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fantasies-fairytales-n-fics · 3 months

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Thranduil and Josie Pt. 168- Gypsy Origins Part 1 of 3

Summary: Haldir's patience is tested during a long, bitter journey. A hypnotic tale of past truths be told.

*Chapter Warnings* language, angst, blood, violence, death, child death

Chapter characters: Haldir, Delphine(Jocelyn), Rumil, Orophin, Harker, Jemma, Zeddicus, Jessie, Thomas, Ravenna, Finn,

Chapter word count: 7,000

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist:

As the dawn of the new winter day shone it's light through the sky reaching bare trees, Jocelyn reluctantly surfaced from under a sizeable pile of brush where she had sought shelter through the cold black night from the evil enchantments of the dark forest and the wicked ones that dwelled within it's borders. Still weakened from the burning cross branded onto her chest by the nutty nun's red hot iron bar, the witch doctor slowly and cautiously crept over the pathless snow covered forest floor, squinting her light strained eyes as she searched for the way out before the befoul breeze consumed her thoughts and lungs for it's morning breakfast. Being accustomed to the lifeless woodlands of the Dorwinion realm, Jocelyn soon found the hidden exit only seen by the trained eye and as she crossed over, trained eyes were watching her. Six of them, all blazing blue, belonging to Haldir, Rumil and Orophin whom were all armed with engaged arrows upon her.

Gasping, her hues, also of blue, frantically darted beyond the trio of platinum locks in search for Bash.

"Where...where's Bash???"

Haldir, being the leading Marchwarden of Lorien and the only Silvan elf of the three that spoke Westron due to all his travels, chose to toy with the witch that he was undeniably unfond of.

"One could only presume his flesh has been ripped from his warlock bones and his soul stripped of his rotting carcass. It is usually the outcome of being left at the mercy of the devil himself."

Her brow raised as she smirked at Haldir's rather serious expression.

"And I can only presume that you are lying through your pretty white elven teeth. Any fool can see that you deeply care for Josie and you would not allow harm to come to those who have risked their lives to help her, even if those I refer to are warlocks who happen to be relatives of the notorious Lord Narcisse, who's reputation highly precedes him in not being a very liked man, but compared to Rahl, Stephane is a fucking saint. I know that you did not leave Bash and that young boy to die and I also know that as wicked as Rahl is, he would not kill his brother and son. His father yes, because the wretched warlock deserved it. Rahl was merely toying with them as you toy with me. I did not willingly leave them. I..."

"You ran for your wicked little life." Haldir scoffed.

Jocelyn bravely marched right up to the poison tipped arrows that were still held upon her and defended herself.

"I am not wicked!! And...what would you have had me do??? YOU were the ones with weapons, not me! Now where are Bash and Charles??"

"Being escorted by the others back to the castle as you now will be. You will follow me. Jo needs you. She's waiting."

Haldir swiftly departed as Rumil and Orophin held their armed stances, while Jocelyn huffed and stomped off to follow the Marchwarden.

After a few minutes, Jocelyn became annoyed at the two brothers behind her and glanced back at them with a scowl.

"Can you please give me some elbow room??" she snapped. "You know, personal space, ever heard of it??"

Ignoring her complaints, the two elves silently carried on behind her with flat expressions which only riled her up even more as she offered them another scowl.

"You know, my mother used to tell me that always having a resting bitch face could end up with it becoming stuck like that. In your case, I can see that to be true. Do you speak? Have you ever? Do you even know how??"

Still, there was not a single word from any of the three elves.

"UNbelievable!"

Jocelyn shook her head and then ran up beside Haldir.

"Am I going to have these arrows in my back the entire way? Why am I being treated like a prisoner?? I have done nothing wrong!"

"Haven't you?" Haldir snarked as he kept his eyes straight ahead.

"Ok, I can clearly tell that you do not like me which is probably because, like all the other fools, you believe the UNTRUE stories you have heard about me."

"I do not like you because you reek of deceit and you insult myself and my brothers."

"Well hello pot, meet kettle...you certainly have been no prince charming."

"I am no Prince. Personal space." Haldir snarked and sped up his large strides in which Jocelyn now angrily trotted behind him.

"Yes. I can tell. Princess may be a better term. And what do you mean deceit? I have deceived no one. If anything, "I" have been deceived here. I would much rather resume my torture at the nunnery than to be forced to return to the lion's den per se OR to be anywhere near the likes of you and your bow happy brothers!"

Haldir spun around so fast that she bounced right off of his chest and tumbled with a hard thud onto her ass.

"Is that all your witch lips do is babble? My goal is to bring you to Jo who needs your help and who I thought you cared for and who in this moment, you remind me VERY much of."

Her gaping eyes then turned to a glare. "Call off your guard dogs or you will have to carry me for I will go no further!"

Haldir thought of you again in that moment, how you had refused to get out of his way and he had picked you straight up and moved you himself. The memory had the Marchwarden chuckling inside of his mind, but on the outside, his face matched the solemn spirits of his brothers who now stood behind him as they all leered down at her.

Haldir's tone was ominous as he spoke through slitted lips. "That could be arranged."

Their piercing eyes now had the feisty brunette quite anxious.

"I dare you to try sprite. Maybe you should heed all the rumors as they say I am poisonous and I do believe elves can be poisoned. Who will help you then? It's a long walk back to the imported Mirkwood healing water. Go ahead...touch me."

The silence and the stares between the four were intensely long and then Haldir finally lifted his hand and motioned for his brothers to lower their weapons.

A smug smirk grew on Jocelyn's lips as the two elves complied. "Good boys. As if you would have shot me anyways Haldy. You need me."

"Jo needs you. I can always shoot you in the leg."

"And then you WILL have to carry me." she quipped and hopped to her feet and walked off to a tree and pulled out a knife.

The arrows swiftly rose again, this time by all three elves.

"What are you doing?!" Haldir growled as she began to cut into the tree.

"It's Spruce bark, which I would have figured a wood elf would know of. It has medicinal purposes, although I don't think it can do anything for that stick up your ass." she replied in a mordacious manner as she cut the pulp out and ate it while gazing in the exasperated elf's eyes. "Would you like to try a piece for good meas...."

Before she could finish her sentence or even blink, Haldir swiftly swiped the knife clean from her hand with an elven move completely invisible to the eye.

"It would seem there was good cause for our weapons. Bo cín té witch (On your way witch)."

Jocelyn's mouth hung open at her empty hand and then her eyes fumed at him before she stormed off. "This is bullshit!"

Haldir mumbled under his breath as the elves now followed her. "Yes it is."

An hour had went by as all walked in silence and Jocelyn's steps were slowing, for the tree bark's energy boosting properties were wearing off and the area of the forest they trekked through became all too familiar to her.

"Could I please have my knife back? I need more of the pulp. My chest is on fire, yet I am freezing and I am tiring." she asked in a defeated tone.

"How is it that you are chilled with the fur of a dead animal constricting your neck?"

"It is not real. I am not some savage like you think me to be. I am just someone who was thrown into a world I did not ask for. Now please...are you not an elf of light? If you have a heart under that tough guy act, which I think you do, for you are doing all of this for Josie, then help me before I collapse or you you really will have to carry me. I need to be stronger to help her. God..I still cannot believe she is here in Dorwinion, but it was inevitable that she would cross paths with Stephane at some point since Jul....never mind. I don't want to talk anymore. I...I feel sick."

Jocelyn sat on a fallen tree, lightly panting and then began to weep.

Haldir stopped and cut a large chunk of the bark, then removed the pulp and chopped it into bite size pieces for the ailing witch.

"Tha...thank you." she sniffled as she took it and kept her eyes to the ground as she nibbled. "Why...do you think I am deceitful?"

"The scent of secrets spill from your pores. For many years, Jo has known and believed your daughter Sarah to be simply her human neighbor and best friend in the mundane world, which included you and I now believe that to be of no coincidence, for now here you are, a witch, in middle earth's magical realm and I have since learned that lady Lola is also your daughter. You also claim you are in fear of a recently deceased Caroline and that you should not speak of Jo. Why is that? Jo has been deeply hurt by that wretched witch turned vampire for she too was full of secrets and lies as you clearly are. I will not let you hurt her too. Speak the truth or as I mentioned, I can and will force you. What is your involvement with Caroline and why is Harker after you? Something happened here. I feel it."

"Here I thought you could actually be nice. So interesting. You speak of deceit as if you have not swam in it yourself. You can sense light and darkness and force truth from others and I... I can see all of that in their eyes, the windows to the soul and yours speak loudly. Jo...you...you love her....intimately you have been when she was not yours to be with. It would also seem...yessss, that you were also intimate with her mother. Now who reeks of deceit?"

Haldir's jaw clenched and his nose flared. "Wicked you are! I have had enough of your deflection."

Jocelyn's breath was lost as her eyes were taken against their will by the unseen power in Haldir's hypnotic glare. She could not pull them free from his wild, dilated blues. She could not even blink as tears dripped down her cheeks like a leaking faucet. She could not move from the log beneath her, only tremble and whimper as the magical elf's lips began to move.

"Im orth- i fána o nin eyes. Ennas na- baw dolen hen faer tur- deli-. Im orth- i fána o nin eyes. On- nin i dolen hen faer hides." (I raise the veil from my eyes. There is no secret her soul can hide. I raise the veil from my eyes. Give me the secrets her soul hides).

Haldir raised his chin and stared down the slope of his nose at the vulnerable woman.

"Tell me about Harker. All that you know and have experienced."

The memories began to play like a movie and Haldir could see them all as they were transferred from her eyes to his while she told the story in her trance like state. It was if she were reliving it right there in the present.

I...I'm in bed. I don't feel well. I can't sleep. My stomach is cramping and my sheets are bloodied. I have become a woman on my 13th Birthday. It's the night of the summer solstice celebration, the longest night of the year and I am the only child there. My older brother Jeremy is away.

I hear violin music and my father's obnoxious laughter from the traveling carnival outside. I see people drinking and dancing around a bonfire from the window of our trailer. My gypsy mother is giving tarot readings. They're all gypsies, even my grandfather but I knew they were much more than that. He's coming in to check on me. I can smell his old spice cologne.

He's bringing me a potion for pain. It's glowing. I ask him as I always did, are you a witch? Is this magic? He's laughing. He says...

A witch doctor. It's hocus pocus my child.

He watches me drink and then, there is no more sound. The music has stopped. The laughing has stopped. I hear gasping. My mother is shouting for my grandfather.

Papa!

I'm watching once again from the window as he goes to her. She's clinging to my father while others stand near, staring at a man I have never seen. He wears black leather, his hair is light and his eyes are blue, but they hold darkness. He is not wanted here. I'm listening to my grandfather and the man speak.

Be gone warlock! Your kind does not belong here.

Oh but I do. You see, I too enjoy a good carnival. In fact, like you, I have my own traveling funfair, but I must say, it is much more...fun...than this. Maybe you have heard of it? Harker's World of Wonders?

It is a circus of freaks, all like you. You steal children and their souls.

I do not steal them. They are given to me. Just as you are going to give me yours. I smell her.

He looks at me in the window. I am so scared. I..I have peed myself.

And I see something else you're going to give me as well. Mmmm, I wish that I had Jessie's girl.

My father's name is Jessie.

I see the man ogling my mother. He runs his tongue over his teeth. My mother shouts at him.

I will give you nothing!

Jemma, Jemma, Jemma...you will, or everyone here will die in a matter of seconds. Do you want all of their blood on your hands? It's simple really. Give yourself and your daughter to me and I will let them all live.

I'm watching my mother. She is stringing her slingshot behind my grandfather's back while the warlock speaks. She lunges forward and shoots a rock clean though his hand. She screams at him.

Get out of here! Leave this camp you murdering bastard!

He's angry. He clenches his fist and blood pours out.

I warned you witch. Now be still and watch.

I'm shaking, too scared to watch...but I do. His injured hand forms the shape of a gun and real bullets spray and shatter the trailer next to me. There's an explosion and so much fire. There's so much screaming. I hear my mother's screams. I cover my ears and scream too.

Many are dead in seconds like he said. I see my mother and grandfather. They're alive, but I do not see my father. Now I see him. He's running to me! I hear him shout for me. Joss!!!

I'm screaming and banging on the window. Daddy no!! Get down!!

I hear more bullets firing and I watch him fall. My mother and grandfather watch him fall. I..I can't breathe. I can't move. I hear my mother screaming again. I see her running to him, crying out his name. Jessie!!!

She falls onto him, pleading for him to wake up... but he doesn't.

I run from the trailer in my nightgown to go to my dad and the evil man grabs me. My mother panics and begs him to let me go.

Your father will be next. DO you give yourself and the child to me???!!

Just take me! Leave my child with her grandfather.

NO Momma!!! I cry and try to free myself, but he is too strong.

Two for the price of one is the deal...or DIE!

My grandfather curses him. The man laughs and twirls his finger. My grandfather begins to bleed from his eyes.

Your magic does not work on me old fool Zeddicus!!

My mother pleads for him to stop. She agrees to his deal.

You can have us!!! Please stop!!

We ride off with the warlock on his black horse and never see my grandfather again for many years."

Haldir's heart slightly palpitated when she finished, for it saddened him deeply what had happened to her and family, but he knew he had to make her continue, for there was much more he needed to know.

"Tell me all that transpired after."

Jocelyn's flooded eyes fluttered but remained locked in the Marchwarden's as she resumed her terrifying tale.

"I'm waking up. I don't know where I am. I don't see my mother, only other children, lots of them, boys and girls, all of different ages and skin color. They're scared. Some are crying. I'm looking around. I think I'm in a stable? I'm not sure. The walls are wooden. It smells. The floor is dirt. I see daylight creeping through the cracks in the walls.

An older woman speaks to me. She's dressed like a servant.

Come child. We must clean you up and then you will sit quietly with the others until it is time for your bread and water.

I tell her my name and ask her what hers is. She says names do not matter here. I am a number and to do as I'm told.

She bathes me in a stall. The water is dirty and cold. She makes me wear a large cloth for my undergarment, pinned like a diaper. She's brushing my tangled hair. It hurts. She's not gentle like my mother. I hear noise outside. When the woman tends to another child, I sneak to the wall and peek through a small hole. I see lots of me. I think they are guards and I see strange looking people, carnies I suppose, some with physical ailments, almost animal like, dressed for circus acts. I see Harker's trailer. His name is on it. He's coming out with my mother! She's crying, her hair is a mess, her clothes are torn and he is smiling and groping her. I yell to her.

Momma!!

A clammy hand covers my mouth and I'm pulled away from the wall. It's the servant.

Hush child!! Do not draw attention to yourself. You are to be seen and not heard or you will moved up the waiting line.

Wh...what is that?? I ask her.

To be taken to the witch in the woods and you will never return.

But..but I want to see my mother!

You cannot. Ever. She belongs to the master now as do we all. Now go sit down. It is time to eat. You must stay in reasonable shape for when your time comes. If you are rejected, you will suffer dearly.

I'm shaking and crying. I can't stop. Night falls and I hear the most frightening sounds outside. Screaming, moaning, laughing. I cry myself to sleep. Every day is the same. Every night is the same. Every 3 days, I watch children from different groups, nine of them, leave at dusk in a wooden cage on wheels with iron bars. They are replaced with new ones by Harker over the 3 days after and the cycle repeats. He does the work. His men make the delivery.

We travel to new places each week. Places I do not recognize. I don't think I am near home anymore. I scratch marks into the walls each night with a rock to keep track of the days. When we move, I count the marks and memorize the number and then start all over again.

352 days have went by and I am 14 now. It is the summer solstice again. I think I am the oldest of all the children. I am lucky I have not been chosen yet but I wish I would be so I could see the sky and breathe the air again, even if it was for the last time. I regret my thoughts. Dusk is settling in and the wagon is being prepared. Harker comes for me and two others from my group. We're all screaming and crying as we are dragged to our wooden chariot. I...I hear my mother!!! She's still alive!! She's shouting my name and running to me.

NO!!! Please!!! Not her!!

Harker strikes her. She falls to the ground. Her lip is bleeding. He orders the guards to take her away. They carry her off, barely conscious as she reaches for me. I am picked up and violently thrown into the wagon. The children are huddling in the back while I sit alone at the door being gawked at by the two guards who follow.

The journey is long and hot. We are traveling on winding narrow paths near a raging ocean. One of the children had lived in the area. Thomas is his name. His eyes are chocolate like his skin. He calls the inland sea a black sea of death. It eats the living and the dead. On the North-West side is the Dorwinion realm, a land of Warlocks and humans. He says the King is of both light and darkness. Some say he has an evil twin but the boy is not sure. He then tells me that one of the witch Queen's castles dwells on the cliffs of the South-Eastern side and that her King is a King of Goblins who dwells in the Misty mountains far away to the North-West and he also says Harker is his brother. They are both evil but not nearly as their mother, a winter witch.

He looks to the North and reveals that a very powerful Elvenking of light reigns there over the vast woodland realm of Mirkwood. He points to a very hard to see island in the North-East, Devil's Island he quietly calls it, and claims it is an isle of vicious vampires with it's own King, for the true ruler of them all and the most ruthless, reigns in the central Misty mountains. Aren't all vampires? I ask him. He says only if their heart is vicious. His finger sways to the South-East and says a younger more modern vampire, a notorious recluse, lives at the top of the mountain and leads a smaller clan. It is rumored that his mind and heart are at war over humans and that is why he hides in the shadows until he must feed. The boy ends his navigational story of the monsters that circle us by telling me that somewhere, deep in the dark forest, unseen to the eye, there's a hidden realm called the Wander Woods, ruled by a twisted Faerie Queen. I want to laugh because all these things are not supposed to be real, but I cant I cry instead because I know after meeting Harker that they are very real and that I'm about to die. I'm not in Kansas anymore and no wizard will save me. This is another fairy tale. The dark one of Hansel and Gretel.

I see the castle. It almost touches the full moon from high upon the cliff. The wagon stops at the gates. All nine of us are clutching each other and screaming. The guards are poking us with poles and tell us to remain silent. Our breaths must be preserved. We are chained in a single file and led inside. I am first.

Myself and the two behind me are unchained. Thomas is one of them. Servants scurry up to us and drag us off. They mock us as we are primped and polished. They tell us the Queen will not eat what is ugly. I'm staring out the window into the brightly moonlit ocean. There's a giant vessel. Oh my god!! They're throwing the lifeless bodies of children overboard! I pee myself again. Luckily it buys me time but it shortens Thomas's and the other child's. They take them first as I am roughly and speedily cleaned up.

They take me up to the top of the sky scraping tower. The room is prodigious and round, lit by a fire pit in the center. A woman of golden hair, pinned up under a brass crown, stands at a mirror. Her back is to me. She is weeping. There's a man of short ivory hair at her side, holding her up and comforting her.

Time is running out brother. Where is the third child!!??

A grandfather clock echoes two chimes. It is 11:30.

She is here now sister.

The woman turns and stares at us. Her blue eyes are young but evil and her skin is aging. She wears an abundance of jewelry. Upon the ring and pinky finger of her left hand are a metal claws.

I accidentally gasp and she glares at me with a wicked smile. Her voice is soft but it makes my skin crawl. She tells me I will be saved for last since I am the heaviest. I don't understand.

She approaches Thomas. He's small, maybe 10 years old and stands only to my shoulders. I squeeze his hand as she squeezes his face in to a pucker. She tells him he has beautiful skin and likes how it shimmers of youth in the light. Her smile and her gaze turns dark.

Thomas's hand slips from mine as he is lifted by his face up to her face. His feet are kicking as he helplessly dangles in the air. I...I can't breathe. I can't watch. I squish my eyes shut as I hear a sucking noise and then a thud. My eyes pop open and Thomas lies still at her feet. His skin is all shriveled. A servant drags him away and the other child is brought forward by her face. It happens again. I still do no do not watch. I feel her approach me and then she speaks to me.

Open your eyes child. I must see all of you, closely. Every detail. You must be of perfection.

I can't stop myself from opening them. She looks different. Her skin is healing. She is stronger. Now I understand why I am last. Now I understand it all. She is eating our souls to feed and preserve her youth and power.

Ahhh yes. You will do just fine fair one.

She grabs me under my chin and lifts me from the ground. I feel paralyzed. I can't even kick my legs. Her grip is so tight, I am choking and it forces my mouth open. Her mouth opens, unrealistically wide and she begins to suck my soul into her body. I feel my skin tightening. I'm slowly imploding as the air in my lungs is sucked dry. Something else is happening. Something that is not supposed to. I see it in her widened eyes as he hand loosens it's grip. I feel my skin reforming and my breath returning. I see my soul's essence flow from her mouth, back into mine. It has a fiery color swirling in it that it didn't have before. It burns my chest and then becomes cool and tingly. She gasps for air and drops me.

She stumbles back into her brother's awaiting arms and her eyes are gaping mad as she watches me slowly sit up.

Ravenna, my sister, what is it??!! her befuddled brother asks as he too gapes at me.

Help me up Finn. Now!

She's assisted to her feet and she grabs a fistful of my hair as she screams at me.

How OLD are you!!!!!???

Again, I do not understand.

I...I...I am...f..ff...fourteen.

This cannot be! She merely looks 12!" the brother proclaims. "Harker would never send anyone over 13!

She glances at the clock. It is 5 minutes till midnight.

Give me one of the other children! Quickly!

A servant rushes off and comes back with a girl who looks no more than 8. Ravenna finishes her ritual with only seconds to spare. The clock then chimes twelve times as her youthful image is restored.

Ravenna is telling Harker's guards to have Harker return with her next shipment to answer for his mistake and send an extra child to replace me. They are not pleased. She is now ordering Finn to throw me in the sea with the other bodies, but he stops the guards and argues with her.

Sister. I cannot. You must send her back. She survived which means she still belongs to Harker. Not only will it now be considered taking from a warlock, but it is a rule of the spell Jadis has placed. You must never rid of a survivor. It is an omen. There will be consequences, for the girl has consumed some of your magic.

Damn that jealous woman!! It is the only reason she has done this to me!

Sister...I believe bedding the King Jasper was the cause. Look what she allowed Jareth to do to him and his men. You should consider yourself fortunate that Jareth wanted you alive.

Fortunate brother?!!! I had to pay this price to live!! Enough. Today is your lucky day little girl but do not think I will ever forget this, nor forgive it. With that said, you will remain here until Harker arrives to answer for this!!

Harker's men are angry as Finn is dragging me off. I am happy to have escaped death but I do not know what will happen to me now. I feel so desperate."

Jocelyn stopped and Haldir thought for a moment as her eyes remained a prisoner of his. Her story only darkened with the more she revealed and he knew she would remember all of this when he freed her of his mind manipulation and may be traumatized from it, but still...there was so much more he must extract from her memories, for even the simplest of information could be highly useful at some point and...she had all the answers to your questions of the past regarding Sarah and now even Lola and Narcisse were involved. They both were too close to you and Leeanduil, so it had to be done. He had come this far. There was no turning back now.

Haldir's dilated pupils pulsed as the thin ring of blue around them glowed like an eclipse.

He then spoke one word.

"Continue."

More tears rushed upon her flushed cheeks from her immobilized eyes as she obeyed his command.

"I am being locked in a dungeon, only it is not underground. It is in a tower. The door is grated iron. There is only one small window with no glass. It is so hot. There is no bed. I'm so tired. I fall instantly asleep on the filthy floor. My face is burning. I open my eyes and the sun is shining on me. It is morning. I am searching the room for something, anything to help me escape but there is nothing. I feel like I am suffocating. I need air.

I am climbing up to the window. If I could fit through, it would not matter. It has two iron bars in it and there is nowhere to go but hundreds of feet down to my death. It is all a rubble of rocks on the ocean's edge. I see something. What is...that?? It is a large loose iron nail. I...I think I can reach it. I am stretching my arm through the window. I...I've got it! But it's hard to pull and it's hot from the sun I assume. I'm pulling and pulling. It finally comes out. I am looking it over, thinking of what I can do with it. Maybe I can pick the l...oh god! Someone is coming!

I see Finn approaching with food. I'm hiding the nail behind my back as he comes in. Now I realize what I can do with it, but am I brave enough to try?? If I am caught, what will happen to me? I don't care. I have to get away. I don't like how he is looking at my breasts. It is now or never.

He is walking up to me. He touches my bare chest and licks his lips. I am shaking and becoming very angry. The nail is still hot. I cannot hold it anymore. I am clenching it tight and I...I swing the pointed edge at his face. It slices his cheek from his eye to his jaw. He is screaming and I am running out the door he left open. I don't know where I am going. I just keep running. I see an opening with light but when I get there, it is only a drop off to the ground.

I turn and run the other way. I hear Finn's voice and other guards nearby. Corner after corner. I keep going, looking for stairs. I find some and rush down them but now I...I am lost and even more desperate. I see a courtyard and more light coming from a small opening with water on the ground outside of it, but there are guards everywhere. They see me and begin shouting and chasing me and now I have no choice but to run to the hole. One of them almost catches me. I dive into the opening and I am now sliding right into a flooded drainage tunnel. I'm soaked and wading my way through it to the light. I crawl over the edge and I am now on the side of the cliff with nothing but the raging ocean below. They're coming through the water. I have no choice but to jump. I close my eyes tightly shut and force my feet forward. I'm falling. I plunge into the black sea of death. I think my heart has stopped beating.

I'm fighting the current, trying to swim up for air. It's pulling me in the opposite direction. I am going to drown. I can see the light above me. Is it the light we see when we die?

A strong surge pushes me up and I surface, gasping for breath. There are rocks. I cling to them while my lungs fill back up with air. I look up and see a pathway around the cliff.

I'm running again. There are horses tied to a post. I see guards in the distance relieving themselves. I sneak up and untie one of the horses. I have never ridden a horse. I am climbing on and horns begin blowing. The guards see me and begin racing towards me. The horse is startled and he gallops off. I don't know how to control him. He is heading towards the forest that I see in the far distance so I just hold on tight and pray.

I am nearing the forest and the horse stops so fast that I fall off. I see the guards coming. Lots of them. I try to climb back up but the horse moves to the side and shakes his head. He won't let me. Something is frightening him. I pull his reigns to get him to follow me into the forest but he lunges up on his back legs and neighs loudly, then runs off. I turn and run into the forest. I soon find out what the horse was scared of. I am in Ravenna's dark forest.

All the trees are dead. The air is murky and stinks. There's barely any light. I begin to run again when I hear the sound of something screeching. I fall and a mist of sparkles spray into my eyes. It's poison. I'm hallucinating. I keep going, stumbling, trying not to pass out. I fall into a stream and crawl through the mud to get out and now I'm laying on dead birds. There are figures in black cloaks, all watching me. Black beetles are crawling everywhere. Tar is seeping from the trees and dead plants. I am swarmed by bats. Is...is that a dragon or a...a gargoyle in the tree?? It flies down and strikes me with it's wings. Everything goes black.

I'm waking up. I don't know how long I have been here. I realize it has not been long because I hear the voices of guards. I run off to hide under a pile of brush. One of them walks by. I can see through the branches. It is one of Harker's men. I don't know which is worse, him or Ravenna's men.

I stay silent until I cannot see him anymore but he already knew I was there. He drags me out. I cannot free myself from his firm grip on my arm. Finn and three of his armed men come. The gash on his face is gone. I try to run but Harker's man pulls me close to him. Finn extends his hand to me and tells me to come.

I beg the warlock. No. NO! Please don't give me to him!

He holds his weapon out at Finn. Back away. The girl comes with me.

The Queen says otherwise. She has given you your orders warlock.

I do not answer to her. I have my orders. Any rejections go back to Harker. She still belongs to him. You said so yourself.

And she will. After the Queen speaks with him.

4 more of Harker's men show up. One speaks for all.

That is not how the arrangement goes. Your sister knows it. She has no authority to alter the rules. The girl survived. She will rightfully come with us. The Queen cannot be trusted not to harm her. Do you wish to jeopardize your sister's means of receiving what she needs? I know YOU are certainly not going to provide for her on a daily basis. You're merely a man, unlike Harker, and can only travel so far with limited time and resources, that being of the slim to no children in the area. Choose as you will, but we are taking her, with or without a fight.

Finn scowls at us and leaves with his men. I feel better with the outcome but I still fear for my life.

The warlock guards take me straight back to Harker. It is late in the day and they are on edge. I sense they fear his reaction for returning me. They are right to fear him. A wolf like growl escapes through his clenched teeth. His fingertips grow claws of bloody daggers.

I fearfully fall to my knees at his feet as the men push me towards him. They explain all that happened and he orders them to bring him my mother. They drag her down the hall of his trailer and force her to her knees beside me. We cling to each other, shaking and crying. He demands answers from my mother. He is pacing and snarling like a dog between his sentences.

You have been here one year. You know the routine, yet you fail to inform me of your spawn's age!

I...I...did not know it mattered my Master. I swear it!

If it did not matter, then I would give YOU to her!! You see ALL of the children here! Not a one, or so I believed, is over 13 years of age. It is forbidden! My brother is her King and he, along with the Queen will now believe I attempted to kill her! My camps could be raided by his armies of orcs, goblins and wendigos and if that happens, I will feed you and your offspring to them! You better say your little prayers that I can make Ravenna understand and that she was not harmed, for she is far more unforgiving than myself and my brother combined.

He is grabbing her by her hair and pulling her to her feet. Something is happening inside of me. A rage that I have never felt. My eyes uncontrollably dart to a shiny object on his desk as if I knew it was there and knew what it would do. It is a small silver dagger. I run to it. I take it and I spin around, slicing his hand that clenches her hair. He releases her and backs away. An indescribable scream, almost deafening, spews from his mouth with a visible steam like a piping hot tea kettle.

I am reprimanded by his men and the blade is taken. I'm ordered to be locked up in iron chains. I don't see Harker for 2 days. I am in a small cave chained by my ankle to a rock wall. My skin is burning under the shackle and I feel weak. I'm having horrifying dreams of Ravenna. I feel myself changing, internally and physically. I am remembering Finn's words, that I consumed some of her magic."

@redeemer46

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i-did-not-mean-to · 1 year

Text

Blood - Chapter 1

A vampire story that will feature many characters on either side of the divide between life and death.

Here's the first chapter...

Words: 1,3k

Warnings: a little unsettling, a tad suggestive...it's a vampire story, what did you expect :p ?

Chapter 1: Thranduil

Aggie touched a tentative hand to the back of her sore head; she had fallen hard onto the cold ground, veined with tangled roots, and covered in sharp stones that mercilessly dug into her tender flesh.

Struggling to her feet, she blinked a few times but the uncanny impression of having been thrown into a flat, painted scene didn’t abate; everything around her – the forest, the hard-packed earth beneath her feet, the dark sky overhead – struck her as uncomfortably static.

It was as if time simply stopped existing in the pervasive shadow of the tall trees that stood motionless around her, like malevolent sentinels.

As she narrowed her eyes in distrust and confusion, her gaze was inexorably drawn to a narrow path winding through the impenetrable obscurity ahead; it was akin to a faint ray of light cutting through a menacing labyrinth and her body moved towards it before her mind could even clear completely.

Weary and more than just a little scared, she pressed on tirelessly, her eyes glued to the forest floor – littered with dead leaves and tiny twigs – until she suddenly could feel the silver moonlight pour over her head like a shower of light.

She had no idea where she was and how she had managed to stray so far from the route she had mapped out in her head prior to her departure; ever vigilant, Aggie had of course heard tales of the man-eating forest she’d have to pass by and had resolved not to set foot into it if she could help it.

“Don’t even look at it,” the elderly aunt she had visited had warned her, “strange things happen within that wood!”

Starting early and making good time, Aggie had been confident that she’d reach the small village on the edge of the vast woodlands before nightfall, but somehow, she must have gotten turned around.

It was only then, after musing pointlessly about her uneventful and tiring day, that she realised that she had been walking for many an hour and that she had reached a clearing, bathing in a pearlescent shimmer that told her that it was the dead of night and she was no closer to finding her way back than before.

At the far end of the slightly oblong space, the boughs of the old trees seemed to tangle into a sort of natural awning that plunged the ground beneath them into inky blackness.

For a moment, she thought she heard the echoes of a song and the hint of woodsmoke caress her tired senses and – once again – she was set in motion by forces beyond her own reckoning.

Not long after, she reached a stair braided out of old, creaking roots that led ever downward.

Every fibre of her being objected to being drawn under the earth never to surface again, but a leaden fatigue descended upon her now and the idea of finding shelter for the night became so overwhelmingly appealing that she ventured on.

As soon as her nimble right foot touched solid earth again, lights flared up as if her mere presence had ignited the torches lining a high corridor that seemed to stretch on endlessly.

“No,” she mumbled, but – even to her own ears – her voice sounded feeble and muffled by the ambient silence that had a positively physical weight to it as it settled on her shivering frame.

Aggie knew not if it was her weariness or a trick of the light, but the corridor seemed to contract and shorten before her very eyes; she now could make out an intricately carved and richly decorated double door and – despite her better knowledge – she hastened towards it.

As if they had sensed her approach, the doors swung open noiselessly.

Stumbling once more, Aggie found herself in a dimly lit room – cavernous and huge – that was as devoid of life or movement as the rest of this accursed forest.

“Hello?” she called tentatively and shrank back as she caught a movement ahead.

Stepping into a pale ray of light falling through an opening in the dark ceiling that seemed comprised of roots and packed earth, the most marvellous creature she had ever beheld extended his arms as if in welcome.

“Good evening,” the being said in a voice that reminded her of the terrible wrath of an unleashed river, “little one. I am Thranduil, Lord of these Halls.”

Thranduil, Aggie thought with a shiver of apprehension, was as white as if someone had poured pure starlight into the approximate shape of a man; his long, gleaming hair flowed like water down broad shoulders and his piercing eyes shone with a cold light.

From this distance, everything about him seemed unnaturally pale; he looked colourless as if someone had drained him of all the usual signs and tokens of life and there was something distinctly frightening about the stiff elegance of his movements that gave the impression that he was holding his breath to avoid moving so swiftly that he’d blur like lightning cutting through the darkness.

“You look tired,” he went on when she didn’t reply, “allow me to offer a humble repast to a very welcome traveller.”

Aggie felt herself nod – amazed and entranced – and step forward at his discreet beckoning motion.

Servants materialised out of the shadows, laying out a marvellous feast on a low table that she had not seen upon entering the ever-shifting room. Candles were brought in and lit by eager hands, but Aggie’s mind was cloaked in an obscuring fog.

“Come now,” Thranduil urged, “and tell me of the world outside.” The way his eyes – grey as an overcast sky and yet iridescent with reds and violets – flitted over the bare skin of her wrists and throat made her flinch, but she was overcome with a ravenous hunger such as she had never known before all of a sudden.

Everything about this place terrified her and yet, she could not muster either the courage or the will to stand and leave.

Moreover, Thranduil was compelling in his motionless, rapt attentiveness so she told him more about herself, her movements, her family, and her village than was rationally advisable.

An orphan, an unmarried woman, lost and alone in a strange forest, she all but screamed her own vulnerability at him.

“Indeed,” he purred, leaning forward eagerly. “You will make a great addition to my coven. If you would be so good as to follow me to my rooms; I have some truly excellent wine set aside for situations like this one.”

“Will I die?” Aggie asked brazenly, struggling against the supernatural sense of calm and comfort radiating from the sharply smiling creature. If these were her last moments of motion, sound, and colour, she would embrace the frantic beating of her heart and savour every second of blood-curdling fear if that was all that was left to her.

“Die?” Thranduil laughed, revealing sharp teeth that glittered like blades in the flickering candlelight, “oh no! Everything but that. I will make you mine. I will steal you.”

“Steal me?” Aggie echoed in a hollow voice; she was nobody’s property and she had made that quite clear, or at least she thought that she had.

“You’re one of theirs,” Thranduil smirked, “and I will poach you, if only to see which one of those terribly distasteful monsters they’ll send to retrieve such a treasure.”

Curiosity now drove Aggie to follow him; not only was she almost certain that he was some unholy demon – frozen in time forevermore – but she had apparently been rubbing elbows with his kind before.

She had a good idea who, in her immediate vicinity, could be meant by his cryptic words and she was desperate to find out if she was right.

So, that was the first chapter...Stay tuned to see how this goes on!

-> Chapter 2

#teaser #IDNMT writes #fanfiction #writing #the hobbit #LOTR #Silm #Thranduil #Thranduil x OC #vampire story #Vampire elves #Vampire!Thranduil #gothic first chapter

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