Chapter Ten

For a few seconds, Aragorn didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t think.  It took a moment for him to register any kind of reaction at all.  Had anyone been there to see his face, they would have seen the dawning of pure shock.

“Legolas?” the ranger whispered, as his body began to shake.  Except for the wind, he was met with silence.  He then noticed, with another shock, that the snake was not looming above him, as it had been doing since catching up to them.

The thought that came into his mind about Legolas’s disappearance was too horrific to even contemplate for more than an instant.  The fleeting thought was just not possible and  made his mind reel.  For one thing, he was certain that if the snake had grabbed Legolas, the elf would have made some kind of noise to warn him.  That the elf might not have been able to was part of what the man refused to consider.

Aragorn looked around.  Legolas must have taken a different route through the boulders.  That had to be it.  In the deep shadows, his friend had gone around a different rock, either to find a quicker route for them to follow or perhaps to try and lead the snake away from his friend.  The ranger shook his head.  Doing something like that was just like Legolas. Aragorn took a deep, shaky breath and released it slowly in an effort to calm his pounding heart.

Knowing how stealthy this particular elf could move, Aragorn understood all too well that he would never hear Legolas if he didn’t wish to be heard.  “Doesn’t want me to know where he’s gone, so I can stay out of danger,” the ranger whispered to himself.  How many times had he told Legolas not to try to protect him?  “Stubborn elf.”

Slowly and carefully Aragorn stood up, hoping to get a better look around.  The rocks surrounding his current position were too tall, so the man moved  higher on the path until he found a boulder small enough to see over.

First, he gazed out across the ground he and Legolas had covered since leaving the forest.  He saw nothing out of the ordinary.

The ranger then turned in a complete circle, scanning the mountainside above and to either side of him.  There was no sign of the elf or, more remarkably, there was no sign of the snake, either.

An elf could easily hide in this terrain, but a creature as large as the one after them could not.  Where did it go?  Where could it go?

Three possible choices lay open to Aragorn.  He could stay where he was and hope that Legolas would come back and find him.  He could go back down the mountainside, which wouldn’t help matters, unless Legolas or the snake had done that same thing, a prospect that didn’t seem likely.  His third choice appeared to be the most promising; he could continue upward and hope that he and Legolas would find each other.

Aragorn then had another idea.  He began to think that if Legolas was making the decision and not the snake, the elf would most likely be moving toward the summit, believing that Aragorn would follow.  Even though the last choice would be against the elf’s protective instincts, Aragorn knew there was a big difference between what Legolas wanted the man to do and what he was sure his friend would actually  do. 

Once he had run those choices through his head, Aragorn didn’t take long to decide.  He turned and began making his way up along the same boulder-strewn part of the mountainside he and Legolas had been traveling. 

‘Be up there,’ the man said to himself, as he glanced upward.  He would crawl all the way to the summit, if that was what it took to find Legolas. ‘Be safe, my friend,’ he added.  ‘I’m coming.’

Legolas felt searing pain around his chest and back and the front and back of both lower thighs.  It felt like someone was poking him with numerous hot knives.  It didn’t take a genius to know he was being bitten, nor did it take a genius to know exactly what was biting him.  In fact, he was lying across the inside of the snake’s mouth.

In an instant, he felt himself being lifted upward and swung around.  In his mind, he was screaming Aragorn’s name, but when he  tried to cry out a warning to the ranger, no sound came out.  With a shudder, Legolas realized that the snake’s tongue was covering his mouth, most of his nose and part of his left cheek.  Whether that was a deliberate move on the creature’s part or just an unfortunate accident, the more likely of the two, it had effectively stifled any attempt from the elf to make even the smallest sound.

The serpent’s tongue was smooth and  slightly slimy.  At least, that’s the way it felt to Legolas.  It became a toss up as to which would happen first, suffocation or...

At first, the archer couldn’t figure out why he was being carried.  Why didn’t the snake just swallow him?  It wouldn’t have taken much effort to flip the elf around lengthwise and just ingest him in one quick gulp.

Whatever questions the wood-elf may have had about the snake’s immediate intentions were soon driven out of his head by sheer pain.  Each movement of the beast’s huge head seemed to drive it’s teeth deeper into Legolas’s flesh.  The elf realized that it was not an intentional action, just the consequence of motion - a most painful consequence.

Legolas knew that any attempt on his part to struggle would cause more damage than what currently existed and might even make the snake angry enough to just end it there and then.  Thus, the best course of action was  simply to grit his teeth and wait to see where he would end up and in what condition.

Legolas fought to stay conscious, so he could react when the snake finally stopped.  He lost the battle, which was probably a good thing.

The capture of the two beings was becoming a source of extreme frustration.  It had thought that when It poled It’s head down toward the light-colored one that victory was within It’s grasp - literally.

The being had lain down between the stones so that It couldn’t open It’s mouth to make the grab.  Used to living in tunnels surrounded by stone, It knew that these chunks were too solid to be moved aside.

To It’s utter surprise, the beings had made a run for it.  Without thinking, It had lunged toward the one in the rear and grabbed onto it.

Pulling It’s head back, It was pleased to note that the prey was securely in It’s mouth.

It’s yellow eyes glowed with a sense of triumph.  It had caught what It had sought.  It didn’t think of the long, painful journey to reach this point.  It only experienced happiness, in It’s own way.

It turned quickly and moved off as fast as It could toward what it perceived as a deep depression It had seen on the way up here.  It hoped that the hollowed out area  would prove to reveal a tunnel, similar to It’s home, that It could go into for a quiet, uninterrupted and much-deserved meal.

Normally, It wouldn’t have given a second thought to danger, especially from the other prey being, but It didn’t know this land.  It had been the supreme master of It’s underground territory.  It had no idea whether there was anything here in this strange place that would challenge It for It’s hard-won food.  It was certainly not willing to share.

It reached the depression in a few moments and made It’s way down into it.

It had no idea that It had made it by mere seconds before the other being It sought would have spotted it.

It laid the prey in It’s mouth down behind a small rock, away from potential prying eyes.  Now, it was time to inspect the depression for a safer place to hide.

Aragorn climbed higher, stopping every few moments to look around.  He was hoping that he would be able to spot the snake or better yet, run into Legolas.

The man wanted to call out, but was afraid that the snake might detect him, if he did.  He didn’t know how acute this particular serpent’s hearing was, but he was well aware of its scent-tracking abilities, able to detect subtle odors in the air.  He would just have to trust that if Legolas was close enough to hear him, he would make an appearance - soon, he hoped.

As time dragged on with no sign or sound from the elf, Aragorn became more and more concerned.  No, he became downright worried.  This kind of silence from his friend in this kind of dangerous situation was totally out of character.  Something was very, very wrong.

Not having any idea what else to do, the ranger continued his climb. 

Suddenly, Aragorn shivered.  He had been so caught up in where Legolas had gone to and what might be happening to the elf that he hadn’t noticed the cold begin to creep into his bones. 

It was true he was gaining elevation with every step, but he hadn’t gotten anywhere near the snowline yet.  The temperature shouldn’t have dropped this quickly.

Then, he became aware that the wind had picked up in intensity.  It was sweeping over the snow and blowing the colder air down to and through him.  At least, Legolas wouldn’t be cold, the man thought with a kind of grim satisfaction. 

He had long since given up wishing he had been born an elf, with the heightened senses of the Firstborn, like the family that had raised him.  This was one time, however, that he could have used the elven ability not to feel the cold the way mortals did. 

He shivered again, retrieving his gloves from an inner pocket and pulling them over his cold hands.  Then, he drew his tunic more tightly around him.  If only he had his cloak...  Aragorn sighed.  He didn’t have it, so wishing for it was a waste of time.  The only way to try and keep himself even halfway warm was to expend the energy it took to keep climbing.

Aragorn had gone no more than twenty feet, when he spotted a large, dark area down and to his left.  He stared at the black shadows and realized that whatever it was, it was big enough to contain the bulk of the giant snake.

Thinking that Legolas might have gone there, the ranger began to make his way in that direction.

Trying not to be so anxious that he became careless, Aragorn made it far enough to see that the dark spot was a depression in the rocky ground.

He wanted to get closer look, but in this area, the boulders had shrunk so much that if he advanced, he would be exposed, not only  to the increasingly intense elements but to anything that might be looking for him, and he knew exactly what that would be.

His determination to find Legolas overrode all other considerations.  He would just have to ignore the cold and deal with whatever else came his way.

Creeping along as silently as he could, Aragorn slowly made his way toward the depression directly in front of him.

As he approached the edge, he dropped down onto his stomach and pulled himself over the rocky ground, wincing each time a sharp rock dug into him.  He hoped the crunching noise he couldn’t avoid would be covered by the now-howling wind and was not loud enough to attract unwanted attention. 

As he reached the edge, he looked over and down.  He had to  stifled a gasp.  The man was shocked to see that the depression was enormous.  It was bowl shape and dropped away a good three or four hundred feet.  It looked like a giant hand had scooped it out.  The spot where he was now positioned was high atop a cliff. 

It was impossible to see all the way across the gaping hole, because the far side was cloaked in black shadows.  Even the moonlight didn’t penetrate the blackness he stared into.  His side of the hollow and his position on the cliff top were bathed in  the silver glow of the moon.  The ranger felt exposed, but he was so small in comparison to where he was that if he didn’t stand up and move about, he felt sure he could remain undetected.

Scanning the area that he was able to observe, Aragorn was not able to see anything that looked out of place.  If the snake was down there, it had left no visible trail and was now hidden in the darkness.  That did not bode well for any kind of rescue plan, providing, of course, that Legolas was here.

As Aragorn stared, a black shadow detached itself from the far rock wall into the pale light and began undulating across the floor of the depression.  It was the snake, and it was heading his way.

TBC