Hey guys! Enjoy this new chapter! :)

Yes yes yes, I know my schedule is inconsistent *sighs*. Still trying to find a day that works...

But! I have good news! We're going to be watching The Hobbit with our friends soon (they've never watched it before; I know, it's a crime) and hopefully they'll like Leggy - I mean Legolas ;) - as much as I do!

Chapter Four

Rîn urged herself to run faster, going as fast as she could without being loud. She had been alerted that the dwarves were in the Mirkwood forests, and she, Tauriel, Legolas, and a few other elves were sent to capture them.

She didn't know how many dwarves there were, and she was a little on edge. Would they be able to capture them all? Or would the dwarves, though smaller than Rîn and her companions, overtake them by sheer force of their numbers?

She didn't have time to think about it, because before she knew what was happening, she was slashing out at spiders. We must be nearing the dwarves, Rîn thought to herself as she sliced the legs off a spider charging her and left it to Tauriel, who was right behind her.

"Dwalin! Kill it!" she heard from not too far off. The elves were too engaged to run towards it at the moment, but the shout quickened their pace and they quickly dispatched the remaining enemies. As they began to make their way towards the dwarves, not one elf spoke; there was no time for conversing.

They had soon reached the dwarves, and Legolas gave a quiet command in Elvish for Rîn and Tauriel to go one way, another pair of elves to go another, and so on. He planned to surround the intruders, Rîn knew.

Rîn and Tauriel had to slash their way through spiders as they went, which slowed their pace considerably. When they had finally killed all the spiders in view, they heard a scream from not too far off, paired with sounds of a spider viciously attacking something.

They wordlessly ran towards it, finding a brunet dwarf on the ground, assailed by a larger-than-normal spider. "Go around the back," Tauriel told Rîn in elvish, and the latter complied, sneaking behind the spider and drawing her weapon. The monster was dragging the brunet by his leg, and Rîn hurled a knife at the creature. It moved at the last minute, and the knife only severed the creature's leg.

At that moment, Tauriel jumped down from a tree and absorbed the impact of hitting the ground in a graceful roll, jumping up and jabbing her sword into the head of the spider in front of her. She quickly killed the spider looming behind her, and turned to shoot the spider dragging the dwarf. She didn't notice the evil presence sneaking up behind her, and Rîn grabbed her bow and knocked an arrow to it, quickly firing it and slaying the beast.

Another spider was already rushing towards the brunet, and he whirled around to Tauriel. "Throw me your dagger!" he cried. "Quick!"

Tauriel smiled, still working on killing spiders. "If you think I'm giving you a weapon, dwarf..." she said, turning to face him after eliminating all the threats near her as Rîn still battled with her own foes. "...then you're mistaken." She hurled the dagger the dwarf had asked for, and it hit the spider dead center, killing it instantly.

When the two elves got back to the rest of the elves with their prisoner, the other intruders were being searched. To Rîn's relief, there were only thirteen dwarves in all, and the situation seemed to be perfectly under control. Rîn searched the brunet dwarf quickly, and then she grabbed his shirt, hauling him to where the rest of the prisoners were.

Before she got there, a blond dwarf ran up. "Kili!" he cried, embracing Kili, who Rîn guessed was his brother or something of that ilk. "What happened?"

Rîn didn't stay to hear Kili's explanation. She passed an elf, and he stopped her, handing her a blade. "Give this to Legolas," he said in elvish. Rîn didn't ask any questions, and she found Legolas talking to Tauriel (of course he was). She politely interrupted to hand Legolas the sword.

"Thank you," he said. He looked down at it. "This is an ancient elvish blade," he said in elvish so the dwarves couldn't understand, holding it up and running his hand along the flat of the blade. "Forged by my kin."

"Where did you get this?" he asked in English, lowering the blade until it was threatening the leading dwarf.

"It was given to me."

The elf prince's eyebrows raised slightly, and he pushed the blade closer to the dwarf. "You are not only a thief, but a liar as well."

The dwarf's contemptuous glare intensified, but Legolas ignored it. "Take them!" he called angrily, and Rîn grabbed the dwarf closest to her and began to march him off.

Legolas walked in the rear of the party, following the prisoners across the bridge leading to Mirkwood, holding the sword taken from Oakenshield. "Close the gate," he commanded, and just as he said it, he turned around. He felt something; a presence. He scanned the woods in front of him closely, but couldn't see anything.

After a few moments of consideration, he turned back around and walked inside the doors just as they closed.

Legolas shoved Oakenshield into his cell, and the dwarf shouted curses at him. "Elf-pup," he growled, among his foul language. Legolas ignored him, grabbing the blond dwarf being led in and shoving him into a cell next to his brother.

"Aren't you going to search me?" the brunet asked as Tauriel pushed him into his cell. "I could have anything down my trousers."

Legolas could envision Tauriel's expression. "Or nothing," she said, just as Legolas had pictured it.

They finished putting all the dwarves in their separate cells, and Legolas caught Tauriel looking at the brunet dwarf long after she had put him in his cell. "He's quite tall for a dwarf," she said to herself. She caught Legolas looking, and quickly and nervously followed it with "Do you not think?"

Legolas shook his head. "Taller than some, but no less ugly."

Tauriel nervously nodded, walking away without looking back.

"My lord." Rîn walked up. "I've heard the dwarves talking; they say there was a hobbit with them."

"He was most likely lost or slain in the attack," Legolas answered. Rîn nodded, and the elves all left the prisons, shutting and barring the doors behind them.

Thank you guys so much for reading this! Please (PLEASEEE) leave a review! I hope you enjoyed it; I'd be open to constructive criticisms!