To Live Again: The Road to War {Lord of the Rings Fanfiction}|

1. Omen

"How long has he been like this?" I ask the anxious looking ellon to the left of the sick bed, and press my hand to the forehead of the ailing youth that rests on it.

"A few days your highness," the thin mousy haired ellon answers quickly. It is evident that this is the ill boy's father, obvious in how his eyes constantly flicker between mine and his son's, his face pinched and drawn in worry. "He returned from the outskirts of the wood to tell us the trees were unwell, and I never thought anything of it, I did not think that it was a poison! I should have investigated it myself, I should have listened to him!"

"You didn't know," I cut him off and hold up my hand to silence him. How would any of us have known that a portion of the outer wood was diseased if not for this youngsters adventuring? How could any of us have guessed that contact with it could make an elf ill?

"I am his Adar I should have realised he was sick long before now," the ellon almost shouts in anger at himself and cups his hand over his brow. "Please, Princess, please, can you help him?"

"Your son will be fine," I assure the haggard elf as he tries to hide the emotion in his voice. I walk around the bed and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and meet his gaze with my own concerned look. "I promise you he will be fit and well by tomorrow morning, he is already responding to our healers, but I am concerned for your welfare. Your kin fish in the rivers and streams on the outskirts of the Realm, near the fringes of the wood, yes?"

"Yes, my lady, but our homes are closer to the protection of the King's Halls," he answers me with a bemused expression, and I sigh heavily in response.

"Not near close enough!" I say aloud more to myself than to him. "Was there any other that came in contact with the diseased woodland? Or have any of your family or neighbors displayed the same symptoms?"

To this question the elf goes silent and a deep frown line creases his brow, this makes my stomach lurch in response. "His younger cousins where with him, but my sister... she lives further away from us, I did not even think to ask if her sons were well. Do you believe this to be contagious?"

"My hope is that it is not," I say briskly as I return to my patient. "If you or your wife have not shown any symptoms, then we may be lucky. However, if exposure to the afflicted wood causes this, then we need to isolate the diseased plants and attempt to fix it."

"But how would decayed trees cause this?" he pushes and I twitch at his question. This is too soon, Greenwood did not fall under a curse so soon, this cannot be right!

"Because it may not be a natural illness," I murmur and hear the sharp intake of breath from the boy's father. I glance up at him, and then to Raffyn who is patiently standing by the door. "Raffyn, take this good elf to the council; have him explain his story to the King. I will finish up here and join you shortly."

"Yes my lady," Raffyn bows and gestures for the other elf to leave, but he glances nervously over his son, unwilling to leave him.

"I promise you he will be perfect soon enough, it will be like he was never ill," I assure the anxious father, but give him a warning look. "The King must know of what happened to your boy, so we can prevent it happening to others like him."

"Come," Raffyn gently encourages the ellon to follow him, and he reluctantly obliges, leaving Calanon and I with the child.

I return my gaze to the youth, and wring out a cold cloth to place on his feverish forehead. His physical symptoms are that of influenza; temperature, hallucinations, shivering, weakness, and little appetite. However it was the condition of his young fae that worried me when I first entered the room. It was weak and dull, like a sickness lay upon it and not the physical body. I gently press the cool cloth to his burning face, and call to the hurting spirit using my own. It pleases me that he responds well, and the fever is breaking, but it is like removing him from the sickness of the wood has aided his recovery. If that is the truth of the matter, then Greenwood is in trouble.