Chapter Three

A soft laugh escaped the elf’s lips. “Silly human,” he chided. “Just because it hisses does not necessarily mean it is a snake.”

When Aragorn looked at Legolas, even the elf’s fair features looked ominous in the flickering torchlight. For an instant the ranger realized how formidable an enemy Legolas would be, if he were to be infected with evil. Yet, current appearance aside, it was the elf’s bright blue-gray eyes that showed his true nature.

Aragorn gave an involuntary sigh of relief at the welcome sight. Then he dryly replied, “That’s very encouraging. The problem is that whatever it turns out to be, it’s going to be nasty. Count on it.”

“Because...” Legolas couldn’t help egging Aragorn on.

“Because something good natured would not be in this horrid place, lurking around under a creepy black tower.”

“I am down here, and I am decidedly good natured.”

Aragorn closed his eyes after rolling them upward. “Yes, Legolas, you are very good natured,” the man said with a hint of sarcasm, “And you are also incorrigible.”

Just then, another hiss, this time a little closer and a little louder, reached the two friends, eliciting a groan from the ranger.

Legolas narrowed his eyes. “I believe we need to turn around and go back the way we came, and I believe we need to do so quickly.”

After rubbing the goose bumps on his arm, Aragorn had to agree. Even though a part of him still wanted to continue on and investigate what lay ahead, the undeniable fact was that a very large creature of some sort was what lay ahead. Curious the man may be, but stupid he was not. With a reluctant sigh, the ranger nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

The pair had retraced only half the distance they had originally come when they heard a hiss coming from in front of them.

“You have got to be kidding me,” the ranger declared. “There are two of them?” His tone was one of stunned disbelief.

Legolas turned his head and listened intently to the dark tunnel behind them. He heard nothing - no hissing, no slithering, no scraping, just a dead, oppressive silence.

“I do not hear anything behind us.”

Aragorn stared at his friend. “If there’s only one, then how could it have gotten ahead of us so fast, when we’re headed back the way we came?”

“There is no way to know how many tunnels are down here. My guess is that there are a number of them, and the creature will certainly know them all quite well.”

The meaning of that statement raised the hairs on the back of Aragorn’s neck, a feeling he always hated. “So it can cut us off no matter what we do.”

“Probably,” the elf said flatly, not liking to have to admit such a thing was possible.

An involuntary shiver went down Legolas’s spine. As a warrior, he was trained to be prepared for anything that might come his way. As an elf, he felt vulnerable underground, with only a tiny torch for light and something unpleasant coming his way.

Without another word, Aragorn began running. He couldn’t hear Legolas’s light footfalls, but he didn’t need to in order to know that the elf was right behind him.

The two friends were running toward the stone stairs that would take them back up to the tower floor. If they were going to meet up with something, they wanted it to be within reach of the entrance to this underground level.

Legolas grabbed Aragorn’s arm and jerked the man to a sudden stop.

Detecting that the creatures were now going back the way they had come, It moved quickly into a side tunnel and slithered at top speed. Even in this parallel tunnel, It could hear the beings a few feet away through the solid rock. This tunnel would take the creature far enough beyond the fleeing targets that It could be waiting for them before they could reach the steps.

It didn’t know if the creatures It sought could hear Its hisses, but it didn’t matter. There was no way they could escape, no way they could save themselves. Once they had entered the tunnel, they were doomed. It grinned, confident and comforted by the fear that floated to him on the air.

It was at that moment that Legolas tapped the man on the shoulder and then pointed straight ahead.

At the very edge of the torchlight, Aragorn saw something move. He couldn’t tell at first just what it was he was looking at. Then he saw two yellow lights rise up and stop near the ceiling of the tunnel. It was then he realized that the yellow lights were eyes, reflecting the light of the flame he held in his hand. His own eyes widened in surprise.

The creature hissed, the sound echoing off the black walls. It was a sound Aragorn had never heard before and hoped never to hear again. “Tell me that’s not a giant snake in front of us.”

“I could tell you that, but it would not be true,” the elf replied. “It seems that this hissing creature is indeed a snake.” He was trying hard not to let his voice shake, but it wasn‘t easy.

Below the glowing eyes, two long, white lights appeared. Fangs!

As It moved closer, a gaping mouth came into view, and the gleaming fangs took on a more defined and frightening appearance.

The one word Legolas hadn’t used in his previous description was massive. And that was exactly what the head was - massive - and it blocked the tunnel, filling it side to side and top to bottom. If the creature’s head filled the whole space ahead of them, there was no reason to think the body would be much smaller. It’s length could only be guessed at.

The hiss that came out of that gaping mouth was accompanied by a lunge in their direction. Both elf and ranger jumped back. They kept the creature on the edge of the light. Neither wanted the snake to come at them from complete darkness should they backup too far, even though being this close to such a horror was beyond frightening.

They had found out earlier that Legolas’s inner elven glow did little to disperse the kind of darkness that existed in this tunnel.

It smelled the fear emanating from the two beings. Such a pleasant scent. It longed to lick them and taste that fear on Its tongue. Next to flesh and blood that was the most enjoyable.

It sniffed again. This time. along with the fear, there was... It soon realized It wasn’t sure. It had never come across this scent before.

What the creature didn’t know was that the mysterious scent these two beings also exuded was courage tempered with a determination to fight for their survival. In all the years of Its existence, It had never encountered anyone or anything whose outright terror was not all-consuming.

Aragorn thrust the torch outward toward the snake. There were few animals that did not fear fire, even one as small as the one that the ranger carried.

The rush of light toward Its sensitive eyes, which were much more used to the darkness, made the huge head rear back. It hissed in anger and almost instantly moved forward again.

“We can’t fight this thing,” Aragorn said with reluctant logic. “So we have to go back into the tunnel.” He was thinking that a side tunnel might give them another way to get to a different entrance into the tower.

Legolas was thinking the same thing and said, “Give me the torch.”

He never would have come up with a plan sending Aragorn off into the tunnel with no flame, had he not been reasonably sure there was only one creature down here with them.

Aragorn was not surprised at the request. “No,” he said vehemently. “You go first, and I’ll catch up.”

“Human, you will never learn. I can run much faster than you. I can hold this thing at bay while you find another tunnel. I can then catch up to you in a much shorter time than you can catch up to me.”

Again the man was forced to admit the logic in that reasoning. It was only his knowledge of Legolas’s ability to cover ground more rapidly than he could that allowed him to agree. Even so, it was hard to make himself abandon his friend to danger while he fled.

The elf shook his head. “I will be fine, and no, you are not abandoning me.”

“How do you do that?” the ranger asked and not for the first time since meeting the elf. “I think you’re a mind reader and just won’t admit to it.”

A small laugh escaped the archer. “If that were true, I would have known your intentions in coming here long before we reached this place and never let you near it. Now, hand me the torch and get ready to run.”

“I will do it under one condition,” the ranger said seriously. When Legolas raised his eyebrows in a questioning gesture, Aragorn continued. “You have to promise me you won’t take any unnecessary chances. You’ll come as soon as you can.”

“Estel, I am not suicidal.”

“No, but you do tend to sacrifice yourself for me.” Earnestly, the man said, “Legolas, I couldn’t live with myself if I made it out of here and you didn’t, because you were trying to protect me.”

The elf smiled. There was much he wanted to say to his friend, but now was not the time, so he simply said, “I promise.”

Reassured, Aragorn slipped behind the elf, handing him the torch and saying, “Remember, you promised”, as he did so. His hand briefly gripped the elf’s shoulder, offering as much encouragement as he could in that one gesture.

As soon as the torch was securely in Legolas’s hand, he stepped forward and thrust the flame into the face of the snake, yelling, “Go!” over his shoulder at the same instant.

All doubts and potential guilt left the ranger, and he turned and began pelting down the tunnel. The only thing that kept him from crashing into the walls in the darkness was that he held his right arm out to feel for the stone wall should he come too close. It slowed him down somewhat, but not too much. His fingertips occasionally grazed the wall, but he kept going as swiftly as he could.

After a few moments, Aragorn stopped, having felt both open air and the lack of sensation of the rock wall beside him. He turned into the side tunnel he had discovered. Rather than a sharp angle, there was a wide bend. ‘To accommodate the snake’s long body, no doubt,’ the man thought.

He moved steadily until locating a new tunnel, again to his right. Two right turns would take him back in the direction of the stone stairway. He tried to calculate how far he had come after the first turn. Was he now on the outside of the tower‘s perimeter? Would this tunnel lead him that way? He became excited at the thought.

Then the idea that there might be only one way out entered his mind. Perhaps, if he kept moving this way, he would come out behind the serpent with nothing between him and the stone stairs but empty tunnel.

Aragorn suddenly came to another tunnel, but this one only turned to the left. Now, it seemed more likely that he was going to be moving beyond the tower. His excitement was dampened when it occurred to him that he might just end up going in a crazy circle, especially since it didn‘t seem likely that the snake ever went above ground. Had the serpent spent any time outside, someone would have seen it, even in this remote area. No such creature had ever been reported.

When the tunnel he was now in turned to the right again, Aragorn stopped. He couldn’t bring himself to go any farther without knowing where Legolas was. The elf had not joined him yet, and that worried him. Had the elf made a wrong turn back where the tunnel first split?

Standing in the dark, trying not to think the worst, was making the ranger nervous. He knew nothing was going to ease his heart until his friend showed up.

“Legolas, where are you?” he questioned out into the darkness.

Only silence answered him.

TBC