AN: I would like to thank those of you that reviewed the last chapter. Thank you all! This is my gift to yall... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Chapter 2

Raindul gathered up his best soldiers and then headed out into the forest. Once they made it out to the other side of the gates, Raindul split his force into two separate groups. Each group consisted of about ten elves, including the captain of each group. Hopefully, thought Raindul, we won't need more than that.

"We are to head out and exterminate any and all spiders and orcs that we encounter. If we are lucky, we might run across their lair and we can finish them off for good." the elves cheered at the thought of having the forest freed of the darkness that was there.

Raindul quickly gave out orders and said to report back in two hours, incase one of the two groups traveled a little further then they had to. "You have your orders. Now, lets see if we can locate the spiders so that we can roam our forest without fear of being attacked." Raindul, along with his half of the warriors, slowly made their way along one of the paths in search of any evil forces that have ventured too close to the elven realm.

They decided to travel a little off the main road, seeing that if there were any spiders around, they would most likely not be found traveling on the main road.

"Make sure that you don't lose sight of the road incase anything should go amiss. We don't want to be caught out here as if we were lost." This statement brought small chuckles from the group. The thought of getting lost in their own woods was quite silly.

Raindul and his troops had covered pretty much the whole path without running into to much trouble. They did run into a group of about orcs, and even if it was a number a little more then average, they were still easily killed. Other then that, they haven't ran into anything.

"Captain!" One of the elves that was in the back made his way to the front so that he may be able to speak. "Captain, our two hours are almost up. I suggest we begin heading back."

Raindul looked up to see the position of the sun, which wasn't very easy, seeing as the tree tops were very think so that sunlight rarely made its may into the forest. We he finally found it, he realized that the soldier was right. Sure enough, the position showed that their time was almost up.

"Very well." He turned to face the rest of his patrol. "We head back now. The others are probably headed back as well."

They haven't traveled twenty feet when the trees began to cry out their warning that danger was near. The group of elves pulled out their bows and some pulled their swords and quickly took position. Long years of battling taught them how to take position as quickly as possible. No sooner had they taken their position that spiders, dozens of them, began to spew out of the surrounding forest.

When the spiders got close enough, Raindul let out the command to attack. "Fire at will! Don't leave any of them standing!"

The archers let their arrows fly and immediately reloaded, took aim, and fired. They killed many, but for every one they killed, two seemed to take its place. Soon the spiders got to close and the archers were forced to put down their bows and take up their swords. And just like the arrows, for every one they killed, two took its place. It wasn't long before the cries of a wounded elf joined those of the dying spiders.

Raindul was facing about five of the disgusting things. Luckily for him, he was an expert fighter and managed to take out three of them without problem. The other two kept their distance, so he was able to sneak a peak to see the other soldiers from the corner of his eye.

The others were doing well and to his relief, no more spiders were spilling out of the woods.

A screech behind him made him turn around and he raised his sword just in time to stop the spiders fangs from piercing his skin. The other spider, seeing that the elf was too busy with his partner, charged at Raindul from behind and succeeded in tackling the elf to the ground.

Raindul hit the ground with a thud and felt pain race up from his right side. Looking down, he saw the ever growing red stain on his tunic. Somehow, he managed to land and pierce himself with his own weapon. He silently let a few colorful curses in elvish before he remembered about the danger he was in. He reached out for his weapon and managed to grab he hilt before he was face-to-face with one of the spiders he was facing.

Time seemed to slow down for him as he watched the spider rush him. He could almost feel the fangs digging into his skin, the poison in his veins. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see the face of the spider, and waited for the strike.

It never came.

Instead, he felt something flash by his head, then the sound of a spider screeching in pain rang in his sensitive ears. Then, beside the nosie coming from the other elves and spiders, quiet.

He opened one of his eyes and looked around. The other spider that he was facing was on the ground, not moving. It was obviously dead. Then he turned his attention to the spider that was going to strike him. It too was lying on the ground, dead. There was also an arrow sticking out of its head.

Looking around, he notice that the rest of his team were finishing of the few spiders that were left. Most of them were wounded, but as far as he could tell, they haven't been too injured. A couple teamed up against the last remaining spider and, forming a circle around it, the creature was brought down in no time.

One of the elves saw Raindul on the ground and quickly ran over. "Captain! Captain, are you alright? Did you get stung?"

Raindul waved one of his hands in a dismissive gesture. "No, I'm quite fine. Only a minor injury. Nothing to serious. How about the others? Are they well?"

The elf looked over at the others. "We lost four of our numbers," Raindul swore at that, "but other then that, no one was injured too badly."

The elf extended a hand and helped Raindul up onto his feet. "I believe that we have found our group of spiders." Raindul looked up, trying to locate the sun, when a slight movement to his right made him turn in that direction.

There were many shadows in that area, and anything could be hiding there. He kept his eyes and ears open, hoping to hear or see anything, but he heard nothing, saw nothing. He was just about to walk over and check himself when a shout from one of the elves demanded his attention.

"Captain, take a look at this." One of the elves walked over, holding an arrow in each hand.

Raindul took one and his eyes widen. The arrow wasn't one of theirs. In fact, it wasn't even a Mirkwood arrow! The arrows of Mirkwood were made of wood, like all arrows, but let the natural color of the wood show. Rivendell arrows were painted a silver color, and has little swirl designs on them. Arrows from Lothlorien were painted with a light gold hue. The arrow that Raindul was holding was gold.

"We found it embedded in the head of one of the spiders. Another spider had an arrow from Rivendell stuck in its head." The elf looked around and whispered so quietly Raindul almost didn't hear. "Captain? You don't think that there are other elves wandering the woods, do you?"

Raindul looked at the elf standing next to him, then back to the arrow in his hand. "I'm not so sure. I don't think that an elf from another realm would come sneaking into the woods when they know of the dangers." Looking around as if it might help, Raindul let out a sigh and handed the arrow back. "Keep the arrow. We must show this to the king. Hopefully he will know what to make of it." He turned to the rest and raised his voice so he could be heard more clearly. "We head back now."

After gathering their weapons, the elves of Mirkwood made their way back to the kingdom. Unknown to them, they were being watched from a tree not to far away.

Legolas made sure that the elves were far away before he jumped down from the tree he was hiding in. He had heard everything that was said and was close enough that he heard what the captain had said to the elf holding his arrows.

Legolas had been sneaking around the forest for awhile and had decided that there wasn't anything to do when he heard the sound of battle a little distance ahead. He moved through the trees without making a sound, even though he was going at a fast rate. When he was close enough to see the battle, he searched around for a good tree to shoot from.

He had found a good branch when he saw he captain get attacked from behind. Without wasting any more time, he loaded his bow and let his arrow fly. His shoot, like all of them, was true and he killed the spider in one hit. He then targeted the one behind the elf and took it down as well.

After the elves finished off their attackers, Legolas was tempted to make an appearance. That idea was canceled when he was almost spotted and when he heard what the elf said. So, he stayed in the tree until they left.

He quickly made it to the border without any problem and began to wander around the open fields. He has done this many times in the past and was familiar with all the land and most of the villages that could be found.

He wondered what they will make of his arrows. Would they travel to Rivendell and Lothlorien to ask questions? Well, it wasn't his problem anymore. He could always get new ones.

He never stole any of the weapons that he carried. Some of them came form groups of men and elves that he came across and helped. They were gifts to him.

Most of them, however, came from the dead. Every know and then, he would come across and area were a mini battle was fought. Sense the survivors have long left, he would bury the bodies and pray for their souls. He would then fill his quiver with arrows, that's all he ever took, and thank them for what he took.

That was also the way he got his clothes, except he took clothes form the bags they brought if they were dead. He would never take clothes off a dead man. It was against everything he believed.

Right now, Legolas was enjoying the sun on his face and the wind in his hair. He really didn't know were he was going, nor did he care. He would just let his feet take him wherever they led him.

After almost a week of walking around, Legolas found himself just outside the border of another elven realm.

Rivendell. He remembered this place. He had traveled here years ago with a man, couldn't remember his name, but didn't walk up to the gates. He has never been inside any of the realms, humans or elven, just in their borders.

Perhaps, he thought, with a sudden urge of excitement, something will happen on this visit. One could only hope. With that though, he walked into the borders of Rivendell.

Tbc..

I'm going to try and get the next chapter up as fast as I can. In the next chapter Legolas meets Estel and the twins!