A Narrow Escape

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Legolas twirled his twin blades in his hands, the spiders being at too close of a range to be shot with his bow. The human sprang to his feet behind the elf, alerted by the prince's cry.Two huge spiders were slowly advancing on Legolas as he stood protectively in front of Aragorn, who was gathering his sword and making his eyes used to the pitch-blackness of Mirkwood's night. Finally having his bearings, Aragorn quickly moved from behind Legolas to beside him. Relieved to no longer have someone to protect, Legolas turned his focus solely to the spiders. They were as huge as Men's huts! Large masses of hair, each with black, bottomless orbs burning from their heads, eight long shaggy legs holding their bodies up. This had to be the most hideous sight Estel had ever seen. Legolas, obviously being the seasoned veteran of the forest, had fought the creatures before and knew how to bring them down though it was not an easy task.

"Estel!" the elf cried out to the Ranger, who responded to the sound of his Elvish name.

"Aye?"

"To kill them, you must stab them right where the head meets the body, but it must be done from above. There is too much hair and fat protecting the undersides of their necks." Legolas was grateful, in a way, that he'd faced the spiders before, or else it might be he and Estel in pieces when this battle was finished. Dodging a jab from one of the monsters' stingers, the elf, moving faster than normal eyes could track, leapt from the ground to a tree branch extending to the edge of the glade where the campsite was. Pulling himself up, the Mirkwood king's youngest jumped from that branch to the back of the spider he was trying to kill. Riding it like he would an unbroken horse, Legolas edged up several inches to where the head met the neck, with the spider twisting, turning, and bucking underneath him all the while. Shifting one of his ivory knives in his hand, the prince raised his arm and brought it back down, embedding the knife in the hairy beast's neck in one deadly movement.

Aragorn was not doing as well as his companion. The huge creature was proving to be much more able to inflict pain on the human than he had first given it credit for. Already, scratches adorned his face and there was one long, shallow gash across his chest. However, a mortal's patience, even that of a Ranger, was short-lived, and Estel quickly tired of this game of trading blows he and the spiders were caught in. Seeing Legolas take down his own opponent out of the corner of his eye, Aragorn ran through the elf's actions in his mind once, then leapt into action and mimicked them.

Not having a branch to leap up to, the young Ranger cut at the monster's face, momentarily blinding it with it's own blood. And that moment was all the man needed. Grabbing hold of the beast's long hair, Strider hoisted himself onto it's back and settled, his muscled legs gripping it's sides for dear life. Lifting his sword above his head, Estel brought it down to sink into the nape of the spider's neck, killing it instantly. The spider dropped to the ground like a dead weight and Aragorn shakily clambered off. His eyes met those of the elven prince, and they shared a weary yet triumphant smile. But there was no time to celebrate. Even as the second spider fell to the ground, victims of the deadly duo, the two companions could hear the breaking branches and terrified screeches of birds that signaled more spiders were on the way to the clearing.

"I believe that this would be a good time to be on our way," Legolas commented, his wit still intact, even after a life-threatening situation. In short moments, the two heirs had gathered their supplies and horses, and were on their way to the sanctuary of Rivendell, leaving the bodies of the spiders behind, a gruesome warning to the fouler things in the forest that there were now two who would dare defeat them.


A/N: i feel horrible, making you all wait so long, but i hope you can forgive me. This story will wrap up in about two more chapters, so look forward to them!

In answer to reviews:

LilPippin: I'm so happy that you like the story so far! If you haven't read the sequel yet, I'd wait until this story is done before you do. But you can read FNSG without reading this. Please tell me what you think of this chapter!

Joshua Nenya: Thanks so much for your compliments! I'm happy that you like how I created Aragorn and Legolas; I tried to stay as close to their personalities as possible, while adding and expanding on them as well. Hope this chapter makes you happy.

Velvet12: It's always nice to have new reviewers that like your work. And the following chapters will be all about how they begin to trust each other and become friends. I hope you continue to R&R, I'll enjoy hearing from you.

Daethule: Ooo, thank you! I'm honored! And believe it our not, I've been trying to make my chapters longer. Not sure this one makes the grade on that count, though, lol.