Forget me not

Chapter 15

“Legolas, no, it would be a bad idea to send so many men in there. We do not know what to expect.”

He shook his head. “We will find the Prince if he is here, and if he is not, we will certainly find the creatures that threatened you and your party, as well as the woods of Lothlorien.

We stepped tentatively into the cave, some elves carrying torches, which cast dim lights into the darkness before us. I thought I heard a sound around every corner and found that I had to huddle with the Prince to keep myself from screaming.

There were cocoons around every corner, there were sounds of things scurrying around, and there was a terrible smell of rotting flesh and something else, something odd.

It took a long time, but finally we came to a room, a huge room, that contained webs and cocoons all hanging from the ceiling and sitting on the floor. Some were still wriggling. Some still had beings crying within. It would be impossible to tell whether they were Elladan, Elrohir or Inwe.

“Cut open every one. Help any who live, consult the healer before bringing them back to camp. We will not leave a single living person here.” The soldiers followed Legolas’ orders, but though I wanted to rush around with the rest of them looking for my friends, Legolas held me by his side. He knew that if I found something I did not like, there would be noise, and if I was in too much of a hurry, I might cut too deeply, and that would hurt those within who needed all the strength they could get.

Each body retrieved was a disappointment and a relief. None were friends, but that meant that I still did not know where they were.

“They are not here.” Legolas told me as I rushed to look over everyone again. “They must have escaped the spiders.”

I nodded, hoping he was right when something began to crumble. Rocks and dirt fell from the ceiling and those still inside panicked. “What is happening?” I asked.

“I don’t know; it’s caving in.” Just then, a loud screech was heard, and I felt the ground shake. “The spiders are coming. Everyone get out!”

We turned to run, but there were spiders at the entrance. When we turned around, they were there as well. There was no escape, so I stood next to the Prince.

“What do we do?” I asked.

He handed me his twin blades and drew his bow. “Fight.”

I could not see it, but as soon as he spoke, they rushed in. We were surrounded by these creatures that could not hold back, that were deadly, poisonous, and huge. I fell into the movement of the blades, though they were never my forte. They would have to do.

Spiders came at me from all angles, and I spun below and leapt above them, escaping their deadly bites and stabbing and slicing wherever I could. There were too many of them. We walked right into their home and expected them to not notice. I could not give up, however. It was a game of ducking and tumbling and getting scraped and smacked. I was trying to find the Prince, hoping that I had not killed another one, but I could not see him.

Suddenly, something screamed so loudly that I could not stand, my legs vibrated with the resonance. I fell to my knees, but it seemed that the spiders did the same thing. I shook on my feet and then fell to my knees clutching my head. When the noise finally stopped, I looked up at what might be making the horrible sound, only to find the largest, most horrible spider of them all.

“It is the queen. We must get out of here!” I could not leave, however. There were too many spiders surrounding me, but they seemed to be frozen in position, staring at the huge beast before us. It was only then I realized she must have been harmed because she was not moving. I took a step and nothing moved against me, but there was a flash and the huge beast let out another cry of pain.