Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I was pretty poor, my pockets were empty, and I don't even own
my own clothes *cough cough* im in a school uniform *cough cough* ah ha- but I do
own my underwear ;) LOL. O Yea, and I re-wrote this story- thought I could do better. It was once 'The Darkness of Mirkwood Forest....
Anyways, im only gonna do one biiiig Disclaimer-
As much as I wish I don't and never will own Legolas, Aragorn, or ANY of the other characters
who feature in the LotR series, so I really won't appreciate being sued for like half
a million dollars or something,.....O and ya, my chars like Aelon, and Saali are mine-
would much appreciative if u want to use them, if u ask? Kk that was really long, but I think you
guys kinda get the point......LOL on with the story.....

1. ***************************************************************************

Legolas lay, half sitting, half lying, at the top of a small cliff, which was sheltered by a large slab of
rock, his daughter settled in his lap, almost asleep in his arms. He smiled as he realised she
was dozing off, and he looked up at the sun, which was rapidly retreating beyond the
horizon of the forest. It was getting late, and he noticed with regret that they would need to go home
soon. These days he rarely got to spend much time with his daughter, he was always
busy running errands for his father and the good of the woodland realm.

But today he had a space, his father had given him a day to rest and relax, and he remembered
when he had told both Saali and Aelon that he would take the young elf out for a
day all to themselves- Saali had been absoloutly thrilled, and hugged him so tightly that he had
barely been able to breathe.

"Time to go home, little one," Legolas gently roused his daughter, lifting her from his lap, and standing her up, holding her up as she righted herself. While he was still sitting, she wrapped her small arms around his neck in a hug.

"I love you daddy," she said in her soft voice, and he carefully hugged her back, kissing her
cheek gently. Saali was only of about 5 human years old, and her golden blonde hair was slightly
wavier than his own, her deep blue eyes almost the colour of Sapphires, and while she
didn't always understand exactly why her father was never around for her, she was always
caring, and she never loved him any less for it, although he knew how much more she
would have liked it if he could spend more time with her.

"I know darling," he smiled, and stood up, gathering her in his arms as he got to her feet, and he
looked over the cliff.
"You think you can climb down that?" he raised his eyebrow, almost comically. She wriggled free of
his hold, giggling, and was about to exclaim that of course she could, when he heard his horse stirring
restlessly at the cliff bottom, causing him to look over the edge, but he could see nothing.

"Wait here a moment," he said to her, placing her down, "Im going to see what spooked the
horses." Saali nodded, and he collected his bow and quiver from the ground, and buckled
his daggers onto his belt. Having armed himself he climbed over the ledge and silently
made his way to the ground.

Upon reaching the restless White horse, which was dancing nervously on the spot, snorting, it's
mouth starting to foam. He spoke gently to the creature in Elvish, and stroked it's cheek,
and neck, which somewhat soothed it. It calmed slightly, but it's ears were flicking
backwards and forwards furiously, so he too listened for anything suspicious. He heard a large crash
in the underbrush, and the horse spooked again. Obedient as he was to his master, he
was terrified, and Legolas sensed this, whispering gently for the animals to leave in his native
tounge. They spun on their hind legs and within seconds had disappeared
. Legolas himself drew his bow and an arrow, and aimed it in the direction of the beasts he felt gaining on him.

He let one arrow fly as he heard a movement in the surrounding bushes, and he heard a roar of
pain and a soft gurgle as he hit his target, and he immeadiatly reached for another arrow. By
the time the Uruik-Hai had burst through into the clearing he had shot six of them. Upon
seeing the Elf who was shooting at them, they charged at him, weapons raised. Before
they came in close range, he shot as many down as he could, and then he tossed his
bow to the side, drawing his long knives, taking a quick look at the situation he had found
himself in. More of the foul creatures were coming into the clearing, and to his dismay, he
found himself completely surrounded. He drove one of his blades into the stomach of an
attacking Uruik-Hai, and as one behind him raised his blade high over his head to attack him,
Legolas turned, driving his knee into the offender, and by grabbing his arm, he sent the
beast over his shoulder, downing several others. He ducked hurriedly as another swung a crude Orc made blade where his head was seconds before, and he lodged his knife in the Uruik-
Hai's chest. He snatched it back, and in one fluid movement, spun and threw the second one,
trusting his acute hearing that there was another with a raised blade behind him. It hit the
creature dead center, where whatever functioned as a heart to the beast lay. But he had no
time to ponder why they were here in the forest in the first place before he was attacked
again.

He turned and stopped dead when he heard the whistle of a roughly made arrow pierce the air,
then fell into a break fall, just as the thick black arrow thudded deep into the wood of the
tree, which seconds ago he had been standing in front of. He collected his blades and cut
down an approaching Orc, then slicing the throat of another. He took the chance to take a
look around, and saw that there were only five more to go. Three charged him at once,
overconfident, and in several swift movements they lay dead. He turned his attention to the other two,
but in a quick motion, one Uruik-Hai swung a heavy club at him, catching him square in the
jaw, knocking him senseless for several long moments.
Another Uruik- Hai, who was carrying a heavy, uncomfortable looking bow advanced on the prone elf, intending to stun him with an
arrow, and take him back to the other Orc's to have a bit of fun with him before they killed
him. Saali screamed, and the Uruik-Hai momentarily turned his attention to her. They
would take the girl too, young as she was, she too would provide some sport for his followers, even if
only a little.

Legolas slowly came back to his senses, and suddenly wished that the club had knocked him out
completely as he looked up into the cold, black eyes of an Uruik-Hai, who had his bow
drawn back, ready to shoot. Without warning, he made a sickening gurgle deep in his throat, an
arrow shaft sticking halfway out of his neck. He released his arrow without aim, making Legolas jump
nimbly to the side as it flew past him, catching some of his hair as it landed with a thud in a
tree.

The Elf gasped in rugged breaths of relief, and saw another Orc fall, an arrow in it's chest. He
looked up to the cliff, where his daughter stood, a smaller bow in her hand, another arrow
notched.
He hurriedly got to his feet, and collected his bow from the ground, and climbed the cliff. Upon
reaching the top, he hugged Saali tightly.
"Thankyou, little one," He smiled, "you make me proud." He said the last sentence in elvish, and she
smiled up at him innocently.

"Now," he said, "you think you can climb down the cliff? All by yourself?" he asked her.
"Of course I can," she giggled, escaping from his hold, and quickly dissapeared over the edge, leaving
her father to collect their packs, and with the heavy thought of the Uruik Hai reappearing
in the forest.

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Thoughts? Comments? Reviews? See down the bottom, but no flames. If you are going to torture yourself
by reading this, and then complain about how you are wasting your time reviewing, and all that stuff,
I hate to break it to you, but I won't entirely care much.....so yeah. Anyways, as I said before at the
top, I wrote this story AAAAGES ago, and I had the idea that maybe I could re-write it a little better
since I cringe at the format, and the story alike, I have no Idea why I even got 14 reviews. Hehehehehe
but anyway, this is the new version, so it will be a little better,

enjoy ;)