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They wavered Doubt caht approached One by one they dihtness so deadly had ever afflicted theround, but now a star had descended into the very earth Still it approached, and the eyes began to quail One by one they all went dark; they turned away, and a great bulk, beyond the light&039;s reach, heaved its huge shadow in between They were gone

&039;Master, master!&039; cried Sam He was close behind, his oord drawn and ready &039;Stars and glory! But the Elves wouldof that, if ever they heard of it! And o on, o down to that den! Now&039;s our only chance Now let&039;s get out of this foul hole!&039;

And so back they turned once ; for as they went the floor of the tunnel rose steeply, and with every stride they clith returned to limb and heart But still the hatred of the Watcher lurked behind them, blind for a while, perhaps, but undefeated, still bent on death And now there ca, the tunnel&039;s end, at last it was before the theered, tu back The outlet was blocked with so it seeh, but not a glied and were hurled back

Holding aloft the Phial Frodo looked and before hilass did not pierce and did not illuht, no light could dissipate Across the width and height of the tunnel a vast as spun, orderly as the web of soreater, and each thread was as thick as rope

Sarimly &039;Cobwebs!&039; he said &039;Is that all? Cobwebs! But what a spider! Have at &039;em, doith &039;em!&039;

In a fury he hewed at them with his sword, but the thread that he struck did not break It gave a little and then sprang back like a plucked bowstring, turning the blade and tossing up both sword and arm Three tile cord of all the countless cords snapped and twisted, curling and whipping through the air One end of it lashed Sa back and drawing his hand across his mouth

&039;It will take days to clear the road like this,&039; he said &039;What&039;s to be done? Have those eyes come back?&039;

&039;No, not to be seen,&039; said Frodo &039;But I still feel that they are looking atsoht were lowered, or if it failed, they would quickly coain&039;

&039;Trapped in the end!&039; said Saain above weariness and despair &039;Gnats in a net May the curse of Faramir bite that Gollum and bite him quick!&039;

&039;That would not help us now,&039; said Frodo &039;Co can do It is an elven-blade There ebs of horror in the dark ravines of Beleriand where it was forged But you uard and hold back the eyes Here, take the star-glass Do not be afraid Hold it up and watch!&039;

Then Frodo stepped up to the great grey net, and hewed it with a wide sweeping stroke, drawing the bitter edge swiftly across a ladder of close-strung cords, and at once springing away The blue-glearass, and they leaped and writhed and then hung loose A great rent was made

Stroke after stroke he dealt, until at last all the ithin his reach was shattered, and the upper portion blew and swayed like a loose veil in the inco wind The trap was broken

&039;Come!&039; cried Frodo &039;On! On!&039; Wild joy at their escape from the very mouth of despair suddenly filled all his ht of potent wine He sprang out, shouting as he caht in that dark land to his eyes that had passed through the den of night The great srown thinner, and the last hours of a solare of Mordor had died away in sullen gloo of sudden hope Alher now The Cleft, Cirith Ungol, was before hie, and the horns of rock darkling in the sky on either side A short race, a sprinter&039;s course and he would be through!

&039;The pass, Sa the shrillness of his voice, that released froh and wild &039;The pass! Run, run, and we&039;ll be through �C through before any one can stop us!&039;

Salad as he was to be free, he was uneasy, and as he ran, he kept on glancing back at the dark arch of the tunnel, fearing to see eyes, or so out in pursuit Too little did he or his master know of the craft of Shelob She hadshe had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form, even such as once of old had lived in the Land of the Elves in the West that is now under the Sea, such as Beren fought in the Mountains of Terror in Doriath, and so careen sward ao How Shelob ca from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come But still she was there, as there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dur; and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness Far and wide her lesser broods, bastards of the , that she slew, spread frolen, from the Ephel Duath to the eastern hills, to Dol Guldur and the fastnesses of Mirkwood But none could rival her, Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world

Already, years before, Golluol who pried into all dark holes, and in past days he had bowed and worshipped her, and the darkness of her evil alked through all the ways of his weariness beside hiret And he had pro her food But her lust was not his lust Little she knew of or cared for towers, or rings, or anything devised by mind or hand, who only desired death for all others, lut of life, alone, swollen till the er hold her up and the darkness could not contain her

But that desire was yet far away, and long now had she been hungry, lurking in her den, while the power of Sauron grew, and light and living things forsook his borders; and the city in the valley was dead, and no Elf or Man came near, only the unhappy Orcs Poor food and wary But she es from the pass and from their tower, ever she found some way to snare theht it to her

&039;We&039;ll see, we&039;ll see,&039; he said often to hierous road froul Vale, &039;we&039;ll see It may well be, O yes, it may well be that when She throay the bones and the eet it, the Precious, a reward for poor Ss nice food And we&039;ll save the Precious, as we proot it safe, then She&039;ll know it, O yes, then we&039;ll pay Her back, my precious Then we&039;ll pay everyone back!&039;

So he thought in an inner cha, which he still hoped to hide froain and had bowed low before her while his companions slept

And as for Sauron: he knehere she lurked It pleased hiry but unabated in malice, a more sure watch upon that ancient path into his land than any other that his skill could have devised And Orcs, they were useful slaves, but he had theht them to stay her appetite, she elcome: he could spare them And sometimes as a man may cast a dainty to his cat (his cat he calls her, but she owns him not) Sauron would send her prisoners that he had no better uses for: he would have theht back to hihting in their own devices, and feared no assault, nor wrath, nor any end of their wickedness Never yet had any fly escaped froe and hunger

But nothing of this evil which they had stirred up against the on hiht did it become that it was a burden to him to run, and his feet seemed leaden

Dread was round him, and enemies before hi heedlessly tohis eyes away froloom beneath the cliff upon his left, he looked ahead, and he sao things that increased his dismay He saw that the shich Frodo still held unsheathed was glittering with blue flah the sky behind was now dark, still thein the toas glowing red

&039;Orcs!&039; he muttered &039;We&039;ll never rush it like this There&039;s Orcs about, and worse than Orcs&039; Then returning quickly to his long habit of secrecy, he closed his hand about the precious Phial which he still bore Red with his own living blood his hand shone for a ht deep into a pocket near his breast and drew his elven-cloak about hi on hi on like a shadow; soon he would be lost to sight in that grey world

Hardly had Salass when she came A little way ahead and to his left he saw suddenly, issuing from a black hole of shadow under the cliff, the most loathly shape that he had ever beheld, horrible beyond the horror of an evil dreareat hunting beasts, and more terrible than they because of the evil purpose in her reht daunted and defeated, there they were lit with a fell light again, clustering in her out-thrust head Great horns she had, and behind her short stalk-like neck was her huge swollen body, a vast bloated bag, swaying and sagging between her legs; its great bulk was black, blotched with livid ave forth a stench Her legs were bent, with great knobbed joints high above her back, and hairs that stuck out like steel spines, and at each leg&039;s end there was a claw

As soon as she had squeezed her soft squelching body and its folded limbs out of the upper exit fro on her creaking legs, nowa sudden bound She was between Sam and his master Either she did not see Saht, and fixed all her intent upon one prey, upon Frodo, bereft of his Phial, running heedless up the path, unaware yet of his peril Swiftly he ran, but Shelob ifter; in a few leaps she would have hi breath to shout &039;Look out behind!&039; he yelled &039;Look out master! I&039;m&039; �C but suddenly his cry was stifled

A long claht hi Taken off his guard he toppled backwards into the arms of his attacker

&039;Got him!&039; hissed Golluot hiet the other O yes, Shelob will get hiol: he proot you, you nassty filthy little sneak!&039; He spat on Sam&039;s neck

Fury at the treachery, and desperation at the delay when his ave to Sa that Golluht him Not Gollum himself could have twisted more quickly or more fiercely His hold on Saain, trying to tear away frorip on his neck His sas still in his hand, and on his left ar, was Faramir&039;s staff Desperately he tried to turn and stab his eneht arers were like a vice; slowly and relentlessly he bent the hand down and forward, till with a cry of pain Saround; and all the while Gollu on Sam&039;s throat

Then Sath he pulled away and got his feet firround and with his whole force hurled hi even this simple trick from Saht of the sturdy hobbit in his stomach A sharp hiss came out of him, and for a second his hand upon Saripped the sword-hand Sam tore himself forward and away, and stood up, and then quickly he wheeled away to his right, pivoted on the wrist held by Gollu it up, and down it ca crack on Gollum&039;s outstretched arm, just below the elbow

With a squeal Gollue the staff froe blow Quick as a snake Gollum slithered aside, and the stroke aimed at his head fell across his back The staff cracked and broke That was enough for hiame of his, and seldom had he failed in it But this tiloating before he had both hands on his victi with his beautiful plan, since that horrible light had so unexpectedly appeared in the darkness And noas face to face with a furious eneht was not for hiround and raised it Gollu aside on to all fours, he ju Before Sa speed back towards the tunnel

Sword in hand Sa else but the red fury in his brain and the desire to kill Golluone Then as the dark hole stood before him and the stench caht of Frodo and the monster smote upon Sam&039;sand calling his master&039;s name He was too late So far Gollum&039;s plot had succeeded