only himself, his horse, some clothes, and a sweeping cloak of soldiers who consumed the streams and the flocks on the way, and before the week was out, bore down on the Greenwood caverns. The King had taken something from him that could not be replaced and he intended to retrieve it. Caduven left his hoard on the borders and took an armed escort. He called a halt at the gates and slid off his horse. A horn blown far back in the ranks signaled to the King but Thranduil could not have missed the warriors at his gate, nor the Lord who came seeking his daughter.
'King Thranduil!' he cried.
Far above, Thranduil peered down from a high window. Beside him, Phe gripped the only part of him not in armour, his hand. Gently, he caught her waist and drew her in to kiss her. He gazed upon her face tenderly.
'Thranduil...do not hurt him, please. Do not get hurt yourself! What if he tries to kill you?'
'He will not succeed,' said Thranduil softly. He stroked her hair with his one bare hand. 'Be calm.'
'He only wants me. Let me go to him!'
'He will snatch you away from me,' Thranduil leaned down to pick up his sword where it had been laying on the bed and said; 'I will not give him chance to take you.'
Phe grabbed his hand. His skin was warm and familiar.
'Thranduil...' she whispered. 'Please!'
He gazed into her eyes and found the same confusion he had felt as a young man, when he had questioned war.
'You do not understand,' Thranduil touched her cheek gently. 'When you place two dogs in a pit, you must expect them to fight.'
He turned for the stairs. Phe followed him. I cannot blame him. In these caverns hide his family and everyone he loves besides. I would do the same. I wish Ada would give up. So many lives stand to be wasted today over his stubbornness!
From the battlements, Thranduil's archers aimed a volley high and waited for his command. At the gate, Caduven became nervous. Thranduil took four of his best and went down to speak to him. Phe made to follow but Legolas grabbed her about her middle and held her back.
'Let me go, Legolas!' she breathed. 'I have to try and stop this!'
He shook his head with the same infuriating stubbornness as his Father.
'You have no idea, do you?'
He caught her gaze and Phe found the same crystalline blue in his gaze as in Thranduil's. He is a beautiful boy. If Thranduil and I have a baby, will he have the same blue eyes?
'This is not a game, Phe. If they start to fight then we all go to battle and you will stay here and be safe if I have to tie you to your bed.'
Then he said softly; 'If your Father attacks my family then he will die for it.'
Phe forced her tears down barely. Thranduil walked toward an armed hoard, beneath a hail of arrows waiting to happen.
'My lord,' Thranduil drew to a halt, his eyes cold and his face in impassable, unreadable mask. 'Let your men drink dry soil and eat dead bones while they wait for death. You were wise to choose speaking with me.'
'Give me back my daughter,' Caduven demanded.
'She does not wish it, I will not force her.'
'Pephennas!' Caduven cried at the fort.
Phe wrenched away from Legolas and stepped into the sun. The walkway shone in the morning light. Legolas came behind her with his bow in his hand. Phe stopped beside Thranduil. The King put a hand on the base of her back.
'Ada, please?' she tried reasoning. 'Please. Can you not accept? I am safe and happy, is that not enough? Let me be. Let me live. Do this for me, for love, Ada.'
'Love,' Caduven snorted. 'What of respect! What of honour!'
'Love is chief of them,' Phe shook her head. 'I will not go with you but I do not want to lose you. Whatever may have happened between us, whatever-' she licked her lips '-accidents may have happened. We can forget them!'
'Your Mother fades,' he whispered.
Phe shook her head, so close to tears that she could barely see.
'No!'
Caduven lunged for her but Thranduil blocked him. Something cracked and Caduven yelled in pain as he reeled away. He clutched his sword hand where Thranduil had broken two of his fingers. Thranduil rested his hand upon the hilt of his sword.
'Be a man of sound mind and good morals,' he whispered. 'Go forth and consider your own foolishness in whatever way suits you best, but do so peacefully. If you strike at me I will not stop until your kin are naught but voices on the wind.'
Caduven gasped in pain; 'You will pay for this!'
'You are welcome to use the gate. Though it is cold you will find it more welcoming than my blade.'
Thranduil turned away and opened his arm for Phe but before they could take one step, Phe screamed. Thranduil spun. Legolas stood, his bow string still vibrating. There was an arrow buried in Caduven's shoulder. The hidden knife fell from his hand and clattered onto the bridge. It was hardly a fatal blow but Phe started forward to grab him as though he were dying. Caduven hit the floor on his knees and bent forward to be sick but then he raised his hand to gesture.
Phe heard the subtle displacement of air and looked up. She screamed and ducked beside her Father but she knew it would be useless. The arrows dimmed the sun. As they began to rain down, a voice cried at the Greenwood archers to hold fire. Caduven dragged Phe toward the gate with his good hand. Her knife clinked on the stone as her gown rode up but she could not tear far enough away to reach it.
Legolas saw Thranduil dive towards them. For a moment he thought Thranduil might shield her with his body. The thought that the dawn might bring the death of his Ada was too much. Legolas reloaded his bow and the second arrow took Caduven square between the shoulder blades and sent him sprawling onto his face. Phe screamed.
Thranduil grabbed her and dragged her against his chest. Then he saw a last, desperate escape and he shoved her towards the river. Arrows whumped off the stone and went falling into the chasm below. Thranduil dived after her and swung her under the bridge. As he fell, a hot, terrible pain took him in the shoulderblade. He found a root that had punched through the stone but his hand failed with the pain of the arrow.
He plummeted, hair flying like a flag, feet first into the water.
'Thranduil!' she screamed, over the sound of a second volley, and then a third.
A moment later, Legolas dived out of the arrow storm and followed his Father into the white water.
Phe screamed as her fingers slipped on the dry, dusty soil, and the root cracked and gave under her weight. She grabbed for another but that came loose in her hand, and the sudden jerk split the first. For the second time in her life she went falling through emptiness.
She tried to keep her mouth closed but the water forced its way down her throat and into her lungs and the current buffeted her so roughly that she was not sure if she was upright or upside down. For so long she tossed and turned in the madness of the river, her lungs burning and her brain on fire with pain and then she became sure she was dead, because it stopped hurting and she was aware only of her own heartbeat. Then, a second heart, beating faster beneath her own.
000
Thranduil grabbed Legolas by the collar and hauled him up the muddy bank. He fell into the mud on his knees.
'Legolas!' he grabbed the boys face and shook him. Only then did he realise how much his right arm hurt. He glanced over his shoulder and saw there was an arrow shaft in his back. But that seemed numb and insignificant next to his panic.
'Wake up!' he commanded, as if by the power of a Kings command, death could be put off for another day. 'Legolas. Wake up,' he leaned over to hold him and his voice broke. 'Get up.'
A splash on the riverbank. Thranduil saw he was not alone. A fisherman was standing there with his rod in his hands, looking askance at the kneeling King and his injured prince. Then his gaze went to the arrow in Thranduil's back and the boy on the ground. He dropped the rod and scrambled up the bank. He was an old man, wrinkled and tanned. He looked down at Legolas. Then he knelt and pushed the King away.
He hauled Legolas over and took him around the waist. He squeezed the boy around the stomach as though he were trying to make love to him. Thranduil's vision clouded with tears. He sat back to watch, no more powerful than a man as Legolas spewed up a lungful of river water and choked in pain. The fisherman let go and Legolas curled up, gasping.
Thranduil scrambled forward and grabbed him. He turned his head to check he was alive. Legolas' eyes were open and he was trying to breathe through so much pain that he had gone white, convulsing as air found its way back into his lungs.
The fisherman seemed confused. Then he said;
'Elves! By the Gods, you're elves!'
'Help him!' Thranduil said.
'He'll live,' the fisherman nodded. 'But he needs to be warm and rest. And that arrow needs pulling, before it does you in.'
'A horse,' Thranduil said, 'A horse, man, and I will give you a Kingdom of your own!'
'A whole Kingdom,' the fisherman smiled knowingly. 'Alright. There's a farmer over the way. I'll fetch you horses.'
000
Every step hurt. Legolas laid low on the horses bare back. His strength had failed him with the cold from the river and the burning ache in his lungs. The guards pulled him down and yelled for the healers. Thranduil came behind him, his arm numb and his back so full of pain. He slid off the horse into waiting hands. It was not until Duven came close that he saw Phe was nowhere to be seen.
'Where is my lady!' he called.
'She has not come back!' Olerydes appeared suddenly with a bloody rag in her hands. 'Ada. I cannot find her!'
Thranduil's blood ran cold. He twisted to gaze at the river and his eyes followed it down, down, to where the white water eased into a fast current.
000
Phe coughed up so much water she was surprised she had not drowned. She gazed at the mud and grass between her fingers. Then something poked her in the back. When she turned her head it was to see black, ugly faces. Three Orcs. Two males, one female.
'A She-elf,' said one in their native tongue.
'What do we do with it?'
'Eat it.'
'Elf flesh...disgusting!'
'Throw it back in the river and see if it can swim!'
'String it up by its toes. I likes to hear something scream from time to time!'
Phe breathed; 'I will not scream you for, Orc.'
Another prod, this time in her backside.
'Fuck the bitch then. I bet she's young. Innocent. Make her bleed!' said the female.
Phe thought; one of us will bleed and it will not be me.
The largest male grabbed Phe's bottom and began to knead it. He squeezed so hard that Phe was sure she would have bruises. Then he grabbed her ankles and dragged her legs apart. Phe twisted. A hot lance of pain shot up her spine but she reached her knife and popped it free. A moment later she was scrambling away with the blade between them.
'Foul monsters!' she hissed. She was covered in mud and soaked to the bone. A round of hisses and threats and the male thrust his spear at her. Phe knocked it aside.
She shifted away, toward the water.
I cannot take all three together. This is a job for Mother! She would skin him in a mere minute and hang his carcass up to dry. I have never enjoyed watching that.
Phe's gown began to pull and stream in the current.
I would sooner take my chances in the river than against three warriors! Perhaps Thranduil was right to take my blade from me. Now that I am faced with danger and death, I need a bodyguard with a bow or I am going to lose this fight!
Then mercifully Phe saw a horse in the distance. Upon it sat a rider whose golden hair streamed like a flag. Behind it, four more, matching its speed. She took a step into deeper water. She began to shake with the cold.
Then the spear came for her belly. Phe grabbed the shaft and hauled on it and the Orc who held it staggered forwards and went face first towards her legs. She sliced his throat as he fell. His blood gushed into the water at her feet, warm and red.
'Stay away from me!' she breathed.
The female screeched in fury and started forwards. She swung a sword at Phe's belly and missed her by an inch as she plunged backwards into the water. It was so cold that it stole her breath.
Closer the horses came. Thranduil's white giant jumped a fallen tree.
Phe had not expected the female to come in after her. She grabbed Phe's foot and began to saw at her ankle with a knife. Phe screamed as she was dragged under the water. She twisted and drove her knife into the female's unprotected belly. The water filled with blood and the Orc screeched and started forward. But then Phe had the sense that she had taken an arrow because she started forward and then released her leg. Phe surfaced, gasping, and saw her floating away on the current. Then a second arrow took the remaining male and the guards skidded to a muddy halt.
Phe limped up the bank but found her foot useless.
'Thranduil!' she cried, when he slid off his horse and grabbed her awkwardly. She gripped him, weeping. Before she could ask after his health or Legolas' life, she collapsed at his feet and twisted to gaze at her leg. It streamed blood. White tendon showed beneath split skin.
'You came for me,' she choked, before she passed out on the grass. She came to long enough to feel a belt being tied around her calf. It hurt more than the open wound. She was hoisted onto a horse and seated against a warm body.
'Thranduil,' she whispered.
'Phe? Stay,' he was saying from somewhere nearby. 'Stay!'
I want to go home. I want to curl up warm with Thranduil and listen to him describe another of his adventures.
000
Legolas woke from a deep sleep, warm and comfortable but as sore around his belly as he had ever been from a days training. His Father sat over him, his arm strapped in bandages, looking drawn and ill and pale.
'Ada,' he whispered, his throat sore. 'You are alive!'
'Legolas,' Thranduil rasped. He ran a hand through his sons unbraided hair and kissed his temple. 'I have never been so glad to see you wake.'
'Where is Phe!' Legolas said quickly.
'She is resting. She does not know yet that Lord Caduven is dead. Ionneg. I may owe my life to you and Phe too is in your debt.'
'I could not let you fight,' he whispered. 'I did not mean to kill her Father...I could not lose you!'
Thranduil put his forehead against his sons and closed his eyes.
'It is over,' Thranduil whispered. 'And I thank you for my life. And hers.'
'She will never forgive me!' he whispered.
Thranduil smiled and touched his cheek softly. 'Do not,' he said. 'Just rest. And be well. That is all I ask of you.'
000
Thranduil was torn between his sleeping lover and his son. In the end his exhaustion won out and he collapsed by chance beside Phe, his skin clammy and an infection taking root in the arrow wound. By the morning he was green and white and sick enough that Phe woke him screaming for Duven.
'Be quiet, woman,' he muttered testily. 'I am fine. Just a headache.'
He tried to roll over. The pain stopped him long before he managed it and nearly sent him into a dead faint.
He dreamed. Little of it was pleasant. In the dark where gold glittered in abundance, a scaly face lunged out of the black. It lit the world with fire and burned away his face. He was on the table and a man was trying to save what was left of his miserable life. The pain was so terrible that he cried out and begged Duven to stop.
He woke in a cold sweat to feel warm arms around him but he sank again before he could wake himself fully, into the nightmare caverns through which he had run with the flames hot on the back of his neck, his hair singeing. Up the steps he had run on legs fit to fail and hidden while his friends burned away. The dragon came fast and strong behind him.
His scream was drowned under the furnace roar. And then he was away from the lair and running over green fields. Thranduil had no idea why because that dragon had not pursued him past the entrance to his cave.
Now the hurricane wind picked up and tried to take him off the ground. The thing was at his back, taking his skin and his bones and rendering him down to ash. And the dragon faded into darkness, and the shadow of an ancient evil look his place. His fiery mouth morphed into a lidless eye, whose gaze lifted the rock and soil around him and ground away the atoms of their creation in nuclear heat. Taking mass from the world it reduced his life and soul to nothing.
Oropher is dead, whispered the spiteful darkness, and Thranduil was falling, and all time had stopped for his grief. The world was made of black banners and darkness, and cold nights, and the weight of a crown made of thorns.
'My lady,' said a familiar voice in his dreams. Duven. 'You must come. I have news. Sit, first.'
000
Phe sat on a high chair much later that night, beside Lord Caduven's body.
So cold, she stroked his hair. So cold, like meat from the slaughter! Your face is slackened and you look nothing like my Ada. Where have you gone? Why did you have to leave me! Why did you have to be so stubborn!
Phe wept bitterly at first and then in her exhaustion her sobs became retching and she collapsed beside the privy. That was where Legolas found her, a corner of her gown poking out of the door. For some time he watched her from the doorway and pitied her.
If it had been Thranduil on the table, Legolas was sure he would have broken in the same way. Phe raised her head to look at him and Legolas saw her unguarded pain. Suddenly all the reasons he had given himself fell away and his eyes filled with tears. Legolas approached her. He did not dare to touch her, not even to offer comfort, though he wished he could lay a hand on her back and tell her how sorry he was in words that did not sound hollow.
'My heart bleeds for you,' he whispered, though his voice did not want to make any sounds at all. The river had scoured his throat and left him breathless and pained. 'I will not ask your forgiveness. Phe. I did it for my Father. I am so sorry for this loss.'
Phe shut the door on him and curled up against the wall. She shut her eyes and tried to breathe. Before the night was out she emptied her stomach many times over and finally crawled into bed beside Thranduil, who was clammy and beset by ill dreams.
She watched him sleep and wished selfishly that he would wake to comfort her. He was so pale that she worried he would not last the night. She finally slept with her head on his belly.
In the morning she woke sharply. She listened. Thranduil was breathing. She found him with more colour and she thanked the Valar that he, at least, was safe. He opened his eyes weakly a few minutes later and coughed up dirty, awful liquid. Phe held his head and stroked his hair.
'My Father is dead,' she whispered.
She had thought she was ready to say it aloud but the sound of the words took her heart and soul. She buried her face in a pillow and rubbed his temple. He squeezed her hand weakly. It was then that she realised how sick he was. In her fear of loss she forgot her own woes. Phe found Thandir outside on a bench. He was dozing there. The faithful manservant had refused to leave his King.
'Fetch Duven,' she said. 'Run!'
000
A second look at her Father's corpse send her reeling a second time. Olerydes held her while she wept.
'Say your goodbyes, dearest,' she whispered after a while. 'In another day he will not be fit for viewing.'
Phe said what she needed to but it felt silly to say such tender things to a dead body. Phe sensed that whatever had been in him before, whatever force had animated him was gone. He seemed less now. The dim lights played tricks with her eyes and made her sure she saw his move but when she touched him he was as cold as stone. Phe told Olerdyes of her suspicion.
'My Phe,' Olerydes stroked her back. 'He is dead. He has no pulse. He is cold. He is gone, love. You must let him go. He will be waiting for you at the end of days.'
'I do not believe in that!' Phe whispered.
'You must believe it. I have seen it. I have seen the spirit as it crosses over.'
Phe shook her head and laid her temple on his chest.
'There is something missing,' she admitted. 'It is his spark!'
Phe left her Father's body and went back upstairs to Thranduil. He lay sweating under thick furs with Duven beside him. The healer was busy mixing something in a bowl and preparing new dressings. Phe slid onto the bed beside her love and stroked his unshaven cheek.
'Let me stay,' she whispered to Duven.
'Your voice may bring him back, my lady. He is walking in shadow with an infection in his lung. He is between the worlds.'
Phe kissed his jaw softly and wrapped her arm around his neck. Much later when Duven had packed the wound afresh and left him bandaged and clean, Phe let her fingers play over his ear in the way he liked.
'Do not leave me,' she whispered. 'My Thranduil. You must hear me. Hear my voice. Come back to the light. My love?'
Phe stared into his face but saw no response. She put her nose in his throat and sighed softly.
'I cannot do without you,' she choked and began to sob into his shoulder.
000
Olerydes came in to see her Father before the sun went down. When she saw how ill he had become she bought in blankets to stay the night. Phe wrapped herself in one and rubbed his chest gently, hoping he might feel her touch and remember which way to go.
It was late, or rather early, when he gasped and stirred. Olerydes jumped up and grabbed his hand.
'Ada!' she bent over him to kiss his temple. 'You are alive!'
Phe opened bleary eyes from where she had been sleeping on his chest and stared into his crystalline eyes. She hovered between a broad smile and a sob and then she gave into the latter, as was her way, and buried her nose in his neck. He laughed, the dull, scraping sound of a very sore throat and grabbed her with his good arm.
Phe swiped her tears away and kissed his cheek.
'Meleth nin,' he whispered hoarsely. 'I heard you. I heard you.'
Phe kissed him and cupped his cheek but it felt as though a kiss could not adequately describe all that she was feeling.
'Do not die!' she said, in a voice like a child's. 'My Thranduil. I need you.'
He caught her hands and pulled her in. He buried his nose in her hair and breathed her scent.
Something has changed. I smell it on her, her scent is different. I do not know exactly why but I sense there is something new of which she has not yet told me.
'I was afraid I had lost you,' he said.
Phe settled beside him to cuddle him warmly.
'As I was afraid to be without you,' she whispered.
Olerydes called for Thandir.
'Go and tell Legolas that Ada is going to live!' she smiled widely. 'Though his hair desperately needs a wash!'

Translations
Forgive me/Sorry - Goheno nin
My Lady - Hiril Vuin
My lord - Hir vuin
My son = Ionneg
My daughter = Iellig
My love - Meleth nin
- 9
- 10
- 11
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A Frozen Sun