Escape from Mirkwood
Madara stood atop the forest canopy, looking out into the distance towards the sun. He could see that the sun was setting just over the Lonely Mountain. "Looks like east is that way," he said to himself.
As Madara was getting ready to head back down and inform the others, he noticed a group of trees in the distance that were shaking rather violently. As he continued to observe from afar, he noticed that the trees shook in such a way that it seemed as if a large creature were making its way through the forest and towards the company. Realizing the impending danger, Madara let himself fall back down towards the company.
As Madara gracefully landed on the forest floor, he looked around and realized that the entire company was gone. "Thorin! Bilbo!" He called, but there was no response to be heard. He tried calling other names. "Kili! Fili! Bombur!" Still nothing.
Suddenly, he stepped in something very strange. He looked down and saw that he'd stepped in a rather large spider web. The shinobi lifted his foot in disgust as he shook the webbing from his sandals. At the same time, a large Mirkwood Spider slowly descended down towards the Uchiha from behind. As it silently approached, the spider thought Madara was completely unaware of its presence. But how wrong it was. With one simple glance over his shoulder, Madara engulfed the spider in black flames. The beast screeched in agony before finally curling up in the typical spider death position. Needless to say, Madara now realized what happened to the others. They were most likely captured by the Mirkwood spiders.
As Madara was preparing to track down the company, He began hearing strange whispers coming from all directions.
The whispers grew louder; to the point where Madara understood what was being said.
"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in darkness bind them."
Recognizing the voice; the Uchiha drew his Gunbai, ready to fight. "Sauron," he realized.
(However, the Necromancer was not physically there, he was just transmitting his voice through the forest.)
"Madara Uchiha…. The Red Demon of the North…I am surprised to see you've returned to Middle-Earth."
"I could say the same for you," he countered. "So, you're the Necromancer living in Dol Guldur."
"Of course. Did you really think that I, Sauron, the greatest Necromancer to ever live, would be defeated so easily? Your ancestor may have destroyed my body, but my spirit still lives."
"What do you want?" He demanded.
"I want to know why you trouble yourself with these dwarves. You are not usually one to help others."
"It's not your concern," countered Madara. Suddenly, the shinobi fell to his knees as he felt some unseen force painfully crawl inside his head. He realized it was Sauron.
"Yes, now I see it…You owe Gandalf for something he did for you long ago. But there is more to it than that...Yes… I see, you are trying to bring peace to the dwarves as well. You think that by reclaiming the mountain they will somehow find peace? Foolish Uchiha."
The Uchiha clenched his head in pain. "What are you talking about? I'm a ruthless killer, a genius among the Uchiha. I couldn't care less for the wellbeing of those dwarves; I'm only doing this to repay an old debt. And nothing more."
"Maybe it started out that way, but I sense that things are different now." Sauron began to dive deeper into his mind. "Yes…. I see...You travel from land to land; thinking you can bring peace to the world by helping those in need. But you couldn't be more wrong. There has never been, nor will there ever be, world peace. It is folly."
"You're wrong!" shouted Madara.
"Fool, look at history. Every generation is told that peace is almost upon them. They sit there, waiting for that peace that was promised to them, but it never comes."
"I'll make it come," he countered.
"You? What can you do? You may be powerful, but power won't bring peace. And besides, how could you possibly save the world from sorrow? You couldn't even save your own brother from death. That is what started you on this quest for peace in the first place."
Sauron finally struck a nerve with Madara. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" he shouted.
"The cycle of pain will continue, and there is nothing you can do to stop it."
Madara had had enough. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he shouted.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sauron left the Uchiha to himself.
Madara was left in a cold sweat. The Uchiha didn't want to admit it, but much of what Sauron said was true. The concept of peace seemed to be completely out of reach. But he couldn't dwell on this right now. Right now, he had to find the dwarves.
After shaking himself back to his senses, he began making his way deep into the forest.
(Location-Deep within Mirkwood.)
The Uchiha had been dashing through the forest for about an hour now. Mostly because the dark spell over the forest kept causing him to get lost. Eventually, he came to a spot in the forest where many spiders lay dead. He walked over to one of the spiders and began examining its corpse. The Uchiha was looking for any Axe or sword marks on the beast's body. Finding such marks would prove that the dwarves had been there.
He made his way around to the head of the corpse, and it didn't take him long to find dwarvish blade marks all over its face. But the Uchiha noticed something else. Upon closer inspection, he found an arrow lodged deep within the spider's eye. Curious as to who it belonged to, he pulled it out and began examining it. "Elves," he realized.
From all the evidence he'd found so far, which wasn't much, the Uchiha felt like he knew exactly what happened.
The Uchiha believed that the dwarves were indeed captured by the spiders. But judging from the battle scars on the spider's corpse, it seemed as if they somehow managed to escape. Eventually, they reached a part of the forest where the number of spiders drastically increased. It was at this moment, when they were outnumbered, that the Mirkwood elves arrived and eliminated the remaining spiders. Finally, after the enemy was vanquished, the elves took the dwarves as prisoners back to their castle.
Madara turned and noticed a trail of footprints leading out of the forest and, most likely, towards the location of the company.
Upon seeing this, Madara began following the tracks out of the forest and into Elvish territory.
(Location-Dwarves.)
The dwarves had indeed been taken as prisoners by the elves. However, Bilbo, who managed to slip by unseen, snuck inside the castle and freed the company from their jail cells. In their attempt to find a way out of the castle, they unintentionally made their way into the wine cellar.
(Location-Wine Room.)
"You were supposed to be leading us out, not further in!" Bofur complained to Bilbo.
"I know what I'm doing!" Bilbo lied. Suddenly, the hobbit's eyes rested upon a group of wine Barrels. Which gave him an idea. "Everyone, climb into the barrels, quickly!"
The dwarves shot a confused look towards the hobbit. "Are you mad?! They'll find us!" said Dwallin.
"No, no, they won't, I promise you. Please, please, you MUST trust me!"
The dwarves milled around, as they tried to decide. They heard a commotion in the distance.
"Do as he says!" Ordered Thorin.
Each of the dwarves climbed into a barrel. Bilbo walked along, counting to make sure all the dwarves had been accounted for.
"What do we do now?" Inquired Bofur.
All the dwarves stuck their heads out of the barrels and watched as Bilbo walked over towards a lever in the ground. "Hold your breath."
Bilbo pulled the lever, and the part of the floor that the barrels were on tilted downward into an opening; the barrels rolled out the opening and fell several feet into a river that ran beneath the Woodland Realm. The dwarves yelled as they fell, and the barrels made loud thumping noises. Which some of the elves heard. Bilbo triumphantly looked around, then realized that he forgot to get out himself, and that the trap door had closed.
The elves made their way down the stairs and towards the wine cellar
Bilbo frantically ran back and forth and stomped on the ground, trying to make the floor tip again.
Just as the elves reached the wine cellar, the floor tipped and Bilbo fell into the river. He surfaced and grabbed onto Nori's barrel. Thorin and the company, still in their barrels, had been waiting for him.
"Well done, Master Baggins," praised Thorin.
The dwarves paddled with their hands as the river pulled their barrels along; as elves rushed along passages in the Woodland Realm. The dwarves emerged into the sunlight, and Thorin saw a waterfall right in front of them. "Hold on!" He shouted.
The dwarves, Bilbo, and the barrels plunged through the rapids, then floated swiftly down the raging river.
The elves, who were following along side the dwarves, were suddenly attacked by a group of Orcs. The Orcs made their way through the elves and prepared their bows to fire upon the company.
The dwarves, who were weaponless, looked on in horror as the arrows were about to be loosed.
Suddenly, however, a red figure appeared from the opposite side of the river and jumped onto the dwarves' heads, using them as foot holds.
The company looked and saw that it was Madara.
As the Orcs loosed their arrows, Madara rapidly moved his left hand through the air and caught every last one. After which, the Uchiha threw the arrows back, killing a good number of Orcs.
Thorin looked over and shot an angry look at the Uchiha. "Nice of you to show up at the last minute."
"Quiet dwarf, or I'll leave you to yourself," Madara countered. The Uchiha looked ahead and noticed a tree bridge that the Orcs were standing on.
Quickly, the Uchiha weaved through hand signs and shouted, "Fire Style: Chaos Snake!" As he did, A barrage of fiery serpents slithered through the air and towards the Orcs. The Bridge, as well as the Orcs, were destroyed by the attack. The force of the attack sent the Uruk-hai's weapons into the air, which Madara caught and tossed to each of the dwarves. "Defend yourselves," he ordered.
Suddenly, more Orcs appeared on the bank of the river. One Orc jumped towards Thorin, but the dwarf king met him with an Uruk-hai hammer to the face, sending him a good distance away.
The Uchiha jumped off the heads of Fili and Kili and landed where the horde of Uruk-hai were located. It was then that Madara, who was completely unarmed, began to effortlessly plow through the group of enemies with his bare hands.
The dwarves looked over and noticed that Orcs were beginning to chase them on the other side of the river. Gloin and Nori threw their axes; killing two Orcs that got to close. But more Orcs began to appear on the riverside. One Orc jumped down to the river's edge, waiting for Bombur to get close enough so it could behead him. Unfortunately for the Orc, Bombur dodged the swing, and Bifur, who was behind Bombur, slashed the Orc as he drifted by.
Kili and Fili looked ahead and noticed two archers on the rivers edge. The dwarf brothers threw their blades, killing the archers and causing their bodies to fall in the river. As the bodies of the archers drifted by, Fili and Kili took the Uruk-hai bows and began firing upon the hordes.
Madara, who had finished with his side of the river, began running alongside the dwarves. As the Uchiha continued running, he looked ahead and noticed Bolg, who was ready to meet the Uchiha with his mace. However, Madara kept his pace alongside the river as he ran straight towards the Orc. Bolg raised the mace over his head, ready to crush the Uchiha. But with one simple glare from his sharingan, the great Orc was left paralyzed in a genjutsu.
Madara dashed past the frozen Orc and jumped back onto the heads of the dwarves, but this time he stood on the heads of Dwallin and Thorin.
Suddenly, Bilbo looked ahead and noticed a problem. "Madara! The gate up ahead! It's shut!"
The Uchiha looked to the distance and saw that the hobbit was right. He saw a lever up ahead that controlled the opening and closing of the gate, but he wanted to leave these woodlands in a more…interesting way. Madara began weaving through hand signs. "Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" He shouted, as a great ball of fire left his lungs and destroyed the gate up ahead.
"Well, I guess that's one way to do it," Bilbo said to himself.
With the passage now clear, and the Orcs far behind, the company made their way down the waterfall and out of Elvish territory.
Eventually, the company reached a calmer part of the river. After seeing that there was no longer a need for the barrels, the company made there way to the riverbank and began traveling on land.
"Anything behind us?" Madara asked Thorin from the front of the line.
Thorin did a quick check behind him. "Not that I can see. I think we've outrun the Orcs. For now, at least."
Suddenly, Kili fell to his knees, clinching his shoulder in pain.
"Kili!" Shouted Fili, running towards his brother.
Suddenly, everyone began to gather around the injured dwarf.
"Kili, what's wrong?" asked Thorin.
Fili moved Kili's hand from his shoulder and saw that he had an arrow wound. "He's injured," declared Fili.
Madara walked over to Kili. "Where's the arrow?" He asked.
"I pulled it out about a mile back," he answered.
The Uchiha kneeled down and began examining the dwarf's wound. "This is no ordinary arrow wound. This is a Morgul arrow wound."
"What does that mean?" Worried Fili.
"It means that there's poison running through his body as we speak," Madara answered.
The company looked shocked upon hearing this news.
"I-Is there something you can do?" Bilbo asked Madara, hoping for a 'yes'
"Unfortunately, no," replied Madara.
Before the dwarves could say another word, a strange bulge of water began to slowly rise out of the river. Thorin was the first to notice this. "By Durin's beard, what is that?" he said, as he drew his sword.
The other dwarves noticed this and did likewise. Madara was the last to turn around and notice the figure, but he did not draw his weapon.
Suddenly, the bulge of water rose and materialized into the form of a beautiful woman. She had elf-like ears and her body was a translucent-white. The woman slowly made her way towards the company.
"Who are you!?" Demanded Thorin, with the rest of the dwarves armed and by his side.
"Lower your weapons!" Ordered Madara, as he walked up to the watery figure.
The company looked at the shinobi in confusion.
"You know her?" Inquired Balin.
"I do," the shinobi answered simply. "Her name is Strelayza, and she is a Water Nymph." (to find a picture of Strelayza the Water Nymph, just type Water Elf 1280 by xiongrong into google images. it should be the first picture. You can also find it on xiongrong's deviantart. Also, check out my knew fanfic. it explains who Strelayza is.)