Ah, I love to be loved. Here's your next chapter folks!
Authoress does not own:Lord of the Rings
Authoress DOES own: Ranhaudh and the Spider King/Princes! (see below)
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The water-gate was easier to reach then Bilbo thought it would be; and there were a few old wooden staves caught by the roots of stream-side trees that were still useful. Bilbo took two, for he was not at all a very good swimmer, though the elves were strong ones and could have bourn him if necessary.
The gate itself was only half shut - the spiders couldn't seem to work the mechanism very well - and they dove underneath it one by one, Bilbo going after Legolas and before Tavor.
Then it was a short swim down the dark passage to where the trapdoors were, and all three of them were concerned if the trapdoors should be sealed against them, but they were wide open. The cellars were in fact empty, though spiders had been here, leaving string all along the walls and ceiling.
.
.
.
.
There were some empty - and dusty - sacks lying in a pile that they used to dry themselves off with, and since it was early summer and the water had been warm, Bilbo had no fear of catching a cold this time around.
Outside the cellars, there was a bigger mess - piles of things that might have been furniture as easily as they could be carcasses were covered in spider string, and hanging from the ceiling in some places were bodies, all dead, and Bilbo felt like he was going to be very ill; but the elves managed to keep going and so Bilbo could do no less.
The piles made many hidden niches that had not been inside the palace before, and when the sound of a dozen footsteps came from around a corner both elves managed to find a place to hide nearly as easily as Bilbo did. It was an enormous spider, being followed by a slightly smaller spider, and the smaller spider was missing a leg and had some arrows in its body.
.
.
.
.
"You are an idiot, hisssss," the larger one hissed as they passed over the hiding hobbit and elves, "Letting your temper go all the time - I should eat you myself, and save the King the time!"
"I can't help it," the smaller hissed, "Every time I hear singing, I keep thinking about those stupid singing dwarves! Stupid stinging and singing dwarves they were, hisssss."
"Well, if you ever see them again, tell them to cut off your stupid mouth instead of a leg next time, hisssss," the larger one retorted as they headed around another corner and away.
.
.
.
.
"They were heading for the Hall," Legolas said as they climbed out of their hiding spaces.
"And those arrow wounds were recently given," Tavor added.
Going back the way the spiders had come from, the trio halted before going round the last turn that would bring them to the dungeons in this part of the palace. Legolas borrowed one of Bilbo's staves, and held it out past the corner.
Three arrows hit it, knocking it from his hand, and a fourth missed completely. There was a sound of Elvish from down the way, and Legolas called out in the same language.
.
.
.
.
Four elves were waiting beyond the corner for them when they finally went around, and they were very glad to see Tavor and Legolas, and even Bilbo, because he at least was not a spider. Behind the four was the entrance to a large cell, and inside were more elves, some very sick, others injured, but all willing to fight.
Soon all the able-bodied elves that could be armed from all over the palace were ready to move. The total was a score and five elves, including Legolas and Tavor, and they hid near the rooms where the most spiders were to wait for the signal from outside.
The second part of the plan was for Dilith, Lithen, Ranhaudh, and the reinforcements that Tathar had been able to bring back (if any) would pretend to attack the front entrance, leading the majority of the spiders outside and away.
.
.
.
.
.
There was soon a commotion amongst the spiders, and apparently the ones by the gate were caught so off-guard that the front passages were completely cleared of living spiders. Bilbo was close enough to see some of that fighting, although soon enough the Spider King sent out most of the bigger spiders to take care of this intrusion of elves.
The elves would have been easy prey to this attack had not a voice in the darkness of the now unlit passages started singing a most familiar song. Familiar to Bilbo, at least, and to the spiders, and whilst Bilbo was proud of it the spiders hated it with a passion that drove away all reason. The singer this time was Ranhaudh, who moved fast enough to keep out of sight without the aid of any magical rings.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Old fat spider spinning in a tree!
Old fat spider can't see me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Won't you stop,
Stop your spinning and look for me!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Old Tomnoddy, all big body,
Old Tomnoddy can't spy me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Down you drop!
You'll never catch me up your tree!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
A flood of spiders poured out of the palace, looking for the singer of that infuriating song - who by this point had already moved on to the song of 'Lazy Lob' - and were met by the arrows of the over two score elves that Tathar had brought back. The Magic Gates had shut securely behind them, and the slaughter of the spiders was total.
Inside, the rest of the spiders were being set on by elves that attacked from behind. In the chaos of fighting, Bilbo found himself in the doorway to the main Hall of the palace. Inside here, it was very quiet, and very dark. Bilbo's eyes adjusted after a moment, and what he saw was very unpleasant.
There were at least a dozen very dead elves hanging from the ceiling, encased in spider thread. There was something sleeping on the far wall, the largest spider Bilbo had ever seen, though it was not the largest in the world.
Thinking himself a great fool the whole time Bilbo picked his way along the near wall, towards where he recalled the Elvenking's throne to be. Not that Bilbo knew what he was looking for, but there was just something there that he seemed to see without seeing.
.
.
.
.
.
As it turned out, it was behind the throne, which was covered in spider filth: a thread package that had fallen off the ceiling some time ago, and had been forgotten by whichever spider had set it there in the first place. And the package was warm, and twitched a little when Bilbo nudged it, so he set to cutting away the threads.
There was a living elf inside it, and an older one, so far as Bilbo could tell, but it wasn't until Bilbo uncovered the rest of the elf that he realized who this elf really was.
Without a crown, but still wearing the necklace Bilbo himself had given him, here was Thranduil Elvenking of Greenwood the Great! And despite being wrapped inside a spider's cocoon for who-knew how long, and still being affected by spider poison, the Elvenking soon woke up, mumbling incoherently while trying to see who was next to him.
.
.
.
.
.
"Don't make too much noise, sir," Bilbo whispered, "And if think you can walk, I shall be very happy to escort you outside, for a spider's den is as bad as a dragon's to a Hobbit, even if he is a Burglar."
Thranduil then recognized him, although his sight had been hurt from his long stay in the wrappings of thread, but even though he managed to stand by leaning heavily on Bilbo's shoulder, his balance was sorely off from poison and a lack of fresh air and light, the latter being a very dangerous condition for one of the elf-kind. Bilbo had his staves on him still, though, and after sacrificing a pocket-handkerchief and using up some of his matches, he soon had a little torch blazing.
A proper look around was worse than groping blind in the dark - the floor and ceilings and walls were covered in webs, and thick thread strung about crazily, and then there were the bodies. Thranduil, when his eyes adjusted, went slightly off-color but said nothing. That was fortunate, since the next thing they saw was the spider Bilbo had noticed before.
It was larger than Bilbo had thought, covered in unusually brownish hair, and it was wearing a crown of dying leaves on its head. Something else was also very odd about this spider: all of its eyes were a thick, clouded milk color.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Why, it's a blind spider!" Bilbo said, forgetting to keep his voice low.
"I remember," Thranduil said, "I saw that one coming in, with three smaller spiders riding on its back. They were whispering in its ears, giving it directions. And that's MY crown its wearing."
"It's ours now, hisssss."
.
.
.
.
.
Elf and Hobbit froze as the three smaller spiders Thranduil had spoken of crept into view. They were bigger in size than Bilbo, and two stacked lengthwise were taller then Thranduil, and of the two Bilbo was the only one with a weapon on him.
The three little spiders had the same brown color as the blind one, and the blind one was in fact their parent, but they were no less evil.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"This is our palace now, hisssss," agreed the second spider.
"Skinny elf should have stayed asleep, hisssss," hissed the third, who was hanging from the ceiling.
"Little dwarf should have minded its own business, hisssss."
"Now we'll have to eat you, hisssss."
"And eat the rest now too, hisssss."
.
.
.
.
"What's going on here, hissssss? What's waking, hissssss? Who's eating who, hissssss?"
.
.
.
.
.
The Spider King had woken up, and was shifting in his bed. The three Spider Princes - for that is what they were called - kept their prey surrounded as they called back, "Gifts for the King, hissssss!"
"Gifts are always nice, hisssssss," the Spider King hissed, "But I'm still full, hisssssss. Wrap them up for later, hisssssss!"
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.
.
.
.
Obligingly, the Spider Princes leapt on Bilbo and the Elvenking, ready to wrap them up in thread. Bilbo dropped the torch and his other stave as he fumbled for Sting, and all the while the smallest of the Princes started pulling out thread to tie the Hobbit up with. The other two had gone for Thranduil.
The smallest of the Spider Princes was just about to sting Bilbo when the Hobbit stung him. It howled and tried to sting again, practically throwing itself into Sting. The Spider King hissed angrily as it heard the Spider Prince's death cry.
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.
.
.
.
When Bilbo pulled Sting out of the dead spider and turned to help Thranduil, it looked like the Elvenking didn't need much help. He had taken hold of the torch and was dealing both spiders hefty blows with the stave Bilbo had dropped. Thranduil managed to kill one of them all by himself, but stumbled and fell. The other spider took the chance to sting the elf, and was completely unprepared for the hobbit stinging it from behind. It gave out a howl as Sting finished it off.
Thranduil, however, had not entirely escaped being stung, but it was a very small cut and not a lot of poison had gone in. And in any case, there were more important things for them to worry about. The Spider King lumbered out of his bed, angry.
"Little flies, hisssssss! I shall feast on you, hisssssss!"
.
.
.
.
.
It roared and charged. Bilbo and the King managed to get out of the way as the enormous spider crashed into the wall. The palace seemed to shake as they half-ran and half-dragged each other towards the doorway to safety.
Unfortunately, while the Spider King's eyesight might have left him, it's sense of smell and hearing was still perfectly good.
.
.
.
.
"I can taste you, hisssssss!" roared the spider as it charged at them again.
This time, it bowled the pair of them over in the doorway and continued into the passage, crashing loudly against the farther wall. Bilbo fell down harder than the Elvenking did, though, and after this remembered nothing of the battle.
Authoress does not own:Lord of the Rings
Authoress DOES own: Ranhaudh and the Spider King/Princes! (see below)
.
.
.
.
The water-gate was easier to reach then Bilbo thought it would be; and there were a few old wooden staves caught by the roots of stream-side trees that were still useful. Bilbo took two, for he was not at all a very good swimmer, though the elves were strong ones and could have bourn him if necessary.
The gate itself was only half shut - the spiders couldn't seem to work the mechanism very well - and they dove underneath it one by one, Bilbo going after Legolas and before Tavor.
Then it was a short swim down the dark passage to where the trapdoors were, and all three of them were concerned if the trapdoors should be sealed against them, but they were wide open. The cellars were in fact empty, though spiders had been here, leaving string all along the walls and ceiling.
.
.
.
.
There were some empty - and dusty - sacks lying in a pile that they used to dry themselves off with, and since it was early summer and the water had been warm, Bilbo had no fear of catching a cold this time around.
Outside the cellars, there was a bigger mess - piles of things that might have been furniture as easily as they could be carcasses were covered in spider string, and hanging from the ceiling in some places were bodies, all dead, and Bilbo felt like he was going to be very ill; but the elves managed to keep going and so Bilbo could do no less.
The piles made many hidden niches that had not been inside the palace before, and when the sound of a dozen footsteps came from around a corner both elves managed to find a place to hide nearly as easily as Bilbo did. It was an enormous spider, being followed by a slightly smaller spider, and the smaller spider was missing a leg and had some arrows in its body.
.
.
.
.
"You are an idiot, hisssss," the larger one hissed as they passed over the hiding hobbit and elves, "Letting your temper go all the time - I should eat you myself, and save the King the time!"
"I can't help it," the smaller hissed, "Every time I hear singing, I keep thinking about those stupid singing dwarves! Stupid stinging and singing dwarves they were, hisssss."
"Well, if you ever see them again, tell them to cut off your stupid mouth instead of a leg next time, hisssss," the larger one retorted as they headed around another corner and away.
.
.
.
.
"They were heading for the Hall," Legolas said as they climbed out of their hiding spaces.
"And those arrow wounds were recently given," Tavor added.
Going back the way the spiders had come from, the trio halted before going round the last turn that would bring them to the dungeons in this part of the palace. Legolas borrowed one of Bilbo's staves, and held it out past the corner.
Three arrows hit it, knocking it from his hand, and a fourth missed completely. There was a sound of Elvish from down the way, and Legolas called out in the same language.
.
.
.
.
Four elves were waiting beyond the corner for them when they finally went around, and they were very glad to see Tavor and Legolas, and even Bilbo, because he at least was not a spider. Behind the four was the entrance to a large cell, and inside were more elves, some very sick, others injured, but all willing to fight.
Soon all the able-bodied elves that could be armed from all over the palace were ready to move. The total was a score and five elves, including Legolas and Tavor, and they hid near the rooms where the most spiders were to wait for the signal from outside.
The second part of the plan was for Dilith, Lithen, Ranhaudh, and the reinforcements that Tathar had been able to bring back (if any) would pretend to attack the front entrance, leading the majority of the spiders outside and away.
.
.
.
.
.
There was soon a commotion amongst the spiders, and apparently the ones by the gate were caught so off-guard that the front passages were completely cleared of living spiders. Bilbo was close enough to see some of that fighting, although soon enough the Spider King sent out most of the bigger spiders to take care of this intrusion of elves.
The elves would have been easy prey to this attack had not a voice in the darkness of the now unlit passages started singing a most familiar song. Familiar to Bilbo, at least, and to the spiders, and whilst Bilbo was proud of it the spiders hated it with a passion that drove away all reason. The singer this time was Ranhaudh, who moved fast enough to keep out of sight without the aid of any magical rings.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Old fat spider spinning in a tree!
Old fat spider can't see me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Won't you stop,
Stop your spinning and look for me!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Old Tomnoddy, all big body,
Old Tomnoddy can't spy me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Down you drop!
You'll never catch me up your tree!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
A flood of spiders poured out of the palace, looking for the singer of that infuriating song - who by this point had already moved on to the song of 'Lazy Lob' - and were met by the arrows of the over two score elves that Tathar had brought back. The Magic Gates had shut securely behind them, and the slaughter of the spiders was total.
Inside, the rest of the spiders were being set on by elves that attacked from behind. In the chaos of fighting, Bilbo found himself in the doorway to the main Hall of the palace. Inside here, it was very quiet, and very dark. Bilbo's eyes adjusted after a moment, and what he saw was very unpleasant.
There were at least a dozen very dead elves hanging from the ceiling, encased in spider thread. There was something sleeping on the far wall, the largest spider Bilbo had ever seen, though it was not the largest in the world.
Thinking himself a great fool the whole time Bilbo picked his way along the near wall, towards where he recalled the Elvenking's throne to be. Not that Bilbo knew what he was looking for, but there was just something there that he seemed to see without seeing.
.
.
.
.
.
As it turned out, it was behind the throne, which was covered in spider filth: a thread package that had fallen off the ceiling some time ago, and had been forgotten by whichever spider had set it there in the first place. And the package was warm, and twitched a little when Bilbo nudged it, so he set to cutting away the threads.
There was a living elf inside it, and an older one, so far as Bilbo could tell, but it wasn't until Bilbo uncovered the rest of the elf that he realized who this elf really was.
Without a crown, but still wearing the necklace Bilbo himself had given him, here was Thranduil Elvenking of Greenwood the Great! And despite being wrapped inside a spider's cocoon for who-knew how long, and still being affected by spider poison, the Elvenking soon woke up, mumbling incoherently while trying to see who was next to him.
.
.
.
.
.
"Don't make too much noise, sir," Bilbo whispered, "And if think you can walk, I shall be very happy to escort you outside, for a spider's den is as bad as a dragon's to a Hobbit, even if he is a Burglar."
Thranduil then recognized him, although his sight had been hurt from his long stay in the wrappings of thread, but even though he managed to stand by leaning heavily on Bilbo's shoulder, his balance was sorely off from poison and a lack of fresh air and light, the latter being a very dangerous condition for one of the elf-kind. Bilbo had his staves on him still, though, and after sacrificing a pocket-handkerchief and using up some of his matches, he soon had a little torch blazing.
A proper look around was worse than groping blind in the dark - the floor and ceilings and walls were covered in webs, and thick thread strung about crazily, and then there were the bodies. Thranduil, when his eyes adjusted, went slightly off-color but said nothing. That was fortunate, since the next thing they saw was the spider Bilbo had noticed before.
It was larger than Bilbo had thought, covered in unusually brownish hair, and it was wearing a crown of dying leaves on its head. Something else was also very odd about this spider: all of its eyes were a thick, clouded milk color.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Why, it's a blind spider!" Bilbo said, forgetting to keep his voice low.
"I remember," Thranduil said, "I saw that one coming in, with three smaller spiders riding on its back. They were whispering in its ears, giving it directions. And that's MY crown its wearing."
"It's ours now, hisssss."
.
.
.
.
.
Elf and Hobbit froze as the three smaller spiders Thranduil had spoken of crept into view. They were bigger in size than Bilbo, and two stacked lengthwise were taller then Thranduil, and of the two Bilbo was the only one with a weapon on him.
The three little spiders had the same brown color as the blind one, and the blind one was in fact their parent, but they were no less evil.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"This is our palace now, hisssss," agreed the second spider.
"Skinny elf should have stayed asleep, hisssss," hissed the third, who was hanging from the ceiling.
"Little dwarf should have minded its own business, hisssss."
"Now we'll have to eat you, hisssss."
"And eat the rest now too, hisssss."
.
.
.
.
"What's going on here, hissssss? What's waking, hissssss? Who's eating who, hissssss?"
.
.
.
.
.
The Spider King had woken up, and was shifting in his bed. The three Spider Princes - for that is what they were called - kept their prey surrounded as they called back, "Gifts for the King, hissssss!"
"Gifts are always nice, hisssssss," the Spider King hissed, "But I'm still full, hisssssss. Wrap them up for later, hisssssss!"
.
.
.
.
.
Obligingly, the Spider Princes leapt on Bilbo and the Elvenking, ready to wrap them up in thread. Bilbo dropped the torch and his other stave as he fumbled for Sting, and all the while the smallest of the Princes started pulling out thread to tie the Hobbit up with. The other two had gone for Thranduil.
The smallest of the Spider Princes was just about to sting Bilbo when the Hobbit stung him. It howled and tried to sting again, practically throwing itself into Sting. The Spider King hissed angrily as it heard the Spider Prince's death cry.
.
.
.
.
.
When Bilbo pulled Sting out of the dead spider and turned to help Thranduil, it looked like the Elvenking didn't need much help. He had taken hold of the torch and was dealing both spiders hefty blows with the stave Bilbo had dropped. Thranduil managed to kill one of them all by himself, but stumbled and fell. The other spider took the chance to sting the elf, and was completely unprepared for the hobbit stinging it from behind. It gave out a howl as Sting finished it off.
Thranduil, however, had not entirely escaped being stung, but it was a very small cut and not a lot of poison had gone in. And in any case, there were more important things for them to worry about. The Spider King lumbered out of his bed, angry.
"Little flies, hisssssss! I shall feast on you, hisssssss!"
.
.
.
.
.
It roared and charged. Bilbo and the King managed to get out of the way as the enormous spider crashed into the wall. The palace seemed to shake as they half-ran and half-dragged each other towards the doorway to safety.
Unfortunately, while the Spider King's eyesight might have left him, it's sense of smell and hearing was still perfectly good.
.
.
.
.
"I can taste you, hisssssss!" roared the spider as it charged at them again.
This time, it bowled the pair of them over in the doorway and continued into the passage, crashing loudly against the farther wall. Bilbo fell down harder than the Elvenking did, though, and after this remembered nothing of the battle.