First Meeting
Chapter 2:Spiders
Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien. I'm writing this for fun, not money.
Aragorn paused briefly to bend down again and examine the path. The firm ground normally would have made it difficult to see footprints, but the four men he was following seemed to be making little effort to hide their tracks. They were either too arrogant or too inexperienced to disguise the evidence of their trail.
Aragorn had been following the outlaws through the forest for over an hour now. The forest was just as dark and gloomy as the rumours said, and he was eager to leave it. The criminals had gotten a good head start, but now he could hear the sound of their voices not far ahead and knew he was drawing close to them. Having been raised by elves and trained by rangers, Aragorn was skilled in moving silently. He did so now, quieting his steps and his breathing so that they were no louder than the sound of leaves rusting overhead.
Aragorn realised now did not know what his plan was once he caught the outlaws. All of the forest was under the rule of the Elvenking. Therefore, the Elvenking should be the one to judge the men. If he had been in Rivendell, he would have asked Lord Elrond to send elves to help him arrest the criminals for trespassing. However, as the Mirkwood elves had not yet arrested the men after they have lived in their forest for over a month, he assumed that they deemed the outlaws too far away from their homes to bother with. His next choice would be to take them back to the village that they had attacked to atone for their crimes, but that was easier said then done. The woman had made it clear that the villagers were too superstitious to set foot in the forest, and he could not escort the four men back there all by himself.
He was certain that he could defeat the men even though he was outnumbered. The fact that they had attacked a helpless woman to steal food made them cowards in Aragorn's mind. He doubted that any of them even knew how to fight. Also, they were unaware that they were being followed, giving him the element of surprise. Although he could most likely kill them with little effort, he did not wish to. He would prefer to subdue them and turn them over to the authorities. However, it seemed that he may not have a choice.
His thoughts were interrupted when the sound men's voices ahead of him turned into shouts. Without thinking, he sprinted forward. Peering through the trees he could see what had alarmed the men. They were surrounded by giant, black spiders.
When Elladan and Elrohir had first told him about giant spiders he had accused them of lying. The twins loved to pull pranks on all the inhabitants of Rivendell, and especially on the young, adopted human. The twins insisted that it was true, and eventually he had asked his tutor, Erestor, about it. Erestor had confirmed the twins' story, but calmed the young child's fears by telling him the spiders were far away and couldn't hurt him. Now, seeing the beasts in front of him for the first time, Aragorn's childish fear came back to him.
A sound of clicking noises came from behind him. He whirled around. Belatedly, he drew his sword. The first spider that came towards him was swiftly dispatched. Before he had time to feel any relief or happiness at his kill, two more spiders appeared. So it continued, that for every one he managed to kill, more came to take its place. The spiders were countless. There were hundreds of them, surrounding Aragorn and the other men like something out of a nightmare. As he had predicted, the other men were not fighters. Already, some of the spiders were wrapping two of them up in their webs. Aragorn felt despair begin to set in. As his sword cleaved through the body of another spider something heavy fell on him, knocking him to the ground. Looking over his shoulder he saw yet another of the black, hairy creatures. Before, he could maneuverer his sword in a position to kill it, the creature raised its head to sink its fangs into his neck. He gasped at the pain, which felt like someone sticking a red-hot knife in him.
Suddenly, he felt tired. All he wanted was to sleep. He fought to keep his eyes open, and was rewarded with the sight of an arrow with yellow fletchings burying itself into the spider's body.
'That's strange.' He thought as the world grew dim.
'None of the men had bows with them.'
He could resist the darkness no longer. His head fell to the ground and his body went limp.
Thanks for reading. Please review and tell me what you think.