Ardenia woke up, her head pounding, before leaping to her feet. All she had remembered was forcing herself to ride onwards. She must have fallen from her horse asleep! She couldn't believe it. Her horse had gone, but thankfully, she was well within the borders of Mirkwood. She continued on on foot.

Malanion thought carefully about his plan, his head somewhat clearer for the first time in days. He knew that should Ardenia see Legolas's face, Legolas, who had been her teacher with the bow, she would not kill them. And he could not let that happen. He began to chant an evil curse, one that would allow Ardenia to remain almost unseen to those who did not expect to see her. And with it, a malicious twist that would prevent her from being able to rest, to prevent her to think of anything else until the blood of the Royal family of Mirkwood stained the earth. He hid himself within the borders of Mirkwood, knowing that Thranduil would no doubt sense his presence, but he knew there was no way that anyone would be able to find him. He grew ever closer to the palace. He wanted to be there when the blade was buried deep within the sleeping family.

Ardenia crept through the darkened passages of Mirkwood, her presence undetectable by all, an evil presence giving her invisibility and stealth. She continued on, coming to the heavily carven door that the letter given her by Malanion describes. She opened it, to find a silently sleeping figure on the bed. She crept closer, raising her blade, before bringing it swinging down. Another blade met with hers in a resonating crash, that echoed throughout the room. She raised her eyes, to be met by the grey eyes of Haldir.

Previously

Haldir had ridden all day. He and his brothers had reached Mirkwood that afternoon. He had done all he could, explaining Ardenia's story to those of the court. Thranduil had listened with amazement, as had his wife and Legolas, with tears in their eyes, as they heard the long and painful story that was Ardenia's. Their daughter, whom they had thought lost to them. Thranduil put an arm around his small wife, who had longed for her one daughter every day of their life since her vanishing. Haldir relayed to them the long tale of all she had faced, and of Lord Celeborn's torment. He told them that he knew not who was behind it all, but whoever was could be no less than evil. Thranduil sat at that news. He looked directly at Haldir, his green eyes, identical to Ardenia's one green one. "Haldir of Lorien, your news, brings us great joy. The daughter we had named Alirimaer we had thought lost to us. But there is also grave tidings too. For it was but this afternoon, shortly after you came to my halls that I felt an evil presence within the forest. Do you think that it could be that which you have tried to protect our Ardenia from?"

"I have no doubt My Lord, and if he is here, that means that Ardenia is within your borders also. She will be within the palace by nightfall."

"I know Ardenia." Spoke up Legolas. "I was her teacher for many years at Imladris, and hers was a rare friendship that I valued. To hear of her as my sister brings me joy, and pain at what she has gone through. But if she is still the Ardenia I know her to be, than she will bare the blade intended to end our lives personally, for she always believed that to shoot someone with an arrow was cowardly, particularly when they could not fight back. She never did take to the bow. She will try to kill us personally, although I could never believe that she would be capable of going through with such actions."

"Trust me, Legolas Thrandulion, this spirit we face is capable of much more than we could begin to conceive."

"Well then, Haldir, Marchwarden of Lorien, what do you propose we do that would allow us to escape with both ours and our daughters lives intact, whilst vanquishing this evil?"

return to present time

Ardenia glared down at Haldir, who had been pretending to sleep from within the bed, as a decoy. Haldir nearly cried aloud at the darkness that wavered within her eyes, eyes that were no longer green as a forest in one, and blue as the sea in the other. They were grey, not Haldir's stormy grey, capable of conveying a world of emotions, but dead, lifeless, full of cold fury. It was not Ardenia who he fought. She swung her blade out from his, before he leapt at her from the bed, desperate to disable her. She fought back, her short blade no match for his long sword, and was quickly disabled. "Ardenia! Listen to me. You must stop this! Throw of this madness!" Haldir bellowed, all the while trying to keep his sword between her and himself, knowing that he may not be able to get through to her. She threw herself at him, Haldir whipping his sword away at the last second, knowing he could not hurt her. She struggled to restrain him, but he had always been the stronger. He rolled a top of her, holding her wrists down.

"Ardenia. You must fight this. It is me my Broken One, it is Haldir. Hear me now. You called me your light within all darkness. You told me of your loves, as I told you of mine beneath the willows of Lorien." He saw some of the darkness fade for a second, before her eyes rolled back in to her head, and she fainted away completely, both from exhaustion and at the huge strain upon her body that fighting the curse had taken. He got up off of her. Lights in the room flared, and suddenly, he found himself staring squarely a t fiery figure, with hair the same shade as Ardenia's, but a presence that radiated evil.

"She will not wake now little lord. She sleeps now at my command. And I will not revive her, unless you stand aside, and put down your blade."

"I think not," spoke another voice from within the room, one full of cold commanding fury, but one that also spoke from a deep and abiding love, a love and need to protect his daughter. Legolas stood beside Thranduil, both of them aiming weapons at the figure. "Stand away from my sister now, before I let fly this arrow through your black heart!"

Malanion laughed. "You think your little weapons can defeat me? No steel made by man can touch me." Legolas let fly with a steel tipped arrow, only to have it fly away from him, diverted upon an invisible shield around Malanion, landing near the slumped form of Ardenia. Thranduil swung his blade in a mighty arc, only to have it crash against the shield in an explosion of sparks, never touching Malanion. He laughed, backing the three against the wall, an evil gleam within his eye. "Now, my little lordlings. O you acknowledge now that you cannot win? You cannot have her. She is mine! My sister, she is mine." Al three lords eyes widened in shock. Sister?

"Yes, she is my half sister. You used my mother like a piece of rubbish, then threw her aside for her sister. It will be naught but pleasurable to embed a blade through her heart. As it will be to do to you. Than I shall have Ardenia. Although…" he crept closer to them, all his attention upon them, and on nothing else. "I could take her before your eyes. No doubt that would make it all the more entreating before I kill you." He laughed, as in unison, all three threw themselves at the shield he had around him, determined to not let him lay a finger upon Ardenia, father and brother to protect her honour and spirit, husband to save her from that which had already been visited upon her so many times. They were glance off easily, Malanion having diverted all his power to the front of the shield to keep the three of them off.

"You still think to stop me!" he screamed, coming closer still, a dark blade appearing within his hand. "I am unstoppable now! No man can…" he stopped abruptly, and slumped backwards, as Ardenia's face appeared over his shoulder, he leant against her, as she pulled the broken wooden shaft of Legolas's arrow from his heart. "In the word of the great Lady Eowyn of the Riddermark, I am no man!" she threw him to the ground, and collapsed herself, the last of her strength spent. The three ran to catch her, but she fell past them all, in to a world ceaseless of time and space.

A/N: not finished yet! There's still Ardenia meeting her family, and Haldir and hers little reunion, and wondering just what Rumil and Orophin are doing all this time! It's only gonna get better. Ardenia has only seen Thranduil and Legolas, she doesn't know they are her family yet. so review away. please? lol