Thanks for the reviews, everyone – I really appreciate them. And I don't know about the whole Mary-Sue thing ... I guess maybe Xiliana is a bit like a Mary-Sue, but hopefully she won't be more of a Mary-Sue than I'm trying to make her!
Oh, I realised I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter ... shame on me! Well, here it is:
I don't own the Lord of the Rings or anything connected to it, apart from Xiliana. Oh, and again, that is NOT Legolas locked in my closet ...
Chapter 2: Into another world
Xiliana gasped again, scrambling to her feet. She was not at the edge of the woods a little way from her home, from her foster parents. She was surrounded by trees, but they were not the familiar thin, weak-looking trees of her hometown ... these trees were huge, gnarled, black monstrosities, stretching up endlessly, it seemed, towards the sky – although when she looked up into the gloom, all she could see were more branches and leaves, making a solid canopy above her, through which no light came. The only source of light was coming from the ground ... Xiliana looked down, seeing her locket, which was casting a faint, golden light – similar to the one she had seen before ... whatever had happened, but fainter, and growing slowly fainter every minute. She picked it up, holding it close to her as she strained frantically to think where she could be.
She was in some sort of forest, she could see that – but it was no forest she knew. And the sounds that she could hear, somewhere out in the surrounding gloom, were no sounds she had ever heard before – odd hoots, the distant sound of snapping twigs, and a strange sort of chittering, rasping noise. Xiliana's eyes widened in fear as she realised that as the light from her locket grew fainter, the sounds came closer ...
She spun around, seeing something out of the corner of here eye – a movement. What was that? As her eyes grew accumstomed to the semi-darkness, she thought she could see something, large and black, out there, between the branches of the tree ... and it was big, at least as big as she was. She turned in another direction ... had there been another movement over there? Yes, she was sure she had seen a similar shape to the first one, over on her other side ... what were these things?
Trembling, Xiliana held the locket to her chest, trying to hold onto the quickly fading glow, which seemed to be all that was holding the creatures away – and she didn't think she wanted to know what they were.
The sound of a snapping twig off to her left brought Xiliana's attention elsewhere for a moment – and in that moment, one of the creatures out in the trees leapt.
Xiliana saw the movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned back round with a cry of fear to see a giant spider, black and hairy, come hurtling out into her rapidly shrinking circle of twilight. She threw herself back, landing hard on the ground, her breath knocked out of her, the spider's heavy bulk just missing her. It chittered in what sounded like annoyance, and made to leap at her again. Just in time, Xiliana snatched up a branch that lay fallen beside her, thrashing wildly with it as the creature threw itself at her, fangs clicking and long legs flailing. It screeched, not having expected this counterattack, and pulled back from its suddenly less-harmless prey. Xiliana held onto the stick with all her might, trembling with terror. Giant spiders. Giant spiders. What sort of a place was this?
The light from the locket had almost gone out. Xiliana thought she could hear more chittering and scratching, the sound of more spiders, approaching out in the dark. How many of them were there? Could she defeat them? Not armed as she was with one stick …
The spider in front of her hissed and squeaked, almost as if it was threatening her. Xiliana kept her eyes on it the whole time. Maybe, if she didn't look away from it, she could escape up one of the trees … assuming these things couldn't climb. But it was worth a try –
Focused as she was on the spider in front of her, she didn't see the other one come creeping almost noiselessly up behind her. A small, sudden noise made her turn just as it leapt, landing on her and knocking her over, her branch thrown aside. Xiliana screamed, fighting to get the giant creature off her – but it was large, easily as large as a small horse, and very heavy. It snapped at her face with its sharp jaws, grazing her cheek. The graze burned as if someone had poured salt over it … did these things have poisonous bites? Xiliana wondered distantly, the thought seeming very far away and irrelevant as she fought to keep the giant spider from biting her head off.
It was getting hard to see … the light from the locket, lying where she had dropped it several feet away, was very nearly out. Soon, it would be completely dark, and she would not be able to see what she was doing or, more importantly, what the spider was doing …
Just as she thought she could not keep up the struggle any longer, a new light burst into the clearing, accompanied by the sound of galloping hooves. The two spiders screeched as if in pain, retreating into the trees – but not far into the trees. Xiliana lay on the ground, gasping. She had to get up … what if whoever, or whatever, was coming, was worse than the spiders …? She struggled to at least sit up, reaching for her fallen branch, just in time to see a horse and rider come hurtling through the trees and into the clearing, the light making the horse look dazzling white.
The horse reared as it entered the clearing, the rider's long, blonde hair whipping around his face as he leapt from the still-moving horse, drawing his bow and an arrow as he leapt, and aiming at the closest spider. The arrow flew from his bow almost before the spiders realized what was happening, striking one of them in the head, killing it.
The spider shrieked in pain and shock, collapsing, as its fellows hissed and chattered in outrage. The figure with the bow had drawn another arrow, holding it at the ready, and made his way over to Xiliana, though his pale-blue eyes were fixed on the spiders.
"Are you all right?" he asked her, keeping his gaze on the spiders, which hissed and clicked at him, but kept their distance from the light that hung at his belt.
Xiliana, who was struggling to her feet, looked at the newcomer. He was dressed in mostly browns and greens, his long, blonde hair tied back, revealing – Xiliana blinked – pointed ears. Like hers.
"I – I'm okay," she replied, shakily. The scratch on her cheek burnt terribly, but otherwise, she was mostly unharmed. The stranger glanced at her sharply, frowning in confusion – and at that moment, another spider leapt out from behind him.
"Look out!" Xiliana cried, but it was too late. The blonde newcomer whipped round quickly, but the spider had surprised him – he was bowled to the ground with a strangled cry, the spider shrieking triumphantly. Xiliana cried out as he was knocked down, but somehow, he managed to free himself from the tangle of spider's legs and pincers, and scramble back – and was backed against a tree.
Xiliana saw the fear in his eyes as he realized that he was far too close to the approaching spider to be able to use his bow. The others were closing in on them, and this time, they knew that there was no escape for their prey …
"No!" Xiliana cried. She saw the spider closest to the man rear up, ready to strike him a killing blow – and that would be the end for both of them, she knew. This was not the way it should end! It shouldn't! A strange, prickling sensation began in her hands, growing stronger as her determination grew, growing until it was almost painful. "You will not kill him!" she uttered, raising her hands threateningly. "You … will … not!"
Suddenly, she was thrown backwards, feeling as if all the energy had been torn from her body. A dazzling bolt of light shot from her raised hands towards the spider, which was flung back against the closest tree with a deafening shriek. It sagged to the base of the tree, twitching. It did not rise again.
As Xiliana staggered and fell towards the ground, she saw the other spiders retreating fast out into the forest – they had decided that this prey was beyond them. As everything went dark, she saw the now-familiar blonde stranger approach her, and the last thing she felt were a pair of strong arms picking her up.
Please review – is this too much of a Mary-Sue? Did you like it? Comments appreciated!