Chapter 12

Estel woke up to find himself encircled in Legolas' arms. It was still early, dawn was only just breaking. It was the first time that he had woken in the morning before Legolas was up. The young elf was facing him, eyes wide open and glazed over with sleep, his features entirely relaxed. He looked even younger than usual and suddenly Estel felt a fierce protectiveness towards this young elf. Estel knew that this was completely irrational; after all, Legolas was hundreds of years older than himself. And yet, there when Legolas let his guard down, he seemed to be vulnerable in a way that touched Estel deeply. He wondered briefly how many people had seen or were able to see that side of Legolas. He was certain it was not many. The young man enjoyed the closeness and closed his eyes again, simply enjoying the warmth of Legolas body against his own and the feeling of closeness between them. Slowly he drifted back towards sleep, only to come awake again when Legolas stirred.

"Estel? Are you awake?"

"Mm … not quite…"

They held each other for a while and then Legolas said: "If we want to return in time for the promise we made to our fathers, we will have to march hard today and tomorrow. We will also have to look out for spiders, so far we have not been in areas that have been colonised by them, but today and tomorrow we will travel through areas that are unsafe."

"Legolas? How do you fight spiders? What do I have to look out for?"

"There are two types of spiders here in Mirkwood, the ordinary forest spiders and the dark spiders. The ordinary spiders are small, there are a number of species, but none of them will grow larger than my hand."

Estel thought, but did not say, that he considered this quite large for forest spiders.

Legolas continued. "Forest spiders tend to be brown or light in colour, with a variety of markings. They are all shy, some of them bite, but to an elf their bites are nothing more than a nuisance. If you are unfortunate enough to be bitten by one of the larger ones, you may get a large, itching blister and experience some numbness in the area of the bite. But this is a rare occurrence, forest spiders are shy and will normally leave an area when other creatures approach."

"The dark spiders are very different. They are very aggressive. They are much larger than forest spiders, and black."

At this point Estel interrupted. "When you say large … how large do you mean?"

"When they are fully grown, and stand on all legs, they reach waist height of a grown elf or man."

Estel was shocked. Of course he had heard about the spiders in Mirkwood, and had even seen pictures of the evil creatures in Elrond's books. But he had not imagined these spiders to be that big! That size made them … not spiders, but monsters!

Unaware of the shock he had caused, Legolas carried on. "They do not travel alone. If you have spotted one, you know there are others around. Normally they will travel in groups; and some of their colonies are very large indeed; even a well-armed patrol unit can encounter difficulties when they encounter an entire colony. This is why no one travels alone through the southern parts of these forests, and some areas we now avoid altogether."

The young elf sighed. "Lasgalen is often called Mirkwood now, and unfortunately there is much truth in that name, at least for many areas. We are losing our home to the dark forces…." There was such sadness in the prince's voice that Estel hugged him tightly.

Legolas sighed and looked up. "Estel, should we encounter spiders you need to remember that they have only two vulnerable parts – their eyes and their neck, where their head is connected to their body. Dark spiders will almost always attack from above in the first instance, their stinger is underneath their body and they will try to drop on their prey. Try to get their eyes if you can, losing their sight disorientates the creatures."

Estel hoped sincerely they would not encounter any of these spiders. He was no coward, but he was note experienced in battle and the thought of giant spiders did not thrill him.

"Legolas? If they bite you, what happens?"

"If you are bitten by a large one, you will be paralysed, but still conscious. If there is antidote available, you might recover after some time. Otherwise you will slowly die of lack of nutrition and fluids. Spider victims cannot swallow, so unless an antidote releases their muscles, they die. Left behind, the spiders would suck their living prey's blood. It is a horrible death, I have seen it."

"How can you live here, knowing all this?"

Legolas was silent for a long while. "This is our home. It is not that long ago that it was beautiful. There is much beauty still; you have seen some of it. We still hope that we can regain our lands one day. I could not imagine living elsewhere. Yes, the spiders are a constant nuisance and increasingly a threat, but we can fight them. And we will do." There was so much determination and confidence in the young elf's voice that Estel had to smile.

"Come, Legolas. You said we need to march hard today – we have not even washed or broken our fast. Let us get ready and hope we will not encounter any spiders."

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For the next hour, Estel could not help but looking up frequently into the canopies of the trees, checking for spiders. This meant that he constantly tripped, until Legolas took hold of him and said: "Estel, please, look where you are going. If there are any dark creatures here, you will attract them with all of this noise."

Obediently, Estel forced himself to look at his feet rather than the heights of the trees. After another two hours he relaxed. There had been no change in their environment; the forest was just as light and green as it had been before, the sounds of small animals and birds all around them.

At mid-day, they stopped for a brief rest and had a drink and some berries. Despite their less than prompt start, they had covered a fair distance. Estel found the pace that Legolas set quite tiring, but he was too proud to admit that to his friend. He was still amazed at the hidden strength that Legolas so clearly possessed, with his slim build and fine featured face the young elf did not look as if he was particularly strong, although Estel knew well that appearances of Elves were misleading in this regard.

After they had sat for a few moments, Legolas got up. "Estel, we need to get on. I do not wish to stay in this part of the forest overnight, and we are still quite a long way from the nearest safe shelter."

With an inward grown, Estel stood up as well, wishing one more time that he was an elf. They carried on, Estel now much more relaxed. They had encountered no sign of anything untoward.

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After another couple of hours, they crossed a small stream. When they reached the opposite bank, they stood still for a moment. And then Estel felt it. Something was different in this part of the forest. Something did not … feel right. Somehow the trees seemed less welcoming, the sunlight seemed to be dulled, but most of all it was too quiet. There was no bird song and no rustling of small animals. There was just an unnatural oppressive silence.

The young man turned and opened his mouth to speak, when Legolas quickly put his finger over his mouth and shook his head. He leaned over and very quietly whispered into Estel's ear. "There is something evil here. I do not know what it is yet, but we should leave this place. Fast and quietly. Keep your weapons ready." He grabbed Estel's hand and pulled him further up the shore.

Suddenly, there was an odd smell, something that Estel had never smelled before. "Wargs!" whispered Legolas, "this is bad. Can you feel them? They are ahead of us, and there are quite a few of them. We are upwind, the will have smelled us already. We will have to fight them."

Estel nodded, suddenly a lump in his throat. He realised that he was terrified. He had never been in a battle or fight before. He just hoped that his hands would be calm enough not to send his arrows astray.

"Cover my back, I will cover yours."

And then Estel saw them. They were big. And ugly. And looked ready to tear him and Legolas up. The leader was a large animal, dirty brown with sharp protruding teeth. His eyes, small and yellow, looked at the elf and man with malicious intelligence. His mouth was already dripping salvia in anticipation of this easy prey. With growls and snarls, the wargs advanced in a semi-circle, clearly attempting to close the two youngsters in.

Estel's throat went dry and for a moment everything in him screamed: 'Run!' But then suddenly fear turned into ice-cold determination. He would not run. He would not leave Legolas to fight alone. He would take his stand, and they would make it through this together.

With quicksilver movements, Legolas had set an arrow aimed at the nearest warg. His bow sang, and the evil creature collapsed. But the others advanced further. Legolas shot another of their enemies. This spurned Estel into action. Years of training took over, almost by instinct his right hand found an arrow in his quiver, set it and his arms stretched. Much to his amazement one of the horrible creatures fell.

The remainder of the pack advanced even more. Two more arrows found their targets, but the pack had now come so close that they were almost encircled. Legolas took a quick decision. "Estel! There are too many of them! Up into the trees!"

Estel did not query this decision, but simply obeyed the command. He ran, and grabbed the nearest tree branch that he could get. Not a moment too soon, he had not yet succeeded into lifting up his legs when the nearest warg jumped up, fangs wide open. Desperate, the young man kicked down hard, hoping to miss the gaping teeth. He did, and caught the warg hard on the forehead. The creature fell back, only to jump up again howling. But by this time, Estel was safe in the branches of the tree. Without pausing, he looked around to check whether Legolas had followed his own advice.

Much to his relief, the young elf also stood on a branch. "Estel, come here through the branches. We need to get away from here." There was concern in Legolas voice.

The remaining wargs were snarling and growling underneath the trees they stood in. Carefully, Estel made his way through the branches to Legolas. He silently thanked Elladan and Elrohir for taking the time to teach him how to move in the trees confidently. They had always said that this was a useful skill, and now Estel wholeheartedly agreed. Once he had reached Legolas, they lost no further time. Quickly the young elf led Estel higher up into the trees, out of sight of the evil creatures below. The wargs would still be able to smell them, but they would not be able to follow them into the treetops.

The elf and man moved silently between the branches. They could hear the pack growling and snarling below. After a while, Legolas stopped. "Estel, we must lose these wargs. Here, wipe this over yourself. We need to alter our scent, and move as silently as we can." Legolas held out a handful of leaves from a creeping plant that lived on some of the trees. "Rub it onto your skin and your clothes."

Slightly mystified, Estel did as asked. Legolas did the same. As soon as they crushed the leaves, a distinctive, sharp odour arose, which made Estel's eyes sting and water. "Go on, put it everywhere. I know … it affects my eyes as well."

Estel looked at Legolas. The elf's eyes were as irritated as his own, and instinctively Legolas reached up and rubbed his eyes. With a sharp intake of breath and an unmistakable and very unprincely curse, he pulled his hand away. "Oh, this was stupid …"

His eyes now looked even more red and swollen than before.

"Legolas, are you okay?"

"Yes, to rub my eyes was a stupid thing to do. But we need to move on, as silently as we can. We will find a reasonably comfortable spot and wait. The wargs should not be able to smell us now. They are not patient creatures, they will give up when they cannot find us any longer."

Estel hoped very much that Legolas prediction would hold true. The height of excitement had passed, Estel felt now incredibly weary, and they were by no means out of danger.

For a while, they carried on as quietly as they could. Both elf and man could tell that they were gaining distance from the wargs. After a while, Legolas stopped, and sat down on the branch he was standing on. "Come here, Estel, for a brief rest."

"Estel, we can stay here for a while until we can hear them no longer, and then we must descend. We need to find shelter for the night, the sun is near setting and we cannot stay overnight in these woods without any kind of protection. There are some natural caves from not too far from here. A long time ago, they served as shelters for some of my kin, some goodness lingers there still and no evil creatures have ever lived in these caves. They should provide us with sufficient safety for the night."

The growling and snarling of the wargs was getting less noisy, the beasts had lost the scent of their prey.

With a sigh of relief, Estel leaned against Legolas. Legolas held the young man close. "I am so glad nothing happened to you. I would have never forgiven myself if you had been injured. You are so young still, I should have never come this way with you." There was both regret and guilt in Legolas' quiet voice.

"Legolas! You could not know these wargs were here … do not reproach yourself."

With another deep sigh, Legolas said: "My father will need to know about this. We have known about spiders for a long time, wargs have never been sighted here before. They will have to be routed out before they settle in. They cannot be left to roam the forests unchecked, they will kill all forest creatures at will, not for nourishment, but because they enjoy their pain and distress."

Finally the noises of the wargs disappeared completely. And then Estel noticed that the forest was still very silent. Too silent. Something was still not right, not right at all.

Legolas sat up straight, with a look of alarm on his face. "Spiders!"

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