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Boundaries of Mirkwood
"Screams in the Dark"
Chapter 7



Arielle awoke as a diver from a deep pool ever rushing franticly upward only to surface nauseous, dizzy, and utterly exhausted. Her head spun; her body, especially her chest, ached. From where she lay slowly prying her eyes open, it was near pitch black with just a vague, pinkish light about a cavernous space. Clenching her jaw against a moan, she attempted to adjust the crumpled position she lay in to something more comfortable. Beneath her, she felt grit and sand. The air she breathed was laden with stale humidity. It was foul smelling, thick, and made her work for every breath. Fighting off the urge to panic, Arielle concentrated on her breathing.

Deep expansion hurt, but it would keep portions of her lungs from dying. Fill the alveoli, put more oxygen in her bloodstream, expand her blood vessels, and stem the release of epinephrine. Calm and clear her head.

It was the faint sound of scuffling that drew her attention. Movement caught her eye. What the hell was that?

A scream in the dark.

Arielle bolted upright, her chest erupting in a dazzling protest of pain, only to find eight glittering eyes staring back at her. Mandibles expanded and glistening fangs salivated in anticipation of sinking into her aching body. Then another, and another; all creeping in on her, too surreal and eerie for her to believe what she beheld. Spiders the size of cats scuttled about dirt floors and cave-like walls. They were giant twitching, scuttling, hairy black shapes.

“This isn’t real,” she breathed.

She’d been shot. She was dead. This couldn’t be real.

Another shrill cry far off in the black snapped Arielle from her stupor. The spiders’ attention was diverted for a split second. Taking advantage of it, Arielle desperately groped about the dim space for something to use as a weapon. A stone would do; a fist of dirt. Something, anything at all.

Not two feet away she spotted the glint of metal. For one who’d only moments before suffered its wrath, the design was all too familiar to her fingers. Steadying her resolve, Arielle released the safety.

The shot reverberated, echoing throughout the tunnel. Sensing the blast, the spiders hesitated. From somewhere in the inky black nothing above her, a twitching arthritic carcass fell and landed beside her, dead. An ominous chorus of gnashing fangs followed, but again, there was the sound which drew Arielle’s concern. Cries. Human cries in a foreign language and whose meaning was undeniable. A cry for help.

Ignoring the nauseous discomfort of some organ which was supposed to be stationary shifting in her chest, Arielle sprung to her feet. Three large spiders lunged at her. Fear struck at the sight of their massive appendages reaching for her. With the lethargy time is afflicted with moments before tragedy, Arielle had just long enough to shoot two and dodge one from behind. Trusting her thick boots, she kicked one that scurried on the ground aside, saving her bullets and trying to move as fast as possible to give the other human caught in this freak show nightmare aid.

This isn’t happening to me, this isn’t happening to me.
Disbelief was her mantra.

Moving was slow going. The tunnel was festooned with delicately spun garlands of silk near the walls. These sticky threads glittering pinkish in the light restricted her movement. As for the pinkish hue, it grew brighter as she moved down the tunnel and closer to the speaker who kept on yammering.

“I’m coming!” She shouted, not expecting to be understood. Rather, she meant to let the other know she wasn’t dead yet.

More spiders were coming up behind her. A few were hidden in the crevices of the tunnel. She shot another, only now appreciating her farmer of a grandfather’s lessons in marksmanship, and kicked two more out of her way. Unless they were kicked hard into a pointy object, the things weren’t deterred a whole hell of a lot. Arielle began to worry. The fuckers, though fast, didn’t really seem to be in a hurry to catch their prey. Rather, their interest lay in keeping it moving in one direction. The direction that just so happened to be toward the voice.

Two shots left! She thought in bitter frustration. I can’t bring a wooden knata to school or carry nail files or something reusable, but some shit-head gets in a semiautomatic which, shortly, won’t do me any good.

Skirting the corner of her eye, she saw a dark figure pounce. It was bigger than most of the spiders. Once again, time seemed to slow as she raised her gun. Or was it really slowing down? Was it slowing . . . for her?

She squeezed the trigger, her aim dead on. She saw it all in the pinkish tinge. The bullet effect.

“I don’t believe it.”

Of course she didn’t. How else could she be doing it?

She jumped. And for a test jump, it was one hell of a jump. It carried her out of the tunnel and into an incandescent pink cathedral of. . .more fucking spiders. Stalagmites pushed up out of the ground; floor to ceiling was crawling with every size and shape of arachnid. Spiders swarming, slinking, above, below, surrounding her, clicking and scuttling. At least she was in a clear space and would be safe for another, oh, sixteen seconds.

Shit, oh shit, oh shit. God, you and me, I’m dead, I know, but back me up on this one and I swear I’ll do whatever . . .

Pain seized her chest. Arielle ground her teeth against it, her eyes watering and knees wavering. She knew she’d been abusing her body, and ignoring the pain wouldn’t cure the ill initiating it. Maybe the adrenalin was wearing off now. Trying to stem the unswerving pulse of pain, Arielle clutched at her chest and touched something hard strapped against it.

She was packing heat.

In a blur of movement, she shot her last bullet at the closest threat and reloaded the next clip with surprising ease, even for her. If the situation were less deadly, she may have questioned it.

To her right, she heard more gibberish and Arielle leapt into the air with stop motion aeronautics, twisted to shoot up at the dangling monstrosities, (was it her or did these things seem to be getting bigger?) and landed with feral grace on a dirt floor glowing in a fuzzy pinkish haze.

Something coming from the pink, some energy she’d never felt before, flowed from the floor and up through her legs. Spreading instantly, it reached and relieved the ache in her chest, lifting it from her body. It piqued her curiosity. Because if that didn’t, the sight before her surely would.

A twiggy Asian girl on all fours stared in wide-eyed fascination, her eyebrows lifted and jaw as slack as a Kabuki peasant. Both of her hands were pressed flat against the floor of the cavern. The pinkish light originated from them down into the floor and spread out into a circle radiating up from the ground. Scattered amid the circle and at the edge were gnarled, smoking carcasses of fried spiders. By her side lay a blond man with long hair, unmoving. Just as she began wondering if it wasn’t such a good idea to be standing in the pink stuff, she noted the faint rise and fall of his chest.

So, these spider things can’t get near the light; it’ll kill them. The three of us aren’t harmed by it. It kinda feels fuzzy.

The Asian apparently decided Arielle was friendly and now smiled enthusiastically. She loudly whispered something unintelligible to Arielle just as she noticed that the light from the girl’s hands was wavering. A spider chanced to step closer. It promptly fried, its body fizzling with smoke, clicking and hissing madly.

“Aiieeeeee!”

Arielle didn’t need that translated. The Asian’s circle couldn’t hold forever, and they had to exit the cave, preferably soon. From the safety of the circle, Arielle might have been free to pick off spiders, but not indefinitely. To her frustration, their numbers didn’t seem to be lessening; the carcasses were piling up, but the waves of them didn’t stop coming. Very soon, the cave would be over-run. Reloading, Arielle began to clear a path in the direction she’d entered, hoping that since it’d been the direction the spiders didn’t want them to go, it was the way out. With any luck, the creatures were just that uncomplicated.

Seeing the kid’s bag lying aside, she ordered, “Get your shit, we’re leaving!”

“Okay!” The Asian replied cheerfully. Raising one hand, she slung on the bag and an archer’s bow. The rim of the circle slowly dissipated, then stabilized a little further in. For a time, it remained that way with Arielle shooting out into the ever-gaining dimness of the cave.

Then, the strangest feeling shot through Arielle’s spine, very nearly forcing her body to step to the right. She complied with its demands. Shortly thereafter, she felt the shockwaves of a projectile shoving aside the air as it soared by her, embedding in the solid rock. A rogue arrow. Things other than spiders were lurking in the dark crevices of the cavern.

Then the circle began to close in again, diverting Arielle’s concern back to exiting the cavern. All of them. Being that she was unable to see what the hell the Asian behind her was doing, she looked over her shoulder. The girl was rummaging through her rucksack. As her attention was not on maintaining the circle, it began to shrink again. This time, Arielle started to hear course shouting from where the arrow had originated. Two more projectiles shot by her, but neither came as close to hitting her as the first. All she could make out were hunched bipedal shadows behind a wall of stalagmites, well out of the pink light, hacking and snarling to each other. Arielle didn’t like this at all.

“If you’ve got any ideas, now’s good!”

The pink was fading; worry crept into Arielle’s consciousness. The clearance between them and the spiders was no more than five feet. The spiders were getting antsy.

*Click* *Fwoosh*

It was a lighter. Arielle heard fizzling which was promptly followed by two round, sparkling, and bright pink unidentifiable flying objects whizzing by. Then a hand shoved her forward and down, right onto the unmoving man.

*BOOM*

Light, sparks, and smoke burst from an unseen source, tossing spiders and corpses into the air along with flickering pink embers. As these embers landed on the creatures, they seemed to instantly kill the small and mortally injure the enormous. Terrified of the light and flames, the creatures fled in its wake, prey forgotten. Arielle smirked, reveling in their small victory. She then realized they had to do something about Mr. Paralyzed lying beneath her. Whose eyes were now open.

Without asking, Arielle took one wrist and drew his arm around her shoulders, standing quickly. He was incredibly light, considering he couldn’t support his own weight in his near-paralyzed state and was taller than her. Thankful the way was clear, Arielle practically dragged the man with her, his feet dragging and catching on stone beneath them.

The Asian with her glowing hands had taken point, and was standing at near an exit. Cleverly, the chica was messing with her lighter and another ball Arielle assumed was a firecracker. Catching up to her, Arielle paused at her side. The other girl was gazing into the darkness behind them. There was a mournful look to her face as she surveyed the cavern. Arielle matched her line of sight, but saw nothing.

Their eyes met; the sad regret in them made Arielle hesitate. She looked back over the cave to see if she’d missed anything or anyone. All she saw were dead spiders.

*BOOM!!!*

A second explosion, this time sent down the tunnel out, illuminated their way. Embers singed their clothes and hair. The girl had her lighter out. It was enough to see two feet in front of them. Her other held an unlit charge which glowed a radiant pink.

The spiders now seemed to be wary of this quarry and steered as clear as possible, to which Arielle was thankful for as she was occupied holding a man upright. He was just now starting to put his feet under him.

“This way!” Arielle grabbed the girl’s collar before she could start down the wrong way. With some adjustment in how she held Mr. Paralyzed, she dragged the girl into the gallery she’d awoken in.

They ran down another alcove with the Asian moving to the front as there wasn’t enough room for three abreast. Arielle held the blond by the waist with her right hand, and he was now able to cling to her shoulder with one arm. It vaguely registered to her that his recuperation was rather swift, but what concerned her more was the mass of spiders in their wake keeping to an expedient distance. Arielle didn’t like this at all, and slowed a little to take a shot at one.

The man screamed, “Daro, saes!” as if in pain with his hands over his ears. She startled at his outburst. Arielle slipped the gun back into a large pocket in her coat. Concerned, she offered her other arm for support as they hobbled along. In that moment, their eyes met.

Those eyes; an odd blue in the pinkish light, but intensely disturbing in the agony they conveyed. She’d thought he was not much older than her, but now she was not so sure. They didn’t get time for a proper introduction, nor could he get a medical inspection. Arielle could only muse over whether or not they’d been pushing him too hard. Their current situation didn’t allow for much delay, but she still didn’t want him to pass out. She glanced at him sidelong, noticing he was rather handsome and nearly tripped when she finally realized that the pointy ears were no trick of the pink light.

Suddenly, a sensation passed through Arielle’s mind, and before she bothered with its origins, she turned forward. With her free hand, she snatched the kid back seconds before she ran headlong into a web. A whole tunnel was blocked off wall to wall with silken threads. An unintelligible string of muttered curses was let off by the Asian.

“A trap.” Arielle could have smacked herself, but glowered instead. Yes, this was the way to the entrance, but it was booby trapped and unsprung. They’d both gotten in without coming through the door.

The bugs waited, clicking eagerly. They moved forward to press their prey into their trap, but were reluctant to attack. After the stellar pyrotechnics show, the things were wary.

Deciding they were making a stand, Arielle let Pointy Ears drop behind her and took out the gun.

The kid shouted, startling Arielle, snatched her gun out of her hand and shot into the web. The bullet and its shock wave punctured the webbing, while the theft of her weapon evoked an indignant “hey!” from Arielle. The Asian took no notice and shoved Arielle behind a bolder, barely managing to drag the indignant invalid across the floor, lit the charge and handed it to Arielle, making a throwing motion. The plan she had slowly found its way into Arielle’s brain. So, the kid was clever, and in theory, it wasn’t too bad an idea; Arielle clearly had a better throwing arm than she did.

Once again Arielle repressed the urge to question their situation, doubled checked to make sure the Asian didn’t have pointy ears as well, and hurled the charge with all the energy she could muster. She knew full well that the bullet hole would only do so much to clear a path and no way to know how straight the tunnel was. There was silence. Arielle quickly retook her gun, and Pointy Ears harassed the Asian. Ignoring them, Arielle kept the creepy crawlies from over-running their temporary cover. Pointy Ears shouted what she supposed were curses directed at her.

*BOOM!!!*

The resulting explosion and shockwave rocked the tunnel; bits of rock and silt crumbled down from the ceiling. A sharp fragment cut Arielle’s forearm painfully. Light flashed and the spiders quickly retreated from it, remembering full well what’d happened the last time.

Arielle vaulted and the girl scampered over their protective bolder; Pointy Ears fell with style after them. With a resentful glare from him, Arielle pulled him up by the arm and helped him join their mad dash through the tube. Their progress was hampered by the sticky silk that remained attached to the floor. Bones and earth crunched beneath their feet. In the back of Arielle’s mind, she realized that if they all fell, they would not be getting up.

After un-sticking and wrenching her feet again and again, and her patience for Pointy Ear’s miserably slow progress waned, Arielle saw light. It was dim and hazy but faintly white and the most beautiful sight she had yet seen in her short life. This relief was immediately dashed by the realization that not all the webbing had been cleared by the blast. The two girls exchanged a glance, and without words, each executed the unspoken plan.

Arielle turned and once again began blasting the hell out of the spiders slinking around a bend. The Asian slung off her pack and wildly began thrashing it about to clear the wads of silk. Pointy Ears covered his ears with his hands, moving as far from Arielle and the noise as possible.

The spiders and the Asian advanced slowly. Arielle stood her ground. Gradually, the gnashing, filthy, hairy crawlies piled up. Every wave of creepies used their companions’ carcasses as a rather useless shield. Arielle swallowed and took a step back when they made seven feet. The things began to move in, swarm.

Don’t they take hints? Don’t these things just . . . run out?

The Asian was shouting gibberish again; an arrow, followed by two glowing pink stones flew past Arielle’s head and into the mass of creepies. The arrow skewered one, the stones fried several. Turning, Arielle saw a grimacing Pointy Ears holding the bow and the Asian arming and preparing to throw more stones. Her way was clear and she had cover.

Arielle turned and jumped much as she had before, a few red-gold curls catching on web overhead, and hit the ground running. Catching their shoulders, she dragged Pointy Ears and the girl after her.

In this section of the cave, there were no webs to stay their feet. However, the spiders were no longer patient nor continued their reluctance with their intended prey. Arielle shot to the trio’s left and right, not daring to look back.

Finally, they ducked a low ceiling, rounded a bend, and burst into a miserable excuse for a forest.

The Asian let out a few curses in English that would have made a sailor blush.

“Crap!” Arielle joined in succinctly, but felt the other had their situation’s description nailed.

Nothing about the forest inspired relief or encouraged hope. There was some kind of grayish haze to the atmosphere much like that of the cave. It was only somewhat easier to breathe and dimmed the sunlight. Large trees surround them with sparse undergrowth below to protect them from furtive eyes. Dead and decaying leaves littered the ground making it a bit warmer out here than in the caves.

No one stopped running. Arielle and Pointy Ears took point, followed by the slightly winded girl. The running didn’t exactly take a toll on Arielle as it should. As for the younger girl, she wasn’t so lucky and it showed. Now that the spiders weren’t in sight, Arielle felt bad about pressing the twiggy thing any more than necessary. She looked scrawnier in the haze than in her pink glow.

Pointy Ears, on the other hand, didn’t give any sign of slowing down from his current gait. He ran with a lilt, as if his muscles weren’t quite obeying him yet. He permitted Arielle to hold his arm, but she got the distinct impression he didn’t appreciate her assistance. His face was essentially expressionless; his only detectable emotion was a grave wariness toward her and the arrogant jutting of his chin.

After nearly seven minutes of flat out running, the Asian couldn’t take the pace a moment longer and panted her plea to the Westerner. Arielle couldn’t comprehend what she spoke, but the look in her eyes and gasping was understandable enough. She slowed to a jog, annoying Pointy Ears who wasn’t inclined to remain with his rescuers.

Having just about enough of him, Arielle slowed further.

“Arigato, gosimas," the girl panted.

“Hai."Arielle replied wondering if she was pronouncing it right. Her knowledge of Japanese was nothing more than “yes,” “sorry,” “thank you,” “hello,” and “my name is Arielle.” She decided to make the best of the knowledge she’d gleaned from a lesson on Japanese in Asian Awareness.

“Watashi wa Arielle desu." Arielle held out her hand, and the kid took hold and shook rigorously, masking her exhaustion quite well. Considering they were completely lost and just attacked by mutant spiders, Arielle was a little weirded out by this show of enthusiasm.

“Konichiwa! Watashi wa Miazawa Yumiko desu, arigato. . ." and that was the extent of that rant Arielle could make out as Yumiko bowed formally to her (which Arielle lamely bowed back as best as she could imitate) and made conversation in Japanese as they briskly walked.

Arielle waved her hands and interrupted. “Gomen na si, no Japanese. English, American."

"Hai. You speak English."

"Hai, English."

Arielle confirmed, relieved that one of them was competent in the other’s language.

“I fail English.” Yumiko giggled.

Arielle growled, closed her eyes, and curled her lip in irritation. Then she tried, “Vous parlez français?"

Yumiko cocked her head to the side as if Arielle’s words were coming from a dumb animal.

“Fuck high school French, useless language anyway,” Arielle muttered. She wasn’t getting anywhere. She wasn’t going to unless she could communicate with someone.

Remembering this was a three person party, she glanced around for Pointy Ears. He’d run off ahead of them. Apparently, he knew where he was going. Or he was desperate to escape their company.

That wouldn’t do. Arielle held up her index finger to Yumiko, hoping she conveyed to the girl that she’d be back this way in a minute and hadn’t just flipped her off.

With a running start, Arielle took a leap and soared through the rather thick branches, catching one beneath her foot once or twice to direct the steerage of her course. This mode of travel was a bit odd. It was as if part of her denied this was possible while another interacted with gravity, almost willing it to release her as she saw fit simply because it did not apply, not for her. Sensing Pointy Ears below, she let herself drop directly into his path.

He halted, drew an arrow, and placed it before Arielle could rise from her landing crouch.

“Whoa,” Arielle raised both her hands, and gave him her sternest look of disapproval because he didn’t lower his weapon at the sight of her. “Take it easy.”

He remained firmly planted, apparently waiting for her to look at him wrong. Willing herself to remember that it probably wasn’t normal for people to fly through the air where he came from either, she successfully repressed the urge to rip the rather deadly sticks from his hands and bash him over the head. It was obvious Pointy Ears was not, well, human at any rate, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t communicate. There was even the slight chance he spoke English, Japanese, or French. From what little she’d heard earlier, she decided to start with French, slowly standing up. “Vous parlez français? Oui? Non?"

Notta.

"Konichiwa?"

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. They were intense; she didn’t like the way his scrutiny made her feel as though he could see beyond her mere physical being. Self-conscious and uncomfortable, Arielle didn’t feel like being on his bad side. She wanted some answers. They may as well start with the basics.

She set her hand over her heart.

“Arielle.” She let this sink in for a moment, then again. “Arielle,” accompanied with a nod towards him.

Haughtily, he raised his chin, lowering his aim away from her. It was as if the simple act of introduction were beneath his dignity. All his attention was locked on her, so it didn’t surprise Arielle when a finger appeared over his shoulder and tapped it once.

In bullet time, she admired his fluid, nimble and deadly movements raising and readying his ancient but efficient weapon toward Yumiko. But in bullet time Arielle was always faster. The mouth of her gun lightly rested against his temple before the head of his arrow aligned with any part within a hair’s breath of Yumiko. Pointy Ears froze, a faint red hue to his cheeks was the only indicator of what must have be blinding white rage.

“Drop it.” Arielle ordered. She was pissed. Good people didn’t aim weapons at kids.

His only response was to shift his eye line from his own weapon to hers.

“She saved your life. Drop it.”

Stiffly, he lowered his aim, gazing out into the forest ahead, chin lifted with arrogantly. Yumiko jumped into his face breaking the tension. Patting her chest, she proclaimed, “Yumiko.”

She smiled and then patted him on the shoulder, as if to reassure him no harm was done and shock lit up on his face unmasked. Arielle doubted he understood why she should be so friendly towards him. Then, as if scolding a wayward pet, Yumiko shook her finger and ranted unintelligibly at Arielle who still held her gun to Pointy Ear’s head.

It was Arielle’s turn to be confused. Feeling compelled to defend herself, she shouted, “He’s a prick! We saved his life and that’s how he thanks you!”

Yumiko stomped right up to Arielle and poked her in the shoulder. “No, Trinity, no! Bad. Let bishounen go!"

Arielle blinked. Then snorted in laughter, unable to contain herself. “Bishounen?" Arielle had forgotten she knew that word too. She spent way too much time in Asian Awareness Club.

Yumiko’s eyes glazed over dreamily, and leaned against Pointy Ear’s shoulder, which he prompted pulled away from. In a lovingly possessive voice Yumiko proclaimed, “Bishounen, mine!"

Arielle snorted a laugh and lowered her weapon to avoid an accident as Yumiko comically batted her eyes. Immediately, Bishounen’s eyes went wide. His jaw jutted out, probably aware of being the butt of some joke, and never having been in danger of the girls. Of course, his abject distaste spurred Arielle’s mirth further. He looked from Arielle, who grinned approvingly and pocketed her gun, to Yumiko, who had placed a hand on her new friend’s shoulder.

“You can have him.” Arielle watched the wary bishounenput away the loose arrow and strap the bow across his back. Gently, Yumiko tugged on Arielle’s arm, babbling all the while, indicating they should follow the pretty man. The two really didn’t have many options. “I’m coming, but I don’t think he likes me much. Or you, for that matter.”

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