The Tales Untold

The Blood of Old

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Seriously, do you think I own Lotr? Nope! But I do own my original characters, so if you steal them I will be extremely angry.

Warning: Heh, heh, in parts of this it is SLIGHTLY AU. Or at least I consider it that way. Just thought I'd tell you.

Spoilers: Uh… just for my previous stories

Well, now that didn't take very long, did it? ^.^ Mostly due to my extreme dedication. I've been writing like you wouldn't believe. And editing… and the writing some more… then editing… then writing… and so I figured that while I finish the last chapters of the story, I might as well post the first chapter and make my readers happy. Hee, hee. Can't believe the amount of people that threatened me in multiple ways in their reviews. ^-^ I laughed at every single one. Ah, I'm so evil.

NOTE TO ALL NEW READERS OF MY STORIES:

THIS WILL MAKE NO SENSE IF YOU DO NOT READ "CHAINS OF BLOOD" FIRST!

Chapter One—Mists of Confusion

"Naneth! Naneth!"

The small elf raced across the field. Shoving the tall grasses out of his way, he rushed to the small forest in which his parents lived. Lush green blurred by as he scampered ahead. It took only a few minutes for the child to run to the center of the forest, where a small building twisted up the trees, intertwining with the forest itself. Stair spiraled up the huge tree trunks, creating gateways to each of the rooms. The beauty of it all would have stopped any normal person in awe but this little elf just rushed past it. He was used to it. This was his home. "Naneth, see what I found!" he called gleefully.

A beautiful elf stepped out of one of the larger rooms, and waved down at her son. Her light blonde hair hung in ripples down her back, as pale as the sunlight that shone through the trees. Her silver eyes twinkled with life and good humor. "Come up and show me, lithen pen nîn," she replied. "Come up here, my little one."

The child smiled happily and scurried up the stairs, keeping his hands cupped carefully. "I found a bug," he said triumphantly, "in the fields." A little caterpillar wriggled in indignation at being taken away from the bush it had been feeding on.

The mother smiled and gently picked the insect up. "It's a caterpillar. It will grow up to be a beautiful butterfly. See, Amélith? See it trying to wriggle to the tree's leaves? It's hungry, it will feed and feed until it takes a long nap. And then when it wakes up it will have grown wings."

She then frowned. "Did you say you found it in the fields? You know you aren't supposed to wander that far without your father or me. In these days the darkness is fading, but it still remains." She sighed in worry, then brought her attention back to her son.

Amélith smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, naneth. I guess I just lost track of where I was."

"And of how long it took you to get back here," a cheerful voice called. "Come on inside, son! We have a visitor."

"Ada!" Amélith raced to the balcony, and jumped to the next one, ignoring the stairs. His mother winced in worry then decided against scolding him. She gently put the caterpillar down on a branch.

"There you go." The caterpillar seemed happier, then immediately started squirming towards the nearest bunch of leaves.

Mainseron, the father of Amélith, ruffled his son's hair affectionately. His hair was a dark blonde, golden with streaks of light brown. His face always held a smile and he seemed much younger than his years. "Here's someone to see you."

Amélith stepped into the room. Inside stood a familiar elf, Rîn. This elf was a tall, extremely thin person. His red hair was a rarity among elves. Gold eyes that held wisdom and knowledge peered at Amélith carefully. He usually had an air of aloofness, but today he smiled sociably. "It's been a few years, hasn't it, Amélith?"

"Yes, Master Rîn," Amélith said respectfully, like he had been taught. "How have you been?"

"Just fine! The valley has been quiet lately, so I decided to visit my old friends." Rîn glanced at Mainseron.

That night, after the evening meal, Amélith begged his mother to let him stay up and listen to Rîn's stories. He always had a good one—of ships and the ocean, of fighting the forces of evil, or… or… Amélith yawned hugely and his mother shooed him off to bed.

Grumbling to himself, the little elfling climbed the rope ladder up to his room.

"Come, Andrien," Rîn said, pulling a chair out for her. "You've done nothing but stand since I've arrived. Take a moment to relax—the child's gone to bed. You're going to smother him if you constantly worry."

Andrien pulled her semi-transparent cloak closer around her, letting the smooth fabric to keep her warm. Mainseron also sat down. "You always have a reason to come here," he said with a smile. "Come, Rîn. Tell us your real reason for this unexpected visit."

"No reason," Rîn laughed. "Must I always have a reason?" He brushed a few locks of his reddish-brown hair out of his vision, and then leaned forward. "You are very suspicious today, aren't you?" he teased good-naturedly.

"Truthfully, you are here just because of a whim?" Mainseron asked carefully.

Rîn grinned. "For the last time—yes."

"Well, that's a first."

Andrien laughed, putting a hand on her husband's shoulder. "You must forgive him, Rîn. He's been exceedingly distrustful lately. Though I have no idea why. Everything's going all right. Sauron was only defeated a few mere months ago but the darkness that gripped the land has faded. So why is my husband so mistrustful?"

"That's fine, my old friends. The war has made us all into very suspicious folk. But as the Dark Lord is destroyed and the ring of power lost, we should relax and let go of the fears that have immersed us for so long."

"My only worry is that Amélith will try to jump farther than he can, and then fall out of the trees again," Andrien murmured. "He broke five bones doing that just a year ago."

"Sounds like you as a child," Rîn chuckled. His face suddenly quieted, his gaze relaxed into nothingness for a moment. Then his eyes cleared, and he looked up. "Actually, Mainseron, I would like to advise you in something," he said abruptly. "Don't leave this house for the next month, all right? I fear… something is stirring not far from my home. I know I just finished a speech about how we should all relax, but heed my warning."

"I will do so," Mainseron said instantly. "Have you seen orcs or trolls near your home? Traveling towards ours?"

"I don't know," Rîn murmured. "I sincerely don't know."

Mists covered the lands, heavy and thick like a blanket. Siric loved to fly in circles, causing miniature whirlwinds of fog. Legolas smiled at his antics while Aragorn called ahead to the raven that he needed to stop flying in circles and lead them faster.

Snow crunched beneath Aragorn's feet and he wished for the thousandth time he could walk like an elf and not leave any tracks. His ranger instincts were kicking in and although he had no reason to believe anyone was following… it was better to be careful. Of course he could just be paranoid, like Legolas had been saying he was ever since he had started to say that he felt someone was watching him. Usually Legolas was the suspicious one. But his senses were on alert and he jumped at every shadow. No matter how much he tried to reason with himself and talk himself out of his fear—it didn't work. There was something wrong about their little trek and although he wasn't exactly sure what it was… he had a feeling he was going to find out. But until then, he could only bemoan the fact he was the only one that left tracks for anyone to see.

Legolas had other worries. He wondered exactly how Eluross was going to react when he found out that he had sneaked out of the palace and left Daemîr in his place. Eluross would most likely blame it all on Daemîr and try to kill him. Thranduil would probably stop it, saying they needed Daemîr to pose as Legolas until the real prince returned. Then after Legolas got back they would both kill Daemîr.

Legolas couldn't help the smile that spread over his face at that thought. He could just imagine Daemîr's expression when Eluross tried to strangle the impostor prince. But that couldn't be helped—they needed information on Amélith and Siric had offered to guide them to someone who had just that. It was crucial to find some weakness, some dark secret to Amélith's past to be able to legally kick him out of the palace and silence his followers. And then life could go back to normal. Or would it? Now that the Til-Galas family had shown their true colors… would it matter that Amélith was there or not? Would they revolt?

Pushing those disturbing thoughts out of his mind, Legolas realized he was some distance behind Aragorn and Siric and hastened to catch up. There was no time for worry—at least not now. Not if he wanted to get to wherever they were going quickly. He called up ahead to Siric, voicing the question that had been nagging at him since he had left the palace. "Siric, where exactly are we going?"

Siric flew down lower, gliding back towards Legolas. "To a place where no man goes…"

"That's comforting," Aragorn put in dryly.

Siric's black eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement. "It was not meant to sound comforting, Ranger of the North. This is not a safe place we are going… at least for his enemies."

"And who is 'he?'" Legolas asked impatiently.

"My master," Siric chuckled and flew a little higher.

"You have a master?" Aragorn called, tilting his head upward. "I never knew that."

"I think of him… more as a guide," Siric replied. "He's a kind elf. I believe you would like him, Aragorn. He knew some of your ancestors." With that he started to fly ahead again, but Legolas stopped him.

"You have yet to answer my question. Where are we going, crow?"

"Raven," Siric hissed. "To the Valley of Visions! Straight ahead to the East, down a long ravine, to a valley nested between a mountain range that no one even knows exists! Happy, now?"

"Very," Legolas chuckled. Then he frowned. "A mountain range no one knows exists?"

But Siric has already indignantly flown out of earshot.

The terrain grew slightly more field-like, stretching out into misty unknown. It had begun to snow again. Aragorn still glared over his shoulder at the tracks he left behind. But at least this new snow would cover them. It was a somewhat comforting thought. But both the eeriness of the weather—the continuing fog, snow and swirling mists—the name of the place they were going to—the Valley of Visions?—and the fact he felt he was being watched were all starting to get on his nerves.

Legolas seemed in better spirits, smiling to himself every other moment, as if amused by his own thoughts. Aragorn didn't disturb him—it was better to keep his worries to himself for now. Siric had yet to forgive them both for calling a crow once again. It was true—Luinithil's tendency to do that had rubbed off on them.

They kept up a brisk pace and Mirkwood became just a smudge on the horizon behind them, the fog soon hiding it from view. "What do you think Daemîr is doing now?" Legolas' voice broke into Aragorn's thoughts abruptly.

"Trying to fend off your father's blows," Aragorn answered immediately. He had no doubt about his answer.

With a chuckle, Legolas nodded in agreement. "I've been wondering what my father's first words were when he found out."

"Probably something along the lines of, 'I'm going to kill you later.'"

K, that's the first chappie! Hope you liked it! Here are my replies to the review from the last story!

evil spapple pie: You didn't have to wait too long! ^-^ I do have some sympathy for my poor readers. Hee, hee. I totally agree that Daemîr seems like the type that would stay up late telling scary stories! Ah, Niphred is starting to scare you? He's going to be a whole lot scarier later… but you want Amélith to die, too? I've got a soft spot in my heart for that elf. Probably just cuz I think if he's Legolas' brother he's got to be extremely hot…

Leap of Fate: Hee, hee. We might get a showdown soon, and then again we might not. And as for Daemîr's impersonating act… we'll just have to wait until next chapter to see how that goes.

Apostlesangel: I'm absolutely evil, aren't I? Aw… I'm too cute to be entirely evil… "I know something you don't know!" ^-^ Hee, hee. There are going to be some GREAT Daemîr and Eluross moments coming up soon… see, every other chapter is going to be back at Mirkwood. It'll switch back and forth. And some GREAT Thranduil moments, too. It's Thranduil as you've never seen him! Extra, extra, read all about it! "Thranduil Goes Crazy!" Not really, but he's stuck pretending Daemîr is his son. That's gotta wear down on his sanity. Ah… so you can write scientific papers? I couldn't write one of those if my life depended on it… well, I could try, but not much would come out of it. I'm not so good with science. (I'm taking physics right now and it constantly reminds me how dumb I am in math.)

Red Tigress: *chuckles* Yes, trouble and violence is coming…

Slayer of mean authors: Heh, heh. I like your name. However I don't consider myself mean. Maybe I like to tease my readers a bit *waves at apostlesangel and grins* but I'm not mean. Not really.

Deana: I posted quickly so as not to torture my readers. Hope you like it!

Bill the Pony2: *pats you on the shoulder* Aw, don't cry! You'll find out what happens!

Elenillor: Woo, hoo! I'm not predictable! Heh, heh, only sane authors are predictable… I'm glad you liked the end of the last story! I love Echil! He's soooo cute! "Run fast…" Aw… he's the most innocent of the lackeys. Hee, hee. Did I surprise you by ending the story? Just a wild guess… Don't worry, I wrote fast… and to prove it, I have developed this callus-thing on my thumb from typing so much. And I am TOTALLY not kidding. *looks at her thumb and starts to cry* My beautiful hands ruined from so much typing! And I still have some to go… BTW, I love your story! I can't tell you how awesome it is with the letters and stuff.

Kid Cloudkicker: You caught me, I was totally thinking of Space Balls. Hee, hee. BTW, Araraug is the evil horsie… remember? As for Amélith's reaction when Daemîr poses… you'll just have to wait and see…

Sammy3: *ducks and avoids the snowball* Argh! Don't hit poor Eluross! I remember about the demon dog… that's kinda creepy. Sleeping with its eyes open? I thought only elves did that. Maybe it's an elven dog! *thinks for a moment* Or maybe not… Just say 'sit' in elvish and see if it does anything. Hee, hee. The random-ness of the Jazi mind… so fascinating… "Havo dad, demon dog!"

Huinesoron: Yay! I impressed someone! I'm hoping you like this part!

Dha-Gal: *breathes deeply, trying not to laugh* Well you win the award for funniest review ever. *hands a bag of golden skittles to you* Hey, speaking of skittles… have you noticed they are looking a little grey lately? They took the color out of them! They are black and white! I don't understand! What happened to 'taste the rainbow!' Why are they ugly now? Where did all the color go? *takes chalk away from Elladan* Bad elf. Did you steal the color?

AmberRose: Did I really annoy you that much? ^.^ Hee, hee. Don't hunt me down yet, I really am trying to update…

Okay, now I shall update!