[Eladain Moruviel]

After eating his meal in silence, Gilbereth went off to alone to one side of the camp. He preferred to be alone for now, at least until he got to know the others better. After a while he unsheathed his sword and began cleaning it, the long narrow blade gleaming in the sunlight. He meticulously sharpened, and polished its shining surface, and when He was satisfied, returned it to its sheath.

A few moments later Arie came over to talk to Him "You arent used to this are you Gilbereth? Out in the wood." she said standing watching the fire. "If it makes you feel any better, i will not jest about your clothes ever again." she laughed, but Gilbereth only did so half heartedly. "Give them time they will come around, we are all different here." she stopped and turned around to face him. "Let me tell you something, I almost caught the most magnificant stag today...." and told him tales of Ihwesta and her hunt of the day, of which some of the other elves turned to listen. "Natrually, Ihwesta, thought that she saw it first." she flicked her eyes to her direction where Ihwesta just smiled. "It was all you Younger!" she laughed.
"No, we saw it at the same time." admitted Arië. Gilbereth enjoyed the company of Arie, it was good to talk to another person, something he had hardly done since they started on this trek.

Gilbereth’s thoughts turned to Airelome, he had been gone for some time, had something happened to him He wondered. Just then He heard Ceros say "Airelómë, has he returned yet?" They all shook there heads "Where do we begin to look then Ceros?" He heard Arië ask, but before Ceros could answer Taurewen
replied "Ceros, I think we should stay in groups, no-one should be on their own". “This was sound advice” He thought, “My only problem will be finding someone willing to let me go with them.


Just then Gilbereth thought He saw something moving in the woods,Surprised He shook his head.
He couldn’t be sure he had seen anything, but no, there it was again, a shadow. He moved out of the firelight to get a better view when He was intercepted my Reynion. “Did you not hear her, child? She is more woodswise than you are and you would do well to listen to your elders,” Reynion admonished quietly. Gilbereth, thinking his words a jest, tried a second time to move past him. “Look, child,” he continued seriously. “Those elves are smart enough to stay together. If you go out there alone, you will be out of all our hair, and I very much doubt that any of us would miss you. I don’t care what you have to prove by coming out here, getting yourself killed won’t do it.”

Just the Ihwesta came up to them and said “I’ll fancy that,” she said coldly. Reynion turned catching the irritated glint in her dark blue eyes. “He saw a shadow, I saw it at as well. It is unlike the elves of Mirkwood to be so unfeeling with their own.” Reynion, eyes peering at her uncertainly began to speak. She interrupted. “You’ll do well,” she began firmly. “To keep your ‘woodwise’ opinions to yourself.”

Ihwwesta motioned For Gilbereth to follow her and Aire “thank-you” He breathed so that only Ihwesta could hear as they went off. They shot through the trees at a breakneck speed, and then ran face to face with an orc.Unsheathing her long-knife Ihwesta slashed through his throat before he could even register what had happened. They then pulled his body into a thicket so that his friends might not come upon him.

At that moment a great crashing sound erupted in the forest, and a monster, the size of a table appeared in the clearing just behind them, separating the trackers from the group. The two she-elves’ eyes widened in shock and they dove into the clearing trying to get around the creature they had now identified as a mutant spider.

“Get behind me!” cried Gilbereth to the she-elves and stepped between them and the monster. He unsheathed His sword and faced the beast, not sure of how to approach it. This was a monster that until now He had thought only a myth, but now here it was standing in front of Him, trying to kill Him even!

When He was sure that the two elves were safe Gilbereth advanced upon the beast, circling slowly to it’s right. Then the beast lunged at Him, this caught Him off guard He hardly had time to jump back, but he was lucky, for it had a small orc in it’s jaws and was unable to bite him. He continued to circle it, staying just out of reach of the creature, not knowing what else to do. By this time it had dropped the orc, and was clicking it’s jaws angrily.

Then an idea struck Him, he circled around once more, feinted for the spider’s belly, and then quickly slashed the creature’s eyes in two deft strokes. Unable to see, it charged about madly through the clearing.At this time Ceros came to his aid, and together they were able to quickly slay the creature."You came just in time" Gilbereth panted when the creature lay dead "For that I thank you"

They joined up with the others a little while later, and found out about Airelome’s death, this saddened Gilbereth greatly, but He was also grateful that no others had been killed. They all headed back towards camp, and when they got there Gilbereth collapsed at the base of a great tree and rested.

[ July 26, 2003: Message edited by: Eladain Moruviel ]