Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A/N: Hey there people! Thank you all so much for your reviews! I'd like to acknowledge a couple of them right now. Mornflower, where in the heck do you live that it is 23 degrees F?!! It's in the 90's where I am! Dang, I am so sorry. Kathira, I realize the distance between Imladris and Mirkwood is a lot farther than I have made it out to be and I'm sorry but it's too late to change it now. You see, in Coming Home, I have it the same distance. So, if you could bear with me on that, it would be great. I've very glad that you're enjoying this story so far though! Anyway, many many thanks to my beta enb2004 who had a marvelous HP story that you have to read! As promised, here is Chapter Fourteen. Enjoy!

It was early the same morning and Elrond was sitting by his twin son's sides as they rested while their injuries healed. Elrond was frightened. If Elladan and Elrohir had come off this bad, there was no telling what condition Legolas and Estel would be in, especially if they too had faced the yrch.

Once the morn had dawned, he had sent out Glorfindel and Erestor to search out Estel and Legolas along with a hunting party to rid Imladris of the yrch that had dared to enter the valley. He knew that the hunting party would rid Imladris of the yrch quickly, but it wasn't the hunting party his thoughts lingered on.

He was dwelling on Erestor and Glorfindel and what they may find out in the snow. Logically, Elrond realized there was little to no chance of finding the pair as the storm would have covered any tracks they had made.

A four year old most likely couldn't have survived.... NO! He would not let despair get the better of him. Estel was strong, very strong. He had proven that much already. Besides, Legolas was with him and Legolas would more than likely die before letting something befall Estel. He had to have hope. All he could do right now was to wait and pray to the Valar for the safe return of his Estel and Prince Legolas.

After Legolas had taken a few moments to absorb the shock of where they were to sink in, horrific realization quickly followed. Mirkwood was notorious for all sorts of foul creatures that dwelled within the forest, looking for innocent travelers that they could prey upon.

Legolas was more than slightly worried. When one was usually approaching or leaving Mirkwood, they were heavily armed. At the moment, all he had was his bow and his elvish daggers. He had left most of his weapons in his room in Imladris, having foolishly assumed that there would be no trouble on a simple horseback ride.

"Leggie? Where are you?" Estel asked, his voice shaking with fright. He didn't want to be alone right now and he was frightened by everything that had happened to them.

Legolas was jerked away from his thoughts when he heard Estel's frightened voice calling for him. "I'm coming Estel."

As soon as Legolas reentered the cave, Estel literally attached himself to his leg. "Please don't leave me Leggie," he said with tears streaming down his face.

"Oh tithen pen, I am sorry. I didn't mean to leave you alone for too long. I had to get an idea of where we are so that we can reach safety," Legolas explain while soothing the still crying toddler.

"So what's the weather like?" Estel asked once he stopped crying.

"It is rather good for the moment although the snow is deep," Legolas said.

"Good, can we go home now?" Estel asked.

Legolas sighed and bent down so that he was eye level with Estel. How did one tell a toddler that they were about to traverse very dangerous territory and that they wouldn't be going home until the snow more than likely melted?

"I'm afraid that we can't return to your home just yet Estel. You see, the snow is too deep to travel in right now and we would not survive long without any supplies. So, we are going to go to my home instead," Legolas said ready for Estel to burst out into tears at any second. He knew that he would have as an elfling and someone had just told him that.

Estel surprised him once again though. Instead of crying as Legolas thought for sure he would, he jumped up and excitedly hugged the startled elf.

"Really! You mean it?" he asked hopefully.

Legolas was confused but tried not to act like it. "Of course I mean it tithen pen. Why wouldn't I?" he asked.

"Ada said that I couldn't visit your home or Grandmother's home till I was at least six!" Estel exclaimed.

Legolas's dismay over the whole situation increased tenfold with that one sentence. Estel wasn't supposed to leave Imladris's boundaries at all till he was six?! Oh Valar, Elrond was going to murder him slowly and painfully.

Trying not to let his dismay show through, Legolas gently picked up the eager Estel and placed him back upon the horse.

"All right my little adventurer, are you ready to see my home?" he asked cheerfully although he felt anything but cheerful.

"Yes!" Estel exclaimed happily.

Legolas smiled at the excited little boy and swiftly mounted behind him. Valar, even if Elrond was going to murder him next time he got a hold of him, it would still be worth it. After all, how often does one get to bring Lord Elrond's youngest and unknown son to their home unexpectedly? He couldn't wait to see his father's face when he told him who Estel was. It was bound to be priceless. Come to think of it, his siblings reactions should be interesting as well.

Suddenly feeling a lot better about the situation at hand, Legolas urged his horse on with a wicked grin. When Elrond and the twins, who just had to be fine, did eventually catch up to them, he would have a story and a half for them.

Legolas and Estel rode hard for two days, not stopping save for when they had too. Towards the end of the second day of their trek to Mirkwood, Legolas was growing increasingly anxious.

For the past couple of hours he had felt as though many pairs of eyes were watching him. He had felt that same feeling many times over the centuries and it was a most unwelcome one at the moment.

Spiders. He had hoped that the cold temperatures would induce them to stay in their caves but apparently not. If there was one thing he didn't want to deal with right now it was them. No, wait, he took it back. The one thing he didn't want to deal with was orcs and wargs. He had had enough of the disgusting orcs for quite a while thank you.

That still left the problem of the spiders though. They were all around him and he knew it. The trees whispered of it and the forest seemed to be eerily silent.
Legolas was also very worried about Estel. Since that morning, he had barely talked and had not eaten anything that Legolas had offered, not even some of the famous berries that the twins told him that Estel loved so much.

He was beginning to suspect that Estel was ill. In front of him, Estel felt warm, warmer than natural yet he shivered as though he were cold. From what Elrond had told him, this was a symptom of illness.

Great, just great, and here he thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse. The Valar however disagreed. As though they had heard Legolas's statement, the spiders suddenly crept out of the shadows along with wargs.

Legolas saw them coming and cursed violently in several different languages as he urged his horse to increase her pace. Terrific, just terrific. It figured as well. Now that he was only a matter of hours away from his home they attacked. He had known that there was a high possibility of being attacked while at the outer edges of the Mirkwood forest, in fact, he had counted on it. He had been rather surprised when the past two days had gone smoothly and nothing jumped out at them.

Now though, it would appear that the spiders and wargs had moved closer to the palace. While it was good that help was very close by, it was disturbing that there were wargs and spiders this close to his home. He would have to remember to speak with his father about increasing the patrols, that is, if he survived this encounter.

"Faster mellon nin, faster," Legolas said urging his horse to increase her pace. They had to make it to safety. He was Estel's only chance and the child was far to young to defend himself.

"Leggie..." Estel started to say but immediately clamped his mouth shut only seconds later.

"What is it Estel?" Legolas asked while keeping a tight grip on Estel while watching the surroundings carefully. The wargs and spiders were still behind him but that didn't mean that another spider might pounce on them from up above in the tree tops.

"I don't feel so good," he whimpered.

"Aye, I know. Don't worry Estel, we're almost there, we're almost there tithen pen," Legolas said wisely not mentioning the pursuing spiders and wargs. There was no point in telling Estel, at least not yet. For the moment they were still ahead of them and were safe, for now at least.

"Can we slow down? The horse is going to fast," Estel said feeling truly nauseated.

Oh Valar, Estel had the worst timing in the history of Arda. "Not yet Estel, not yet. We can't slow down now seldo, not now, not when we're so close," Legolas said more to himself than Estel. His brother's patrol wasn't far from here. If they could travel but a bit faster, they might make it before the wargs and spiders caught up with them.

Estel was listening though and although he didn't like it, he didn't say anything. His Ada had said to listen to Legolas and that was what he was doing.

Legolas surreptitiously looked back and saw to his dismay that there was no chance that he would reach his brother's patrol in time. He would have to fight. Desperately, he looked around for a place where Estel could conceal himself. There! The trees, they were thick enough to hide a four year old child.

"Estel, listen to me. There are bad things coming up behind us. I need you to go behind those trees there and hide. Scream if anything comes near you, do you understand?" Legolas asked, looking straight into Estel's silver eyes.

Estel nodded in silent understanding. He didn't know what was chasing them but if Legolas said it was bad and that he had to hide, than he would.

"All right, good. Down we go," Legolas said dismounting with Estel held tightly in his arms.

"Go, run behind those trees and no matter what you hear, don't peak around them. If something comes near you that doesn't look friendly, scream," Legolas said before ushering Estel behind the tree.

Seeing that Estel was safe and out of harms way for the time being, Legolas quickly notched his bow and arrow and fired them straight at the incoming spiders, having deemed them the greater danger.

Within seconds, the three spiders that had been chasing them lay dead but that did not stop the four wargs however. The time it had taken for Legolas to shoot the spiders had cost him dearly. The wargs were far to close to shoot now. He would have to rely on his daggers alone.

He took a deep breathe and stared unflinchingly at the wargs that were headed right for him.

Estel sat down behind the woods crying while trying not to become sick. Leggie had told him to be silent and not to peek around the corner of the tree. When he heard fierce growls and the sound of daggers being drawn he whimpered. He desperately wanted to peek around the corner and see what was happening but he didn't.

Suddenly, all the sounds of fighting stopped. There was no growling or elvish curses to be heard, only dead silence.

Despite Leggie's instructions, Estel had to see what was happening now. While the noise of the fighting was scary, the silence was even more so.

Gingerly, he poked his head out only to see nothing. Nervously, he stepped away from the tree and walked out in the open. Coming onto the battlefield, he saw Legolas was pinned underneath one of the huge wolf like animals and lay unmoving.

The previous silence of the forest was suddenly filled with the sound of a four year old screaming at the top of his lungs, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOO!"

Abruptly, the screaming stopped only to be filled by a disturbing dead silence that seemed to reverberate around the entire forest and into the hearts and minds of every creature who dwelled within it.

Fear crept into the forest as the silence continued and the setting sun turned the sky the color of freshly spilled blood.

Translations:
Ada: Dad/daddy
Tithen pen: Little one
Arda: Middle Earth
Mellon nin: My friend
Seldo: Child

A/N 2: Hehe, was that a mean cliffy? Looks at bloodthirsy readers. Runs away screaming. See you in a few days, hehe. Don't kill me, please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Runs behind an armed and angry Haldir. Ta ta for now!