Disclaimer: I don´t own anything , no matter how much I wish I did.
Thank you , thank you for the reviews !It´s very encouraging to know that somebody are reading and liking my story.
To Nímin: Your reviews make my day ! Emmel: It´s nice to know how I am doing , especially since English isn´t my first language , rather my third..... To all ohers: Thanks a lot! Keep on review , it is my greatest motivation and I will update even sooner.....
Chapter 4
Spiderwebs
16 years have passed since the Rivendell visitors left Mirkwood when Legolas shielded Estel´s memory. Legolas stayed 10 years in Lotlórien , enjoying the company of Galadriel and Celeborn , making acquaintance with Arwen and a certain march-warden. His father wanted him to return sooner , but Legolas refused , somewhat hurt by what he had been forced to do, and craving the peace that the golden wood gave him. When he finally did return to Mirkwood it was because the troubles there almost had got out of his father´s hands.
Back at home Legolas seemed almost more withdrawn than he had before , even though all the elves in the kingdom adored the golden prince. He now was an even more fierce warrior than he had been earlier , hunting the evil creatures that plagued the forest with such success that some of them, for a short period at least, almost were extinguished.
Rivendell was a more peaceful place , but at the borders there was a growing threat. Large spiders had appeared all of a sudden , rapidly increasing in number. Greatly troubled by this Elrond sent a messenger toThranduil asking for help, since the spiders were similar to those that for a long time had invaded Mirkwood.
Thranduil read the letter from his friend with a frown on his face after he had sent the messenger to the kitchen to get something to eat. Then he asked a servant to gather his four children.
After he had told them about the context of the letter everyone was quiet for a while , until the king finally said :
"I wish to help Elrond myself , so you must stay here all of you to rule and protect Mirkwood in my place. I will bring some of the guards as well."
"But father , surely you must realize the best thing to do is to take Legolas with you. He is by far the one that has most experience in fighting spiders , you know that "Silmarien said , who was the one who most often opposed her father´s opinions openly.
"He is also –by far – one of the best to protect my borders ! " Thranduil snapped.
"Stop talking about me like I´m not here ! "Legolas said , irritated. " Silmarien is right , you know that father, if you really want to help Elrond I should go with you. "
Thranduil looked at his youngest son . At moments like these he resembled his mother so much that the king felt a sting in his heart – her pride , her beauty and her courage shone in him.
The king nodded. He knew when he was defeated.
"Well , then , since it apparently is your wish to go , my son."
A few hours later Legolas sat in the window of his room ,thinking about a conversation he had had with Galadriel ,when he just had arrived in Lotlórien after fleeing from his parting with little Estel. She had been greatly troubled when he told her about the block of the child´s memory.
"I am not so sure that this was the best thing to do "she had said . " The bond between you and Estel will remain whether he remembers you or not. It can complicate things when you two meet again."
"What do you mean ? "
"He will no longer be a child then, and with this bond he may perceive you differently than he would do otherwise. And you may see him in a completely different light , far from the child you loved."
He had tried to get her to explain what she meant , but she refused to say anything more. Instead she had focused on the fact that he had changed Estel´s dreams and the pain he had felt afterwards.
"You know what it does to you , don´t you ? "
"Yes I do , but for him I would do it again."
"And you will. "
After that she had refused to tell him more about what she felt ; but he had seen sorrow in her face. He hadn´t pushed the subject further , being quite satisfied that she actually had hinted that he would meet the human again. The lady of Galadrim knew so many things.
Since then 16 years had passed and the child Legolas knew would be a young man by now. It still pained him that he hadn´t been able to see the human grow up. Although , what hurt the most was if he was going to meet Estel now that they were going to Rivendell, to him it would be like that they met for the first time. *************************************************************************
And Estel had seemed truly confused when he greeted the company from Mirkwood along with his Elrond and his stepbrothers . Legolas found the young man gazing at him almost all the time , even though he avoided direct eye-contact , dropping his gaze to the floor everytime the prince tried to meet his eyes. His hesitance really could mean anything , not necessarily some rest of forgotten memories , he could merely been taken aback by his beauty Legolas thought , almost bitterly.
Estel had truly changed a lot , as expected , since he was human. He had grown into a tall, young man with shoulder-long dark hair and a light stubble on his cheeks, but, the eyes , Legolas noticed , were the same steel-blue as he had had as a child. However , the look in them were far from the young boy he once knew. Surely this man had lived and seen a lot , despite his age.
Then the elf tried to turn his attention to Elrond´s and Thranduil´s discussion about strategies to deal with the spiders . He was amazed to hear that they apparently were planning to seek them out almost immediately , even though dusk was fast approaching.
"Why such hurry ? "the prince asked . "I know they are a plague to you , but during nighttime they are most dangerous and alert to everything that near them . At daybreak on the other side , they go to rest in their webs. At these moments it is less difficult to sneak upon them . To kill them you must stab them in their abdomen from underside , where they have no protecting carapaces. "
"I brought Legolas because he has spent most of his time fighting all the different kinds of nightmares, that haunt Mirkwood since his return from Lórien "Thranduil said.
Elrond nodded slowly .
"I´m honored that you did, we all know what a deadly warrior your son is . But , what intrigues me "– at these words he turned to Legolas and looked at him steady in the eyes – "is why you agreed to this ? You must have noticed that these spiders are drawn to your light , the light of Valinor ;sprung as they are from Ungóliant ? "
Legolas didn´t lower his gaze as he answered :
"I have , but that can also be of help , lord Elrond ."
"You are right indeed , prince of Mirkwood , but the games you play are dangerous. "
Thranduil didn´t say anything , but he sighed inwards. Since his return his son had seemed like he almost enjoyed putting himself in danger. He had also tried to talk to him several times about this , but his efforts had been completely in vain . At one occasion he even consulted Galadriel , who just told him to let Legolas be as it was not his destiny to die in battle. He had been satisfied with that answer , not daring to analyze the meaning any further . Instead he had wondered about his son´s relationship to her.
"Well then" Elrond said , "we´ll use this evening to make plans and then we´ll start early in the morning ." ************************************************************************
By the light of the dawn the next day they began to seek the spiders out , in three groups . Legolas rode with some of the guards from Mirkwood , Elladan , Elrohir and also , by what seemed like sheer coincidence , Estel. The human had insisted that he wanted to ride with his foster brothers , but the prince knew that the man wanted to ride in the same group that he did. Legolas found this disturbing , but not in a way that he found particularly unpleasant .
He and Estel had not spoken one single word to each other , except from the formal phrases of greeting . This was completely by Legolas´ doing , since he had not participated in the evening supper and spent the night sleeping by himself in a tree. He did this because he wanted to focus completely on their task.
Estel had followed him and had stood for a long time some feet away looking at him , all kinds of incoherent thoughts whirling in his mind. The prince knew this , but the human hadn´t approached him further.
It didn´t take long before they saw the first spider webs glitter in the morning light. As they came nearer they also saw the hideous sleeping bodies of the creatures.
"How many are they ? "Elrohir whispered.
"I see eleven webs" Legolas answered.
"Maybe we should go and get the others, then "Elladan said.
"Yes , that would be wise for you to do so , but in the meantime I will sneak upon them , just to be sure of how deep their slumber is "the prince stated.
"You are using yourself as a bait , why ? It`s not ...." Estel began with a deep tone of concern in his voice. He was ,however , interrupted by a hilarious noise in front of them. They were shocked to see that the spiders apparently not had been sleeping that deep at all , since eleven of these beings were approaching them at great speed. It was already too late to escape.
And so the madness were upon them .
Neither Legolas nor Estel knew how long they had been fighting when the two other groups joined them . They didn´t know if it took minutes, hours or even days before the battle finally was ended and the remnants of eleven stinking spiders laid spread all around them. They stood side by side at one spider they had been slaying together , a stinking vapor rising from the carcasses all around them .
"We did it , didn´t we ? "Estel said and looked at Legolas . "Yes , we did . Now we must ...." he began , but was interrupted by the human grabbing his arm , a look of shock and a growing realization dawning in the mans face , his light blue eyes wide open.
"By the valar ! It is you ! You are the being of light that soothed my bad dreams when I was a child ! You really do exist ! How could I not have known ? * how could I not have known?*
Legolas felt like time stod still as he met the mans stare with, the seemingly calm , despite his inner turmoil, midnight blue of his own .
Then , to Estel , all of a sudden , he bowed his head .He knew that the best probably would be not to answer or even a denial , but he found that he could not do that again . Not to himself , much less to Estel or to the child he once loved more than anything in the world .
"Yes Estel , it is true. The steam from these creatures makes you remember me , apparently "and then he looked in to the humans eyes again, suddenly intensively aware of the man´s grip on his arm.
Estel seemed to remember that in the same instant , but he did not let go of it , instead he grabbed the elf´s other arm as well , loose and yet firm. He appeared to have run out of words.
"How in earth is it possible that I would forget who you are? I do not even remember seeing you before yesterday ! I have heard so much about you and I didn´t knew that I had already met you ! "he said at last.
Legolas heart ached at the despair in the man´s voice and he felt like he wanted to cry.
"I hear the voices of my father and of your foster father. They are approaching."
The human shook his head and looked like he just had woken up to reality.
"Let´s go and meet them "he said in an unsteady voice. "But we must talk more soon , you and I. Alone."
The elf closed his eyes for a moment before he answered :
"I guess we must."
Thank you , thank you for the reviews !It´s very encouraging to know that somebody are reading and liking my story.
To Nímin: Your reviews make my day ! Emmel: It´s nice to know how I am doing , especially since English isn´t my first language , rather my third..... To all ohers: Thanks a lot! Keep on review , it is my greatest motivation and I will update even sooner.....
Chapter 4
Spiderwebs
16 years have passed since the Rivendell visitors left Mirkwood when Legolas shielded Estel´s memory. Legolas stayed 10 years in Lotlórien , enjoying the company of Galadriel and Celeborn , making acquaintance with Arwen and a certain march-warden. His father wanted him to return sooner , but Legolas refused , somewhat hurt by what he had been forced to do, and craving the peace that the golden wood gave him. When he finally did return to Mirkwood it was because the troubles there almost had got out of his father´s hands.
Back at home Legolas seemed almost more withdrawn than he had before , even though all the elves in the kingdom adored the golden prince. He now was an even more fierce warrior than he had been earlier , hunting the evil creatures that plagued the forest with such success that some of them, for a short period at least, almost were extinguished.
Rivendell was a more peaceful place , but at the borders there was a growing threat. Large spiders had appeared all of a sudden , rapidly increasing in number. Greatly troubled by this Elrond sent a messenger toThranduil asking for help, since the spiders were similar to those that for a long time had invaded Mirkwood.
Thranduil read the letter from his friend with a frown on his face after he had sent the messenger to the kitchen to get something to eat. Then he asked a servant to gather his four children.
After he had told them about the context of the letter everyone was quiet for a while , until the king finally said :
"I wish to help Elrond myself , so you must stay here all of you to rule and protect Mirkwood in my place. I will bring some of the guards as well."
"But father , surely you must realize the best thing to do is to take Legolas with you. He is by far the one that has most experience in fighting spiders , you know that "Silmarien said , who was the one who most often opposed her father´s opinions openly.
"He is also –by far – one of the best to protect my borders ! " Thranduil snapped.
"Stop talking about me like I´m not here ! "Legolas said , irritated. " Silmarien is right , you know that father, if you really want to help Elrond I should go with you. "
Thranduil looked at his youngest son . At moments like these he resembled his mother so much that the king felt a sting in his heart – her pride , her beauty and her courage shone in him.
The king nodded. He knew when he was defeated.
"Well , then , since it apparently is your wish to go , my son."
A few hours later Legolas sat in the window of his room ,thinking about a conversation he had had with Galadriel ,when he just had arrived in Lotlórien after fleeing from his parting with little Estel. She had been greatly troubled when he told her about the block of the child´s memory.
"I am not so sure that this was the best thing to do "she had said . " The bond between you and Estel will remain whether he remembers you or not. It can complicate things when you two meet again."
"What do you mean ? "
"He will no longer be a child then, and with this bond he may perceive you differently than he would do otherwise. And you may see him in a completely different light , far from the child you loved."
He had tried to get her to explain what she meant , but she refused to say anything more. Instead she had focused on the fact that he had changed Estel´s dreams and the pain he had felt afterwards.
"You know what it does to you , don´t you ? "
"Yes I do , but for him I would do it again."
"And you will. "
After that she had refused to tell him more about what she felt ; but he had seen sorrow in her face. He hadn´t pushed the subject further , being quite satisfied that she actually had hinted that he would meet the human again. The lady of Galadrim knew so many things.
Since then 16 years had passed and the child Legolas knew would be a young man by now. It still pained him that he hadn´t been able to see the human grow up. Although , what hurt the most was if he was going to meet Estel now that they were going to Rivendell, to him it would be like that they met for the first time. *************************************************************************
And Estel had seemed truly confused when he greeted the company from Mirkwood along with his Elrond and his stepbrothers . Legolas found the young man gazing at him almost all the time , even though he avoided direct eye-contact , dropping his gaze to the floor everytime the prince tried to meet his eyes. His hesitance really could mean anything , not necessarily some rest of forgotten memories , he could merely been taken aback by his beauty Legolas thought , almost bitterly.
Estel had truly changed a lot , as expected , since he was human. He had grown into a tall, young man with shoulder-long dark hair and a light stubble on his cheeks, but, the eyes , Legolas noticed , were the same steel-blue as he had had as a child. However , the look in them were far from the young boy he once knew. Surely this man had lived and seen a lot , despite his age.
Then the elf tried to turn his attention to Elrond´s and Thranduil´s discussion about strategies to deal with the spiders . He was amazed to hear that they apparently were planning to seek them out almost immediately , even though dusk was fast approaching.
"Why such hurry ? "the prince asked . "I know they are a plague to you , but during nighttime they are most dangerous and alert to everything that near them . At daybreak on the other side , they go to rest in their webs. At these moments it is less difficult to sneak upon them . To kill them you must stab them in their abdomen from underside , where they have no protecting carapaces. "
"I brought Legolas because he has spent most of his time fighting all the different kinds of nightmares, that haunt Mirkwood since his return from Lórien "Thranduil said.
Elrond nodded slowly .
"I´m honored that you did, we all know what a deadly warrior your son is . But , what intrigues me "– at these words he turned to Legolas and looked at him steady in the eyes – "is why you agreed to this ? You must have noticed that these spiders are drawn to your light , the light of Valinor ;sprung as they are from Ungóliant ? "
Legolas didn´t lower his gaze as he answered :
"I have , but that can also be of help , lord Elrond ."
"You are right indeed , prince of Mirkwood , but the games you play are dangerous. "
Thranduil didn´t say anything , but he sighed inwards. Since his return his son had seemed like he almost enjoyed putting himself in danger. He had also tried to talk to him several times about this , but his efforts had been completely in vain . At one occasion he even consulted Galadriel , who just told him to let Legolas be as it was not his destiny to die in battle. He had been satisfied with that answer , not daring to analyze the meaning any further . Instead he had wondered about his son´s relationship to her.
"Well then" Elrond said , "we´ll use this evening to make plans and then we´ll start early in the morning ." ************************************************************************
By the light of the dawn the next day they began to seek the spiders out , in three groups . Legolas rode with some of the guards from Mirkwood , Elladan , Elrohir and also , by what seemed like sheer coincidence , Estel. The human had insisted that he wanted to ride with his foster brothers , but the prince knew that the man wanted to ride in the same group that he did. Legolas found this disturbing , but not in a way that he found particularly unpleasant .
He and Estel had not spoken one single word to each other , except from the formal phrases of greeting . This was completely by Legolas´ doing , since he had not participated in the evening supper and spent the night sleeping by himself in a tree. He did this because he wanted to focus completely on their task.
Estel had followed him and had stood for a long time some feet away looking at him , all kinds of incoherent thoughts whirling in his mind. The prince knew this , but the human hadn´t approached him further.
It didn´t take long before they saw the first spider webs glitter in the morning light. As they came nearer they also saw the hideous sleeping bodies of the creatures.
"How many are they ? "Elrohir whispered.
"I see eleven webs" Legolas answered.
"Maybe we should go and get the others, then "Elladan said.
"Yes , that would be wise for you to do so , but in the meantime I will sneak upon them , just to be sure of how deep their slumber is "the prince stated.
"You are using yourself as a bait , why ? It`s not ...." Estel began with a deep tone of concern in his voice. He was ,however , interrupted by a hilarious noise in front of them. They were shocked to see that the spiders apparently not had been sleeping that deep at all , since eleven of these beings were approaching them at great speed. It was already too late to escape.
And so the madness were upon them .
Neither Legolas nor Estel knew how long they had been fighting when the two other groups joined them . They didn´t know if it took minutes, hours or even days before the battle finally was ended and the remnants of eleven stinking spiders laid spread all around them. They stood side by side at one spider they had been slaying together , a stinking vapor rising from the carcasses all around them .
"We did it , didn´t we ? "Estel said and looked at Legolas . "Yes , we did . Now we must ...." he began , but was interrupted by the human grabbing his arm , a look of shock and a growing realization dawning in the mans face , his light blue eyes wide open.
"By the valar ! It is you ! You are the being of light that soothed my bad dreams when I was a child ! You really do exist ! How could I not have known ? * how could I not have known?*
Legolas felt like time stod still as he met the mans stare with, the seemingly calm , despite his inner turmoil, midnight blue of his own .
Then , to Estel , all of a sudden , he bowed his head .He knew that the best probably would be not to answer or even a denial , but he found that he could not do that again . Not to himself , much less to Estel or to the child he once loved more than anything in the world .
"Yes Estel , it is true. The steam from these creatures makes you remember me , apparently "and then he looked in to the humans eyes again, suddenly intensively aware of the man´s grip on his arm.
Estel seemed to remember that in the same instant , but he did not let go of it , instead he grabbed the elf´s other arm as well , loose and yet firm. He appeared to have run out of words.
"How in earth is it possible that I would forget who you are? I do not even remember seeing you before yesterday ! I have heard so much about you and I didn´t knew that I had already met you ! "he said at last.
Legolas heart ached at the despair in the man´s voice and he felt like he wanted to cry.
"I hear the voices of my father and of your foster father. They are approaching."
The human shook his head and looked like he just had woken up to reality.
"Let´s go and meet them "he said in an unsteady voice. "But we must talk more soon , you and I. Alone."
The elf closed his eyes for a moment before he answered :
"I guess we must."