Travelers

Chapter 11 - The Spider

Jacob was certain that they were lost by now. They felt like they had been wandering for hours, and he had noticed that they were starting to be followed by a band of medium sized spiders. Soon, Shelob would be attacking them, and Jacob decided to ready himself by putting his sword away. If she thought of them as hostile, she would attack without question, but if they were to look peaceful, she might say something first. He realized that he needed to make the first move.

He called out suddenly, "Shelob! Show yourself! I wish to speak with the controller of the web of fate!" The others were shocked, and Mal even looked at him like he was insane. Cat glanced at him questioningly, but then she noticed the oversized spiders following them and understood. Jacob met her gaze and nodded. He realized that while she was the smartest and the wisest, they needed the one that knew Shelob the best in order to trick her. They continued only a little more before they entered a larger cavern in the tunnels. There on the far side of the large room sat a giant spider. Jacob had to admit that he was a little scared by the sight of her.

She was larger now than Jacob had expected. Her massive body was like two hairy cars smashed together, and each of her legs looked like it was made of black steel. When she rose onto her legs, Jacob noticed that there was only seven of them, as the eight was only a small stub attached to her body. She inched forward a little, then hissed when she saw the weapons on her guests. Jacob drew his sword and Shelob seemed to ready herself for a battle, but then he set the sword on the ground and held up his hands.

He stepped back as the other two did the same. Cat stepped forward, ready to speak to her. She remembered what Jacob had suggested, but she decided that it simply didn't fit this situation. He had suggested to start with a formal and glorifying statement as Bilbo had, but now they all realized that flattery wouldn't be effective on this creature. Shelob stepped forward and asked them just what they had expected.

"Why do you enter my domain? Why have you invaded my home seeking me, wanderers?" She asked them. Her voice seemed to not only fill the cavern as a whole, but it also seemed to pierce into their minds as well. Jacob shook his head, trying to shake the harsh voice from his mind to no avail. Again, the giant spider spoke, but only a single word, "Well?" Jacob realized that the voice was having an even worse effect on the two girls, as they seemed to be almost paralyzed by the sound of it. Jacob realized that the duty of convincing the spider would have to fall to him. Jacob stepped forward, fighting back the effect of the beast's voice.

"Oh, one of you is of great enough mind to speak with me. Hmm... interesting," the spider said. The spider seemed to be assessing how capable he was. Finally, it turned and faced the other two, and hissed again, "Choose which one will go with you." Jacob simply gave the spider a stern look.

He finally said to the spider, "Let me talk to them first. Then I will tell you." He turned to Mal and Cat, deciding that there was only one way to solve this problem. He spoke first to Mal, because he was sure he could speak clearly to her. "Mal, look up at me," He said to her, looking directly at her face. She looked up at him and he asked her to describe him, and she just looked at him questioningly. Finally, she did it.

"You're about my height," she started, struggling at first, "You have brown blonde hair, brown eyes, and..." She trailed off. Jacob smiled and asked Cat to do the same thing to Mal. Once again, she began and trailed off just like Mal had. Jacob looked to both of them and answered the question they were about to ask. "It is what I did unintentionally when I first heard her speak. I was trying to analyze what I might have to fight, and then realized that her voice wasn't as bad as it seemed. Did it not occur to you guys to try to look Shelob in the eyes when you tried to speak to her?" He asked. Then, the spider returned and spoke again.

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Cat met the spider's seven remaining eyes and spoke in a clear voice, "You won't be having any of us as your meal today. The terror of your voice is null to us now." Shelob laughed, but to the friends it sounded like the screeching of a hundred small rodents wailing in pain. Shelob looked at them and slowly advanced.