Chapter 35

Legolas looked around. Limloeth was right; Lainfea was nowhere to be found.
"Lainfea!" he called out, ignoring the spiders that got closer. "LAINFEA!"
No answer came.
"LAIN!" Lanthir and Limloeth joined him in the shouting as the spiders got closer. "LAINFEA!"
The tone of their voices became desperate as their younger sister didn't answer.
The spiders laughed softly.
"Call all you want, elflings. No one can hear you," one of them said in its raspy voice.

Legolas felt sick with despair. He hated himself. It was his fault they hadn't followed Borka's advice and stayed on the road. The trees had tried to warn them, but he hadn't listened. Limloeth had warned him, and again, he hadn't listened.

He had been selfish. He had only listened to the call of home in his heart, which had grown so strong now that they were so close. He had promised his mother he would keep Lainfea safe. He had promised himself he would get her home.
But he hadn't. In the end he had failed, because he had only thought about himself.

One of the spiders lunged at Legolas' heart, and out of reflex he shot an arrow at it. The spider dropped to the floor with a sickening thud. Around him, other spiders reached the siblings. They were close, and Legolas was forced to abandon his bow for his knives. He could see Lanthir duck and push one of his blades in the soft belly of one of the spiders. It was dead, yet Lanthir didn't smile at Legolas, or even count it.

Legolas could see his brother's heart was no longer in this fight. Like Legolas himself, Lanthir kept searching the egdes of the battle for a sign of their little sister. And like Legolas, he found none.

Legolas suddenly realized that if they survived this fight, he would have to explain to his father why their little sister had not come with them. He would have to tell him that she survived Mordor, against all odds. He would have to tell she survived orcs, and corsairs, and the Dead Marshes, only to disappear on the doorstep of their home. Because he had been too stubborn, too selfish.

And then he would have to tell Thranduil that the love of the king's life, Lalaith, was dead. And he, Legolas, was to blame as well. His heart sank at these thoughts, and his hope faded more and more with every second that passed by.

The spiders where still attacking, and out of reflex, Legolas still fought back. But his blows missed accuracy. They missed strength. They missed hope.

Legolas' mother had tried to teach her children to hold on to hope at all times , even in the darkest of places. She had told them that no darkness could last forever, and that eventually all would be better with time. She had told her children to be strong in both body and soul. She had told them to stick together when the darkness fell, and to shelter each other in the light that shone in each of them.

Yet when Legolas looked around now, he did not see a light. He looked up to the trees, and behind the spiders, but all he saw was endless darkness; a stark void of nothingness, in which no hope or strength could be found.
Darkness, and spiders.

There was no way Lainfea could be anything other than taken. If not, they would have seen her. If not, she would have answered his calls. She wouldn't have left by herself. Their mother had told them to stick together at all times, at any cost.

"Legolas!" Limloeth said, while hacking off a spider's leg. She shivered as she did so, but knew that she must, at whatever the cost to her. "That tree!
Isn't that the tree Nana planted when Lanthir was born?"
It took Legolas a while to figure out what she was talking about. Then he nodded in recognition. "Yes, it is."
"It is?" Lanthir asked. "Great. Just great," he added sarcastically. "I've had a poet deciding my fate. 'Let the boy die on the place they planted his birthtree. That would be SO POETIC,' " he growled as he ducked the spider attacking him. "Great," he added once more. "I HATE POETRY!"

"It is great," Limloeth said. "Because if that is your birthtree, then we are very close to the forest stream."
"So?" Legolas asked, not understanding why she looked so hopeful all of a sudden.
"I have a plan!" Limloeth said, and while she fought the spiders, she moved in the direction of the stream. "Follow me!"

Lainfea had been watching her brother and sister trying to free Lanthir when a branch had wrapped around her wrist and started pulling her away from her siblings. She had struggled, trying to free herself, but the tree held on tight.

She glanced at her brother and sister, who were still busy with the web that held Lanthir. She could feel that they were tired and irritated. She knew that if she asked them for help, they would only snap at her. Just as they were snapping at each other. She shivered. The little girl didn't like people snapping at her, and that always made her cry. So she would have to solve this little problem
on her own. She could do that. She was a big elf, after all.

"You are hurting my arm," she whispered to the tree. "Please stop..."
The tree loosed its grip on her a bit, but still she couldn't wiggle her way out.

"Let me GO!" she ordered it.
"Come," a whispering voice answered. Lainfea could feel the tree pulling at her, and she moved along with it, to keep the branch from hurting her arm.

"Stop!" she said softly. "I have to stay with my brothers and sister! Stop it!"
"Danger is approaching. Come."
Lainfea wiggled once more, trying to get back to her siblings

"My brothers! We have to warn them! Stop!"
"Stop talking!" another whispering voice interrupted. "The spiders will hear, and all will be lost."
"Your siblings have already been warned," other voices spoke.

Lanifea looked back. Legolas and Limloeth were still trying to free Lanthir.
She wondered if she should call out to them, asking them to help. But then Limloeth suddenly screamed at Legolas. She cringed.

"Please," she whispered to the tree again, tears forming in her eyes. "I want to go. I have to help."
"You can help," it answered. "That's what we want you to do. But you'll have to go this way. Come, little Lainfea. Come this way."

"Can you move through trees, little Lainfea? I'll bet you can. I'll bet you are really good at it," another voice whispered.
Lainfea shook her head as more tears flowed.

Another branch wrapped itself around her middle, pulling her up from the ground, into the tree. She couldn't see her brothers and sister anymore; all she could see were the leaves of the tree she was in, and the spiders.

Large black spiders were coming from all directions. A branch wrapped around her mouth.
"Don't scream. They will not see you. We will keep you safe, just don't make a sound. Talk to us in your head. We will hear you."
Lainfea felt the branch that held her let her wrist go. The branch around her middle disappeared as well.
"Do not scream," the tree repeated, before removing its branch from her mouth as well.
"This way, little one," a tree said.
"Don't worry, we will keep you safe," another one added.
"This way."
"This way."
"Come."

Lainfea looked behind her. Somewhere over there her siblings would be missing her. Another spider moved past her.
'They need help,' she thought, not wanting to leave them.
"Then go get it, little one," the trees answered.
"This way."
"This way."
"Come."

Lainfea sighed and followed their voices.

She had no idea how long she had walked, guided by the voices of the trees, when she suddenly stood before a huge gate.
"Go on," the voices told her. "Go on… These gates are the beginning of the end of your long way home. Open them."

"I don't know..." Lainfea whispered. Legolas had always told her not to open
doors when she was alone, because you never knew what would be behind them.
"Just open them," the trees whispered. "Just open them... It's alright...
Nothing is wrong... open the doors."

It took all Lainfea's courage to push on the doors. They didn't move.
"They won't open!" she whispered.
"Just ask them to. Just ask… Ask."
Lainfea looked at the doors. "Please," she said softly. "Please open!"

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, very slowly, the doors began to move.
Lainfea took a deep breath and slipped though them.

The doors closed behind her with a loud thud. Startled, she looked behind her. She didn't like closed doors. They made ther feel trapped.
Then suddenly two pair of arms grabbed her. "What is this?" a very stern voice asked.
Lainfea screamed.

TBC..

Moriarwen: Yes, she had very right to, hadn't she?

CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur: Thanks.. and they're not that far away...

Karone Evertree: I am planning on writing more , one shot and sequals to this one.. Maybe even one-shot sequals to this one.. grin

And yes the spiders did talk.. (goes to find her copy of The Hobbit) ah.. page 147: "Aye, they'll make a fine eating , when they've hung a bit" ...

Rutu: It was 1 am.. Legolas is hardheaded because he is tired, and he has had enough and he wants to go home.

Isiliel: Thingol narrow minded? I think not! He could have said: "Revenge! CUT OF THEIR HEADS..." (Like some relatives of you would have done (choughs something that sounds suspisiously like 'sons of feanor'..) but he chose a very peacefull solution.. Go Thingol!

And No I didn't write "sins of the ancestor" for you, It was written two months ago, before we started this pleasant conversation.. But I did think of you when I posted it on FFnet, and I was looking forward to your reaction..

Hey, since you have such clear ideas about your LOTR character .. do you play online RPG at all? And If you don't already, or if you are looking for a new group, would you like to join us then?
Send me a mail if you do..

Kirsten: YEAH! A REVIEW! more please!

Nessa Ar-Feiniel: Hey! Patience! only 4 chapters!

moonshine44: happy saturday then..

Cathrine Rose: Or else, WHAT? eh? (four more chappy's and an epilogue..)