Part Twenty-Seven

Legolas Greenleaf was undeniably happy. In fact, he had never been so happy in his life. He lay tangled with Haldir on the forest floor. His body ached, but the elf of Lórien had shown him great pleasure. Legolas could not imagine that it would have been like this with Silindë or Saelbeth or anyone else.

He was pretty sure he was falling in love. When he looked into Haldir's icy blue eyes, he was sure that the other elf felt the same. He hoped that in his naivete about the ways of love he was not mistaken.

"We should get back to the camp, my Prince," Haldir whispered. He licked Legolas' ear and Legolas shivered. He sighed inwardly, knowing their brief idyll was at an end, at least for now.

"Very well, my elf of the Galadhrim," he replied, kissing Haldir's soft lips gently before getting up to look for his clothing.

They dressed quickly. Haldir looked thoughtfully at Legolas for a moment. "Perhaps we truly should do a quick patrol around the campsite before we head back," he suggested. Legolas nodded his agreement.

"We should check the far side, too… in case Father and Lord Elrond were doing as we were and not, ah, patrolling."

Haldir shook his head, smiling grimly. Quickly they scoured the wood in this area, but they had done a fine job clearing out the spiders and there seemed to be no sign of a disturbance. They circled the camp silently.

"There was a web in this area," Haldir recalled. As they drew nearer, they heard voices. Haldir put out a hand to hold Legolas back and they stopped to listen.

"By the Valar, Elrond! Hold still."

"I am holding as still as possible, Thranduil. You are the one bouncing us around."

"My lords, I will not be able to free you if you do not stop moving. I should hate to slip and harm one of you."

"If you do not stop gloating, Glorfindel, you will be very sorry when you have cut me loose. Now hurry up and do it."

"He is not gloating, Thranduil. Surely you do not wish to lose a hand!"

"May I ask how the two of you became entangled in this web in the first place?"

"No!" roared both Thranduil and Elrond at once.

"I think it is fairly obvious," said Legolas, strolling forward. Haldir followed him. The Prince had to mask a smile when he saw that his father was naked from the waist down, his modesty protected only by the fact that Lord Elrond was bound face to face with him. Their hands were above their heads and they dangled precariously from the bottom of the spider web.

The diminutive Lord Glorfindel was attempting to sever the web with his sword, but the pair of kings were twisting and bouncing with the motion and he was having trouble reaching it without slicing into one of them.

"Perhaps I should offer my assistance," said Haldir, who was taller than the rest of them.

"Legolas!" Thranduil snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"Patrolling the area around the campsite," said Legolas, snickering more loudly now. "Clearly you needed someone to do it, as you are just… hanging around."

"Very funny," Thranduil groused. "Do you know that you have leaves in your hair?"

Legolas ran a hand over his hair and smoothed it down, coming away with a handful of leaves. He grinned at his father. "So I do. Haldir, you should have told me!"

Haldir was attempting to cut the spider web, but apparently was not doing much better than Glorfindel. He grunted. "I thought they were becoming," he said. "Lord Glorfindel, I shall have to lift you."

"How did you get leaves in your hair, Legolas?" Elrond asked.

"How did you get stuck in the spider web, Lord Elrond?" Legolas replied lightly.

"Do not be cheeky, Legolas," said Thranduil.

"You are looking pretty cheeky yourself at the moment, Father. In fact, I can see both of your cheeks."

"That is enough," said Thranduil, but he chuckled. Elrond sighed impatiently.

"Glorfindel--"

"A bit higher, please, Haldir."

"This is as far as I can lift you."

"I nearly have it."

"Be careful!"

"Haldir!" Legolas cried, looking up into the dark trees. "Above you!"

A large spider was lowering itself towards the elves rapidly. Legolas notched an arrow and fired. It went into the creature's head, causing it to shriek. Green blood spattered over Thranduil and Elrond. Glorfindel swiped upwards with the sword and cut off one large, furry leg, which flew off and landed at the ground near Legolas' feet, still twitching. The Prince did not dare take another shot for fear of hitting Glorfindel.

Haldir could not hold Glorfindel any longer and stumbled backwards. He managed to set the other elf down, and Legolas took another shot at the spider. This time it fell to the ground and both Haldir and Glorfindel put their swords to it until they were sure it was dead.

"That thing could have killed us, Elrond," Thranduil snarled.

"I am well aware of that. If you had held still while I was… ah, that is, it is your fault I became ensnared."

"If I recall correctly, you were the one who stuck me up here."

"Tell me you did not enjoy it, Thranduil."

"I did not enjoy it when you ensnared yourself as well."

"That was an accident," Elrond ground out.

Seeing that the pair of them would argue all night if something was not done quickly, and that Haldir and Glorfindel were now watching half in amusement and half in helplessness, Legolas took aim and fired an arrow through the bottom line of the web. It severed cleanly and the two kings fell to the forest floor. Glorfindel went immediately to help them disentangle the rest of the web.

"Good shot," said Haldir, sounding impressed. "No one else would have dared."

Elrond stood up, massaging his now web-free wrists and looked gratefully at Legolas. "Thank you, Prince Legolas. I hesitate to say if you are daring or foolish."

"The lad is anything but foolish," said Thranduil. "Son, will you hand me my leggings?" Thranduil dressed himself and retied his tunic. "I trust we need not say anything to the others about this incident."

"I certainly have no wish to be the subject of gossip," said Elrond sourly, but then he looked at Thranduil more tenderly. "Are you all right?"

"I am fine."

Elrond nodded, then looked back down at the dead spider. He searched the pockets of his robes, then drew forth a small vial. He bent over the spider and filled it with a small amount of venom. "This is one task I am glad to have out of the way," he said.

Haldir slipped up next to Legolas and looked at him seriously. "You saved all of our lives, my Prince."

Legolas simply nodded. It was not anything that any of the rest of them would not have done.