A/N: Natta, I took the spiders from the book, The Hobbit and thought it would make a good way to kill all those orcs..a fitting end to them!

Amelia Rose, thank you for following the story and all your kind words. Jedi-hobbit, me loves Yoda too...especially when he kicks butt with his light saber in the 'Attack of the Clone'...Thanks again for your reviews and I hope you all keeping reading.

Chapter 20

The Water to Sleep

Estella and Tom slowly rose from where they were laying on the ground. They walked backwards until they were a good distance away. Estella saw Berilac as he just came around the roadside trees. He was looking for Merry. Estella motioned to Berilac that Merry was in trouble.

Berilac couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. He had never seen a spider that big before. He reached behind him and pulled one of his arrows and placed it into his bow. Carefully he aimed his arrow just as the spider leaped towards Merry and let his arrow fly. At the same time Merry lunged his sword into the eyes of the spider. The arrow hit into its thick body. The spider's loud hissing squeal sent shivers down the spines of all that watched. It soon curled and died where it once stood. Berilac joined Merry as they both looked in amazement at this giant spider. They could only imagine the big feasting that was going on above in the treetops.

Merry and Berilac turned and headed back to see how Nibs was doing. Aragorn lifted Nibs head and open a small jar of some clear fluid. After Nibs drank this, he fell into a very deep sleep.

Aragorn looked up at Merry and Berilac saying, "He will sleep at least 5 days and we will see how he is doing after that. I will have to sew his wounds closed, but he will not feel anything while under this deep sleep."

"I will make a drag to carry Nibs to the mountains of Mirkwood, once you have tended to his wounds. It is not safe to camp in this area. The base of the mountain is only a short distance from here and enough distance from the spiders." Legolas told them.

Bowman and Wilcome rounded up the horses. Gimli and Merry went with Legolas to begin making the drag to carry Nibs. Legoals climbed in a tree to get the branches they needed. Berilac came with them and made sure that he had his bow and arrows. Merry told Gimli of the spider they had killed just a few yards away. Gimli laughed at their excitement and fear of the spiders.

"When I was a lad, hunting spiders was a sport for us dwarves. I grew up in the Lonely Mountain just over those hills yonder. If you hit them in the under belly, they die a lot faster. They are quite fun to hunt. I once killed a spider the size of a horse and the legs spread out for yards. Now that is what you call a spider, my fine hobbits. The one you killed was just a baby. It is how I sharpened my skills with an ax." Gimli boasted most proudly to the hobbits.

"Now Gimli, surely you stretch the story some. In our immortal lives, I have never seen a spider the size you claim." Legolas teased him.

"You haven't seen one because I killed it and it no longer exist." Gimli announced to Legolas with pride and the hobbits looked up to Gimli and admired him all the more.

Merry and Berilac both looked at each other and just could not imagine doing that for sport. The dwarves were a rough bred and had an interesting way about them, Merry thought.

Bowman brought a blanket over to Gimli as he cleaned the branches with his ax, taking off the extra leaves and smaller branches. They tied the blanket tightly to the branches. Gimli and Legolas brought the drag to where the horses were waiting and tied the drag to the horse.

Estella was wrapping Nibs arm and putting away the extra bandages into Aragorn's bag. She noticed that he carried a dozen empty small jars in his traveling bag. He also had bags of herbs and medicines. She admired Aragorn skills as a healer.

When she had finished, Aragorn lifted Nibs and placed him on the drag. Legolas lead the way to the camp. Here they would stay until Nibs was able to travel.

Everyone had a job to do in setting up the camp by the base of the Mirkwood Mountains. Legolas went out hunting and brought a deer back to camp to feed everyone. Boyman made shackles for the horses so they would not wander to far from camp and let them graze from the tall grasses in the open green fields next to where they camped. Wilcome and Berilac gathered wood to start a fire and enough to keep them warm for the night. Tom pounded in the stakes and set some tents up to house the hobbits and a private tent for Estella. When he finished with those he started on building a bigger tent for Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas. That is if elves sleep, in which Tom always wondered about the elves. Fredegar dug a small flat hole and found some rocks to make a spot for the campfire. He helped unpack the things they would need to camp for the next 5 days. Gimli snapped at Fredegar for trying to take the packs off his old donkey. "Here now, I will be doing that. I don't want anyone touching these packs."

Aragorn and Estella made Nibs comfortable in the tent. Aragorn opened his traveling bag and took out some herbs and crushed them into a fine power. While he worked on this, Estella asked, "Why do you carry so many empty jars in your traveling bag?"

"Those jars store the water that helps put those that I treat into a healing sleep. Just a sip of this water will put a full-grown man into a deep sleep for 5 days. This water is only found in the forest of Mirkwood and only Lord Elrond and I know of its location. Whenever I am traveling about, I pack these empty jars. Before I head back to Gondor. I stop in Mirkwood to refill them when I am close to its boarders."

"You are a great healer Aragorn, I have never seen such skill before." Estella complimented him.

Merry and Pippin took the saddles off the horses and helped tie the shackles on the horse's ankles. While they worked, Pippin could not help but comment, "I was very surprised to see Estella here, how are things going with you two?"

"I did not want her to come with us, she followed us into the wild. So I had no choice but to bring her. It is a long story, Pip. Someday I will tell you all about it."

"Then can you tell me about you and Estella?" Pippin bravely asked, wondering if Merry would get upset with his question, but he could not wait to find out if they had gotten any closer.

"If you are meaning that I have proposed, the answer is no. Estella is a great girl and I think the world of her. I end up just making her mad most of the time. One minute we are laughing and the next minute we are fighting. I think half the time she hates me. Besides Pip, I told you, I am not looking for a wife. I'm too busy for one thing, and another thing, I just do not understand women. They totally confuse me."

Pippin snickered and knew what Merry was talking about. So he added, "I'm married and I still do not understand them, either. Diamond can get madder than anyone I have ever seen before, but the making up part, helps you to forget why you were upset in the first place."

It was not long until they had a campfire going and began cooking the deer meat. They all ate a hearty meal and were exhausted from their long day. They all turned in early to get some sleep.

The next morning, Aragorn was up just before the sun. He took his traveling bag and headed out to find the small hidden pond, which its minerals would put a man to sleep. Aragorn walked the same path that Lord Elrond had shown him. Long ago, one of the dwarves accidentally drank from this pond and fell asleep for days, that legend eventually became know to the elves. Lord Elrond took a great interest in these ponds and studied them for years. He sealed the grounds of this pound so know one could find them or stumble upon them. Lord Elrond used these minerals and waters for years in treating the sick and injured making him a great healer in all of Middle Earth.

Legolas was out early also scouting the mountain and terrain. These lands that were so familiar to him as he grew up in Mirkwood. He knew each rock and tree. He had hoped to spot some tracks of the miniature horses, but found only one set of prints. Legolas thought this could be the track of the stallion that Merry was looking for. The tracks followed to a narrow path and down a slope on the edge of the mountain. Thick trees almost covered the path making it almost hidden, but the sharp eyes of an elf could easily make it out. Legolas climbed up the side of the mountain so he could see a good distance into this hidden valley. When he approach a ledge on the side of the mountain, a smile broke his face. There he could see the herd of miniature horses. Large groups of these horses were scattered throughout this terrain. The high grasses almost hide some of these horses in their depths. Getting these horses out of this enclosed valley with only a narrow path would be very difficult.

Tom opened the tent flap and walked out in the cool morning air. Wrapping his arms around himself, he saw Gimli adding some more logs to the fire and stood beside him as they both warmed themselves. Aragorn, just returned from collecting the jars of water, sat down next to the roaring fire. He opened his traveling bag and began wrapping the small jars of water and packed them neatly. "Gimli, have you seen Legolas this morning?"

"He got up early this morning and headed out to scout for those horses. He won't be back until later this afternoon."

Tom looked over to Legolas's tent and a smile broke the corners of his mouth as his curiosity took over. He quietly crept into their tent unnoticed, so he could see if Legolas's blankets were slept in. Two sets of the blankets were all messed up and he could easily see that they have been slept in, however, Legolas's blankets were neat as a pin and not a wrinkle in them. 'I knew it!' thought Tom, 'elves do not sleep'. He danced out of the tent thinking he had his answer that he has always wondered about.

Aragorn heard Nibs moan out loud and he went in to see how he was doing. Estella came out and joined Gimli by the campfire. She poured some water from a bucket until it was empty into her pot to boil. Soon Merry and Pippin came out of the tent and approached Estella and Gimili. "Do you have any water left over?" Merry asked.

"I am making some tea, it will not be long until it is done." She told them.

Berilac grabbed the empty bucket and asked Fredegar to go with him to refill it. Wilcome joined them as they all went for a morning walk toward the river.

Tom saw Aragorn's bag siting by the campfire where he left it. He noticed that Aragorn had always carried it with him. Tom began to wonder what Aragorn had in this bag. So he opened it and looked inside. He saw the small jars of water neatly wrapped in his bag. Tom took one out thinking this was just water. He opened it and smelt it to make sure. He could not smell anything so he thought he would take a drink.

Estella looked up seeing Tom about to drink the water in those tiny jars and remembered what Aragorn had told her. She told Merry to stop him, that what he was about to drink was harmful.

Merry raced over to Tom as he put the small jar to his lips to take a big drink. Merry pulled it from his lips before he was able to, but it spilt all over Merry's arm. Within minutes Merry fell to the ground in a deep sleep.

"Aragorn, come quickly!" Estella shouted.

Aragorn ran from the tent and saw Merry passed out on the ground and the small jar of water now empty lying next to him.

"I did not know this would hurt anyone. I am sorry, I did not mean to hurt Merry. I just thought this was water." Tom apologized for getting into Aragorn's bag.

"It is alright Tom, I should have made sure I had my bag with me. I forgot how curious you hobbits are." Aragorn told Tom

"I do not know how much of this touched his skin or how long Merry will sleep. There is no way of waking him up. This is a very strong medicine, but this will not harm him. It will only make him sleep. I guess time will only tell." Aragorn picked up Merry and placed him next to Nibs.

Pippin and Estella sat by Merry as Estella took a blanket and covered him up.

"Well, it looks like we will be staying here for a while." Pippin said to Estella.

"I guess, there is nothing we can do, but wait until he wakes up." Estella stroked Merry's hair and made sure he was comfortable. Pippin watched Estella carefully as she fussed over Merry. He could easily tell by her actions just how much Merry meant to her.

"Estella have you told Merry that you care for him?" Pippin asked her.

She blushed and shook her head no. "I have been waiting for Merry to tell me, but with so much going on, all we seemed to do is argue. I do not think Merry even likes me." Estella said sadly.

"Maybe when he wakes up, you should tell him, Estella. He needs to know and I think it is something he would like to hear." Pippin took her hand and gave it a squeeze. He joined Aragorn as they both walked out of the tent to see Gimli before he left. Gimli was preparing his donkey to leave for the Lonely Mountain. He picked up his bags and began tying them securely. Gimli said his good-byes to everyone and told them that he would be back in a few days. Taking the reins of his donkey, he headed out to the Lonely Mountain to see his father and give him the packs of Mirthrill.