Ligth was cast upon our search by that dreadful encounter, for that was the confirmation of our Lord's suspicions, the clue on the direction that our armies should follow and the end of our road. For, after rumors and whispers, after far shrieking in the dark, after going forth and then back on our tracks, at last we found and followed traces of her prey into the darkness of a cave in the mountains and there she was waiting for us. She was dark and powerful and in her pride she wanted to toy with us.
We heard her voice first, strange, low, playful : "Did my dear Lord send me delicacies or you came to me out of your own will? You look beautiful, tempting.. what is that light within you?" We knew then what it was and we grouped back to back, each a shield for his brothers, each a weapon and all one only unshaken will of fighting together that fight.
Carnilórë shouted back into the dark "Show yourself, demonic offspring, we welcome this battle and it will be your last!". The voice was amused "So you came hunting.. for ME?! Little elves, you know not your place. Even he who was the trusted of the Dark King bowed and spoke words of admiration to me!! He asked for passage trough my halls and he treasures my friendship... And he wishes not to be followed by the likes of you, not now at least, so you shall neither pass trough here nor get to search other road! For I am the strongest child of my mother and not even the Dark Lord dared to fight her! I am guardian the of his peace and in my halls you will be my game, my prey and the rules of the hunt will be my own! Stay still and welcome your death or.. you.. can.. try.. to leave.."
Then darkness and terror came upon us, more dark than the lack of light of that tunnel, more dreadful than the peril of strongest beast. Scraping of claws and hissing like torn silk,a wave of bodies that seemed to respond to one call with their thousands of arms. We started to go back towards the entrance as one, a compact ball of will, shields and weapons. A wave of claws and mandibles covered us and we were cutting in the dark eyes and legs and bellies that released glue-like warm poison. We heard the agony roar of one of our own, and we saw not what blow reached him, but the rest of us held him up and the desperate fight towards the entrance did not stop.
She came after us too... She was larger than any of the rest, taller by farthan the tallest of us, with eyes dark and deep, reflecting the shine of our weapons, round, fat, huge and yet agile like a cat. In times long forgotten by many all of us have seen worse battles and none shivered that day, no hand trembled no courage flickered. I wager that when she approached us it was the first time when she felt pain, from blades that sparkled against dragon scales in their younger days and did not forget how to bite deep. She stepped back and let her offspring fight and die while she waited any mistake or hesitation to catch us off guard. She did not find even one.
We reached into the cold air of the mountain pass, still a ball of steel with claws and teeth of swords and spears. The wave of chelicerae, fangs and glue followed us but we thinned it down and less of them poured out of the mountain with each kill. After a while it was silence, a deadly silence. The piles of spider corpses was proof of the fight,so was the wounded that had been placed on the ground guarded by four others. More among us had lesser wounds, mere cuts of mandibles or claws on skin uncovered by armor or chain mail. Her Ladyship expected a lesser pray and was to starve that night but we also were not safe on her doorstep. No matter the difficulty we were to climb down the mountain slope right then, leaving none behind us and ready to be ambushed at any moment. She was either ashamed or shaken by -maybe -her first ever defeat for she did not chase us and we reached the plains below with our lives and our answer. A decision had to be taken on our return path and about caring for our wounded for he lost almost all of his strength and was laid heavy and white as a corpse in the arms of his carriers.
Celoslind 2nd chapter
Submitted by Naergon on January 16th, 2021