Mo Ghile Mear

Shelob's Lair

***Sera's POV***

Climbing up the Stairs of Cirith Ungol was perhaps one of the worst things that I've ever done. What was even worse for me was that Frodo had to climb them. I could see him struggling quite clearly. His labored breathing gave everything away.

When we finally reached the first landing, Gollum proceeded to take the Ring from Frodo. I immediately leapt into action, taking out my short sword to threaten the evil creature.

"Don't touch him!" I pleaded desperately. "Please don't hurt him!"

Gollum immediately changed his perspective, "helping" Frodo get up. Furious, I sheathed my sword back into its sheath. I managed to climb up afterwards, pulling Frodo away from the edge of the cliff. Frodo breathed heavily, his face weary. He had obvious dark circles underneath his eyes.

"I-I'm so tired, Sera," he murmured in a quiet voice as he shifted himself weakly onto my thighs so that he could rest.

"I know, sweetheart," I muttered back. "Go to sleep. I'll protect you. I promise."

I ran my fingers softly through his messy hair. He snuggled into me, sighing heavily. I lightly held onto his hand, lacing our fingers together. At once, he slumped against me, out like a light. Smiling sadly, I continued to run my fingers through his hair in an attempt to comfort him. Meanwhile, Sam kept a lookout for the two of us, as he knew that Frodo needed all the rest he could get. The stairs were tedious and, not to mention, dangerous. One wrong move could result in Frodo's death.

***

We continued our long climb up the stairs. The higher we got, the more uncomfortable I felt. Like I knew that something bad was about to happen. And I was right. One night, when we were resting again for Frodo's sake, Gollum finally made his plot happen, and managed to get Frodo on his side. Frodo left with Gollum, leaving me and Sam in the dust.

"We can't let him go in there like that!" I say desperately to Sam. "With Gollum and his evil scheme? We know that Gollum wants to kill Frodo. We can't let Frodo go in there alone without knowing the vile creature's evil scheme!"

"We can't do anything about it now. Can we, Sera?" said Sam forlornly. "Frodo's on Gollum's side."

I glanced back up the stairs. We could no longer see them. My heart pounded against my chest.

"I'm not leaving him alone with that creature," I finally concluded, and I began to mount the stairs with all the courage that I had. Sam followed.

We eventually found the tunnel that Gollum had been talking about. And boy, did it stink. My ears perked up whenever I heard the faint sound of horror coming from Frodo's mouth. My heart pounded furiously against my chest as I heard his desperate cries for help.

"Shit!" I breathed before plunging myself into the darkness, with Sam at my heels. "Frodo?!" I called out desperately as I tried to find him. "Frodo, where are you?!"

"Sera?! Sam?!" Frodo's hopeful voice rang out.

"Frodo, we're coming!"

"Hurry!"

"Hang in there, Mr. Frodo," Sam encouraged him.

It was difficult to find Frodo, since we were trapped in the darkness. We fought our way through Shelob's spiderwebs, using our short swords to hack at the sticky silk.

Finally, we came upon the vile creature, who was wrapping our friend up in its silk, chirruping happily as it did so. I physically felt sick until I remembered that we were here to rescue our friend. Without giving any second thought, I leapt out from the darkness, collecting Sting and Frodo's light from the Lady Galadriel. Sam fought with his own sword.

"Back!" I barked, threatening the evil spider with my sword. "Back, I say! Go back to the shadows where you belong!"

With a wild attempt after battling against the evil arachnid, I managed to stab Shelob in the mouth, causing her to squeal with pain. She cowarded back into her tunnels, shrieking and gurgling in despair.

"Mr. Frodo?" Sam gasped as we approached our friend. He was wrapped tightly in the spider's silk. The two of us hurried to his side and I pulled apart the silk around his face. His face was incredibly pale. Deathly-pale. And his skin felt cold to the touch. I cradled him in my arms, his head resting on my shoulder. My free hand went to his cold face, and I stroked his cheek gently with my thumb. "Please don't be dead. Wake up, Frodo. Please." I paused, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Not awake," I whimpered as I shook his shoulder softly again. "D-Dead."

I burst into tears. Sam put a gentle hand on my shoulder, looking forlorn and distraught.

"We better get out of here before anyone else sees, Sera," Sam advised me, though he didn't sound too cheerful about it.

I sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, I had to agree. We didn't want to be caught by the enemy.

"Yeah. I'll catch up with you in a second."

Sam scurried away as I stayed behind. I managed to find the Ring around his neck, and I took it. Frodo probably would have wanted me to have it, if anything ever happened to him. And, for safety measures, I took Sting and the light of Galadriel. I looked back over at Frodo. I bent forward and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead. Tears streamed down my cheeks as my heart ached.

"I love you," I whispered softly. "Never forget that, Frodo."

"Sera," Sam hissed. I jumped before scurrying to where he hid. Soon after I hid, three Orcs came around, looking curious.

"What's this?" said the orc leader with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice. They went over towards Frodo, gathering around him. My stomach jolted when I saw them touching him. "Looks like Shelob's been having a little bit of fun."

"Is he dead?" the second orc asked. He sounded eager.

"This fellow ain't dead," the orc leader answered triumphantly. I nearly fainted with shock. Not dead?! What the hell was I thinking?! I could have dragged Frodo to safety and waited for him to wake up! "No. Shelob has her way with them. She likes to sting 'em with her jabber, which paralyzes her victims. After that, she wraps them in her silk. And then, she has her own fun. That's how she likes to feed, fresh blood." The orc paused. "Let's get him to the tower! This piece of scum should wake up in an hour or two. We'll question him once he's awake."

We watched as he was carried off to the tower.