Chapter 21:

Kili slowly lowered me to the ground where I leaned against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around me to steady me. Just as slowly, all thirteen of us unbuckled our swords and placed them on the ground. I slipped my swords out of their sheaths and stabbed them point-first into the dirt. I had noticed that Bilbo had disappeared, but I didn't point it out and warned Kili in a look not to as well. The others seemed to have come to grips with the magic ring, and now they were pretending that no hobbit had ever existed.

Out of the trees came several elves, led by a tall female. "I am Tauriel," she informed us.

"Great," I replied sarcastically. "Wouldja mind telling us, you know, how to get out of this damn forest? We've been in here for longer than I can figure." The other dwarves made noises of agreement.

Tauriel gave me a look like I was something she'd found underneath a rock. "I did not say that we were here to help you, woman-dwarf." I flushed with anger, and probably would have charged her if not for Kili's arm around my waist, holding me back. And, you know, the whole spider stuff thing.

"Blindfold them," ordered Tauriel. I glared at her, willing her to blindfold me. One of the other elves caught the look and whispered something in Tauriel's ear. The woman elf's eyes swivelled towards me and narrowed. "Not the woman," she clarified. "The king disagrees with binding women."

I spoke up again. "I can't walk," I pointed out. "My legs are kind of shaky from spider-venom, so I need his help..." I pointed at Kili, then trailed off as Tauriel gave me a look that could have cracked a mountain in half.

"You can fix it, no? Just wait a few moments. If you are not able to walk, you will be left behind. I will not permit any dwarf to walk with his eyes free."

I swallowed. Kili gave me a look that I found both frightening and comforting. I bit my lip and let my hand sneak up to my neck, then whispered something, and my legs stopped shaking. I had just withdrawn my hand when Tauriel's head whipped around. "What did you say?" she snapped.

"Nothing," I replied, flashing her a bright grin. "Just a dwarfish swear."

The elf-woman rolled her eyes and returned to her difficult task – watching her people put blindfolds on the dwarfs. So hard.

As she watched, I noticed a blonde elf wandering about amongst the dwarves. He stopped in front of Gloin, and pulled a silver box with pictures in it that I had seen before from the dwarf's pocket.

"Legolas," I breathed.

I heard him say to Gloin, "And what is this devil's spawn?"

"Tha's me wee lad, Gimli," replied Gloin, sounding both proud and offended.

I had to swallow a giggle as I thought of Legolas and Gimli, and how they would be best friends someday.

I took a step forward, and was pleased that it worked. Tauriel shot a glance at me and smirked. "It works, no? You were simply being overdramatic."

For one of the few times in my life, I bit my tongue and refused to respond in a rude way. Kili looked at me, impressed, and I mouthed, Don't get used to it.

He chuckled, as did Fili, who happened to be only a few feet away.

Kili chose this moment to say to Tauriel mischeviously, "Aren't you going to search me? I could have anything down my trousers."

"Or nothing," she replied coolly, turning away.

I fought waves of giggles, although Fili wasn't helping with his incessant chuckling, and neither was Kili's hurt expression. Then one of the elves came over and blindfolded both of them. "They're all blinded, my lady," he told Tauriel.

I walked quickly over to Kili and grasped his hand. I squeezed it, and he returned the pressure. One of the single most reassuring things ever. Reassuring enough so that I raised my voice and called to Tauriel, "Everyone but me."

She shot me a withering look. "You know perfectly well, as I have told you, that I would get in hideous trouble from King Thranduil if I bound you. Although I'm starting to think about binding your mouth," she muttered as an afterthought.

I smirked. After walking a little ways, she seemed to relax, and I made my next move. "I don't get it," I said loftily. "Why would you capture thirteen dwarves just for walking through a nasty, malevolent forest?"

Tuariel shifted herself so that she was walking just a little ahead of me. "We tried other ways – warnings, keep-out signs – but they weren't as effective. Now we have to resort to capture. If that doesn't work – hopefully we will never have to resort to death."

I frowned. "You're being honest."

"Of course I am." She turned and I nearly gasped at the look of pain and regret that had crossed her face, completely eradicating and erasing the disdain and haughtiness of just a few moments before.

I blinked at her sadly. "What's going on?" I asked softly.

"We found a different dwarf, just yesterday, wandering about the forest. He refused to tell us why he was here. So we took him before the king." She sighed. "He refused to even tell us his name. Was he your companion?"

"He travelled with us, yes," I replied. "We wondered where he had got to."

"He is safe. As will all of you be. But you have to remember – the king only wants to know why you're here. If he likes your answer, he'll let you go."

"I'm not sure he'll like our answer very much at all," I replied quietly.

Tauriel sighed. "Listen to me. You have not told me your name."

"I am Freya," I told her. Kili squeezed my hand hard, but I squeezed back reassuringly, trying to tell him that I had it all under control.

"I did not need to know it, but thank you. You are a woman, of course."

I nodded, my cheeks flushing for no apparent reason. Kili squeezed my hand comfortingly.

"Do not become infatuated with Prince Legolas," she told me, eyeing the man not too far ahead of us warily. "He is a very kind young man, but he is headstrong and does not always follow the way of the elves. Beware of him. We rarely get women in these parts."

She didn't say another word to me for the whole journey. Meanwhile, I was rejoicing. I had always wanted to meet Legolas, and now I was finally going to do it. I grinned, but nobody noticed with a lot of the people around me being blindfolded and the others too deep in thought to think about me.

Suddenly, a gate loomed up in front of us. It was huge, made expertly out of wood. I tapped on it as we stopped in front of it, and was stunned that it felt as hard as stone and yet alive. If felt like a perfectly living tree.

"Yes," Tauriel murmured, startling me a bit as she walked up behind me. "It is alive, and yet hard as stone. It is magic, passed down for generations by our people. We use the same for canoes, if we choose to make them."

Kili tensed as the gate creaked open. I squeezed his hand gently, and he relaxed slightly. We wound our way along a path, past some guards that nodded simply at us, and finally through a large archway. Stepping through it, I found us walking down a long hallway. When we finally reached the end of it, it opened into a throne room. I glanced around all the elves as we walked down the centre of the room.

I jerked my chin up in the air out of habit as I saw the king of the Mirkwood elves. He didn't seem like too much of a proud person, the type of person I hate, but he certainly had the air of getting what he wanted. He was tall, blond, and had a ridiculous crown thing. I didn't really care about much else.

Suddenly, the dwarves' blindfolds were taken off, and they looked around confusedly. Only I continued to stare with barely concealed hostility at King Thranduil.

There was an awkward pause as nobody spoke and only Thranduil, Tauriel, and I knew where to look. Then the king finally asked us a question: "Who are you?"

Every dwarf looked down and refused to answer.

Thranduil sighed wearily. "It was the same with the other dwarf, as well. He was caught wandering around in our forest, was brought in, and refused to answer any questions."

"Since when is walking through some evil, nasty trees a crime, Your Majesty?" I asked loudly, sarcasm dripping off the last two words like poisoned honey.

"Why are you here?" asked Thranduil, by way of an answer. Instead of answering, all the dwarves winced. Even a few of the elves (including Tauriel) who'd brought us here, winced. They knew what happened if I was ignored.

Sure enough, I strode forward until I was at the foot of the throne. Thraduil looked a little shocked, as did a few elves, but I did't care. I stood on my toes (being quite short) and snarled, "Are you gonna answer my question of not? 'Cause if you are, I want an answer right now. I don't care what the hell you're king of, I can get a proper answer for a good question. And if you don't answer me, I don't think you deserve my presence and I certainly don't think, elves that you are, you can stand the wrath of a woman dwarf!" I was very careful not to mention that I was a witch, nor the human aspect, but I made my point clear.

Thrandiul stared at me for a second, and then replied in a low voice, "It is our forest. This land is protected. I don't care how noble your intentions were or how foolish your intentions are. Our forest is not to be trespassed in. There is a path for you to use, and you deliberately left it. Have you never heard of 'private property'?"

I frowned. "That's highly illogical, Majesty," I informed him, channelling my inner Spock. "It's just a little ridiculous to capture people for getting lost."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Your dwarves will not talk, yes?"

"That is correct," I replied, dipping my head.

"Then I am afraid that I must insist on your imprisonment," Thranduil told me. "All of you." I backed down the throne room shocked at my lack of impact on the king's morale. "Take the woman to a guest room. Take the others to cells. Keep them there until they speak."

I groaned, noticing that this meant Kili and I were to be separated. My hand made contact with his as I ran into him, and he clasped it for a brief second before he was gently pulled away by an elf.

"You can't do this!" I screamed at Thranduil, distraught.

"Actually, he can," replied a familiar voice in my ear. I ignored it for a moment as I met Kili's eyes and mouthed, I won't talk. I'll see you when we get out. I hesitated a moment, then took a desperate chance, adding, I love you.

He nodded and mouthed in reply, Love you, too. He looked like he would have added more, but he was pulled out of sight. For a second I stood very still, excitement coursing through me. Kili loves me. Then I remembered what was happening, and I stamped my foot in frustration and turned around to see who had spoken to me. They were gonna wish they hadn't.

You may have noticed (those of you rereading this for my changes) that I a) didn't change a lot in the beginning and b) am keeping a lot of my previous A/Ns the same. I just wanted to maintain some consistency, but from basically the barrel bit to the Battle I will be making new ones, as the content will be incredibly different.

So, yeah! Moving into where I start changing more from the original. Please review!