Taren opened his mouth, but no scream would come out. He felt terror consume every muscle of his body. The large pincers were lowering ever closer toward his chest. A dark, thick liquid was being secreted from them oozing down on to Taren's shirt and hair.

Suddenly, he felt himself become animated again. He rolled over and instinctively tried to reach the power, but he was blocked forever by that accursed wrist band. Panic flooded his mind. He had been raised to rely on his Magic to get him out of horrible situations, and now he would have to rely on his own limited strength. He looked wildly around, looking for some object that he could use as a weapon. All he could see were tree limbs. Maybe he could use one of those.

Taren scrambled to his feet. The spider barely missed his right leg in an attempt to bite him. He dove and grabbed a branch that he thought was reasonable for him to lift. Taren hefted it up and brought it up to meet the pincers of the spider. The branch broke with very little effort on the part of the monster. Panic grabbed him again.

This is hardly a painless way to die. The thought flashed through him and made him wish hard for training. He stumbled backwards, trying to get away from the beast. Pain. That would be his last feeling in life.

He tried to run, but with every step he took, the young man seemed to stumble over the debris of the forest. He fell onto his stomach and felt pain sear his leg. Taren tried desperately to move it, but it would no longer obey his instructions. Then, a far worse pain enveloped his senses. The pincers had burrowed into the soft skin on his back. Taren felt warm liquid begin to ooze down his back and soak his shirt, and then, nothing. His world fogged over and everything became numb.

0000OOOO0000

"What was that?" Rion asked his companions softly.

"It sounds like a spider has found something it wants to play with," came the answer from the youngest of the hunters, Celeg.

"Well that 'something' as you call it sounds like a person," Rion replied darkly.

"There is no reason for anyone but us to be this deep into the forest, therefore, I am content to leave whatever it is, person or not, to deal with the spider on it's own. I see absolutely no reason for us to go endangering ourselves for the sake of a deer, rabbit or any other creature!" Celeg snarled back.

"Be still, Celeg. I think that Rion is correct. That sounds like a human trying to avoid being killed by one of our spiders. It is not right to allow someone to die for no better reason than we don't want to help," the eldest of the party said softly. He peered through the forest with his dark eyes. He could not see very far with the trees blocking his way. "Tithen, how many torches did we bring?"

"Five, Cadhrawl, one for each, like we normally do," the addressed replied.

"Alright, so we will light the torches and attack, or am I wrong in my assumption of your plan?" the tallest of the elves asked Cadhrawl.

"That is the technique that has always worked before; there is not a safer one that I am aware, so yes, Narufinnel, you are correct in your reading of my plan."

They five hunters lit their torches and slipped through the trees. Rion felt uneasy when the sound of the fight grew still. There were only two reasons for that, and only one seemed likely: That whatever was being tormented was no longer alive, that there was no longer anything to rescue. He looked towards his elder brother, Cadhrawl, to try to read his feelings on this, but his face was void of emotion. Looking ahead, Rion could now make out the large spider leaning over the still form of a body.

"Alright," came the hissed order, "run forward and brandish your torches. If you have to, shoot at it, but try not to. That will make it angry, and then it will be even harder to deal with. The light should scare it off enough."

"Yes, sir," Celeg hissed moodily.

The five elves ran at the spider yelling and brandishing their torches. Rion waved his torch and made as much noise as he could bear. The spider turned as fast as its large bulk would allow and shrieked with terror at the light that the elves bore. It reared up on its back legs and tried to fend off the attacks. It scurried backwards and ran into a tree. With another shriek, it turned away and ran off into the dense forest.

"Narufinnel," Cadhrawl said urgently to his companion, "Aren't healing and health issues your specialty?"

Wordlessly, the tall elf slid over to where the injured person was lying. The being was wrapped in a thick web and when Narufinnel un-wrapped his head, they could see that he was deathly white and expression if the utmost panic was written on his face.

"Is he dead?" Rion asked softly.

"No, the spider just used its venom to numb him. Didn't you pay attention when you were being taught? What are they teaching you now? How to stare at nothing?" Tithen said sarcastically.

"Now isn't the time, Narufinnel, is the captive going to be alright?" Cadhrawl quarried.

"Yes, but I think a better question would be "What is he."

"What do you mean?" Tithen asked sharply.

"I mean this fellow is way too small to be a human, but now that I have him unwrapped, it is apparent that he is not a Hobbit either. He is beardless as well, so not a dwarf."

"Hmmm, well we will ask him when he is conscious again. Right now, I think we need to get him to a more hospitable region of the forest," Cadhrawl said with an extremely aggressive air, pushing his dark hair back from his face. This was a habit that Rion knew all to well as the sign that Cadhrawl was nervous and wanted to get away from a situation.

The five elves quickly arranged themselves in a formation that was as protective as possible. Cadhrawl went first, caring his torch and knife. In the middle, Narufinnel carried the still form of the injured person. Rion and Celeg went to either side of him, still carrying torches, defending their friend if anything should decide to dare the light. Lastly Tithen came, looking warily around for the spider and holding his torch. They did not have far to go; it was not far back to the home of the wood elves.

Authors note: The elfish names I did my best with. I used a name generator for them as I didn't have a whole lot to go on.