They escorted the rear-guard of the caravan, since Percy thought that was the most likely place it was to be attacked. Farund was pretty sure that wasn't how it worked but followed anyways.
Another small miracle. They weren't attacked on their way there. Percy was sure that his lucky streak would end, even with the McDonald's action figure clutched so tightly in his hand.
As the last of the dwarves streamed in through the door, Percy wiped his brow. At least 2 entrances were easier to cover than an entire line of dwarves. Once Gandalf finished casting the spells to cover both entrances, they were fine, for the meantime. Owlie zoomed into the room and landed on Percy's shoulders
"So, how is it going so far?" Percy asked Gandalf, who's eyebrows were creased up in concentration. "I've removed most of the spells which will blow you to bits," Said Gandalf, "But the guardian is particularly annoying to remove." He pointed up the furnace, which was stone cold. "See for yourself."
Percy peeked beneath the hood of the furnace. It appeared to be pitch black. Then Gandalf muttered a spell, and his stick began to glow. Percy almost jumped out of his sea green armour. Owlie flew off of his shoulders and landed on a nearby pole, hooting indignantly. "Yes, it can be frightening at first." Reassured Gandalf. "But you are not evil nor an orc, so you should be fine."
Percy's first thought was to run away as fast as possible. Then his second thought would be how funny it would be to show Annabeth the giant marble spider. Then he realised Annabeth wasn't here. "So," Percy steeled his nerves and looked at it again. "This is the guardian?" Owlie landed back on his shoulders again.
Percy looked at the spider. Percy thought the spider looked more scared of him than he was of it. "Uh, why is the guardian... Why is the guardian small?" Percy asked. Gandalf considered this question for a moment and said: "I have no idea. From what I know, the Dwarves bought it from the Elves, who got it as a gift from... some inventor of some sort. He would always mark his inventions with his symbol. See, it's on the spider's forehead."' Gandalf pointed to a barely visible marking. Percy squinted, and then fell back on the floor. He struggled to form a sentence. Why is there the mark of Daedalus here?! He wanted to scream that, but no doubt it would lead to some panic. And no one would answer. He settled back up. "That's... that's... yeah, ok."
Gandalf was quizzical. "Percy, do you happen to know this inventor?" Percy looked pale. "I knew him for a small amount of time." Gandalf again wanted to ask more questions but decided to focus on the task at hand. "Ok, if you are familiar with the inventor, then you should know more about his inventions. Work with me."
"I want to try something." Percy cleared his throat. "What sort of thing?" Gandalf raised his eyebrows. "Just a little something." Percy waylaid. He stepped inside the mouth of the gaping furnace. The spider appeared to be visibly trembling. Percy's wooden owl hooted, and looked at the spider like it was a delicious feast. Percy noticed. "Ah. Ok, Owlie, do you mind stepping – flying outside for a minute because... um, yeah. Just fly outside, please." The owl gave a disgruntled hoot but took off anyways.
The spider did not appear to be trembling anymore, but it was still hissing. Percy tried to treat it like a feral cat. A poisonous, 8-legged, marble feral cat. Yes, he dealt with those often. "If you truly are a work of Daedalus," The spider froze. "Then you should respond to: "Activate command sequence Daedalus 22. Your task here is finished. Kill all orcs and other dark things that you encounter." The spider didn't appear to indicate any sign of moving, but now at least it wasn't hissing.
"Ok, Mr. Spidey, you're going to have to move aside. There are a bunch of nasties coming my way, and we would appreciate that you kill all that comes near this furnace." The spider moved a little closer and hissed. But it was a curious hiss, not a threatening one. Percy didn't really know how he differentiated between them, but one seemed a little... less hissy. "That's right. If you could just move out of the tunnel for us, we would really like you too. Thousands of years of guarding this tunnel must be hard work. There are some delicious orcs this way if you would just come out..."
YOU ARE READING
Of Swords and Fire (Percy Jackson/LOTR)
Fanfic[Regularly updated] Middle - earth is on its knees. The east is in the hands of the enemy. The shire is now a fortress in these dark times. In New York, Percy was eating Mcdonalds with Nico, when he is once again shazamed by the gods and thrown in a...
