On the king's command

The spiders of Mirkwood Forest

"You have what?!", the king screamed. He could not believe his ears as Legolas told him about what had happened. "Go find him! Now!!"

He gestured wildly with his hands, and Legolas thought it best to disappear and search Bard right away, than be in the same room as his father for much longer. A huge group of elves was sent out to search the lost king of Dale, and when after half a day still nobody had found him, Thranduil saddled his elk Emeralda and rode out into the forest himself.

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In the meanwhile, Bard had withdrawn to a small hill in the forest, where a group of very old oaks hung their branches over the ground. Under their leaves, there was twilight, almost as if it were night already, and no birds sung anymore. The man from Dale decided to climb a tree to get an overview. He had fled out of an instinct, and now he had to make plans for what to do next. High up on his list was freeing his men from the dungeons of the elf king. It would be hard to get into the castle and past the guards into the deep caves were they were held captive, but Bard was not a man who easily gave up, and he was sure he could come up with a plan.

With strong arms he pulled himself up the branches until he reached a kind of plateau of tree limbs and leaves. It was covered with old fruits and rotten plants, and when he moved, he heard slight cracks under his feet, almost as if he were breaking pieces of glass. But he didn't really care about it, as the platform was perfect for spying on the elven home, that lay not very far away from here.

Therefore, Bard saw how hordes of riders and swift elven hunters came sprinting out of the gate of the city. "So that's how it is to be a guest of Thranduil. Being hunted through the forest if I don't comply with being locked up in my room", he thought, and made a plan. He would wait until night came, because he was more hidden from the elven eyes in the darkness, and then go back to the castle to try to find a way in and free his friends. But right now, he would just wait until the elven hunters returned with empty arms to their king. He would love to see his face then.

Suddenly, he heard a swift movement behind him, and a stench of foulness filled the air. And then, he heard someone breathing right next to him. Someone big and dangerous, someone who loved meat of men. 

"And who have we got h..."

He cut the giant spider of before it could finish its sentence by slicing of one of its nine legs. For a  short second, this made the beast stop, but then it got angry, instead of just hungry. Bard knew, chances weren't very high for him to escape, as he wasn't trained as the elves to withstand such creatures, but he figured, if he had shot a dragon, he might deal with this too. 

Furiously, the spider thrust her body upon the man, but he quickly jumped to the side and the whole platform wobbled when her enourmous weight landed on it. Bard cut of another leg, then jumped on a low-hanging branch, just to swing himself up to an even higher one. The spider, now two legs shorter, scuttled up the tree so fast, he almost didn't know how to escape, but when it had nearly reached him, he jumped down on its head, stabbing in its eyes with his sword. 

The spider screamed and whailed and fell backwards down on the platform, pulling Bard with him. As they hit the old rotten planks, they cracked, and then they burst apart, leaving the two fighters falling to the ground some 20 metres beneath them. Bard tried to get a grip on any branch he could reach, but the legs of the spider had suddenly wrapped around him and almost crushed him. He realised, that even as they were falling, the spider was still trying to kill him. 

There was a loud thump when they hit the ground. But otherwise it was still silent. The birds from the trees had long fled as they noticed the approahc of this evil creature, and all other animals didn't ever go to the old platform where they knew the spider had its nest. Only a wolf on his way through the forest saw the spider lying there on the ground, but he was driven away by its disgusting smell. Nobody found the man, that was squeezed between the legs of the spider, his one arm awkwardly sticking out on one side, and a small trickle of blood running down from it. 

Hey, I've finally finished another chapter! I hope this meets your expectations so far. I'm still not quite back yet, but maybe there will be a bit more updates in the upcoming weeks. Have a nice day!!