"This is a terrible plan." Farlen frowned, arms crossed.
"Yes." Legolas agreed, stretching a leg for emphasis, "Got a better one?"
"Go back and get a proper patrol. Four of us cannot defeat three nests."
"And the human villages nearby? Those hatchings won't be satisfied with other bugs for long." Legolas came over and put both hands on his shoulders, "Everything burns."
"Yeah." Farlen pushed his hands off, "Including us."
"So run fast."
Farlen rolled his eyes, "If I die, I'm haunting you."
"I'll be delighted for the company." Legolas turned to Tern, "Please don't light us on fire."
"I'll try not too."
They all looked down into the deep cervas they had picked out, juice from the forest covering the sides to make it impossibly slippery. And flammable oil from Radagast at the bottom.
Legolas turned back to Farlen and Avaleina, "Good luck, run fast."
Ava smiled and kissed them both on the cheek, "Your father is going to slaughter us when he hears about this."
"Probably."
0o0o0o0o0o
He crept up as close as he could to the nest without being detected, trying his best to look like any other rock in the undergrowth.
Waiting. Waiting for the signal.
They had to do this on time, there was no other choice. All the spiders needed to be together.
A horn blew, too quite for the spiders to bother with but loud enough for the elves to hear. He began counting in his head.
Farlen's nest was the farthest, so he needed longer.
Legolas sent another prayer of thanks to the training atrocities Lord Ferdan had put them through, because they all knew down to the last minute how long it took them to navigate their forest.
He just hoped they could predict the timing to the second.
The horn blew a second time.
Legolas plucked harshly on one of their webstrings, sending the whole thing vibrating. What felt like two billion eyes turned to him.
This really was a bad plan.
He began running with every ounce of strength and speed he could muster, the thundering of hundreds of feet more motivating than anything he had yet experienced.
The horn blew a third time.
He lept logs, scaled the sides of trees to avoid uneven terrain and swung from branches without looking, trusting the trees to be where he needed them to be.
Finally, thankfully he saw the deep crack in the earth up ahead, and the thundering of hundreds of feet following him were joined by the other two nests.
The elves all neared the start of it together and scrambled inside, praying they didn't slip and break an ankle.
Farlen screaming, "I hate this!" the entire time.
All the spiders spilled inside behind them, and somehow the elves scrambled faster. Reaching the end they grabbed onto the three dangling ropes and began scaling as fast as they could onto level ground.
Tern must have shot his flaming arrow because the haunting sound of hundreds of screams filled the air as the spiders were burnt alive.
And then Tern grabbed Legolas' hand and pulled him over the edge, reaching for Farlen immediately after. Legolas in turn reached for Ava, before grabbing his bow and shooting the few spiders who had managed to crawl out before they could set a blaze to the forest.
The fire was hot and so their deaths were quick, all things considered.
They all sat in stunned silence, and then Legolas was unable to withhold his enthusiastic laughter, "I can't believe that worked!"
Ava leaned her head against his arm, her own relieved laughter escaping, "Me either."
Farlen flopped into the ground, "Your father is going to kill us."
This only made them laugh harder.
