Arda, Middle-Earth, The Land of Mordor, Shelob's Lair : T.A. 3019
Sam buried his scared face against the cold, web encased shoulder of his dear master. Oh, what a fool he'd been to ever trust that villain Gollum even for a second. True Mister Frodo had done the same, but he had much larger reasons for dropping his guard round the vile creature. He had the ring to contend with, and his growing desperation to find some good in that wretch only spoke of his own fears should they fail. Sam's only excuse was shame that he'd fallen short of his master's ideal.
Well, he would never make that mistake again, if he had learned anything from this, it was to follow his gut about sneaky little wretches.
'Oh, Mister Frodo, what has your Sam let happen to you?'
It's always the same little one, I leave my food out for one second and it attracts so many more of you.
That voice hadn't come from his own head. Slowly letting his master go, the young hobbit turned and stared into the darkness behind him.
Such a pretty little thing this one is, so bright and shiny on the inside. Think I'll enjoy eating you most of all.
That voice, oh ancestors, he knew where it came from now.
The engorged body of the spider slithered from the darkness. The large yet somehow spindly legs click clacked against the floor of her cave, and inside his mind Sam heard her voice again.
So long since I've had a good meal, orc flesh will keep me sustained, but it won't stop me longing for something pure and sweet. Something like you little creature, I'm not even sure what you are but oh how good you will be on the way down. I'm going to take my time with you, truly savour the meal you'll make me.
Rising to stand Sam positioned himself so that he was blocking his master's body from the spider's view. Beside his feet lay Sting, and Sam was quick to grab the sword and heft it threateningly at the gargantuan arachnid.
'Back you villain! You shall not touch him again!'
So hungry, so hungry, you'll make a nice snack, yes, you'll make a lovely snack.
She clattered her pincers and Sam had to leap over his master's body to avoid the jagged things, when she suddenly lurched for him. Desperately Sam's eyes searched the ground for Lady Galadriel's vial. He had never felt completely comfortable when Mister Frodo would take it out of his coat's pocket, but if anything could blind the wretched beast it would be that.
With a shock of sheer joy Sam spotted it in the corner, hidden almost out of sight by one the creature's vast webs. He made a dash for it, but his feet were too slow and too clumsy, and he tripped. The fall left him stunned for less than a second, but it was already too late. Like some kind of delicate dancer one long leg of Shelob stretched over the fallen hobbit and jabbed at the vial behind the web. It rolled out with a clicking clatterer and the leg stopped it just out of Sam's reach. Then with a sickening crunch, she crushed the vial, and any power it might have had died with it.
Sam couldn't stop the cry from escaping his lips. The spider seemed to be laughing as she slowly lowered her massive body down onto Sam.
Acting on more instinct than thought really Sam thrust the blade of Sting deep into the spider's under-belly as she sank on top of him. She screamed just as she laughed, with a clatter of her great pincers and a hollow roar of pain. But she didn't stop sinking, in fact if anything she increased it. Sinking down further on the hobbit's sword.
Sam had begun to lose precious air, his body half crushed already under the monster and he wildly thrash his blade this way and that desperate to cause some kind a harm to the terrible creature. Then with the last breath of air left in him Sam let out one last bombastic scream.
'Get off me!'
A searing hot wealth of pain consumed him then, but it did not come from the creature on top of Sam. No for she had been thrown up into the air and had struck the roof of the cave with an all mighty crash. No, this pain had come from within himself, from his very soul even. The very thing that made Samwise Gamgee, Samwise Gamgee was doing this to him now. No, not him, it was doing it to her.
That terrible, glorious light filled the cave and suddenly Sam no longer felt the need to scream anymore. For he was the light and all he wanted to do now was laugh. Laugh and maybe cry some more, though he felt like he had been doing that his entire life.
From above him Shelob screamed as that awful light worked its will on her, and she began to burn. Slowly at first her flesh merely beginning to sizzle, but then the flames really took hold and in less than the time it would take to sing a hobbit drinking song, Shelob the great and terrible was no more. All that was left of her bulbous body was a small pile of ash, that littered the ground in front of Sam's feet.
Sam lay weak and panting on the floor as a gleam caught his eye. It was the ring, now no longer attached to the chain around his master's neck. It was rolling towards him, almost of its own volition. He tried to move, though whether to grab it or stop it he wasn't entirely sure yet. But whatever the case it hardly mattered, for all the energy the hobbit had left – and that wasn't a great deal to start with – had been used up in battle with that vicious creature.
It bumped against his fingertip and Sam would have screamed if he still could, when he felt it slide onto one of his placid fingers. But he couldn't, all he could do was lie there invisible to any onlooker as the orcs approached. All he could do was watch as they found his master and, in their barking laughter, revealed him to be alive; and all he could do was stare in horror as they picked him up and carried him away to their terrible tower.