In the first few issues, we introduced the largest spider spirit in Middle-earth------ Uglinant! Today I'm going to give you an inventory of her heirs, the biggest of whom is called Shilob!
Shelob, also spelled Corpse, is a spider-shaped demon who is the last descendant of the ancient evil spirit Ugoliant, perched in the Chilis Ugou Pass leading to the land of Mordor. Shilob is not loyal to any power, but desires only to satisfy his greed to devour all living beings.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > appearance</h1>
Shilob's head grew huge horns and numerous eyes clustered into two large clusters. Her neck was like a short pole, and behind it was a large, bloated body, dangling between her two rows of legs. The massive body was black all over, dotted with iron-blue patches, but the lower abdomen was gray and glowing, emitting a foul odor. She also has curved arthropods, with huge joints, even higher than her back, and the hairs on her legs are like steel thorns, which stand straight outwards, and the ends of each leg have hook claws. Shilob's whole body was covered with thick skin covered with pimples, and there was almost no weakness except for the eyes.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > life</h1>
Born in the First Age of Antiquity, Shilob is the heir of the spider-shaped evil spirit Ugoliant. She and her numerous siblings lived in the dark Nanton Cerbo Valley in the Belleriand region for hundreds of years, turning it into a place of terror that no one dared to set foot in. [2] At the end of the First Age, Belleriand was destroyed by the Battle of Wrath and sank into the sea, but Shilob escaped the collapse of the earth and finally reached the lofty mountains of the Mordor Frontier: it is said that the Dark Lord Sauron had not yet occupied Mordor, so this must have happened before the 1000th year of the Second Age. [1]
Hilob's lair is located at the pass of the mountain barrier Eferduas on the west side of Mordor, because of which he got the name "Chilis Ugou", which means "Spider Pass". Feeding on the elves and humans she passes, she becomes bloated and bloated with the feast of gluttony, and weaves dark cobwebs. Shilob's descendants also doubled as her companions, but she killed them once mating was complete: she had thus given birth to countless offspring, and the spiders of the Black Forest were her offspring, but none of them could match her. [1]
However, since Sauron's forces re-entered Mordor in the middle of the Third Age, Shilob has lost its abundant food source, as no passers-by have passed through it. She was starved by the unpalatable Oak, and hunger and anger grew. At the same time, Sauron rejoices at Shilob's presence, believing that she is a very reliable guard and does not care to let her eat a few orcs; he will even give Shilob a full meal of unworthy prisoners. In this way, Sauron and Shilob maintained a delicate alliance relationship and did not interfere with each other. In addition to Sauron, Shilob has another "ally": Gollum, the Hobbit, who has been tormented by the Supreme Ring. Gollum is passionate about exploring the dark caves, and in the process he meets Shilob, worships her, is restrained by her evil will, and promises to bring her fresh meat. [1]
In 3019, when Gollum intended to betray his master, Frodo Baggins, and seize the Supreme Ring, he decided to use Shilob to kill Frodo. So, as a guide for Frodo and Sam Wise Gamgi, he deliberately led them into Shilob's lair: but his plot did not succeed, as they were carrying the Thorn Sword and Galadrel's crystal bottle. Although Shilob stunned Frodo with a stinger, when she fought Sam, Sam first pierced her abdomen with a stinging sword and then severely burned her eyes with a crystal bottle. A grieving Shilob had to flee in a daze. [3]
The battered Shilobu hid in the nest for a long time, slowly recuperating until he was starving to death, and then came out of the hole again and rearranged her net. Her fate is unknown. [3]
What kind of spiders are there in Middle-earth?
Spiders are eight-legged arthropods that feed on insects or small animals. In Middle-earth, there are large man-eating spiders, all descendants of the spider-shaped evil spirit Ugoliant, which are widely distributed in dark areas such as the Namdon Cymboo Valley and the Black Forest.
As early as ancient times, when Angban was still under construction, a group of spider-like monsters lived in the valley of Nandun Cerbo, north of Dorias. At the end of the TwoTrees Era, Ugoriant, the evil god who destroyed the Two Sacred Trees, fled from Velino all the way to Nanton Gyaseb, where she settled for a while, mating with other spider-like creatures, giving birth to many ugly descendants, and then devouring her mates one by one. Ugouliant later left the dark Nydon Tserbu Valley, but her descendants still lurked there, weaving a web of evil; it became a dangerous place that few people set foot in, and only Belén and Aretil had once taken it when they were forced to do so.
Among the descendants of Ugoliant was a female spider known to posterity as Shilob. At the end of the First Age, the entire area of Belle Ryand, including Nanton Cerbo, sank to the bottom of the sea, but Shilob managed to escape the collapse of the earth and eventually reached the Chilis Uggo Pass in the mountains of the Mordor Frontier, where it hunted for food, bred offspring, and then mated with its own offspring, thus producing countless hybrids. The descendants of Shilob are widely distributed on the Middle Continent, and their main settlement is the Black Forest.
Two generations of ordinators (Bilbo and Frodo) have fought giant spiders. During his journey to the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo's dwarves accidentally fall into the trap of the Black Forest spiders, but Bilbo, with his sword, supreme ring, and wisdom, helps the dwarves successfully escape the danger. For the first time in his life, he single-handedly killed a giant spider, and in honor of this feat, he named the sword that killed the spider Sting. Frodo, on the other hand, confronts the mighty Shilob, who is lured into Hilob's lair by a malicious Gollum as he crosses the Chilis Uggo Pass and infiltrates Mordor. Frodo, carrying the Thorny Sword and Galadrell's crystal bottle, struggled with Shilob for a long time, but eventually nearly died, thanks to his best friend Sam severely injuring Shilob at the first moment, forcing him to give up his prey.
Although the giant spider is an important villain in the Middle-earth series, Tolkien doesn't really know much about spiders, so he makes some biological mistakes. Both Tolkien's Black Forest spider and Shilob are described as having two clusters of compound eyes like insects, but although the spiders have many eyes, they are both single-eyed. Spiders in the Black Forest are also known as insects, and in fact spiders belong to the arthropods, and their morphology does not conform to the basic characteristics of insects. Spiders need to molt many times in the process of growing, but Shilob not only does not molt, but its old skin can accumulate layer by layer until the knife and gun cannot penetrate. The vast majority of spiders do not have stingers, and they release toxins by biting their prey, but Shilob has been mentioned several times as having a stinger.
Tolkien's spider was the source of inspiration
As a child, Tolkien was once bitten by a tarantula, and many commentators believe that this is the source of his terrifying image of a giant spider. However, Tolkien himself disagreed with this speculation, saying that he did not remember being bitten by spiders, and pointed out that the giant spiders that appeared in "The Hobbit" were mainly written to scare his second son, Michael, because he was very afraid of spiders.
"Admittedly, the tunnel through which Frodo, Sam, and Gollum walked was guarded by a large spider. One can guess whether this has something to do with my childhood experience of being bitten by a tarantula (if anyone would have been interested in it). All I can say is that I can't remember anything like this, or that I remembered it when someone else told me; and I didn't particularly dislike spiders or the urge to shoot them to death. I even often rescue spiders from my bathtub! ”
— Tolkien's Epistles, Letter No. 163
"The main reason I wrote about spiders in the book is because it was created for my children (at least, I always keep them in mind when I write). One of my sons (Michael) is extremely afraid of spiders, and I wrote this to scare him, and it really did! ”
—— An interview with Tolkien in 1957
Excerpt from The Hobbit (Flies and Spiders)
They marched in a row, and the entrance to the trail was two large trees leaning against each other, looking like an arch leading to some tunnel. There were too many parasitic vines and moss hanging from the two trees, causing all the leaves to look pitch black. The road is very narrow and winds among the trees. Soon, the bright light of the entrance seemed to be the afterglow of the distance, and the dead silence around them made their footsteps become a heavy drum, and all the trees seemed to listen with interest.
As their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they could finally see the sides of the road. Sometimes, faint sunlight penetrates the dense leaves and tangled branches above, fortunately shining in, giving them another light source in front of them. But this sight was so rare that it soon disappeared completely.
There were black squirrels in the forest, and after Bilbo's sharp eyes had adjusted to the light of the place, he could see the guys sneaking around the trail or spying on them behind tree trunks. There were many strange noises in the trees, muffled hums, scratching sounds, and rolling sounds, and this sound would spread all the way to the old pile of rotten leaves on the ground, but he could not see what creatures were making these strange sounds. The most disgusting thing they saw was the spider web: these thick, dark webs had particularly thick spider silk, often stretching from tree to tree or hanging from tree to tree on either side of the road. However, there were no cobwebs hanging in the middle of the road, and it was not known whether this was due to some kind of magic to remove them, or some reason they could not think of.
Soon after, they developed a very strong sense of disgust for the forest, like the tunnel that hated the half-orcs in the first place, and the scene in front of them seemed even more disheartening. They missed the sight of the sun or the sky, and longed even more for the feeling of the cool breeze blowing across their faces; but at the same time, they had to keep going. There was no movement of air in the forest, and it seemed to be always in that dark, suffocating state. Even the dwarves, accustomed to living in the tunnels of the underground, could feel this oppression; not to mention the Hobbit, who was accustomed to embracing nature and having an open-air picnic, felt that he was about to suffocate to death.
At night, when the night is the worst time, the forest will become pitch black, which is not the darkness of the average person's imagination; here at night, it is so dark that you can't even see your nose. Bilbo tried to wave his hands in front of his nose and sure enough he couldn't see anything; perhaps it wasn't a very precise description to say that he couldn't see at all, because they could see countless eyes. They slept together, took turns keeping vigil, and when it was Bilbo's turn on duty, he would see many shimmers of light shining in the darkness around them; sometimes yellow, green, or red eyes would stare at them from not far away, and then those lights would slowly fade and then light up again from not far away; sometimes these lights would shine on the branches above their heads, which was the most frightening sight. But what he hated most was the pale, protruding kind of eyes. "Insect eyes!" He thought, "It's not the eyes of an animal, it's just weirdly big." ”
Although it wasn't very cold, they tried to make a fire at night, but they soon gave up. The flames seem to attract hundreds, if not thousands, of eyes closer, but these mysterious creatures are always careful not to expose their bodies to the faint light of the fire; worse, it attracts countless black or dark green moths, some almost as big as the palm of your hand. These moths will keep flying in their ears, which is really unbearable. And the giant bats, as dark as black top hats, floated around; so they finally had to give up the fire and let the darkness engulf everyone.
To the Hobbit, this difficult process seems to have lasted for decades; because they have always kept their food under strict control, they remain hungry at all times. Even so, as time slowly passed, they became more and more nervous. The food would never run out, in fact, the number was already a bit insufficient, and they tried to hunt squirrels, barely managing to shoot one after they had wasted many arrows. Finally, when they roasted the squirrels to eat, they found that the taste was terrible, so they no longer wasted time hunting.
They also felt very thirsty because they didn't have much to drink, and during this time they didn't even encounter any springs or rivers. One day, they found a rushing river on the trail, which was very turbulent, but not very wide, and at least looked dark in the forest. Fortunately, Bion had warned them before, otherwise they would have filled the kettle at once, regardless of the color of the river, and even drunk it with water. Now, all they could think about was how to cross the river without getting their hands and feet wet. There was originally a wooden bridge on the river, but it seemed to have decayed and fallen into the water, leaving only the broken pillars on both sides.
Bilbo knelt on the bank of the river and looked into the distance. "There's a ship on the other side! Why isn't it on our side! ”
"How far away do you think that ship is?" Thorin asked, because he now knew that Bilbo's eyesight was the best of the bunch.
"Not too far, I guess it's probably no more than twelve yards."
"Twelve yards! I think it's at least thirty yards, but my eyes don't work as well as they did a hundred years ago. Twelve yards and a mile are not much different. We can't jump over it, let alone venture across a river or swim over it. ”
"Can you throw the rope over?"
"What's the use of that?" Even if we could hook the boat, it would have been tied up. ”
"I don't think it's tied up," said Bilbo, "though I can't be sure in this light, it seems to me that it is just leaning against the shore; the road over there is particularly low, just enough to join the river." ”
"Dori is the most powerful, and Philip is the youngest and with the best vision," said Thorin, "and Philip came over here to see the ship that Mr. Baggins said." ”
Philip thought he could see, so while he was looking in that direction, the man next to him brought him a rope. They took several ropes and tied an iron hook to the longest one that had been used to secure the backpack. Philip grabbed the iron hook, tried to grasp the sense of balance, and threw it across the river.
It fell into the water with a roar! "Not far enough!" Bilbo looked at the other side and said, "Throw a few more feet and you'll fall into the boat, try again." If you just touch the wet rope, I don't think the magic of the river can hurt you. ”
Philip carefully pulled the hook back, and when he touched the hook, a struggling expression appeared on his face. This time, he threw it out with more force.
"Hold on!" Bilbo said, "You threw it into the woods by the river this time, and carefully pulled the rope back." Philip slowly pulled the rope back, and after a while Bilbo said, "Be careful! The hook was on the boat, hoping the iron hook would hook something. ”
It did hook up, Philip pulled hard, but the boat didn't move. Qi Li rushed over to help, followed by Ou Yin and Ge Luo Yin. They pulled and pulled, and suddenly they all fell to the ground. Bilbo grabbed the falling rope, and the boat on the other side drifted after pulling the cable. "Help!" He shouted, and Bahrain grabbed the rope in a single shot to keep the boat from drifting down the river.
"It's still tied up after all!" He looked at the broken cable in his hand, "The strength of everyone is really great, fortunately our rope is relatively strong." ”
"Who came first?" Bilbo asked.
"I'll go first," said Thorin, "and you'll come with Philip and Bahrain." Then there are Qili, Ouyin and Groin and Duoli, and here comes Ouli, Noli, Bever and Pove, and finally Devalin and Pompeo. ”
"I hate that every time it's the last," Pangber said, "it's time to change someone else this time." ”
"You shouldn't have been so fat in the first place. Since you are so fat, you should come last and not let the ship be under too much pressure. Don't instigate disobedience, or you'll have bad luck. ”
"Without paddles, how are we going to push the boat back from the other side?" The Hobbit asked.
"Give me another rope and another iron hook," Philip said, throwing the rope into the sky as hard as he could when they were ready. In the end it did not fall, and everyone thought that the iron hook was already hanging on the branch. "Let's go inside!" Philip said, "You have to have a man with this rope to the other side, and one of them must first take the iron hook, and when we are all safely on the other side, you can hook the hook and let the people on this side pull the boat back." ”
With this method, they all quickly crossed this magical stream. DeValin stepped ashore with the rope, and Pomber (still grunting in his mouth) was about to climb out, but he really had bad luck. Suddenly out of the forest, a figure that looked like a wild deer burst out of the crowd, knocking the group away, ready to jump to the other side. However, it could not jump safely to the other side. Thorin was the only one of these people to stand firm and remain calm. As soon as they reached the opposite shore, he immediately bent his bow and arrows, ready to deal with any creature guarding the boat. At this moment he aimed at the leaping beast and fired an arrow; and when it jumped to the other side, it seemed to fall heavily on the ground, and the shadows completely surrounded it, but they could hear a struggle, and then everything fell silent.
Before they could praise Sorin, Bilbo's screams immediately tensed up. "Pomber fell into the water! Pombo was about to drown! He shouted. It's true. When the beast rushed out, Pomber had only one foot on the ground. He stumbled, pushed the boat away, and fell into the dark water. His hands did not grasp the slippery vegetation on the banks of the river, and could only watch as the boat drifted into the darkness.
When the crowd ran to the river, they could see his hat floating on the water. Soon, they threw a thick rope with a hook in that direction. He grabbed the rope, and together they pulled him to shore. He was soaking wet from head to toe, but that wasn't the worst of it. As soon as he came ashore, he fell asleep, his hands still clutching the rope; no matter how everyone shouted and shouted, he slept like a dead pig.
They looked down at the fat man, cursing the luck of the guys and the clumsiness of Pomber. The boat drifted away, and they could no longer go to the other side to inspect the deer that seemed to have been shot; just in time they heard the faint sound of trumpets and the roar of the hounds. The crowd fell silent, and as they sat on the ground they could clearly hear what appeared to be hunting to the north of the trail, but there was no sign of it.
They sat there for a long time, not daring to act rashly. Pomber's fat face was smiling and sweetly asleep, seemingly unconcerned about any current troubles. Suddenly, several white wild deer appeared on the path in front of them, a tall female deer and several young deer, their pure white fur and the black deer before them made a strong contrast. The wild deer immediately disappeared silently into the forest, and the dwarves fired arrows at them in vain.
"Stop! Stop it! Thorin shouted, but it was too late, the excited dwarves had wasted the last of their arrows, and the bows and arrows that Biwon had kindly given them were useless.
That night, the morale of the group was very low, and in the next few days their mood fell to the bottom. They had crossed the magical stream, but the trail behind the stream still seemed to meander in the same way, and the forest hadn't changed in any way. If they understood the significance of the hunt and the appearance of the white deer, they would know that they were finally approaching the eastern edge of the forest; and soon, as long as they persisted, they would find that the trees were getting scarcer and brighter.
However, they did not know that in addition to the heavy heart, the group had to carry a heavy Pomber forward. They did their best, and four people took turns carrying the fat man, while the others had to assist in carrying the backpacks of the men. If it weren't for the fact that the weight of the backpack had been greatly reduced, they might not have been able to accomplish the task; and the smirking Pomber was not an inspiring burden compared to food. Within a few days, they were in a state of complete deprivation of food and water. There is no food to eat in the forest, only mushrooms and leaves of grass that emit a strange smell.
After four days of crossing the magic stream, they came to an area surrounded by cypress trees on all sides. At first, they were quite happy with the change, because there were no longer so thick weeds underneath, and the shadows had become much thinner. There began to be some green light around them, and in some places you could even see the scenery on both sides of the path; but this green light only allowed them to see the trees in rows, like the endless stone pillars in some deep tomb. The air began to flow, and there was a special sound, but it gave a sad feeling, and they trampled on the rotten leaves that had been accumulating on the ground for countless autumns.
Pombo was still asleep, and everyone felt extremely tired. Sometimes they hear disturbing laughter, and sometimes there is a singing sound in the distance. The laughter was quite pleasant, very different from the half-orcs, but it sounded a little strange and strange, making them feel uneasy at all, just trying to force out their last strength and try to stay away from this place.
Two days later, they noticed that the trail began to slope downwards, and soon after, they were in a valley full of oak trees.
"Isn't there an end to this damn woods?" Thorin said: "Is there anyone who can climb to the top of the tree and see what is going on outside?" I think we can only pick the tallest tree to try our luck! ”
Of course, this so-called "whether there is anyone" is Bilbo. The reason they chose him was because if the tree climber was to be able to stick his head out of the woods, he had to be light enough to let the top branches bear his weight. Poor Mr. Baggins had never had much experience climbing trees, but the crowd pushed him half-by-the-way onto an old oak tree on the side of the road, and he had to do everything in his power to climb up. He struggled through the thick branches, and was hit several times by the branches in the middle. The sap and the moss that grew on the bark soon turned him black and green, and he slipped from the branches more than once, and finally grabbed the branches below in a dangerous way; he approached the top of the tree with great care. During this long, seemingly hundreds of years, he was preoccupied with worrying about whether there were spiders in the trees and how he would come down (except for falling).
Finally, he stuck his head out of the sea of trees, and indeed let him encounter several spiders. Luckily, these are some average-sized spiders, and their targets are the butterflies. Bilbo's eyesight was almost blinded by the sun for a moment, and he could hear the dwarves screaming impatiently underneath, but he could only blink desperately and could not answer; it took a while for him to adapt to the light. As he adjusted to the harsh light, he found himself surrounded by a deep green sea, treetops swaying left and right in the breeze, and butterflies flying all over the sky. I think they're mostly a butterfly called the Purple Monarch Butterfly, which is a butterfly that likes to perch on top of oak trees, but these are not purple, they are dark black, and they don't have any marks on them.
He carefully admired these "black monarch butterflies" for a long time, while enjoying the wind blowing through the hair and the comfortable feeling on his face. However, after a while, the dwarf who began to stomp and roar at the bottom reminded him of the serious business to do. Unfortunately, the situation in front of him was very bad, no matter which direction he looked, he couldn't see any boundaries in the sea of trees. His mood, which was aroused by the sun and the emerald green scene in front of him, also began to sink, and because his stomach was empty, his mood was particularly deep this time.
As I told you before, they are not far from the edge of the forest. If Bilbo had been calm and careful enough, he would have found that the tree he was in was actually in the middle of a valley, so that what he saw from the top of the tree would be dense woods on all sides, and under the limitations of the terrain, he would not have been able to see where the end of the forest was. However, he did not find out about this incident, and finally climbed down the tree in disappointment. He was hot and sticky, his body was still covered with bruises, and in the dark environment below, he couldn't see anything at first. Soon, his report sent everyone into the same low.
"This forest is constantly stretching in all directions! What are we going to do? What's the use of sending the Hobbits! They shouted as if it was his fault. They didn't care about any butterflies, and they felt even angrier when he described the breeze blowing; for the dwarves were too bulky to climb that high.
※※※
That night, they had eaten the last bit of food, and the next morning they had gone to bed together, and the only thing they knew was that they were still so hungry that they looked like there were worms crawling inside. It was raining heavily in the sky, and there were many drops of water passing through the thick woods and falling to the ground, which only allowed them to discover how thirsty their throats were, and actually did not help at all. You can't stand under an oak tree with your mouth wide open, waiting for water to drip down. Unexpectedly, the only consolation turned out to come from Pomber.
He suddenly woke up and scratched his head. He didn't know where he was or why he was so hungry, because he had forgotten everything since the day he left in May. The last thing he remembered was a party at Hobby's house. It took them a lot of effort to convince him that there were many adventures in between.
When he heard that the food had been eaten, he couldn't help but sit down and cry in frustration, because he felt very weak and his legs were powerless. "Why should I wake up?" He howled and said, "I was just having a dream, I dreamed that I was walking in a forest like here, except that there were torches in the trees, oil lamps hanging from the branches, campfires lit on the ground, and carnival parties everywhere... The banquet that never stops. A king of the forest has a crown of fallen leaves on his head, and everyone is singing happily, eating and drinking too much to count! ”
"Don't you say it!" "Actually, if you can't tell us anything else, you'd better shut up," Thorin said. We have been abused by your weight before, and if you don't wake up, we're ready to leave you in the forest and dream. Even if you don't eat or drink for weeks, it will weigh a lot of lives. ”
Apart from tightening their belts, everyone has no other way to do anything about it. Carrying empty backpacks and bags, they continued down the path in a low mood, wondering if they could see the end of the road before starving to death. They walked like this all day, not only slowly, but also unimaginably tired. Pombo kept crying, saying that his legs were weak and he wanted to lie down and sleep.
"No, no!" They said, "Get your legs to exercise well, we've got enough for you." ”
Regardless of whether everyone is good or bad, this guy ended up sitting on the ground and refusing to move on. "I'm going to go you guys," he said, "and if I can't find anything to eat on my way, I'd rather lie here and dream, and there's a lot of good food in my dreams, and I wish I never woke up." ”
It was then that Bahrain, who was at the forefront, shouted, "What's that?" I think I saw a fire in the forest! ”
They all huddled to the front, and it seemed that in the distance there seemed to be a flash of red light in the darkness; then another spark appeared next to it, and then another. Even Pombo climbed up, and the group sped forward desperately, not caring whether it was an ogre or a half-orc. The light in front of them was on the left side of the path, and when they finally came to the vicinity of the fire, it looked like the torches were burning under the trees, but they were quite a distance from the path.
"Looks like my dream has come true!" Pomber caught up from behind breathlessly, speaking breathlessly. He wanted to rush over to chase the lights, but the others didn't dare to forget the warnings of the wizard and Bion.
"If you can't come back alive, it's useless to have more to eat," Thorin said.
"If we don't have anything to eat, we won't live long anyway!" Pomber said Bilbo wholeheartedly agreed with him. They argued for some time, and finally agreed to send a few spies, quietly approaching the lights, to find out what the situation was. However, at this time, they could not decide who to send, and it seemed that everyone was not in a hurry to risk never finding a way back. Finally, hunger overwhelmed the warnings, and as Pomber kept describing the delicacies he saw in his dreams, the dwarves all left the trail and rushed deep into the forest.
After a long period of creeping forward, they finally saw a deliberately cleared open space where trees had been cut down and land had been bulldozed. There are many figures who look like elves, all dressed in green and brown clothes, in a circle around the fallen trees, with a campfire in the center and many torches in the surrounding trees. Happiest, though, is that they're all drinking and eating with joy.
The aroma of the roast meat was so enticing that all the people climbed out and rushed into the crowd, hoping that the other party would reward them with some food. As soon as their feet stepped into the clearing, the flames extinguished at the same time as if they had been cast by magic. Someone kicked at the campfire, and it exploded into countless sparks and disappeared without a trace. They were once again plunged into utter darkness, unable to see each other. After some time, they began to fumble to adjust to the darkness, and they kept tripping over the trees, crashing into the trunks, yelling and almost waking up all the creatures in the forest, and finally gathering together, counting everyone by touch. By that time, they had long forgotten the original direction of the trail, and by dawn, they could be said to have been completely lost.
They had nothing to do in the darkness, but to sit down; they were afraid of getting lost again, and they did not even dare to grope for the crumbs of food on the ground. They didn't lie down for long, and when Bilbo first felt his eyelids get heavier, Duoli, who was on duty for the first night, whispered, "The fire has reappeared, and this time the number has become more numerous!" ”
They all jumped up. Indeed, there were a dozen warm light sources not far away, and they could clearly hear the laughter coming from ahead. They lined up in a row, each touching the back of the person in front of them, and walking forward one by one. As they walked nearby, Thorin said, "Don't worry this time! No one was allowed to come out until I sent out the code. I sent Mr. Baggins to inquire first. They won't be scared by him—"What if I'm scared by them?" Bilbo thought. I hope they don't do anything to him. ”
As they reached the edge of the fire, the crowd shoved Bilbo from behind, and before he could put on the ring, he fell into the flames. It doesn't work. All the light was extinguished, and the darkness of the five fingers that could not be seen was once again shrouded.
If it was difficult to assemble in the dark before, this time it was really much worse. No matter how they looked, they just couldn't find the Hobbits. They counted and there were still only thirteen of them. They shouted, "Bilbo Baggins! Hobbit! You damn Hobbit! feed! Hobbit, you stinky fellow, where are you? There were other similar shouts, but the other side did not respond at all.
They were about to give up hope, but Dori accidentally stepped on him. In the darkness he thought he had kicked the wood, only to find out that it was a slumped and asleep Hobbit. It took them a lot of effort to shake him awake, and when he woke up, his temper was not very good.
"I just had a good dream," he muttered, "there's so much to eat." ”
"Oh my God! "He has become like Pomber," they said, "and do not describe to us your dreams, which are of no use at all, nor can we eat them." ”
"In this kind of ghost place, I'm afraid I can only rely on dreams to fill my stomach!" He grunted and lay down beside the dwarf, trying to fall asleep again.
However, strange lights in the forest are not the last to appear. In the middle of the night, Qili was on duty, and he woke everyone up again.
"Not far away it was lit up again, and there were hundreds of torches and dozens of campfires, which must have been suddenly lit by magic, and listen to their singing and harp!"
After lying down for a few moments, they found themselves unable to resist the desire to go and find out again. They climbed up again, and this time the situation was even worse, and the feast they had seen before was now more sumptuous and astonishing. In front of a large crowd of drinking people sat a king of the forest, with a crown of leaves in his golden hair, like a dream figure described by Pomber. These elf-like creatures handed each other large bowls, some played harps, and many were busy singing. Their shiny hair was dotted with flowers, their necklines and belts pinned with green and white gems, their expressions and songs were full of joy, their songs were very pleasant, and Thorin boldly stepped into them.
In an instant, the forest fell silent again, all the light disappeared, the flames turned into black smoke, the dwarves could only see embers and ashes in their eyes, and the forest was once again filled with their hectic roars and complaints.
Bilbo found himself running in circles all the time (he thought so), shouting incessantly: "Doli, Noli, Ori, Ouyin, Groein, Philip, Qili, Pomber, Bever, Boof, Dewarin, Barin, Solin Oak Shield," and the people he couldn't see or touch were doing the same thing around him (occasionally interjecting in Bilbo!). But the cries of the others grew more and more distant, and after some time those voices seemed to turn into cries for help from afar, leaving him alone in the darkness.
It was the most tragic moment of his life, but he quickly made up his mind not to act rashly until dawn, and he did not want to risk exhaustion in the dark, and there would be no breakfast to replenish his strength the next morning. So he sat down against the tree and began to miss his distant hometown with its beautiful dining room again. He was caught up in fantasies about cured pork, eggs, toast bread, and butter, when suddenly he felt something touch him, a sticky and tough silk thread wrapped around his left hand; when he tried to stand up, he found that his legs were already wrapped in the same thing, so he fell to the ground as soon as he got up.
Then, while he was in a daze, the big spider packing food ran from behind and prepared to cook the meal. He could only see the object's eyes, but at the same time his body could feel that it was wrapped around him in a circle of deadly spider silk. His luck was so good that he regained his sanity in time, and if he delayed any longer, he would soon lose his ability to act; he would have to struggle with all his strength just to regain his freedom! He kept pounding the opponent with his hand (it was like a spider dealing with a fly, trying to inject him with venom), and finally remembered that he was still carrying a sword, and immediately pulled it out. The spider immediately flew backwards, and he bought time to cut the spider silk on his feet. After that, it was his turn to attack. The spider is obviously not used to dealing with this creature with thorns, otherwise it will escape faster. Before it could escape, Bilbo rushed up and aimed his sword into its eyes; it began to convulse wildly, kept struggling, and finally made up another sword before whimpering. Then Bilbo lost consciousness and for a long time did not remember anything.
When he woke up, the forest was already gray from the day, and the dead spider was lying beside it, the blade of the sword stained with black blood. For Mr. Baggins, the bravery of killing a giant spider in the dark alone, without the help of wizards or dwarves, seemed to have changed him. He felt that he had been reborn, even though his stomach was still empty, and as he wiped his sword on the grass, he found himself braver and fiercer.
"I'll give you a name," he said to it, "and I'll let you get a needle!" ”
After that, he began to explore the forest. The atmosphere in the forest was solemn, but it was clear that he had to find his companions first, because unless they were in the hands of the elves (or worse), they should be not far away. Bilbo felt that shouting was not safe, so he stood still for a moment, wondering where the trail was, and where he should look for the dwarves first.
"Oh, why have we forgotten gandalf and Bion's advice?" He said remorsefully, "Look at what dilemma we have now fallen into!" Speaking of us! I wish it were really us, it was terrifying to be alone. ”
In the end, he reluctantly guessed the direction in which the cry for help came from last night, and with the help of luck (he was born with a lot of good luck in this life), he guessed that it was not too far away, and you will know it by then. After making up his mind, he began to move forward cautiously. The Hobbits are very good at silent movement, especially in the forest, as I must have told you before, and Bilbo had put on his ring before he began his adventure, which is why the spiders did not see or hear him coming.
He walked carefully for a short distance, and found that there was a place in front of him that was plunged into darkness, darker than the shadows around him, as if it were shrouded in the midnight that would never fade, and as he got closer and closer, he realized that it was made of layers of spider webs; not only that, but he also found that there were large and terrible spiders coiled on the branches of the branches on his head, and whether there was a ring or not, he trembled with fear of being discovered. He hid behind a tree, looking at the monsters, and in the still atmosphere of the forest he found them talking. Their sounds were a bit like faint hisses and frictions blending together, but he could barely hear most of them. They're talking about dwarves!
"It's a lot of struggle, but it's worth it," one said, "their skins must be very old, but I bet there must be sweet juice in them!" ”
"Ah, it will be much better to hang them for a while!" The other said.
"Don't leave them hanging for too long," said the third, "they're not fat enough, I guess it's probably because they haven't eaten enough lately." ”
"I said kill them first," said the fourth hiss, "kill them first and then hang them up." ”
"I bet they're all probably dead by now," the first one said.
"Probably not yet, I just saw one of them struggling, I think most of them just woke up from a beautiful dream, please allow me to show you."
As soon as he finished speaking, a fat spider ran down the silk and came to the place where a dozen oval balls were hung on the branches. Bilbo, who had only now noticed these things hanging from the trees, could not help but feel very frightened; some of the orbs had the feet of the dwarfs sticking out of them, or the tip of their noses, or part of their beards and hats.
The spider walked over to the largest orb, and Bilbo thought, "I bet that must be poor old Pombo!" Then, the spider bit the protruding nose, and a muffled scream came from inside the ball, and one foot reached out and kicked the spider hard. Pombo was still angry, and the spider made a sound as if the football had been kicked, and it was difficult to rely on his own spider silk to save his life.
The other spiders laughed. "You're right!" They said, "Our grain is still alive, and our feet are still quite strong!" ”
"I'll be over soon!" The angry spider crawled back into the branches in a huff.
Bilbo knew now that it was time for him to do something. He could not confront the monsters head-on, nor did he have a bow or arrow in his hand; however, after some searching, he found a dry waterway nearby with many small stones on it. Bilbo was a master at throwing stones, and it didn't take much time to find a stone the size of a goose egg. When he was young, he often threw stones at all kinds of things, and in the end, even rabbits and squirrels, and even birds, as soon as they saw him bending down, they fled as quickly as lightning. When he grew up, he was still very happy with darts, rings, bowling, and other games that required aiming and throwing; in fact, he had a lot of other interests besides spitting out smoke rings, guessing puzzles, and cooking, but I didn't have time to tell you in detail before, and I didn't have time to instigate them now. When he picked up the stone, the spider had walked to Pomber's side, and soon he would die under the spider's venom. At the moment of the lightning stone fire, Bilbo threw out the stone, and the flying stone hit the spider's head, causing it to fall from the tree to the ground, and all its feet curled up.
The second stone mercilessly pierced through the web and ripped off the silk, killing the spider in the center of the web with great precision; then, the spiders made a big commotion, and this time they didn't have time to take care of the dwarves! They could not see Bilbo, but they could still faintly guess the direction in which the stones were coming, and they immediately rushed out of the nest at lightning speed, rushing towards the Hobbits, sprinkling spider silk all over the sky, hoping to catch the enemy.
However, Bilbo had already slipped in the other direction before that. He had a whim, trying to lure these angry spiders as far away from the dwarves as possible; he wanted to plunge them into a state of anger, curiosity, and excitement. When about fifty spiders had rushed to his previous position, he aimed at the other side and threw a few stones, and many more at the other spiders who were undecided; not only that, he boldly sang in the woods, trying to provoke the spiders, to make them all rush over, and at the same time to make his voice heard by the dwarves. He sang:
Old fat spiders make webs in the trees!
Can't see me, it's old and fat!
spider! spider!
Stop it
Look for me, don't weave the net anymore!
Spider spiders, fat and unusual,
Spider spider, can't find my direction!
Fall to the ground!
If you want to catch me, don't lie in the tree!
The song may not sound very good, but you must also know that he made up his own song in a burning ass situation, and in any case, it did achieve its purpose. As he sang, he threw more stones and stomped his feet hard, and all the spiders nearby almost swooped out to hunt him down: some jumped to the ground, some threw soup on the branches, or threw silk in vain at the darkness. They moved much faster than he had imagined, and apart from being stoned, the spider hated being scolded for looking like pigs, not to mention Bilbo's ridicule of them.
Bilbo had a new hiding place, but by this time several spiders had rushed to different places and began to weave webs in the clearings, and soon the Hobbits were surrounded by thick webs—at least, that was the purpose of the spiders. Standing between the enraged insects, Bilbo plucked up his courage and began to sing another song:
Lazy Rob, Silly Carbo,
Weaving a net trying to catch me.
My flesh is sweet and fragrant,
You still can't find me!"
I'm here, naughty little fly;
You're really fat and lazy.
Can't catch me, don't try to win,
Make you miserable in the cobwebs.
As soon as he finished singing, he found that the last space between the two trees was sealed by the cobwebs, fortunately, it was not a complete cobweb, just two thick strands of thick silk winding back and forth between the trees. He drew his short sword, cut the cobwebs into pieces, and continued to sing.
The spiders could see the sword, but I don't think they knew what it was; and at once, a whole swarm of spiders sped toward the Hobbit in a huff. Their eyes were protruding, their furry tentacles waving around, their jaws clenched; they chased Bilbo all the way into the forest, and then he slipped back in silence.
He knew he had only a very short time before the spiders gave up their chase and went back to the trees hanging from the dwarves, and during that gap he had to rescue the guys. The most troublesome part of the task was to climb up the low branches with many dwarf balls hanging from it, and if it weren't for the spider leaving a spider silk down, he might not have been able to climb up at all. With the help of the spider silk, even though the sticky thing wrapped around his hand and hurt his hand, he barely climbed up. To his surprise, there was an old and fat treacherous spider in front of him, left to guard the captives, and it was busy poking and prodding east and west to see which captive was more juicy and delicious. It was preparing to enjoy the food in front of it in the absence of anyone else, and unfortunately Bilbo was in a hurry to get down to business and had no time to waste; therefore, before it could return to its senses, the needle ended its life.
Bilbo's next job was to loosen the shackles of the dwarves. What should he do? If he cut the silk, the poor dwarf would surely fall to the ground with a bang. He carefully climbed up the branches (his footsteps made all the poor dwarfs begin to shake incessantly, looking like fruit about to ripen), and finally, with a hard time reaching the position of the first orb.
"Philip or Strange..." he speculated from the tip of his blue hat that emerged from the edge of the cobweb. Between the intricate cobwebs, the long nose sticking out made him make a judgment: "Mostly Philip!" It took him a lot of effort to cut off most of the sticky and tough cobwebs, and Philip kicked hard to reveal most of his head. Seeing the clumsiness of the other party struggling, Bilbo couldn't help but laugh for a moment. In fact, this can't be blamed on him, the scene in front of him is really like a puppet doll dancing!
Finally, Philip climbed up the branches and began to assist the Hobbits in their efforts to liberate their compatriots; however, since he had been hanging on the branches all night, showing only a nose to breathe, and still had the residue of spiders in his body, he felt a little dizzy. However, Philip's condition is already the best, some people almost stop breathing (long noses do have evolutionary advantages), and some people are more poisonous.
In this way, they rescued Qili, Bever, Bofo, Duoli and Nori. Poor Pomber was tormented, and since he was the fattest of the dwarves, he was the most frequently poked and stabbed object, and in the end he was even toyed with until he rolled off a branch and fell to the ground, fortunately he had the good fortune to land on a pile of dead leaves. However, when the spiders returned in anger, there were five dwarves hanging from the trees.
Bilbo immediately rushed to the trunk closest to the branches, forcing back the spiders that had crawled over. When he rescued Philip, he took the ring off and forgot to put it on. The spiders could see him clearly now, so they began to hiss and say bitterly, "We can see you now, you bad guy!" We'll eat you and hang your bones from a tree. wow! You see he still has a thorn! Well, we'll catch him anyway, and we'll hang his head and dry it when the time comes. ”
As the spider progressed, the other dwarves desperately cut the silk with a knife to rescue the rest of the captives; before long, everyone was free again, but no one was sure what would happen after that. Last night, the spiders caught them very easily, but it was in the dark, in a state of surprise. The second time they fight, it seems that there will be a bloody battle.
Suddenly, Bilbo noticed that some of the spiders had gathered around Pompeo and tied him up again, ready to drag him away; he shouted and swung several swords at the spiders in front of him. They quickly retreated, and he leapt down the tree, landing right in the middle of the group of spiders, his sword was a kind of needlestick for them that they had never encountered before, and the sword was too light, and the spiders were killed and injured! As Bilbo wielded a needle, the sword shone with joy at being able to destroy evil creatures. Before the other spiders retreated and abandoned Pomber, there were already more than a dozen dead bodies on the ground.
"Come down! Come down! He shouted at the dwarfs on the branches, "Don't stop on it and fall into the cobwebs!" "Because he found that there were many spiders gathered in the nearby trees, and some of them had even been souped on their heads.
Dwarves jumped, fell, or fell from trees in a hurry; most were so frightened that they could not even walk steadily. In the end, a total of twelve dwarves finally gathered, including Pomber, who was supported by his cousin Bever and his brother Pophire. Bilbo kept brandishing his sword and needle, and hundreds of angry spiders were advancing from all directions, which seemed quite sinister.
The battle began, some dwarves still carrying knives, some picking up branches, others picking up stones, Bilbo's hands were swords made of elves, the spiders' attacks were repelled by waves, and many corpses piled up on the ground; but the dwarves were almost unable to hold on, only four dwarves could barely stand up straight, they would soon be killed like dying flies, and the spiders had once again begun to weave deadly webs in the nearby trees.
In the end, Bilbo had no choice but to reveal to the dwarf the secret of his ring. He felt quite sorry, but unfortunately couldn't think of any other way.
"I'll disappear later," he said, "and I'll find a way to lure the spider away, and you'll have to get together and run in the other direction." It's better to go to the left, where we last saw the direction of the elven campfire. ”
In the midst of this chaos, the dwarves' drowsy heads could hardly understand what he was saying. But the spiders kept pushing in, narrowing the circle; finally, Bilbo felt that he could not delay any longer, and suddenly he put on the ring, and the dwarves were surprised to find that he had disappeared.
Soon, in the woods on the right came "Fat Pig Fat Pig!" And "Lazy Worm! " cursed. This made the spiders very angry. They stopped, some rushing in the direction of the sound; then, Bahrain, the only one who understood Bilbo's plan, led the others to launch a counterattack. The dwarves gathered together, threw a large number of stones at the spider on the left, and took the opportunity to rush out of the encirclement, and the shouts and singing behind them suddenly disappeared.
The dwarves secretly hoped that Bilbo would not be discovered by the spider, but the situation forced them to turn back and could only move on, but unfortunately, they were not fast enough. They were tired and sad, and even though there were many spiders behind them, they could only drag their steps forward at a fairly slow pace. Because their speed was so slow, they were forced to stop from time to time to fight the spiders that were catching up; soon after, some more spiders had rushed to the trees near them and dropped sticky silk, hindering their progress.
It seems that the battle situation is in a desperate situation again, but Bilbo suddenly kills the spider circle from the side.
"Let's go! Come on! He shouted, "Let me break the queen!" ”
He did, he stabbed forward and backward, cutting spider silk, chopping spider legs, and whenever spiders dared to approach, he pierced their fat bodies. The spiders were furious and made terrible noises, cursing the little enemy in front of them; but they already knew how powerful the needle was, and did not dare to get too close. Therefore, no matter how much they curse, the prey still keeps sneaking out. The process was so torturous that it seemed like it took hours. Finally, just when Bilbo felt that he could no longer lift his sword, the spiders suddenly gave up, no longer chasing after them, but turned back to where they lived.
The dwarves then noticed that they had come to the place where the elven campfire had appeared, but they were not sure if this was the spot where the campfire had been found. It seems that these places still have remnants of good magic, so that the spiders dare not act rashly. The sky here is more emerald green, the trees are no longer ghostly, and they finally have a chance to rest and breathe.
Everyone lay there resting for a while, but soon they began to ask curious questions. They asked Bilbo to explain in detail how to disappear, and the fact that they found the ring intrigued them so much that for a moment they even forgot about their own troubles. Bahrain was particularly interested in this, insisting that Bilbo tell Goulu's story from beginning to end, including riddles and rings. After a while, it was getting dark, and they began to ask other questions: Where is this place? Where is the original trail? Is there any food? What to do next... They asked these questions over and over again, as if expecting little Bilbo to answer them all. From this attitude, you can see that their view of Mr. Baggins has completely changed, and they have begun to show considerable respect for him (Gandalf had already predicted it)! They really think he's going to come up with a good way to change all this, rather than just complaining. They all knew that if the Hobbits hadn't risked their lives to rescue them, they might have all died. A few of the dwarves even immediately bowed at ninety degrees, but then fell to the ground because of the weakness of their legs, and could not get up for a moment; even after knowing the truth of the mysterious disappearance, they did not disparage their opinion of Bilbo, for they all understood that Bilbo not only had a magic ring, but also had quick wit and good fortune, which were valuable assets that they so much needed. In fact, their praise for Bilbo made him feel like a great adventurer; though, if there was something to eat, he thought he might be braver.
Worse still, there was nothing to eat, and no one had the strength to search around, not even the original trail. Original trail! Bilbo's weary mind had only these few words. He could only watch the endless stretch of trees in front of him, and soon everyone was silent again, except for Bahrain. After everyone had calmed down and closed their eyes to rest, he was still free to talk to himself, laughing happily: "Gollum! Oh, that's the way it is! So that's how he slipped in? That's what I know. Mr. Baggins, you still say you sneaked in quietly? And sprinkled buttons all over the floor! What a good Bilbo—Bilbo—Bilbo—wave—wave—wave—"And then he fell asleep, and there was complete silence all around him.
Suddenly, Devalin opened his eyes and looked around. "What about Thorin?" he asked.
Everyone was shocked. There were really only thirteen people here: twelve dwarfs, and one Hobbit. Where did Thorin go? They began to fantasize about what kind of terrible fate Thorin had encountered, whether he was caught by magic or by evil monsters. Everyone couldn't help but feel a chill on their backs, and then, still unable to resist drowsiness, fell asleep one by one. As evening enters the night, everyone's dreams are filled with all kinds of horror nightmares. Since they were so tired and sad that they did not have the strength to keep vigil in shifts; so let us look at the situation on the other side.
Thorin was actually arrested much earlier. Do you remember the time when Bilbo fell asleep as soon as he stepped into the elf campfire? The next time it was Thorin's turn to pass first, so he fell into the same slumber caused by magic. The noise of the dwarves was swallowed up by the night, and when the spiders bound the dwarves, their cries were not heard; the cries of the next day's battle did not disturb him in the slightest. Therefore, the wood elf appeared silently and tied him up and took him away.
Of course, those guys who sang and feasted were the wood elves. They are not evil creatures, and if there is any flaw in them, it is that they do not trust outsiders. Although they possess strong magical powers, even these days they are still very cautious. Unlike the High Elves of the West, they are belligerent and less intelligent, because most of them (and their compatriots scattered among the mountains) have been passed down from ancestors who did not travel to the Western Wonderlands. The Light Elves, the Deep Elves, and the Sea Spirits, all inhabited the Overseas Immortal Mountains for a long time, became more beautiful, wiser, more knowledgeable, and invented their own magic, researching techniques for how to make beautiful and magical things, and they returned to this world after many years. In this world, wood elves wander between the light of the sun and the moon, but their favorite is the stars; they roam in the vast forests that are long lost today, and most of them live on the edges of the forests, where they can sometimes enter the forest to hunt, and sometimes they can gallop on the plains in the moonlight or under the stars. After the arrival of humans, they became more and more isolated from the world, appearing only in the middle of the night or in the early morning, but these creatures were still elves and a kind race.
At the eastern edge of the dark forest there was a huge cave inhabited by their greatest king, and in front of his huge stone gate a river ran through the forest and stretched out to the plains outside. This huge cave has countless small openings on all sides, and it also goes deep underground and has many tunnels and temples. The underworld was far cleaner and brighter than where the half-orcs lived, not so deep and less dangerous. In fact, most of the king's subjects lived and hunted in the forest, and most of their houses were on the ground or on the branches, and cypress trees were their favorite. The king's cave was his palace, where he collected treasures, and where his compatriots fought against foreign enemies.
Similarly, it was the dungeon where they took prisoners. So they dragged Thorin there unceremoniously (because they didn't like the dwarf and thought he was the enemy). In ancient times, they had accused the dwarves of stealing their treasure and waged war with them; but on the side of the dwarves, there was another version of the story: the elven kings asked them to make and refine gold and silver, but later refused to pay them. If the elven king had any flaws, it must have been a lust for treasure, especially silver and white gems. Although his treasury already possessed countless treasures, he was never satisfied, for he thought he had not yet acquired the same astonishing wealth as the ancient elven nobles; his people did not mine, nor did they mint metals or make jewels, nor did they bother to trade or cultivate. Although Thorin's ancestors had nothing to do with this ancient dispute, every dwarf knew the situation. Therefore, when the magic on his body was lifted, Thorin was very dissatisfied with the attitude of the elves, and he secretly decided not to let the other party get any news from his mouth, or find any gold and silver jewelry from his body.
When Thorin was brought before the king, the other party looked at him solemnly and asked him many questions, but Thorin just kept saying that he was very hungry.
"Why did you and your compatriots try to attack our fellow citizens at the feast so many times?" The king asked.
"We didn't attack them," replied Thorin, "we're here to beg because we've been starving for so long." ”
"Where have your friends gone, and what are they doing now?"
"I don't know, but I think they're probably still starving in the forest."
"What are you doing in the forest?"
"Look for food and water because we've been hungry for a long time."
"Why did you go into the forest in the first place?" The king asked angrily.
Thorin closed his mouth, stubbornly unwilling to answer.
"Superb!" The king said, "Take him away, take good care of him, and see when he is willing to speak, even if it takes a hundred years!" ”
The elves tied him up with a belt and locked him up in the deepest cave. They gave him a lot of food and drink, not necessarily the best, but in large quantities. The wood elves are not half-orcs, and even if they treat mortal enemies, they will not lose their measure, and the only ones who will make them merciless are the big spiders.
Sorin lay in the king's dungeon, and after he had eaten a full meal, he began to miss his unfortunate friends. It wasn't long before he learned what happened to his friend, but in the next chapter, it was the beginning of another adventure, and the Hobbits once again showed the crowd his strengths.
Part II: The Tale of the Two Cities Verse 20 The Lair of the Corpse
As Gollum had said, it might be daytime, but the Hobbits didn't see any change at all; the only difference was that the sky had been in complete darkness, as if immersed in deep black ink, and now the sky had become the color of the night, with a gray shimmer in many of the gaps. Still, the earth is still shrouded in endless shadows. Goulu walks ahead, while the Hobbits cross the road shoulder to shoulder between towering weathered rocks, seemingly passing under the watchful eye of two statues. There was complete silence all around. Not far ahead, about a mile or so, is a tall gray mountain wall, which should also be part of this mountain range. It looked very dark, and it kept climbing upwards, towering into the sky, obscuring all the scenery in front of it. Beneath the rock walls are gray shadows. Sam sniffed the nearby scent. "Evil! It stinks! He said. The smell of the previous one was getting stronger. "They were in the shadows at this time, and there was an opening in the middle of this cave.
"That's where you go in," Gollum said softly. "This is the entrance to the tunnel." He didn't say its name: Torrey Ango: The Lair of the Corpse Luo. From it came a strong stench, not the decay of the valley of the Devil's Cave, but a disgusting stench, as if there were all kinds of inexplicable filth piled up in the cave, harboring in the darkness.
"Is this the only way, Smiger?" Frodo said.
"Yes, yes," he replied, "yes, we have to go this way." ”
"You mean you've been in this hole before?" Sam said, "Whew! However, you may not mind the smell. ”
A strange light flashed in Golu's eyes. "He doesn't know what we mind, does he, baby?" No, he didn't understand. But Smegger could tolerate a lot of things. Yes, he had walked this path, oh yes, through the middle. This is the only way. ”
"I don't know what makes this stink," Sam said, "it seems to be—that kind of thing, forget it, I don't want to say it." I bet this is where the half-orcs live, and the stuff in it is probably piled up for hundreds of years. ”
Frodo said, "Whether it's a half-orc or not, if that's the only way, we have to go in." ”
They took a deep breath at the entrance of the cave and walked in. After a few steps, it was pitch black in front of me. Sam and Frodo had not encountered such complete darkness since the dark tunnel of Morya, and even it felt deeper and denser. Inside the pit, there is also the feeling of air flow, echoes and vast spaces. The air here is stagnant and dignified, and the sound seems to be absorbed. They seem to be walking in a terrifying world made up entirely of the essence of darkness, and the breath of this darkness is not only invisible to the eyes, but also erases all memories of colors and shapes in the brain.
This is the eternal night, the night that never changes, and everything here is the night. In the beginning, though, they could feel the difference around them; in fact, the sense of touch in their limbs seemed to be magnified to the point of making people feel sad. They could feel exactly that the walls were smooth and that the floor, with the exception of the occasional staircase, was very flat, climbing up at a fixed angle. The tunnel was so wide that two Hobbys could only touch the walls of the tunnel with their fingertips as they walked shoulder to shoulder, feeling completely separated from the darkness and the whole world.
Gulu walked in first, as if just a few steps away. When they were still in the mood to take care of him, they could hear his breathing in front of them. But before long their senses had become duller, and their senses and hearing seemed to be paralyzed; they still had to grope their way forward, supported only by the willpower that had come in, hoping that they would soon be able to penetrate the tunnel and come to the opening on the other side. Shortly after they had gone (and this was just an extrapolation, for the passage of time and distance seemed to have lost its meaning), Sam walked to the right, touching the wall, and could clearly feel an opening in that direction: he smelled a less heavy breath, and then walked over again. "There's more than one fork in the road here," he whispered reluctantly, as he seemed to struggle to get enough air to speak. "It's really like a place where half-orcs would live!" After that, first he, and then Frodo, passed through three or four such openings, some wider and some smaller; but the path they took was undoubtedly the main thoroughfare, for it was completely unflecting and the widest. But how long is this backwards? How long will they have to endure, and how long can they endure?
The gravity of the air increased with the times, and they seemed to encounter some kind of resistance stronger and denser than the air in this darkness. As they walked forward, they could feel something brushing against their heads or rubbing their hands. This could be some parasitic plant, or some kind of tentacle. They simply couldn't be sure what these were in the dark. Moreover, the smell is still getting stronger. It kept increasing, and by the end all the perceptions of the Hobbits seemed to be blinded by this only smell, and it made them more miserable.
An hour, two hours, three hours, how long did they spend in this dark cave? Hours – days, and maybe even weeks.
Sam walked over to Frodo, their hands clasped together, and it took him a while to find the courage to keep going. At the end, Frodo groped the wall on the left-hand side and suddenly came to a void. He almost fell into this emptiness. Here, there was a crack between the rocks that was wider than any terrain encountered before, and the smell coming out of it was so strong and threatening that Frodo couldn't help but start vomiting. At that moment, Sam also stumbled and almost fell into the void in front of him. Frodo, barely suppressing his nausea and boundless fear, grabbed Sam's hand and said.
"Stand up!" He said in a hoarse voice. "It's all from this side, that stink and the sense of threat. Hurry up! Hurry up! Summoning the last shred of courage and willpower, he pulled Sam up and forced his limbs to keep moving.
Sam staggered behind. One step, two steps, three steps, and finally they took the sixth step. Perhaps they passed through this frightening, invisible opening, or perhaps for some other reason; but all they knew was that suddenly the two men had moved more easily. It was as if the previous hostility had loosened its grip. They continued to struggle forward, still holding hands. But almost immediately, however, they encountered another conundrum. The tunnel seemed to split into two forks, and in the darkness they could not tell which one was wider or which one was straighter. Where should they go? Is it left, or right? They have no basis for judgment at all, but a single mistake can immediately endanger their lives.
"Where has Gollum gone?"
Sam gasped. "Why didn't he wait for us?"
"Smig!" Frodo reluctantly tried to call the other person's name. "Smig!" But his voice was hoarse, almost indistinguishable as soon as his lips came out. There was no answer, no echo, no change in the air.
"I think he's really gone this time," Sam muttered. "I think that's why he's bringing us over here. Gollum! If we ever see each other again, you'll regret it. ”
At this time, they groped in the darkness and found that the opening on the left was blocked: if it was not a dead end, it was a large stone falling in the middle of the road.
"We can't go this way," Frodo whispered, "rightly or wrongly, we have to go the other way." ”
"And hurry up!" Sam gasped and said. "There's something more evil here than Gollum. I could feel something watching us. ”
They walked no more than a few yards before a voice came from behind them; in the solemn silence it was a great horror: a bubbling, grunting sound, a very long hissing sound. They turned around, but still couldn't see anything. They could only stand still like statues, staring at the unknown in the darkness.
"It's a trap!" Sam said he immediately grasped the hilt of his sword, and when he did so, he thought of the terrible sight he had encountered on the tombstone. "I wish Tom was nearby!"
He thought. Then, surrounded by darkness, under the fury of anger and despair, he seemed to see a ray of light: at first it was so strong that it was unbearable, as painful as if a person who had not seen the light for a long time looked directly at the sun. Then the light appeared in color: green, gold, silver, white. In the distance, it seems that the pattern drawn by the elven hand shows the scene of Empress Calantrell standing on the grass of Rorian, holding many gifts in her hand. As for you, the Lord of the Rings bearer, he heard her say, distant but very clear, and I have prepared this for you. The grunt was getting closer and closer, interspersed with the shrill sound of some kind of joint friction. Before it came a foul smell. "Master, master!" The danger of life made his hoarse throat make a sound. "The Queen's gift! Starlight! She said it would be your illumination in the dark. Starlight! ”
"Starlight?" Frodo seemed to wake up from a big dream, and at first he couldn't understand what the other person was saying. "Yeah, why didn't I think of that?" Illumination when all the light is extinguished! Now, really only this light can help us. ”
His hand slowly reached to his chest and slowly held aloft the small glass bottle that Calantril had given him. At first, it flickered faintly and glistening like a star rising through thick clouds; then its light gradually increased, and the hope in Frodo's heart began to jump. It began to glow, and then turned into a silver flame, a flickering heart of light, as if Elandir himself had descended on the earth, letting the light of the elven diamond on his forehead shine on the earth. The darkness began to recede, and the light seemed to form a shining transparent sphere, and the hand holding it also flashed with white flames. Frodo stared at this wonderful gift in astonishment, amazed at how long he had carried it with him, and had not discovered its power and radiance. Until they came to the Valley of the Devil's Grotto, he had almost completely forgotten about the existence of this thing on the way. Moreover, he did not dare to use it arbitrarily along the way; for he feared that the light would reveal their whereabouts.
AiyaEarendilElenionAncalima！
He shouted, not knowing what it meant; it seemed to be another force that, through his mouth, was reciting here without being suppressed by the stench. But there are other forces in Middle-earth, the ancient and powerful power of the night. Wandering in the darkness, she had heard the cries of the elves of ancient times, so she didn't care about it, and she couldn't make her feel flinched. As Frodo spoke, he could clearly feel a threat and will looking at him. Not far from the tunnel, between the opening where they had almost fallen before and where they were now; he realized that many pairs of eyes were slowly emerging, two large clusters of dense and complex eyes—which had turned out to be the source of the murderous qi in the cave.
The glow of the starlight was refracted and shattered on the many faces of the compound eye, but behind those eyes a pale, deadly flame began to heat up, a flame that had been brewing for a long time in some evil consciousness. It was the cursed eye of a demon, full of animal nature, but with an evil intelligence that took pleasure in hurting people, while looking at the hopeless prey in front of him.
Frightened and overwhelmed, Frodo and Sam began to slowly retreat, their own eyes gripped by the venom-filled eyes. They kept retreating, and those eyes kept moving forward. Frodo's hand began to tremble, and then the power of the starlight began to weaken. Suddenly, in order to entertain themselves, those eyes deliberately released them from some kind of fixed evil law, causing them to run around in vain; but even while running, Frodo looked back and was still horrified to find that those eyes were still in hot pursuit. They seemed to be tightly surrounded by some kind of stench of death. "Stop! stop! "He shouted in despair." Running is also useless. Those eyes slowly approached.
"Calantrell!" He shouted, summoning up a little courage and struggling to hold the starlight high. Those eyes stopped. It seemed suspicious and relaxed for a moment. At this moment, Frodo's heart was burning with rage, and he didn't have time to think about it too much, and he didn't have time to think about whether this was stupid or brave; so he held the star light in his left hand and pulled out his sword in his right hand. The needle flashed blue, and the sharp elven sword glowed softly under the white light. Then Frodo held aloft the starlight in one hand and a sword in the other; the Hobbits from the Charlids were so courageous that they faced those eyes.
Those eyes shook. As the light drew closer, they began to have doubts. One by one, the glow of those eyes diminished, and they began to retreat. Never before had such a deadly light ever threatened them. They hide safely underground, untouched by the sun, moon, and starlight. But now, a starlight has shot into the ground, and it is still advancing. Those eyes flinched. One by one, the eyes began to go out, and a huge figure with indistinguishable light blocked the view of the two men. These eyes disappeared.
"Master, master!" Sam shouted. He himself drew his sword and followed closely behind. "Long live the stars! If they hear what we've done, the elves will make a song for us! I wish I had lived to tell them these things and hear the songs they sang. Host, wait, don't chase anymore! Don't go inside that cave! Now is our only chance. Let's get out of this stinking cave! ”
So they turned again in the same direction, first with the one they had walked, and then with the one who had run, for the ground in front of them had become steeper; with each step they could move farther away from the invisible stench, and they could gain more strength and determination to climb. However, they could still hear the voice of the watcher chasing after him, perhaps he was blind for a while, but he was not defeated, and he was still preoccupied with death. At the same time, there was also a cold, faint cool breeze blowing in front of me. Finally, the opening of the cave appeared in front of the eyes. Breathless and impatient to find a place without a roof, they took three steps and made two steps forward. However, in surprise, they took several unsteady steps back in a row. The exit was obscured by something, but it wasn't rock; it was something soft and slightly elastic, but strong and hard to break. Air can pass through, but no light is coming in. They rushed forward again, and were bounced back again.
Frodo held aloft the light of the star, looked at the object in front of his eyes, and found a gray curtain, and the light of the star was not only impenetrable, but also unable to illuminate. It is as if it were a shadow cast by darkness, so that no light could dispel it. At the entrance of the cave was a huge web of tight seams, like the masterpiece of some kind of giant spider, neatly but tighter and larger, each line as thick as a rope.
Sam smiled solemnly, "Spider's web! Is that it? spider web! Even if it's a spider! Go and die, break it for me! He slashed angrily with his sword, but the cobwebs where the blade passed were constantly folding. It pulls apart slightly, then bounces back like a pulled bowstring, bouncing the blade and arm apart. Sam slashed three times with all his strength, and in the end, it was not easy to break one of the countless spider silks, making a cracking sound. One end swept over Sam's palm, causing him to scream in pain, took a few steps back, and sucked on the wound with his mouth, "It will take days to cut a road, what should we do?" Are those eyes back? ”
"No, I haven't seen it yet," Frodo said. "It's just that I still feel like they're still looking at me, at least thinking about me: maybe they're making some plan." If the light weakens, or disappears, they will come back quickly. ”
"Finally I was stuck!" Sam said in frustration that his anger had once again erupted from tiredness and despair, "like a worm trapped in a cobweb." May the curse of Faramer be quickly repaid on Goru! ”
"Even then, it won't help us at all," Frodo said. "Come on! Let's see what miracles a needle can do. This is the blade of the stalk elf. In the deep valley of Belland, where it was cast, there must have been such a terrible cobweb. But you have to stand guard in the back and get rid of those eyes for me. Come, take this starlight. Don't be afraid. Hold it aloft and pay close attention to what you see! ”
Frodo walked to the tangled cobwebs, turned around and slashed, sharply cutting countless spider silks. The sword shining with blue flames was as easy as a sickle weeding, and the cobwebs naturally shrank and broke in front of the blade, and the weak softness hung down. Soon a path was opened. He slashed sword after sword until finally all the cobwebs within range were broken; the upper part of the cobwebs turned into a windward curtain. The trap was broken.
"Come on!" Flodo shouted. "Quick! fast! His mind was filled with the ecstasy of finally being able to escape from this cave of despair. It seems that a lot of mellow wine flows into the veins. He jumped out of the cave and shouted. After he had experienced the endless darkness in the cave, the darkness outside also seemed to become much brighter. The thick black smoke had risen into the sky and had become a little thinner. It seemed that the last hours of the day were almost over, and Mordor's red light had weakened much in this mist.
But, to Frodo, it seemed like facing a hopeful morning. He had almost come to the edge of mordor's high wall, only to become a little taller. In front of him was the deep valley of Sillis ongo, a gap in the black rim, flanked by towering black rocks, as if they were two guards in the sky. This is just a sprint, and you can rush through it at once!
"The pass has finally arrived, Sam!" He ignored the hoarseness of his voice, and after he had managed to get out of the oppression of the dull air, everything seemed to be liberated.
"Pass! Run, run, we're going to pass, no one can stop us! Sam forced himself to walk forward on his legs as quickly as possible, but even though he was glad to be freed from this restriction, he still felt uneasy; as he ran, he would look back at the dark arch from time to time, worried that he would see eyes or some form rushing out to hunt them down. He or his master knew too little about the lair of the corpse, and her lair had many exits.
She is the evil will of the spider incarnation, and she has inhabited that place for countless epochs, and even the elven kingdoms that once inhabited the West have now fallen into the sea. There, Belém fought in the terrifying mountains of Dorias, where Lucien set foot on the green earth and met his destined encounters. There is no story about how the corpse escaped from the ruins and came here, because there are not many records that have survived in that dark age.
But she was still here, even before Sauron came here and the foundation of the Barado Fortress was laid; she did not serve anyone but herself. She sipped the blood of humans and elves, became bloated in the darkness, and kept weaving all kinds of gray and dark cobwebs.
Because, all living things are her food, and all she spits out is darkness. Her infancy was interbred with a wide variety of males, and the variety of hybrids she hatched was scattered by her over a vast territory from Iferdus to the eastern hills, even including Dorgó and the dark jungles. However, none of them could surpass her, she was the great corpse, the last son of Ongorian to destroy the world. Gollum had encountered him many years earlier; Smigo loved to dig and explore any dark cave, so he worshipped her. Her evil is also with him at all times, cutting off the path of light and regret for him. He also promised that she would bring her food.
But her desires were not his desires. She knew very little about towers, rings, or anything made of human beings; her only simple desire was the death of all other beings, in exchange for her food, clothing, and appetite, and keeping her bloated until the mountains could no longer hold her, and the darkness could no longer hide her. However, that desire would take a long time to reach, and she had been hungry for a long time, because Sauron's power was constantly expanding, and all living beings did not dare to go near his border. The city in the valley was dead silent, and no elves or humans wanted to go near, only the unlucky half-orcs. They are bitter and unpalatable to eat. But she still had to fill her stomach; no matter how many channels these poor things dug into, she could always find a way to eat them. But she had always craved sweeter meat.
Gollum finally brought them before her this time: "Then you will know, you will know when you will," he often said to himself when the evil side was highlighted, especially when he went from Aimingmore to the Valley of the Devil's Grotto, "and then he will know." It should be fine, oh yes, when she throws away those bones and clothes, we can find it, we can find the treasure, the little reward for bringing food to poor Smiger. We will keep our promises and save the baby. Oh yes. When we put it away well, she'll know. Oh yes, then we'll give her back, my baby. We will reward everyone well! In his mind, he kept calculating, until he sneaked up to her and bowed down while his companion was asleep, hoping not to let her know about it.
As for Sauron: He knew where she was hiding. She was very pleased with her ability to be hungry and thirsty at all times, and to maintain the power of intimidation, a more perfect watchman than the guards created by all his abilities. As for the half-orcs, they were good slaves, and anyway, he had a lot of men, and if the corpses occasionally grabbed a few half-orcs to fill their stomachs, he didn't mind, it was not worth the pity of the loss. Just as people would occasionally throw some bait at their cat (he always called her his kitten, but in reality they had no connection with each other at all), Sauron would throw some of his useless prisoners in front of her. He would deliberately drive them into the cave and get his men to reciprocate her prey. Therefore, they live together in peace, content with their own schemes, without fear of any attack or anger and trickery from the other. From before to now, no prey had ever escaped the net of corpses, and now, her anger and hunger and thirst were even more soaring than ever.
Sam knew nothing of the evil they were disturbing, though; his only clue was a growing fear in his heart, an uneasiness that he could not see; it had become so heavy that he could not even lift his steps as he ran like lead. He felt that the surroundings of his body were filled with fear, and the pass was likely to be garrisoned by a large army. And the master actually ran forward so defenselessly. So he took his eyes off the hollow in the cliff on the left and looked ahead, and saw two things that made him feel even more suspicious. He noticed that Frodo's unsheathed sword was still glowing blue; he also noticed that although the sky behind him was black, the windows in the tower were still shining blood red.
"Half-orcs!" He muttered. "We absolutely cannot rush over so recklessly. There were also half-orcs around, or something worse than half-orcs. Then he returned to his original cautious attitude and covered the precious star light with his hand. His hand glowed red for a moment, and then he put the bottle into the pocket in front of his chest and re-wrapped the elf's cloak. Then he tried to speed up to catch up. His master had rushed farther and farther away, almost twenty paces away; under this darkness, his gray figure would soon disappear into the vast expanse.
When she came, Sam happened to receive the Starlight in his chest pocket. Not far to his left, suddenly an unprecedented, terrifying form rushed out from another opening under the cliff. It was like a collection of evil qi that had awakened from people's nightmares, her body was like a spider, but more hungry and thirsty than the carnivorous beasts, and the light of intelligence in her eyes made her more frightening than ordinary beasts. These compound eyes were the eyes he had previously thought had been defeated, retreating.
Now there was a terrifying glow again, all focused on her protruding forehead. She also had eerie horns, and behind her thick and short neck was a bloated and deformed body, which looked like a bulging ugly sac, swaying obscenely between her legs; her huge body was black with disgusting marks on it, but her belly below was pale, translucent, and constantly emitting a stink. Her legs were bent, her twisted joints towering above her back, and the hairs on them stood like steel needles, with a claw at the end of each leg. As soon as she squeezed her soft body and folded limbs out of the hole, she immediately ran over with lightning speed and then jumped hard. Her position was right between Sam and her master. She may not have seen Sam, or had deliberately avoided it because of the light on him, focusing all her attention on Frodo, who had lost her light and was running unguarded. He ran fast, but The Corpse Was faster, and she could catch up with him with a few more leaps.
Sam took a breath of cold air, plucked up all his strength and pulled open his throat and shouted, "Watch out for your back!" ”
He hissed. "Host, be careful! I—" But his voice was suddenly muffled. A slender, sticky hand covered his mouth, the other grasped his neck, and something else wrapped around his feet. Unprepared, he fell into the arms of the attacker.
"Got it!" Gollum hissed in his ear and said, "Finally, my baby, we caught him." Yes, this stinky Hobbit. Let's grab this. She could grab another one. Oh yes, Zombie will catch him, not Smegore. He had promised that he would never hurt his master. But he still caught you, you stinky and dirty cunning man! He spat at Sam's neck. Angered by the betrayal of the other party and the panic of seeing that he could not immediately help his master, the slow Sam in Goulu's eyes suddenly erupted with a force that no one could predict.
Gollum could have moved faster and harder, of course, but he was too careless. His hand loosened, and the hand that covered Sam slipped away, and Sam bent over and continued to rush forward, trying to break free of the restraints around his neck. His sword was still in his hand, and his left arm was hung with the cane that Faramer had given them. In a panic, he tried to turn around and stab the enemy, but Gollum moved too fast. His slender hand reached out and grabbed Sam's wrist as fast as lightning: his fingers were like steel tongs, mercilessly bending Sam's hand forward until Sam screamed in pain, let go of the sword, and let it fall to the ground. At the same time, Gollum's other hand increased the force that was pinching Sam's throat. Sam struggled to make the last game. He stood firmly on the ground with his feet, using all his strength to feed himself and let himself fly backwards. Even such a simple trick was unexpected by Gollum to Sam, so Gollum ate Sam's whole body weight on his stomach. He let out a sharp breath and for an instant released the hand that was holding the other's throat; but the hands that grabbed the other's sword-wielding wrist did not back down. Sam lunged forward, stood up, leaned on Gollum and grabbed his wrist, and quickly spun to the right. Sam grabbed the cane in his left hand and swung it upwards, and with a clap, it hit Gollum's outstretched arm. Gollum exclaimed in surprise and finally let go. Sam thrust forward, refusing to waste time changing hands and directly swinging another blow with his left hand.
Gollum slipped to the side, and the blow that had been aimed at his head hit him in the back. The cane snapped and broke in half. That was enough for him. He had always preferred the hunting method of sneaking from behind, and rarely failed. But this time, under his own patronage, he wasted time talking and humiliating the other person before both hands were pinching each other's throats. Ever since that terrifying light appeared in the darkness, every step of his plan had been fatally flawed.
Now he must face an angry enemy who is no less than his size. This is not his battle. Sam picked up his sword from the ground and prepared to swing it. Gollum let out a low howl, and jumped away on all fours like a big frog. Before Sam could react, he ran back to the cave at breakneck speed. Sam chased after him with his sword in his hand. At this time, his murderous intent had made him only remember the goal of pursuing and killing Goulu.
However, before he could catch up with the other party, Golu was gone. Then, as he stood at the mouth of the dark cave, the stench of the cave came to his nose, and it slapped him twice as hard as to wake him up, reminding him of the figure of Frodo and the monster chasing. He turned suddenly, shouted his master's name like a madman, and ran forward desperately. He was too late. Gollum's plan had succeeded.
Ongorian is the most evil and gigantic creature in the continent inhabited by the lord god. At first, she may have been a spirit of nature, but in the end she became a huge and unmatched ugly spider with the ability to weave dark webs. Under the orders of the Celestial Demon King Malco, she poisoned the Tree of the Lord God with terrible venom. Even, after she and the Heavenly Demon King fled to Middle-earth, they clashed over the battle for the Elven Diamond. If it weren't for the Heavenly Demon King's Yan Demon Forces joining forces to drive her away, I'm afraid even the Heavenly Demon King would have been defeated by her. Later, she hid at the bottom of Belland's Fear Mountains, where many giant spiders were born in the Valley of Death. Zombie Luo was probably one of her descendants. After Belland sank in the Second Age of the Sun, Ongorian fled to the Harad Desert, where she devoured herself because she had nothing else to hunt.
Frodo was lying face down on the ground, and the monster was looking intently at her delicacies, even ignoring Sam's cries. Until he approached the side, he was still unconscious. As Sam rushed over, he saw that Frodo had been tied to a cobweb from head to toe, and the monster had begun to raise its front feet, ready to drag the meal aside. Beside him was the elven blade used by the lost master, still glowing blue.
Sam didn't waste a minute or a second thinking about whether he was brave, loyal, or full of anger. He shouted and jumped forward, grabbing his master's sword in his left hand. Then he rushed forward without hesitation. Even in the world of beasts, there has never been such a violent attack: a weak creature, with only pitifully small sharp teeth, dared to pounce on the monster with sharp teeth and copper-skinned iron bones standing next to its partner. She was awakened from her greedy feast from Sam's sharp shouts, and slowly turned her mighty and murderous gaze to him.
Before she could realize that the furious rage in front of her was a miracle she had never seen in her life, the blue-glowing sword slashed into her thin limbs and severed its claws. Sam jumped into her arms, hiding in the gap between her limbs, and his other hand poked up like lightning, hitting the compound eye on her low head. A huge compound eye dimmed. The poor little fellow hid under her belly, dodging her poisonous needles and minions. Her huge belly was shining eerily on his head, and the thick stench almost knocked Sam to the ground.
However, his full anger could still sustain him to strike another blow, and before he was crushed to death by the corpse or suffocated by the poisonous gas, he still had time to use the last bit of courage to turn around and slash, allowing the glowing elf blade to cut into her body. Unfortunately, The Corpse Luo was not a dragon, and she didn't have any deadly hoods on her except for her eyes. Her ancient carapace was covered with all kinds of bulging hard tumors, and her abdomen was filled with layer after layer of flesh and blood that was constantly reinforced by the juice of evil. The sword cut a vicious wound, but the layers of flesh and blood inside were not something that any human could destroy; even if elves or dwarves could forge incomparably sharp weapons that could be attacked by ancient mythological heroes, they could not break through this terrible defense.
She took the blow with her thick skin and then lifted her belly high above Sam's head. Venom and disgusting bubbles kept pouring out of the wound. She stretched out her legs, ready to crush tiny Sam with her bloated belly. She didn't expect her movements to be too fast. Because at this time, Sam was still standing without fear of death, dropping his weapons, and holding the needle high in his hands, trying to use it to resist this disgusting thing that was suppressed with incomparable power. In this way, with his own cruel will and strange power beyond the strength of any warrior, the corpse luo slammed into the incomparably sharp sword. The blade of the sword pierced deeply into the wound, and Sam was slowly pressed to the ground. Zombie Luo had never even dreamed of suffering such a fierce pain, which had never been seen before in her long evil life. Even the bravest warriors of ancient Gondor, or the crazy half-orcs trapped, never hurt her in this way, cutting through her beautiful flesh and blood.
She trembled and struggled to stand up, pulling her body away from the blade, bending her steel-haired limbs and leaping in the other direction. Sam knelt down and fell right next to Frodo's head. Under the stench, he felt the sky spinning, but his hands were still clutching the sword. His eyes were blurred, and he could only faintly see Frodo's face; slowly, with strong willpower, he got rid of the drowsiness in his head, stubbornly trying to regain consciousness. He slowly lifted his head and saw that she was looking at him just a few steps away, a thick poison flowing from the corners of her mouth, and green slime gushing out of her injured eyes. She lay there, leaning her battered abdomen against the ground, her limbs trembling, ready to pounce again. This time she was going to crush her prey and poison him to death with venom; there would be no more leisure to paralyze him with venom first—this time to kill him with one blow, to melt him completely.
Just as Sam was lying on the ground and seeing the sight of his own death in her eyes, a thought suddenly appeared in his mind, as if it were a voice coming from a distant other side. He hurriedly tugged his left hand around his chest and found what he wanted: in this nightmare-like scene, a cold, solid thing, the starlight that Calantrell had given them. "Calantrell!" He spoke weakly, and then he heard distant but clear voices: the song of the elves strolling under the forest starlight of the Shire, and the sound of elven music coming from the hall of fire in Elon.
Gilthonnell, Il Turquoise!
Then his stiff tongue seemed to be liberated by some force, and incomprehensible language began to emerge from his throat: Il Turoise, Kirsonnell, lomenelpalan-diriel, lenallonsdinguruthos! Atronin，Fanuilos！
Then he struggled to get up and became the stubborn Hubby Sam Wes, Daddy's son again. "Come on, you stinky fellow!" He shouted, "You hurt my master, you damn fellow, you must pay the price." We'll move on, but we'll get rid of you first. Come on, taste the sword again! ”
As if his indomitable spirit had awakened the power of the StarLight, the small glass bottle suddenly burst out of the sky and became a dazzling torch in his hand. It was like a meteor falling into the sky, tearing through the thick darkness with a dazzling light. Corpse Luo had never faced this kind of white light coming from the sky before. Beams of light shot directly into her wounds, causing her headaches to crack, and this terrible light jumped from one eye to another as if it would be infected. Her front feet waved in the air, retreating one after another, as if the lightning that burst inside her made her see nothing in front of her eyes, and her mind was in chaos. She struggled to turn her head in excruciating pain, rolled to the front of the mountain wall, and climbed slowly, claw by claw, up the pitch-black opening. Sam took advantage of the victory to chase after him. His steps hesitated, as if he were drunk, but he kept going. The corpse luo finally retreated, and the ancient evil queen was trembling, cowardly trying to speed up her pace to escape from this enemy. She managed to get to the mouth of the cave and squeezed into her body, leaving a yellow-green mucus stain on the ground. Just as Sam struggled to deliver the last blow, she slid in. Exhausted, Sam also collapsed to the ground.
The corpse was gone. We don't know if she hid in a dark cave, trying year after year to mend the wounds throughout her body, trying to grow new compound eyes, waiting for the right moment. In the end, she may once again open her deadly net in the Shadow Mountains under the unbearable fire. However, none of this is recorded in this story. Only Sam lay alone on the ground. As the night of this nameless land slowly descended on the battlefield of this life-and-death struggle, he crawled back to his master tiredly.
"Master, dear master," he said, but Frodo did not respond. As he ran elated and unsuspecting to celebrate the sight of the light again, The Corpse Luo caught up from behind with lightning speed and stabbed a needle into his neck. His face was dead white, and he lay motionless on the ground, unresponsive to the sound. "Master, dear master!" Sam shouted, and then he was silent for a long time, waiting in vain. Then, with the last bit of strength, he quickly cut open the spider silk that bound him, placing his head on Frodo's chest and mouth, but he could not hear anything.
No heartbeat, no sign of life. He rubbed his master's hands and feet and touched his forehead, but everything was already cold. "Frodo, Mr. Frodo!" He cried, "Don't leave me here alone!" I'm your Sam! Don't go where I can't follow you! Mr. Frodo, wake up! Oh, wake up, Frodo, oh my God! Frodo, wake up! ”
Then, shocked by blind anger, he aimlessly pounded stones, slashed the air, and cursed loudly at the side of his master's body. Finally, he regained his senses and bent down to look at Frodo's pale face in the twilight. Suddenly, he recalled what he had seen in Empress Calantrell's mirror: the dead-faced Frodo sleeping under a tall, dark cliff. At the time, he thought he was just asleep. "He's dead!" He said with great sorrow, "It's not asleep, it's dead!" ”
As soon as he spoke, it seemed that this sentence ignited the spell of the corpse, and Frodo's face turned dark green. Sam fell into the abyss of despair, he covered his head with his cloak, and just lay on the ground, his eyes were pitch black, and then he didn't know anything.
At last, the darkness in his heart finally receded slightly, and Sam looked up at the shadows around him. However, in this four-field and lightless land, he had no idea how long it had been. He was still in the same place, and the body of his master was still with him. The heavens have not collapsed, the earth has not cracked, and the end has not yet come.
"What should I do, what should I do?" He said. "Did I fight with him for so long that I could only lose everything in the end?" Then he thought about a passage he had said at the beginning of his journey, which even he did not know at the time: but I knew what I had to do before it was all over, and if you understood what I meant, my lord, I had to stay until the end. "But what can I do? Must we not just throw Mr. Frodo's body on the hill and go home? Or do you want to continue? Go on? ”
He muttered, and for a moment doubt and fear shook his mind: "Continue? Is this my mission? Leave him here? Finally, he began to sob. Sam walked over to Frodo and put his body away, folding his cold hands over his chest and folding his cloak to his side. Finally, he put his sword aside, and the cane given to him by Faramer was on the other side.
"If I'm going to go ahead with the mission," he said. "Please forgive me, Mr. Frodo, I must take your sword. I can only put my sword beside you, like the ancient kings in the tomb. You can also continue to wear the beautiful Mithril armor that Mr. Bilbo gave you. As for your starlight, Mr. Frodo, you have lent it to me, and I do need it; for, henceforth, I will remain in darkness forever. I may not deserve it, and the Empress gave it to you, but maybe she will understand. Mr. Frodo, do you understand? I have to keep going. ”
But he couldn't go yet, not now. He knelt on the ground and clasped Frodo's hand, reluctant to let go. The four wild winds blew, and he still knelt on the ground, holding his master's hand, and his heart was constantly arguing. He tried to muster up enough courage to leave alone and embark on a lonely journey—for revenge. As long as he made up his mind to leave, his anger was enough to make him go up to heaven and earth, to the ends of the earth, until he caught him—until he caught Gollum. Gulu then pays for the dog's life. He didn't leave for that. It is not worth abandoning his master here for this. Man cannot be resurrected from the dead, and no force can do it. It's better to die together. But even then, it would be a lonely journey. He looked at the glorious tip of his sword. He remembered that there was another dark and heavy fissure in the cave, as if it could fall into the center of the earth. No, that doesn't work at all. This is not even possible to mourn the death of the master. That was not his purpose in leaving the Shire in the first place.
"So what the hell am I going to do?" He cried, but this time he seemed to have a clear understanding of the answer. "It has to be left until the end." It will be another lonely journey, and the most terrifying. "What? I, a man, going to the Crevasse of Doom and completing the master's task? "He's still hesitant, but that determination has begun to grow." Is it? Want me to take the Ring from his hand? It was at that meeting that it was decided that it would be kept by him. The answer immediately came to his mind. The meeting also assigned him many companions, just so as not to let the mission fail. You are now the last member of the expedition, and you must not sit idly by while your mission falls short. ”
"I wish I wasn't the last," he wailed, "and I wish Gandalf were here, or anyone else." Why am I the only one left and only I can decide everything? I'm bound to make mistakes. I shouldn't have taken the Ring and volunteered to carry out the mission. ”
"But you are not volunteering, you are forced by the situation. As for whether it is the right person, if you think about it, Mr. Frodo is not, nor is Mr. Bilbo. They are not volunteer candidates. ”
"Ah, well, I have to make up my mind. I'm going to make up my mind. But I'm going to make a mistake, because I'm stupid Sam! ”
"Let me think: if we were found here, or If Mr. Frodo had been found. And that thing is on him, and the demon king will definitely get it. Then it will be the end of the world, and Ryan, Rivendell, Charles, and the whole world will be destroyed. And, if more time is wasted, it will be the same result. The war has already begun, and in fact, the Demon King may have won one victory at a time. It's too late to go back with the ring and ask for permission or advice. No, I have only two choices: to sit here and wait for them to come and kill me and then take it away; or to take it and get out of here. ”
He took a deep breath. "That's it, take it away!"
He stopped. Very gently he unbuttoned his neck and reached into Frodo's shirt; he lifted his master's head with his other hand, kissed his cold forehead, and slowly removed the lock. Then, let the owner continue the previous sleep. There was no change in his stagnant expression, and from this last sign Sam finally believed that Frodo had died and abandoned the mission.
"Goodbye, my dear master!" He murmured, "Forgive your Sam. When the task is complete, he will come back to you whenever possible. Then he will never leave you again. Rest in peace and wait for me to come back. Hope there are no abominable beasts to risk your body! If the Empress hears my prayers, I will wish she would let me come back here and find you. Goodbye! Then he lowered his head and put on the lock that bound the ring; his head immediately hung low by the weight of the ring, as if he were carrying a large stone slab. Slowly, though, as if the weight had become lighter, or a new force had poured out of his body; finally he raised his head. After standing up with all his strength, he found that he could bear the burden.
He held aloft the light of the star and looked down at his master; it surrounded the master with a soft breath, like the twilight of the summer starry sky, so that Frodo's face shone again, pale with the beauty of the elves, as if he had long since escaped the shadows of the lucky one. Comforted by this sight, Sam put away the starlight, turned around and continued into the gradual darkness.
He didn't need to go too far. The exit of the tunnel had been left far behind, and the front pass would only take a few hundred yards further.
The path in the twilight is still clearly visible, an ancient road that has survived many years of age and slowly descends under the grip of the cliffs on both sides. At this moment, the half-orc tower was overlooking him, and the red windows were shining. He used the shadow of the dead corner under the tower to hide. Finally, he came to the pass. "I've made up my mind," he kept saying to himself. But he didn't. Although he had racked his brains to figure out what he had to do, in fact, what he was doing was contrary to his cautious nature.
"Am I mistaken?" He muttered, "What else can I do?" After he had crossed the starting point of the pass, some distance from the apex, he looked at the road leading to the nameless realm in front of him, ready to go down. At the last moment, his heart was filled with many doubts, causing each step to be as heavy as a jackhammer. When he looked back, he could still see the exit of the tunnel as conspicuous as a smudge in the twilight. He could probably know where Frodo was. He felt that the ground there seemed to glow, perhaps it was a phantom caused by his tears. He looked quietly at the mountain wall, the place where his life was completely shattered.
"Hopefully I can fulfill that wish, the only wish," he sighed, "and I can come back here and find him!" Finally, he turned to the path in front of him and took a few steps—the heaviest and most reluctant steps of his life.
He had only taken a few steps; as soon as he took a few more steps, he had reached the slope leading to Mordor, and would never see this high ground again. At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of shouting and talking. He stood stiff. Half-orc voices. They came from all around. It was the noise of footsteps and the rude roar: half-orcs were coming from the other side of the pass, most likely coming out of some entrance to the tower.
He could hear other voices. Sam turned suddenly and saw a small red light, the light of the torch scattered from the mouth of the cave. Finally, the guards in the tower were not idle; their hunt had finally begun. He was discovered. The light of the torch behind him and the sound of metal crashing in front of him were already very close. In a few minutes, they'll come here and catch him straight. He had wasted too much time making up his mind, and now it was all in vain.
How could he escape from such danger, save his life, and save the Ring? Lord of the Rings. Before he could think about it too much, he found himself pulling out the lock and grabbing the ring in his hand. The procession of half-orcs had already begun to appear in the opening ahead. He put on the Ring.
The world had changed completely, and in an instant his mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts. He immediately realized that his hearing had become more sensitive, but his vision had weakened; however, this was different from in the lair of the corpse. The scene around him was not surrounded by darkness, but became blurred; and he himself seemed to be in a gray world, lonely like a small black rock. A heavy magic ring pressed against his left hand, like a ball of hot gold. He didn't feel invisible at all, but clear and conspicuously terrible.
He knew that the Demon Eye was searching for his tracks. He could hear the cracking of rocks and the sound of running water in the Valley of the Devil's Cave; the corpses wailing in the tunnel, lost in some dark channel; and the sounds of the dungeons under the towers, and the sound of half-orcs coming out of the tunnels, and the deafening roars and footsteps of the half-orcs ahead. He leaned back against the cliff. But the group of half-orcs still kept walking forward like a group of ghosts, as if they were distorted gray figures in the fog, holding pale dream flames in their hands. He lowered his head, trying to shrink into the crevasse of the rock and dodge it all.
He listened. The half-orcs from the tunnel and the half-orcs from the other direction had already seen each other, and both sides quickened their pace and began to shout. He could hear the voices on both sides clearly, and he could hear what they were saying. Perhaps the Lord of the Rings allowed people to understand all kinds of languages, especially Sauron's servant, the Forger; therefore, as soon as his mind turned, he could automatically make him understand the conversations of these guys. The closer the Ring gets to where it was forged, the more powerful it does become; but there is only one thing he cannot offer, and that is courage. Sam still wanted to hide, or lie on the ground until it was over. However, he couldn't help but listen intently. He couldn't be sure how close the voices were, because every sentence seemed to be spoken in his ear.
"Hey! Gobago! What are you doing here? Enough fighting? ”
"Above the command, you idiot. Shagra, what are you doing over here again, are you messing around on it? Want to come down and fight? ”
"It's also a command. I am in charge of this pass. Be polite to me. What do you have to reciprocate? ”
"Nothing!"
"Ha! hi! feed! ”
A shout interrupted the conversation between the two leaders. The half-orcs below seemed to suddenly see something. They started running wildly, and so did the rest.
"Hey! wow! There's something there! Just lying on the side of the road. Spy, spy! They began to blow their horns and make all sorts of hissing noises.
Sam woke up like a dream and broke away from the feeling of fear before. They saw his master. What will they do? He had heard many stories of half-orcs, all of which made people do evil. He couldn't stand it. He jumped up. All the choices and tasks were left behind, and even fear and doubt disappeared. He knew where he was: whatever he could do, at least stay with his master. He ran back in the direction of Frodo again.
"I don't know how many of them there are in total?" He thought, "There are at least thirty or forty people in the tower, and more are coming down from the bottom." How many can I slaughter before they kill me? As soon as I draw the sword, they will see its light, and sooner or later I will fall. I don't know if there will be a song describing this event:
Sam Wes was at the master's side
Slay countless half-orcs,
Finally fell on the edge of the pass.
No, there won't be any more ballads. Of course not, because the Lord of the Rings will be discovered and there will be no more ballads in the world. There was nothing I could do. I must remain with Monsieur Frodo. Elron, the Council, and the wise kings and queens, they will surely understand. Everything shifted and the plan went completely wrong. I can't be the protector of the Lord of the Rings. I couldn't do anything without Mr. Frodo. ”
But the half-orcs had left the range of his blurred vision. He hadn't had time to think about himself before, but now he realized that he was so tired, almost too tired to be imaginably: his legs could no longer function according to his will. His movements were too slow, and the road seemed to become miles long. Where did they all hide in this fog? Ah, he finally saw them again! Just a short distance away. A group of figures surrounded something on the ground; several figures seemed to bend over like hounds to examine the marks on the ground. He tried to muster up the strength to make the final sprint.
"Come on, Sam!" He said, "Otherwise you'll be too late this time." "He was ready to sheath his sword, and before long he would pull it out, and then they seemed to lift something from the ground and started to cheer and laugh wildly." get it on! get it on! Hard! Hard! Then another voice shouted, "Let's go!" Go faster. Go back to the door! Judging by the clues nearby, she wouldn't bother us anymore this evening. A whole group of half-orcs began to advance. The four in the middle carried the body high on their shoulders. "Hey!" They removed Frodo's body. They're gone. He couldn't catch up with the other side anymore. However, he still desperately went forward. The half-orc walked to the mouth of the tunnel and walked inside. Carrying heavy objects walked ahead, and after them, Sam gasped and struggled hard to catch up. He drew his sword, his trembling hands glowing blue, but they didn't notice at all. Even when he reached the mouth of the cave, the last half-orc had disappeared into the tunnel. He touched his chest and gasped for breath. He then wiped his face with his sleeve, wiping away the filth, sweat and tears. "Abominable!" He said, and then ran with the half-orcs into the darkness.
In this tunnel, he no longer felt dark, and it seemed that he had simply stepped into the thick fog from the weak fog. His tiredness was still accumulating, but his will had become more determined. He seemed to be able to see the flickering light of torches not far ahead. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't catch up with them. The half-orcs were already moving very fast in the tunnel, and this was the tunnel they were all too familiar with. Even under the threat of corpses, they were forced to use this cave frequently, as it was the fastest road from the Dead City. They did not know when the cave had been excavated, nor how long ago the corpses had been stationed; but they themselves had dug up many branches of the road, most of which were used to avoid the predation of the corpses when carrying out the orders of their masters. Tonight, they were not going to take a detour, but to hurry up and find a fork in the road that would take them back to the tower on the cliff. Most people were very happy with their previous discoveries, and they were talking happily to each other while hurrying. Sam heard the annoying noise they made, which was particularly harsh in the silent air; among them he could distinguish between two more different voices: they were louder, and the leaders of the two teams, who seemed to be closer, seemed to be at the end, and as they walked, they fell into contention.
"Shagra, can't you just quiet down your idiots?" A voice complained. "We don't want the corpses to rush over."
"Go, Gobago! Your subordinates are still noisy. Another voice said. Let the subordinates relax a little! I don't think I need to worry about the corpse problem this time. It seemed as if she had sat on a needle. Didn't you see it? Dragged all the way back into her damn cave with dirty slime? If she suffered a loss this time, at least she would not come out for a long time. Let them make a fuss. And, this time, we finally got lucky: we found what Lugbertz wanted. ”
"Does Lugbeutz want it?" Guess what that is? I look like an elf, but it's too small. What dangers would this thing have. ”
"We won't know until we examine it carefully."
"Oh wow! So they didn't tell you what you'd find? They didn't tell us all the information, did they? Not even half. But they still make mistakes, even the bosses. ”
"Shhh, Gobag!" Shagra's voice was deliberately suppressed, and even Sam's hearing, strengthened by some force, could barely hear what he was saying. "Maybe they will, but they have eyes and ears everywhere, and some of them are even my subordinates." But you're right, they seem to be worried about something. The rings at the bottom are the same as Lugboz's bosses. Something almost went wrong. ”
"Are you talking about almost?" Gobag said.
"Well," said Shagra, "we'll talk about this later." Wait until we get to the road below. We can talk a little more over there and let our subordinates go first. ”
Soon after, Sam watched as the torch disappeared. Then came a low noise, and just as he was hurrying to rush over, it was a rumble. He immediately guessed that the half-orcs had walked into the road that he and Frodo had found blocked before. But now it's still blocked. There seemed to be a huge rock blocking the way, but the half-orc somehow walked over, and he could hear the sound of conversation on the other side. They kept running, heading into the mountain, ready to return to the previous tower.
Sam felt utter despair. They took their master's body away, not knowing how to insult him, and they couldn't keep up.
He pushed and stabbed at the big rock and slammed it with all his strength, but it was of no use at all. Not far inside, he heard the voices of the two chiefs talking. He listened quietly, hoping to know some useful information. Perhaps, it seems that The Gobag who belongs to the Minas Demon Cave will come out and he will be able to seize the opportunity to sneak in.
"No, I don't know," said Gobhagar's voice, "as is customary, this news comes faster than anything that can fly." I don't know how this happened, and I'd better not know. intimidate! These precepts made my body tingle. As long as you are stared at by them, it is as if the skin of your whole body has been peeled off, making you shiver coldly. But he spoiled them, and now they are the most trusted people on top, and it is useless for us to complain any more. I tell you, it's not good to serve in the city below. ”
"You should come here and live with The Corpse For a while," said Shagra, "it's better to find a place where there is nothing." Unfortunately, the war has already begun, and perhaps it will be better after the war is over. ”
"They said the battle was going well. Of course they will say this," Gobagar muttered, "we'll know when the time comes." Anyway, if all went well, we had more space to stay. What do you say? If we have the opportunity, take a few reliable brothers and find a place where there are good things to grab, there is no boss on it. ”
"Ah!" Shagra said: "Just like before. ”
"Yeah," said Gobhag, "don't think too much, though. I felt a little uneasy. Like I said before, bosses, cough," his voice became very low, "cough even the big chief can make mistakes." You said something seemed to have almost slipped through. I don't think so, I think something did sneak in. We have to be careful. Those of us who always have to wipe people's butts, no one thanks us. But let's not forget that the enemy hates him and hates us. If the boss above collapses, we will follow suit. By the way, when did you get the order? ”
"About an hour ago, just before you found us. There was a message coming: the spirit was restless. There are intruders on the ladder. Double your vigilance. Go patrolling the top of the stairs. I came right away. ”
"Damn," said Gopago, "I tell you, our silent watchers started to be restless two days ago. However, my patrol did not receive the order to leave, nor did it receive any information to Lugbergs. This is all because of the relationship between the orders of the war, the leader of the spirit of the ring led the team to go out, and then it changed like this. According to them, Lugboz had no time to take care of our side. ”
"I think the Magic Eye is probably busy somewhere else," Shagra said, "and they say something big is going on in the West." ”
"I think so," said Gopago, "but now there are enemies coming up the ladder." What are you doing again? With or without special orders, aren't you all supposed to be on guard? What the hell are you eating for? ”
"Enough! You don't have to teach me how to do it. Of course, we are all very alert. We also know something is wrong. ”
"Something is wrong!"
"Yes, something very wrong: there was light and shouting. But the corpse Luo had already moved at that time. My men saw her and her pets. ”
"Her pet?" What is that? ”
"You must have seen her before: the little black fellow, who looked like a spider himself, maybe more like a hungry frog. He's been here before. Leaving Lugbotz for the first time a few years ago, the upper echelons told us to let it go. He has been on the ladder once or twice since then, but we have ignored him: it seems that he also has some consensus with the Queen. I think he probably wasn't tasty: she didn't need to worry about what our upper echelons were saying. But the valley beneath you is still very well guarded: he was here the day before all this commotion began. We saw him earlier last night. Anyway, my subordinates reported that the Queen was enjoying herself, so I paid less attention until news came later. I thought her pet had given him a plaything, just as we had sent a prisoner of war to her. I didn't dare interfere while she was enjoying it. When the corpse was hunting, no one could disturb her. ”
"No one can, can they?" Didn't you just see it? I'm telling you I feel very uneasy. Whoever ran over the stairs, he really infiltrated. He could cut her net and leave the cave safely. You'd better think it through! ”
"Ah, well, but she caught him in the end, didn't she?"
"Caught him? Who are you talking about? This little guy? If he were alone, The Corpse Luo would have dragged him back to the nest to enjoy it, would he stay there now? If Lugbergs wants to catch this guy, you have to go into the nest and catch him. Hey, you're in luck. However, I think he is not alone. ”
At this point, Sam was alert to their conversation, so he pressed his ear to the door and listened more intently.
"Shagra, think about it, who cut the cobwebs off this little fellow?" It is the same person who cuts the hole and nets it. Don't you understand? Who inflicted a heavy blow on Her Majesty the Queen? I think it's the same person. Where is he now? Shagra, where is he? Shagra did not answer.
"If you have a smart hat, it's best to put one on quickly." This is no joke. From before to now, never, I am talking about never anyone who can hurt a corpse, and you should know it very well. Of course we wouldn't feel sad, but, come to think of it, there was a guy who was more dangerous than any other infiltrator before, and we hadn't faced such a dangerous enemy since that siege in ancient times and the wars that followed. There really was something enemy sneaking in. ”
"What is he?" Shagra asked sullenly.
"Captain Shagra, from all indications, I guess it's a tall and strong warrior, most likely an elf, who may have an elven sword and maybe a tomahawk. Moreover, he has entered your area of responsibility and you have not found him at all. It's fun! Gobag spat out.
Sam heard the other person's description and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Forget it, you're so pessimistic every time," said Shakgra, "and no matter how you judge these clues, I think there are other ways to explain them." Anyway, I've set up sentries at every stronghold, and we'd better do it one by one. After I've carefully examined the little guy we've caught, I'll worry about what's next. ”
"I don't think you'll find anything in this little guy," Gobag said, "and he probably has nothing to do with real riots." The big guy with the sword seemed to think he wasn't important, so he let him lie there and wait to die: that's the style of the elves. We'll know by then. Let's go! We've said enough. Let's go see this captive! ”
"What are you going to do with him?" Don't forget that I found him first. If there is anything good, my brethren and I must share a piece of the pie. ”
"Wait," said Shagra unhappily, "the superiors have given me a special explanation, this is not the time when you and I can mess around." Any intruder must be taken directly into the tower. Captives must be thoroughly searched. All documents, clothing, weapons, letters, rings or any ornaments must be sent immediately to Lugbergs, and only to Lugberz. Moreover, any prisoner must be safe and unharmed under surveillance, and anyone who dares to violate this prohibition until he gives an order or comes personally. That's very clear, and I'm ready to do it. ”
"A thorough body search, huh?" Gobhagar said, "What, teeth, nails, and hair?" ”
"No, not at all, not at all. He was the only one Lugboz wanted. He had to be sent unharmed. ”
"It's going to be very difficult to do," Gobag said with a laugh, "he's just a corpse now, what does Lugbock want him to do?" It's still nice to throw him into the pot. ”
"You idiot," Shagra yelled. "You were still in the Tao, as if you were very clever. But there are a lot of other people who know, things you don't know. If you're not careful, you'll get into the pot of corpses. corpse! Do you know so much about Her Majesty the Queen? When she tied up her prey with a cobweb, it meant she wanted to eat meat. She doesn't eat dead meat or drink cold blood. This guy isn't dead at all! ”
Sam grabbed the rock wall and felt the sky spinning for a moment. He felt as if the whole dark world had been turned upside down. The impact was so great that he almost exhaled. However, even as he struggled to control his mood swings, he could clearly hear the voice in his head: "You stupid, he is not dead, you know it in your heart." Sam Wes, don't believe your head, that's not the brightest part of you. The real problem is that you don't have any hope of success. Now what? At this moment, there was nothing he could do, he could only force himself to lie on the rock wall and listen to the evil dialogue of the half-orcs.
"Stupid!" Shagra said: "Her venom is more than one. While she was hunting, she would give her prey a stab in the neck and paralyze them instantly, and then she could enjoy it. Do you remember Uftak? We couldn't find anyone else for days. Then we found him hanging in the corner, his whole body wrapped tightly, and he was still looking at us very consciously. We're so laughing to death! She may have forgotten about the food, but we didn't touch him; who dared to disturb the corpse. Ah, this little fellow, he'll wake up in a few hours, and he won't be in any serious trouble except for some headshots. Of course, that would have to be lugbock's willingness to let him go. By the way, he would also not be able to figure out where he was and what had happened to him. ”
"And what will happen to him in the future," said GobaGohaha, "if we can't do anything, at least tell him some stories to scare him." I think he may never have been to the beautiful Lugbertz, maybe I can explain it for him first. It's going to be even more fun than I thought. Let's go! ”
"I'll talk about it first, and I don't think it's going to be funny," said Shagra, "and he must be unharmed, or we'll all die." ”
"Okay! However, if I were you, I would have caught the big guy who escaped before I informed Lugbergs. If you report to your superiors that you have caught the small ones but missed the big ones, it will not look good. ”
The voice began to drift away. Sam could hear footsteps slowly getting smaller. He had recovered from his previous shock and was now filled with anger in his chest. "I was completely mistaken!" He shouted, "I knew it would be like this." Now they've taken him away, those demons, those monsters! Never leave the owner, never, never, that was my original motto. I knew it. I hope you can forgive me! I had to go back to him. Think of a way, think about it! He drew his sword again and slammed hard against the rock wall, but all he heard was a muffled echo. However, the sword in his hand was now strong enough to illuminate the surrounding environment.
He was surprised to find that the rock wall turned out to be a heavy gate, probably about two times as tall as he was. There was also a gap between the top of the cave and the side of the door, which was mostly used to block the door of the corpse, and it was probably blocked by something like a door latch, which he could not open from this side. Sam jumped hard, grabbed the door, started climbing up, and flipped in. Then he walked along the tunnel, holding a shining sword in his hand, and began to run like crazy. The news that his master was still alive suppressed his tiredness and aroused the last vestiges of strength. He couldn't see anything in front of him, because the new tunnel turned left and turned, and it was impossible for people to see all the way to the end. However, he thought he was slowly catching up with the two half-orcs: their voices began to approach again. This time, it seems to be closer than before.
"I'm going to do it," Shagra said angrily, "shut him up in the topmost room." ”
"Why?" Gobhagar said:
"Don't you have any cells underneath?"
"I told you that he must not be harmed in any way," said Shakgra, "do you understand?" He's important. I don't believe my subordinates, and your subordinates, even you; for you are full of thoughts just for fun. If you don't obey a little, you can't go where he will go. I've decided, at the very top. He would be safe over there. ”
"Will it?" Sam said, "You forgot about the elven warrior who escaped!" As soon as he finished speaking, he went around the last corner, only to find that he had misjudged the distance due to the power of the Ring or the design of the tunnel. The two half-orcs were still some distance away. He could now see them in the light of the fire. The tunnel is steep at the end, but it is also straight. At the end, there were two open gates, perhaps deeper into the tower. Gobago and Shagra were slowly approaching the door. Sam heard the raucous singing, trumpet blowing and the sound of gongs, which were symphonies of evil. Gobago and Shagra had already walked to the door. Sam shouted and lit up the needle. But his voice was muffled in the noise, and no one heard him. The door slammed shut.
rumble! The iron bolt inside the door fell.
Kuang Dang's door closed.
Sam flew into the brass door and fell to the ground with his eyes on Venus. He was trapped in a dark cave outside. Frodo was still alive, but was captured by the Demon King.