The pests infesting Tauriel's legs had already detached, forced away by the sheer volume of blood pouring from her open wounds.
She looked down at her battered legs, skin gnawed away, flesh dangling in grotesque strands. Blood seeped freely, pooling around her like crimson canals carved into the earth. A weak, bitter chuckle escaped her lips—an ironic sound given the agony wracking her body.
BAM!
A deafening crack shattered the silence as a thick tree trunk exploded into fragments under a single, devastating blow. Splinters flew in all directions, the force alone sending a tremor through the earth. Tauriel's breath hitched as her wide, pain-clouded eyes flicked upward, locking onto the hulking figure before her.
