The Spider and the Elf

The First and Only Chapter

The day darkness descended on Greenwood was a sad day for all of the Greenwood elves. Not only had much of their beloved wood been reduced to gloom and shadows, but great spiders had crept in, spinning their cobwebs around every tree branch, limb, and root. Now the elves of Greenwood, more commonly known as Mirkwood, had to hunt down these spiders and drive them back beyond their borders.

It was on a day like that did this story begin.

"What shall we do, Father?" Prince Legolas, son of King Thranduil, asked.

Thranduil looked sternly at his son as well as the Elven guard surrounding him. "We shall do what we have always done, and what we shall always continue to do: drive them back past our borders."

"Yes, Father," Legolas said and turned to his troops. "You heard the King, arm yourselves and prepare to head out at dawn. We must be swift!"

The soldiers bowed and hurried to do his bidding. Legolas had just been about to follow and make his own preparations when his father interrupted those intentions.

"Legolas," the king of Mirkwood said.

He faced his father. "Yes, what is it?"

"You must be wary," he warned. "Not only do I feel a great evil lurking around our borders, but I also," his face became pale and twisted, "Feel a great evil inside these very walls. I am not certain where it is, our where it has come from, but I have a very troubling feeling, it's hard to explain."

"I will take the appropriate precautions, Father. I will not let any of the Elven guard become snared by whatever evil you are sensing," Legolas vowed and began descending the steps from his father's throne.

"Legolas," Thranduil called.

He turned on his heel, eager to be on his way. "Something else?"

Thranduil licked his lips nervously. "I'm not worried so much about the Elven guard," he hesitated a moment, "I'm worried about you, Legolas. This evil I feel, I believe that its goal is, is you."

"Take hope, Father," Legolas assured him. "I will be fine. By the end of tomorrow, the spiders will be driven beyond our borders, and, as for the evil that is in the palace, it will reveal itself when the time is right," he bowed and left to suit up.

As he walked away, Thranduil whispered, "That is what I'm afraid of."

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As Legolas strapped his knives to his waist and his bow and quiver to his back early the next morning, he too began to sense the evil that his father had told him about. It was near; very near. He didn't know where though.

The sunlight streaming through the window captured his attention. It was like a golden waterfall that no man, elf, or dwarf could ever plunder for. The sun's rays were the only untouched treasure the world could ever muster.

A thread of silver in the stream of light enraptured his attention. It definitely was not part of the sunlight; it actually dangled in front of him. What was this?

A sharp pain bloomed from the back of his hand. Legolas quickly glanced down and saw a small, black spider sticking its fangs into his skin. He quickly brushed the spider onto the floor. Once he had done this, he gazed at the spider bite.

At the moment, it was a small, red flaw, but the red was slowly starting to grow like a web, and soon, it had covered the top of his hand. He scratched rapidly at it, but, as he expected, the redness did not go away. In fact, the bite now appeared even more inflamed.