Chapter 10
No one moved for a couple of seconds, so deep was their shock until Fili yelled
"KILI!" Thorin then ran forward and used Orcrist to slice the plant so that only the tip that was lodged in his nephew's chest. As he went to remove it, Bilbo shouted
"NO! If you remove the plant outright, he'll bleed out in seconds! The plant is slowly killing him, but it gives me a chance to try and heal him." Bilbo then ran over and started trying to channel his magic through a healing conduit like Radagast had taught him. Unfortunately, because his heart had been filled with hatred for so long, he was having trouble healing the area. In his frustration at his uselessness, Bilbo did something he had not done in many years; he cried. As the tears fell down his cheeks and landed on Kili's body, all were surprised as a blue glow enveloped the wound, pushed the thorn out, and sealed the skin that had been punctured.
"Bilbo, you did it!" Fili shouted as he held his brother.
"But, I don't understand, my magic wasn't responding the way it should." Bilbo tried to say as Kili stood up, looking none the worse for wear except his tunic had a large hole in it, and was surprised when Balin held a vial under his eyes, catching his tears.
"I believe we can attribute Kili's miraculous recovery to these tears." Balin said as he corked the vial and gave it to Oin.
"What do you mean Balin?" Bombur asked as Bilbo tried to calm himself, none missing Thorin putting his hand on Bilbo's shoulder.
"The Black Eagle, before it became extinct thanks to the foolishness of Men, was a distant, more neutral version of the dark creature the phoenix*. As such it had the ability of healing tears that could be called upon if ones they trusted implicitly were on the brink of death. As we all know, Bilbo trusts Kili perhaps even more greatly than he trusts Gandalf, and that is saying something. As such, with Kili being mortally wounded, Bilbo used a gift from his shift he didn't even know he had. You see Bilbo, the reason you couldn't cry after your parents deaths for all those years was not because you had become emotionally cold as you had presumed; it was because it took a lot to make a Black Eagle cry since the tears could heal and were not something to be wasted."
"That being said, I believe it would be prudent that everyone be extra careful walking through this forest; we cannot rely on Bilbo's healing tears to save us and what Balin secured should be saved in the case of an absolute emergency. Bilbo, should we take a moment to collect ourselves?" Thorin asked and Bilbo shook his head.
"No, with all respect to Kili and his near death experience, we should not lose too much sunlight resting since the longer we're in this forest, the more chance that what happened can happen again. Kili, can you carry on?" Bilbo asked and Kili replied
"Actually I'm feeling fine; if it wasn't for the hole in my tunic and jacket, I wouldn't even know that I had just been stabbed by a plant." Many were shocked as Kili had looked like he was having trouble breathing. Nonetheless they could understand Bilbo's concerns and so they kept moving, but now they were all highly aware of the plants around them, knowing that any one of them could suddenly move and end them.
"Balin, how do you know so much about Black Eagles?" Bofur asked in an effort to break free from the silence that was so muffling.
"Well, back before Thorin or even Thrain were born, my mother told me of times where the Black Eagles roamed the skies freely. They were guardians of the Dwarf kingdoms and repelled many invading forces. Some say the Eagles would even allow certain Dwarves to ride them and see Middle Earth from their view-point. Then, sadly, after Mordor, Men looked at certain animals with distrust, among them, the Black Eagles. And, in their fear and idiocy, they did something truly foolish. You see, Black Eagles laid their eggs in a hidden place that they all flew to once every ten years. The Men were waiting for the females that were heavy with eggs waiting to be laid, and the males that had flown on ahead to keep their eyes out for danger. The Men let the males go through first, knowing it was more important to get the females and their eggs than the males. There were no survivors." Balin finished on a sad note and everyone looked quite sad at the revelation that Men had done so much damage to a species that didn't deserve it, much like snakes.
"Thorin! I can't see the path!" Dwalin shouted, causing both Thorin and Bilbo to come running, with Bilbo pulling out his scarf.
"Same procedure as before?" Thorin asked as he accepted the scarf.
"Yes, though this time I'll be going in my snake shift; it still felt as if the forest was trying to get rid of me for some reason. At least in the snake shift I know I'll be able to handle anything that comes my way; I may be a big snake, but I'm remarkably fast as well."
"Are you sure that that's such a good idea? You haven't had as much experience in that shift as the others." Gloin pointed out and many agreed, but those who didn't could understand Bilbo's reasoning; the weasel was a fierce animal, but even it had limits. They doubted there was much in this forest that could take on a snake Bilbo's size. Bilbo had transformed at this point, and had allowed Thorin to wrap the thread around Bilbo's middle and they watched as the large snake slithered off in the direction that did not make the wolf, badger or tiger growl in warning.
"Is it just me, or does Bilbo look larger than last we saw him?" Nori asked
"Well, the only time we actually saw him, he was attacking the Goblin king; he seemed to be moving too fast to get an appropriate look at him to gauge his size." Dori pointed out and many agreed, but Nori still maintained that Bilbo actually was larger than last time. Thorin had them moving in the direction Bilbo had gone once he received the three tugs. That night, Bilbo was able to patch up the holes in Kili's tunic as well as the one in his jacket, and if anyone thought they saw Bilbo's hands shake as he covered the only remaining proof that a few hours ago Kili had been stabbed, well, that simply had to be a trick of the light, didn't it? What wasn't a trick of the light however was when most of the Dwarves and Bilbo were awoken by,
"I know you took it thief! Now give it back or I'll pound you into the dirt!" Even Oin was awoken by Dwalin's shouting
"Nori, if you could please just return whatever it is to Dwalin-" Dori was interrupted however by Nori saying
"I didn't take his lousy knife; I've got plenty of good ones, I don't need his rubbish!" Upon learning what the argument was about, many went on about their usual morning chores, though Bilbo quickly kicked into high gear when the two grabbed each other. With Thorin's help, he managed to separate the two and, with him holding Nori and Thorin holding Dwalin, he said
"Alright you two blockheads, that's enough! Now what in Mahal's name are you two arguing about this time?" Oddly, none seemed shocked at Bilbo acting more like a Dwarf in this minute with his choice of words.
"None of your business!" Dwalin growled and Thorin had to fight the urge to punch his friend at the disrespect he was showing Bilbo (he told himself it was because Bilbo was the reason they weren't wondering around lost and had, quite possibly, replaced Dwalin as his second in command. Not to mention it was thanks to Bilbo that Kili was alive).
"Yeah Bilbo, let us deal with this our own way!"
"And have the two of you waste resources as Oin and I waste daylight hours patching the two of you up in the aftermath? Not on your life Nori! Now one of you tells us what you're fighting about or I'll put you on the ground and you can deal with the bumps and bruises until we stop tonight!" When it looked like Dwalin might still try and argue, Thorin glared at him and Dwalin thought he could see the badger, an animal that even a bear would think twice about messing with, prowling just behind the sapphire orbs.
"The thief stole one of my knives." When Nori went to deny it, Bilbo pinned him with a glare but calmly asked
"Did you take the knife, Nori?"
"No! On my honor, Bilbo, I didn't!"
"He's lying! What would a thief know about honor?!"
"Dwalin! I am handling this and if you don't let me, I shall stick you near Gloin and you can listen to him go on about his wife and son and if I hear you complain for even a moment, I will make you wish that Gloin kept going on about them!" Bilbo whispered that last bit and many knew the threat had teeth.
"Now, Bofur, can you honestly confirm that while the two of you were awake, you never saw him go near Dwalin's palette?"
"Oh aye; you see, we took over from Balin and Kili, who had taken over from Ori and Dwalin who had had the first shift after everyone had gone to bed last night. Nori and I were talking in low tones, keeping an eye out seeing as how you had threatened us quite severely about what would happen if we didn't pay attention. So naturally we did our best to keep a watch out even though it was pitch black so that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. Still, we kept our ears pealed in case a noise occurred when it shouldn't have, which we almost certainly would have considering how quite it was-"
"Why did I do this to myself? Bofur! Yes or no, did Nori go near Dwalin's palette?" Bilbo asked and a few chuckled at his rhetorical question.
"No, he stayed near me all through our shift until Fili and Dori relieved us."
"Thank you, now, follow up query; do you know if Nori got up during the night?"
"No, he didn't; because of how cold it is in this forest, we sleep side-by-side and he never got up all night."
"Thank you, now, Fili, Dori, did you see or hear anyone get up in the middle of the night?"
"Only Ori; it looked like he had to answer nature's call during the night." Dori said, which prompted everyone to look at Ori, who was looking down and blushing.
"Ori, did you borrow one of Dwalin's knives?" Thorin asked gently, knowing that Ori would never steal something unless it was very important.
"I'm sorry Master Thorin, Bilbo; I didn't steal it, honest! Just, like Dori said, I had to answer nature's call during the night, and… well I was worried about getting lost because I couldn't see anything so… and I saw one of Dwalin's knives lying on the ground so I thought I could use it to mark my path and… I was honestly going to put it back! Just, I was so tired I must not have realized I forgot to do it and the next thing I knew, Dwalin was yelling at Nori and I wanted to say something but…" Bilbo came over and put a hand on Ori's shoulder so Ori stopped babbling. As Ori went to give back the knife, Dwalin raid a hand saying
"Keep it lad; you may need it again before we get out of this wretched forest and it would be better if we didn't go through this again or Bilbo might just murder me."
"The idea has merit Master Dwalin, but it would take too long; no I would just poison you with red kidney beans." Bilbo said with a smile, confusing all but Oin and Bombur.
"When improperly cooked, red kidney beans cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea which can take one to three hours to show up. It's non-fatal and usually resolves itself within a few hours; a perfectly nasty little poison that doesn't do any real lasting damage but will put the victim in a bit of agony for a few hours."
"Keeping that in mind, as I said before, this forest is going to be playing on your nerves all whilst we're here, so keep your tempers in check or Thorin and I will keep them in check for you! Oin and I will waste neither resources nor time patching you idiots up if you let your tempers overrun you." Bilbo growled out and many knew he meant business so they all resolved to try and keep their tempers in check around Bilbo. As Bilbo accepted his breakfast from Bombur, and he sat with Kili on his right and Thorin on his left, with Fili ending on his far left, Bilbo heard Thorin say
"Nothing like a gentle word to the troops to ease morale."
"Shut up and eat of your breakfast." It was a testament to how bad the boys were laughing that neither noticed the twin glares being directed at them. This kind of thing went on for several days; Bilbo and Thorin seemed to be breaking up fights every other day, with Fili and Kili trying to help calm everyone down. One night, Bilbo confided to the three that it seemed like pushing a boulder up a hill, with how useless it seemed. To which Kili had replied something along the lines that at least none of them were dead. Still, Bilbo and Thorin could both see how the family members were all drawing in on themselves, relying on their own family members, though what had surprised the two was when Bofur had asked Bilbo if he would be sleeping near them (the Ur family) that night and Bilbo declined, saying they slept too close to the center that in case anything attacked them, he would be in a useless position to defend.
"I hope we get out of here soon; I don't know how much longer we can keep breaking up these squabbles without anyone getting seriously hurt, not to mention our rations are getting low. Our food and especially our water are starting to get real low." Bilbo whispered to Thorin who nodded, trying to keep his own concern off of his face at the bleak outlook.
"I know; I thought for a moment that we wouldn't be able to break up that fight last night between Gloin and Bombur. It was a good thing your tiger shift was enough to scare Bifur, Bofur and Bombur into staying back and backing off."
"We should also be thankful that neither Oin nor Gloin thought to go Oliphant on us or there would have been a case of leader wolf pancakes on the menu." Bilbo said with a smirk which Thorin copied as he gave a small chuckle.
"I agree, however, the sooner we get out of here, the better. Do you have any idea of how far away we are from the other side?"
"With any luck we're almost out; we've been here for about a week and a half."
"Can your shifts tell you anything?"
"No, it's just feelings right now, as if the darkness of this forest is trying to separate two halves of my soul; it's somewhat disconcerting."
"I'm beginning to wish Gandalf had let you go with him; it seems like this place is bearing down especially hard on you, as if it knows you are the reason we are still together and sane."
"Do not think so little of yourself; you've done a good job in making sure they don't kill themselves."
"And yet if not for you, Kili would be dead and I would be a broken man; my nephews are the last my direct family, and if anything happened to them I don't think I'd be able to cope."
"Well, with that in mind, I begin to understand why Gandalf ordered me to stay; apart from Kili, if I hadn't of been here you might not have listed to the wolf and the badger who have told you more than once that the forest is attempting to play tricks on you." Thorin nodded knowing that despite how worried he was over Bilbo's health, he couldn't in good conscience be sorry that Bilbo stood beside him now.
"Bilbo, come here quick! There's something strange here!" Balin shouted, causing leader and semi-advisor to quickly run up to where Balin was standing. When they stopped, Bilbo saw unusual tracks that indicated a scuffle.
"I don't see anything Balin." Kili quickly regretted his words when Bilbo hit him upside the head and pointed down.
"Strange; the calm set appear to be something of the deer family, then all of sudden, the tracks move wildly around, as if it were fighting something." Bilbo noted as he and Thorin kneeled down to get a closer look at the tracks.
"Maybe a predator got it." Fili offered.
"There's no doubt about that, the question is what kind of predator did this? There appear to be no other tracks save for the deer's. As if something dropped from above, wrestled with the deer, killed it, then jumped back into the air."
"Some kind of bird?" Dwalin asked as he got a look at the tracks.
"I doubt it; birds big enough to get grab a deer swoop in and grab it, they don't wait around for its meal to put up a fight and either lose it or get mortally wounded. Besides which, there's no disruption of the trees of the trees overhead; for a bird to drop down then shoot back up, you'd expect to see a large number of broken branches. There are none. And that in and of itself is very troubling, as it means that whatever got the poor deer is something in the trees." As he spoke, Ori leaned against a nearby tree, and that smallest bit of extra weight, caused a skeletal figure to dangle from the tree, sending Ori running to Dwalin.
"I'm guessing that that is the deer that made these tracks." Thorin said, and many were disgusted at the sight, as was Bilbo, but he managed to walk over to the poor creature and examine it.
"What by the Powers that Be could have done that to the poor creature?" Bombur asked and Bilbo shrugged,
"I don't know; it seems as if the creature has shrunk, like all the fluid has been drained from it." Bilbo thought of all that he had learned, trying to think of an animal that drained the fluids from its prey.
"How much longer until we get out of here?" Ori asked and everyone saw he was doing his best not to show his panic, but he was failing rather spectacularly.
"Don't worry, Ori; we'll be out of here before we know it." Dori tried to calm his brother as Bilbo suddenly remembered something he had read in Elrond's library, something that made him very nervous indeed.
"Uh, Dori is right; we'll be out of here soon and the sooner we get moving, the sooner we'll get out of here so could everyone please resume moving? Thank you very much!" Whilst everyone worried about what could alarm Bilbo so much, they agreed with the sentiment and were quickly moving again, this time a little faster than before. Thorin, Fili and Kili all rushed to keep up with Bilbo.
"What is it Bilbo?" Fili asked
"I pray that I'm wrong, but I caught a passage in one of Lord Elrond's books about certain creatures that drained their prey of their fluids as a method of eating them."
"And what were those creatures?" Thorin asked
"Spiders."
"But how could a spider drag a deer up into the trees and eat it?" Kili asked
"A normal spider couldn't; one touched by the same evil that allowed the mountain trolls to be so brazen as to move so close to the East Road, and allowed Azog to survive after having his arm cut off, could." That night, Thorin and the others all kept their eyes peeled not only on the ground, but on the trees as well. Problems developed however when everyone was so paranoid that none of them were falling asleep.
"Look, I know it's hard but we've all got to try and get some sleep; our shifts will be unable to help us if we're all sleep deprived when they are telling us to watch that first step."
"I know Bilbo, but every time I close my eyes, I see that poor deer hanging from the tree." Ori said and Bilbo sighed, trying to think of something that would calm the lad, when, before he even knew it, he was humming a song his mother used to sing when he was upset.
"Come out, moon...
Come out, wishing star...
Come out, come out...
Wherever you are.
I'm out here in the dark,
All alone and wide awake.
Come and find me.
I'm empty and I'm cold,
And my heart's about to break,
Come and find me!
I need you to come here and find me,
Cause without you, I'm totally lost.
I've hung a wish, on every star.
It hasn't done much good so far...
I can only dream of you...
Wherever you are.
I'll hear you laugh,
I'll see you smile,
I'll be with you...
Just for a while...
But when the morning comes,
And the sun begins to rise,
I will lose you.
Because it's just a dream,
When I open up my eyes,
I will lose you!
I used to believe in forever,
But forever is too good to be true.
I've hung a wish, on every star.
It hasn't done much good so far...
I don't know what else to do...
Except to try to dream of you...
And wonder, if you are dreaming too...
Wherever you are.
Wherever you are..." Most of the Dwarves drifted off by the end of Bilbo's song, and Bilbo himself was able to drift off into slumber, with Thorin sleeping very close to him. Fili and Balin looked at each other and Balin said what was on Fili's mind,
"I really don't want to think about where we'd be without him."
"I'm just glad Gandalf ordered him to stay with us." The next morning, the Dwarves all felt a little better than they had in weeks, though the prospect that soon they would have to go into the rations they had been safe keeping since the hunt before Beorn's, as well as their dwindling water supplies, made it hard to be too cheerful. Bofur then shouted
"River up ahead!" Many of the Dwarves ran to the water, hoping to refill their dwindling water pouches, only to be cut off a tiger, a lion, a black panther, and a wolf all snarling and roaring at them.
"In case you have all forgotten, Beorn told us not to drink the water from the river!" Bilbo growled and many moaned at the reminder.
"But Bilbo, we're getting so low on water; I don't know if we'll make it!" Dori complained and many agreed.
"I know, I know! Ugh, there has to be something I can do to rectify this!" Bilbo growled before he started pacing in his irritation.
"What if you made it rain? You know, call up a big thunderstorm?" Nori suggested and many nodded, only for Bilbo to shake his head in irritation.
"No, no that won't do any good; by the time the water gets down to us here below the trees, the rain water will have mixed with the water these trees are giving off as dew and such, leaving us in the exact same position as before." Bilbo grumbled and many were saddened by that piece of information, but noticed when all of a sudden, Bilbo stopped pacing and looked at a tree.
"Balin, before Smaug came, do you recall how often it rained here?"
"Not very often; the Men of Dale depended heavily on the large lake that they settled on when Smaug attacked, and the Dwarves had a large underground spring where we got our water, why?" Bilbo then changed back, as did Thorin, Fili and Kili, and went into his bag.
"I read once that in areas where it doesn't rain too often, the trees soak up the moisture to save it for the dry spells. Those who know where to find it, use spigots to get at that water for themselves." As Bilbo spoke, he actually pulled out what looked like a wooden spigot.
"I carved this out of boredom, with any luck, and the use of a knife to get the whole thing going, we may be able to draw the water out of the trees themselves."
"But I thought the water on the trees was poisoned like the river?" Kili asked and Bilbo responded with
"It is, but if I can heal the tree, the water inside of it will be purified as well." Bilbo said as he commandeered Fili to make an appropriate hole for the spigot.
"If you can do that, why not heal the river?" Dwalin asked as Bilbo used a rock to gently pound the spigot in, though not all the way just yet.
"Because, my dear Dwalin, I refer to the analogy of putting off resetting your broken arm and only constantly cleaning it; I heal it from here, and more bad water will just come pouring down in a few minutes and undo my hard work. No, in order to heal the river completely I would need to find the head of the river and heal it from there, which is not our mission at the moment. If I were to heal it from anywhere but the source, I would use up far too much magic, and leave myself highly vulnerable. No, healing this tree, along with one other, will give us the water we need, as well as use very little magic in comparison to the river. Now, everyone be quiet please; I've only had to a couple times before so I want to make sure I do this right." Bilbo then placed his hands on the tree, closed his eyes and started speaking in something akin to Elvish. They all watched as Bilbo's hands glowed before that glow moved from his hands and went into to the tree, covering it in a powerful glow. Once the glow receded, they noticed the tree and its leaves seemed brighter than before and they watched as murky water flowed out of the spigot until it turned into clear, fresh water, which Kili immediately caught with his water skin.
"Right, now you lot gather as much water as you can from this tree, I'm going to repeat the process with another tree, that way hopefully we'll have enough water to get us out of here." Bilbo said as he went to repeat the process to a nearby tree. Once they had collected all the water they could carry, as well as drinking their fill, they turned to look at the river they had to cross.
"Well, Fili and I can just swim across and-" but before Kili could finish his statement, Bilbo shouted
"NO!" Everyone turned to look at him in shock at the vehement dismissal at the idea.
"What's wrong Bilbo? Otters are natural swimmers whose noses close as they dive under the waters." Balin asked and Bilbo shook his head and replied
"Remember what happened when I tried to use my owl shift? I had just taken off, when the forest made me land and shiver terribly until I changed back; I couldn't move so much as a feather. Now imagine what would happen if the boys did the same thing in their otter forms? They get in, the forest attacks them, and they can't move until they turn back, which may cause them to open their mouths and whatever is wrong with the water will affect them. I may not know what is wrong with the water but Beorn told me no less than half a dozen times not to drink the water from the rivers."
"Bilbo, look at the trees! They're changing back already!" Ori pointed out and many saw that he was right; the previously healthy and lush trees were again turning dark and eerie like the others.
"An example of what I was saying Dwalin; the trees have no choice but to take their nutrients from the ground which is poisoned and therefore the trees are quickly being poisoned. Now, for getting across; each of us has at least one shift that is a good jumper, so I say we jump."
"What about Ori and Dwalin, neither of them have shifts that could jump so far." Dori pointed out and Bilbo thought for a moment, until Thorin said
"Couldn't Dwalin swing from these lower branches, and hold Ori?"
"That could work, alright everyone, let's get jumping." So, one by one, they all jumped and managed to land on the other side of the river. Finally, the last two were Thorin and Bilbo.
"Ok fearless leader, you go first, and I'll follow you."
"Don't you think it would be better if you went first and I followed you?" Thorin asked and Bilbo shook his head
"Tigers are better jumpers than wolves with sharper eyesight; if it looks like you are about to fall, I can give Gloin a sign to catch you." Thorin shook his head as he shifted, and Bilbo thought he heard him grumble
"Bloody impertinent hair-ball."
"Get jumping Fido." Thorin glared before backing up far enough, running, and then jumping. Bilbo admitted he felt a slight tendril of fear when Thorin's rear landed in the water, but Gloin managed to wrap his trunk around Thorin's middle and pull him up before the current got him. After seeing Thorin successfully get across to the other side, Bilbo changed to his tiger shift and repeated Thorin's process, but when he got to the middle of the river, all of a sudden Bilbo stopped and with a struggle and a roar, he dropped right into the river.
"BILBO!" The Dwarves all shouted as Gloin moved as quickly as he could, dropped his trunk into the river, and tried to find Bilbo. It took him a few moments, but his trunk finally made contact with something. When he pulled his trunk up, he brought up a weasel instead of a tiger.
"He must have changed as soon as he hit the water." Nori said and the others nodded as Gloin dropped Bilbo into Thorin's arms. Thorin started gently shaking Bilbo, trying to get any residual water in him out.
"It's strange; there doesn't seem to be any trouble with him breathing, and yet he isn't waking up." Fili said and the others watched as Thorin kept saying his name and was shaking him, begging him to wake up, but no matter how hard he tried, the little Hobbit weasel refused to wake.
A/N: Ain't I a little stinker? Before you pull out the machine guns, need I remind you that if I'm riddled with bullets, you won't get the next chapter? Furthermore, the song, for you non-Disney fans out there, is Wherever You Are from Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search For Christopher Robin. I thought it appropriate.