Hello, hello everyone! How are you all today!? Fantastic. Well, I'm feeling kinda tired, so I'm not going to respond to all my reviewers, because I am lazy. Hehe. But thanks to all of you who reviewed!! And yesh, Kenny did have to die. *sobs* I was sad, too. But there is a purpose for his death. *grins*
Yes, I know that there was no Leggy last chapter, but I PROMISE there is LOTS of him in this one. Well, not lots, but enough to eliminate our cravings. J
Enjoy the chapamater!
~*~*~*~
I was sitting in my room crying. Morharmaiel was sitting next to me, her arms around my shoulders, rocking me back and forth like your mom used to do when you were little and crying. Lauren was sitting on my other side and patting my shoulder.
There were voices coming from outside the door. It was Legolas, The Warg Killer (a.k.a. Elrohir) and the other elf. I still hadn't found out what his name was, or what he looked like.
"Y'know, Laura, it's your own fault that Kenny died," I heard Frank say inside my head. I politely and mentally told him to f*** off. He didn't say anything after that.
I looked up as I heard the door open. The first person inside was Legolas, followed by Elrohir. When I saw the last person, my eyes widened.
"Oh Jesus, there's two of them?!" I shouted. The third elf was Elrohir's identical twin. Oh how fantastic life is.
"This is Elrohir's brother, Elladan," Legolas explained. Elladan smiled kindly and bowed.
"Milady, I am truly sorry for the death of your pet. It was an accident, but I assure you that our intentions were good ones. Please forgive us." He looked at the ground in shame, and I felt myself soften. I sniffled and said, "Elladan, you are forgiven. Perhaps if your brother were as polite as you, he would have my forgiveness also. However, until I get an apology from him, I refuse to speak to him."
"That is hardly fair," Elrohir argued. "An apology has been given on my behalf!"
"My lord Elladan, will you please tell your brother that I have not received an apology from him, and he must apologize directly to me in order to be forgiven?" Elladan looked at his twin.
"She said-"
"I know what she said, you fool!" Elrohir shouted as he slapped his brother upside the head. I grinned. It was fun pissing this guy off.
"I believe that Lothuviel's request is a fair one," Legolas commented.
"Stay out of this, Legolas," Kenny Killer growled.
"I'm afraid that this matter concerns me just as much as it does you, Elrohir," Legolas told him calmly, but I could tell he was slightly pissed off. Elrohir glanced at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. Legolas continued: "You will be staying in my home for the rest of the winter, and-"
"WHAT?!" I screamed. Everyone looked at me. "They are staying all winter? Why?!"
"Because, milady, the passage back to Imladris is blocked with snow," Elladan explained.
"Why did you not just wait until spring, then?" I groaned. I thought elves were smart!
"The message that we carry from our father, Lord Elrond, is urgent," Elrohir said. I looked at Elladan and blinked cutely.
"I'm sorry, my lord. I thought I heard an odd squeaking noise. It sounded like a voice, but it obviously was not. Could you please explain?" As Elladan repeated exactly what Elrohir had just said, the latter stomped out of the room angrily and slammed the door behind him. Legolas sighed heavily, and after rubbing his forehead, looked at me.
"Lothuviel, what are we going to do with you?" he asked seriously, but his bright blue eyes were twinkling.
"What did the message say?" Lauren asked.
"I cannot tell you all of it, but it discusses the growing threat in Mordor," Legolas said. Lauren and I exchanged glances.
Morharmaiel suddenly asked, "What did you do with Kenny's body?" I felt my eyes tear up, and I started sobbing again. "Oh, Lothuviel, forgive me!" Morha exclaimed over my wailing. She hugged me and started rocking back and forth again. I wiped my nose with a handkerchief Lauren handed me, then stuffed it inside my cloak and stood up. I started pacing back and forth in front of the foot of the bed. The three elves and Lauren just stared at me, obviously not knowing what to say.
"I think I shall take my leave, now. I believe the lady wishes to be alone," Elladan said quietly. I stopped pacing, and he bowed slightly and went out the door.
"I think I shall go as well," Legolas said. "Try to get some rest, Lothuviel. You have had a long day." He started to walk out the door.
"I will stay here and keep you company," Morharmaiel said. "And-" Legolas interrupted her by clearing his throat quite obviously. "Actually, I have some duties to attend to. I will be back later. Come, Mary-sue." She grabbed Lauren's hand and half dragged her out the door. Legolas smiled a small, kind smile at me, then walked out and shut the door softly.
I threw myself onto the bed and stuffed my face into the pillow, then screamed. Life in Middle-Earth is hell.
~*~
For the next two days I sat alone in my room, sulking and feeling sorry for myself. The only people that came to see me were Trelan, Lauren, and Morharmaiel. I think Elrohir (correctly) thought that, if he tried to come see me, I might bite him. I'm not sure why Elladan didn't come. I think he was scared of me, though.
On the morning of the third day, I was getting restless. I was pretty much over my grief, although I was still pretty sad. However, my need for fresh air was almost unbearable, so I dressed and got my cloak and sword, then strode out of my bedroom, bumping into Legolas.
"Lothuviel, where are you going?" Legolas asked as I buckled my sword belt around my waist.
"For a walk," I muttered. As I started to walk past him, he stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Take someone with you. I do not want you getting lost. Or hurt. Or both." I glared at him. I'm not that trouble-prone! Am I?
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Fine. I will bring Morharmaiel with me."
"She is down in the kitchen, I think. Would you like me to come with you?" he asked. I nodded, and we went downstairs in silence. We found Morharmaiel and Lauren in the kitchen, making some sort of food, and I asked if she would come with me.
"I would be glad to," she said with a smile. She grabbed a cloak from a peg on the wall and a small knife that Legolas handed her. Lauren tried to follow us. "No, Mary-sue," I said. "Stay here." I lowered my voice and whispered, "I'm going to try to loose Morha anyway."
Lauren shook her head frantically. "Laura, you dumbass, don't! What if-" But I had already turned around and walked out the door, Morharmaiel following.
When we reached the woods, Morha fell behind a few steps. I think she go the vibe that I was pissed and wanted to be alone. I don't know how. Oh wait, maybe it was the fact that I was slashing at any branches that were within a few feet of my head. Hmm...
Nah.
After walking for about half an hour, the woods started to get that creepy look to them. Even though it was early winter and all the leaves had fallen off the trees, it was very dark, and what little light there was had a spooky green tint to it. I hardly noticed it, though, and kept trudging along.
"Lothuviel, I think we should turn back. It is not safe in this part of the woods," I heard Morharmaiel say. I ignored her and kept stomping down the barely-visible path.
"Lothuviel-"
"Morha, please. Just... shut up," I said slowly. She got a hurt look on her face, but didn't say anything else.
A few seconds later she suddenly screamed "Look out!" and I saw the silver knife fly through the air. I heard it sink into something with a sickening thump, then watched as a huge dark form fell to the ground, making a terrifying, unearthly noise. I ran up to the thing, and nearly had a heart attack when I saw that it was one of the infamous giant spiders. You know how spiders curl up their legs under them right after they die? Mirkwood spiders do that, too, as I soon found out. As I pulled Morharmaiel's knife out of the spider's head the legs started to move. I jumped backwards with a terrified squeal.
"It is all right, Lothuviel. I promise you that it is dead. But we must hurry. Where there is one spider, there are bound to be more." I stared at the spider carcass, which looked like it had just crawled out of the second Harry Potter movie, then backed up a few steps. I looked in Morharmaiel's direction and stopped dead.
"Morha," I whispered, "do not move at all." Right over my friend's head, several more spiders were lowering themselves on strings of silk. I saw Morharmaiel take a big breath and hold it. Then, with a fierce cry that made me jump, she whirled around and sunk the dagger into the nearest spider's stomach. She had been three feet from death. I ran over to her and we started fighting as we stood back to back.
One of the larger spiders came skittering at me, clicking its pinchers madly. I screamed in terror, then swung my sword at it, and watched in amazement (and disgust) as two of the spider's legs fell to the ground and started twitching. This didn't seem to affect the giant thing in the least, because it made that same screaming noise as before and came towards me just as fast as if it had all of its legs. I raised my sword above my head, and with a "Grrraugh!" (that well-known elvish war cry) I stabbed the spider in its abdomen. Black blood spattered everywhere, including onto my deep red dress. However, I had other things to worry about besides whether or not spider guts could be washed out of satin.
"Oh, Valar, here come more!" I heard Morharmaiel groan. I looked over my shoulder and saw two more of the giant arachnids running at us.
I screamed in pain as I suddenly felt something dig into my right shoulder. I turned and saw eight large, shiny black eyes staring back at me, and two fangs embedded in my skin. Oh, how cliché. Morharmaiel turned also, and with a cry of "Sweet Eru!", grabbed the sword out of my hand and hacked the spider's head off. Its body fell to the ground, but the still-alive head stayed attached to my shoulder. I started to get light-headed and my vision began to get blurry.
"Oh gods, there are too many!" I heard Morha shout. She sounded so far away... "Lothuviel, I am going for help!" Her voice started to fade away more. "I promise I will come back!" I watched as her fuzzy shape ran like a shot into the woods in the direction we came from. I saw several large black forms scuttle after her.
The last thing I remember were many beady eyes staring at me. Then everything went black.
~*~
I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. All I could see was what looked like a thick, messy white net completely encasing my body. I tried to move my arm, then my legs. No such luck: it was like I had been paralyzed. It took a moment for me to realize that I was trapped in spider silk. I felt a pang of fear surge through me.
After a couple minutes of recuperating and heavy praying, I heard creaky, hissing voices that sounded like they were below me. I squinted through the strands of rope-thick silk and made out the forms of about fifteen giant spiders twenty feet below me on the ground.
"It was a bit of a struggle, but it was worth it," one said. The spiders were talking!
"Aye. She's got an awful thick skin, and she's skinny, but there's good juice inside I'll wager," a different voice hissed. I shuddered violently.
"There isn't much on her, to be sure, but she'll make a fine meal. It's been a while since we've had any good food," a third said.
"Yeah, well it was your fault those dwarves got away a few weeks back," the first spider snapped.
"It wasn't," the third argued.
"I think she's dead," a different one hissed. "She hasn't moved for a while.
"She ain't dead. I saw her move a few minutes ago. See?" I heard the spider scuttle up the tree trunk and out onto the branch I was hanging upside down from. Out of the corner of my eye, through the silk, I saw the spider open its jaws wide and sink them into my leg. I cried out in pain and struggled against the strong threads. The spiders laughed.
"She's got life in her yet, that's for sure," the one that bit me said as it made a new strand of silk with its spinners and lowered itself quickly to the ground. "Let's eat her now while she's still fresh," he ordered when he reached the forest floor.
"Naw, wait 'til she's dead; let her hang a while. They taste better that way." Oh God.
"Eat her alive, while the juices are still flowin'!" Soon all of the spiders were fighting over how and when to eat me. I was tempted to shout, Excuse me, but don't I get a say in this matter? After all, it IS my death. But I didn't.
~*~
I dangled upside down for several hours, getting dizzier by the second from all of the blood rushing to my head. I had decided to pretend to be asleep, just to prolong my death a little more. The stupid gits had decided to eat me when I was dead. Ah well, at least I wouldn't be put through too much pain.
"I think she's dead," I heard one hiss. "I'll go check." I heard its hairy legs skitter up the trunk once again, and braced myself for another painful bite. But it never came.
Instead, I heard wild hissing noises and the horrifying screaming again. I squinted through the silk and watched as the spider that had climbed up to bite me fell off the branch, dead. It had an arrow sticking out of its head. I looked towards the ground and saw five humanoid forms running around and shooting arrows.
"Yay," I said weakly.
The whizzing noise of arrows flying through the air filled my ears, and I relaxed a bit. Maybe I wouldn't die, after all!
I spoke too soon. A different spider had snuck up the tree, cut the thread I was hanging from, and started dragging the bundle of silk I was trapped up onto the branch. Then it lifted me up in its pinchers and started to quickly make its way towards a different tree.
I gathered up what little strength I had left in me and screamed, "HELP!" as loud as I could. Apparently someone heard me, because a mere second later I heard an arrow sink into the spider, and I felt myself falling, along with the spider's body, towards the ground. However, I was convinced that Legolas would act heroic and catch my falling form.
But did that happen? Noooo. Why? Because the Valar hate me, that's why.
The wind got knocked out of me as my body came in contact with the ground, and I moaned. "Oww..." I listened contentedly as the furiously screaming spiders ran into the woods. I made out the form of one of the elves kneeling down next to me and started to hurriedly cut away the silk. Once the bonds were away from my eyes, I looked up into the gorgeous face of Legolas. THANK THE LORD!!!
"She is alive!" he said. I looked around and saw the faces of Morharmaiel, Trelan, Lenwe (AAUGH!), and Elladan. No sign of Elrohir. Selfish bastard...
All of them except Elladan (who, as I mentioned before, was scared of me) rushed forward and gathered around. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? What happened?" were a few of the many questions asked.
"I... ow." And, with perfect Mary-Sueish timing, I fainted.
~*~*~*~
*prances about throwing blue and white flower petals around gaily* IT'S FINALLY HERE!! YEAH!!! Two updates in one day!! Go Laura!!! *does a victory dance*
"ROTK" is... wow. And Legolas is... fuckin' wow. My review for the movie:
"I laughed! I cried! I got horny!" –Laura Erickson, I Need A New Hobby Magazine
Please review!
Much lurve and (HOTT) Leggy,
~*!Laura!*~
P.S. I know a lot of people said they didn't want this to be a Mary-sue, and I'm trying to restrain myself, but I'm going to take another survey and ask, once again:
SHOULD THIS STORY BECOME A LEGOMANCE?
Please respond in your review. Thankies!