I found that we had travelled many miles from Lothlorien in our search, and the Prince had taken me many more miles to his camp, which had again travelled farther from Lorien. We were several days from the city, though quite close, considering how far we might have gone. The travel would be considerably slower than it would have been had I been alone. Unfortunately, we had to take the whole camp and, therefore, would be at least another day off or so.
I worried with every step for Elladan. I could do little, aside from taking off in the middle of the night, but even that was impossible. In doing so, I would have to escape the Prince’s watch, the guards outside of my tent, and finally the sentries around camp. Also, I was not going to get far without a horse and weapons.
I imagined all the horrible things that could have happened to Inwe and Elrohir, but surprisingly, my thoughts were with Elladan. My affection for him had grown quite a bit since my incident in the mountains. I found that I could not cease to think of his gorgeous long hair and his smile that would make me melt. I longed to be once again in his arms.
Fortunately, when we stopped, Legolas accompanied me in a quick search through the section of the forest we covered in our travels and that gave me a chance to look for his tracks, clothing, anything that might lead me to him. Above all, I feared that he was trapped by the spiders, that their venom worked its magic on him, and did what I supposed it had done to Helas.
I came to the conclusion that if it was the spiders that were haunting the forest, Helas must have been attacked by one of them and bitten. The venom must have hit him hard and stopped him from functioning like himself. It caused him to become violent, lose his memory, and be hostile toward everyone. I hoped that I would not find Elladan in such a state.
The third day of the trip, I was out with Legolas, and he forced me to let go of my fears by talking to him about how I felt. I had to admit that it made me more relaxed and less worried to tell him all the things that plagued my mind. He eased my thoughts, telling me that the sons of Elrond were not to be taken lightly. There was a good chance that they had come out on top. They were older than me and had a great deal more experience with handling themselves than many of the elves even I knew. Legolas also eased my fears by assuring me that from what I had said about Inwe, she was likely back in Lorien looking for me by now!
I tried not to think about things so dire and disastrous as my mind wanted to conjure. Instead, I listened to Legolas’ soothing voice telling me that it would be all right. It took a long time before we found something, and though I had hoped we would not, I was somewhat glad we did, seeing as I found proof of the Prince’s existence. I knew he had been with me and my memory of him was not just an after affect of the poison injected into me by the spider’s bite. His circlet that he had worn out with me was lying slightly covered beneath a wall of bushes and random leaves. I picked it up and called the Prince of Mirkwood to my side.
“This is his,” I told him. “He must have fallen around here. There must be something wrong.” My voice grew high and panicked. I did not want to see the body of the man that I was beginning to love wracked by insanity because of the venom. Nevertheless, I had to look for him. Legolas and I started everyone off at once.
A search party of the entire camp went out, each person with a partner, and looked for any more signs of the Prince’s being there. There was only a few broken branches and here and there something out of place, something broken, that might signify a struggle. We soon discerned a path that the Prince must have taken.
It led us to a deeper and darker part of the forest. There were various caves around, various pockets in the wall of earth and stone we found. Some of these had cocoons but none of them contained Elladan, Elrohir, or Inwe. We finally found a large entrance to something that appeared to be a cave. I sensed fear in all of the soldiers around me, but Legolas ordered them forward and into the cave.
“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.
“Legolas! What is happening?” I asked the prince, seeing him off to my right before turning back to make sure that I was still safe for the moment.
“Something is hurting her,” he responded. I lunged forward and leapt over the spider in front of me before running toward the hulking creature before me. She looked at me with her many eyes as I walked up to her, and she let out another horrid sound that was, again, enough to make me want to fall to my knees, but I did not, this time.
I held my knives up to defend myself and circled the queen, looking for the brave soldier that helped us, only to find something that I did not expect.
“Merewen,” a voice croaked. He was pinned with one of her massive legs, beneath her. His sword was sheathed in her body and there were many arrows protruding from her body.
I dropped my knives and fell to my knees beside him. “Elladan! I thought you were, I hoped you still… but I was so frightened.” I grasped his hand, which he reluctantly took from his sword.
“Merewen, I could not tell you this before. I could not tell you…” He smiled at me and I looked more carefully to see the source of his pain. Alas! The leg that held him to the ground was not simply pinning him, it was stuck in him, right through his abdomen. I gasped, and my hand flew to my face to hide how stricken I was. “I could not tell you, Merewen, I could not tell you how much I loved you. There was too much, too much. I love you, Merewen. I always have, since I met you. Do not let this plague your mind. Find another. I was never worthy of you. I never deserved your love.”
I wept and held his hand. “Elladan, I love you too. I have loved you always. I love you!” I wept obviously and clutched his hand desperately. “Do not go, please do not go. I cannot bear it.”
He laughed, though this caused red to gush from his open mouth, and I sobbed harder. “I will love you, and I will wait for you until I am reborn again. I will find you again. I love you, Merewen, but do not despair for too long. A beauty like you has no need of grieving. You must not despair.”
I nodded, not knowing what I was to say. The spider shifted and Elladan shoved the blade into its body more. “She is dead, you are all free. I came to save you, I am sorry you could not save me. Do not forget me. I will return to you in time, whether you have found another, or whether you will still love me, I will return. I will always be at your side. You will know I am there. Do not forget that I am there.”
I nodded and bent to kiss him on his blood stained lips. “I love you, Elladan. I would have wed you, should the time have been right. I will wait for you.” I kissed him again. “Be at peace, beautiful Prince. I will never forget you.”
He smiled and the huge beast above him wavered a little more. She picked her feet up and tried to move, but this released the pressure that held Elladan’s blood inside his body and it came rushing out at me now as I saw the light fade from his eyes.
I shook him. I held him to me. I kissed him, and I held him. “Elladan. I don’t want you to go. I love you.”
He was cold. He was gone. I noticed that fighting was continuing behind me, the spiders seemed to realize that their queen would live and continued their plight. I stood and took Elladan’s sword from her side.
“You will not live another day!” I did not hear her screech, but I swung the sharp blade at her eyes, I slashed at her legs, I cut at her body, and still she attacked. I would not let her get away with taking him.
“You will pay! You will die! You are not fit to live! Die! You will pay!” I screamed more unintelligible things at her and swung hard at her. I felt the blade cleave her appendages; I felt her legs give out beneath her. I felt her blood spurt against me, and I knew she was dead but it was not enough. I stabbed at her face, I cut at her body, I tried to cleave her head from the rest of her body but I could not.
I realized that someone was holding my arms back, and I was still yelling. I was still trying to cut her and hurt her. I was still trying to kill her, but she was already dead. “You wretched creature! You will pay!”
“She is dead, Merewen! She is dead! Stop fighting; she is dead! Stop!” Legolas held my arms, and I dropped the sword. The spiders had stopped, the soldiers killed the rest of them while they despaired over their lost queen, and now the other elves were staring at me. They were surprised at the way I wanted her to pay. They could not take their eyes from me. I wanted to shout at them to leave me be, but I said nothing.
“Merewen, she lives no more.” Legolas’ voice cut through my ranting and slicing, and I fell to the ground clutching my stomach. I thought I might retch, I tried to crawl back to Elladan’s corpse. I tried to hold him, and I called out to him, told him that I loved him. I begged him not to leave me, but Legolas would not let me go. He held me back. I beat his arms away. I kicked him and tried to hurt him; he kept me from my beloved. Legolas held fast.
“Merewen, he is gone. He is gone to a better place. He loved you, but he is gone. Let him go… let him go.” I finally let myself fall limp. I did not want to fight anymore. I was in so much pain right now. I did not know if it was entirely from my own heart, if it was residue from Elladan’s heart, whether it was Legolas’ feelings of sorrow for me, or the pain everyone else felt at seeing me like this, but I did not care. The room spun, and all I saw was blood and, finally, black.