Hullo again, everyone. Thank you for all the lovely reviews. I'm glad people are liking this story so far. I hope you continue liking it. Here's the next chapter:
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Bilbo followed close behind Thorin as the dwarf attempted to lead them out of the forest. Among the twisted trees, there seemed to be a sort of path, which they were presently walking on, but it didn't really look like the same path they had been following when they first entered Mirkwood. This path was dirt, and may have not even been an actual path at all. As far as Bilbo could tell, it could have easily simply been a natural, worn down area along the forest floor, and nothing more. He knew for sure that it wasn't the elf-path they had been following earlier. That path was more clear. This one was very questionable.
The hobbit forced himself to drag his feet along as he made sure to keep his eyes on Thorin. The last thing he wanted was to be lost again. It didn't really seem like Thorin knew where he was going, but just being with someone else was enough to make Bilbo feel a lot better about the situation. There are few feelings worse than the feeling of being all alone and completely and utterly lost, so he was perfectly content walking behind Thorin now, even if they weren't necessarily making any progress. For now he was just relieved to have been found and reunited with someone he knew.
He hoped the two of them wouldn't get separated again, because being all alone like that had been terrifying. This whole adventure business was scary enough even when he was with everyone else. He wasn't sure if he could handle being lost from everyone again, especially not in these horrible, confusing woods. Hobbits tended to have a good sense of direction, typically, but that didn't seem to apply here in Mirkwood. Presently, the hobbit had no idea which direction he was even walking in. He couldn't find the sun in the sky, and his ordinarily present ability to luckily guess which way he had come from or was trying to get to was very much absent now. If Bilbo got lost in these woods again, he might never see Thorin, the others, or the Shire ever again, and he certainly didn't want that to happen.
As they walked along, the hobbit had to fight the urge to grab onto the back of Thorin's coat and hold onto it as they traversed the forest, as he knew any number of strange factors could play a part in distracting him and getting him lost once more. But he figured Thorin might be annoyed by that, so he didn't hold onto the dwarf, and simply tried to pay as much attention to his surroundings as he could. Surely if he just focused on walking behind the dwarf and refused to follow any more misleading lights, he'd be fine.
"There's got to be an end to these woods," Thorin grumbled as he dragged his feet along in front of Bilbo, "I believe we're going east. If we just keep going in the same direction, we've got to find the end eventually. Hopefully the others have made it out and we'll reunite on the other side of the forest."
Bilbo agreed, but didn't say anything. He felt so tired, and still somewhat embarrassed for having panicked in front of Thorin earlier. He couldn't quite explain how it was that he had thought he wasn't breathing back in the clearing, even when he most certainly was, but he couldn't explain anything about this place. Thorin didn't seem to think less of him for his strange panic attack, so Bilbo didn't mention it again either. Hopefully they could just forget about it. Hopefully Gandalf and the other dwarves would never know that their burglar had behaved so foolishly.
"Do you suppose it's been long since we lost the others?" Bilbo wondered as he dragged his feet tiredly behind Thorin, "perhaps we can call out to them," he suggested.
Thorin shrugged, "I cannot keep track of time in this place, but I haven't heard a thing from any of them, even when I was shouting and searching for you. I lost them several minutes before I found you. They didn't respond to my calls then, and I doubt they'd respond now. I'm betting they are long gone."
"I was shouting for everyone before as well," Bilbo told him, "I followed that light and became frantic when I turned around and couldn't find anyone. I yelled out to you, and Balin, and lots of the others. No one heard me. Well, you did eventually. It seemed like ages though. I'd nearly given up on being found by then. You're probably right though. They've all likely kept walking, and are far, far closer to the end of this woods than we are."
"Yes. I'm sure they're long gone, hopefully gone in the correct direction, but either way they're together," Thorin offered, "as are we. As long as both groups make it out, we can worry about reuniting later."
Bilbo nodded, "I sort of wish the eagles would have taken us all the way to the Lonely Mountain. Maybe we should have told them that's where we were going. Perhaps they would have taken us and saved us a lot of time," he mumbled, mostly to himself, "though this isn't really their quest, and it's a long journey even for a giant bird."
"They had no obligation to help us at all," Thorin noted, "we were lucky they agreed to come to our aid when we were in dire need."
"That's true," Bilbo agreed, "they already saved our lives once. Can't ask for much more than that," he sighed and continued on, looking down at his feet as he followed behind Thorin. He frowned when it looked like his feet were walking backward again, regardless of the fact that he was sure his legs were moving forward.
With a panicked gasp, he attempted to move faster, staring down at his feet in bewilderment as they only moved faster in the wrong direction. If he kept moving backwards, he was going to be lost again, but he couldn't seem to move forwards! Before he could call out for Thorin's help, he found he had ran into the dwarf's back, hard enough to cause himself to fall back. Bilbo then found himself on the ground, with Thorin staring down at him, "slow down," Thorin warned as he arched an eyebrow.
"I-" Bilbo began to explain, with much confusion lacing his words, "I thought... I was... walking backwards... I looked down at my feet for a moment," he paused, knowing he sounded ridiculous, but still feeling compelled to explain himself, "they looked like they were moving in the wrong direction... I panicked."
The hobbit expected Thorin to yell at him then, to tell him to watch where he was going, to tell him to stop being a fool, but the dwarf did not. Instead, Thorin narrowed his eyes, and offered a very small smile, "I'm eager to be rid of this forest," he laughed, offering his hand down to Bilbo and helping him to his feet, "It's maddening, is it not?"
Bilbo offered a dry laugh as Thorin helped him up, "it most certainly is," he agreed with a smile.
"Stay close," Thorin instructed, "And don't watch your feet while you're walking. Just focus on following me."
The hobbit nodded and began to follow after the dwarf once more, but quickly came to a halt when he heard a noise, a noise which sounded an awful lot like a breeze, "Thorin," he whispered, "do you hear that?"
The dwarf paused as well, "it's wind," he noted when he heard the sound Bilbo had been speaking of.
Bilbo was relieved that Thorin heard the sound too. That meant it wasn't simply in his own mind. If Thorin heard the same thing, it must have been real, "it's to the right, it seems," the hobbit noticed. Up until recently, there had been virtually no sound in the forest. The wind was most likely outside of the trees. It meant they were nearing the forest's edge.
"This way!" Thorin spoke excitedly, "I don't care if we're near the other side or back where we started. I just want out of this place."
Bilbo nodded as he followed the dwarf. He couldn't have agreed more.
They quickly made their way toward the sound of the breeze. Just knowing he would soon be out of this stuffy, horrible forest filled Bilbo with relief. The thought of breathing fresh air and even feeling the wind against his skin caused a grin to spread across his face as he trotted after Thorin. Hopefully the others had followed the same sound, and they'd meet them as soon as they exited the forest.
It turned out half of Bilbo's hopes were fulfilled. They indeed found the edge of the forest, but the others were not there waiting for them.
"Where are we?" Bilbo wondered as he staggered out of the forest and onto the rocky terrain. He threw himself onto the ground, spreading his arms out and breathing in the fresh oxygen. Now that they were out of the woods, everything was instantly more clear, and the air felt infinitely less heavy.
The hobbit found he didn't really care all that much where they were. He wanted to find the others of course, but just being out of the woods, where the air was light and fresh was delightful. Bilbo wanted to just go to sleep, right here on the rocky ground. He didn't care that he didn't have a blanket or that the air about him was chilly. He was just so relieved to see the sky again, and to not feel weighed down by his own confusion.
Thorin followed him onto the rocks, also seeming relieved to have made it out of the woods. Instead of rolling around on the ground like the hobbit did, however, Thorin looked up at the sky in an attempt to find the sun, "we're too far north," the dwarf shook his head as he looked about himself, "this won't do at all. We've still got to make it around most of the forest. This is why we originally chose to go through it..."
Bilbo winced, "we're not going back in are we?"
The dwarf sighed heavily, "it would likely be counter-productive," he admitted, "it's not a short cut when we spend so much time lost, backtracking, and going in circles."
"Exactly," Bilbo smiled, glad to know Thorin wasn't going to make him go back into that terrible place. He was not at all a fan of losing his mind, which is exactly what the forest was doing to him.
"Then we'll keep to the edge for now, and try to make good time," Thorin suggested, "though we may need to cut through the forest eventually, it's probably best to keep outside of it for the time being. There's no use getting lost again. Hopefully the others won't mind waiting a few days for us to catch up... If they even make it out, that is."
Bilbo frowned. He hadn't considered that the other dwarves may remain lost in the woods forever. Surely they'd stumble upon an exit eventually.
"Let's get going," Thorin ordered, "if we're going to make up for going around instead of through the forest, we're going to need to keep moving, rest maybe four hours per night, but walk the remainder. I assume the others will stay in the forest, in order to make good time. We will have to sacrifice our rest if we want to avoid the forest."
Bilbo groaned, "will we stop for lunch?" he wondered.
"Dinner is enough, and you'll have your breakfast," Thorin told him, "if you can find anything edible out here, that is."
"We don't have anything?" Bilbo frowned as he felt his shoulders slump. He felt half-starved already. He had been looking forward to stopping for a meal at some point.
Thorin shrugged, "I didn't expect all of us to end up separated. I believe Bombur was carrying most of the food."
"Alright," Bilbo sighed loudly, "I'll find something," he followed behind Thorin as the dwarf began walking along the edge of the trees. As they walked, Bilbo kept his eyes open for any sort of edible plants, "do you think there are any streams nearby? Streams with fish?" Bilbo wondered.
Thorin shrugged, "probably. Though we haven't got time for fishing. This is no vacation. We must make haste."
"You'll find I'm a surprisingly fast fisher-hobbit," Bilbo beamed, "find me a stream, and you'll see. Won't take me but five minutes. Ten, tops."
Thorin laughed, "if we come across a stream, you can try, but I'm holding you to your word. We'll stop for ten minutes maximum."
Bilbo smiled. He hoped they found a stream at some point, because his stomach had been growling ever since before they entered the forest. This whole skipping entire meals business was quite foreign to him, and he didn't like it one bit. The hobbit's ordinary routine of having six meals per day, now cut down to two, or one, or even sometimes zero was not working for him at all.
Bilbo kicked a small pebble along as he followed Thorin, until he found the dwarf was making progress much faster than he was. Kicking the pebble was slowing him down, so he abandoned it and scampered after his companion.
"You are nearly running," Bilbo panted as he trotted up beside Thorin, "there's no point in making quick time considering the others are probably still lost. We'll just end up having to wait for them anyway."
"We don't know if they've found the path again, and I do not want to keep them waiting if they've somehow managed to reach the woods' end before we do. There's no need to dawdle," Thorin reminded him, "try to keep up."
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