The idea for the small crossbow is based on the modern-day "pistol
crossbow".
The idea for this small crossbow to be a multi-load weapon is based on a similar idea that Peter Jackson and WETA came up with for the TT movie.
Chapter 1X
Wrath
There was a hideous screech as a big black blur swept through the cavern. Both rats disappeared off Aragorn's chest. Shaglir opened his mouth to speak but when he did, took notice of the small crossbow bolt wedged in the back of his throat. The rats found themselves being flung into the face of another Orc soldier where they scratched and bit in their own terror - until the grey rodents overcame their fear and began to feast on the eyes of their new host until he, too, fell dead when a bolt made a home in his left eye. Five more Orcs fell to the deadly crossbow bolts until only three Orcs were left to face the fury that had entered their den.
Twirling the miniature crossbows in her hands, she grabbed the handles, clipped them to her belt then drew her sword. She felt lucky that things had gone as quickly and as well as she had planned. With surprise on her side and with the distraction that Shakir had provided, Anayah had managed to kill seven Orcs before they had finally noticed her standing in the entrance of the cave. Of course there were the two Orc guards outside the entrance whose throats she had slashed before they had even had a chance to cry out.
When she had first peered into the entrance of the cave and had seen what was being done to Aragorn, her heart broke and she had almost lost herself to her anger. But as Haldir and Gandalf had both tried to impress on her over the years, losing your temper in battle could easily get you killed. So she had fought the fury and set about the task of killing the Orcs as quickly as possible so that she would be able to free her brother.
Drawing her sword, she slowly walked toward the three remaining Orcs. Now extremely wary after seeing how quickly the others had been killed, the Orcs started to inch their way towards the entrance. However, when they finally got a good look at the demon responsible for the carnage around them and saw that they were faced with no more than an elf, and a she-elf at that, their plans of escape changed to plans of retribution and they charged her. The three Orcs stopped just ten feet from where she stood and watched in confusion as her ebony bladed sword began to glow. The warrior before them uttered words in a language they could not understand, and the sword she had been holding suddenly became two.
The three looked at one another and though they knew they probably faced their own deaths, raised their swords and ran forward. Ducking under the first sword and facing the tips of both swords outwards, Anayah used momentum to carry her between then behind the first two Orcs, almost cutting their bodies in two as she went by. The third and final Orc spun to face her and though she saw the defeat in his eyes, and he dropped his scimitar to the ground, she showed him no mercy, for he had shown none to her brother. Crossing both swords under the creature's throat, she suddenly pulled the blades outwards and as the Orc fell to his knees, both hands went to his throat where black blood welled over them and down his chest. It took him only a few more seconds to die.
* * * * * *
The first thing Legolas was aware of after he regained consciousness was that he couldn't move and for some time just lay still trying to remember what had happened. There were vague memories of fighting, the sound of a roaring white giant followed by crushing pain. Then he remembered, there had been an avalanche. He remembered shoving Aragorn away from the main path and hoping that his action would have given the Ranger a better chance at survival. He remembered managing to keep on top of the snow for a time but when he hit the tree, everything changed. He had tried to roll to the side and away from the tree, but had found himself too exhausted to do so. When the snow had finally caught up with him, for one small moment he panicked until he was violently slammed into another tree and lost consciousness.
* * * * * *
He tried to move but when he found he couldn't he began to panic until he remembered that he was encased in snow. The snow above him was a lighter color than the snow by his feet. He sighed with relief for that would mean that he was very near the surface of the snow and would have a better chance of breaking out of his snowy chamber. In truth, the last tree he had hit had probably done everything it could to save the wood-elf's life and had somehow managed to shield him from the worst of the avalanche's snow.
After several tries, Legolas broke through the snow to the surface and when the rush of fresh, crisp air hit his face he closed his eyes for a moment breathing in deeply and filling his oxygen deprived lungs. Then he looked around him, assessing his environment, trying to detect danger and most of all trying to sense if his human friend was anywhere around. He was disappointed when he couldn't sense Aragorn anywhere near.
After some time of pushing and digging at the snow with his dagger, Legolas finally managed to free himself but when he tried to stand, was almost overwhelmed by a tremendous burning pain in his side. He stopped a moment, and took a few deep breaths, trying to get the pain under control. His left side was on fire and when he reached toward it with his right hand, he was totally unprepared for what he found. There was a piece of a tree, about and inch and a half in diameter sticking in the left side of his body. Legolas smiled to himself. **Only I could have managed to live through an avalanche and come out of it with no worse injury than being skewered by a small tree branch!**
He broke off a large part of the branch sticking out the front of his left side, but knew there was no way he could or even should remove the rest of the branch. Even the basic medical training given to all elven warriors told him not to remove the branch because if he did, he would more than likely bleed to death because it would be impossible for him to staunch the blood flow on both sides of his body, nor would he be able to care for the internal damage. He had to try and find Aragorn and get them both back to Rivendell.
He began to walk then, not recognizing in his pain and fatigue that he was, in fact, moving away from Rivendell and not towards it. How long he walked he had no idea. All he could remember was falling and getting up and walking some more as the pain blended his memories and reality all together.
He fell once again but when he tried to get back on his feet he realized he had neither the strength nor the will to go any farther. As he lay there in the snow, curled up in an attempt to ease his pain, he heard footsteps approaching, crunching in the snow as they came closer. A pair of legs stopped just in front of his head and he noticed that they were human legs.
The last thing he remembered before he finally lost conscious was the sound of a man speaking.
"Well look what we have here."
Then everything turned black and he knew no more.
TBC
The idea for this small crossbow to be a multi-load weapon is based on a similar idea that Peter Jackson and WETA came up with for the TT movie.
Chapter 1X
Wrath
There was a hideous screech as a big black blur swept through the cavern. Both rats disappeared off Aragorn's chest. Shaglir opened his mouth to speak but when he did, took notice of the small crossbow bolt wedged in the back of his throat. The rats found themselves being flung into the face of another Orc soldier where they scratched and bit in their own terror - until the grey rodents overcame their fear and began to feast on the eyes of their new host until he, too, fell dead when a bolt made a home in his left eye. Five more Orcs fell to the deadly crossbow bolts until only three Orcs were left to face the fury that had entered their den.
Twirling the miniature crossbows in her hands, she grabbed the handles, clipped them to her belt then drew her sword. She felt lucky that things had gone as quickly and as well as she had planned. With surprise on her side and with the distraction that Shakir had provided, Anayah had managed to kill seven Orcs before they had finally noticed her standing in the entrance of the cave. Of course there were the two Orc guards outside the entrance whose throats she had slashed before they had even had a chance to cry out.
When she had first peered into the entrance of the cave and had seen what was being done to Aragorn, her heart broke and she had almost lost herself to her anger. But as Haldir and Gandalf had both tried to impress on her over the years, losing your temper in battle could easily get you killed. So she had fought the fury and set about the task of killing the Orcs as quickly as possible so that she would be able to free her brother.
Drawing her sword, she slowly walked toward the three remaining Orcs. Now extremely wary after seeing how quickly the others had been killed, the Orcs started to inch their way towards the entrance. However, when they finally got a good look at the demon responsible for the carnage around them and saw that they were faced with no more than an elf, and a she-elf at that, their plans of escape changed to plans of retribution and they charged her. The three Orcs stopped just ten feet from where she stood and watched in confusion as her ebony bladed sword began to glow. The warrior before them uttered words in a language they could not understand, and the sword she had been holding suddenly became two.
The three looked at one another and though they knew they probably faced their own deaths, raised their swords and ran forward. Ducking under the first sword and facing the tips of both swords outwards, Anayah used momentum to carry her between then behind the first two Orcs, almost cutting their bodies in two as she went by. The third and final Orc spun to face her and though she saw the defeat in his eyes, and he dropped his scimitar to the ground, she showed him no mercy, for he had shown none to her brother. Crossing both swords under the creature's throat, she suddenly pulled the blades outwards and as the Orc fell to his knees, both hands went to his throat where black blood welled over them and down his chest. It took him only a few more seconds to die.
* * * * * *
The first thing Legolas was aware of after he regained consciousness was that he couldn't move and for some time just lay still trying to remember what had happened. There were vague memories of fighting, the sound of a roaring white giant followed by crushing pain. Then he remembered, there had been an avalanche. He remembered shoving Aragorn away from the main path and hoping that his action would have given the Ranger a better chance at survival. He remembered managing to keep on top of the snow for a time but when he hit the tree, everything changed. He had tried to roll to the side and away from the tree, but had found himself too exhausted to do so. When the snow had finally caught up with him, for one small moment he panicked until he was violently slammed into another tree and lost consciousness.
* * * * * *
He tried to move but when he found he couldn't he began to panic until he remembered that he was encased in snow. The snow above him was a lighter color than the snow by his feet. He sighed with relief for that would mean that he was very near the surface of the snow and would have a better chance of breaking out of his snowy chamber. In truth, the last tree he had hit had probably done everything it could to save the wood-elf's life and had somehow managed to shield him from the worst of the avalanche's snow.
After several tries, Legolas broke through the snow to the surface and when the rush of fresh, crisp air hit his face he closed his eyes for a moment breathing in deeply and filling his oxygen deprived lungs. Then he looked around him, assessing his environment, trying to detect danger and most of all trying to sense if his human friend was anywhere around. He was disappointed when he couldn't sense Aragorn anywhere near.
After some time of pushing and digging at the snow with his dagger, Legolas finally managed to free himself but when he tried to stand, was almost overwhelmed by a tremendous burning pain in his side. He stopped a moment, and took a few deep breaths, trying to get the pain under control. His left side was on fire and when he reached toward it with his right hand, he was totally unprepared for what he found. There was a piece of a tree, about and inch and a half in diameter sticking in the left side of his body. Legolas smiled to himself. **Only I could have managed to live through an avalanche and come out of it with no worse injury than being skewered by a small tree branch!**
He broke off a large part of the branch sticking out the front of his left side, but knew there was no way he could or even should remove the rest of the branch. Even the basic medical training given to all elven warriors told him not to remove the branch because if he did, he would more than likely bleed to death because it would be impossible for him to staunch the blood flow on both sides of his body, nor would he be able to care for the internal damage. He had to try and find Aragorn and get them both back to Rivendell.
He began to walk then, not recognizing in his pain and fatigue that he was, in fact, moving away from Rivendell and not towards it. How long he walked he had no idea. All he could remember was falling and getting up and walking some more as the pain blended his memories and reality all together.
He fell once again but when he tried to get back on his feet he realized he had neither the strength nor the will to go any farther. As he lay there in the snow, curled up in an attempt to ease his pain, he heard footsteps approaching, crunching in the snow as they came closer. A pair of legs stopped just in front of his head and he noticed that they were human legs.
The last thing he remembered before he finally lost conscious was the sound of a man speaking.
"Well look what we have here."
Then everything turned black and he knew no more.
TBC