CHAPTER 5 – THE NEWLY SPUN WEB
"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."
Kyle sat alone on a tree branch. It had taken her a while to master the skill of tree climbing, but after much effort on Santiel's part the young mortal could now successfully reach the first branch. Kyle stared out across Mirkwood, She was lucky enough to only have seen the habited area of the vast forest, from what Legolas had told her, outside the borders of his father's realm, Mirkwood was not the beautiful place she had assumed it to be.
"Why do you carry knives with you?" Kyle asked, staring carefully at the knives across Santiel's back. "I mean, we're in no danger right?"
"Ah, that's where you are wrong," Santiel exclaimed, "In Mirkwood, no matter where you may be, you are always in danger. You may seem well-protected here, but in the blink of an eye that can change. For the spiders are sly, quiet and deadly, you would not know they were there till they were wrapping their web around you,"
"That's rather morbid," Kyle sighed, "Now I'm afraid to sleep,"
"And so you should be, fear is our greatest defence," Santiel spoke, "If we did not fear the spiders we would be vulnerable to them, we would underestimate them,"
"Is it only Spiders? I mean, there isn't anything else ghastly hiding behind tree trunks?" Kyle continued, her heart thudding against her chest. Rory had always been the brave one. "Is there?"
"There are many things Kyle, there are Orcs and Goblins, there are wargs and other unkindly beasts, many dwell here in fact, or at least near here, a few pass through on occasion. You are never safe; you'd do best to remember that,"
"I wouldn't stand much of a chance if I were attacked," Kyle pointed out, "I would be a ready-meal,"
"We can rectify that if you wish, I'm pretty handy with knives, I could teach you. Or if you would rather a bow, I'm sure Legolas would be more than happy to tutor you," Santiel sighed,
Kyle considered the prospect of being tutored by Legolas. The word awkward sprang to mind, although she looked at Legolas like a friend, he wasn't Santiel, she couldn't be herself around him, her heart would beat faster and she would have to think about what she said before she said it. Legolas made her feel...nervous.
"I don't know, I'm pretty terrible at anything that involves coordination," She pondered, imagining herself fumbling hopelessly around with a pair of knives.
"Luckily for you we elves are good at teaching," Santiel smiled,
"No!" Santiel stammered, "You're doing it all wrong!"
Santiel's harsh yet true words echoed through Kyle's ears as she nervously gripped the knife. It was rather uncomfortable to hold, its wooden handle was not fitted to her hand and the jagged edge kept digging into her wrist. Once more Santiel stood by Kyle's side and fixed her stance, Kyle tried hard to retain it.
"Right, I can do this," Kyle nodded to herself,
"Of course you can. Forget that I am your friend. I am an orc and I'm going to kill you if you don't fight back," Santiel explained.
"I've never seen an orc,"
"I'm coming to kill you, fight back. Can you do that?!" Santiel rolled her eyes and Kyle gave a determined nod
Kyle had not expected her friend to come at her with such force. Brandishing a long sword Santiel had leapt forward swinging it so fast Kyle could only see the blur. Instinctively Kyle swung one of her knives, Santiel easily dodged it.
"Come on, I'm killing you right now!"
Taking a deep breath, Kyle took a plunge; she dived forward swinging her knife carefully and attempting to grab Santiel's top. Of course, the experienced elf saw it coming and before Kyle had the chance to grab the top, Santiel had locked Kyle in a death lock. "And I'm dead," Kyle announced carefully. Santiel let her go.
"You're getting better; you could take a spiderling," Santiel shrugged, "A very young spiderling,"
Santiel allowed Kyle a break, the mortal was exhausted from the effort and was in desperate need of a cool drink. Just as Kyle leant back on the bench her heart begun to slow, But it instantly sped up again when she saw the figure of Legolas walked toward them.
"Here's Legolas!" Santiel exclaimed.
"Santiel," Legolas greeted her kindly, "What brings a healer to the training grounds?"
"I was telling Kyle of the dangers of Mirkwood, I thought it would be good for her to learn how to defend herself," Santiel explained.
"Knives? I am not too bad with knives," Legolas boasted. Kyle felt her stomach sink. "How about a little spar? I'll go easy on you,"
Kyle cast him a sceptical glance. She didn't want to show herself up in front of Legolas, but before she could protest Legolas had pulled her to her feet. Santiel watched in mild amusement as Kyle gripped her knives and fixed her stance. Part of Kyle expected Legolas to hold back. She had never been more wrong in her life.
Legolas propelled himself forward, his knives gripped tightly in his steel clutch. His feet moved in perfect unison as he dodged every one of Kyle's half-hearted attacks in a dance-like fashion. Finally Legolas begun swinging his knives brutally and Kyle struggled to escape the ruthless attacks.
"Come on Kyle, Imagine your brother is behind you." Legolas spoke, "If you fail, he dies,"
Legolas had said the right thing; a newly fuelled Kyle twisted her knife around in her hand and with a smile on her face attempted to lunge at Legolas. It was good effort, but of course the elf knocked her back whilst grabbing her arm to stop her from falling.
"That was not too bad," Legolas shrugged, "But it could have been better,"
Kyle sighed, what did she have to do for some praise?
Santiel and Kyle walked carefully through the forest. Ever since learning of the danger that lurked within the forest, Kyle had grown increasingly fearful of straying too far from her little home. Santiel was indifferent, Kyle assumed after living for over a thousand years fear no longer had the same effect. Kyle hoped the fear would leave her like it had left Santiel, she missed being carefree.
"I wanted to give you a gift Kyle," Santiel spoke gently, propping herself upon on a broken tree. She pulled out of her rucksack, a long silver object wrapped in a long sheet of parchment. "Can you not guess what it is friend?"
Kyle shook her head uneasily and carefully accepted the gift from Santiel. It was heavy, but not to heavy that it could not be held with ease. Kyle took off the sheet of parchment to reveal a short, shining knife. Its edge was razor sharp and its hilt encrusted with green gems that glimmered delicately under the influence of the sun.
"Wow...it's beautiful," Kyle replied, "If only I could use it,"
"Over time you will improve Kyle," Santiel chuckled, "It is mainly for my piece of mind. You have became very dear to me Kyle, but I cannot be there to protect you all the time,"
"I don't expect you to," Kyle sighed,
All of a sudden Santiel froze. The smile vanished from her pale face, her eyes filling with a new sense of dread. Kyle stared around as she nervously gripped her deathly gift. What had Santiel seen? Kyle couldn't see it. Santiel tip-toed in front of Kyle, her arm outstretched protectively as if to keep Kyle back, The air grew cold and Santiel's dread radiated from her and overcame Kyle. The Mortal begun to shiver, and finally the source of all the fear appeared from behind a tree trunk.
It had eight long legs and eight wide beady eyes that seemed to focus in on Santiel and Kyle. It crept forward, barely creating a sound. The hairs on its back looked like daggers of steel. Kyle felt her heart beat faster, even faster than it did when she was in Legolas's presence. She shut her eyes. She didn't want to see the beast for any longer than she had too.
She heard the thrashing of Santiel's knifes upon the carcass of the fearsome beast. Kyle's eyes opened. To her relief, Santiel was fine. She was uninjured, but covered in a thick black substance that was the spider's blood. Kyle breathed a sigh of relief, but the sigh all but vanished when she seen the other eight beasts standing poised to attack behind the body of their fallen comrade.
Santiel nervously turned around, fear in her stance. Kyle let out a little muffled scream, gripping her knife with new-found strength. Before she could leap forward to stand beside her friend, Santiel spoke. "Kyle, run. We stand not a chance,"
Kyle expected Santiel to run with her and the mortal turned and sprinted off through the trees, running as fast as her feet could take her. The forest was silent still, the birds hiding within their nests and the wind, strangely non-existent, but all of a sudden, the birds flew from their nests and the wind brushed through the leaves. A blood curdling scream echoed through the forest. It was a cry of pain.
It was Santiel.
Kyle stopped running, her feet failing to run. She begun to pant, and to cry and the only thing that she could hear or feel, was Santiel's cries of pain. She felt a pair of arms around her and gentle breathing upon the back of her neck. "Your fine Kyle," He breathed. Kyle turned around to face Legolas.
"San- You've got to get Santiel,"
"She's already gone," He murmured, concealing his own despair. "She's dead,"