Chapter 1: Escape

Green eyes flew open in the darkened room. What was that noise? A small golden head bobbed up as the elfling sat up. Something was happening. He was sure of that. There were voices and they were talking. It sounded like… well, he did not know what it sounded like. There it was again. His name. And now he was sure it was his nana but it did not sound like his ada that she was talking to. Thranduil’s eyes grew wide and he jumped as the door to his room flew open and his nana came rushing in and started grabbing some clothing and stuffing it into a small travel bag.

“Come, Thranduil. We have to go.”

Go? That was not right. It was time to be asleep. The noises were louder again and this time Thranduil was sure it was elves running and yelling and screaming. He jumped from his bed and ran to his nana.

“What is happening, nana?” he asked, trying hard to be brave and swallow the fear that was welling up inside.

“You need to get dressed, sweetling,” she said hurriedly as she knelt down and began helping him change into leggings and a shirt.

“I need a tunic, nana. It is not proper to go out without a tunic on over my shirt.”

Thranduil was not going to leave his family’s rooms without his tunic after the last time when he had been scolded for ‘running around half-dressed’ as his ada had put it. Thranduil thought his ada and nana were too concerned about what everyone else thought.

Hearing the noise outside the door again, he looked toward the room adjacent to his. Maybe the dwarves were back, he thought in a near panic. The dwarves were bad. They killed the king and then stole his jewelry. Thranduil did not remember when it happened, but he knew that his ada and some of the elves of the Menegroth guard went after the dwarves who had done it and recovered the king’s jewelry. Stealing was wrong. With a sudden gasp, Thranduil looked up.

“Nana, where is ada? We cannot go and leave him!”

“Ada will meet us later, sweetling. Here is a tunic… come now, we have to hurry.”

The noises outside the door were steady now and Thranduil knew by the sounds of the screaming and running that something very bad was happening, just like when the dwarves came. Before he had time to ask if it was the dwarves again, his nana took his hand and hurried out the door. Thranduil had to hold her hand tight to keep from being separated and he wished she would just carry him before remembering that he was too big for that now. Besides, nana had to carry their things.

The screams and shouts of the elves of Menegroth filled the stone hallways, echoing down long corridors. Occasionally shouts for vengeance came to Thranduil’s ears and he always turned to see who was shouting. He recognized many of the elves who were running and shouting. He did not see any dwarves though. Some elflings that he played with were being pulled along by their parents, but Thranduil still did not see his ada.

It was with wide eyes that Thranduil did his best to stay with his nana and not get separated. He held onto her hand as tight as he could and was glad when she pulled him into a small room off the main hallway. At more screams out in the hall and strange thumping noises, though, he felt a hand over his mouth. He struggled, only to be pulled back sharply and held tightly against his nana. Tears formed in his eyes. What was going on? Why was everyone yelling and running and why had his ada not come to help him take care of his nana?

Soon the noises outside the little storage room died down. Or at least the screaming and yelling seemed further away.

“Thranduil,” he heard his nana say in his ear. “I need you to be brave and not make noise, can you do that?”

Thranduil nodded. He could be quiet when he needed to be. He was not so little anymore. His nana opened the door and looked out. She gasped and hesitated, then pulled her head back into the little room and whispered to him again.

“I know you are my brave warrior. Just look at nana and not at anything else. Can my brave warrior do that?”

Again Thranduil nodded. His nana was pretty and he could look at her. He looked at her now and saw a funny expression on her face. He did not know what it meant. Soon he found himself back in the hall and trying very hard to just look at his nana as they passed other corridors that branched off the main one. Something moved down the hall and his eyes flashed to it. Before he knew it, Thranduil gasped. Blood. There was blood on that elf! He did not know who it was, but it seemed to Thranduil that the elf backed against a wall and then sort of slumped over and fell. Turning his head to look around, he saw that there were a lot of elves lying in the corridor and they were all bleeding!

Panic set in. Thranduil wanted his ada. He knew his nana would try to protect him but his ada had a bow and a sword.

“Ada!” he cried loudly, wondering why his ada had not come to protect them. “I want ada!”

Tears were now falling freely. Before he could stop himself, Thranduil pulled hard trying to get his hand loose from his nana’s. Nana just kept hurrying toward the entrance. She was going so fast that Thranduil had to run to keep up. When he tried to stop running he nearly fell over because nana was not stopping. He could hear her talking to him but in his panic understood nothing. He tried to focus on her voice and listen. Run. She was telling him to run. Moving his legs as fast as he could, Thranduil began running faster. He could see the entrance to Menegroth just ahead, but he could also see bodies of elves, some he now recognized as warriors who were under the command of his ada.

I promised to be brave, he told himself as he kept running with his nana, finally bursting outside and into the forest. Still they ran. He was tired and his legs hurt and he wanted his ada with them. Thranduil tried to pull away again, this time harder, only to be met with his nana pulling back on his arm.

He had to find his ada. What if his ada was one of the elves lying on the floor? What if some of that blood was his ada’s? What would happen to him and his nana? Why had he not seen any dwarves if the dwarves were back?

Finally the running stopped. They were in a small clearing that Thranduil did not recognize and there were other families there too. They were all crying. He looked up at his nana. She was crying too. Thranduil started to cry again. He wanted to go back to his bed and go to sleep. He was tired and his legs hurt. Nana sat down and pulled him onto her lap. For a long time he sat trying to stop his tears. He could feel his nana’s cheek on his head as he slowly began to calm down. Soon Thranduil’s eyes became heavy and then everything was gone and he slipped off to dream restless dreams of blood and dying elves.