The company had finished setting up a camp for the night. Gloin started a fire and everyone was now sitting around the fire with a bowl of stew which Bombur had made.

On your left was Kili and on your right was Bofur, who suddenly stood up and started talking. "So, before I start telling a little horror story. Thorin, do you think Fili and Kili are old enough for this?" The brothers looked at their uncle with pleading eyes. Thorin sighed. "Aye, Bofur, they are." Fili and Kili hugged their uncle in thanks.

Bofur continued talking. "And Dori. Do you think Ori is old enough for this?" Ori looked at his brother and tried to make the same puppy eyes as Fili and Kili just did, with no success. "No. Ori is too young for this. He has already seen enough horror with this adventure of ours. Ori, you go to your bedroll. Now." Dori has always been a fatherly figure for Ori so Ori sighed in defeat and walked with his head down to his bedroll.

"and you, lass? Do you think you can handle such a story?" Dwalin asked you with a wink. You sighed and rolled your eyes. "No Dwalin I am scared as hell and I want to hold someone's hand." You stated with a tone of sarcasm in your voice, but Fili was too young to realize it was sarcasm and went to sit on your right side. Now you were pinned between the two princes.

"Don't worry lass, we will stay by your side!" Kili stated. "Yes! And if you want to take someone's hand, you can take mine!" Fili added, causing all the others to laugh. "If you are all ready now, I'd like to start the story." Bofur said after he caught his breath. The others nodded with a smile still written on their face.

"Once upon a time, there was a young lass. She lived in the Iron Hills and was always buzzy with sneaking out into the wild. But she would never come far, cause her parent were always there to get her before she would cause trouble or before she would get herself into danger. One time, she had made a long rope out of towels and blankets. She hung it out of her window and climbed out of it. There was no one to stop her this time. She went silently out of the Iron Hills and into the forest of Mirkwood. She lost her way in the forest and she was scared. Then the little dwarfling started to cry, in the hope one of her parents will hear her and save her. But she was too far away from the Iron Hills. Nobody would save her now…"

Dwalin was already drifting off to sleep. Bofur silently made his way over to Dwalin and when he was right behind him he yelled "BOO!". Dwalin jumped up out of his seat and lost his balance sending him tumbling over the wooden stump where he just sat.

Everyone started to laugh. Even Thorin had to hold his sides from laughter. "Very funny" Dwalin said annoyed while sitting back on the stump. Then Bofur continued. "Then the lass heard rustle sounds from behind a bush. 'Ma? Da? Is that you?' she asked, her voice shaking due to how scared she was. And then from behind the bush, an ugly goblin appeared. The lass started screaming but the goblin would have none of that. He put a gag in her mouth and the girl started crying again. The rope he put around her wrists was rough and her wrists started to bleed. But the goblin knew no mercy. With every meter they walked the rope dug deeper into her flesh, and her blood was dripping onto the forest floor. He took her to his boss. The Goblin King. The King told his workers to bring up the bone breaker. They laid her down on the machine and tied her arms and legs to the wooden planks with the same rough rope the goblin had used for her arms earlier. She kept on crying, and the goblin king enjoyed it. "Why are you crying little one? Do you miss your mommy and daddy?"He let out a dark chuckle. "You will see them again… If the afterlife exists!" He laughed darkly. Then he went to the goblin who caught her and told him that tying her up wasn't good enough. She had to be nailed down with the biggest nails they could find. The nails were 1 centimetre thick and 15 centimetres long. The giant goblin put them in her hands, feet and legs. The blood immediately started dripping down her hands and feet. The goblin king put a mug under the place where her blood was dripping and waited patiently until it was filled. When the mug was till the top filled with blood, he started drinking her it in front of her eyes. Then he deceided that he had heard enough crying. First he cut her belly open at an evilly slow pace. Then he took out all her viscera's and ate them."

Some of the dwarves flinched but you didn't even blink an eye. When you saw that Kili was almost crying you stood up.

"I think that was a nice story. Thank you Bofur. But I think we must be heading to our bedrolls by now cause we must move on tomorrow." The company nodded in agreement and all headed to their bedrolls.

You slept next to Kili who asked you with eyes full of tears "How can you not be afraid? It was a fairly scary and bloody story Bofur just told." You chuckled. "It was just a story. Besides that, I'm not afraid of anything." You easily fell asleep that night.

You were woken up by Bofur halfway the night. "Your turn lass." He said simply.

"My turn for what?"

"For the night watch of course!" You had totally forgotten it was your turn. You stood up and carefully you walked through the group of dwarves that lay everywhere on the forest floor.

You were now sitting on the ground next to the dying ambers of the fire. You tried to make some more fire by poking the ambers with wooden sticks with little success. You watched Bofur heading to his bedroll. He cursed when he saw that his brother was not only laying and his own bedroll, but also on his. Bofur kicked Bomber in his belly causing him to roll over and wake up. "Where was that for?" Bomber asked. "For snoring loudly on MY bedroll. Now go back to sleep and don't think about laying on my bedroll again." They both fell asleep fairly fast while you were still playing with the embers.

Hours had passed and the sun was rising and all the dwarves began to wake up. Bofur was cursing loudly at Bomber because Bomber had rolled back in his sleep and was laying on Bofur.

"Where is the lass?" Thorin was checking if everyone was absent but you were gone. There was a little paper placed on your bedroll. It was written in Black Speech and the only one who could read it was Gandalf. Who unfortunately left the company just before they entered the forest.

Thorin shouted something in Khûzdul and suddenly a giant raven appeared. It was Roäc, the raven of the Erebor. Thorin told the bird to fetch Gandalf. The dwarves feared the worst and went searching for you in the forest. But you were nowhere to be found. The company had to move on if they wanted to reach Erebor before Durin's Day falls.

There was no sign of you. And Gandalf could be a thousand miles away by now. There was no time to wait upon a wizard. They had to move on. And they did. Hoping you would return soon. If that bloody bowman would have hired you the boat you didn't even need to go through the forest.