Chapter 26

Lilluil shifted on the horse as they passed another dark patch of dead looking trees. Legolas next to her gave her a curious glance but she shook her head slightly. It had been an interesting morning. Waking up warm and comfortable and curled up on his lap. No one commented on it either, for which she was glad. Now they were quietly passing through forest, much darker than before. The group was riding close, the necks and flanks of their horses sometimes overlapping to keep the group closer knit than usual. It made her only too nervous.

There had also been no talking since they'd entered and every single one of the hunters were carrying long spears in their hands. How she missed the safety of the southern woods. A bird's shriek caused everyone to tense slightly but they quickly relaxed. They must have been able to see what it was with their heightened hearing.

Then their group stopped, completely. Halted in the exact step they were just about to take. There was a moment of silence and then every elf readied their spears. Her hand trickled down the inside of her cape to rest on the hilt of her sword.

There was a faint breeze next to her, and as she turned Legolas completed the thrust, swinging spear and the spider it had impaled over his head and throwing it into the trees. More of the giant spiders emerged from the woods, not dropping from above but scuttling up from the ground so their soft bellies weren't penetrable. The spears went to good use, jabbing at the hard shells of the spiders as they tried to snap at the horses which were under tight rein to keep from moving too much.

She had yet to draw her sword, for some reason she was hesitant for them to find out about her skill in that particular area. The two elves on her right protected most of her while Legolas directly on her left was defending that side. But they weren't getting far, the long spears were excellent for reaching the two foot tall and four foot wide insects but the sharpened points weren't capable of piercing the armored backs. Every now and then a spider would make a mistake and the diamond shaped steel would slice open a underside but there were around forty spiders and the spears were tiring to wield.

When a spider managed to sidle up next to her while the two elves on her right were distracted it left her a choice between using the sword or a spell. She whipped the length of metal out of her dress's scabbard. She leaned and sliced off the creature's four left legs with a swing. It let out the most high pitched shrieking hiss she hurriedly swung again to take off the creature's head and end it. When she straightened she found that the distraction had given some elves the chance to flip some shocked ones and spear them, cutting the number down substantially. Lilluil after a quick glance around wiped the yellow goo off her sword with a piece of material, which she then discarded and sheathed it. Hopefully no one had seen…

The feverish atmosphere during which she calmed the skittish horses and keep her feet high enough out of the reach of insects that got close enough took three heartbeats and an entire hour to finish. Twilight dawned on them as the last of the hissing arachnids was killed. They rode into the night to get to the caves by just after midnight, where she was placidly led to a bedroom and promptly fell asleep clothes and all.

Dawn brought an interesting confrontation. She was elven, so when the door to wherever she was sleeping opened she did wake, but was too tired to do much but acknowledge the fact that someone had indeed opened the door. It was not interesting, urgent or particularly important in her mind so she set about going back to sleep.

The person sleeping behind her with an arm wrapped around her waist did though. He removed his arm, which was annoying because it was quite warm, and sat up. She scowled and snuggled farther into the covers.

"Father, what a surprise to see you."

The door shut with a click, with people on the other side obvious from to the murmurs of disagreement. "I assure you Legolas, my surprise is much greater."

"Father, I would like you to meet-"

"Lilluil Kyrene Alcentese, her father is in my throne room."

She abruptly woke up completely. His throne room. She cracked her eyes open and glanced around. A gray stone room with ivy growing literally everywhere. She was wearing her undershirt but not much else and lying in a very elaborate bed made up of some northern tree, she didn't recognize it. The elf standing just before a thick wooden door and holding a dirt smeared tunic by two fingers was frighteningly similar to the elf sitting next to her, only with white gold hair. Her ears started to tingle with the cold and she slipped back under the covers.

"Wonderful." She remarked dryly. "Legolas since your father is the King wasn't it possible to get a warm room?" She asked sarcastically.

"You can thank him for that Lady, he was given the choice but he wanted the joint hot spring chamber instead."

Legolas laughed forcefully. "Ah well, Father-"

"Let me guess, you want me to arrange for the lady to stay?" He asked dryly.

"Yes please." Legolas grinned.

"Now why should I do that when you practically took her hostage at arrow point from them instead of leading them to me and letting me handle the entire thing from the start?"

"What would she have thought?"

"I have no idea, let's ask; Lady?"

"I don't know, I'd have to have a look at the hot spring he traded a warm room for."

"Well there you have it." The King concluded.

"Father! Please! She means everything to me!"

She peeked over the edges of the covers at a stricken Legolas and a calmly considering King Thranduil. King Thranduil Greenleaf. No wonder it had sounded familiar. Legolas's father arched an eyebrow and dropped the shirt back onto the table. "Well Legolas, considering everything you've done so far I don't know if I should. However you are my only son, just don't expect anything for your next birthday." He strode out still maintaining the serious face.

Legolas smiled and slid back down. She snuggled in for warmth and he wrapped his arms around her. "Don't worry about father, he really wouldn't do that." He was so warm! "Next time you should probably curtsy though, he places a lot of importance on manners."

"Next time get a rug."