Authoe's Notes:
Yeeeeaaaah ok, school had been eating me alive these past few days. Sorry for the delay, but here's the third chapter! Thanks SO MUCH for the reviews ~ they are incredibly uplifting =)
Predador is frustrating me in a number of ways, so I might start another story while continuing this story as well, just for my peace of mind. I have another plot already in mind, with much more angst and torture. That's always fun =D Well, what do you guys think - should I, or just stick with this one 'til I'm good and done with it?
Well, give me your input!! Thanks!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 3: Groping
"I can't believe this is happening," grated Aragorn as he clove his way through thorny weeds and thick underbrush. "It's just our luck we get trapped in some forsaken city and forced to wander around like pawns!"
Legolas glanced at his human friend. "Come now, it's not as bad as you make it to be." He caught the look of disbelief Aragorn threw at him. "Alright, maybe it is. .."
Aragorn sighed heavily. ~We'd better get out of here alive, or I'll throw myself off a cliff~
Legolas joined Aragorn in slicing through the heavy undergrowth with his twin knives. "I've met some rather odd people in my lifetime, but I think Hindir beats them all out. Who would actually build a place specifically intended to trap people and put them through danger and very possible death?"
Aragorn rubbed his hand where a nettle had stung him. "A psychopathic and extremely bored person like Hindir would."
The Prince of Mirkwood sighed and sheathed his weapons. "Estel, we don't know where we're going. Perhaps we ought to think of some direction before we wander too far into this place. Remember, there's got to be things in here we don't want to face, otherwise Hindir would never have made it. So, we have to try to get out of here as soon as possible. I - Estel?"
Aragorn held up a hand to silence his elven friend. He was perfectly still, his head cocked slightly to the side like he was listening for something. For a few moments, Legolas was afraid Aragorn had heard something approaching, but saw that could not be when a smile lit the human's face.
"Don't you hear that?" asked Aragorn.
The elf wasn't too sure he was happy with the fact that a human had caught a sound before him, but he followed Aragorn's example. Frowning, Legolas tuned his ears a little better and listened. After a second, the soft sound of water brushing over rocks reached his ears.
"Running water! A river!" Legolas exclaimed. They looked at each other briefly before sprinting off towards the sound.
Pushing themselves through various kinds of plant life, they burst through a large clump of green underbrush. They were well rewarded by the sight of a foaming teal river, its wispy fingers brushing over and stroking random boulders scattered within it.
Aragorn grinned. "Well then, all we have to do is follow the river! It has to let out somewhere."
Legolas nodded, "Hopefully, this won't take too long."
With that, they struck off north in the direction the rushing river wound, their deep panic and concerns momentarily forgotten.
*** * ***
The candles flickered and cast eerie shadows on the painted walls. The room was silent, but for the lone voice murmuring quietly in the center of the domed room.
Lord Hindir stood staring into the large crystal fixed onto his staff. Within it, he could see his guests' images, walking and conversing idly on the riverbank.
"Ah, good, you have found the river to follow. It's surprising how few actually manage to search it out and live to see outside the Black Wood. Very good. "
His emerald eyes glinted maliciously, but a fine amused chuckle sounded from his lips.
"Go on, my friends, walk on. We shall see how long you live. We shall see."
The flames perched on the candle wicks danced in response to his laughter.
*** * ***
Legolas glanced around him worriedly when he noticed the daylight fading. He could barely see the setting sun due to the huge canopy of leaves above him. Nonetheless, he begged for the golden orb to stay, knowing she would not answer as darkness slowly descended and the shadowy moon rose high. His silent begging was interrupted when Aragorn nudged him lightly.
"We should stop for the night, Legolas. I don't want to trek in the dark, and this way, we can stop and light a fire."
Legolas nodded and halted. "Good idea. We'll sleep here for the night, by the river. This way, if anything attacks us, we at least have the river at our backs."
Aragorn immediately chose a spot and struck a few pieces of tinder and soon, he had a small blaze going. He settled back on his haunches and watched as Legolas leaned his back up against a giant tree of some foreign nature. The young Ranger stood and went to join Legolas. The light from the fire played over their faces, flickering from yellow to orange to red, then back again. Together, they stared silently at the wandering river, which ran cold, untouched by the former sun's heat.
"Legolas?" Aragorn broke the silence.
The elf continued to stare straight ahead, his eyes following the gentle curves and movements of the water, "What?"
"Do you think we'll survive this?"
Sensing the desperate uneasiness in his friend's usually confident voice, Legolas turned his head to look the human straight in the eye. Brilliant blue met stormy gray, and the emotions in Legolas' eyes assured Aragorn in feelings that did not need to be put in words, but Legolas did anyway.
"I know we will."
Aragorn smiled, grateful for Legolas' confidence, even if he did not feel it. He turned his eyes back to the twisting water.
*** * ***
It had never wanted much in life, for It had but one desire: to stay alive. And to stay alive, It had to eat. Unfortunately, food of any subsidence was incredibly rare, so It was many a time forced to scavenge on the bottom of the river. The one who put It there in this icy water never fed it, he only allowed a few good pieces of meat to enter the forest once in a while, but the land creatures usually got them first. Only a few managed to escape the slick ones - it was up to It to catch them.
It had no real capability of true thought, only the most basic emotions, and at that moment, hunger was predominating. Transparent blue eyes glassy in the water, It watched the shore from just beneath the surface.
Meat.
It has not seen such a good meal in a long time, and haste was pulling at Its instincts. It swam a little closer, observing the two figures laying in idle rest on the riverbank. How good those two pieces of meat would taste, torn to bloody pieces, fresh and still warm. Haste. It stopped, withdrew. Bright silver scales flashed in the moonlight penetrating the water as It sunk back into the depths. No, It would not eat tonight.
But the food had still a long way to go before the wood ended, and It was quite aware of that, despite Its simple mind. Ignoring the hunger that gnawed Its belly, It lay only a hundred or so feet from the shoreline.
For now, It was content just to watch, and wait.
*** * ***
Aragorn felt the mind-numbing relaxation and calm tranquility that often came with sleep. The world of dreams was near, and he was glad for it. Succumbing to the sweet rest, he pulled his cloak around him unconsciously and gave a slight snore. Right when the power of sleep was about to envelope him, though, he felt the barest touch against his right calf. ~Foolish me and my sensitive awareness~ he thought, still floating in and out of sleep. Then, as that something nudged against him harder, his drowsy brain processed the fact that something truly was moving against him. ~What in the Valar is TOUCHING me!?~ Aragorn's eyes opened and he, careful not to move, looked down.
A thin, but long, dark brown serpent was half curled around Aragorn's leg. His eyes narrowed. ~Good thing I've had some experience with snakes~ Moving faster than humans should have the right to, the young Ranger's hand whipped downwards and his fingers closed around the snake's neck, right below it's bobbing head. With a quick yank, he pulled it free of his calf and flung it into the bushes. He rolled his eyes as he settled himself back down. ~Irritating little things~
He lay down again and mumbled quietly as he turned on his side, "I hope it doesn't come ba - " He stopped in mid-sentence. There, right in front of his nose, a second serpent, this one bigger and yellow in color, lay in a coil. With a small gasp of surprise, Aragorn rolled away and stood. He took a step back and accidentally bumped into a sleeping Legolas.
The elf awoke at the intrusion and sat up slowly. "What's wrong, Est -?"
"Shhhhh!!" Aragorn held a finger to his lips and beckoned Legolas to stand.
Confused, Legolas did as he was bid. Before he could ask any questions, a bright color caught his eye. He jumped a little when he saw the long serpent coiled casually on the ground, watching them, only a few feet away. He tapped Aragorn on the elbow, not taking his eyes off the snake.
"Ah - Estel, there is a very big snake sitting there looking at us."
Aragorn frowned and turned to look at his friend. "I know that already, what do you think I'm looking at?" Just then, he saw that Legolas had seen a different snake than the one he himself had sighted. The golden- haired elf was staring as a gigantic orange serpent with dark spots to the left. At the same time, Legolas looked over Aragorn's shoulder to see the yellow snake on the right. The two friends looked at each other.
"There's two of them."
Before either could think of how to be rid of them, they heard a rustling in the bushes - the sound of scales gliding over leaves and twigs and dirt.
Legolas scanned the foliage in the darkness surrounding them, trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. It was to his horror that he realized the sounds were coming from all around them. ~This is not bode well.~
As the rustling grew louder, two or three snakes, all of different colors and sizes, appeared from the dark leaves. Before Aragorn or Legolas could react, more and more followed. Within half a minute, the two friends were surrounded on all sides by dozens of hissing snakes, all staring at the two figures in the center. The dark ground was soon teeming with so many of them that the true color of the ground could not longer be determined. It was with a heavy dread that Legolas noticed the rustling had not yet stopped. More were coming.
Legolas and Aragorn moved slowly until they were back to back, eyes darting back and forth among the small, but potentially lethal creatures that slithered closer and closer. Aragorn found himself faced with a seemingly a hundred snakes, all watching him hungrily like ravenous wolves cornering a baby elk. He hated to admit his fear, but he found the desire to simply hide behind Legolas very consuming. He might have done so, had not his pride restricted him, as well as the fact that the Prince was facing the same predicament on his side.
Legolas' blue eyes glanced quickly at the fire, which was not naught but a few orange embers, swiftly dimming in the chilling cold of night. He cursed silently to himself. All wild creatures were wary of fire - if they had none, they were caught in a very troubling situation indeed. As he was still trying desperately to configure some solution in his head, the rustling sounds stopped. Silence reigned for a only a few moments before a new sound took its place.
Aragorn and Legolas stared around them in alarm and surprise as every snake within that proximity took up a baleful hissing. The sound grew louder and louder until it filled their ears, and nothing else was audible in the blackness. Both were knowledgeable enough to know that snakes usually hissed in fear, but somehow, this seemed different. The hundreds of snakes around them were not recoiling in fright - they were advancing.
The two friends drew closer together as the snakes closed in around them, only a few feet away from them. Slowly, they both drew their weapons. Fighting attacking snakes was not a common occurrence for either, but they would despite the oddity of it.
Legolas murmured softly to his friend, hoping to comfort the young human, "Don't worry too much, Estel - they may not even be dangerous."
Suddenly, one apparently bold snake narrowed its beady black eyes and struck forward, striking Aragorn's leg. Its fangs, however, raked only through the dark cloth, avoiding his skin by a mere inch. The hot stench of bunt sulfur permeated the air around them. Aragorn gasped and jumped back from the offending animal. He looked down at his leg to see the venom had burnt a hole through the material of his leggings and a gray tendril of smoke arose from it.
"Oh, I think they are very dangerous, Legolas."
Just as the snake, angry it had not felled its victim on the first try, attempted to strike again. Before it could, however, Legolas' twin blades whirled down and sliced it half. His eyes widened when he saw a sizzling acid bubble on his knives where they had cut into the snake's body.
That seemed to set off an alarm among the snakes.
Simultaneously, every slithering body moved forward angrily, though with some caution. Aragorn reached behind him and felt slightly assured when he felt the smooth texture of the elf's tunic under his fingers. Not taking his eyes off the advancing serpents, he spoke urgently to Legolas, not even bothering to keep his voice down anymore.
"Legolas, if their venom can have that kind of affect on my clothes and your knives, I really don't think we should stay here and get bitten!"
The Prince of Mirkwood gritted his teeth. "Well, what do you propose we do!?!"
Aragorn took a breath to answer, but stopped suddenly when something hanging directly above him caught his eye. "Legolas! The trees!"
Without pausing to look again at the quickly approaching snakes, Aragorn leapt up as high as he could. He was rewarded at the feel of rough bark in his hands. "Hurry, Legolas, follow me!" Aragorn swung himself up and folded his legs over the overhanging branch. Once he steadied himself, one jump landed him on a sturdier branch. Only then did he have the chance to see how Legolas was faring.
The renowned archer was having difficulties. Once the serpents had seen Aragorn disappear into the foliage above, they had apparently turned furious at the thought of losing their prey. Now, Legolas was slicing at attacking snakes while trying to find a spare moment to jump into the tree with Aragorn.
The Ranger immediately pulled his bow from his back. Rough fingers dancing, he notched an arrow with speed and shot at the general area around Legolas' feet. The arrow had come as a surprise to the snakes - they backed off for a split second. In that moment, Legolas sheathed his Elven blades and leapt high onto the waiting branch. The young Prince grasped the rough bark gently and stared down below him. For a full minute, the two friends did naught but sit and watch, unwise as it was.
Aragorn felt his shoulders hit something - Legolas. He had not even realized he he had been scooting backwards, away from the serpents' searching tongues that were so ominously flickering. The human's eyes darted back and forth among the small, but potentially lethal, creatures that slithered closer and closer. He could hear Legolas speak softly from behind him.
Aragorn pulled the elf to where he was and they crouched there, watching the furious snakes hissing and crawling over each other below.
"Legolas," Aragorn glanced at his friend. "We can't stay up here forever."
The elf's eyes were troubled. "I know that, but it doesn't look like they're going to let off anytime soon."
Aragorn stared hard at the writhing mass beneath them and shivered at the thought of falling victim to their fatal strikes. He had no intention of dying so soon, and admittedly, he was more than anxious to just disappear. He prodded Legolas lightly, getting the elf's attention.
"We should make a getaway through the trees. At least then they can't track us easily if we're above them, and we can still follow the river from up here."
Legolas nodded. "Right. Come on then. Be quiet as you can, we don't know how acute their senses are."
With that, the Prince of Mirkwood stood up gracefully and immediately made his way through the branches with ease. Aragorn followed, though not so lightly. He strained his eyes in the night.
~Blast, these branches are hard to see in this cursed dark~
He could hear Legolas' soft voice drift back to him from ahead.
"Be careful where you step, Aragorn, some of these branches are not too sturdy."
Aragorn frowned to himself as he grasped on to whatever he could for balance. It was times like these he wished he were an elf. A flash of color below caught his attention. The masses of brightly colored serpents were following them, their beady onyx eyes fixed on the two figures above them. Aragorn shivered again as he continued to step forward, his eyes cemented to the ground.
He realized too late he should have been focusing his attention elsewhere.
With a splintering crack, the limb below him snapped in half. With a cry of surprise and dismay he faltered wildly, desperately reaching for anything nearby to steady himself. He found none.
"Legolas!!"
Leaves and twigs flying up around him, Aragorn fell from the topmost branch of the great oak, straight towards the forest floor and the bared fangs that rose to greet him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Love it? Hate it? Like I said in the beginning of this chapter, I'm experiencing some major frustration with this story, so feel free to give me some suggestions!
Yeeeeaaaah ok, school had been eating me alive these past few days. Sorry for the delay, but here's the third chapter! Thanks SO MUCH for the reviews ~ they are incredibly uplifting =)
Predador is frustrating me in a number of ways, so I might start another story while continuing this story as well, just for my peace of mind. I have another plot already in mind, with much more angst and torture. That's always fun =D Well, what do you guys think - should I, or just stick with this one 'til I'm good and done with it?
Well, give me your input!! Thanks!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 3: Groping
"I can't believe this is happening," grated Aragorn as he clove his way through thorny weeds and thick underbrush. "It's just our luck we get trapped in some forsaken city and forced to wander around like pawns!"
Legolas glanced at his human friend. "Come now, it's not as bad as you make it to be." He caught the look of disbelief Aragorn threw at him. "Alright, maybe it is. .."
Aragorn sighed heavily. ~We'd better get out of here alive, or I'll throw myself off a cliff~
Legolas joined Aragorn in slicing through the heavy undergrowth with his twin knives. "I've met some rather odd people in my lifetime, but I think Hindir beats them all out. Who would actually build a place specifically intended to trap people and put them through danger and very possible death?"
Aragorn rubbed his hand where a nettle had stung him. "A psychopathic and extremely bored person like Hindir would."
The Prince of Mirkwood sighed and sheathed his weapons. "Estel, we don't know where we're going. Perhaps we ought to think of some direction before we wander too far into this place. Remember, there's got to be things in here we don't want to face, otherwise Hindir would never have made it. So, we have to try to get out of here as soon as possible. I - Estel?"
Aragorn held up a hand to silence his elven friend. He was perfectly still, his head cocked slightly to the side like he was listening for something. For a few moments, Legolas was afraid Aragorn had heard something approaching, but saw that could not be when a smile lit the human's face.
"Don't you hear that?" asked Aragorn.
The elf wasn't too sure he was happy with the fact that a human had caught a sound before him, but he followed Aragorn's example. Frowning, Legolas tuned his ears a little better and listened. After a second, the soft sound of water brushing over rocks reached his ears.
"Running water! A river!" Legolas exclaimed. They looked at each other briefly before sprinting off towards the sound.
Pushing themselves through various kinds of plant life, they burst through a large clump of green underbrush. They were well rewarded by the sight of a foaming teal river, its wispy fingers brushing over and stroking random boulders scattered within it.
Aragorn grinned. "Well then, all we have to do is follow the river! It has to let out somewhere."
Legolas nodded, "Hopefully, this won't take too long."
With that, they struck off north in the direction the rushing river wound, their deep panic and concerns momentarily forgotten.
*** * ***
The candles flickered and cast eerie shadows on the painted walls. The room was silent, but for the lone voice murmuring quietly in the center of the domed room.
Lord Hindir stood staring into the large crystal fixed onto his staff. Within it, he could see his guests' images, walking and conversing idly on the riverbank.
"Ah, good, you have found the river to follow. It's surprising how few actually manage to search it out and live to see outside the Black Wood. Very good. "
His emerald eyes glinted maliciously, but a fine amused chuckle sounded from his lips.
"Go on, my friends, walk on. We shall see how long you live. We shall see."
The flames perched on the candle wicks danced in response to his laughter.
*** * ***
Legolas glanced around him worriedly when he noticed the daylight fading. He could barely see the setting sun due to the huge canopy of leaves above him. Nonetheless, he begged for the golden orb to stay, knowing she would not answer as darkness slowly descended and the shadowy moon rose high. His silent begging was interrupted when Aragorn nudged him lightly.
"We should stop for the night, Legolas. I don't want to trek in the dark, and this way, we can stop and light a fire."
Legolas nodded and halted. "Good idea. We'll sleep here for the night, by the river. This way, if anything attacks us, we at least have the river at our backs."
Aragorn immediately chose a spot and struck a few pieces of tinder and soon, he had a small blaze going. He settled back on his haunches and watched as Legolas leaned his back up against a giant tree of some foreign nature. The young Ranger stood and went to join Legolas. The light from the fire played over their faces, flickering from yellow to orange to red, then back again. Together, they stared silently at the wandering river, which ran cold, untouched by the former sun's heat.
"Legolas?" Aragorn broke the silence.
The elf continued to stare straight ahead, his eyes following the gentle curves and movements of the water, "What?"
"Do you think we'll survive this?"
Sensing the desperate uneasiness in his friend's usually confident voice, Legolas turned his head to look the human straight in the eye. Brilliant blue met stormy gray, and the emotions in Legolas' eyes assured Aragorn in feelings that did not need to be put in words, but Legolas did anyway.
"I know we will."
Aragorn smiled, grateful for Legolas' confidence, even if he did not feel it. He turned his eyes back to the twisting water.
*** * ***
It had never wanted much in life, for It had but one desire: to stay alive. And to stay alive, It had to eat. Unfortunately, food of any subsidence was incredibly rare, so It was many a time forced to scavenge on the bottom of the river. The one who put It there in this icy water never fed it, he only allowed a few good pieces of meat to enter the forest once in a while, but the land creatures usually got them first. Only a few managed to escape the slick ones - it was up to It to catch them.
It had no real capability of true thought, only the most basic emotions, and at that moment, hunger was predominating. Transparent blue eyes glassy in the water, It watched the shore from just beneath the surface.
Meat.
It has not seen such a good meal in a long time, and haste was pulling at Its instincts. It swam a little closer, observing the two figures laying in idle rest on the riverbank. How good those two pieces of meat would taste, torn to bloody pieces, fresh and still warm. Haste. It stopped, withdrew. Bright silver scales flashed in the moonlight penetrating the water as It sunk back into the depths. No, It would not eat tonight.
But the food had still a long way to go before the wood ended, and It was quite aware of that, despite Its simple mind. Ignoring the hunger that gnawed Its belly, It lay only a hundred or so feet from the shoreline.
For now, It was content just to watch, and wait.
*** * ***
Aragorn felt the mind-numbing relaxation and calm tranquility that often came with sleep. The world of dreams was near, and he was glad for it. Succumbing to the sweet rest, he pulled his cloak around him unconsciously and gave a slight snore. Right when the power of sleep was about to envelope him, though, he felt the barest touch against his right calf. ~Foolish me and my sensitive awareness~ he thought, still floating in and out of sleep. Then, as that something nudged against him harder, his drowsy brain processed the fact that something truly was moving against him. ~What in the Valar is TOUCHING me!?~ Aragorn's eyes opened and he, careful not to move, looked down.
A thin, but long, dark brown serpent was half curled around Aragorn's leg. His eyes narrowed. ~Good thing I've had some experience with snakes~ Moving faster than humans should have the right to, the young Ranger's hand whipped downwards and his fingers closed around the snake's neck, right below it's bobbing head. With a quick yank, he pulled it free of his calf and flung it into the bushes. He rolled his eyes as he settled himself back down. ~Irritating little things~
He lay down again and mumbled quietly as he turned on his side, "I hope it doesn't come ba - " He stopped in mid-sentence. There, right in front of his nose, a second serpent, this one bigger and yellow in color, lay in a coil. With a small gasp of surprise, Aragorn rolled away and stood. He took a step back and accidentally bumped into a sleeping Legolas.
The elf awoke at the intrusion and sat up slowly. "What's wrong, Est -?"
"Shhhhh!!" Aragorn held a finger to his lips and beckoned Legolas to stand.
Confused, Legolas did as he was bid. Before he could ask any questions, a bright color caught his eye. He jumped a little when he saw the long serpent coiled casually on the ground, watching them, only a few feet away. He tapped Aragorn on the elbow, not taking his eyes off the snake.
"Ah - Estel, there is a very big snake sitting there looking at us."
Aragorn frowned and turned to look at his friend. "I know that already, what do you think I'm looking at?" Just then, he saw that Legolas had seen a different snake than the one he himself had sighted. The golden- haired elf was staring as a gigantic orange serpent with dark spots to the left. At the same time, Legolas looked over Aragorn's shoulder to see the yellow snake on the right. The two friends looked at each other.
"There's two of them."
Before either could think of how to be rid of them, they heard a rustling in the bushes - the sound of scales gliding over leaves and twigs and dirt.
Legolas scanned the foliage in the darkness surrounding them, trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. It was to his horror that he realized the sounds were coming from all around them. ~This is not bode well.~
As the rustling grew louder, two or three snakes, all of different colors and sizes, appeared from the dark leaves. Before Aragorn or Legolas could react, more and more followed. Within half a minute, the two friends were surrounded on all sides by dozens of hissing snakes, all staring at the two figures in the center. The dark ground was soon teeming with so many of them that the true color of the ground could not longer be determined. It was with a heavy dread that Legolas noticed the rustling had not yet stopped. More were coming.
Legolas and Aragorn moved slowly until they were back to back, eyes darting back and forth among the small, but potentially lethal creatures that slithered closer and closer. Aragorn found himself faced with a seemingly a hundred snakes, all watching him hungrily like ravenous wolves cornering a baby elk. He hated to admit his fear, but he found the desire to simply hide behind Legolas very consuming. He might have done so, had not his pride restricted him, as well as the fact that the Prince was facing the same predicament on his side.
Legolas' blue eyes glanced quickly at the fire, which was not naught but a few orange embers, swiftly dimming in the chilling cold of night. He cursed silently to himself. All wild creatures were wary of fire - if they had none, they were caught in a very troubling situation indeed. As he was still trying desperately to configure some solution in his head, the rustling sounds stopped. Silence reigned for a only a few moments before a new sound took its place.
Aragorn and Legolas stared around them in alarm and surprise as every snake within that proximity took up a baleful hissing. The sound grew louder and louder until it filled their ears, and nothing else was audible in the blackness. Both were knowledgeable enough to know that snakes usually hissed in fear, but somehow, this seemed different. The hundreds of snakes around them were not recoiling in fright - they were advancing.
The two friends drew closer together as the snakes closed in around them, only a few feet away from them. Slowly, they both drew their weapons. Fighting attacking snakes was not a common occurrence for either, but they would despite the oddity of it.
Legolas murmured softly to his friend, hoping to comfort the young human, "Don't worry too much, Estel - they may not even be dangerous."
Suddenly, one apparently bold snake narrowed its beady black eyes and struck forward, striking Aragorn's leg. Its fangs, however, raked only through the dark cloth, avoiding his skin by a mere inch. The hot stench of bunt sulfur permeated the air around them. Aragorn gasped and jumped back from the offending animal. He looked down at his leg to see the venom had burnt a hole through the material of his leggings and a gray tendril of smoke arose from it.
"Oh, I think they are very dangerous, Legolas."
Just as the snake, angry it had not felled its victim on the first try, attempted to strike again. Before it could, however, Legolas' twin blades whirled down and sliced it half. His eyes widened when he saw a sizzling acid bubble on his knives where they had cut into the snake's body.
That seemed to set off an alarm among the snakes.
Simultaneously, every slithering body moved forward angrily, though with some caution. Aragorn reached behind him and felt slightly assured when he felt the smooth texture of the elf's tunic under his fingers. Not taking his eyes off the advancing serpents, he spoke urgently to Legolas, not even bothering to keep his voice down anymore.
"Legolas, if their venom can have that kind of affect on my clothes and your knives, I really don't think we should stay here and get bitten!"
The Prince of Mirkwood gritted his teeth. "Well, what do you propose we do!?!"
Aragorn took a breath to answer, but stopped suddenly when something hanging directly above him caught his eye. "Legolas! The trees!"
Without pausing to look again at the quickly approaching snakes, Aragorn leapt up as high as he could. He was rewarded at the feel of rough bark in his hands. "Hurry, Legolas, follow me!" Aragorn swung himself up and folded his legs over the overhanging branch. Once he steadied himself, one jump landed him on a sturdier branch. Only then did he have the chance to see how Legolas was faring.
The renowned archer was having difficulties. Once the serpents had seen Aragorn disappear into the foliage above, they had apparently turned furious at the thought of losing their prey. Now, Legolas was slicing at attacking snakes while trying to find a spare moment to jump into the tree with Aragorn.
The Ranger immediately pulled his bow from his back. Rough fingers dancing, he notched an arrow with speed and shot at the general area around Legolas' feet. The arrow had come as a surprise to the snakes - they backed off for a split second. In that moment, Legolas sheathed his Elven blades and leapt high onto the waiting branch. The young Prince grasped the rough bark gently and stared down below him. For a full minute, the two friends did naught but sit and watch, unwise as it was.
Aragorn felt his shoulders hit something - Legolas. He had not even realized he he had been scooting backwards, away from the serpents' searching tongues that were so ominously flickering. The human's eyes darted back and forth among the small, but potentially lethal, creatures that slithered closer and closer. He could hear Legolas speak softly from behind him.
Aragorn pulled the elf to where he was and they crouched there, watching the furious snakes hissing and crawling over each other below.
"Legolas," Aragorn glanced at his friend. "We can't stay up here forever."
The elf's eyes were troubled. "I know that, but it doesn't look like they're going to let off anytime soon."
Aragorn stared hard at the writhing mass beneath them and shivered at the thought of falling victim to their fatal strikes. He had no intention of dying so soon, and admittedly, he was more than anxious to just disappear. He prodded Legolas lightly, getting the elf's attention.
"We should make a getaway through the trees. At least then they can't track us easily if we're above them, and we can still follow the river from up here."
Legolas nodded. "Right. Come on then. Be quiet as you can, we don't know how acute their senses are."
With that, the Prince of Mirkwood stood up gracefully and immediately made his way through the branches with ease. Aragorn followed, though not so lightly. He strained his eyes in the night.
~Blast, these branches are hard to see in this cursed dark~
He could hear Legolas' soft voice drift back to him from ahead.
"Be careful where you step, Aragorn, some of these branches are not too sturdy."
Aragorn frowned to himself as he grasped on to whatever he could for balance. It was times like these he wished he were an elf. A flash of color below caught his attention. The masses of brightly colored serpents were following them, their beady onyx eyes fixed on the two figures above them. Aragorn shivered again as he continued to step forward, his eyes cemented to the ground.
He realized too late he should have been focusing his attention elsewhere.
With a splintering crack, the limb below him snapped in half. With a cry of surprise and dismay he faltered wildly, desperately reaching for anything nearby to steady himself. He found none.
"Legolas!!"
Leaves and twigs flying up around him, Aragorn fell from the topmost branch of the great oak, straight towards the forest floor and the bared fangs that rose to greet him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Love it? Hate it? Like I said in the beginning of this chapter, I'm experiencing some major frustration with this story, so feel free to give me some suggestions!
