Riding With the Elves // Legolas x OC

41. Fighting a Lake Monster

The cave was narrow and she stood with water up to her waist. Further inside was a ledge above the surface and she scrambled onto it, turning to face the monster. The tentacle had followed her in and now another joined it. They were aiming straight at her as if they could see without eyes.

The floor underneath was rough and she felt a loose stone against her palm. She picked it up and hacked fervidly at the groping limbs, but they were so fast and she began to get tired. Before she knew it, one had sucked itself onto her foot and immediately began to pull her out.

She slid along the uneven ground, tossing away the makeshift weapon and flailing wildly to catch something to hold on to. Her fingers connected with a protruding part of the wall and by stretching her body she managed to get a weak hold and drag herself closer. She wrapped both arms and her free leg around it, clinging to it with all her might.

The strong appendage still tugged mercilessly. Wynne tried to scrape it against the wall, while simultaneously fending off the other one that hovered dangerously close to her head. It made a thrusting attack in her direction, hitting the crag in the process.

The rock crumbled with a rumble that echoed between the cave walls. Loose stones and gravel poured down, taking her with them.

Black water engulfed her. The rockfall must be covering the entrance, for now all light was gone. Her foot had been released though, thankfully, and she pushed away from the bottom, bouncing to the surface.

Again she mounted the rock shelf in the farthest end of the hole, shivering and huddling, anxiously peering through the darkness.

Was she trapped in here now?

The tentacle seemed to be gone, at least. Perhaps destroyed by falling stones?

Then she felt it again, that sickening, probing abomination searching through the water, finding her hiding place. Apparently the opening was not entirely shut, there must remain a hole big enough for one tentacle, and the creature wouldn't give her any respite.

The only relief was that it didn't reach as far into the cave as before. She was safe in the deepest end.

With her back pressed flat against the wall she stood, balancing unsteadily on the thin ledge. The air shifted whenever the sweeping organ passed by and the water clucked and splashed as it writhed in the confined space.

Where was Legolas? Had the monster devoured him whole with that huge, toothy mouth? Hot tears burned on her cheeks. She was stuck here, forever caught in this black hole and she would surely die just as he had. Her situation was entirely hopeless.

oOo

Minutes or hours went by; in the absolute darkness there was no way to measure them. Wynne trembled badly from a combination of cold and agitation. Her legs were on fire, aching with the effort to keep out of the tentacle's reach and she dared not stir even slightly.

Her bruised leg was beginning to hurt too, throbbing dully where she had scraped it on the thing's teeth.

Then she felt a change in the air. The tentacle had stopped moving! And the water was becoming calm as well. Had it left?

Another unmeasurable amount of time passed. She strained her hearing, willing herself to breathe calmer and her heartbeat to slow down. It really was quieter now.

And then! A faint voice, muted by the rock wall: "Wynne!"

Legolas! It was Legolas' voice, she would have recognized it anywhere. He was alive, outside in the lake and looking for her! That meant the monster must be defeated.