A/N: Hi again! Here is the new chapter (a little more plot development this time…)
Also, I know that Legolas went to settle in Ithilien after the Quest, but for the sake of this story he waits a little while before going (hey, quoting Thranduil, "A hundred years is a mere blink in the eyes of an elf". So ten years is like…something less than a blink! Yea!).
Chapter 2
The wide double doors to the Council room opened and the king and prince stood, looking professional and regal. All the lords stood up in respect to their king, who was wearing dark blue and purple robes and the crown he always wore at the beginning of the spring: the crown of green leaves and flowers. Their prince, at his right, was in a plainer, lighter blue tunic, but he too had a small wreath of flowers on his head, and it marked them as father and son.
The two walked to the head of the table, and Legolas watched his father for the signal to sit, which he made a moment later after the lords stood up once again, having bowed to the father and son.
When everyone was seated, Thranduil began the meeting.
"We are here to discuss the trade with the humans of Lake-town. It has come to my attention that they do not believe the trade to be fair. We need to decide on a response to their letter," he placed the scroll on the table and unrolled it, beginning to read it aloud.
Legolas was listening, and a possible course of action, which would probably be decided as the best plan after hours of arguing because that was what usually happened at these meetings, was forming in his mind.
THWACK.
What was that?
CRASH.
It was quite soft, and he looked around at the others at the table to see if they had heard it. His father was still reading, and the twelve lords and ladies were listening intently, leaning in to hear him more clearly. He was the only one who appeared to hear the commotion behind the door.
SHING.
He knew that sound! His body tensed. A cry came from outside the door, and Thranduil fell silent, looking up with the 'who would dare disturb me right now I am busy I am their king make them go away' look on his face.
The door burst open.
And standing there were three giant, glaring black spiders.
Legolas leaped up, grabbing his bow from his back instinctively and shooting three arrows towards them in the blink of an eye. His father had not thought to bring any weapons, and neither had any of the lords or ladies, because of the relative peace that had followed the War of the Ring. Though there were still spiders, they had diminished greatly, and only a quarter of what once was were left. Legolas still brought his around, out of habit, and it was lucky that he did.
"Get behind me!" he screamed at the lords, ladies, and his father, who immediately scrambled into the corner of the room, the lords tripping over their robes and the ladies over their long dresses. He loosed more arrows, and the spiders jumped out of the way, screeching in their ugly voices.
The spider in the middle appeared to be the leader, and it was larger than the others. It was not quite as fast, but it was so much bigger that it was hardly a disadvantage. It was at least four times as tall and wide as them, and reached three quarters of the way to the tall ceiling in the room.
It had been so long since the spiders first came into the wood that the elves had even learned the basics of their language, as harsh and unlike their own as it was. They never spoke in it because they did not have the ability, but anyone who wanted to join a patrol had to learn the sounds so that they knew the basic commands the spiders would call to each other.
The spider made a series of hisses and clicks and screeches that Legolas's mind translated easily for him from all of the times he had fought against spiders before.
"Oh my, what do we have here? Prince of the elves!"
Legolas growled lowly. How the heck had those things even got in there?
A noise from behind him interrupted his thoughts, and he spun around, drawing his knives and feeling them dig into spider flesh. One of the smaller spiders, which had taken advantage of his distraction while he listened to the large one, had come up behind him.
The smaller spiders were up to about his chest, and their bite was not as poisonous because they were a different species. They were also more hairy, and they had less of an armor-like skin, so they were much easier to kill.
He heard the other one coming, and he stuck out his arm, holding one of the blades, and the spider did not have time to stop. It screamed as the blade went into its abdomen.
Legolas took his other blade and stabbed it in the second spider's head, and it screamed one last time before going limp and falling to the ground. Wrenching his blade from the spider, Legolas saw the large one standing, watching his every move as if evaluating him.
The first of the small spiders leaped onto him, knocking him over. They rolled a few feet, and Legolas kept one hand on its head, trying to keep its squirming pincers away from his body. He slashed blindly with his other hand, hacking at the spider's skin.
The spider squealed, jumping away from Legolas and stumbling as one of its legs gushed blood. Legolas stabbed it with his blades, one in each of the two nearest eyes, and it fell dead instantly.
He turned briefly to the nobles and his father. The lords and ladies were looking at him, wide-eyed. They had always tried to make good decisions for the kingdom and to seem sympathetic for warriors when they had never truly seen battle. And now they were watching the best of the best fight against spiders, and it put an entirely new perspective on what was really on the line every time they made a decision.
Legolas looked up at the large spider, who was still staring at him, large red eyes unblinking.
"You are quite skilled, Prince. But have you ever faced one as powerful as me?"
"Yes," Legolas said, and the lords all looked confused. Thranduil, who understood the spider's language, was cocking his head as he listened, trying to understand the conversation when it had been years since he had heard the language the spider was using.
"But with a group, I assume."
Legolas gave a wicked smile as he began to charge the spider.
"Nah."
Before the spider had time to react, he was halfway up one of its front legs. It shook the limb wildly, but he clung on, not bothering to slice at the armor-like skin he knew he could not break.
"Stupid elf! I will show you who is in charge around here!"
The spider finally managed to fling him off, and Legolas felt the sensation of flying for one moment before his back collided with the wall and the breath left his lungs. Falling onto his side, he tried to suck in air, but all he could do was wait until his lungs began to work again.
The spider advanced.
Legolas gasped in air, finally able to breathe again the minute before the spider descended upon him. He did not have enough time to stand before an excruciating pain came from his stomach, which grew worse. The spider had pierced his side, and it was now adding its poisonous blood to the wound. The dark blood ran from the spider's mouth from where it had bitten itself to bring it forth, and it gushed onto the wound, making it burn terribly. He could not help the scream that was torn from his mouth.
"LEGOLAS!" Thranduil screamed, beginning to run towards his son. A few of the lords held him back, and he struggled desperately against them.
The pain diminished considerably as Legolas was filled with red-hot adrenaline and anger.
He immediately rolled out of harm's way as the spider attempted to bite him again. He grabbed one of his knives from where they had landed when he fell to the ground. The other was about thirty feet away in one direction, and his bow was thirty feet in the other.
Deciding to go for his bow, Legolas sprinted toward the center of the room where his main weapon had been lying since he dropped it when fighting the smaller spiders. The feeling of the wood of the bow of Galadriel in his hands made his heart surge with the feeling of power. Drawing an arrow, he aimed for the spider's many eyes, and he continued to shoot relentlessly.
All of the arrows proved useless, however, when the spider moved, and the shower of arrows embedded themselves in the wall.
"RHAICH!" Legolas yelled in his frustration, not caring how un-princely he sounded or looked, swearing with his bloody abdomen and a ferocious snarl on his face.
He charged again at the spider, going for the joint between two of the plate like pieces at the spider's knee. He felt the knife go deep, and the spider howled, dropping to the ground and pinning him down with two of its legs, looking into its eyes.
"The Sea tortures you," the spider said in its tongue, recognizing the look of sadness in his eyes that had settled there since he had first heard the gulls from other elves it had fought. Legolas had been making sure to hide it since then, but he had other things on his mind at the moment. It appeared to be laughing. "You are losing a battle with yourself! How weak and pathetic you are!"
"Shut up!" Legolas yelled, wrenching his arm from the spiders grasp and plunging his blade into the spider's eye. It screamed, and he drew it out again, stabbing over and over at all of the glowing eyes. The spider's blood poured out from its eyes all over him, mingling with his own and making his wound burn furiously. He ignored the pain, content with jabbing his blade in each of the eyes as many times as it took to kill the beast.
With one final scream, long and piercing, the spider fell dead. Legolas barely managed to scramble out from under it before it collapsed onto the ground limply.
The lords and ladies were gaping at the horrors of war and fighting that they had never witnessed before, and they finally let go of Thranduil, who ran toward his son.
Legolas felt the strength that came with the adrenaline leave his body abruptly, and he fell forward. Thranduil arrived just in time to catch him.
"Legolas!" he cried desperately, but Legolas barely heard him, and blackness began to creep into the edges of his vision.
"Ion-nin!...Stay…with…me…"
The world faded to black.
A/N: Cliffhanger! And lots more action! I hope you all liked.
Sorry for the slow update. I have had midterms this week.
Please review!