Chapter Eleven
Breaking Boundaries

Spider web was not a pleasurable thing to be wrapped in. It was tight, uncomfortable and it smelt worse than anything Raina had ever encountered in Crickley's stables. Her heart was beating hard against her chest. The Spider's web seemed to be untearable, Raina had been trying to claw her way through it for all of the four hours she had been there and had not made so much as a tear. The longer she spent tightly wound up in the intricately woven web, was the longer she was at risk of becoming a spider's snack.

She was beginning to get frightened now. It would not be long before the spider decided to have a little treat - that treat being either her or Beleg. Raina's cocoon was close to Beleg's she could see the outline of his body through the thin gaps in her web. He was crying and shouting for help. Raina kept her mouth shut, worried that if she opened her mouth the spider might choose to eat her before Beleg.

"Help! Oh Valar! Help!" Beleg shouted out. "Raina! Raina! Have you got my sword?"

"If I had your sword I'd have torn myself out of here before now wouldn't I?" Raina rolled her eyes. For a two-thousand year old elf, Beleg wasn't particularly smart. "Just stay calm. My ada will notice that I'm gone and come and find us. All we need to do is stay quiet and hope that eight-legs doesn't have an appetite."

Beleg fell silent. Raina was beginning to get hot and sweaty. The morning sun had now risen and the half-elven could feel the light beat on her face. She had been gone for hours. If her father hadn't already noticed her absence he would notice it soon. She imagined he wouldn't be very happy. Raina had broken their promise, she doubted that he would ever trust her again.

The spider was on the move. The whole web shook as the eight-legged beast crept toward Raina and Beleg. Raina's heart sped up even more. The spider was hungry. Beleg began panting, his fear overcoming him. The spider headed toward him; it's pinchers bared and it's many black eyes focused on it's prey, on Beleg. Raina shouted at him to stay calm.

Needless to stay he didn't.

He thrashed against his webbed prison and pleaded as the Spider cut down the cocoon. Beleg was nearly out of Raina's line of sight, but she could still hear him. The unruly elf was shouting in elvish. Raina presumed that what he was shouting was the equivalent of swearing in sindarin. The spider's pinchers were ready to attack. It wasn't looking good for Beleg at all. Just as the spider was about to end Beleg's life, Raina heard an arrow whiz past her ear. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wondered if the arrow had belonged to her father. The spider's legs bent and curled up into a ball and it fell to the forest floor with a disgruntled groan. A figure approached Raina'a cocoon. A figure that did not belong to her ada.

Before Raina could even the speak, the figure had sliced a hole through her cocoon with a long elvish blade. Raina looked up at him. He was an elf, that much was clear. His ears were long and pointed and his face was both young and old. He looked different from the woodland elves. He was garbed in grey and his cloak was blue. He smiled at her. His smile was wide and Raina was instantly smitten with this elf.

"I can't expect it was too pleasant in there." He dark-haired elf pulled Raina up and set her beside him on the branch. "How long have you been in there?"

"Who are you?" Raina ignored his question. She was still dumbstruck. The elf chuckled and crossed his arms.

"I am Elladan." He spoke. The smile had still not left his face. Raina stared into his eyes, they were more grey than they were blue. They reminded her of steel. There was something in his eyes, a suppressed rage perhaps. "And who may you be?"

"Raina." She replied. She was all too eager now to get down from the web. Elladan led her down the tree that the web was built upon and helped guide her down to the forest floor. Raina cast one look at the spider, it looked so pitiful now. It's eyes were even emptier than they had been before. "Thanks." She murmured to Elladan.

When Raina turned around, she thought she was seeing double. Stood by a quivering Beleg was Elladan's double, his twin. The twin smiled at her, and set his bow around his shoulder. "We should get them back to Mirkwood - this one is clearly quite shaken." The twin gestured to Beleg. The unruly elf in question was so shaken that he didn't even notice he had been referred to.

"This is Elrohir." Elladan clapped Raina's back. "Elrohir this is Raina."

"Well met Raina." Elladan's twin bowed his head. Raina could not tell the difference between the pair. They were so similar, even the way they spoke was identical. "Do I know you? You seem familiar."

"I don't believe you do." Raina answered him carefully.

Elladan led her over to what must have been the pair's horses. Before she could protest Elladan had sat her upon the back of his black steed. Elrohir seemed to be struggling to get Beleg onto the back of his own. The elf wasn't co-operating at all. He was shivering and shaking with fright.

"Beleg, it's okay let him help you." Raina told him. Beleg listened. With struggle, Elrohir managed to sit the elf down onto the back of his horse.

"We should make for Mirkwood with haste." Elladan suggested, he pulled on the reigns of his horse and it shot off. The horse was so tall Raina felt as though she was riding upon the back of a three story building.

The journey to Mirkwood felt very short. Elladan and Elrohir were good company. They sang the whole time, their songs came all the way from Imladris, a place that Raina had only ever heard about in stories her mother told her before tucking her in at night. Even Beleg had began to perk up at their antics.

No amount of singing however could have lessened Raina's guilt. She felt ashamed with herself, she had made a promise with her father and she had broken it without a second thought. Legolas had every right to be angry with her. She wondered how he had reacted when he had found her bed empty, had he been worried? or had he been angry? Angry that the girl whom he had given a home and a family to had simply repaid his generosity by breaking the only boundary he had given to her?

Earlier in Mirkwood,

It was fast approaching Midnight. The moon had now replaced the sun and clouds were rolling across the starlit sky. Legolas walked through the corridors of his father's halls. He was heading to Raina's chambers. He always went to check on her before he went to his own chambers at night, just to make sure she was alright. Usually by the time he arrived at her chambers she was sound asleep and didn't even notice his presence.

Tonight was different. When he opened the door of her chambers he did not see her sleeping body under the covers of her bed. Instead he saw only her bed, a bed with no indication of ever being lain in. He began to worry, where was she? The first thought that entered his mind was that she had ran off with Beleg. The unruly elf had a habit of venturing out of the gates at night. Then Legolas remembered the promise he had made with her. He couldn't believe that Raina would break their promise.

He checked everywhere for a note or some sort of explanation for his daughter's absence but he found none. It was then he noticed the absence of her cloak. If she hadn't been planning on venturing out into the forest then there would have been no need for the cloak. He shivered, unwilling to believe that his daughter would defy him like this. His eyes scrolled across the room. He was even more horrified to see her bow and arrow still nestled in the corner. Not only was his daughter in a dangerous forest, but she was unarmed as well. Legolas had never felt so angry at someone so close to his heart - well except his father perhaps. Legolas left the chambers and shut the door behind him.

He was frightened, frightened of losing Raina. She had been the glue that was holding him together this past year, if he lost her, he would surely fall apart. The elven prince hurried to his chambers and armed himself with his bow and his knives. He flew toward the gates with as swiftly as an eagle in a dive. His run however was disturbed by Thranduil. The Elvenking was stood arms folded with a sympathetic look upon his face. "'Las, what is it? Why do you look so frightened?" He asked. His voice was reminiscent of the one he had used when Legolas was just an elfling and had had a nightmare.

"Raina's gone." Legolas spoke. All his anger for his father was replaced by his worry for his lost daughter. "Her chambers are empty and her cloak is gone. I fear she and Beleg have ventured out into the forest adar... I need to find her."

"Ah - Beleg never ceases to amaze me with his idiocy. You would think that two-thousand years would give someone a little common sense." Thranduil rolled his shoulders. The concern was still evident in his eyes. "Calm yourself 'Las. As stupid as Beleg is he is handy with a sword and Raina's archery is improving greatly every day. The pair should be able to defend themselves."

"Raina has left her bow in her chambers." Legolas answered. "Besides, you of all people know the dangers of the forests. They could get lost - a spider or something else ghastly could find them."

"You are right of course." Thranduil breathed. "I'll send Tauriel out with a group of elves to search the forest for her, I ask only that you remain behind 'Las."

"What why? Ada she's my daughter!" Legolas exclaimed. "What if it was me? Would you simply stay behind."

"That's besides the point." Thranduil answered crudely. "You're too worried about Raina to see clearly. Your judgment is clouded, so you will remain behind. I will not argue with you on this matter. Raina will be found I assure you. If you will not trust me, then trust Tauriel."

Legolas was about to argue, but he had confidence that Tauriel would retrieve his daughter. She was the finest elvish warrior he had ever fought beside. With a deep breath Legolas fell silent. Thranduil looked at his son intently. There was guilt in his eyes still. Legolas was beginning to grow less angry with his father, but he didn't want to admit it.

"'Las." Thranduil breathed. "I know that you still haven't forgiven me and perhaps you never shall - but I just wanted you to know that no matter how much you hate me I shall always be here for you."

"I don't hate you." Legolas told him calmly "I could never hate you adar. I am angry with you still, but I think I have brought myself to forgive you. Hena wouldn't have wanted me to hold a grudge."

Thranduil felt his heart lighten. He had forgiveness at last, now all he needed was the safe return of his granddaughter.

Raina could see the outline of the gates in the distance. Her heart beat so hard against her chest she half expected it to burst through her ribcage. Beleg seemed frightened too, he obviously realized that a lot of Legolas's anger would be directed at him, he was of course the "bad influence". Raina chuckled at the thought of Beleg and her father fighting. She wondered who would win, her father probably, but Beleg wouldn't have made it easy for him.

"You look frightened." Elrohir commented, his eyes fixing on Raina's. He smiled at her, almost reassuringly. "There are no more spiders - besides, me and 'Dan will keep you safe from them."

"She's not scared of the spiders Elrohir." Beleg snorted. "She's scared of her adar, she promised him that she wouldn't leave the realm. He's going to be more than a little bit angry with her. As for me, well, I wouldn't be surprised if the elven prince feeds me to Gollum for bringing her out here."

"The prince? You mean to say that Raina is Legolas' daughter?" Elladan spoke. Raina could not see his face, but by his tone she expected it to be one of shock. "The last time I checked the Prince was neither married or even engaged."

"Yes it was quite the scandal." Beleg commented with a cheeky smile upon his face. "She just turned up out of the blue over a year ago. You ought to hear some of the rumors going around about who her mother is - I've heard everything from an orc to the Lady Galadriel."

"Who is your mother?" Elrohir questioned with a hint of a smile on his face. "For I doubt Legolas would lie with an orc."

"My mother was...she was a mortal from Laketown. She was no one special just the daughter of a Blacksmith." Raina answered him calmly.

"That would make you a peredhel." Elladan spoke, shock still in his tone. "Ai! Look at it. We are here at last!"

Raina stared up at the gates. Her heart sunk when she saw the figure of her father. Even from far away he did not look happy. As Elladan's horse trotted closer and closer Raina noticed that he was accompanied by his father. Raina felt even more scared, Thranduil was intimidating even when she had committed no wrong. Elladan seemed almost bemused by his presence.

"I suspect Thranduil is very happy to see us again." Elrohir spoke with a sarcastic edge to his tone. "He must have missed us so much."

Elladan did not reply. The horse began to slow and before Raina could plan her apology the horse had drawn to a halt. Legolas moved towards the horse, his face both angry and relieved. Before Elladan could help Raina down, Legolas had her in his arms and enveloped in a tight hug.

"I was more worried than you can even begin to understand." Legolas told her. His grip around her shoulders had not been lessened any. Raina settled into his hug. "I am so glad that you are not hurt. I thought that - I feared for the worse."

Beleg made for the gates, eager to escape before Legolas realized his rage. He was however halted by a less than pleased Thranduil. The Elvenking's right arm was outstretched to prevent Beleg from progressing any further. "Elladan and Elrohir it seems that we owe you a thanks." Thranduil spoke. He didn't seem to be happy about the words he was speaking, Raina got the impression he was not the biggest fan of the twins.

Legolas finally released Raina from the hug. "I'm so sorry - I should have listened to you. I was a complete fool."

"That you were." Legolas agreed. "But you are safe now, and it is clear to me that it was Beleg who convinced you into such reckless behaviour."

"Oh honestly." Beleg exclaimed. "I knew you'd find a way to pin this on me!"

"You are speaking to your prince." Thranduil reminded him.

"Sorry." Beleg quickly apologized. Raina laughed under her breath. "I knew you'd find a way to pin this on me, sire."

"I will not shout at you, but you shall be punished accordingly." Legolas told him. "How does a week cleaning the stables sound? Do you agree with the punishment adar?"

"The punishment almost seems too light!" The Elvenking exclaimed. Beleg's heart sunk, like most elves he didn't like jobs that involved getting filthy "Now off with you. There's a pile of horse dung a high as the roof for you to clean up."

Without a word Beleg vanished through the gates in compliance with his punishment. Raina stared up at her father, it was clear to her that he was disappointed in her, but he didn't look angry, just ashamed and in many ways that felt worse. He ruffled her hair and pulled her closer to him, hiding the betrayal he felt well. Raina had never felt worse.

AN

I always get so annoyed when I go into doc manager and it tells me all my words are spelt wrong! As I'm British I spell realised with an s instead of a z and colour with an ou instead of just an o. I reckon are American biased haha! :D. At school I've been getting confused and writing the american spellings because I've been seeing it on here. All my teachers keep correcting me! n_n

Anyway, enough of my jibbering and complaining. Geez, this took a long time to write. I had a little writer's block, but I think I might be over it now. This chapter is one of my least favourite chapters, third only to chapter two and three. Anyway, it's a little longer, but as the old saying goes quantity is no indication of quality. Anyway I hope you enjoy it! And I hope even more that you review!