Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize as Tolkien's.
Altaria Artanis: Well Alexis isn't quite the normal girl in some ways. The people she's stuck in ME with know her as a bookworm but they will find out that there's more to her then they know. As for killing the spider it was a mixture of adrenaline and survival instinct. On a side note I absolutly love your story Elanor...I'm ashamed to say that I haven't left a review yet but I usually end up saving it and reading offline.
Mel0Yel0#03: Thanks. And yes I'm in the process of writting the next Chapter of Careful. Sorry for the wait on all my stories but my computer crashed. I'm back now though. :)
soul: Thanks.
Manwathiel: No worries, I don't see this as a flame at all. Although, your sugestion would place things past tense and I'm writing in present tense to give the readers a feeling of being in the story (Hopefully).
roguewriter04: Thanks. And that's actually what gave me the idea for this one.
Renee: You and me both :). Just kidding, but I'm glad you think so.
ilfirin912: Yup, never miss it.
M.A.D: There's Elves here. :)
Ms. Unknown: Thanks
Elladans-elleth: Thank you.
Skylark Rose: Professional writing? Na, I've seen much, much better writers than me and many of them are right here on ff.
GinnyPotter4eva: Thanks and sorry this one took so long.
gundam06serenity: Thanks for the review.
When Fire Meets Ice: I think she was just a little out of it. She'll figure it out.
ShadowStar21: Here ya go.
A/N: Things in bold are spoken in elvish. And I'm sorry this took so long. My computer quit on me and I had to get it fixed.
"Professor, we've got everything we could find. Are you sure you're able to do this?" Alexis asks worriedly.
Professor Jones slowly climbs to his feet and Alexis and James rush over to help him. "I have to. We can't stay here and wait for more of those things to attack us."
"He's right Al, we'll just take it slow," Nick says handing the professor a spear to use as a walking stick. Alexis sighs and picks up her makeshift pack. Nick helps her slip it onto her shoulders and then pats her on the arm. "He'll be fine."
Alexis gives him a small smile and turns to look at the others. Zack is helping James slip his pack on without bumping his broken arm and Christy is complaining about, well everything. Melinda is standing off to the side, glaring at Christy like she's ready to throttle her. The professor tells them its time to leave and Alexis looks up at Nick with a hint of worry in her eyes. He reaches out and gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before following Professor Jones.
Alexis and Nick have a lot in common and have grown close the past couple of days. Nick, a 23 year-old college student, is studying to be a lawyer and is stragely enough, going to the same law school that Alexis will be attending next year. He also shares her love for reading and martial arts along with many other things.
The group has been walking for most of the day and are still deep within the forest as far as they can tell. They stop to rest and Christy sits on a fallen log and huffs. "This is ridiculous. How do we know we're not going in circles?"
Alexis rolls her eyes but inside she secretly agrees. With the trees blocking their view of the sky they're not able to use the sun to tell what direction they're going.
Melinda sits next to Alexis and sighs. "I am so sick of her whining. What do you say we gag her so we can all get some peace and quiet?" Melinda whispers and Alexis chuckles.
"Don't tempt..."
Christy screams cutting Alexis off abruptly. The two girls look up to find several of those giant spiders closing in around the group.
"Shit!" Alexis yells and grabs her spear.
"I think I just did," Melinda replies as she shakes in fear.
"Now isn't the time to joke around, Mel," Alexis says tossing Melinda a spear.
"I wasn't," Melinda replies as they back toward the rest of the group.
The group all stand back to back in a group as five giant spiders surround them. "What do we do now?" James asks but everyone is to scared to answer.
"Well. Look what we have here," a spider in front of Zach hisses.
"Holy shit! This fucking mutant spider from hell just talked! It talked! Spiders can't talk!" Zach says in a panic.
"Zach, now is NOT the time to lose your fricking mind," Nick says through clinched teeth.
"Yes. They will make a delicious meal," the spider in front of Alexis replies to the first one. Everyone having heard the second spider, steps even closer to each other.
"Now, wait. Let's talk about this. We don't really taste that good, kinda dry and really sour," James tries reasoning with them.
"Is that so? Hmmm. I think I'll check for myself," the spider replies and moves in to attack James. Nick reacts quickly and stabs the spider with his spear. It doesn't kill it though, but makes all the spiders extremely angry.
All five of the spiders attack at once and the small group is barely able to defend themselves. Nick finally manages to kill one of them but doesn't see the one behind him until it's to late. The spider sinks its fanges into his shoulder and he imediately reacts to the poison.
"Nick!" Alexis screams and tries to get to him but another spider keeps her back. It raises its front legs into the air as it tries to bite her and just as shes about to strike with her spear three arrows come out of nowhere and embed into its head, killing it. Without a second thought as to where the arrows come from she runs to Nick's side and the others soon join her.
"Nick! Nick, wake up. Wake up and talk to me. Please," Alexis cries.
The professor places his fingers against Nick's neck to check for a pulse while the others watch in horror. Professor Jones looks up at everyone and shakes his head sadly. "He's gone."
Zach and James help Alexis to her feet. "Come on Al, we have to go before more of those things come."
"What! We can't just leave him laying there. We have to at least bury him," she says angrily.
"We all feel the same way, Al but we don't have anything to dig with," Melinda says sadly as she wraps her arm around Alexis' shoulders and leads her away from Nick's body.
" Stop!"
The group stops abruptly when they suddenly have arrows pointing at their chests. Alexis looks up wide-eyed at the people in front of them. She counts eight men, who all have long white-blonde hair and...pointed ears?
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" one of the men questions.
Everyone in the small group looks around in confusion, except for Alexis, who is eying the men in disbelief. 'They're speaking elvish, they have pointed ears like elves, they're dressed like the elves in Lord of the Rings...huge talking spiders...holy shit!!' Alexis' eyes widen in disbelief.
"Do you understand me?" the same elf asks slightly irritated.
"I understand you but my friends do not speak elvish," Alexis says softly. The elf snaps his head around to look at her and she continues. "My name is Alexis and this is Professor Jones, Zach, Melinda, James and Christy. We didn't mean to intrude on your land. We, uh...lost our way and Professor Jones and James were injured. She glances over her shoulder at Nick's body. "And our friend, Nick was killed by those spiders."
The elf glances over the small group and upon seeing the grief, confusion and fear in their eyes he lowers his bow and motions for the others to lower theirs also. "I am Gelmir. I am sorry about your friend but you are lucky we found you. We are only out this far because we are looking for one of our soldiers that has disappeared."
Alexis frowns and pulls the knife she found out of her belt. She holds it out for Gelmir to see. "Was this his?"
Gelmir takes the knife from her. "Yes. Where did you find this?"
"That way I think. Like I said we are lost. We've been walking for the entire day but for all we know we were walking circles. I'm sorry. I wish we could be more help," Alexis tells him sadly.
Gelmir turns to speak with the other elves and Alexis turns to her group.
"What's going on? Who are they and how do you know their language? I've heard about every language in the world and I've never heard this one before," Professor Jones says quietly.
"I don't understand any of this so how do I explain it?" Alexis rubs her forehead and sighs. "OK. Some how we have ended up in Middle Earth." Zach opens his mouth to say something but Alexis holds up her hand to stop him. "Don't ask me how because I don't have anymore of a clue than anyone else. Anyway, we are in one of the elven realms. I would guess to say Mirkwood forest, which would explain the six foot tall, talking spiders. The good news is that we don't have to worry about the spiders now that the elves are here. The bad news is that now they will more than likely take us to Mirkwood."
"Christy looks at her worriedly. "Why is that a bad thing? I saw the movies. Elves are supposed to be friendly."
Alexis glances over at the elves before continuing. "There is a chance that everything will be fine, but when a group of dwarves found themselves in about the same situation in the Hobbit, King Thranduil imprisoned them."
They all stop talking and turn to face Gelmir when he approaches them. "Finrod and I will escort you to Mirkwood and the others will continue looking for Findecáno," he tells them.
Alexis inwardly groans and turns to her group. "They're taking us to Mirkwood."
Professor Jones sighs and then nods, "We don't really have any other choice. We'll just have to risk it and hope that the King is kind to us."
Alexis turns back to Gelmir. "Thank you for your help. And I hope they find your friend and that he's alright."
"Thank you. If you and your friends are ready we will leave now," Gelmir says.
"We're ready," Alexis tells him and the group sets off for Mirkwood leaving behind the six elves that set out in the direction Alexis told them they came from.
Alexis looks back over her shoulder at Nick's lifeless body which is now covered by one of the Elve's cloaks. She begins crying silently as she follows the group through the forest.
A hand softly lands on her shoulder and she finds Finrod walking next to her. "I am very sorry for your loss."
"Thank you."
Finrod nods and removes his hand but continues to walk next to her in a silent gesture of comfort.