darkAngel36: I had Legolas wake up in the last chapter cuz I figured enough time had past for him to start waking up naturally anyways, and then the sounds of the fighting speeded up the process. Plus, it made for a good cliffhanger I thought. : )
Also, if you guys spot typos, I would love to hear about it so I can go back and fix them! Thanks!
this is the chapter I've had to tweak the most, I have begun to see an ending to all the plot lines that I think will work. And I've started working on another idea for a different story, but I won't post it until this one is finished.
here it is!
Worries, Escapes and Reunions
The stinger was poised, ready to inject its venom. As Legolas suddenly realized just what was about to happen to him, the spider moved. The stinger came whistling through the air, its aim deadly accurate.
Instantly, and instinctively Legolas rolled. He fell off the cot and landed hard on the ground, the spider slashing the cot down the middle, where the elf had been lying but a millisecond before.
Pain erupted over Legolas's back and side. His entire body felt like it was being sliced open by burning knives. His breath was knocked out of him, and his eyes began to water it hurt so much. His hands felt numb.
Yet he knew the way of the spiders, and so instead of trying to catch his breath, he rolled again. The spider was still attacking, and the stinger landed in the dirt beside the elf, once again just missing its prey by the merest of centimeters.
More pain. Legolas choked back a half sob half scream. Tears rolled down his face as he gasped, low moans escaping through his lips. The whole area of his back felt raw, the agony coursing down it in waves.
Still, again he rolled, spiders were quick stingers and there was no time to recover in-between attacks. This time he rolled right under the cot. The spider was furious, three times it had tried to subdue this elf, this weakling sick elf at that, and three times it had failed. The bloodlust had risen in its eyes. It wanted this meat and wasn't going to give up. He shoved his front legs down the gap he had made in the cot and tried to grab at his prey. Its hairy claws scratched at the exposed chest.
Legolas saw the legs coming for him. Black dots danced before his vision as he gasped for air, completely winded from the shock of his injuries. He strove to try to force the claws off him and to regain his breath. He reached for his knife only to find that it was not there. It had been removed, along with his tunic when Aragorn was performing the surgery.
The legs disappeared from the top opening. Perhaps it was finally leaving? Unfortunately this was not so. Suddenly he felt the spider latch onto his legs. He was being dragged forward. The spider had moved around to the bottom end of the cot and had grabbed the wrapped lower body. Legolas couldn't move his legs to kick it, and so the elf was helpless, being dragged forward to where the stinger was awaiting him.
Through the rip in the cot he saw the spider's eyes watching him. They were blinking rapidly, the yellow irises gleaming. Its mouth was opening and closing greedily in its excitement. It dragged him another few inches, and Legolas found that he couldn't halt the process. Each second brought him closer and closer to the deadly raised stinger and the hungry fangs.
Aragorn felt the web drop over him and knew that they were in for it. He tried to pull his sword out, but the sticky net entangled him and he couldn't reach it.
He saw a spider approach from his side, and instead of acting
defensively, charged right at it, web and all. The spider was unprepared
and so reacted too late. Aragorn plowed into it, scratching at its eyes.
His momentum carried them back, ripping half of the web off of him. The
spider stumbled backwards under the force, trying to regain its balance.
This gave Aragorn the time to pull out his sword.
Swinging the blade through the air, the spider only had time to move
its eyes upward to follow the path of the metal as it came down, sliding
through its head like a fish through water. The legs twitched
spasmodically, and then it fell on its side.
Aragorn pulled his blade out and turned to fight another spider that
had scuttled over. His sword whipped around, slicing at the legs causing
the spider to wobble. He drew the sword up and the stabbed downwards
through the center, pinning the spider to the ground.
He pulled it out, and turning, had a moment to see how his companions
were faring.
Tanvir had managed to draw his knives out before the web had fallen on him. He had easily slashed through the net and was now fighting as Aragorn was, focusing on injuring the eyes. Gimli however, had not fared so well. The web had entangled around him and his weapons, which he could now not reach. Two spiders were attacking him, harassing him with their legs. It seemed that at any moment the dwarf would be knocked off balance.
Aragorn hacked his way over and began to try to pull the web off. Gimli was swinging his fists at the spiders, and then Aragorn attacked them with Andruil. The spiders fell quickly under his sword, which was stabbing them in the eyes, and through the roof of the mouth, into the brain.
The spiders in their area were thinning. Apparently, only a small portion of all the ones attacking was over the trio. After seeing that two of the three were easily dealing out death, the spiders hurried off to another direction.
Aragorn wiped sweat from his brow and turned to where Gimli was pulling off the last of the web. Spiders could be heard scuttling in the distance. Tanvir walked over to them, a glimpse of rage showing on his face.
"Has anyone been stung?" Aragorn looked over all of them.
"No," Gimli was free from the web at last, "My armor deflected them."
"I have not been stung either." Tanvir was alert. All were aware that at any moment new spiders might see them and decide to go for the meat.
"Then we are all very lucky. How foolish of us to not expect this!" Aragorn glared around him, angry at such a gross oversight.
"The fire and corsairs were distractions enough. The king should have been preparing against this! What has he been doing?" Gimli had now removed all the webbing from his axe.
Tanvir looked thoughtful, "Actually, the king has not been seen for sometime. The last I heard, he had gone done to see the injured, and then some say he returned to the palace, and others say he is out here fighting."
Aragorn looked grim, "Either way, he has been neglectful. We need to find him."
Tanvir looked up quickly as a spider crashed through branches towards their left. It must not have wanted to go one verse three though because they were not attacked.
Gimli spoke up, "The spiders are attacking everywhere are they not?"
"Yes, so it sounds." Aragorn glanced grimly at the dwarf.
"Then who, as Tanvir said, who is seeing to the injured? Are they being defended?"
Tanvir whirled around to stare at Gimli, "There could be no one! Come, we must hurry to their aid!"
The three continued towards what had been their original destination, but this time with more urgency.
Sanul laughed out loud. Things could not have gone more perfectly. The spiders were beautiful distractions for the elves, and his men could defend themselves well enough. His ships would soon be full of staggering amounts of potential profit. He would be able to retire entirely from the business and become a buyer instead, perhaps going into small trading.
He pulled his cloak more tightly around him and raised its hood so that he was covered completely. His whip was already uncoiled. He waited patiently and was rewarded by an elf running by. He threw the whip out, but surprisingly, missed as the elf flung himself sideways.
However it was a futile attempt. Sanul simply pulled out his sword and ran it through the chest of the warrior. He was angry with his miss. He liked to think that he was perfect with his weapon. He turned in another direction, trying to figure out which way those fighting the fire would be grouped.
The fire. If there was one thing that was not helping at the moment it was this. True, the fire had been what caught his attention in the first place, but then it had been more controlled. Sanul found now that it was spreading all over. Not all of their routes back were safe anymore. He sighed, and the grinned. Out of all of the possible problems, fire cutting off their path was not the worst thing that could happen. He was confident that his men would find ways to get back if he so commanded it. It was that, or face his wrath.
He was going to cross to another tree, heading still towards the flame line, when he saw a man carrying an elf over his shoulders. The eldar was dying, blood dripping out of its mouth, onto the forest floor. He had been stabbed through the heart, and lungs. On his shoulder was a nasty bruised swelling area, courtesy of the spider's sting. The man was hurrying in a specific direction, every now and then, glancing over his shoulder.
Sanul remembered that there had been a place of healing. Here the elves would not be able to fight back. Excellent! Changing his mind about his direction, he now took off, following this pair. This would be an extremely fruitful harvest.
His back was being scraped against the ground, causing him finally to scream. He was furious with himself for not being able to stop the creature. His hands dug into the ground, but to no avail, the spider was steadily pulling him outward. It was ready to end this struggle and bring home its meat.
In a final effort, Legolas took one last breath, and rolled again, his upper body coming out by the side of the cot. As he rolled, everything went grey for a few seconds, the pain nigh unbearable. But the tactic worked. For a moment the spider was confused, and tried to keep dragging him from the other position. As Legolas felt his body twisting, the greyness cleared. He moved and saw one of his knives, lying half way off his tunic. It had been sitting on the other side of the cot the whole time. If he had rolled the other way during the beginning of the fight, he would have fallen right on the blade, maybe not impaling himself, but he certainly would have been injured even more.
Now however it was the luck he needed. He grabbed it with one hand, having to stretch his arm in order to do so. He felt his side wound reopen. He gagged on the feeling. Nausea coursed through him, and his face went deathly white.
The spider figured out that the prey was out in the open again. He scuttled over, and went to sting. Legolas didn't roll this time, instead, he swiped at the spiders belly before it could bring its stinger down.
A hissing sound escaped from the beast. Fury and rage reared up in its eyes. It was angry that this prey had found a defense. He moved to attack again.
This time Legolas chopped at the leg. He could barely move, the pain paralyzing him, but he was able to grit his teeth and move his arm. The spider again stumbled back.
Legolas moved his knife quickly and sliced through the web biding his legs. Now he could move them a little, the clinging strands only hindering him partially. He pulled his legs up, and found a whole new meaning of agony. The muscles used in his back were protesting from the movement. The shock left him completely dazed. Again the world went grey, and blackness swam before him.
He wrenched his mind to the present. The stinger was back. He rolled, and felt it stinger scrape part of his pants, ripping them, and scraping along his flesh, but not quite piercing his skin. He rolled back over so that now he was directly under the spider, and shoved his knife straight up.
Blood squirted down onto his face, hands, and upper body. He coughed on it, and the spider pulled forward, removing the blade from itself. It staggered. It was dying. Blood was gushing from it, black blood that stained the ground. Yet still it was not through. It turned back to take its prey down with it.
Legolas saw it coming, yet could do nothing. He lay, consumed by pain, unable to move. The last upward thrust had reopened his back wound and he had not even been aware of how much damage he had done. All he was aware of was that he felt like he was burning alive. His mouth was open in silent screams as he twitched uncontrollably. Blood was again pooling around him, soaking through the bandages that Aragorn had worked to wrap. The world spun with the loss of blood that flowed to the ground.
The spider smelled it. In its last moments of life it pulled itself over to where the elf lay. It glared down at the eldar. It was moaning, and struggling to move, to grasp his weapon. The spider would have none of this. It raised its stinger for the last time, preparing to bring it down into the head, to kill and ensure death to his prey, just as itself was sure to die.
Legolas desperately tried to reach the knife. Using his legs he pushed himself sideways. All strength as drained from his at this. He had dragged his back across the ground. Never ending, fresh waves of torture rolled across his body. He saw the stinger rise, and for a second his vision went black.
It cleared, and he saw the stinger come hurling down. In the end he found that perhaps death would be welcome against so much torment in life. Blood was dripping from his mouth where he had bit his lip and tongue in trying to regain his breath and push the pain aside. His eyes followed the stinger downwards on its destined path.
The tip of an arrow sprouted from the spider's eye. Legolas could only lie there and blink. Another arrow sprouted. The stinger faltered in its path and missed, striking the earth just beside Legolas's ear, pining some strands of his hair, it had been that close.
The spider collapsed, half of its legs falling across the elf, the claws scraping against him one last time. Legolas gasped and tried to move away. He was confused, his mind and thinking disjointed because of the injuries.
He felt hands on his shoulders, helping him to crawl away somewhat, and from far away he could hear worried voices. But the nausea was overwhelming him. He turned, and supporting himself with his hands, vomited. He couldn't stop, the nausea was so great. When he had emptied his stomach, he simply dry heaved, only dimly aware that someone was pulling his hair back from his face.
Finally the nausea seemed to diminish. Sounds came a bit clearer to him, and he sat back. His vision also cleared somewhat and he saw Tanvir sitting in front of him. The source of the arrows, he thought. Of course.
"Legolas! Don't move any more, you've reopened your wounds."
"I can tell." His voice was hoarse, cracking with pain.
A different voice, coming from where he couldn't see spoke to him, "We're going to roll you off of your back. Hold as still as you can."
Legolas, through the haze in his mind tried to match the voice, his brow furrowed, "Aragorn?"
"Yes I am here."
Legolas coughed, "Ah, that is good."
He thought he heard a chuckle escape from his friend's lips, "I am glad you think so. I am sorry, but this is going to hurt."
All of a sudden a piercing sting was felt in his back. Legolas jerked and felt hands steady him. All he could do was stare at a patch of ground, trying to focus on it and remain conscious. He knew that Aragorn was re-sewing the wound close.
Another voice came, "I have the bandages. I had to dig through the remains of the cot."
"I am going to go help others. There are too many spiders in this area." Tanvir's hands left him and another pair pressed down on his shoulders to keep them from shuddering too much.
So Gimli is here also. Legolas felt another stitch and couldn't help the low moan that slipped through his lips.
"He's almost done lad."
With an effort Legolas spoke, "I have never been able to... understand why you call me that,... even though I am thousands of years... your senior. Lad indeed." He coughed, trying hard to breath.
"That's the spirit." Gimli grinned at his friend though Legolas couldn't see it.
He, Aragorn, and Tanvir had run into the area, fighting with the spiders. The place had been saturated with them. Many of the cots lay empty, and Gimli didn't like to think what had happened to those poor souls.
He had hewed many a spider on his axe, chopping through them as they came up. Then he had spotted, by far, the largest spider he had ever seen. It was staggering around something, ready to kill it. The 'it' turned out to be Legolas. Tanvir had shot two arrows into the creature, bringing it down just in time it seemed.
The three friends had run up. Legolas had seemed nearly unconscious, his eyes unfocused and clouded. His hands were moving faintly, and he was gasping, trying to pull himself in the opposite direction from where the spider lay. Tanvir had helped his friend move away, and then held him while the elf spit seemingly everything he had in him back up. It was here that Aragorn noticed the blood coming from the wounds.
Gimli went to search for bandages. The cot had been destroyed, ripped and then broken by the spider he supposed. The ground was ravaged from the fight, and blood was everywhere, as well as cobweb.
By the time Gimli found them and brought them back, it seemed that Legolas had recovered a little. He was talking, even if his voice was laced with agony, and his speech was a little jerky and slurred.
The dwarf looked over the shoulders of his friend to see how far Aragorn had come along. The back wound was had only a few stitches left until it would be completely re-closed. As he worked, the ranger applied painkillers and other types of cleansing herbs to the back.
Another moan came from the elf. Gimli could understand why.
"Finished. Hand me the bandages." Aragorn took what Gimli gave him, and now began to re-wrap across the chest, having Legolas move carefully when he needed him to. The elf's breath was coming in gasps.
"The spider is dead completely?"
"Yes it is."
Legolas's tone went sarcastic, "Well that's a shame." Through his gasps of breath he laughed shallowly, using humor to distract himself from the pain and to focus his mind.
Gimli snorted to himself, "Yes, I'm sure it will be missed. Stupid brute."
Legolas sighed, "s'alright, I am sure there are many to take its
place." His brow furrowed again, "Have other spiders come down?"
Gimli sighed, "Just the whole forest-full of them."
Again the brow furrowed, the effort to concentrate on his surroundings was obvious to Gimli. The dwarf knew that this meant that his friend was suffering a lot. "Why did my father not prepare for this? Where is he?"
This time Tanvir answered, he had came up just as Legolas asked, "No one knows where your father has gone my friend. He seems to have vanished. I have asked others to look for him and to receive his orders, but they have not yet come back. Do not worry, I am sure they shall find him."
Legolas closed his eyes and did not move any more. Gimli thought that perhaps he had finally given in to blackness. But it was not so. The eyes opened again and stared ahead. The elf did not speak. Gimli knew that the bond between the father and son was strained sometimes, but was still strong. He hoped for his companion's sake that the king was found soon.
Aragorn finished and Legolas was able to sit up slowly. Halfway upright he went stiff and dead still, his hands groping around him for a few seconds. One of them clutched Gimli's arm in a crushing grip. Unconsciousness was obviously trying to claim his mind. Then he blinked rapidly, and refocused himself. He leaned back against the trunk of a tree. Aragorn crouched at his side, re-stitching the last wound now. Legolas watched him curiously as if he was working on a different body.
Finally he spoke, "How long since the first attack. What has been going on in these woods? How did the spiders get so for in, and why--"
"Hold on a second, first question first." Tanvir calmed the sudden outburst of questions that came with Legolas's realization that time had not stopped as he had lain unconscious.
"I brought you here about mid afternoon the day before yesterday. You were not tended until yesterday evening, an overlook of our healers. The reinforcements from Gondor have come, and so have the spiders. It is a grim battle we face now. Elves and men are fighting valiantly, but we have lost our advantage since the horses fell. We think the corsairs are being led by an evil creature that has entered the forest with them. It walks hidden in shadow, and strikes quickly."
"That is ill news." Legolas had sat quietly throughout all of this, his face becoming much graver in expression as the situation was presented to him. He sighed, and then gasped as Aragorn tied off the last stitch.
The ranger looked his friend over, "These should hold as long as you don't battle again as you just did."
"That is very comforting." The elf tried to stand and could not by himself. Tanvir and Aragorn helped him up. They headed away from the site of the struggle.
As they walked in between bodies in the area, Aragorn spotted an elf. It was lying under a spider that had been killed by Gimli's axe. It was mostly bound up, but not enough to disguise his features. It was Arjillion. Aragorn could tell that the head healer was dead. He murmured his shock, and moving forward, dragged the spider off.
He cut the webs away and then crossed the hands. The face was cold and stiff, the eyes would not remain closed. Legolas and Tanvir watched sadly, the former leaning on the latter for support. Gimli cast his eyes downwards.
Aragorn, stood, they would have to come back later to bury him properly. After they had helped Legolas find a good position to rest and recover, Aragorn wished to return to battle periodically to fight and to heal others.
For indeed, such help would be needed desperately. Spiders were killing elves more so than corsairs. The creatures had sensed vulnerability about the eldar, tasting a weakness in the air that had never been there before in all of their dealings with them.
Elf after elf fell to their stingers, and to the corsair blades. The elves were really what the corsairs wanted, the men they simply tried to kill. But the folk of Mirkwood and Gondor fought bravely back. Under the trees and smoke a huge battle reigned, with no sure victory in sight.
Her dress trailed across the ground behind her. It was a long golden one, with red trimmings going across her cuffs and collar. Her hair hung down as always, black and smooth.
Awren stood on the balcony outside the master bedroom. He eyes were turned towards the distant smoke. Somewhere under that she knew Aragorn would be, fighting hard to stop the spread of the flames. Even though he had to do this, she still wished for him here, beside her. She missed his presence greatly, their time together was so short, every second not together was a second wasted.
In her mind she calculated about how many days she thought it would be until she could see him again. Her message to the dwarfs had left the day Aragorn had, by now it should have arrived at the glittering caves. They should have already started traveling to the forest by now, and with their help the fire would be quickly vanquished. Then give another three or four days for Aragorn to return.
Yet in her heart she felt that this was not so. Something about that smoke communicated an ominous feeling to her. She wished she could have gone with the others to the forest. This waiting and not knowing was gnawing away at her day in and day out.
Abruptly she turned and left the balcony, re-entering the bedroom. She knew that by looking out at the smoke she was only torturing herself. She needed to focus her mind on other things that had to be done. She left the room, everything in it reminded her of her husband.
She went to the throne room, but was informed that no one was waiting for an audience. She sighed, never had she felt so restless. She wished desperately for something to change.
As if on cue, a page entered the room. "My lady, there is something you need to see outside."
"What is wrong?" Awren's eyes looked over the young boy, his body language was not anxious, but communicated an urgency.
"More clouds arrive from the east."
Awren stood and followed the boy outside, into the courtyard. She looked up. Wind now whipped her hair. Indeed it was true, dark storm clouds as before were gathering in the east. But they did not appear to be heading towards the kingdom. For this Awren was relieved. She did not wish to have to fight fires burning at the city. She kept a wary eye on the clouds though, and went inside to start planning water distribution in case the wind changed direction and brought the storm over.
There had been no time. The spiders had been completely successful. Urgsha had been subdued, but Thranduil, wishing to keep his wits about him had pretended to faint, so thus it was that he was not stung before he was wrapped in the webs.
The cobweb covered his face completely, he could barely breath. He measured his breaths, conserving as much air as he could. His was careful to move as little as possible. If the spiders thought he was going to give them trouble, he would be able to do little to stop them from stinging him.
Thranduil had been captured by spiders before, and knew that if one was careful, there was a chance of escaping with your life intact. He felt himself being lifted, and then perceived rapid movement, though he couldn't tell whether they were on the ground or in the trees. He decided that the trees would be more likely, as the spiders preferred to travel that way.
After a long time of this motion he felt the group of spiders stop. Muffled sounds came to him, and then the spider dropped him. He landed fortunately on his side. After a moment he heard the spiders scuffle away.
Now was his chance. There would probably be a guard or two, but he would have to deal with them as best he could. His fingers clawed away at the web, each scratch tearing part of the web open. Soon he would be free.
Many minutes passed. Thranduil now worried that the spiders would
return before he could pull out of the web. He clawed harder.
Finally he made a hole all the way through. He now set about
widening it until his upper body could crawl out. He shielded his eyes,
and then looked around. There was one spider sitting curled on a branch,
poking at Urgsha. Thanduil picked up a stone lying nearby and threw it at
the spider's head with all of his elven force behind it. It hit dead
center, killing the spider instantly. It fell from the tree, jerked once,
and then went still.
Thranduil finished removing himself from the cocoon web in peace. He stood. All around him the forest was dark. No sounds from battle could be heard. There was only him, the dead spider, and of course, Urgsha.
Thranduil looked down at the wrapped body. He stared at it for a long time, and then turned and left through the trees. He owed that corsair nothing, the grim fate was what the pirate deserved. He focused his mind on how to find his way out of the spiders' territory. Now as he moved, sounds of the arachnids scuttling around him reached his ears. He moved slowly and carefully, only stepping out into the open when he was sure that no spiders were around. As he went he picked up stray stones, in order to defend himself should he be discovered.
They had found another cot, one that was relatively safe from all forms of enemy attack at the moment. And although Legolas argued, they forced him to lie down again so Aragorn could recheck the wounds. None of them had any intention of letting him move from the cot for a while, the battle with the spider had nearly cost him his life.
Indeed, though Legolas would never admit this to them, he felt exhausted beyond reckoning. His whole body ached, and the nausea had returned, though perhaps not as strongly as before. Once he lay down he felt like he never wanted to move again.
After seeing that his friend was no longer in imminent pain or danger, Tanvir again headed off. His help and presence was needed elsewhere. Aragorn and Gimli remained behind, the ranger working slowly and steadily, dragging out the process.
The aim behind his procedure worked. After a few minutes Legolas's eyes clouded over, and his breath slowed down. The elf could not keep the darkness back forever, and sleep claimed the prince. This was what Aragorn had wanted, but he knew that Legolas would have protested any herb offered to him to help bring this about. The elf was too stubborn.
Aragorn was now finished and he rose. Gimli was going to stay to watch over and defend their friend if necessary. Others had been ordered to the healing area to assist the exposed injured there. That was where Aragorn was also headed. His skills as a healer could be put to good use. He had seen a man carrying an elf across his shoulders, blood dripping from the mouth and he wanted to tend to this eldar. The injuries had seemed very serious. The ranger moved off.
Gimli remained and watched his friend sleep for a while. The elf was resting quietly, still. His blue eyes were staring ahead at nothing. It was a bit unsettling to the dwarf. He knew that Legolas took extra delight in that fact, and that was why whenever the three traveled together, the elf always turned his face to the dwarf when lying down.
Gimli hefted his axe and turned to look around him at the woods. Battle noises could be heard approaching. He glanced at Legolas, and then back towards the woods. He experimentally twirled his weapon. At this moment the source of the noises revealed themselves. Two corsairs dragging a Gondor man crashed out from the trees.
Gimli took one look at them, and they at he. The dwarf roared and charged at them full speed. The corsairs' faces turned pale, dropping the man, they turned and ran into the trees. Gimli pursued them.
Unfortunately for the dwarf, he had forgotten that there were other corsairs in the woods. As he passed a tree, the handle of a sword reached out a connected solidly with his temple. He crashed to the ground unconscious.
The corsairs he had been chasing now turned around and came back, laughing at him. They started to drag him away, away from the elf he was supposed to defend.
Sanul looked about him. He had entered the healing area, the man and elf he had tracked arriving before him. He smiled, the few elves that had managed to escape the spiders were in no condition to do any sort of resisting. There were only a few guards, which would be easy to dispose of. It was time for the killing to begin.
Thranduil hurried from tree to tree. He had been dragged deep into spider territory. He realized that his chances of leaving it alive were narrowing. Spiders were on his tail, the original captors had returned and had caught his scent. They had started following him eagerly, and now they were only a few minutes behind him. He could hear them in the distance, hissing to each other, and to other spiders to keep a look out.
The whole nest was being sent out to hunt him.
Aragorn sprinted through the trees, his sword out. He had seen it, the living shadow. It had crossed a few feet in front of him and now he ran after it. It eluded him. He couldn't tell which direction it had gone.
He cast his gaze around, and moved towards the area of healing. That was the direction it had been moving in when he spotted it. He would track this creature down, and then engage it, putting an end to this battle.
He heard a small cry coming from ahead and doubled his pace. He
would not fail in this now. Andruil was out and gleaming.
Aragorn caught another glimpse. The shadow was moving away from a
body. The elf was dead, Aragorn couldn't tell how. But if he had to bet,
he would have said three scratches. He followed as quickly as he could,
but the shadow disappeared again despite his best efforts. He paused for a
moment, trying to decide which way to go.
He heard a twig snap to his left, and suddenly knew that he was in a lot of trouble.
r/r please! I'd love to know what you think, just please don't flame. Thanks!