'Sup, readers! Here's chapter four, more excitement! Sorry it took me a bit to write this.
Dear RascalKat: in response, I must say that I was thinking of Caesar Flickerman in the Hunger Games while writing last chapter. Katniss's hallucinations did sort of encourage it.
Well, I hope you like! Please tell me if you do!
x815
-Dweebo R.
Fili paced his cell impatiently. He reckoned it was evening by now, when the sun was nearing its setting time. Thorin still wasn't back from wherever the Elves had taken him . . . Fili was deeply concerned by this. They wouldn't kill him. They wouldn't.
Thorin, Kili, and Bilbo missing.
He paced, sat down on the cold stone floor, then got up and paced again. He hated this. Hated it. Being stuck in a prison and unable to help. Fear gripped his heart like a fist, and he was beginning to feel the weight of all his troubles. How could everything be so terribly wrong?
Fili put his hands on the bars of his cell door. The corridors were empty except for the occasional Elf guard that would come by to check on the captives. Most of the other Dwarves were sleeping, their snores so loud that they almost drowned out the soft trickling sound of the nearby waterfall. He wished he could sleep like them. He was much too restless at the moment.
He stepped away from the bars and shuffled around some more.
"I can hear you pacing, lad," said Dwalin, who was in the cell next to Fili's. "For the love of Durin, get some sleep."
Fili was too distressed to answer.
"I know Kili's missing. I'm not a fool."
Fili's shoulders drooped. "He's probably dead."
"You doubt his skills, then?" Dwalin replied. "I think he's got more fight in him than you give him credit for."
"He's a dimwit."
"He's a warrior, too."
Fili knew the old Dwarf was trying to comfort him. He didn't want comfort.
"Just get some rest, lad."
Fili opened his mouth to make a sharp retort, but the sound of footsteps coming down the passage stopped him. He leaned against the cell door, craning his neck.
Relief flooded him when he saw who it was. "Thorin!" he exclaimed.
Thorin was being escorted down the narrow pathway by two Elf guards. One took him by the arm and tossed him into one of the last available cells, jangling the keys tauntingly as they left. Fili wanted to ask what had happened, but he was too far away.
Murmuring arose from the other Dwarves. They were relieved that Thorin was back, but their problems were long from being solved. They had all noticed the absence of Kili, including Thorin himself. And unless Bilbo had managed to elude the spiders and sneak his way into the Elven halls, the likeliness of escaping and continuing their journey was slim at best.
In short, they were still doomed for the time being.
Fili didn't realize this. He felt more confident with his uncle around. Thorin always had a plan, didn't he? An opportunity to escape would probably show up sooner or later, and maybe the Hobbit would have part to play. Fili felt his adrenaline pumping as he began to form an imaginary plan in his head. If they escaped, they could find the spider's lair and look for Kili. The Elves would be fools if they were so intent on capturing the Dwarves that they felt the need to follow them into the spider's lair. What would their objective be, anyway?
The halls darkened as the sun set in the twilight sky. Fili sat against the stone wall and finally gave into sleep.
The moon light was bright enough to shine through the forest's canopy and upon the leave-covered ground, turning it a soft silvery color. Tauriel squatted down and touched the spider tracks that lay before her. The nest was near. She had hardly ever gone this far into the lair, but something had to be done; the spiders were getting bolder with each passing day. She feared that some of them had come from Dol Guldur, the old abandoned fortress that now lay in ruins. But that was beyond the borders of the Greenwood, and Lord Thranduil had forbidden it.
She ran silently, thinking about Dwarves. She assumed they had been travelling along the Elven Road, but they would have had to have gotten absurdly lost to have winded up in the spider's lair. Sometimes she wondered if they really had brains in those thick skulls of theirs.
Tauriel stopped as she sensed the presence of someone else behind her. She touched the hilt of her sword, ready to jump into a fight, but a familiar voice caught her off guard. "Tauriel?"
She spun around and relaxed her shoulders. "Legolas."
He had his bow and knives, like he had the same idea in mind. He strode forward. "You are missing the feast."
"So are you," she replied, eyeing him with a faint smile on her lips. "Have you come to hunt spiders as well?"
"Something of that sort," he answered with a playful tone, but his eyes betrayed him. There was another thing that was bothering him.
Tauriel frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." His voice was terse.
She decided not to push it any farther; clearly he wasn't willing to tell her what was on his mind. Changing the subject, she asked, "How long do you think the feast will last?"
He grinned. "All night, at the very least. My father will expect no less."
She laughed out loud. Then, remembering the reason she was out here, she turned and looked beyond the trees. "If we are to reach the spiders, we should hurry. We do not have long before the sun rises."
He nodded in agreement. "Yes, we should destroy the spider's nest as quickly as possible."
Tauriel somehow found that to be an odd response, but she made no mention of it.
They ran light and swift, occasionally climbing trees to look ahead or clearing the trees of spider webs if an area seemed too thick with it.
Legolas couldn't help but glance over at Tauriel once in a while. She was beautiful even amidst a dying forest; her long red hair seemed to glow in the moonlight, and her eyes were sparkling with determination. He often thought about their relationship, how they had started as troublesome friends that went off on daring adventures as naïve Elflings. Now he thought they were more than just friends. He didn't care for the fact that she was only a Captain of the Guard, and that she was too low for him. None of that mattered.
He had never held any secret back from her. He would never wish it upon her to feel shut out or unwelcome. But this was different; he didn't want her to disapprove. He certainly didn't want their friendship to weaken.
"I sense we are near," Tauriel declared, peering into the distance. Legolas thought so as well; the webs had thickened considerably, almost to the point of making it impassable.
Something passed over them, blocking the moonlight. Legolas pulled Tauriel into a thicket of leaves, gesturing to above them.
A huge spider as large as an Eagle crawled from the shadows, as silent as the wind. Legolas began to hear the hiss of other spiders approaching, their fangs clicking and clattering in excitement. He noticed that they were dragging along figures wrapped in webs, animals that had fallen victim to their last hunt.
When the parade of spiders had passed, Legolas leaned in to whisper to Tauriel. "We should not make ourselves known immediately," he said. "There are too many to take down if we attack them by -"
He stopped in mid-sentence, eyes fixed on something in the foliage ahead. "Legolas?" Tauriel whispered nervously. "Is something the matter . . . ?"
She followed his gaze to a spot in the bushes, but she could not see anything from where she was positioned. "What do you see?" she asked him in a gentle undertone.
Legolas's face changed expressions in a split-second. He blinked, immediately straightening his manner. "I see nothing." He glanced at Tauriel's disbelieving face. "Come, we should form a plan quickly."
"Tell me what's going on first," she insisted.
"It is not your concern," he snapped back, but he deeply regretted it a moment later. She lowered her eyes, clearly stung by his words.
He tried again with a more gentle tone. "You shouldn't worry yourself. I assure you, there is nothing going on."
She met his eyes. "Is that the truth?"
Legolas sucked in a breath, but he answered with as little hesitation as he could. "You can trust me, Tauriel."
She said nothing for a moment, then shook herself. "Yes. We shouldn't waste time. Do you have a plan, Legolas?"
He nodded. "I think we should draw them out and kill them while they're vulnerable. Then we can destroy the nest."
Tauriel pursed her lips. "We must be careful not to attract attention to ourselves."
"We won't." Legolas reached behind his back and took an arrow from his quiver. "Let's go."
The moon had just begun its descent as the two Elves split up, ready to begin stage one of their plan. Legolas knew what do.
You like?
Dwarf angst, Elf secrets, ahhhh!
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Thanks and happy writing! x815
