A/N: I own the story Legolas tells, Taratoun and Mel. The rest belongs to Tolkien.

As for the questions asked in the reviews: 1) No, Mel isn't a nightelf, but a type of elf that's 99 my own invention. 2) Mel's past will be revealed in parts later on in the story. 3) Yes, Legolas has a pet spider. Sarn was originally named Taratoun, but a friend of mine mentioned that it sounded more like a spider, and thus, Legolas' pet was born. 4) Mel has nothing in common with dark elves from the Forgotten Realms (better known as Drow). Explanation for his looks will follow in a later chapter. 5) Taratoun is the size of a smaller dog. Seeing as the spiders in The Hobbit was trying to eat dwarves, I figured that Taratoun would probably live off a more variated diet consisting of mice and other small animals that might infest a woodland palace.

Returning to the story now…

Chapter 5: The Ogre in the Basement

The Hall of Feasting was filled to the point of bursting, though, Legolas concluded with mild amusement, there would probably have been room for many more people, had the elves not decided to dance as wildly as the rumours in Rivendell told they could. Even Arwen and Aragorn were out dancing, trying their best to keep up the fast pace that the musicians had set.

"Legolas? Will you tell us a story?" a small voice asked, and he felt a tug at his sleeve.

Looking down, the Mirkwood prince spotted seven of the younger children standing behind his chair, all watching him with wide eyes. He grinned, turning his chair so he could face them, and lifted the smaller of them onto his lap before he began his story. It was a fairly short one, one he remembered from his own childhood, of the ogre that was supposed to live in the wine-cellar, and constantly was searching the place for the taste of elf-children.

Needless to say, the seven children listened with eyes that grew wider and wider in amazement as the story progressed. Although the story bore no truth what so ever, it had existed for as long as Legolas could remember to keep children from venturing into the dungeons of the palace – anyone who did not know the tunnels well could easily get lost within the twisted maze they formed.

Mel, sitting next to Legolas, was listening as well with a faint smile, and effectively ignoring the three females who were trying, more or less subtly, to seduce the foreign-looking elf. The dark elf had even managed to prevent the women from getting any ideas about sitting down in his lap for attention by pulling Tarantoun up instead, scratching the spider while she was snuggling against his chest and making happy sounds.

Legolas spun an end to his story, telling the final warning that the ogre had so far eluded all attempts on capturing it, but it would still move close to the Hall during feasts, and go hunting for little elves who ventured too far into the cellars. Sensing the story had finished, the group of children dissolved, and some of them joined up with others, who were pestering Thranduil to make him play with them.

Rising to his feet, supported by his crutch, Legolas asked if one of the females would help him to get over to the other side of the dance floor, and thusly managed to lure the three giggling females away, giving his newest friend a short break from their attentions. Arwen and Aragorn were still attempting to keep up with the dancers, though they both had long since given up trying to learn the Mirkwood version, and instead had begun performing a Rivendell version of the same dance.

However, the females, on their crossing of the floor, were quickly offered a dance by more than one of the male elves on the floor – something that they, after a brief look at the wounded prince, accepted. Legolas chuckled, shaking his head lightly, and wondered briefly why it appeared that all unmarried elleth seemed to be hunting everything male and single, as long as the male in question was sufficiently interesting.

Looking back towards the Grand table, however, he found himself blinking in surprise, noticing that Mel's chair was empty, and that Tarantoun was gone was well. Looking around with a light frown, trying to spot his friend, he noticed three small figures silently making their way towards the open door that lead down to the Wine cellar. Had he not been looking for someone, he would never have noticed the children.

Sighing, he grabbed one of the nearby candles, prepared to go tell the children that they were simply not allowed to go into the cellars. Yet, he had only reached the first step leading into the darkness, when a blood-curling mix of a roar and a gurgle rolled through the hallway, shortly followed by a shrill scream from three children. Barely seconds later, Legolas was nearly knocked off his feet as three tiny, adventurous souls came fleeing back up the stairs, screaming about the ogre being after them.

Barely slowing to dodge the adult elf, the children continued out into the hall, crying for their mothers and screaming that they would never enter the cellar again, as long as people would keep the ogre from eating them.

Wondering if, perhaps, there had been some measure of truth in the old tales, though logic told it could not be so, Legolas continued, more carefully down the stairs, holding the candle high to see within the darkness of the cellar. Finely made barrels of wine stood here and there, side by side with row upon row of bottles, all neatly labelled and placed under just the right circumstances to allow the best maturing.

His eyes scanned the seemingly empty cellar, feeling a light twinge of panic swell within him as the flickering light from the candle reminded him of the Mines of Moria, and he wished Gimli had been visiting. The dwarf had always been better at sensing things in the darkness than he was…

Not a single sound betrayed what the children might have seen, nor could he see any shapes that could have resembled a living creature. Nor, he noticed with a light frown, did he see anything that could have made the horrifying sound he had heard.

All that alerted him was a single puff of air from his right, blowing out the candle he held. Immediately, the cellar was plunged into darkness, only lit by the very faint light that filtered down from the Hall through the still-open door. Alerted, Legolas dropped the candle and looked around, trying to see who or what had extinguished his source of light, when the sound of a heavy footstep made his blood freeze within his veins – it was far too heavy to have been made by any elf…

He spun around, ready to break into a mad dash towards the door leading back to the hall, when he found his way blocked by an impossible tall thing, hair like slithering snakes standing out to all sides, and the same blood-curling sound he had heard before issuing from it.

He gave a surprised yelp, being too shocked to cry out for aid, and took a single step back, nearly tripped over the foot of a shelf, and found himself almost hopping backwards. The monstrous thing took a few steps towards him, making a slow, hissing noise as it breathed, and Legolas back-pedalled, trying to find his voice so he could try out for help.

However, before he managed to get that far, he heard an odd sound make its way into the hissing, gurgling breath, and he could see the monster start shaking. Just as he wondered what was happening, the creature exploded into melodious laughter, bent down, and picked up his discarded candle. A single flame appeared, lighting the candle's wick, and the wood elf found merry, blue eyes twinkling at him from a dark face.

Tarantoun happily clicked her barbs together, making an amused sound from where she was seated on the dark elf's shoulders, effectively adding three feet to the elf's height.

"Leglas scaredycat!" Mel sniggered. "Afraid ogre eat him?"

Legolas huffed and stammered, unable to figure out if he should yell at the dark elf, break into laughter, or start planning a horrible revenge.

"Don't scare me like that!" he finally exclaimed, before clutching his stomach and giving in to the laughter that bubbled up within him.

Tarantoun made another happy sound, before stretching and raising her eight legs to form a halo around an imaginary head, and gave out a gurgling sound, that, now that Legolas knew its source, sounded sufficient comical coming from the giant spider that it only resulted in the wood elf to break into even greater sobs of laughter.

Yet, as the three emerged from the cellars again, they saw quite a group of elves had gathered, watching the entrance with wide eyes, as if they had expected an ogre to come out.

"What happened?" Thranduil demanded to know, looking from Legolas to Mel to Tarantoun, though the spider, of course, had no way of answering the question.

"Mel took on the role as ogre to scare the children from the cellar," the Mirkwood prince replied, fighting hard to keep a huge grin from crossing his face. "With Tarantoun acting as its head."

"Well, THAT explains why they were running away as if Sauron himself was after them," another elf muttered in a low voice. "Judging from the speed with which they were running over to their friends to warn them, I'd guess it'll take several years before anyone of them will even THINK about entering that cellar unbidden again…"

"Indeed," Thranduil agreed, thoughtfully scratching his chin. "Quite a successful way to keep them from entering…"

Immediately, the elves closest to him took a step away, all knowing that the sight of the King scratching his chin meant he was conjuring some form of plan that would put even the infamous sons of Elrond to shame. Legolas finally allowed his smile to show, knowing his father, when doing such, had not seen any harm in the joke, but instead was probably planning on how to convert it to be used in other places and with other people.

"I believe it will be difficult to continue the party now," one of the female maids said with a wry smile. "And once we finally get it into full swing again, the rest of the night will have passed. I think we ought to retire to bed, and maybe continue the feast tomorrow. It would also allow Prince Legolas the rest the Healers have prescribed."

Murmurs of agreement passed through the elves, and by shared agreement, they broke up and headed towards their respective rooms. Legolas happily accepted the supporting arm his father offered, and gave his goodnights to Mel, before moving towards his own rooms.