𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐈𝐂 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 // 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘪 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯

~ eighteen ~

I heard branches snapping in the distance while I continued to look for the dwarves. I stood back up above the trees once again. The leaves rattled ahead and with each snap, branches disappeared and fell to the ground.

"What could that possibly be?" I crouched back down into darkness and looked to where the noise was coming from. I couldn't see anything. "Stay close."

Bilbo nodded as he grabbed my shoulder. We knelt as far as we could until we decided that moving down the tree was the only way to get a better look. White substance was strewn all over the forest. It was the same stuff Bilbo was messing with earlier. I looked above and around and took a step forward, but my step was delayed.

The white substance stuck to my boot and tripped me. I fell forward into the dark branches. I tried to grab Bilbo for stability, but he was no use. We both plummeted towards the ground. We bounced of various trees, branches and trunks until Bilbo managed to grab a stray limb, but I wasn't so lucky. I continued to fall until I landed in a sticky, white net.

I struggled to lift my arms and legs but it was pointless. I then understood what the substance was. It was the webbing of a spider, massive ones for that matter. I groaned and wrestled with the web. I looked up to find Bilbo dangling from the branch. From the collection of webs, a massive spider emerged. Its dark eyes centered on Bilbo. A terrible screech erupted from the beast. Bilbo let out a scream himself and fell down into a neighboring web. The monster quickly jumped upon the web and began to twist him into a small pod.

"Bilbo!" I called out.

The beast snapped its glance to me. I then realized how stupid it was to say anything. I groaned and clenched my teeth. I would've kicked myself if I could. The eight legged creature towered over me and hissed. I pressed myself into the web, trying to avoid the fangs that hung over my face. My heart beat picked up as the thought of not being momentarily spared crossed my mind. I held my breath and closed my eyes.

Another hissing came from a distance. The spider above me growled. I fluttered my eyes open with relief. I let out my breath, but before I knew it, my entire body began to twist and turn. My surroundings became blurred and sounds became muffled until my entire body was coated in thick layers of web. I steadied my breath and tried to remain still. Suddenly a stabbing pain entered my lower back. The spider quickly retracted it's stinger and began to drag me to what may be my final death. I felt the poison infest my body as it flowed through my bloodstream. I grew very cold until I was numb. The rims of my sight dimmed until the world grew dark.

______

I heard the sounds of distant struggling. I couldn't move, I was completely paralyzed. I couldn't even open my eyes. I was hopeless, waiting for my body to regain any feeling. Several moments passed until I heard a panting breath and approaching footsteps. The ring of a sword being unsheathed echoed through my cocoon of web. All of a sudden, I felt weightless. I floated for a moment until my body smashed into the ground. My eyes shot open, but I couldn't see anything other than blurry silhouettes of the trees above. My breath escaped me as I let out a dry cough.

I stuck my fingers through the thick web and maneuvered my hands through the layers until I felt a finger tip emerge to the musty, dark air. I reached up a little further and began to part the web with my arms so I could see something other than web. I took a deep breath but quickly realized that the air in Mirkwood wasn't very sufficient either. My head was pounding. I felt dizzy as I stumbled to my feet. After gathering myself, I realized that there were several other webbed pods scattered around. Bilbo stood to my left with his sword, cutting others free.

I pulled the remaining web off of my face, hair and body. I quickly shuffled to the first mass of web and drew my sword. I sliced my blade through the first layers and pulled the rest apart. I shook the almost lifeless body of Fili until he began to stir. He moaned and began to raise himself. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me.

"Come on, we don't have much time." I helped him to his feet and together we opened the rest of the pods.

I quickly sliced open as many pods I could find. I found Bofur, Gloin and Dwalin. I pulled them to their feet and tried to help them pull off most of the web that was stuck all over them and commanded them to follow me to the others. I met Bilbo with the rest of the dwarves where I was cut down. There was only one problem, Kili wasn't there. I frantically looked for Fili, who stood over one last pod with Thorin. He sliced through the surface and opened it. He reached his hand down for a hand to grab. He lifted Kili from the webs. I sighed in relief and went to greet the three of them.

"We have to keep moving or else we won't make it out of here alive," Thorin grumbled. "Let's move!"

Thorin waved for the rest of the group to follow. We all followed, hoping we would go the right way this time. Shrieks came from the trees above. We all looked up to find dozens of spiders racing down after us. We all began to pick up pace and weave our way in and out of trees to find a way out. The spiders were now on the ground and right at our heels. We decided that it was better to turn around, split up and fight.

I adjusted my grip and took my first swing at the closest beast. My blade collided with its abdomen. I retaliated on a back swing and took out one of its back legs. The angered spider hissed and turned to face me. I took two big steps and leapt onto the spider and drove my sword through the top of its head. The legs of the monster went limp and the spider collapsed to the ground. I looked around to find the next one to take on with some of the other dwarves. I joined Fili and Kili against a spider that was a bit bigger than mine. I knew this one wouldn't go down very easily.

I began to hear sounds above me again, but it didn't sound like more spiders. I tried to look around but the spider caught me off guard and dragged me to the ground. Its fangs hovered over me as it growled. I groaned and tried to reach for my sword, but my finger tips couldn't locate the steel.

"Adina!" Kili cried out. I watch him and Fili quickly try to take out the legs and then go for the head. Suddenly, a knife whizzed out of the air and submerged into the face of the beast. I scrambled out from under the crushing weight of the spider.

I snapped my head behind me to see where the blade came from. I was shocked to find an elvish women standing there. I gave her a small smile and nodded in respect. She nodded back and joined the rest of the elves. All the spiders around us were now slain but our next challenge was handling the elves. Fili, Kili and I surrendered ourselves and walked to the rest of the group. Elves stood all around us with their bowstrings tight, arrows ready to fire.

"Search them!" An elf commanded.

The elf pulled the elvish sword from Thorin, who kneeled before him.

"Where did you get this?" The elf questioned with the blade raised to Thorin's throat.

"It was given to me," Thorin answered coldly.

The elf scoffed."Not only a thief, but a liar too? Bring them along!"

I looked around to find Bilbo, but he was nowhere to be found.

I turned to Thorin in a panic. "Where's Bilbo?"

His eyes widened as he began to look for the hobbit as well, but he was nowhere to be seen. My heart sank. He had to be somewhere and I could only hope that he would follow us. We were dragged out of the forest, which I believed was very kind of the elves to do to be honest. The dark weight of Mirkwood immediately lifted from me as we entered the elven kingdom.

The beams of the evening sun surrounded our battered figures as our feet trudged along. I soaked in as much sunlight and fresh air as possible, but my positive spirit dissipated when the heavy kingdom doors closed behind us. They walked us down several stairs down to the dungeon. We were each thrown into our own cellar. I slumped down onto the stone bench and rested my back into the stone walls. My body ached and my eyes and head were tired. I rested my head at the corner where the walls met and closed my eyes. At this point, I didn't need a cozy bed to fall into a deep sleep.