Aeonian [Legolas]

14

Viridis loaded his weight onto his feet and pushed up moments before one of the Wargs sunk its teeth into the branch the Elf had been so precariously balanced on just moments before. He hooked an arm around the next level and pulled himself up in one fluid motion, eyes flying this way and that as he tried to gauge and react to a situation when there wasn't enough time to do either.

"It's falling!" One of the Dwarves cried out. The Wargs, seemingly having recognized their lack of an ability to reach such heights of veritable distance, changed their course path and started attacking the base of the tree, breaking the support and eventually uprooting one of the sides completely. It snapped off with a crack and Viridis felt the surface below him start to tilt.

"Hold on!" Viridis called out as their tree collided with another and they all fell steadily if not haltingly toward the cliff's edge. It was like death was tormenting them with the closeness of it all, heightening their heartbeats until they could barely hear each other let alone their own thoughts.

Viridis jumped from the first tree onto the branches of the second just before he collided with the ground and effectively turned into someone's next meal. Running atop the branches sturdy enough to support him and leaping through the air once more, Viridis threw himself forward in a leaping arc over an expanse of nothing and reached for the final tree that was still standing.

It may have been bad luck or a simple misjudgment but one of the Wargs at that moment decided to attack him in the expanse of air between one and the next. With a valiant jump, the beast seemed to crawl through the air toward the Elf. It opened its mouth as if to deem Viridis paralyzed from the waist down with a simple snap of its jaw but the Elf's foot was coming down in an instant, using the tip of snout as a stepping stool and using the force to propel himself into the final tree left standing.

An arm hooked across one of the branches and Viridis swung under and around, coming to a landing on the same branch as Bilbo who clasped lightly at his elbow to make sure his landing was balanced though there was never a moment when it wasn't.

Gandalf threw a flaming pinecone of his design from his position higher within the canopy downward until it struck the earth and pushed away the growling Wargs that backed with an alarming pace.

It wasn't long before the flames got tired of disgruntling rabid beasts and decided to let its heat lick the way up the base of the tree, arms stretching to dying leaves and crawling up the branches.

The pressure from both other trees that had collapsed on the final one and the flames only created a buildup of pressure against the trunk and without a second more to force a breath into lacking lungs, the roots were upending themselves and their final hope was tilting precariously over the edge of the cliff with an unforeseeable end.

It was as of Viridis was rendered frozen, unable to do anything but hold and watch as the tree they were on fell impossibly closer to the edge closer and closer and closer still. Until it stopped, a jarring hike in a movement that was never meant to stop but alas. They were still alive, but their odds were dying off quicker than they could round them up.

The company lost their grips on the branches as the tree hurtled to a stop, laxening their grips involuntarily until they were just holding on by feeble gloved hands.

"Mr. Gandalf!" One of the Dwarves cried. Viridis looked over to see two of his comrades dangling over the open abyss, the Wizard just barely managing to thrust out his staff for them to grab hold of before they went down under.

"Viridis!" Someone else cried and Viridis didn't even have to look to see who it was before he was moving, jumping delicately through the precarious branches until he found the source of the voice. He thrust out his own hand, catching Bombur's forearm and holding him there, gritting his teeth when the tree they were holding refuge in tilted dangerously closer to an ultimate demise. Not even the slender weight of an Elf could be tolerated at such a time. He couldn't haul Bombur up, not without causing a stir. He couldn't so much as shift either or risk their position and kill them all.