CHAPTER 35 - SPIDERS
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit or any of the characters/story lines that belong to it, all credit goes to J.R.R. Tolkien, in all his glory.
"This will be worth it – they will be juicy to eat, mark my words."
"Aye, once they've been hung for a good long while."
"Not for too long I should hope, they'll have lost all their good meat."
"I say we kill them now! Kill them and leave them to hang!"
"They should be dead already!"
"I saw one was struggling not too long ago – we should feast before they begin to wake."
Oh my god they can talk – the freaking spiders are talking!
Hayden was awake, granted she had not been for very long, and was tied up tightly in a thick spider web hanging from a thick tree branch. From what she could see, there were other white mounds surrounding her that could only be the Company.
She couldn't remember how she had gotten there, though she did vaguely recall being circled by giant spiders and being knocked unconscious.
All she could hope was that Bilbo had managed to escape and was listening close by and forming a plan.
Please come Bilbo, please…
Bilbo stood huddled behind a tree, closely watching the scene unfolding.
If he wasn't mistaken, he thought he could hear voices coming from the spiders that were huddled around the dwarves, and the hobbit shivered subconsciously.
His mind was whirring – he had to get the dwarves and Hayden out of there.
Oh if only Hayden was with me, she'd know what to do, Bilbo thought longingly, remembering how quick she had been when they were facing Gollum in the Misty Mountains. Come on Bilbo Baggins, are a Took or aren't you? You can do this!
Steeling himself silently, Bilbo took the enchanted Ring out of his waistcoat pocket and slipped it onto his finger, hoping that it still worked how Hayden had said it did.
Bilbo made to step out of his hiding place, and as he did so his feet kicked along a few stones, and he stopped abruptly, hoping that he hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. But the spiders, to his relief, were still arguing amongst themselves.
Slowly a plan began to form in the hobbit's mind, and he picked up the stones and shoved them into his pockets, keeping a few out to use.
He stepped tentatively closer to the tree where the spiders were huddled, careful not to disturb the ground, aimed a stone at the nearest spider and threw it hard. It hit its target, and the spider fell from its perch to the ground, its legs curling uselessly into its body.
Before the other spiders could react Bilbo sent another stone flying towards them, causing another one to fall dead to the ground.
The spiders clicked their pincers angrily and leapt into the direction the stones had come from, but Bilbo was already one step ahead of them. He had run in the opposite direction, and was readying to throw more stones at the angry cluster of spiders.
If I can lead them away from the dwarves, it will give them a chance to wake and escape, Bilbo thought quickly, never gladder of the fact that Hayden had chosen to give him this enchanted Ring.
So Bilbo settled on the first tune he could think of and began to sing, making up the words as he went along.
Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can't see me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Won't you stop, stop your spinning and look for me?
Old Tomnoddy, all big body, old Tomnoddy can't spy on me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Down you drop! You'll never catch me up your tree!
In any other case Bilbo would never have begun singing of all things, which only seemed to anger the spiders even further. But he needed to let the others know he was here to help them.
Bilbo continued this process over and over again; throwing stones at the spiders and running quickly in the opposite direction, all the while singing and leading the cluster of spiders further and further away from the dwarves.
The spiders had soon filled every space in the clearing that Bilbo had been, clicking and spinning around wildly, looking for the culprit of the songs and the flying stones. But Bilbo was too quick for them, and if any did get close enough to him he would silently unsheathe his sword and let them feel his sting, as he had appropriately named it.
Lazy Lob and crazy Cob are weaving webs to wind me.
I am far more sweet than any other meat, but still they cannot find me!
Here am I, naughty little fly; you are fat and lazy.
You cannot trap me, though you try, in your cobwebs are crazy.
Alright Bilbo, you may be pushing it a little, he thought, and slipped past the spiders as fast as he could to the dwarves, who had been quickly forgotten by the giant arachnids.
Bilbo climbed up the tree to where the Company were tied and approached the first bundle, who he could only assume was either Fili or Kili. He reached around, unsheathing his sword, and managed to cut loose a few of the strong threads that held the bundle tightly wound together. Fili emerged, kicking and scratching himself loose of the spider's web and breathing heavily. The dwarf pulled himself up onto the branch alongside Bilbo, who had taken off the Ring now.
"Thank Durin you escaped Bilbo," Fili grinned, hugging Bilbo out of pure relief, "However did you think that up so quickly?"
"Now's not the time Fili," Bilbo said hurriedly, looking nervously at the spider's scuttling around angrily, "Help me cut the others loose."
"Right," Fili nodded, and together they began to cut away the webs from the others along the same branch.
After a short while they had set Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Dori, Ori and Bombur free, but by that time the spider's had grown impatient, and had begun to crawl back to the tree.
Think Bilbo Baggins think!
"I have to distract them again," Bilbo said distractedly, taking out his Ring again.
"What's that?" Bofur asked.
"It's an enchanted Ring; it can turn you invisible," Bilbo explained quickly, "Hayden found it while we were in the Mountains."
"So that's why we could not see you before?" Fili asked, and Bilbo nodded.
"Exactly, I need to use it now to distract the spiders while you set the others free," Bilbo continued to explain hurriedly, "I'll meet you all where we found the Wood-elf feast."
And with that Bilbo disappeared once again, the sound of his taunting songs echoing through the forest as the dwarves set each other loose.
Hayden was one of the last to be set free from her bondages, having been so high in the tree. She hadn't realised how much she had been suffocating until Fili had cut her loose, and she gasped for air, kicking herself out of the cocoon sort of shell the web had made.
"Alright Hayden?" Fili asked worriedly, helping her safely onto a branch.
"I'm fine, how are the others?" she asked concernedly, "Where's Thorin?"
"They're all fine," Fili said, "I haven't seen uncle but he's probably with the others."
I wouldn't bet on it, she thought grimly, and followed Fili down to where the others were huddled far away from the cluster of spider's running angrily after Bilbo's voice.
"Let's go," Balin said, taking charge and leading them away from the spiders.
Fili grabbed Hayden's hand and pulled her along close to him, and they did not stop until they had reached a clearing in the forest that looked similar to the one they had seen the Wood-elves feasting in before.
"Oh thank goodness!" Bilbo sighed in relief as he came running through the trees after them.
"The spiders?" Dwalin asked.
"They gave up and disappeared," Bilbo said, collapsing beside a tree.
"I think we have sorely underestimated you, Master Baggins," Balin said to the hobbit, smiling appreciatively, "It seems that once again we owe you our lives."
"Oh… it was nothing," Bilbo shrugged, but he did look rather pleased.
"How on earth did you acquire a Ring like that?" Balin continued, and the dwarves all leaned in curiously.
Bilbo smiled nervously and raised his eyebrows to Hayden; "I think it's time we tell them what happened in the Mountains?"
She nodded and sunk down to the floor, leaning her back against a tree and picking pieces of web out of her hair as she listened to Bilbo retell the story of their journey through the Misty Mountains and their meeting with Gollum.
"And it turns you invisible, does it?" Nori asked interestedly, once Bilbo had finished the story and held up the Ring as proof.
"Yes, but I wouldn't have known that if Hayden hadn't told me-"
"Where is Thorin?" Dwalin asked suddenly, sitting up and looking around their group.
Took them long enough, Hayden inwardly sighed. Of course she had realised from the start Thorin was missing, and she was aching inside to go looking for him, but she knew she had to wait for the Company to figure it out by themselves.
"Who last saw him?" Kili asked worriedly.
"When we were trying to contact the Wood-elves, I think," Ori said.
The Company grumbled uncomfortably between themselves, the guilt and worry overtaking them that they had managed to lose their King.
"I will ask you once more, dwarf – why did you attack my people?"
Thorin snarled and looked weakly up at the elf-king with extreme distaste. He had met the king only a few times, when he had attended meeting's of business with his grandfather, and he knew very well that it was this king's fault the elves did not come to aid when Smaug had attacked.
Thorin bit his tongue to prevent himself from snapping back at the king, for he knew it would not help his cause. Instead he stood to the same argument.
"We did not attack them," Thorin said through barred teeth, "We saw your people feasting and we were to beg for food – we were starving."
"And where are your kin now?" Thranduil asked, with a tone of mocking arrogance.
"I expect they are still in the forest – starving," Thorin added snidely, and his stomach gave an uncomfortable tumble, from both his hunger and the thought of Hayden still alone in the forest.
"And what are they doing now?" Thranduil asked, "What were you doing in the forest?"
"We were starving – we were looking for food and water," Thorin answered stiffly.
"An odd place to search for food I should think," Thranduil observed, rising elegantly from his throne and approaching where Thorin stood heavily bounded and guarded, "Do not think I don't know who you are, dwarf."
"Do not think I don't know who you are, elf," Thorin spat back, looking into Thranduil's eyes and standing his ground.
"You have quite an attitude for a royal," Thranduil's lip curled, "Tell me Thorin Oakenshield, have you seen Smaug lately? How is the old Wyrm?"
Thorin bit his tongue hard and growled at the king, making forward threateningly, but the guards stopped him.
"I know what you were doing in the great forest," Thranduil said, stalking ever closer to Thorin, "Even if you do not have the courage to tell me."
Thorin remained quiet, his anger pulsing through him almost uncontrollably.
"What's wrong? Dragon got your tongue?" Thranduil mused. But still Thorin remained silent – with a great deal of self-restraint though.
"Very well," Thranduil clicked his tongue, "If you will not talk then you shall be bounded. Lock him in the dungeons until he decides to share his business – I look forward to when he does."
Stay tuned to see what happens next in Chapter 36 of An Unexpected Journey!