The Oncoming Storm (Book 2 in the Lionheart Trilogy)

Chapter 4: Webs

Reyna awoke to a putrid smell and the sensation of being suffocated. She could still breathe, but she was wrapped tightly in this white, sticky stuff.... Oh dear god! she thought as she realized what exactly she was wrapped in. Panic and fear filled her, but she forced herself to remain calm. Spider webs were what cocooned her, and she couldn't move an inch. She forced the panic down. Freaking spiders. One of the few things that she feared. Reyna thought of her friends, that must have been trapped in the same way and her fear turned into pure rage. She felt herself being lifted up by something that was most certainly not human. She felt sharp pincers bite into her shoulder and she cried out in pain. Her eyes then glowed white, brighter than normal. Whenever Reyna was scared, her eyes shined very brightly. The spider that held her disliked light and hissed, though it did not let its prey go. Reyna then set it on fire and it dropped her.

She fell a long ways to the forest floor and heard chaos around her. Both hissing and shouting filled her ears as she struggled to free herself. The young Bender was getting nowhere, however. Just when she was about to break out her powers and possibly hurt herself trying to get free, someone began to help her. Thorin cut through the webs and helped Reyna up. He then noticed that some of the webs that had encased her had been stained red. Thorin gave Reyna a What happened? look, but she was in the process of composing herself. She pulled out her sword and stabbed a spider that had gotten too close. Thorin saw fear in her eyes, more untamed than any fear he had seen in her so far. He made the connection quickly, and was actually quite shocked. He had once asked Reyna if she feared anything and she had told him yes. But she had never told him what. As Reyna slashed at a spider that had tried to pin Fili, everyone noticed that she had gone deathly pale. She did not let up in her fight, but still looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Spiders? Really?" Thorin asked in disbelief (and a hint of amusement) between blows. Reyna shot a glare at him as she kicked a spider in the head, hard.

"Shut up, Thorin." she growled. Bombur was knocked off of his feet by an especially large arachnid and the other dwarves rushed over to help.

"Grab a leg!" Dwalin shouted. Reyna grabbed a leg, despite her protesting stomach. Several other dwarves did the same.

"Pull!" Dwalin ordered and the others did so. The legs of the spider were simply ripped off of its body. The dead spider fell on top of Bombur and Reyna pushed it off, her face a little green. Bofur helped Bombur to his feet and they rejoined the fight. Reyna's eyes glowed nearly blindingly bright, and the company watched in awe as she caused the earth to be displaced beneath the spiders that were on the ground. The rock lifted up and was slammed back down in a ring around the dwarves, sending many of the beasts flying.

"Where's Bilbo?" Reyna shouted above the chaos. Kili looked at her, regret in his brown eyes.

"He fell. Haven't seen him since." he called back.

"Great." Reyna muttered sarcastically. Her eyes were still glowing as she knocked spiders from the branches with bursts of flame and wind.

They managed to kill all the creatures and began to run through the woods. Reyna slung Custos from her shoulder and began firing arrows at the spiders that pursued them. One came from her side when she was looking back, shooting an arachnid. The spider slammed into her, sending her flying. She hit the ground with a thud. She heard her friends shouting and calling her name. The spider was soon on top of her, clicking its ugly pincers together. Before it could bare down on her, it let out a terrible, hissing shriek and fell dead, on top of the young Bender. Her eyes glowed and the dead spider was pushed off of her with a burst of air. She saw a green-fletched arrow sticking out of the back of the dead beast. Not what Kili used. Her eyes widened in recognition and the dread returned to her. Kili and Fili hauled her to her feet and they sprinted, catching up with the others.