As soon as things began to calm down, one of the healers insisted on cleaning Anna up. It seemed that these people were obsessed with being clean. Of course it also helped prevent the numerous scratches she had received running through the forest from becoming infected. Anna had just finished cleaning up and it had not been very long since Thranduil had left, so it startled her when she looked up and found him staring down at her.
Damn it, she thought to herself, I really need put bells around all their necks so I can at least hear them coming and not jump out of my skin every time they speak to me.
She was about to ask if there was anything she could help him with when he announced, "I wish to talk to you, now, alone,"in a tone that made it not a request, but a demand
.
Anna found herself following him almost without conscious thought. He led her to a tent at the far end of the clearing, then ordered the two other male elves in the tent to leave and closed the flap behind them. It was oppressively hot and muggy inside the tent and Anna began to sweat. The tent contained one chair set beside a wooden table littered with scrolls, an ink pot and quill, a candle and some maps. The only other piece of furniture in the tent was a cot which was covered with neatly packed rolls of supplies.
Thranduil sat down in the chair, his back straight, his eyes boring into her. He then said perhaps the last thing she had ever expected.
"I will come right to the point woman. It has not escaped my attention that you are trying to seduce my son."
"W- w- What?" she stammered in sindarin.
The king, who did not even pause, added, "Don't even try to deny it, I have dealt with your kind before. All that I wish to know is how much?"
"H-how much?" she asked still very confused and in shock that he should think such a thing.
"Yes, how much you twit. How much will it cost me to make certain you cease your designs on my son?"
Anna could hardly believe what she was being accused of, much less that this person had jumped to these conclusions after only seeing her once. It had not yet occurred to her to be angry. She was still too surprised and shocked.
"I-I," she sputtered.
"One hundred? Two hundred? Come, come, I know you have a price!"
That statement finally broke through her confusion and led the way to hurt and anger. One eye squinted shut as the other glared at the king. Who the hell did he think he was to accuse her of that, she thought. He did not even know her. How dare he! and so she answered sarcastically,
"It might interest you to know, your majesty, that while in your culture everyone may indeed have a price, in mine it is considered the depth of perversion to attempt to buy a person, and furthermore your son does not strike me as a child. If he has a problem with my friendship, which is the only thing I have ever offered him, then I am sure he is perfectly capable of telling me so himself!"
Thranduil continued to glare at Anna, but decided to change tactics. If she was too smart to accept some milk when she might win the whole cow, then perhaps he could protect Legolas from this vixen in another way.
"Of course my dear of course," he soothed, his voice now as silken as honey. "Why should you accept a mere pittance? Why not let me install you in the palace instead? My son has no true power in my realm. He lives to serve at my command, but as consort to the king you could wield both great power and riches. What do you say to that, hmm?"
Anna's mouth hung open in disbelief, and an almost silent gasp left her lungs as she exhaled. She was speechless at the nerve of this person, but the king mistook her silence as agreement, grabbed her, pulled her to him and planted a lusty, rough kiss right on her lips.
Anna's eyes shot wide open and she screamed through the kiss, half in anger, half in fear as the realization hit her that if he wanted to, he could take anything he wanted from her physically and she did not have the strength to fight him off, even though his intentions disgusted her. Yes his body was gorgeous but his mind, what little she had now seen of it, was awful! The one thought that now filled her mind was escape. This elf was every bit as dangerous as the spiders that she had fought and been rescued from earlier.
The king released her with a large grimace on his lips and said,"You may leave, I will see to the arrangements."
Anna did not need to be told twice. She turned and immediately ran out of the tent, afraid for her life, and straight into Haldir.
"Easy Lirimar, what is your hurry? There is no danger here for the present."
The fire, the spiders, the king; it had all been too much for Anna and her fragile courage shattered in Haldir's arms. Much to his confusion, she began to weep hysterically.
"I - I - I don't want to talk about it," she garbled, "just get me out of here please."
Haldir, not wanting to upset her further, tried to do just as she asked and things might have settled down a bit if Legolas had not chosen that very moment to walk by.
Imagine his concern and anger at seeing Anna crying uncontrollably in Haldir's arms. He walked right up to them both, eased Anna out of Haldir's grasp, placed her behind him and before either Anna or Haldir could get a word in edgewise, punched Haldir square on the chin, knocking him out. He then turned to Anna, who was now staring gape mouthed at Haldir and said, "All is well now, he won't hurt you again."
This roused Anna from her shock enough to sputter, "You.. you.. you elf!" As she ran to Haldir's side. "Haldir, are you alright?" She asked. He groaned, nodded and began to rise glaring at Legolas.
"Your next words, Sinda princeling, had best be 'Forgive me, the fire has addled my wits,' or I shall certainly and quite gladly give as good as I just received!" Haldir growled.
"You made her weep!" Legolas defended as if this explained everything.
"I see now where you get your pride and arrogance Legolas; the apple obviously does not fall far from the tree!" interrupted Anna. "It was your father who made me cry,"she yelled at the top of her lungs. Her voice cracked and rasped between sobs.
"My father?" Legolas questioned.
"Yes," she answered. "Do you know what he had the nerve to ask? I'll tell you!" she continued to scream. "He asked me how much he could pay me to keep me from seducing you! Then when I tried to deny having done any such thing, he told me,' My son has no true power in my realm. He lives to serve at my command, but as consort to the king you could wield both great power and riches.' Then he squeezed my arms so tight I now have bruises and kissed me so hard I nearly vomited. I was too shocked and frightened to say or do much of anything, so when he said 'You may leave' I turned and ran as fast as I could straight into Haldir, who was trying to calm me down when you punched him!"
Haldir, who was also hearing all this for the first time, did not know whom to be more angry at, Thranduil or Legolas, but as Legolas was handy at the moment, he interrupted.
"Tell me princeling, does your father always try to seduce the females you are attracted to? Or does it simply require two Sinda to do the work of one Teleri? Were I you, and I thank the valar I am not, I would be taking my ire out on the one who caused this mess and not on unsuspecting friends!"
Legolas shook his head in shock and disbelief. "I know my father can be thoughtless of others at times, but surely you must have misunderstood his intent?"
At this point Anna lifted her sleeves and showed Legolas the bruises on her upper arms that made two perfect handprints and yelled,"Do these look like I misunderstood?"
Legolas fell to his knees then and said quietly, "I swear to you my dear, I will not let my fathers rudeness go unchallenged."
Anna gasped in surprise at his words, though she was not certain which had surprised her more; Legolas' sudden change in demeanor, his appology, or the fact he had called her 'my dear'.
By now quite a crowd had gathered to see what all the screaming was about and several of the elves were murmuring, some in favor of how Legolas had acted, some shocked by it, others defending the king for trying to protect Legolas from a mortal while at the same time stunned that he would be so crude. It seemed everyone had their own oppinion of the king's actions and more than one group of elves was becoming quite loud in defense of their point of view.
A little apart from the others stood Galadriel and Celeborn who had also witnessed this little drama. Celeborn had started to step forward out of the trees and put and end to it, but Galadriel told him softly enough for only him to hear that he should wait. Once Haldir, Legolas and Anna realized they had drawn a crowd, they became quiet and as soon as there was no longer a show to see the elves drifted away, still muttering amongst themselves.
Legolas headed directly to his father's tent, muttering to himself the conversation he would have with his father. Anna was afraid to face the king again but half of her would not admit this and followed close behind Legolas. Haldir, seeing that Anna was intent on following the prince, decided to stay close to her just in case, and at a distance, being careful to remain hidden, came Celeborn followed by Galadriel. None of them looked happy.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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