It's Kharl's Fault!

by Terasa

The final war has begun and it's up to our heroes to save the day, but will Andi manage to destroy the Ring or will it destroy her first? Ashley quickly discovers she has no head for politics when she arrives in Gondor, and Kharl will have to fight harder than ever to ensure those he cares about live to tell the tale of the One Ring. Secretly-A-Fangirl helped Haldir/OC Aragorn/OC

14. The Fall of Andrea

ANDREA

I wince, pulling at the chain around my neck and hoping for some relief from the pain as I start up some more stairs. I'm so tired of stairs and I'll never own another home that has the damn things! I glare up at a tower that raises high into the air, an Orc watchtower. I stay in the shadows, knowing that from their vantage point the Orcs could see the stairs pretty well. I keep my eyes on the tower as I continue to climb, my knee throbbing where I'd had surgery back in high school. The feeling of being watched has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end and I spin around in time to see the spider from earlier jumping down on me.

I didn't get a chance to react before it sticks me with its stinger and I go limp, foaming at the mouth. Oh, this is some shit! The spider, Shelob I believe, catches me with its legs, weaving her cobwebs around my body like a cocoon. The only part of my body left bared is my face, the tightness of the web making it difficult to breathe. Before she could cover my face a sharp blade cuts the web and Shelob drops me to the hard, unforgiving ground. Brave Samwise stands in front of me, his little sword in one hand and the light I'd dropped in the other. "Let 'er go, you filth!" Damn, go Sammy, go Sammy! Woo, kick ass! "You will not touch her again!" I couldn't respond out loud or give him any pointers due to the paralyzing agent in Shelob's venom, but I was cheering him on in my head! "Come on and finish it!"

He swings his sword upward, narrowly missing when Shelob rears up, her stinger dripping with venom that just might be Sam's doom as well as mine. Sam ducks under her legs, stabbing his sword into one of her eyes, making Shelob scream and green ooze to leak out of the wounded eye. She picks Sammy up using her hind legs, throwing him backwards. The moment he lands on the ground Shelob pounces. As she started to squat and squash him, Sam brings his blade up into the spider's belly.

The spider lurches away, writhing in pain. She races away back to her hole, leaving a trail of green ooze in her wake. Sammy comes over to me, kneeling at my side. "Andrea," he asks in a worried tone, ripping some of the web off my face. It was getting more difficult to breathe and my eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head. Apparently I looked how I felt because Sam's grave expression grew even more grim and terrified.

"Oh no, Andi!" He moves to support my head and it rolls lifelessly in his arms. That's just great, I'm not only helpless, but I look like I'm dead. Highlight of my damn day! "Wake up. Don't leave me here alone," he whispers desperately. "Don't go where I can't follow. Wake up!" I continue staring up at him, my vision slowly dimming. "Not asleep... Dead."

And then I was unconscious, lost to a sea of darkness.