Author: Arindwen Greenleaf

Disclaimer: I do not own Legolas nor Mirkwood nor King Thranduil.. Even though I do wish I did..but I DO own Arindwen of Rohan and this plot so don't even THINK of trying to take her or this plot without my permission.. I also own Adanvine as a character, not as a person, cause he's my friend who wanted a cameo. Go figure. Dire consequences will follow.

Rating: R-Violence

Feedback: Desired like said Elf.

~*~ ~*~

"Lady!" The panicked cry came from the Elf. He had glanced behind his shoulder to make sure Arindwen was following him, only to catch sight of a giant shape moving swiftly through the trees behind the woman. He recognized it a second before it charged onto the path, its many legs moving in an eery skittering dance over the path.

Arindwen glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the Elf's panicked gaze and let out a truly ear piercing shriek. Spurred on by her mistress' terror, Isendre lept forward at a gallop, heading straight for Legolas. Legolas raised his bow and let an arrow fly right over Arindwen's right shoulder. Alarmed at the closeness of the flight of the arrow, Arindwen swerved to the left. Not a moment too soon, for in the exact same spot where horse and rider had been, a great hairy leg slammed down into the path with a thud. The next moment, there was a second thud as the Elven arrow found its mark.

The spider let out a shriek of pain and anger, and clawed at its eyes, attempting to dislodge the arrow that now sprouted from its forhead. Grimly, Legolas re-loaded and fired another shot into the spider's hairy flank. The spider shrieked again and tumbled to the ground, rolling off the path, its legs curled up.

Seeing the spider fall, Arindwen reigned Isendre sharply in and turned to face the elf. He was looking calmy but sternly at her and she felt her cheeks burn.

"Thanks," she said shortly, still embarrassed at her irrational fear of giant spiders.

"Lle creoso," Legolas murmured, which Arindwen could only guess ment your welcome'

"Tulacome We must not tarry," Legolas said, turning his horse around to face the path. Arindwen followed silently, fuming at herself.

Shrieked like a little girl.. You can fight off Orcs and Uruk-hai's with not a second thought, but when faced with a spider you run like a startled colt. Stupid!' she thought silently to herself.

"Do not be so hard on yourself," came the soft voice of the Elf. "It was a natural reaction for you." She grimaced.

"I can fight half the armies of Mordor with hardly any fear but when faced with a giant spider I run like a little girl." Her voice rang with sarcasm and self-loathing.

"It is all right to-"

"Save it!" she snapped.

Their horses galloped down the path. Both riders sat stiffly in their saddles, hands on their weapons. Their eyes moved ceaselessly from the path to the sides of the forest, always on guard. Suddenly to both sides of the path the trees began to sway. Their branches rocked from side to side as if blown by a wind they alone felt. But this was no ordinary wind.

"Come! We must hurry!" Legolas cried, for his keen Elven eyes had spotted the cause of the disturbance. His horse lept into a faster gallop and Isendre was hard pressed to keep up with the fast pace of the Elvish horse.

"Where are they and how many?" Arindwen shouted at the Elf s back.

"In the trees and many," he answered. Arindwen muttered a coarse curse and sped after the Elf's swiftly retreating back.

Unexpectedly, a spider launched itself out of the trees towards Legolas. He turned but it was already too late for him to nock an arrow.

"Forth Eorlingas!" The shrill Rohan cry split the air. The spider was suddenly knocked off course and send tumbling away, a throwing knife in its side. Legolas turned a slightly shocked gaze at the Rohan woman who sat in her saddle, glaring at the dead spider. She nodded once, crisply at him. Then, all hell broke loose.

Spiders suddenly flew from every direction through the air, their dark and bulbous bodies colliding with the two riders, who went sprawling onto the forest path. Arindwen rolled over and over, trying desperately to stop herself, but the Elf jumped right back up and, an arrow already nocked, sent it flying into the heart of the hairy oncoming horde.

Arindwen suddenly collided with something thin, hard and hairy. She shook her head to clear it from the dizzying roll down the path and looked up and froze. Above her was a huge, fat, hairy spider and she had collided with one of its eight legs. It looked down at her now, its eight eyes staring unblinkingly at her. It hissed. Arindwen tried hard not to panic. She knew that would get her nowhere, but it was so hard not to when faced with something this disgusting.

"Oooh a pretty! Nice and plump! Good for eating.." the spider hissed and clicked. Arindwen's face contorted with anger and annoyance. I'm not plump!' The spider leaned over her and one of its legs moved towards her as if to poke her flesh. With a cry, Arindwen rolled away from the spider and onto her feet, her sword flying into her hand. She glanced quickly over her should at the Elf who was madly firing arrows into the spiders surroundng him. He looked to be unharmed as she watched his long silken blond hair fly around his fair face as he did a dance of steely death around said creatures, his arrows now all spent.

"Ahh.. a pretty young one! Pretty and tender enough to eat! But with a Sting!" Arindwen's head whipped back to the spider facing her. She was surprised to hear something close to loathing and fear filling the spider's voice.

"Ahh! A Sting indeed!" said a new voice to the right of the first one. "Sting.. we've not encountered a Sting like that since a foolish part of Dwarves wandered into trouble" Here it paused to laugh creakily. "What an awful fright we gave them! But how tender ad plump they were..!"

Arindwen grimaced and with a yell cut the legs out from under the second spider. It yelped and rolled away.

"This is one pretty you won't get!" she cried as she cut down the first. It collapsed and rolled away to join its brethren.

"Elendiel!" The cry came from the Elf who had long since run out of arrows and was now fighting with his long daggers. Arindwen rushed to help when suddenly an agonizing pain filled her right shoulder. She froze and as her arm went numb, her sword dropped from her lifeless fingers. She gasped as she felt the spider venom swiftly permeate her body, numbing her from head to toes.

"Ahh. Legolas!" she cried piteously as darkness nipped at her vision. He turned and horror filled his eyes. "Help me" she whispered and finally collapsed to the ground in an ungraceful heap. Before total darkness closed in on her, she heard Legolas crying out in Elvish though the words made no sense to her.

"Noro lim, noro lim! Rima'a tel' kard en' Thranduil!" Darkness finally filled her vision, enveloping her in its shadowy arms.

~*~ ~*~

"It was a sharp struggle, but worth it!" said one voice. "What nasty skins they have to be sure, but I'll wager there is good juice inside."

"Aye, they'll make fine eating when they've hung a bit" said another

"Don't hang em too long," said a third. "They're not as fat as they might be."

"Kill em I say" hissed a fourth. "Kill em now and hang em dead for a while."

"They're dead now I'll warrant," said the first.

"That they're not! I saw one a-struggling just now, just coming round again I should say, after a beee-autiful sleep! I'll show you!"

With that, one of the fat spiders ran along a rope til it came to two bundles hanging side by side from a high branch. The other spiders watched as the first one moved along the branch to the larger of the two bundles. This one had a green boot sticking out and strands of long blond hair stuck to the spider webbing encasing it. The spider nipped hard at the toes in the boot. There was a muffled yelp inside the webbing and the foot the spider had been trying to eat came up and kicked the spider hard. There was a noise like the kicking of a flabby football, and the enraged spider fell off the branch, only catching itself with its own thread just in time.

The other's laughed. "You were quite right!" they said, "the meat's alive and kicking!"

"I'll soon put an end to that!," hissed the angry spider, climbing back onto the branch.

During the past two seconds, the two bundles had begun struggling. Suddenly there appeared a cut in the larger of the bundle's webbing. A few more seconds, a few more cuts, and a long slender hand appeared, grasping the webbing and ripping it open. Then Legolas' head emerged, soft but now sticky hair falling in his face. He breathed deeply before struggling to pull his foot through. The spiders around him, seeing their dinner escaping, started hissing and clicking furiously at eachother.

"Its getting away!" said one.

"Stop it!" said another.

Legolas fuiously kicked and yanked, finally getting his foot through the hole it had been stuck in. He now dangled upside down with only the webbing supporting him. Trying desperately to make sense of his surroundings, he noticed through the light mist that hung before his eyes that the bundle that was Arindwen was rocking side to side. He shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to dispell the fog before his eyes, and reached over, carefully slashing a gap in the woman's webbing. There was a pause in the struggling and then the gap was widened by a small dagger. A hand reached out and tore away part of the webbing and Arindwen's head emerged. She gasped for air like a drowning person.

"My lady, we have little time," said Legolas quickly, for he had noticed that the spiders were closing in on them, running on branches through the trees and along their own webbing rope. "We must escape quickly." Arindwen blinked at him and shook her head.

"All right" she gasped out. "How?"

"We must drop to the ground and try to run." Arindwen raised an eyebrow at him and cut more of the webbing away with her dagger.

"How're we going to—" She was cut off by the arrival of the spider who had tried to eat the Elf's foot.

"Oooh look.. the pretties are trying to get away!" it hissed menacingly. "But.. where will they go? No help around for miles!" it cackled. Legolas and Arindwen glared at it.

"And I suppose a great big fat Attercop like yourself is going to stop us?" Arindwen asked and the spider hissed with rage. Of all the names to call a spider, the one they detest the most is Attercop for it is a grave insult indeed. Said spider puffed up with rage and turned. Webbing shot from the spider and began coiling around Arindwen's bundle.

"Ahh!" she cried, the webbing quickly running up and down her already encased legs and waist. "Legolas! Do something!" The Elf reached out a hand.

"Take my hand!" Arindwen transferred her dagger to her left hand and grasped the Elf's with her right. He pulled her slowly from the webbing and she helped by kicking and slashing at the newly forming ropes. Finally her waist emerged. Legolas gave one huge heave and Arindwen fell free of the webbing, dangling in the Elf's grasp.

"Don't you DARE let me fall!" she snapped at the Elf. He frowned at her.

"I will not let you fall. I promise," he said softly. Laboriously he pulled her up into his arms. His face mere inches from her's he whispered, "We must jump. Hold on tightly to me." She nodded and the Elf lept from the cocoon he had rested in. The spiders had clustered around the bundles, desperately spinning their webs to try and keep the two people from escaping. Now they howled in anger and rage at seeing their dinner escaping.

"After them!" hissed one. "Don't let them escape!"

"We should've killed em when we had the chance!" grated a second.

"Head em off! Head em off!!" creaked a third.

Legolas flew through the air and landed with a thud, dropping to his knees and rolling to minimize the force of the landing. Arindwen was clutched in his arms, protected from the fall by the Elf's body. Quickly they both got up and stumbled towards the edge of the clearing, holding onto each other for support.

"Stop!" hissed a spider. Arindwen cut its legs out from under it and stumbled on by. Legolas followed, still trying to clear the mist before his eyes.

"Lady why do we stumble so?" he asked quietly. Arindwen paused.

"I think it is because of the venom we were poisoned with," she said wearily. They reached the edge of the clearing, only to be met by a wall of webbing the spiders had spun to keep them in.

"Shit," Arinwen muttered to herself, turning around to face the clearing. Before her eyes the clearing looked misty and blurry, as though a heavy fog lay over her eyes. She shook her head to rid herself of the fog, but the clearing titled crazily and she swayed where she stood.

"Lady," Legolas murmured in her ear, his arms around her, holding her up.

"What?"

"Lend me your dagger. I will get us away from here." Arindwen frowned at the blurry shape of the Elf.

"I am perfectly capable of getting us out of here by myself, thank you very much," she snapped. Legolas shook his head and seized the knife from her fingers. "Hey!" He turned, an arm still around her shoulders and slashed at the webbing that was spun across the trees. A hissing and shrieking suddenly split the air and the spiders flew through the trees towards them.

"Legolas.." Arindwen whispered frantically, knowing only that the blurry shapes in her field of vision were almost upon them. Legolas slashed once more and the webs gave way. He scooped her up into his arms and dashed through the hole he had made, the shrieks of the spiders following them. Through the trees the nimble Elf ran, the Rohan woman held securely in his arms, not complaining this time. Suddenly Legolas stumbled over a hidden log and they both went crashing to the forest floor. Looking up, they knew they were done for. Spiders now filled the trees above them and more were skittering towards them on the ground. Arindwe sat up and stared around with a panic filled gaze.

"We are truly done for now," she whispered. Legolas didn't think to argue with her.

"Attercop! Attercop!" The insult ran clearly through the forest. The spiders froze as did the two people. "Attercop!" Attercop! Lazy, fat Attercop!" The spiders started shrieking again and took off through the trees towards the voice. Only three were left to guard the two beings on the ground. Arindwen and Legolas exchanged astonished glances, and Arindwen shrugged. Handing her knife to the Elf, she struggled to her feet.

"Kill it," she said, indicating the spider nearest him. Legolas threw the knife. Arindwen grabbed a long pointed stick from the ground, turned, and ran it through the hairy flank of the nearest creature. It died with a shrill scream. The last spider, having watched the murder of his brethren, took off through the forest, not bothering to look back. Arindwen and Legolas looked after it. Then Legolas grabbed her hand.

"Come, Lady," he said and led her, stumbling through the forest.

~*~ ~*~

"Does this forest have an end?" Arindwen asked Legolas after they had been travelling for a good half an hour.

"Yes," he answered shortly. Arindwen glanced at him but he refused to look at her.

"You are angry with me," she said. There was a pause.

"Yes and no."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Another pause.

"I am not angry at you for trying to help me. I am angry at you for resisting my help so often." He turned and nailed her with a steely blue-grey gaze. "Do you do this with every one who tries to help you?" Arindwen was silent. "Yes, you must." They continued walking for some time, each contemplating what the other had said.

"I am sorry for seeming rude and for not allowing you to assist me. But you must understand that, yes, I am this way with almost every one I know. I have to be." Her voice was filled with bitterness and self-loathing. Legolas glanced at her and found her studying the forest floor.

"Why?"

"I am in command of my father's archery unit, which is composed entirely of men. Therefore, being the only woman, I must be strong in order to prove myself time and again so that they will not think me a weak and useless female." Anger touched her voice but there were underlying currents of sorrow there that the Elf picked up on. He reached out and touched her shoulder.

"I did not know. Forgive me," he murmured softly. Arindwen started to wave his comment off and then stopped.

"Thank you, my friend." The Elf's eyes widened.

"You are welcome, Lady," he responded.

~*~

An hour or so later, they came upon a small clearing in the woods. Here the sunlight was able to pierce the dark forest canopy and it now flooded the glade with light. They both stopped, awed by what they say.

"We will rest here tonight," Legolas whispered. The Rohan woman nodded, too stunned by the beauty surrounding her to comment otherwise. The Elf found a tree to sit against and Arindwen joined him, still staring at the sunlight that filtered in but now with heavy eyes. She yawned and made to curl up in the roots of the tree when Legolas stopped her.

"It would be more comfortable, Lady, if you should sleep here," he indicated his arms. Arindwen's eyes widened and her eyebrow rose. Legolas blushed but it was only a slight change in the coloring of his fair cheeks. "I will never compromise your honor, Lady. Ever."

"I see," she said. "Then in that case, thank you." She scooted nearer to him and let him enclose her in his arms.

"Lle creoso, my Lady," he said softly. Together they fell asleep.

~*~

Morning, found the two of them refreshed and awake. Searching the brush near by, Legolas found some berries and roots for them to eat. The roots were bitter but filling and before long they were on their way through the forest once again. Once Arindwen asked if this was the way to the path and Legolas answered that it was. Satisfied, the woman fell silent once more, content to just observe the dark forest all around them.

Lunch found them eating much of the same foods they had consumed for breakfast. Then, an hour after lunch, they came upon the path.

"Ahh! You were right!" Arindwen exclaimed. The Elf laughed.

"I usually am, my Lady, for I know these woods very well." Arindwen smiled.

"So tell me, Legolas, how old are you?" The Elf raised an eyebrow at her question and she quickly added: "No offence was ment." He laughed.

"I am, my lady, 2,931 years old." Arindwen stared at him.

"But you look so young. How can this be?" He smiled.

"Elves do not age like humans do. Elves are immortal and therefore time has no effect on our us. We simply continue to live. Unless, of course, we are killed. We can be wounded by a mortal weapon and die, but it is seldom seen," he explained.

"Ooh.. I see." There was a pause. "Then it must be wonderful to be an Elf." Legolas smiled.

"Sometimes, but it is not always so. Elves remember everything that Man forgets. We never forget the wrongs done a people or the mistakes other's have commited. So in some ways it is not always so wonderful to be an Elf. There are many things that I have witnessed that I wish I could forget. But it is not to be, so I must continue on." Arindwen nodded.

"Yes I can see that happening."

Farther along the road, the two beings were walking silently together, both lost in thought. Suddenly a cry split the air.

"Legolas! Legolas!" The voice sounded off to their right and quite suddenly an Elf dropped from the trees onto the path. Legolas and Arindwen both jumped, and Arindwen went to reach for her weapon that was not there, when her companion lept at the new comer.

"Adanvine! How good it is to see you! What were you doing up there?" he asked him. Adanvine grinned at Legolas.

"Waiting for you, my old friend. It did take you a long time to get here. Did the woman slow your progress?" he asked with a cheeky wink. Arindwen's eyebrows rose at his comment and Legolas, seeing this, quickly said, "No, Adanvine, she is a warrior from Rohan, sent by King Theoden. She deserves your utmost respect." Adanvine sobered and turned to the woman.

"For give me my words, my Lady. I meant no disrespect." He bowed low before her and then straightened, meeting her sardonic gaze. Arindwen finally got a good look at the young Elf. He was fair of face as Legolas was, but his hair was a dark blue, almost black, and his eyes were black as coals. But in those eyes she saw merriment and laughter hiding and so found herself smiling.

"I forgive you, Adanvine. Just never say it again." He nodded.

"Never, Lady." Legolas then touched his shoulder.

"What news of home, Adan?" Here the young Elf became animated once again.

"You have missed much, brother, since you left. Our Lord held a banquet for the Lady Tranduvill who sang such songs as to make the stars weep." He sighed happily. "Even Lord Thranduil wept, and that is a rare thing indeed, as you know." Legolas nodded.

"I am sorry to have missed the Lady sing. Is she still at the palace?" Adanvine nodded.

"She will be there for one more week and will sing every night for us. We owe her a great debt of gratitude, my old friend." They both smiled and Arindwen found herself wondering just how similar they were. "But now I have found you and your Lady friend, and we shall finish the last of the journey with song and laughter. Come!" With this exclamation, Adanvine lept forward down the path, singing a bawdy drinking song at the top of his lungs. Arindwen grinned amusedly and glanced at Legolas who was also grinning.

"Shall we?" she asked.

"After you," he said, and they both moved forward at a run, chasing the singing Elf.

On to Part 3.