Disclaimer: I don't earn anything with this. I also only own my original characters, the new plot, the twists and the madness. Everything recognizable from Lord of the rings or Harry Potter is the fault of the people with the money.

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Hello everyone :) I'm very sorry for the long break but I was occupied with real life... work, family and the other usual obstacles which prevent writing.

Special thx to Emma21 for the reviews ;) and no sorry no voldemort... wouldn't fit into my plot as my knitting got very much drawn into another direction... maybe in another story? Again thank you for your reviews velvetbluerosa, Minxflow and Sel1 :) I'm glad that you like the story.

I'm also very glad that for everyone who had joined in... It's still on your own risk though...not that there are any confusions :) but you are very welcome.

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Chapter 35 The webs of Mirkwood

Lothlorien was a place to heal and Lyra enjoyed the company of Lady Galadriel. Even though the young witch hadn't been allowed to leave her bed for days, the lady had found time to visit her. Lyra was grateful for the company as she enjoyed continuing to learn about the plants. Galadriel was kept busy with all the guests that had come to stay in the golden forest most of the time but still found time to visit the young woman. Both of them enjoyed each other's company and Lyra was glad that she didn't die from boredom with being stuck in bed and not allowed to do anything. Summer slowly started to reach its peak it was an unusual year, the calendar already showed September but the weather was as dry and hot as in early August. Lyra was clothed into wide trousers and a normal shirt. It was held in a very light colored blue. Despite the thin and fine woven fabric she still felt terribly hot. The air was dry and even though they were underneath these amazing trees it was uncomfortably warm. It had been ten days since some minutes of rain had given them some relief from the heat. Finally she couldn't lie around longer and left the healing tents after a week. Lyra made sure to walk slowly and to stay out of the serious gazes from the healers, she just couldn't go back to resting anymore. A few more days passed with her wandering around for some time but always returning to look after Elrond. Her love was in a deep unconsciousness caused by the poisoned wound. The elf hadn't thought of treating his injuries in time and now his body had a lot of damage to heal. Lyra's face turned pale again as she remembered how he simply dropped from his horse as they were at the borders of the golden forest. She was mad at herself that everything had been more important to her than checking for his wounds. It had been a busy time with cleaning out the mines and securing the camp, waiting for supplies, helping the dwarves to take over. Nothing of it should have prevented her from supporting Elrond though. Restlessness grasped her again and with a soft kiss on his lips she left to take a walk once more. She was still hoping that she could run away from her guilt.

She had abandoned her shoes and went bare feet since days but that only gave small comfort. The grass in Lothlorien was so fine that it really felt comfortably and she could at least feel some coolness from the earth underneath the big roots of the Mellyrn trees. It had been two weeks since they had left Moria to return to the golden forest. Her ribs still hurt terrible and she reduced her wandering up and down through the trees to a minimum. She mostly stayed on the ground, wandering to the streamlet and visiting the tents. There were many of them for healers and injured people but also for gatherings and planning. About fifty and all were made of white fabric which flowed nicely with the breeze. It looked like a little city beneath the elven homes. Once more she took a deep breath (as much as she could with her still hurt ribs) and enjoyed the life, the smells of forest and fruits. Memories of dark tunnels and orcs were quickly banished behind thick shields. All of them slowly recovered, even those who were badly injured. It took time but again time worked different in this place and so it just felt like a few days as the first groups left. Most of the people returned home, some earlier and some after taking time to rest. It was a necessity, there were simply too many people and there weren't enough resources to provide for them all. So after some days the crowd wasn't so big anymore and things calmed down a bit. Aragorn wanted to meet with his family and all others needed to catch up with daily life too. Also even with the generosity of the elves not all of them could be hosted for a longer amount of time and after making new plans, they had agreed to head out for Dol Guldur in autumn. Thranduil hadn't been excited but understood after Lyra had informed him about her struggles.

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Flashback

"Lord Thranduil"

The elf turned to face Lyra. She still looked awfully pale and shouldn't be released yet. He wasn't too surprised though with seeing her wandering around. She seemed a bit of a restless person. When had he started to think about her as person rather than a mere child? Yet her age did matter, somehow. She was awfully young even for a mortal and yet at the same time she seemed older. He had been used to the fact that humans became much earlier serious than elves in their younger years but she seemed rather settled even in comparison to Aragorn and he was at least fourth her age. Not that Thranduil was that good in guessing at mortals but normally he was able to trust his instincts on that matter. Lyra was a riddle though. She seemed young and had some childish reckless moments but at the same time she showed responsibility and care beyond her age. He wouldn't be able to say what kind of decisions he would have made in his younger years. It was odd normally he wouldn't compare his experience to others and yet he couldn't help it. He had been very reckless and daring. Only due to his friends and father he slowly grew a bit more responsible. It wasn't until the death of his father in the gruesome battle and the loss of his wife that he became as uncaring as most people tended to see him. The elf forced his musings back and focused on what she would possible want.

"Lady Black, you should still be resting. Your exhaustion is still clearly to notice and I don't think that your ribs will profit from wandering around."

Lyra was a bit frustrated of being reminded of such things but understood that the elf in front of her wouldn't show so much thought to just anyone. It was amazing that he even bothered to think about her needs so closely. It was a rare occasion, especially with mortals. He didn't seem to show care for anyone beyond his own subjects, so she decided to be grateful for his attention and not miffed about his stern tone.

"Thank you Lord Thranduil for your concern but I was so bored that I started to roll around in bed and that isn't helpful for my ribs either."

He smirked, appreciating once more that she was honest to him. She spoke her mind and didn't fear his judgment, even in a peaceful place like Lothlorien where only allies and friends gathered, he hadn't experienced much of this attitude. Most people even elves avoided him if they could, probably out of fear rather than respect. He wasn't really bothered as it left him some peace. It could be lonely though, so he enjoyed her presence which radiated some lightness that reminded him again of how young she was. It also spoke of her courage to face him without fear and without hiding behind masks. Only Galadriel and Celeborn would show him a similar treatment and it spoke for the human to show such behavior.

"How is Elrond faring?"

"He will recover but is still not mended. He was a fool to ignore the arrow wound for so long and let the potion do so much damage to him. I'm just grateful that he will be better in a few days."

Thranduil expressed his compassion and noticed her grateful smile. He could clearly see that she loved the former Lord of Imladris greatly and while he still couldn't understand their relationship, he accepted it.

"Is there a reason why you visit me here?"

"Yes as I'm unable to do much physical work I thought I better spend my time planning and I need your help."

His expression became sharper and more curious. It seemed that the chatting phase was over and they actually turned to serious topics. He nodded in her direction and asked her to continue.

"I'm very concerned about cleaning out Dol Guldur. It's a fortress full of sorcery and while it will be no problem to let chaos clean out the last lingerings in Moria I'm not sure what to do about your forest."

"You have mentioned your concern before, what makes Mirkwood so much different from the mines?"

Thranduil mentioned her to take a seat and together both of them sat around a table full with ancient scrolls and plans about Dol Guldur. The elves had gathered a lot of information about the sorcery working in that place and Lyra would spend a long time to study it all. They talked about the magic in the place and the witch let her eyes wander around. They sat between two roots of a Mallorn tree which posed as back wall for the tent. Flowing white fabric with grey and blue patterns woven into it formed the rest of the place. Three strong wooden timbers held it in place and even in daylight there hung some crystals from the ceiling to shine their soft light down on them. Lyra also took in the appearance of Thranduil he seemed much more ragged than before their adventure. Not on the outside but the look in his eyes told her that he couldn't forget what happened down there. He hadn't come out of this battle as unharmed as he wanted the world to believe. Lyra knew she couldn't ask, he was a much too closed off persona to share such details with her. He probably didn't even talk to his advisors about such matters but she noted to herself that she would talk to Legolas about it and hope that he would look out for his father.

It was long past noon as they were still talking about the magic and fiendfire. Lyra explained the danger of chaos and how a secluded place was needed to use it in a way so no one would get injured.

"I understand now how you can use it easily in the mines but you had mentioned that the spell was used to destroy mansions of magicians before... so why would Dol Guldur be a problem?"

Lyra looked into the blue eyes of the elf. He was a completely impressive creature and it fascinated her that he could send her into survival mode even with just looking at her.

"In contrary to normal fire which uses wood or other materials to feed of, fiendfire uses power. It doesn't differ between nice and evil it just feeds of whatever power is in reach. If you get caught in it once you have no chance to get out of it because there is no counter and no way to stop it. This is also the reason why it's so effective even against dark magic."

Thranduil thought about her words and everything she had told him at the first Lorien council. She had said she wouldn't risk his people. She had also asked him for help... so the only conclusion would be:

"You believe that the evil of Dol Guldur spreads throughout the entire Greenwood and beyond. Using that spell would cause the forest and my people to be destroyed."

He watched every movement of the small pale figure. Lyra's eyes looked at the floor and her mouth was pressed to a thin line. Then the human nodded.

"Lord Thranduil for me it feels like a giant spider web and the fire would run along the threats. I believe that the evil is interwoven with your own magic like evil strings tied into it. It has no clear borders it just morphs into your own powers and protections. That is my problem, as long as I'm not able to draw a clear border between you and Dol Guldur I can't use the spell."

End Flashback

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It wasn't an easy discussion and the old elf had been very angry at her. He didn't take it lightly that she implied that he had ties to dark sorcery but in the end he saw that she just couldn't take the risk. It had taken three days until he had spoken to her again. She assumed that he had needed the time to let his anger go and think things through. Lyra still appreciated how he had visited her in the healer's tent as she looked after Elrond. He had woken only the evening before but his body had used the sleep to restore his health and strength. She had been so happy that he was allowed to walk around again and had embraced him, glad that she could see him smile again. They both had sat on his bed and leaned in on each other. It increased her happiness tenfold. She had enjoyed how he returned the closeness and started to stroke her back, she would have probably just dozed off in his arms but they had been interrupted by a deep voice.

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Flashback

Both of them were relaxed and enjoyed to be close to each other. Lyra thought that Elrond was going to say something but they were interrupted.

"Lady Black? I'm sorry to disturb you but may I have some words."

Thranduil watched the couple and had to fight a tough battle to not envy them as he felt his own loss again. He closed his eyes for a moment and waited for the answer.

"Of course, should we take a walk?"

"That won't be necessary it won't take long. I'm here to apologize for my anger, it was uncalled for. You only tried to think about a way to protect my people and I let my pride cloud my judgment."

Lyra turned to him and nodded.

"I accept your words but I didn't hold a grudge, my words had been harsh and I understand that you hold only the best for your people at heart. Have you thought about the problem more closely?"

"Indeed I have and I would be glad if we could join into finding a solution."

"Of course, I would like to have Elrond's support as well as he is most familiar with my spell work and may find things that I would overlook."

Thranduil nodded in agreement and turned to leave the couple but hesitated for a moment.

"Thank you for your help."

Lyra smiled as the old elf left. She looked at Elrond's startled face. It seemed that he hadn't expected to hear those words as well. Thranduil was known as stern ruler. He cared for his people but didn't allow any second guessing or questioning of his decisions. He also wasn't very friendly to outsiders. Elrond had a clouded friendship to him. While he had always tried to remain friendly and to keep a relationship with the Mirkwood kingdom, their past hadn't been easy. Elrond had always felt responsible for Middle Earth, for the fate of its people and not just for his own kin. He had never understood how Thranduil could close himself away from all the struggles and ignore the world outside of his own gates. While he had thought that the ruler of the woodland realm was very foolish for turning his back on the world and ignore the evil which would always one day turn on him to bite him, the other elf had thought the former Lord of Imladris for foolish too. It seemed that he had never been able to understand why the elf interacted with the other races and because of that there had been many years of silence between Mirkwood and Imladris. Elrond chuckled lightly at how things had changed. His amusement came also from the fact that it had been his Lyra which caused the stoic elf to change his ways. So this seemed to be an exception from the rule.

End Flashback

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Since that day they held regular meetings in the evenings to make plans and organize their march against Mirkwood. Lyra was also most grateful that they started to help her with her training. Elrond's calm presence in her mind helped her to anchor better so she couldn't get lost when the waves of her magic threatened to become too stormy and wild. She still had no problems with the "ancient magic being" as the personification was gone but she knew that the next time she would step into her own world again, she would need to be much more used to handle so much power. Thranduil helped her with that challenge the most. It had taken some time but during the last month they had started to understand each other better. As the elf slowly was able to trust her a bit she was able to find a basis of understanding with him. It was a very small and fragile plant of trust but Lyra knew better than to expect beings that old to change within days. She decided to be happy for the small development and concentrate on working with nature's wild untamable powers. Galadriel had been right with calling him the most experienced elf in the field of wild magic. With trust and understanding they both were able to share some basic ideas and she was glad that he immediately found her biggest mistake in the approach.

"Lady Black, I believe that you try to control the magic... am I right?"

It was already dark outside and a soft breeze played with the fabric of the tent. Lyra was glad that the crystals spent them some light as beneath the mighty trees it would have been rather dark. Elrond sat next to her and softly held her hand while all three of them enjoyed wine and fresh still warm bread and some berries. She was startled out of her thoughts as she heard Thranduil's voice and looked at him. His face showed a serious gleam. She found it very fascinating at how sharp he could be. Even in informal conversations one had to be careful to not get hurt by his sharp words. She also was convinced that he didn't always do it on purpose. It was more like his way of existence and oddly enough it seemed to challenge the part of her that she normally only used at political meeting with the other lords in her world.

"Yes that's true"

The old elf softly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The three of them sat again brooding over maps and plans but somehow they had ended up at the topic of Lyra's guard duty.

"I think that is your mistake. No one can control such a power. It's more like sailing you can't control the sea; you can only try to carefully navigate your ship through the circumstances."

Elrond watched her closely. He felt how the words slowly got through to her and how she started to consider them and think through everything she had experienced so far. It didn't take long until she found that Thranduil was right. He carefully stroked her fingers trying to calm her. He was glad that she accepted Thranduil's help. It was an odd situation to spend time with him but Lyra had been so scared after that presence in her mind had tried to take control over her. Elrond could feel how she drew new confidence out of Thranduil's words. He felt how she made the decision to ask for more details on that topic and listen carefully as the other elf started to explain how you could never win the battle.

"It's a constant process. Every day you work on it anew but with time it will get easier as you will become more familiar with the feeling of your powers and then you will be able to predict more easily on what is going to happen. You could compare it on how you would better know your ship and how it reacts in different circumstances, you would learn the routes you take and how different bays, currents and cliffs behave in layout and changes."

Lyra was fascinated from Thranduil's insights. The conversation went on for some hours and it was really late and already close to the next sunrise as they were suddenly interrupted.

They were joined by Haldir and one of his men who had led the scouts to Dol Guldur. It seemed that they had just returned and finished their reports to Celeborn. Lyra was glad that they now had been sent to fill them in on the new developments. Their reports didn't contain anything that they hadn't already expected. Nonetheless it was great to get more details and a better layout for the route they had to take. The entire southern part of the forest was infested with giant spiders. They would have no choice but to find their different nests and destroy the main colony stationed in the old fortress. Otherwise the world wouldn't be free of those evil creatures. Lyra didn't know if there were still wraiths left inside the dark place but it wasn't her main concern as her family magic had already proofed that dealings with beings of the afterworld were manageable. The question was what was beneath the surface? What didn't they see and what kind of traps lay ahead of them?

Again she was reminded of Harry. How he had complained that whenever they made plans it never worked out. They would plan, head in and then end up in trouble. Sadly it was very true and nothing she could change. Her one true concern at the moment was how they would heal the lands from the dark magic. Sauron had lived there for a long time and had used this hideout to perform powerful necromancer rituals, like the waking of the nine Nazgul. He also had poisoned the river and sickened the earth. Even the air in the forest was soaked in evil mind magic. Everything tried to confuse, disorient and trap people inside the forest so that they would hallucinate, lose their ways and die of hunger or worse. The sorcery was even worse than in the northern part of the forest were Bilbo had stranded during his adventure. Lyra still remembered these very clear. The small Hobbit had a way with telling stories and it made Mirkwood look worse than any desert and she shivered a bit at the thought of heading into those evil webs. Close to the old fortress even the elves struggled to not lose focus. Haldir looked weary and tired and she could sense how much of effort it had taken the scouts to get as far as they had been.

For the young witch was one thing very clear, it would take a huge amount of work before anyone could think of calling the forest anything but Mirkwood. She felt compassion for Thranduil, the elf still spoke of his realm as the great Greenwood even though it had been centuries since anything was green and living there. It must be hard to watch everything you love and care for, to slowly die. Haldir used one of the more detailed maps to show them where they had found invisible borders which couldn't be crossed. Lyra paid close attention to his explanations on how they bypassed those parts. After following closely the paths he showed them, she suddenly had an idea and grabbed her wand. Within a few seconds blue colored lines appeared on the parchment and drew a pattern into the layout of the forest. At first they believed that she just made the paths visible that the scouts had found but then the lines were expanding. They included the borders and trap points as well and expanded themselves beyond what Haldir had shown them. Thranduil narrowed his eyes as he caught on the pattern. It was a spider web. Lyra marked the found points and expanded them through mirroring the same properties as the elves had discovered. The result was a perfect spider web. Not that she really was surprised, her instinct on magical layouts was normally rather precise but she hadn't thought that it would be literally a web…

"Lady Black I'm impressed with your foresight. Have you any idea how we could use this intelligence to our advantage?"

Lyra could basically feel his smirk but she didn't look up from the drying ink.

"Yes I think there are some things we could gain from this. At first every web had some threats which carry the weight, those main lines should be stronger than those middle sequences but if we are able to sever them we should be able to destroy the entire web."

Lyra thought some things through before continuing, not noticing how the others paid close attention and seemed intrigued by her idea.

"Also… not all of the threats in a spider web are sticky or in our case soaked in mind magic. A spider uses the not gluey threats to move across her own web but she doesn't tell her flies were those threads are of course."

Haldir asked her to change the color of the ink for the path he had found differently. The witch nodded and soon the blue lines were joined by green ones. They looked at the pattern and got the idea on where the save paths could be but they would need to test the theory. All of them felt joy it would be a great step in taking down Dol Guldur if they could tell how to move through the giant web without tingling any string. They would try to move through without notifying anyone where they were. Lyra was also relieved about gaining such knowledge as it would help her later to free the forest from the poison.

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Daughter of Ungoliant

Autumn was upon them and Lyra was glad and not only because the weather had started to behave normally again. It meant that they were finally on the way to clean out the last fortress of darkness. Upon their return the people of Gondor told them that Mordor already had been cleared completely and that not even the fundaments of Baradur had been left behind. No one entered the land though and it would be left alone for many years until the last of the dark remains would have faded away. While things proceeded well in the southern parts of Middle Earth it was now time to focus on Dol Guldur. In contrary to the time when they had headed out to Moria they had much more archers with them. They had decided that it would be easier to kill the spiders that way. As the creatures were fast and moved through the trees with an unnatural agility.

Glorfindel had taken leadership again as he had the respect from everyone and even the dwarves and people from Rohan were willing to follow his command. Lyra smiled softly because she knew that he respected all of them and held no grudges against any race. That was the primary factor as to why everyone was able to trust him. Even Thranduil accepted him and that was a small miracle in itself. Lyra would have guessed that the elf would want to lead the army himself as it was his home and he would have the most knowledge about the plans of the enemy. It was a welcomed surprise that all quarrels seemed to be buried in Moria as all of them had learned that they couldn't afford to be divided in their own rows. They moved slowly and as silent as possible. Most horses were left behind as they wouldn't help them much in the forest. It was difficult enough to find a path without guiding horses. The terrain was difficult and the further they came the worse it got. The trees left everything in shadows even after the leaves had fallen from the branches. The ground was slippery and the air full of evil mist. Lyra was glad that she had thought of preparing some neutralizer which she had handed out before they had left Lorien. It wouldn't work the entire time but should give them a good head start and she hoped that she would be able to break enough of the jinxes and curses to at least minimize the dreadful effect on the people.

As she had expected the layout of the sorcery was designed like a spider web but it was far larger than she had thought at first. It reached far into the northern part of Mirkwood and must have threatened the elves for a long time. She gained a new respect for their king. He must have been able to at least weaken the evil spell work enough that his people had been able to continue to live there. How would one defy a power so evil as Sauron had been for such a long time? Lyra shivered as she tried to imagine such a situation. She still remembered clearly how much they had suffered with guarding one of the Horcruxes in the first time line… That vile thing had nearly managed to destroy their friendship and cost them the last bit of sanity. Ron had been so jealous about the idea that Harry could have been in love with Hermione and that he would get her like he got everything else in their life… fame, power and attention. Lyra sighed again those were not the best memories but in comparison to the Maia's doings it would have been like nothing. Slowly it got clear just how much Thranduil cared for his people and how much it had taken out of him to guard them faithfully through those dark times.

Legolas walked next to his father and kept quiet. He didn't really know how he should approach the other elf. He could clearly notice that Lyra's worries were valid. His father seemed to be bothered with a lot of things. The elder had always been able to hide every emotion from most people but not from him. The prince didn't know if there was even a hand full of people who could see through his father's mask but he had always hoped that the friendship with Galadriel and Celeborn ran deep enough that the two were able to watch out for his father a bit. Now he wasn't sure. He didn't know if Galadriel hadn't seen his father's sorrows or hadn't been able to get close enough to him to talk about them but it was clear to him that something was terribly wrong. Yet his father was hard to approach even for him. Only as they had some distance to the main group and were unlikely to be overheard he tried to ask.

"Ada?"

"Legolas I'm not sure that this would be the best place to talk about anything personal."

For a second he asked himself how his father knew what kind of topic he wanted to discuss. It took a while to recognize that he had called him Ada and he never did so if they had to discuss anything formal. Even so it was somewhat unsettling that he would immediately know that he wanted to speak about something private. It had always been that way though, his Ada had a far too sharp mind for his own good. It left him most of the time quite lonely and Legolas seemed to be the only one to recognize that it was something that Thranduil didn't like even if he made the rest of the world believe otherwise.

"I'm concerned about you."

Just for a moment his father's sharp eyes pierced into his. Then it was gone and the other elf looked ahead into the darkness of the former Greenwood. With a pained expression Legolas remembered their discussion about the name. It had been long ago, in the beginning as the first trace of darkness leaked through the trees. He had asked his father why he still called it "Greenwood" when it was so obvious that nothing green or living would come from this place. The very serious answer of his father had been that it was his responsibility to care for his people and his land. "If not even the king believes in his own realm who else could?" Legolas sighed.

"Father I'm serious please tell me what bothers you so much?"

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"Please don't do that again; I can't stop worrying if you don't tell me what's amiss."

Thranduil was frustrated. It was bad enough that he had to fight with his memories and now his own son wouldn't stop asking about. He knew that he only meant well but that was something he couldn't share with anyone. They wouldn't understand and he needed them to see him as strong person and not as someone who had lost too much. As he had looked his son in his eyes he had seen the same determination he had and knew that there was no way he could avoid this conversation.

"As we had been down in the darkness facing this evil monster… I just remembered how it had been to face Sauron in battle and how much this world has lost in its struggles. How much we have lost."

"Ada… it's alright all of us have lost so much not just we elves. Everyone understands this pain. The only thing we can do now is trying to build a new world for all of us."

"You don't understand… what if Lyra had died? She is the only one who could help us to protect our realm and she nearly drowned there."

Both of the elves kept quiet after this. Legolas because he thought his father was selfish as there wasn't only their realm to protect and they couldn't have left a threat like that creature in this world. Thranduil kept quiet because he had nothing else to say to the topic.

As Lyra approached the first string (in lack of a better name) of the curse everyone stopped. Elrond and she had joined Glorfindel and the scouts of Lorien as they went ahead of the main group. Their task was to test paths make sure that they didn't encounter a dead end and to warn the others if enemies are hiding close by. So far the witch hadn't been able to sense any activity from creatures they seemed to hide somewhere and probably united for a closed attack. It was the most likely course of events as they lacked in numbers now at least in comparison to the time before Sauron's fall. Those circumstances probably let them become more cautious and careful. As their best chances was one huge attack on them. The string she had found was one of the fundamental ones. After discussing things with Haldir she had hoped to find one of those as they directly let to the heart of Dol Guldur. If she was able to break through one of them a great part of the sorcery would fade away. The only problem was that she couldn't. In contrary to the amateurish sorcery in Angmar this seemed to be one of Sauron's own spell work. It made sense somehow… Dol Guldur had been his hide out for a long time it was only natural that he had wanted it as safe as possible. She followed the string carefully always heading closer to the center of the web. Elrond followed her while the others waited.

Is everything alright Lyra?

No. Not really, these spells are strong and will be hard to break.

Before they could talk much more they reached the first crossing, Lyra knew that from here on they faced the first barrier. Everyone stepping across the line would be caught in nightmares and confusion if they weren't allowed to pass. She also knew that somewhere was a safe path where the dark creatures could move along to reach the fortress. Elrond saw her shaking her head.

"Lyra?"

"I'm sorry my love but I can't break those spells we have to find the safe path and follow it. I just have the feeling that we are walking straight into a trap."

"That would be true."

Both were startled as they heard a new voice. An evil and cold voice that spoke with venom and just a second later hundreds of spiders attacked them. Lyra casted a Protego Maxima and could block the first creatures which tried to capture them. Elrond used his sword to cut as many of them down as he could. He gave Lyra a sign that he would warn Glorfindel, she nodded and launched into attacking their enemy. Cutting spell for cutting spell flew through their rows but the spiders seemed unaffected. Only if she managed to hit the eyes they would drop dead. It was a sign that she had to switch to more aggressive magic. While she started to throw one Sectusempra after another, she hoped that the others would be able to survive.

Glorfindel had a bad feeling about the entire Situation. There seemed many things wrong with this forest and not just the spell work. It seemed as if the entire forest worked against them. Like the plants had sworn loyalty to a master who would only destroy them but they didn't seem to mind. The forest was evil. He didn't want to let Lyra go ahead with only Elrond as company but he knew that if someone could untangle what lingered in this darkness then it was her.

Glorfindel we ran into a trap, spiders are coming to you.

The warning was short but it told him everything he needed to know. The main force was still half an hour behind them. He sent a message to Elladan who led them and told his group to prepare. Without a noise they came through the branches. They would have been able to catch them unprepared if it hadn't been for Elrond's warning. The elves drew bows and within a few minutes thirty spiders lay dead on the floor. Glorfindel tried to move towards the position of the witch but there were too many opponents they were barely able to hold their ground. Meanwhile Lyra and Elrond struggled. She was still able to reinforce the shield and threw the spiders of but not the creature which had spoken to them. Lyra wasn't sure what exactly it was that they faced but it seemed to be a mere shadow. A mist or a cloud of darkness, that was the only thing the witch could make out. Everytime she raised a shield the creature would shatter it with and attack. It caused the spiders to come closer. Up until now Elrond was able to kill them at time so Lyra focused on raising another shield but the question was how long would they be able to keep this speed up? She needed to kill the mist somehow but she couldn't sense anything about it. It was as if it wasn't really there. At first she had thought it was a spirit sorcerer like those in Carn Dum but she couldn't sense a soul. Nonetheless she tried an exorcism spell but even as she was able to hit the target nothing happened. So that was the proof it wasn't a spirit but what else could it be?

Elrond felt how Lyra struggled but didn't know what to do. His right arm was still sore from the arrow but he managed to keep the spiders away. The only problem was that ever more kept coming. Would they last long enough for the main force to catch up with them or would they face another ambush and were kept away? Lyra felt the sweat on her forehead. This started to get exhausting she didn't know how long she could keep up with reinforcing the shield.

Think Lyra, think! There is always a trick behind it.

Harry's voice seemed to never let her down in times of trouble. He was of course right but how did this work? How should she find out its weakness when she was unable to find out what she was facing? Normally everything had a presence, an aura or magical signature. At least if they were some creatures fighting with magic then she should be able to sense something… anything. Not this time though she could only make it out with her eyes and hear the voice mocking their weakness but she couldn't feel the presence. Suddenly she knew it… that was the point. She could sense nothing! That meant nothing was there it was just an illusion.

Ok good work Lyra; now find out how to defeat it.

Instead of raising another shield she conjured blinding daylight with Lumos Maxima and had the success to startle the spiders enough to take out another for and being able to observe the situation better. Again the mist hadn't been influenced by the light and it only proofed her point but if it was just an illusion where did the power come from? She tried to remember what could have triggered the attack and then she remembered the spell string. The power came from the fortress and moved along the web. She needed to cut the string but how without using fiendfire? Elrond had been blinded by her light but caught himself in time to kill another two of the dreadful creatures. He felt a shift in her emotions and knew that the confusion was gone and that she worked out a plan. He could only hope that she would hurry. The witch knew now that there was a main control point in the fortress and if they would be able to destroy it then the entire web would fall. She also knew that there was a presence a master of the web which was able to send them this mist illusion through the strings so it must be a powerful being. What should she do now though? If she only still had her dagger which was soaked in Basilisk venom but there was no use for sulking over the past.

Think Lyra, think… What do I know? Everything about this spell work is mind magic and illusion…. Legillimence!

Without losing another second she turned to the main string and performed Legillimence the spell to invade another's mind. If the being in the fortress used the web to reach out to them via its mind then she would be able to battle it. True to her prediction she was able to invade the web and felt an old and cruel presence. Like the ring it held a huge power but felt much more slick and sticky. Like the mind was a spider web in itself. It was a maze with the outlay of the spell web, huge and unforgiving and Lyra didn't doubt for a second that she would be dead in a second if she took the wrong turn. Luckily she still remembered the route Haldir had told her and carefully followed the strings. Only as she could already see the mind image of the fortress did she get the feeling that this was far too easy. Even if she knew the right path there should be some defense lines… except if the presence wanted her to come to this place. She tried to retreat but it already was too late. Lyra felt how the path behind her was closed and the environment changed she was now wrapped up in spider silk and couldn't move or breath.

"Welcome, how nice of you to be my guest today. It has been a long time since I was allowed to have so much fun. As I'm a good host I will grant your friends a few more hours to live. Rest assured my children retreat now."

Lyra forced her imaginary eyes open but couldn't see much more than a shadow moving through the layers of silk. She tried to speak but had to be careful as she could hardly breathe.

"Where are we at the moment?"

The voice laughed.

"You know that you are in my mind but I will amuse you and tell you that it looks like my rooms in the castle. It's not that we have to hurry on the contrary I want to enjoy my game with you. It had been such a long time since I was able to play. So relax your death will be slow and painful."

#

Elrond couldn't say what happened but he saw as Lyra performed a spell and the mist disappeared but Lyra just stood there unmoving. He couldn't focus on her as he had to fight against another five spiders. One tried to kill Lyra and he was kept away by another two. He tried to roll away and run to Lyra but got caught from one spider behind him. He fell to the floor and the ugly thing was on top of him ready to poison him but before anything could happen to him or Lyra, Elrond heard the noise of arrows and the last spiders fell to the ground dead. Glorfindel had finally managed to catch up with them as the spiders had decreased in numbers. With the help of the reinforcement they were able to kill off the last creatures and turned to Lyra. The witch still stood there without moving. Something was wrong all of them knew it. Elrond got back on his feet and went over to his love. As he touched her he felt how her body relaxed and dropped to the floor. He caught her in time and embraced her. He softly sensed for her presence but couldn't find it. She was gone from her body.

Everyone knew that those were terrible news. Glorfindel forced them all to focus and together they retreated. Elrond carried Lyra and the others took formation around them, trying to shield them in case of another attack. They hadn't walked far as they approached the others. After informing them of the attacks a temporary camp was set up and guards were doubled. Everyone suspected another ambush but they knew that they needed to reorganize things and make a different plan as they could no longer depend on Lyra's help. Her body was placed in a tent and one of the healers checked on her but they came to the same conclusion as Elrond her mind wasn't in her body at the moment. Elrond sat next to her and tried to reach out to her through their bond but somehow only felt a very dull and far away connection. It took a while until he remembered why the feeling seemed familiar. Then he remembered that the ancient presence of her necklace had shielded him off of her before and that also had felt somewhat dull.

Thranduil's mood dropped even worse. It was such a misfortune that Lyra had been attacked again. He went to the tent and found Elrond sitting next to her body. It was another of those situations that threatened to destroy the last bit of heart he still had left. He really didn't want to think about his own loss again.

"Elrond? What can you tell about her condition?"

The other elf looked up from the resting form and faced him. Looking into those sharp blue eyes and seeing nothing but coldness, wasn't really something that Elrond needed at the moment but he answered anyway.

"Her mind was forced out of her body it happened with the last spell she used. She had discovered what trick was used on us during the attack and tried to undo it. It was successful in the way that the mist like creature vanished and the spiders stopped their attack but her mind is now somewhere else and I believe she got imprisoned by the presence."

Thranduil closed his eyes and thought over what he had heard.

"What makes you think that she got imprisoned?"

"The connection we shared has been closed off and the only time this has happened before was when something tried to keep her away from me."

"I understand."

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Hey :) sorry for taking this long with the update... hope next time will be faster. See you soon.