There and Back Again: A Girl's Tale

Chapter 20 Spiders and Strangers

Chapter 20 Spiders and Strangers

Elwen dropped to a lower branch and peered out into the shadows. She saw the spider webs, and her eyes widened in horror. Thick, silky strands hung in sheets from the branches, leaves glued together by the sticky substance. She'd been so focused on getting to the top, on finding a way out of that cursed place, that she'd somehow missed the giant ass webs everywhere. And where there were giant ass spider webs...

Bilbo landed clumsily behind her and looked around. He took one step and found his foot was encased in a web.

"Oh come on!" he sighed, and then shouted.

He tipped forward, reaching out and grabbing Elwen by reflex, and they both began to fall. She yelped in pain when her back smacked against a few tree branches. She knew they should be quiet, but both she and Bilbo were screaming loud enough to bring all manner of foul creatures calling.

Elwen reached out and grabbed Bilbo's arm tightly, then caught a branch with the other, ceasing their descent.

They dangled there for a moment, both breathing hard. This was bad, very bad. She couldn't hear the others, which was unusual giving how bloody loud they were. Whatever had been moving toward them through the trees, had it found their friends? Her heart seized with fear for the dwarves, and she was readying herself to swing Bilbo over to another branch when she heard a rustling noise coming from just ahead.

Elwen felt all the blood drain from her face. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came. She heard Bilbo's breath catch as the pair watched in horror as the largest spider she had ever seen moved slowly toward them. It was massive and horrible, it's dark body and legs splitting the web between itself and them. Many, too many, large round black eyes blinked at them. And then, like the bloom of a grotesque, fanged flower, the spider opened its jaw and roared.

Elwen and Bilbo cried out as the creature lunged at them, and she let go of the branch. She preferred the idea of plummeting to her death to getting eaten by a giant ass spider.

Their descent was halted long before they hit the ground. A large, sticky web caught them like a net. They struggled, desperately trying to wiggle free, to no avail.

The spider was on them in an instant. Elwen thought it would eat them immediately, but she and Bilbo found themselves shrieking as they were wrapped tightly in its web. Oh yes, Elwen thought vaguely. I'd forgotten. Spiders; they paralyze their prey, wrap them, and suck out their insides.

Her last conscious thought was of Thorin, Kili, and the others, praying that they'd gotten away. That they would make it out of the forest, and she hoped she died before the spider ate her alive.

Bilbo came back into the world wide eyed and horror stricken. Immediately he remembered the spider and the stickiness of the web all around him. He could feel himself being dragged behind the spider that had ambushed them in the trees, and he didn't need to turn his head to know Elwen was wrapped in a web being dragged beside him.

He couldn't tell if she was awake or not. If she wasn't, he prayed she was only sleeping.

When he saw a chance, he struck.

There was just enough room in the web, thanks to his small stature, to move his arm and draw his sword. When he heard the creatures scuttling and saw its shadow move above him, Bilbo thrust the tip of his sword upward and through the web, into the soft meat of the creature's underbelly. It reared back on a few of its legs and struggled, but he thrust up with more force and yanked. The spider fell limply from the high branch it had dragged them up.