A/N: Here's a short chapter I wrote while I'm supposed to be studying for exams... oops. Thanks to everyone who reads! Hope you enjoy this sort of fillerish chapter, I'll post the next one asap.
"How long do you think we've been in here?" someone whispered behind him.
Bilbo didn't even want to think about it.
It seemed as if they'd been surrounded by trees for years, the constant whispering, the feeling of being followed hounding his every step. He was starving too, so hungry he thought he'd probably eat his own fingers if they could find any wood dry enough to cook them.
They had rations, sure, but they were not enough to feed a hobbit, not enough at all.
He wandered after his dwarves however, and did not resort to cannibalism, because what use would it have been to save all of their lives thus far only to end them now?
Although, he suspected, that they wouldn't last long anyway.
"I'm starving," another dwarves whispered behind him, and he nearly snapped that they all were, when he remembered he was supposed to be the level headed one there.
Silence fell again and they all trudged forward, following the path just like Gandalf had said.
At one point, Kili shouldered past him to reach his brother, for whatever reason, and Bilbo briefly wondered if they should be worrying about the full moon any time soon before he forgot why that was important and continued the trek forward.
The spiderwebs were getting thicker and thicker, something he couldn't necessarily discern as a good or bad sign. They were enjoyable to play with, but he had a sinking feeling that he probably shouldn't have been touching them.
They finally reached some kind of land mark that told them they'd made some progress when they stumbled upon a river.
"The path continues on the other side," Thorin scowled, his hair disheveled and hanging around his face in a way that showed he just didn't have the energy to brush it away, "We must find a way across."
"These look sturdy enough!" Kili called from a cluster of vines, hands gripped around them as if he were about to swing across.
"No, we send the lightest first," Thorin interjected before that could take a turn for the worse.
It took him a minute to notice that everyone was staring at him. He wondered why for a moment when he remembered that in a company of dwarves, he was much lighter than even Ori.
He sighed and started towards the makeshift bridge across the river, trying his best to not even dip a toe in the putrid water. Something was wrong with it, that much he could tell, and he did not want to find out what.
Bilbo just barely made it across. He was exhausted by the time he collapsed on the other shore, his eyes slipping closed of their own accord. No, that river was not right at all.
"There's something… Stop! There's something… not right, don't-" but when he looked up, the dwarves were all struggling across anyway, curses on their lips as they slipped and struggled (for the love of… was Bofur upside down?).
"Bombur, you're in my way!" Gloin was prodding his companion in the back, but the round dwarf was staring into the water, oblivious to those precariously hanging on behind him.
"Bombur?" Bofur (who was now facing the right direction, thank Yavanna) questioned, giving his brother a look of concern, "Can somebody help him? Something's wrong."
Bilbo wanted to scream that yes, yes something was wrong, and he had told them that, but before he could open his mouth, Bombur let go.
Everyone began shouting at once, trying to haul him out of the water, but it was a struggle. It took six of them to pull the sleeping dwarf onto shore, four of the others stepping in the murk just to maneuver his body.
When everyone was safely on the other side, they took a long pause.
"What…" Nori stiffled a yawn, "is that water?"
The starfish haired dwarf, Dwalin, Dori and Fili had been the three who'd ended up with soaked trousers.
"I think some kind of spell lays on it," Bilbo spoke up, "Something to make intruders sleep."
"Great," Fili mumbled, using a tree to steady himself as he rubbed at his eyes.
Dwalin was struggling to stay alert, Dori as well, and Bombur's snores were not helping in the slightest.
Even the hobbit, who was completely dry, wanted to curl up and take a nap.
"We keep moving. Make a stretcher for Bombur, we carry him the rest of the way, until he wakes," Thorin commanded, his voice sounding small against the yawns.
"Can't we just rest for a mo'?" Dwalin blinked.
"No, we cannot," the king snarled, "we must keep moving. It's not safe here."
That got the warrior master moving, the rest of them as well, quickly constructing something faster than Bilbo thought possible.
Well, they were dwarves he supposed, and they were known for their craftsmanship.
Soon, they were walking again, with Fili, Kili, Dwalin and Bofur carrying the cot.
Needless to say, they didn't last long.
It was surprisingly Dwalin who stumbled first, an exhausted and done with this day expression on his face as he straightened, "Thorin, we have to stop."
"We do not-"
"We can barely walk, let alone carry one of our company," Balin cut in for his brother, "Thorin, please. We can find a secure place to settle down for the night, get a fire going to dry our wet supplies-"
"No fire."
"No fire then," Balin agreed, "But we must rest."
For whatever reason, Thorin glanced over at Bilbo. Apparently he found something in the hobbits face that made him change his mind because he nodded his head in agreement with his adviser.
"First safe place we find, we stop for the night."
