Concerning Us

Chapter Fourteen: The Weight of a Bow

The spider Mor was larger than any other spider that Dartha had ever seen. Mor was the isolated queen of old over this particular den. She had grown massively over the centuries eating any unfortunate soul that she was able to capture. In times when her den suffered a period without visitors, she would eat her mate after seducing him, only to eat the babies she produced as well with the exception of one male offspring in order to continue the cycle. If Dartha and Legolas had arrived several days before, it would've been quite possible that they would've encountered both Mor and her last mate, but she had already eaten him. Now she was ready to feed again. She stared down at the elf she had pressed under her body. With all four pairs of eyes she blinked in his beauty. Legolas's eyes appeared to burst bluer at the sight of her on top of him and he was unable to shake the fright from his face. His fear did not waver her, she was intrigued by his supreme features and determined that he would be absolutely delicious.

Mor dropped her abdomen and stuck him with her stinger. Legolas gasped as he experienced the puncture to his flesh. Dartha stood frozen as she watched Legolas call out to her as he recoiled in pain. Now that he had been stung, her mind formed the excuse that it would now be easy to leave him---he would soon be paralyzed from the ejected poison and there was nothing that she could do. Legolas called out to Dartha again as Mor tried to bite him. Multiple attempts were made but the prince was fortunate with each attack, her mouth would either come in contact with the ground or Legolas's sword which he fought to keep between them. Each time Mor clasped her mouth around the sword, Legolas would utilize the blade to push upward against her. By perhaps the seventh or eighth tussle, Mor had managed to rip the sword from Legolas's hand. The metal clinked against the ground as it tumbled several feet away from them. "Dartha!" Legolas screamed before his body was dragged across the ground.

In the dragging, Legolas's bag with it's possessions were ripped from his person. Mor was also able to rid him of his bow, that was upon his back, along with a majority of his arrows that were in his quiver. "Shoot it!" Legolas screamed when he realized his bow now laid closer to Dartha than to him. Her legs took her over to the weapon before her hands fumbled to pick it up. Once she had it, her eyes locked on the bow as she fought with herself. Her trance was broken by the sound of Legolas receiving a second sting. Dartha's eyes tore away from the handcrafted elvin work to look into the face of a prince in agony. When their eyes met, Mor turned her head towards Dartha with a gaping mouth to release a petrifying cry, and suddenly Dartha realized just how heavy Legolas's bow was. She dropped it, realizing that saving him was too much of an expense.

Dartha could hear her heart beating in her ears as she ran. With Legolas having been stung twice already, she had written off every chance he had of surviving now. One sting would have instantly paralyzed a hobbit but it would take four stings to have the same effect on an elf, surely Mor would continue until her meal laid still before her, but if not, his body would gradually shut down on it's own. As she ran, Dartha removed from her finger her betrothal ring and discarded it behind her. The princess knew that if she stopped running that she would change her mind about her decision and turn back, so she intended to keep running until she reached Rivendell. What she did not know was that Mor was after her. The moment Dartha took off, she drew Mor's attention. When Mor saw Dartha was getting away, she left Legolas in order to pursue the princess. The prince was already a meal captured in her understanding, for she knew that he would soon be immobile. She would easily be able to find his body once it laid still from the poison she injected, even if he decided to run---he wouldn't make it far. Now the only thing driving Mor was her determination to catch Dartha, who would be her second meal.

Dartha had gone a distance before she was tripped up. Carefully hidden by leaves and dirt, the top of Mor's egg nest  became exposed. Six large eggs laid beneath the ground which she had just interrupted. Dartha quickly scrambled to her feet as she saw a leg poke through the constraint of an eggshell. She had not yet fully cleared the entire nesting area when one spider after the other sprung out from underground. As the ground broke around her, Dartha struggled to keep from falling. She reached her hand out for anything and happened to grab unto a low hanging branch before she raised herself to hold unto a higher one. When she had caught herself with the branches, she realized that the half dozen spiders were quickly approaching her. Though only newborns, each spider reached the height of her hip and was about one third of Mor's size. Their bodies told them that they were hungry and as they looked at  Dartha, their instincts told them that she was prey. Dartha was out numbered but unfazed by Mor's offspring. As she stood beside the tree, she extracted her sword, ready to defend herself until she heard a cry from the direction in which she had come from. What she saw caused her to rush up the tree's height leaving the baby spiders to gather at the bottom.

As she stood on the high branch, Mor was getting nearer. The princess was soon left with nowhere else to go to but to jump from the branch she stood on. She would have to jump from tree top to tree top, utilizing the trees in her escape because Mor would be able to catcher her quicker on the ground. The nearest branch of another tree hung about seven feet from her, a distance she would have to achieve or else meet the ground and Mor below. She focused her eyes on the branch ahead and took the brave leap. Her body glided through the air until she came in contact with a large web her eyes were unable to see. She screamed for her life as her body spun out of control and she became entwined in the spider trap. Her body, now embalmed in the white entangling substance, collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud and Mor and her babies quickly swarmed towards her.

Dartha was unable to see anything but darkened shadows as she laid helpless entangled inside a web binding. She felt a number of legs crawl unto her and she was frightened at their touch through the spun wrap. Her sudden movement provoked Mor to sedate her. She turned around and approached Dartha with her poisonous tip. The end of her stinger broke through the white binding and Dartha recoiled as she felt it drive into her abdomen. She released a dull gasp as the puncture to her flesh was made and Mor's poison was emitted into her body. The princess's skin burned as Mor's stinger broke through on her right side and met her in the arm for a second puncture. Tears began to stream down the princess's face when she felt the stab clash with bone. With a third jab she was stuck in the thigh, her eyes fell closed and her breathing began to slow. As her body was starting to feel the effects of the poison, Mor's stinger came to be positioned right above Dartha's heart. Should it puncture the princess, not only would the fourth sting paralyze her, it would kill her. The tip pressed through the webbing to come in contact with her chest and Dartha prepared herself to die. As her breath left her, she sprung her eyes opened at the pain. The stinger, actually meant to give a fatal puncture, had instead scratched her chest diagonally.

Mor had been struck by an arrow which caused her to falter on that intended final sting. She had been pierced through her flesh but it had not killed her. Her exo-skeleton had grown to be an armour. Legolas stood on what little ounce of strength he had left as he took aim for her babies. Shooting six consecutive shots, he ended the live's of Mor's offspring easily, "With no male to mate, may you die soon after eating us". With the poison in his body weakening him further, he stood his back to the same tree Dartha had leaped from. Furious at the death of all her offspring, the very vital part to her cycling life, Mor sprung forward towards Legolas who was moments from being completely paralyzed. Suddenly, the limb in which Dartha had jumped from snapped and tumbled down unto Mor. It's crash was not fatal, but it's branches punctured every eye that Mor possessed. The spider now vulnerable due to her sudden blindess screeched in both pain and fear before scrambling for her life into the darkness of her den. Once Mor could be seen no longer, the prince fell over but managed to crawl towards Dartha who was still wrapped in webs. With his bare hands he tore the spinning to expose just her face, and when he saw her green eyes staring back at him, he gave into the poison and collapsed still. Dartha would soon follow after him in such stillness and they would lay there on the ground awaiting the poison to wear off from their bodies.