"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." ― Ambrose Redmoon
Making a northern turn at the Elder tree the squadron of twelve elves and their two captains alighted from the branches and continued through the foliage on foot.
"Have you ever fought the Umai?" Tulien requested of his companion as they entered a darkened part of the wood, one where the sun seldom penetrated. He had yet to speak after their departure from the palace.
"No but I have fought the orcs. These creatures should be no different." Arrai answered face almost as impassive as only King Thranduil's could be at times. Tulien frowned at the response derisively. "If you have never fought them then I suggest you leave the fighting to those more experienced." He passed Arrai pulling out his bow and stringing it. He could smell the nests as the wind whispered of the stench.
Hand now on his own blade Arrai's eyes narrowed. "What grudge could you bear against me?"
"Not against you against all your kind!" Tulien muttered motioning for a few of the elves to alight.
"Am I to be the object of your loathing for that which I didn't do?" Arrai mused under his breath as he nimbly swung himself onto a tree and crouched in battle readiness sharp blade hidden in the shadows.
One of the archers back's stiffened causing the retort to die on Tulien's lips.
"We are close." The elf that had auburn hair tied back in a single braid and a lieutenants bow motioned to the forest ahead of them.
"We should scatter into groups of three. That would be the best course of action." The elves eyed their prince warily waiting for an approval. Cold glittering eyes slid to Tulien's. "Is this how you usually approach these creatures?"
"Yes." Tulien muttered. Arrai paused as if weighing the strategy then nodded. "Scatter."
The elves broke off into groups of three and alighted from the branches simultaneously.
Arrai cringed inwardly at the sight of the monster. The smell alone had been near unbearable but seeing the creature made the danger all the more real. He tested the webs, they were strong and finely spun though sticky in certain areas which he easily avoided using his heightened elven senses as a guide. He weighed his blade in his hands cursing at the cold sweat now beading at the nape of his neck. If Glorfindel had fought a Balrog how hard could killing an insect be?
A shrieking form sensed his presence and lunged at him from its vantage point. He nimbly slid from a tree and sliced at the creature's legs. Around him he could hear the shrieks of the spiders and the battle cries of the elves. He skirted the pincers and sliced another one cleanly off. The darkness was so intense it was almost suffocating. He reeled at the stench as one of the elves was mauled by a spider. Using the spider's string he propelled himself somewhat surprised at the strength of the material and landed on the spiders back. In a fluid motion he jabbed his sword into the spiders head and pulled out the fair haired elf.
Holding the elf firmly in his arms he assessed the injuries of the fallen elf moaning in pain. "The wound is not deep, but your rib is broken."
The elf whispered his thanks through teeth clenched in pain. He allowed the elf to grip his hand as he quickly wrapped the arm wound with his traveling cloak. It was not well done as he still had much to learn in the arts of healing but it was enough to keep the elf from blood loss until they returned.
A spider seeing his retreat ran at him spraying darkness in its wake. Satisfied that the elf could hold out another attack with a yell he angled his sword and ran at it cutting its feet from its body. Shifting his stance he twisted around and sliced a pincer aimed for his torso and in a fluid motion dissected what was left of the creature in three quick strokes. Behind him he could hear other elves doing battle.
The elf he had saved groaned and he turned in time to throw a knife at the spider about to devour his comrade. Skirting through the shadowed silken strands he sheathed his sword and kneeled by his companion shaking the blanched elf.
"Strength, your bleeding has stopped…." He trailed of as his eyes caught sight of the elves arm now blotched with a black substance. Bringing a drop of the blood closer to his nose he blanched himself. The stingers had venom! The elf shifted as he attempting to get a better angle to inspect the wound. He felt a shadow more then saw it and rolled away in time with the elf clutched in his arms. Behind him another elf, this one with auburn hair shot from a bow.
"Diolla lle." Arrai winced as he thanked the lieutenant having fallen too heavily onto the earth below. The lieutenant responded by shooting down another of the cursed creatures before flitting to the ground below.
"Let me have a look."
Arrai complied allowing the more experienced elf to gauge the situation his own bow out now as they were more effective at such a range. He felled around three spiders notching two new arrows as the lieutenant whispered words of encouragement to the ailing elf. Worried dark blue met a keen grey full of sorrow. The lieutenant shook his head as he undid more of the swathed cloak to assess the extent of the damage.
Face grim Arrai kneeled by the elf his bow though lowered still at the ready. The elf was shaking badly now his forehead covered in a fevered sweat. "How lethal is the sting?"
"He still has time but we must hurry. And we cannot spare any to defend the body."
A hand gripped his sleeve as the fair haired elf struggled to keep his eyes open. "Saes, leave me and go, the sun will set soon." The ailing elves eyes met the understanding ones of the lieutenant who looked toward his prince jaw set. "If we are to save him we must hurry. Once night falls our prowess will be halved by the darkness and the spider's ability to venture farther from their nests."
Arrai clenched his bow in frustration as he shot the spider coming at him. In his anger at his own helplessness he missed badly finishing the creature off with a yell and a stroke from his sword and an arrow from his lieutenant whose eyes had widened in shock at the inconsistency of the shot.
"We should not tarry below the webs overlong, let us regroup and hold this position." The lieutenant suggested as he lifted the elf and alighted upon one of the trees followed by Arrai who readied his sword for more bloody work. "How many of these creatures are their?" He carved a path as they made their way to their platoon.
The lieutenant shook his head as he used the knife in his free arm to cut a huge chunk of a spider's leg off. Arrai doubled back and finished it off with a few strokes of his blade and returned to the lead. Using a bird call that regrouped the elves to his location the lieutenant lowered the ailing elf as Arrai assessed the condition of the elves some still locked in battle as they made their way.
A flash of red hair was seen as Tulien dropped down from one of the branches approaching the trio, traveling cloak obscuring an arm. "You're wounded." That was not a statement the blood itself darkening the cloak. "Merely a scratch." He waved the princes concern lightly eyes narrowing when Arrai did not relent.
"Tulien hold the wounded elf, Lieutenant we shall make a perimeter around the both of them and work our way outwards." The lieutenant nodded and with a few more birdcalls had the elves taking position.
"I can still fight!" Tulien hissed as the elf changed hands causing Tulien to kneel. "If you could you would not have crumpled at the weight." Arrai chided as he sliced a torso of a spider in twain, one who had thought it had ambushed them no doubt. Tulien clenched his teeth at the response and would have said more but there were screeches as more spiders fell from the trees above. The elves held the position and leveled out another wave of the spiders.
"We must fall back! There are too many!" One of the elves yelled.
"We can still fight we have lost none." Tulien retorted as through a knife saving a dark haired elf from a spider ready to tear out his back. Arrai sliced at a web causing a spider to hit the ground. Swinging around he chopped three legs off another and landed next to the lieutenant. A sudden darkness clenched at Arrai's heart as his mind reeled, dizzy at the sudden shift. The lieutenant's face paled and many of the elves froze in their spots.
The lieutenant seeing the confusion on his prince's face lifted a finger to the sky. "Do you hear it?" Arrai strained his ears and caught a low buzzing sound. "Wha-"
"That is the sound of a thousand terrible things coming this way." He could feel the darkness in his blood now. It was sickening. Memories clouded his eyes as he shuddered.
The auburn haired elf nodded grimly. "Shelob, the dark child of Ungoliant returns, centuries has she been gone and terrible was her return. She has returned once more it seems, with the intensifying of the darkness"
"Then let us retreat!" His voice sounded too frantic to even his own ears.
But the lieutenant shook his head face a mask of intense hate and fear. "That is not possible now." The spiders suddenly began to scatter. The elves pressed to the woods some lashing out at the retreating retches while others held their cloaks to their noses as if to physically bar access to their sense of smell.
He cringed at whatever it was that made its way to them now. It was bigger than he had initially sensed it. From the trees above and from the sides huge spiders began pouring in. These creatures were twice the size of their brethren and their shrieks twice as hideous to the ear.
Fear. He had felt it so acutely only several times not counting the reruns of them in his twisted dreams. And he felt that another would be added to his restless nights. A massacre so heinous he would lack proper sleep for days if he survived that was. The elves began backing away as the spiders slowly inched toward the circle of fourteen the two wounded in the center surrounded by the warriors. This was all his fault. If he hadn't ordered their regrouping if he had only listened and not have let his stubbornness get in the way he would have been at the palace and the elves under better leadership.
The fear was so intense he wanted to retch, but he could not, not know not when he had to be strong, not when the elves were watching his every move. He weighed his blade in his hands. It was a good blade. Gifted to him by Lord Glorfindel, a blade forged by the elder elf himself, one fit for a far worthier wielder than he. He took a step back only to see that he was now shoulder to shoulder with the dark haired elf Tulien had saved earlier. The elves had their weapons ready. Several with blades like him and others with bows their arrows notched.
The creatures suddenly stopped their advance and at a strange set of hideous noises parted for a spider so large and reeking of such darkness he could almost feel the wretched breath of the cursed orcs on his neck once more. The darkness brought up memories he had suppressed. Once he prayed would never resurface but did every so often in the darkness of the night in his dreams. Glorfindel had been there to drag him out of the abyss. He shook his hand as he noticed the tensed reactions of the other elves. Like him they too had suffered. They were looking to him as he had looked to Glorfindel. It was a strange sensation. He was younger so why were they all looking to him?
He grimaced as he shifted his stance. Whatever the case the overgrown abomination was approaching, he would have to fight it. How could he rule if he allowed others to face it? As if biding her time each step was slow and deliberate. It was as if she enjoyed the chase just as much as the devouring of her victims.
"On my mark." He whispered so low only elven ears could catch it. "We will fight, or we will die but we will do it gloriously. If you are to be fodder you will be the hardest piece of meat this accursed being has ever had to catch."
The elves nodded solemnly. Several cracking smiles at the joke. "Now!" With a yell he rolled in the direction of the spider Queen. She shrieked and the spiders attacked as one overrunning the elves with their sheer number. He rolled away cringing at the darkness as the Queen used her two front feet as spears trying to run him through. He hacked at the leg but she was either smarter or more experienced than her weaker cousins and moved from his grasp using her two front pincers nearly penetrating his abdomen. He rolled away attempting to find a weakness. But she beat him to it. Somehow even with his elven speed she was anticipating his movements. He shifted ducking low nearly choking on another whiff of the darkness. It was suffocating.
"Move aside! The sun is setting!" An elf yelled. True to his word as the sun set at an angle it penetrated the foliage bathing the entire webbed Kingdom in majestic hues causing the silken strands to glow and sparkle in ethereal lights. The spiders scrambled from the light giving the elves a short respite.
The spider queen screeched in anger at the prolonged battle and the sun, the only cursed light she feared for like her mother she could no devour it. So great was her anger that she tore through one of her own kin who stood in the way. Tearing through the webs she followed the fleeing elf. More of her own kind. She tore these out of the way as well. Where was he running? He would not escape her. This little morsel was slightly brighter than the rest and was proving too much of a challenge. How dare he? How dare this little elf avoid her so? With a yell she lunged after him tearing through any in her way as she followed her victim.
He ran, like his life depended on it for it did. The accursed creature cared not for its kind. He understood little of the battles of his comrades save that they were being overwhelmed and he might as well make good use of the chase. He nearly keeled over at the last sound. The darkness was around him he could see little other than a thin beam of the moon. She was getting clumsier. Without webs it would be harder for her to anticipate his movements. NOW! He turned suddenly using his speed and height to advantage he bore down on her and sliced at her eyes. She shrieked grabbing at him with her two front feet. He shuddered as he fell with her and in a fluid motion cut at it her eyes. His blade sinking deeply and spraying him in the darkness. She yelled in agony as he laughed at the darkness. "Garn Agh Naghhan Raphnayan!" She shrieked at the darkness of words he himself could not understand. They were falling, falling into darkness. His sword burned. Release? No it was a gift. Release it! NO he was LIGHT! His vision cleared and he used a silk thread to throw himself onto the web instantly collapsing onto his knees.
His head hurt, he was shaking badly retching something. Blood? Was it? His eyes blearily focused on the fluid. He could hear a light laugh in the background laced with giddiness for surviving. "Looks like our King has a weak stomach." A voice grudgingly stated.
"He saved your life." The voice was his Lieutenants. His head throbbed less and he could make out some voices. He stumbled as someone braced his shoulder.
"How are you feeling?" The blood in his head was still pounding after a minute of gathering himself everything focused and though still shaking like a youngling he could at least put one foot in front of the other. "Better." He whispered.
The older elf did not look convinced but he said nothing as they made their way home. "What happened? How, how many did we lose?"
He attempted to look around but that only brought about another wave of sickness. The Lieutenant gripped his elbow steadying him eyes alight with both joy and pain. "I am not sure." The elf pursed his lips frowning. "We lost three good archers, the spiders scattered when you spoke. What did you say?"
Tulien only paces behind him carrying a different elf than the one entrusted to him snorted. "Must have told them to go cower in their holes or something."
"Very funny." Arrai muttered. Those were his last words before he completely passed out.
Note: Phew, this took hours! I wanted to make it longer but it was either this or wait another day. Enjoy and Review! It will motivate me a lot:)
Diolla lle.- Thank you
Shelob- Her head was cris-crossed with scars, and she had a number of missing eyes. Hence I figured why not let the scars be from an elven blade?