Disclaimer: Characters, story parts, canon things and everything you recognize from either Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter belongs to the people with the money... not me. I don't earn anything with this story at least no money... I do earn some laughter, fun and enjoyment... that's worth something too :)). To me belong only my original characters, the ever present madness and the new storyline.

#

Ok let's see if we can get to the bottom of this problem today... did I mention that I don't really like spiders? Yeah you owe me for even writing those chapters (just saying) hope you pay me back with having fun ;). Thanks for reviewing and I'm very happy that you like the story :) even if it's with an original character as main creature hopping around. Ty rianifitria and RW28 this chapter is for you guys hope you enjoy it. To Saffron and Lotus I'm very glad that you enjoy the story so far and hope that the next chapter is to your liking too.

Answering some of your questions: 1) I'm to 80% sure that she is the daughter of (I will call him Corvus Octantis Black) a brother to Narcissa, Bella and Andromeda. I will let you guys vote if you want the story of a) him being killed before Regulus as Voldemort's follower or b) him deleted from the family tree after fleeing his family, leaving his daughter behind in the hands of the matriarch... or c) your own better idea! plz post your preference on the review page or send a private message I will let you know then which version won. Important to Lyra's origin is for me only that she wasn't in line to be the next heir but has more right to the title than Draco (as his mother lost the right as she married to become a Malfoy) he would only get the title if no one else in the family was left. Bellatrix is off the line too as she became a Lestrange and got imprisoned (Lyra banished her from the family as soon as she could).

2) Yes Elrond told them about it and yes I promise I will show you that scene (already scribbled it onto my to do list)

3) Soon! (just have the problem that Lyra always finds some trouble along the road and I can't really proceed as straight with the story as I wanted)

4) No she is human and will die. Maybe she will have a bit of a longer time span due to her being magical and being a guardian but not much. The greatest difference to normal humans will be that even if she ages she will still be fit physically and mentally due to her powers and such but not more.

5) I will need to ask Elrond and Lyra about this but as far as I'm informed... at the moment they haven't really decided if they want to.

6) They have no resemblance to any celebrities... it's up to your fantasy for me the important traits about their looks are their eyes. In Elrond's case, looking into an elf's eyes is very different from looking into those of a mortal. You see depth in them and history. Tolkien described the elves in the Hobbit as carefree children with light laughter but in their eyes one could see their age. I believe the image of eyes being the mirror of ones soul is very fitting in those cases and that's why people got so irritated that Lyra's eyes didn't show anything in the beginning due to her occlumentic shields. Other than this I can only say that I love somewhat sharp features and the Black's were described with high cheekbones and such... I loved that their looks were somewhat similar to the Noldor elves... I only have made one small change... thinking about the red hair of the weasleys... I wanted the Black's hair more than just normal black... I like the idea of them having hue of blue to them. You know completely black hair but in the sunshine a small blue shimmer? Nothing that glares at you only enough to see something of the family magic and enough as mark for Lyra to be recognized in cat form because I didn't want to look for another sign. So the rest of it my dears is up to you and your own imagination.

I want to use this space and say a special thanks to all of you which have joined in and still follow this story. I'm amazed by your patience :) thanks very much it's very motivating to be allowed to write for you.

#

Chapter 36 Dol Guldur

The day faded away and Lyra's condition didn't change. Elrond still sat next to her and continued to try to break through what ever sealed their connection. He was worried about her but didn't despair because someone only need to close off a connection if the other was still alive. That fact gave him enough hope to continue. Meanwhile Glorfindel had retreated for the day to think things through. He needed to focus on the mission and couldn't let them stray from course but his heart clenched at the thought of Lyra laying there unmoving. He liked the lively woman and even called her a friend. He had cared for her from the beginning but somehow during their mission in Angmar he had started to see her as companion and friend. It was always terrible to see your friends suffer. The only way how they could help her was to take down the fortress and find whatever creature had captured her. Elrond was right someone had trapped her mind and imprisoned her and the longer they waited while doing nothing the more would she suffer. His former Lord had told him everything that happened as far as he had seen it. It was just sad that Lyra hadn't told anyone what she had figured out before she tried to take down their foe. It would have been much easier if she had shared her knowledge at least they would know what they were facing. Elrond had only felt that she had been confused about something before she was able to figure out the situation. What could this mist have been? It wasn't a spirit because Lyra had handled those before and it wouldn't have confused her, no it must have been something else. He sighed this guessing led nowhere.

In the morning of the next day the army got ready to move again. Some were tasked to stay and guard the camp, especially Lyra as they couldn't take her along in her current condition. Glorfindel didn't like to leave her behind but had no choice, he made sure that she was guarded by some of his own soldiers which he trusted completely. Elrond also stayed behind. He told them that he would try to find a way to reach her through their bond and that he wanted to keep watch over her. They accepted his decision. Everyone else was on their way to the castle now. It would be hard to withstand the luring of the mind spells but he had once crossed the giant ice fields and he wouldn't back down from some sorcery. Their aim was to find and follow the way that would safely allow them to pass. Hopefully they would be able to make it to the gates of Dol Guldur and from there they would just wait and see. The army moved as fast as possible. Even the dwarves and humans coped with the difficult terrain. Most of the elven archers tried to walk along the branches in the trees in order to give them cover in case of another surprise attack. As arrows seemed to work best with those spiders they made sure to recover all they had shot in the last fight. Lyra had been right, there couldn't be an endless amount of spiders as the dark mind behind the plans was gone now but they also couldn't risk of running out of arrows.

They soon passed by the spot of the former attack and halted to count the corpses of spiders, recover arrows and gain some knowledge about the formation the spiders had used. While catching up with things that had been neglected in the haste of the retreat they all felt saddened as they thought about Lyra. Even Haldir felt a spark of sadness and he hadn't known the human that well. The only thing he really remembered was her help in their realm, the happiness of the white lady and the small black fur ball of kitten running through their forest. A soft smile stole itself on his face. It also increased their determination to get further into the webs of sorcery. Glorfindel knew that he would find her and bring her back, even if they were on the way into a giant trap. Sure enough after another hour of wandering there was another spider attack but it was dealt with easily. It weren't many of those creatures either. The archers were able to warn them ahead and take out most of the creatures from a safe distance. The rest of the monsters fell to the swords and axes of their allies. All of them knew that this was a pretending of weakness in order to lure them further in but as they needed to go there anyway... it didn't matter in the end. Instead of arguing they kept silent and cleared the way. Always careful to stay out of the way from the spells. They weren't entirely successful though and soon it showed as their thoughts got slower and less agile. They knew that the powers of the spells tried to confuse them but their determination kept them going. It started with seeing suspicious shadows in the distance, hearing noises that shouldn't be there but as long as they tried to lure them away from their current path they could be fairly sure that they went into the right direction.

#

Trapped

Lyra didn't really know what she should do but knew better than to fall into panic. That never solved anything. As she had discovered that she was trapped in another's mind she had made sure that her own shields were at maximum and still held. She was glad that they seemed unharmed so far but wasn't surprised as she had a lot of faith in them. At least they had been able to withstand Sauron's mind on the weathertop and that meant something. What ever creature held her hostage couldn't be worse than Sauron, right? She also had still the fail safe in place. In case someone would be able to break her shields then she would use her last bit of life force up to power them. It would lead to her death but she wouldn't tell anyone any secrets before the end and that was the important thing. She wasn't as careless with her life as she was before meeting Elrond but she still wouldn't speak of any secrets to anyone. That was the way of the Blacks stubborn until death and beyond. Thinking along those lines moved something in Lyra's heart and she smiled. Her madness slowly woke again, woke to protect its mistress and burn down any enemy standing in her way. It meant that in this hopeless situation she started to recalculate her options and would find her way out of it sooner or later.

Fact was that she was trapped inside of an ancient and evil mind equally powerful and corrupt as Sauron himself. She hadn't really figured out what the name of the creature was but she guessed it was something spider related. It had to be. Who else would create such a spell work and have such a mind? She also knew that she had to find a solution soon as the creature seemed to wait for her friends to reach the fortress before she would close her trap and kill them all. As the current situation was they would be able to handle the amount of spiders but could they deal with the sorceress? As the being had said it was a game and it was played for fun. It meant that it felt safe and unthreatened by them. Lyra smirked she would make sure that the being would choke on her assumptions because no one crosses path with a Black unpunished and it was time that this world got know exactly how ruthless she could be. The witch was still trapped in that kind of cocoon and couldn't move but as she had told the Hobbits in ones own mind you have absolute power. Which led to her current bad situation she had played into the hands of the creature. It wasn't just a normal web of sorcery that surrounded the area of Dol Guldur, it was the mind of this creature. She still tried to glimpse through the webs which held her in place but it wasn't really successfully and decided that she needed another tactic. She probably should try to call for help but how would she reach someone? Elrond. Lyra closed her eyes and tried to reach out for her love but only felt a numb presence. It was clouded and far away. That was a great discovery as it meant that the connection was still there. Whatever the being had tried she wasn't able to completely sever the bond. The witch felt a way of relief washing through her. It left her with a lot of options and told her a lot about her "host". First the powers of the creature weren't limitless and bonds between souls couldn't be broken so it seemed that soul magic would be powerful enough to oppose the being. Her thoughts were interrupted by the voice again.

"Little fly will you grant me the courtesy of giving me your name?"

The voice spoke with so much force and seducing power that Lyra felt a strong pull inside her to just spill out everything she knew. She felt how the mental image of her family ring started to get warm. It shielded her from mind attacks but had to transform the aggressive power into something else to get rid of it. Heat. Not that Lyra feared the pain it only showed her that she somewhat was still alive. She also noticed that the creature lacked subtlety. Sauron hadn't been outright so forceful he had tried to sneak up on her pretending to be harmless. It had made his attempts to lure her into submission much more dangerous than the current attempts. Through the huge amount of force she formed an opposition on instinct and with the help of the family magic she was able to stay quiet. She would fight. It seemed that the creature recognized her lack of success and became angry. The movements which Lyra could spot got more hectic. Then she felt her bindings tightening and she struggled to breath.

"How impolite of you. It seems that I have to teach you some manners."

The next thing Lyra felt was something sharp that bored itself through her chest. Pain and coldness and evil laughter was the only thing she could recognize before everything turned black.

Unmoreth was livid how dared this small ridiculous creature to defy her? Her the last heiress of Ungoliant the great. Like her Mother she was able to wave giant webs of sorcery to enhance and ensnare, to fool people. No one could oppose her and yet this creature defied her even trapped in her prison it dared to fight back. In her anger she dismissed the idea of a slow torture and used one of the many swords in the chamber to stab her. She enjoyed as her strings were soaked in the red and warm liquid. She loved the smell, maybe she should just devour the mind of the creature and be done with it. It wasn't as if it could put up with her treatment any longer anyway. Then she dismissed that decision though, it had been so boring since her master had returned to his former lands. He had forced her to keep a low profile and wait until it was time for the great attack. Funny the time never came. All their plans failed and she was left behind a lone mind full of malice without anything to do. It would be better to taste the pleasure of torture for every second possible before being left alone again. She decided to force her anger back down and released the being from the trap. Predictably it just fell down to the floor unmoving. More of the red fluid spilled on the floor. Even if it was just a mind game she was so excited to be able smell the precious good tasting liquid again and a deep hunger for more woke inside her.

Lyra slowly woke and was in pain. A few things got to her quite quickly, firstly she was free from the silk and could move, secondly she lay on a kind of stone floor and third the creature looked like a shape of a woman in a long robe but was entirely formed of darkness. It still seemed to wander around and had it's thoughts elsewhere. Hopefully it would give her some time. She called her family magic forth and was placed in a safe grey bubble. As her mind had been copied in form of her real body to be her representation in this mind she was able to draw her wand. Now that she was shielded she looked at her chest... it was painful and her lung was injured too but no poison was detectable. Grateful for small miracles she looked into her bag and found a blood replensher, some diptam and focused on healing as much of the wound as she was able to. Of course Unmoreth noticed the movement but before she could trap the being again it was inside of a bubble. Her rage grew again and her former proclamation of taking her time was forgotten. With force did she try to break the shield and her anger only grew as she noticed that she was unable too.

Inside of her shield Lyra knew that she had very limited amount of time. The wound wasn't that hard to heal as it had been a sword wound not something cursed or poisoned but now she needed a plan. What could she do? Then she forced herself to remember that this wasn't a normal battle but a mind attack and even if she was now inside of another mind hadn't she herself withstood enough of these attacks to know what one could use to break another's mind? She took a deep breath and started to chant. Mind magic was a frickle thing and one had to be very careful but for her the best method to invade another's mind was to be invisible. Invisible not just like not being seen but also like not being sensed. To achieve that she needed to let her body fade away. Mind magic knew two different technics to invade another's mind the most popular one was force. People used surprise and superior strength to overpower their opponent and force them to reveal their mind. Even if it was the most common strategy it wasn't the most successful. It could be difficult to generate enough strength to tear the defenses of someone else down and you need to thoroughly exhaust them so they can't counter you anymore once their mind lay bare in front of you. Another problem could arise if your opponent has well working shields like in Lyra's case which would only break if the victim dies or their mind was completely destroyed so nothing would be left to inspect. The third problem would be that the other would immediately know what you are up to and try to oppose you. So really, using force only worked on people which had no skills in occlumentic. For everyone else one better used the snakelike approach, slithery, silent and unnoticeable. The idea was to let the own presence, the own mind vanish so that the victim wouldn't feel anything while being invaded. Nothing more than a soft breeze of thought skipping through the mind of the other and collecting all the information needed. The only one known who had mastered this technic masterly had been Voldemort himself. His victims had never known what he did except he wanted them to feel pain.

Lyra was no where near the level of Voldemort with this method but she was able to perform it. It was difficult though because you needed to give up everything about yourself. All kind of resistance, all kind of magical protection everything needed to fade away. Even most of ones identity had to go away in order to shrink to something small, light, invisible and unnoticeable. The greatest danger came from loosing yourself in another's mind only with an will made of iron one could survive such an attempt. The witch knew that it was risky but her shields would soon break under the force and secrecy was her best option. Step by step the young woman let everything about herself fade away. Her past went first, her heart ached as she had to let the memories of her friends go, followed by her love for potions and the happy years in Hogwarts, their adventures. She let the hatred to her family and enemies fade away. Then she came to her present and her time in middle earth it made her sick to let the memories of her new friends fade away as well. It slowly got darker in her mind as beloved face for beloved face vanished to nothingness. Then she faced her memories of Elrond and knew that she couldn't let go of him. She would never be able to forget him. Even if their bond of minds was sealed he went far deeper than only the mind. She knew that the day her soul had decided to return to the world of living that she had bonded to him on a far deeper level than mere memories. The last thing that she let go was her body or at least the mental image of it and with it also faded the grey bubble away. In the dark room of stone which was only lit by torches and clad into spider silk which made the entire room smell oddly and look dusty, there was nothing left of her but a breeze of the intent to invade Unmoreth's mind and her love for Elrond.

The bubble faded and Unmoreth laughed in glee ready to end the unworthy fly which had been caught inside her web but then she saw it was gone. There was nothing left inside the room. How could this be possible. Her next scream of rage shook the entire forest. The giant web of her mind was burning with fury and all her spiders were sent out to slay those ignorant fools which dared to disturb her in her own realm. They wouldn't know what hit them and she was going to enjoy their agony and despair. Her fury changed to laughter and it showed the carefully hatched madness that Sauron had created.

#

Memory

They had made good process and could already see the first fortifications which indicated that they had to be close to the fortress. Glorfindel couldn't help the feeling of victory raising inside him, even if he knew that the presence in Dol Guldur wanted them to come it still felt like success that they had been able to find a way through the spell work. The air was amazingly damp and hard to breath it seemed as if the entire forest was rotting underneath the thick layers of spider silk. They had wandered the last hour through those it created an landscape looking dead with the skeletons of trees woven into spider silk and the bones of old stonewalls looking through. It was a mixture between tomb and nightmare with everything cloaked in heavy air full of gases and illusions. Thranduil swallowed he had felt too that the entire forest had been turned against them. He would have never guessed that the darkness had such a tight hold on these lands. Maybe his captain had been right and they shouldn't have ignored this sorcery for so long. If they had taken it down in the beginning maybe it would have never been able to gain so much strength. Now it looked like that Elrond had been right and his decision would come back to hit him into his face.

A scream shook the entire forest and the feeling of malice increased. The time had come as they felt how walls of magic closed every escape path behind them. The only remaining way now was moving forward and face whatever was coming. As they reached the hill of the old fortress the attacks started. Enormous amounts of spiders attacked them from all sides. They came out of the forest behind them but the largest part of them had housed beneath the ruins in old tunnels and a giant cave system. Glorfindel yelled to them to order the rows and face those evil creatures. As fast as they could they tried to form a cycle as they had to face them from all sides. The only small advantage they could hope for was slowly moving more to the south were an abandoned watchtower stood. It would give them some kind of headquarters and fix spot to gather around. While arrow after arrow took down as much of those beasts as possible the close range fighters had enough work on their own.

The spiders led by an evil mind tried to split their enemies in smaller groups but hadn't yet been successful. Alarmed due to the scream of their mistress their prey had been able to gather and take formation in time. It was very frustrating and the rhythm of their chant changed especially those of the younger breed became hectic and wanted their food. The elders had to put them to their place and force them to be cautious. Even entrapped those elves were still a danger and their stings bit with utter cruelty. They had to be careful and follow the plan thoroughly otherwise their mistress would eat them alive. Their mother was a cruel being and had no mercy for those who failed her. Her orders were their law and her anger their death. While slowly drawing a smaller cycle around the army they made sure that the fumes of sleep and agony slowly filled the clearing and increased the intensity of the luring and poison.

Meanwhile Lyra only knew that flew along those lines of magic. She was small a mere whisper of her former being and the only consistent thought in her mind was to move. She didn't know where she was or where she was heading too but she only went with the flow. Even without the image of a body she could still somewhat feel her surroundings and she noticed that sometimes everything felt slow and thick and she could only move at snails speed but then there were other routes those who felt clearer and fresher. There she gained speed and even her own thoughts moved in higher speed again... it was as if the sorcery lost it's tight hold on her and she was able to think better. So she tried to follow those strings that allowed her faster movement but then something unexpected happened. She suddenly took a turn and fell into darkness. It was an odd sensation as if she was pulled by a kind of gravity. That shouldn't work as she had no mass only a thought at the moment. Despite that it shouldn't happen it did and so she ended up with what felt like falling down. As she suddenly dropped on what felt like a stone floor she was overwhelmed with a feeling of pain. Not her own pain though and then she realized that she had managed to invade the mind of her enemy. It seemed that she had entered a memory of some sorts. She was very careful as she started to look around trying to banish the pain away from her. The feeling was so dominating that she couldn't get rid of it even after minutes of battle. So she decided to focus on finding her way out of the strange room.

Then her curiosity got the better of her. It was strangely dark and slick inside wherever she was at the moment but Lyra didn't mind. She had heard something. It had sounded like a deep moan of pain and it felt related to the feeling of pain that she could sense. Slowly she moved forward, glad that she hadn't a body which could get stuck in what felt like even more from those webs. Slowly she got more acquainted with her environment and noticed that she was inside of a tunnel and that there were cocoons full of victims around her. She carefully moved forward and ended up in front of some tunnel crossings and decided to move in deeper down. That was were the voice had come from at least she hoped. Soon she noticed that her worries had been completely in wane because the memory seemed to guide her to the source of the scream anyway. It wasn't for another few minutes until she reached her goal and whished she hadn't. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw there. She couldn't say that she felt sick that would be to harmless. In front of her was a giant mass of flesh. It took her a while to understand what exactly it was that she sensed there. It was the body of a giant spider as black as the rest of the cave. Lyra also knew why it moaned in agony. The spider had a head but her eyes were only bloody holes and where her limbs should have grown were only huge scars. Someone had forcefully removed her feet and chained her with giant binds of iron. A cruel magic seeped from those chains and prevented any movement from the spider. The cave Lyra was in, was at least as huge as a Quidditch pit and the spider nearly filled the entire space. The chains tied the giant body into the air and it looked like it sat in a kind of spider web made of black strings and the chains were added so there was no escape for the being from the place.

Her instinct told her to leave immediately and she tried to remove herself from the sight. Lyra focused back on herself as flying mist and remembered the feeling of moving along those strings and finally managed to remove herself from the memory. Leaving behind the horrendous creature with the swollen belly that seemingly only lay eggs to create new spiders. Slowly the witch seemed to put those things together to a new picture. With this knowledge they would be able to destroy Dol Guldur but she needed to escape her current state otherwise she would be useless. As she was busy with trying to find a way to escape, Lyra missed the changing feeling in her surroundings. Unmoreth had been able to sense her presence inside of her own memories and was now dead set on destroying her. The only thing Lyra could feel then was pain. All consuming pain and she knew that she had probably lost.

Glorfindel noticed that the spiders tried to poison them and that the mist got thicker and thicker. They had already slain hundreds of those creatures but with the amount of corpses it only got worse. It seemed like the poisoned fumes also came out of the dead bodies and with ever creature they killed their situation grew worse. There was also no end in sight. More and more of those things kept coming. They tried to capture their soldiers and wrap them into their webs to drag them underground. He had already spotted at least three different entrances to a cave system. It seemed that their major nest was there under the fortress. At the moment the fighters were still able to hold the creatures at bar but the poison took it's tall on them. Especially the humans felt it as the elves and dwarves had much more resistance against such things. Aragorn came to him and between killing four more spiders he told him that his people wouldn't hold out much longer. Glorfindel nodded already aware of the dire situation. They needed to change tactics and that soon or they would end as meal for those devils to feast on.

Elrond sat silently at Lyra's side and held her hand. He was deep in thought and his concentration was focused on the woman that lay next to him. She was unnatural pale but he guessed that he didn't look much better. The elf was still in deep concentration and had declined to eat or rest. The other guards were torn between trusting in the skills of the wise elf and kidnapping him to force some food down his throat. After checking on him regularly they just couldn't bring themselves to part the couple from each other. So they kept their distance and observed the situation. At least the group wasn't bothered by any attacks at the moment but they were still weary and prepared to retreat at any second if need should arise. As the elf of Lorien left the healer's tent again he was careful to make no sound. On one hand it was a beautiful sight how connected Elrond and his fiancé seemed but on the other hand they were also worried that he would neglect his own needs while trying to help his love. That they were deeply bonded to each other was no secret to anyone it plainly to be seen at how the witch and the elf interacted with each other. Time would show what would come from such a love between their worlds, hopefully it wouldn't be tragic.

He carefully held one of her hands to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her much to cold skin. His deep grey eyes were closed to the world and his spirit travelled along his connection to his fiancé. Elrond hated how some presence had so much power over them but he couldn't allow himself to let his emotions consume him. Love was the only thing he let to the surface, his love for Lyra and his determination to not give up. It had been hours since he tried to break through the barrier that had appeared between them but only had small success yet. He couldn't reach her yet but he could better feel her presence now and got an idea of where she was. It wasn't a surprise that he sensed her presence at Dol Guldur but it calmed him that he could at least locate her better. Somehow this small success reassured him that he would be able to reach her soon. He prayed to his father for help and somehow the feeling of warmth spread through his body. Understanding and appreciation flowed through his body. As clear as ever he saw his father's light on the night sky, with gratefulness he thought of the new ring that Eledir had crafted and enjoyed the assurance that his father was with him. No matter how long they had been parted his father would always watch over his family and try to help and protect them. The half elf relaxed and shoved all kind of doubts aside. He had been a healer for so many years now and had fought such terrible injuries and diseases, he would be able to conquer this problem too. Carefully he got closer to the barrier unwavering in his effort to take it down. Suddenly he could feel terrible pain seeping through the connection. Again he attacked the spell forcefully but it didn't break. In lack of any options he started to sum a melody. It was the one they had sung at yule, it meant that however strong the darkness got in the end the light would survive.

#

Battle of fire

Lyra felt hot pain burning through her entire being. It was terrible, worse than any cruciatus curse she had been under in her life. The pain aimed to control her and keep her in place while the great evil presence tried to steal every piece of knowledge she could get from the witch. The human felt squeezed and deformed even if she was nothing more than a thought. She didn't lose her mind though, even after being healed by the Valar she was still too used to feel pain to just bow to it. She had fought everything in her life and she would fight this pain too. Nothing would kill her... not today. Least of all would she bow to such an ugly beast like that spider. She just knew it. She didn't know why she knew it but she just did. Something changed and bottled up memories came to the surface she couldn't control it. Probably it was Unmoreth's doing as she had finally caught her and had now entrance to her mind as Lyra had no real defenses in her thought like state. Funny was that it didn't matter to Lyra. She didn't care if her enemy saw her mind because she was sure that Unmoreth would die soon. With the reemerging of her memories something drew her focus to it. She saw Black Manor and her lands. She saw all the magical beings living on those grounds. The dryads which had been her friends throughout her childhood and many others. Suddenly she felt a pulsation deep within her. It wasn't just her madness that took control, it was something more. Something old and strong seemed to turn and struggle inside her. It came with an additional burning feeling but it didn't weaken her it made her feel stronger. Then she knew what it was, the ancient magic, the one that had prevented her from falling to death. How was it possible she had thought that the magic was used up? True it was nearly used up in this world but she understood now that an near endless well of power waited for her at home. That she was needed, needed to guide all those beings in her responsibility, those who had always taken care of her as she had been a child. They had helped her as she had been defenseless and now they needed her too.

It was her task and with all her heart she accepted it. Then she was flooded with a golden light, the same that she had felt the day as she jumped from the height. It was the very last bit of that power that had travelled with her to middle earth and even if it was just a spark that was left now it was strong enough to melt the barrier inside her. As if time stopped, the witch felt how the pain subsided and everything was muted. Like she was caught outside of reality. She floated in nothingness without the feeling of a spider web she could navigate through.

I'm lost.

That thought made her sad. She never really had felt scared at the thought of dying but there were still a few things in life which she wanted to experience and do. There was only nothingness but it felt somehow familiar. Again she felt more free and not so caged. As if she was taking a deep breath she suddenly felt like she was trice as large as before. It was such a great feeling like stretching yourself in the morning just waking up. Last time she had felt like that was... as she had talked to Namo. It had been dark too and there had been no signs or any direction just nothing. It had been another sphere at least that was what Manwe had explained to her afterwards during their talk. Last time the lord of the dead were with her, to help her and guide her. This time she was alone. She should despair because how would she ever get out of this situation on her own? But she didn't. Calm and happiness were suddenly inside her as she remembered how she had been able to return from this sphere the last time. It had even puzzled the Valar and with mirth Lyra thought that she had to be the only human to ever surprised them in such a way. The solution to her problem was love. Elrond. Memories of what she would say his essence or the feeling which she would everywhere recognize as her love, came back to the surface and with it she gained more and more of her being back and grew again.

Lyra could suddenly hear a soft voice humming a melody. She knew that specific melody and the voice it was carried through. It was one of those melodies which the elves had sung in remembrance of great loss and hurt but also the hope that a new day would come. Memories of the yule celebration flooded back to her and with it the feeling of a powerful magic ritual. In the song sun and moon had been born. It hadn't been just a surprise that she had been able to join the elves inside of those visions but was also a sign of her deep bond to one specific elf. Elrond, it was his voice that she could hear. A feeling of great longing took claim of her entire being. It filled her completely and some things happened suddenly and simultaneously. She felt how tears dropped down through her closed eyes. With the warm golden light inside her and the peaceful feeling she finally stood on their balcony in Imladris.

Lyra?

She would recognize his warm caring voice everywhere. Lyra felt so happy, so content and so light. She was back, back with him.

My love, I'm so glad.

She couldn't say more as she was embraced longingly and couldn't resist entangling her elf into a deep kiss. She enjoyed being hold so much that she completely ignored her surprise as she had her mindscape body back. She wasn't a thought any longer. She stood still with her eyes closed and leaned into the embrace of her love. She only recognized her surroundings through the noises she heard. The waterfalls and the chirping of the birds. A soft breeze carried those to her ears and she relaxed even more feeling save in the familiar place. Even though she was in Elrond's mind at the moment and it was clear to both that she would need to return to her own body soon, at the moment she just enjoyed feeling the taste of his lips. It was an addicting feeling to let her fingers slide through his dark strands and pull him ever deeper into the kiss. She wasn't going to let this end anytime soon. Like a starving creature she explored his mouth, tasted his lips and was thrilled with feeling his body pressed to hers and enjoying how his hands slowly wandered down her back and pulled her even closer.

If Elrond ever had even suspected that this could be a trick of his mind, every doubt was washed away. He couldn't even comprehend how relieved he was that she was back with him. Lyra was back. His love was finally with him again. He enjoyed it very much as she kissed him so longingly and he was too occupied to take in her pale and exhausted features. He just caressed her and made sure to enjoy every second of having her here with him. None of the two noticed the mirthful glimmer of a certain light on the night sky. It was only the image of Imladris as it existed in their minds but through the deep and old elemental magic that flew through the elves it was now night in their valley and as they stood on the balcony the stars glowed bright and clear above them. One star even more than all the others. He was just happy that his son had found his luck and that they were safe for the moment.

Sooner than both of them wanted the kiss ended and Elrond patiently guided her back to her own body. Elrond took his time with returning to the outside world still enjoying the feeling of her kiss. Therefore he didn't notice immediately that the white pendant of Lyra's necklace showed rifts and cracks. Lyra opened her eyes and noticed that she lay in a tent. Her body felt weak and exhausted. She knew that it was a mirror effect on how her mind felt and the magic had projected some of her injuries on her physically body. She couldn't be too mad at this result because she knew full well how much luck she had and that she would be grateful for the rest of her life to have gotten out of this situation with only exhaustion and some minor wounds. With an audible breath that showed how tense she was, the witch tried to sit up. As soon as she moved she felt some old spells breaking and felt how the weight on her neck disappeared. She had just enough time to look down and see the pendant fade into dust and disappear completely. Elrond had seen it too. Alarmed through her confusion he had opened his eyes and saw what happened.

"Lyra what happened?"

"A lot of things but the last remains of the ancient power have helped me to break the barrier and I was able to escape."

Elrond nodded and observed her expression. He was a bit confused by her lack of worry at the loss of the necklace.

"It's just a sign. The true power rests in my world. In the lands of my family and beyond that is were the power is at the moment and what I will need to face sooner or later but you are right it's sad that until I return home I will have to survive without the protection."

She was glad that he accepted her answer without prying more about the ancient magic. Lyra still had the feeling that she needed to defend her decision to not trust the power in his presence. It was tiring.

As well as completely unnecessary.

She felt his presence clearly and was embraced again. A feeling of comfort surrounded her.

I'm right beside you and accept your decision don't let those misunderstandings stand between us. Please.

You are right I'm sorry.

Don't be.

Then the two shared another kiss and enjoyed being close to each other. It took some time before both of them felt satisfied enough to return their focus to the ongoing battle and how they could help their friends. Lyra told him about her fight with the spider being and what knowledge she had gathered from the memory. Elrond agreed that it was useful and they discussed their options. It didn't take long until their camp was packed and the small group was ready to move forward and aid their friends. Lyra knew that a lot of her troubles with taking down the spell web the first time around was caused by her own misjudgment of the situation. She had thought of the web as different powerful spells woven throughout the entire forest as a mean of protection but in truth it weren't spells. It was a giant mind of a Maia like being... a daughter of Ungoliant. As she now knew Sauron had used Unmoreth and trapped her body beneath the fortress in the caves. He hadn't trusted her to not betray him so he had chained her and injured her body beyond repair. The spider sat in it's cave unable to move and also her mind was anchored in that place. It prevented her from giving up on her physical form and leave him. She was only allowed to let her mind spread throughout the forest and trap everything that was stupid enough to come too close, so Sauron had the perfect defense line and also could use her body to breed as much of those spiders as he needed for his armies. Elrond agreed that they would never know what exactly his plans had been for the northern lands in case he had won the war but they also knew that they didn't really wanted to know either.

As it was a giant mind, Lyra no longer tried to break the strings of the web conventionally but treated it like she was facing a skilled Occlumence. She wouldn't try to enter into those strings again but rather figured out the weakspots of the defense. She used illusions of her group members, not physically ones but copies of their minds. The spider web could feel every mind that came close to it's strings, so Lyra designed invisible copies of their minds like she had been a mere thought and send those along some strings more north from their current position. As predicted there came a party of hunting spiders to look what had caused the disturbance but they left irritated as they were unable to detect anything. Lyra kept the strategy up and send the though puppets of themselves further into the web. While the Unmoreth was send after some illusions which by the way was an appreciated irony considering that the web mostly tried to ensnare them through the same means... Lyra covered them inside a bubble. It had taken her some time to copy the feelings and thoughts of the trees, stones and spiders. All of those were vicious against the group and the roots of the trees tried to trip them and the animals wanted to make them loose their direction. All those impressions were used by the witch and placed around them like a shield. It wasn't even close to perfect but it was enough to deflect the attention off of them. If Unmoreth would have focused on what was going on at the outer borders she would have most likely be able to see through the odd disturbance which rolled through her forest but as she was busy with the army, no one noticed the odd bubble that tingled the strings softly before it had passed by.

Meanwhile Glorfindel had organized torches and ordered to light all the corpses and webs with fire. It was hard to get the flames going and they could only hope that it didn't make the mist worse but if they had to choose between dying in the odd poison or from lack of air due to the smoke of fire they would chose the fire any day. Not even Thranduil felt any regret with how much of the forest might be caught in the flames because he knew that the trees in this part were beyond healing anyway. The webs and cocoons placed throughout the ruins enflamed easily but not the corpses. It took them all the will power they had left to even grasp something of an air and make another step. Aragorn's eyes were blurred and the pain was nearly unbearable, even with all his strength from his Numenor heritage he knew that he had reached his limit. With his last mind he made sure that his men retreated to the back rows at least those which weren't already unconscious. The elves and dwarves helped them and covered their retreat but their rows were easily broken. Everyone could hear the evil glee coming from the spiders. They knew that their enemies were close to an end. Even the firstborn and the dwarves couldn't withstand the poison much longer and they had to fight without the help of the humans as they had mostly already succumb to the sleep.

The archers were without arrows and Thranduil led his soldiers on the southern side of the tower. They tried to keep their rows closed but the spiders were successful with breaking through and kidnapping their unconscious allies. With their slowed reaction and the burning inside their bodies caused by the mist they were even unable to prevent their own people from being overpowered. With every minute that passed more and more of them were enwrapped in spider silk and dragged away. Most likely taken underground to were the main storage places of the spiders were or immediately fed to the young. His guard was able to save their king a few times from being caught and he felt grateful for their sacrifices. He had never thought that he would die in such a way. Thranduil also knew that it was mostly his own fault if he had listened to his captain centuries ago then they wouldn't face such numbers. The elf king's face was an grimace he knew that the blame for the death of everyone of his people which died today could be placed at his feet. His mind became blurry and he nearly overlooked some of the spiders targeting him again. His guards were too slow and even he couldn't lift his sword fast enough to escape them. There and then Thranduil son of Oropher would have been defeated if not in the last second his son slayed the beast. Legolas... Thranduil couldn't think straight but his relief was only short lived as more of the spiders headed for them. Legolas took down another three and he himself slayed four but it was in vain.

Three more spiders broke through the lines of the weakened elves and attacked them. Thranduil managed to slay his opponent but was drawn away from another spider. His heart stopped as he saw how Legolas knives missed the target and he went to the ground. Stung by them and paralyzed with poison.

"Nooo"

It was too late. He killed another spider unable to get closer to his child. Legolas got wrapped into the sticky web and before anyone could interfere he was dragged away. Thranduil forgot himself, a never known fury burning inside him. He left the formation and went after his son not caring that this had to be the stupidest thing he could possible do. Entangled in their own fights the guards tried to call for aid from the other side but as word reached Glorfindel the king had already been vanished. With a cry of anger Glorfindel forced them all back to order knowing full well that they were lost. Thranduil's people wanted to rebel against the orders but hadn't the strength anymore. It seemed everything was lost as they wouldn't hold out much longer and more than a third of their people had been dragged away.

That was how the others found them. Lyra felt the strain on her magic as she had to keep not just the illusions and their cover up but also powerful fields to protect them from the air. As they reached the ruins of the fortress all of them felt sick seeing the scene playing out in front of them. Through the mist they couldn't make out much but they saw all the unconscious bodies on the floor and only a few fighters still standing. Lyra found Glorfindel as the white light of his fury shone across the battlefield but she knew that if she didn't act fast then everything would be lost. Their only chance was to kill Unmoreth or the madness wouldn't end, she controlled and coordinated the attacks but before they could head in she needed to protect the rest of the army. A shield was the answer but it needed to be huge and permanent without forcing her to keep focus on it. She reached inside of her robes and pulled four ward stones out of them. Like she had shielded her group in Angmar she forced the magic inside the stones and handed it to the guards. Three of them already knew what to do as they had been there at the battle of Carn Dum and quickly informed the others.

"This time you have to split and keep the ward stones as the border of the army best at each direction and I will raise the shield between them."

Without loosing more time they went to work. The elves placed themselves on the southern, northern, western and eastern part of the tower. They nearly choked as they had to leave the shield of the witch and take a breath of the polluted air. It was madness how the others could have held out this long. Lyra hurried with raising the shields and made sure to gather as many of their allies inside as possible.

Glorfndel spotted them and couldn't help the smile from spreading. Lyra! He didn't know how it was possible but she was there and came to them, followed by 40 of his soldiers which were still not poisoned and therefore able to fight. At this moment he could have hugged her if he still had the power to do so but he only managed to watch the group coming closer and killing as many spiders on the way as possible. Within two minutes he suddenly felt the air clearing but his senses were too clouded to recognize that a shield had been raised to keep their enemies away at least for a while. He was in a daze and didn't notice how he was greeted by Elrond and steadied as he threatened to simply drop down. Seeing the bad state of the elf, Lyra took over the commando. She ordered the elves to drag as many of their allies inside the shield as possible and kill every spider which may had gotten inside before the spell had been stabilized. They nodded and went to work. Meanwhile the witch pulled some of her draughts out of her pockets and fed a neutralizer and a peper up potion to Glorfindel. It took only a few moments until he had reclaimed enough strength to be back to his feet. Lyra took one elf and together they handed potions to those who looked the fittest and would be able to help them. Lyra hadn't that many of the potions but it helped at least another thirty back to their feet and those helped them trying to get some orders into the situation.

Elrond filled Glorfindel in on everything they had learned about their enemy. The warrior agreed with the idea of slaying the beast in it's cave.

"I'm glad that you came Elrond. An hour later and everything would have been lost."

The dark haired elf only nodded, knowing that it was the truth.

"Glorfindel the shield will hold and keep the air clean so we have time to attack Unmoreth but we need to hurry."

"What is the problem?"

"Unmoreth will be able to break the shield as she had broken Lyra's shields in the clearing so we need to attack her in order to keep her occupied."

Glorfindel nodded and passed the coordination of finding and helping their allies to one of his warriors. The elf lady only nodded and went to work while the others organized a small group for a sneak attack.

#

Storming the fortress

Lyra severed as many heads from those fat bodies and ugly feet as she could. Elrond slayed those spiders equally enthusiastic. They couldn't tell how many white cocoons containing their friends they had already passed by but they couldn't stop to help them. Lyra sliced the silk apart but most victims were poisoned and the air outside of her shield was still thick causing pain and probably death. If they would have had more time then she would have made sure to help them but if they weren't able to bind the spider's attention to them soon then she would attack the rest of their allies hiding under the shield outside. None of them could already comprehend exactly how many of their people they had lost in the fight but there would be time for that later, now they needed to bring this to an end.

The tunnel system was huge. More so than she could guess even from the vision but she knew that Unmoreth's room was deep below the surface and exactly under the center of the fortress. She led them down surprised at how they were able to make good distance even with needing to slay so many of those spiders. It was their luck that most of them had orders to gather at the shield though. Unmoreth seemed to plan to shatter it and then devouring the rest of her enemies with one bite but she underestimated them and Lyra would show her what happened if one takes a bigger bite than they can swallow. With point me spells and her senses searching for the center of the power they made it down to the deepest parts of her realm. It was there that the luring power was the greatest and lesser people would have broken down in their mere presence but none of them were normal people. Each and everyone in their group had already fought evil battles and monsters and they forced themselves to move on. It didn't take long from there that Lyra recognized the tunnels from the memory and knew that they were close.

Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw. Huge caves full of spider eggs and skeletons of victims. Lyra needed all her power to seal those images away or she would have vomited onto the floor. It went on and on and on but all of them knew that they were close and for real it was only one more cave to pass and they finally stood in front of Unmoreth. The witch needed a lot of will power to not succumb to loud hysteric laughter. It was barbaric but after everything they had suffered through she couldn't bring herself to pity the creature. As powerful the mind of it was as weak was the body. Nothing more than rotting flesh hanging from the roof. Yes the black shade of a huge woman in flowing robes. The thing in the mind realm that had no details and no skin but was a silhouette of a woman made of dark void with stars in it, without a face but immensely powerful yes that had been impressive and Lyra had feared it but this... this which lay before them... was just pathetic.

Pathetic or not Unmoreth had a surprise for them. She was unable to speak words through her tortured body but she had a powerful mind and they cringed as the voice boomed throughout the cave.

"You shouldn't be so hasty with entertaining a thought of victory."

Then they saw how some spiders pulled two prisoners out of a niche in the back of the cave, they were still alive but in an deplorable state. Thranduil and Legolas, Lyra's heart nearly skipped a beat as she saw both of them unconscious. She tried to sense their presence but couldn't feel anything as all she could feel was the presence of Unmoreth.

"Now you seem to hesitate. Why is that? Does those tasty blood bags mean anything to you... I thought that much. The question is what are you willing to give me in exchange for their life?"

Lyra knew that it was an trick. Unmoreth wanted them all and would never give up on any possible victim. Lyra needed a plan and that very fast. If she shot a killing curse at the spider now it was most likely that one of the smaller spiders would take it in order to protect it's queen. They would also rip apart the prisoners. Then all of them got surprised as Thranduil opened his eyes. It seemed that he had somehow been able to fight back the poison and wake from the frozen state even if that should be impossible. Lyra suddenly sensed something from him, something old and dangerous. Hadn't she been the one to compare this elf to a storm or flood? Yes, it seemed that this was exactly what they would see soon.

Thranduil felt weak but his anger seemed to burn away the last remains of the evil poison. It took some moments until he got his orientation back and noticed that he was inside a cave. His plan had worked as he saw the giant ugly thing hanging from the wall, they had dragged him to the creature. Next to him was his son but Legolas still seemed to suffer from being poisoned and wasn't approachable. Then the old elf saw something else... the group standing in front of the "thing" and them. Lyra was awake! She looked at him and between them there was a silent understanding. At least one seemed to catch on his inner turmoil. She understood how he felt... why he was so angry.

The witch closed her eyes for a second while Glorfindel kept Unmoreth's attention on him and away from everything else that was going on. Things didn't look so grim anymore because they were probably the most powerful beings left in middle earth and they were all united (except for Galadriel...) here in this cave to bring down this foe. She knew why the fire of rage burned in Thranduil's eyes this was his realm, his forest. Even if they were beyond his current borders, he felt responsible for what happened here. He felt at fault for every tendril of evil magic that had reached out into his forest and poisoned everything. He was in charge of the plants and animals in this place and had sworn to protect them and in his ignorance and pride he had let them down. Lyra didn't know what exactly it was that Thranduil planned but she knew that it would probably kill them all. She could feel how powerful and wild the magic was that he gathered it made her skin crawl. Nothing would protect them from this wrath and she suddenly understood that it was Greenwood itself that shifted in it's sleep and turned around. It's entire power would be channeled through Thranduil. Impossible that the elf would survive that.

Lyra stepped forward and Unmoreth tried some attacks on her. The spiders pushed forward and tried to kill her but they were deflected by her family magic. The shield wouldn't hold long against the attacks of the evil mind but it would hold long enough to reach out for the elf that still kneeled on the floor. He was tightly kept in place by some guarding spiders but they were busy fidgeting and curling as they felt the pain of the awakening power. As she approached him she felt an old presence it felt foreign and strange. She couldn't connect to it and couldn't bypass it to reach Thranduil. At this moment she wished she could ask her own ancient magic for some advice but she was on her own, caught between a giant spider and the wild power of this old realm. Elrond send her a comforting feeling and she knew that they would try to keep the creatures away from Thranduil and her until they were ready.

Thank you my love.

Be careful!

Of course.

She focused back on the elf in front of her and sealed every other impression away. He kneeled on the floor, his armor was torn and parts were missing. She saw different wounds that bled awfully and his eyes were closed from exhaustion. His mouth pressed to a thin line and his face a mask of concentration. If that what he faced at the moment could be compared to the battle she had to fight then she could only feel compassion. Somehow she had to think about what he had told her... that no one could control such a power that it was like the sea. Lyra stopped in her attempt to cross through the alien power to reach Thranduil and rather started to flow alongside it, always hoping that she would somehow find the elf. It took a while but suddenly she was approached by different thoughts that weren't her own. Due to the sharp feeling and some of the disappointed impression she got, she recognized it as the mind of the king of Mirkwood.

What are you doing here? You should retreat and take the others to safety.

No, I'm here to help you.

Help me? With this? Lyra you have no idea what you are talking about.

She could feel that he was serious and that he thought that she was way too weak and inexperienced to handle this power. Lyra could feel overwhelming feelings of anger and rage that begged to be released. It weren't her's or Thranduil's feelings it were the emotion of Greenwood itself.

If you channel all this power you won't survive it.

I know Lyra, nothing will survive in close range so please take my son and the others away from here.

No.

Lyra!

No, I don't care. You won't sacrifice yourself here. We will leave this place together or not at all.

There is no way to control this power, once released it will destroy anything too close by.

That is not entirely true.

The voice which had spoken was a new one. One that only Lyra recognized as personification of the family magic. In the mind realm were Thranduil had found her, suddenly appeared another person. The being held lot's of similarities to Lyra. Thranduil observed that they shared the same face structures and hair colors. He concluded that it had to be a family member of her. How would such a being know something of his power that he didn't? He decided against being angry as he needed all his power to keep the magic at bay. Lyra introduced the new person as one of her ancestors and explained that they had been guardians before her. Then both of them listened to what the woman had to say about the power.

Even if the power is wild and doesn't judge between good or evil and would lash out at everything in it's way, you are the focus of it. It will channel through you and take on your opinions so if you think of destroying everything it will destroy everything but if you focus only on the spiders it will adapt to that.

So you are saying that we can safe our allies?

Lyra noticed how much it took out of Thranduil to even speak while handling the wild magic. She asked her ancestor if there was a way how she could help him. The shade nodded in confirmation and told her to hold his hands and take half of the power channeled through her. Lyra knew that the family magic would help her with this process and that with taking half of the pressure, Thranduil would gain a chance to survive. She agreed and offered her hands to Thranduil. The elf hesitated a moment but after Lyra's ancestor spoke with him and reassured him he finally agreed.

The feeling was overwhelming. It was like being sucked into the ocean with enormous speed and seeing tons of water crashing above your head. She felt like drowning in giant waves of power and nearly missed the steady voice of her family magic which tried to guide her.

Lyra you have to stay away from the emotions. Let those not become your own or you won't be stable enough to handle the power.

She did her best and focused on the image that the elf had given her weeks ago. She was a small ship on the ocean and not part of the waves. It helped. Slowly she gained some independence and could differ between what the power was and what her own being was.

Thranduil was amazed with her success. As he had given her half of his burden he had expected her to be overwhelmed and get lost inside it but she managed to handle it. For the first time since he had decided to run after Legolas he felt something like hope. As he had seen his son taken away he had decided that there was nothing in his life anymore that was worth it to survive so he had wanted to sacrifice himself to at least safe the others. He hadn't thought that his son would still be alive, that they were kept as bait for the others but as he saw that his son was merely unconscious he had hesitated to go through with his plan only to realize that there wasn't really any other option. Unmoreth would kill them all anyway. Now it was different, he knew now that there was maybe a way that his son could survive and through that he gained hope.

The first thing that Glorfindel could feel was an earthquake. He knew that it must have started north of them probably close to Thranduil's halls and the center of the elf's power. They killed more and more of the spiders coming into the cave and slowly felt the strain of the poisoned mist again. Lyra was focused on helping with the wild magic and couldn't keep all the bad effects away from them. Their worries were in vain though because not a few moments later a bright light broke out of Thranduil and Lyra. It was blinding and hot but didn't burn them. The elves could hear the creatures scream in agony though and the entire cave system was shaken by the anger of Unmoreth but the battle was finally over as even the cruel being couldn't fight the anger of Greenwood itself. The ancient awareness of the place was beyond loathing at how those evil presence had polluted it's realm and burned away the webs and creatures. Outside in the forest the ill trees cracked to pieces and the evil animals were swallowed by earth itself. The ground opened and from the giant rifts came thick vines that lashed out against the spiders and dragged them into the black depths. The process was loud and the earth shook violently, the elves outside under the shield were frightened at what happened but didn't dare to drop the shield and run. They knew better than to go against Lyra's orders. Throughout the chaos they still tried to save as many of their allies as they could and slipped in and out of the protection to look for more captured victims.

Then the storm came and the rain. It was amazing how in less than half an hour the air was cleared from every poison and everyone felt better despite all the thunder and lightning that crashed into the stone structure and remaining trees in the surrounded area. Even with the unleashed violence none of the free people got hurt. Lyra's ancestor had been right, they were the focus and through them the magic worked. Thranduil felt relieved as he noticed that the bright light sought it's way throughout the cave and burned spiders to ashes but while it also destroyed the webs it didn't affect the enwrapped victims. It was time now that they stopped but that was another challenge. Lyra wouldn't have known what to do if not for the small voice in her mind that advised her to try and feel that the task was finished.

You can't tell the magic to stop but it orients itself with help of it's focus that means you, so if you feel that the work is done it will start to subside.

Somehow it worked and ever so slow the storm got less wild, the vines and earth stopped in it's raging and the light decreased in brightness. Lyra still held Thranduil's hands but couldn't feel any response from him.

Thranduil? Can you hear me? Thranduil! Please say something.

...Lyra... it's alright.

The voice was so weak and nearly not to hear but he was alive at least. Slowly everything calmed down and the magic retreated back to wherever Thranduil had called it from. The elf simply dropped to the floor and unconsciousness claimed him. She softly felt for his pulse and was calmed that she could feel his heart beat and breath.

#

Again they had to face the aftermath of an battle. Lyra felt sick as she saw how bad it stood for them. It would have been one of the saddest days in the fourth age and for sure even for the greater part of third age if not for a small detail. She was so glad that she remembered it but knew that she had to thank Hermione for that piece of knowledge. Her friend had done some thorough research in the first timeline as they had to face Aragog's children from the forbidden forest. She had found out that spiders preferred living victims. It meant that they captured their prey and paralyzed it but didn't immediately kill them because they wanted the blood as fresh as possible. Only if they took the time to eat then they would induce an acid like poison that melt bones and destroy the victim completely so they can slurp the remains. It was their luck that Unmoreth had forced her children to focus on fighting rather than devouring their prey. Therefore as they cleaned out the cave system they were able to find many of their allies still alive. They were paralyzed and in a very bad state but nothing that couldn't be cured.

It took them about two weeks until they finally could call the mission finished. Lyra had been so grateful as she had hugged Aragorn the first time after he had woken from the poison. Gimli and the dwarves had mostly survived too and while all of them had dire losses no one could be too sad because all of them knew that it had been a close call and that they could have faced a worse fate. After saving everyone they could, Lyra used some explosion spells and normal fire to completely destroy the last remains of Dol Guldur. All of them felt relief as they saw the ruins crumbling. There wasn't much of sorcery left as most of Sauron's creations had vanished with him. Only a handful of artifacts and some weak jinxes were left which Lyra could destroy easily. They also noticed how effective the attack of Greenwood's magic had been as not just the main nest of the spiders had been destroyed but all of the colonies throughout the entire forest had been completely erased from existence. Even those in the far north that had been installed in complete secrecy were now gone. The only proof of their existence that they could find were destroyed trees and a completely turned, crashed stone structure that gave them the feeling that earth itself had swallowed and crashed the evil.

#

:))) done! yeah no more spiders oh my god I'm so happy.