They traveled on through the undergrowth of the forest and tried to keep on the path through the forest. At first the words of warning from Beorn and Gandalf seemed to be unfounded, for they had not come to any such difficulties as of yet, the woods seemed malevolent, yes, but as for enchanted, they could see nothing to provoke such thoughts.
That was, till they left the entrance of the woods far behind them and the trees overhead blocked out any sort of light and impeded any sort of breeze to the forest floor. It was then, that they realized their folly of being complacent.
Harry had remembered bits of this part of Bilbo's story and threw small bubbles around the ankles of each dwarf and a large one surrounding Bilbo. It didn't keep their help with the hallucinations that they were experiencing, but it did keep the Company together on the path.
Dori was the first to nearly break off the path and go chasing after something, when Harry latched onto the shield and threw him back on the beaten path.
"What are you doing?" asked Bofur slowly.
"Ori! He's gone off!" said Dori frantically.
"Don't be silly, he's right behind you." said Harry tiredly.
"But…what was that?" asked Dori. "I saw…"
"I don't know what you saw, but everyone is right here." said Harry.
"How can you tell?" asked Balin, grasping the young man's shoulder, his appearance looking disheveled since they had come so far into the forest. "There have been times that I've seen…well…specters and other such things, how do you know where we all are for certain?"
Harry pointed down to the dwarves' ankle.
"Do you have those bubbles on us again, Fainas?" asked Gloin.
Harry nodded.
"Don't tire yourself out, Fainas. We cannot afford to have you exhaust yourself before the day is done. We've already had a late start today with nearly going back the way we came." said Thorin darkly. Fili flinched slightly.
"Sorry Uncle."
Thorin sighed. "I want out of this accursed forest, preferably without running into that blasted elf king if at all possible. But as I said, don't tire yourself out."
"I won't, the bubbles are pretty small, I'm not shielding, just keeping track." said Harry with a tired smile. "The only thing that's making me tired is this thick air. The air is so still." he rubbed his arm across his forehead, wiping off the perspiration.
"Aye, but there's nothing that can be done." said Bombur, "No breeze is coming down this far."
"Pity, might take care of this headache I've got." said Bilbo rubbing his temples.
"Breeze…" said Harry slowly. "I can do that."
"Can do what?" asked Thorin.
Harry closed his eyes, tried to concentrate. With all the enchantments surrounding the forest muddling his brain, he had to use a great amount of mental effort to use both the Pearl and the Amethyst stone at the same time.
With a wave of his hand, a blast of quick, fresh air came down from the treetops and blessed them with a refreshing breeze, but alas…it didn't stay for long and the air resumed its heavy presence. But despite its short stay, it gave the dwarves, hobbit and young man a bit of relief and took away the fogginess from their minds.
The dwarves sighed with relief, and looked at the young man with gratitude, even Thorin had a slight smile on his face.
"Ah, bring that back." said Kili. "That was absolutely lovely."
Harry sighed. "Wish I could…but I'm not able to…not in here."
"How often can you do that?' asked Ori with some slight excitement in his voice.
"For quite some time, but not in here. While we're in here, I can perhaps do that once a day and not a single time more, not if I want to have some strength in reserve." said Harry sitting down on a nearby stump to rest for a moment.
"Keep up your strength?" scoffed Dwalin.
Harry looked up and glared at the dwarf, and in that instant almost every weapon in the Company's possession flew up into the air and pointed directly at the bald dwarf. The Company froze and stared between Dwalin and Harry, a silence crept through, hanging over them thick like a blanket.
"When I get tired, Master Dwalin…" he said standing up and waving his hand, causing all the weapons to return to their sheaths and hidden pockets. "I get very short tempered, and this forest…will not provide us or me with much good will and hospitality."
The dwarves and Bilbo said nothing, till Balin stepped forward clearing his throat loudly. "Right, then you just focus on keeping us all together, don't worry about that magical breeze you gave us. Just one day at a time Fainas lad."
Harry nodded and looked back at Dwalin. "Sorry…"
Dwalin stared at him, but shook his head, "I'm s…so…" He stumbled over his words, unable to finish his sentence.
"He's sorry." said Balin coming to Dwalin's aid swiftly. "He's never been very good with that word." he added with a smile.
For days they traveled through the forest, and every day Fainas would give them a blast of fresh air from the open space above them and keep them from wandering too far off. But as they traveled, their hopes began to sink further and further, they had not seen the sky since they had entered the deeper parts of the forest and every time they tried to light fires great moths would flutter down and around the fire startling the poor weary travelers.
The meat that they managed to catch belonged to lean black squirrels that smelled terrible and their meat smelled and tasted even worse, with the moths ready to flutter about in any sort of light, the Company couldn't confidently cook the meat so the few squirrels they caught were discarded. It wasn't as if they were already out of provisions, but they wanted to see if they could restock some as they traveled, unfortunately, that was not an option, so the Company had placed a strict ration on their food.
Fainas however seemed to be pleased with himself when the order of food rationing was handed down.
"I've got something that can help!" said Fainas excitedly. "We won't have to ration the food for long…though we may want to eat that first."
"What are you talking about, Fainas lad?" asked Bofur.
Fainas dug out what looked to be small squares of way-bread, wrapped in silver leaves and handed them forward. "Here, we can have these, one bite is enough to keep us going for an entire day."
Bilbo was the only one that came forward to take some, but Thorin stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Where did you get that?" asked Thorin, looking at the leaves with suspicion.
The smile on the young man's face slid off slowly and was replaced with an exasperated groan.
"I'll take that to mean that it's from the elves." said Thorin, his gaze stern.
"It's from Rivendell, but…" said Fainas trying to coax the dwarven king to see reason.
"You'll be hard pressed to find any dwarf willing to eat it, lad." said Balin with a sympathetic smile.
"You and Master Baggins may eat that if you wish, but we will be fine." said Thorin. "If anything at least you two will be able to eat."
Fainas looked torn between feeling touched and exasperated, and Bilbo was feeling the same way it seemed. The Company continued on through the forest, trying to make it as far as they could that day, with what little food they had in the stomachs.
"Why is it the dwarf that happens to be my adopted father would have to be as stubborn as a mountain goat?" asked Fainas to Bilbo.
"I heard that." said Thorin from the front of the line.
"Wonderful, your hearing is impeccable as always." retorted Fainas.
Dwalin chuckled. "That sass is back again."
"Good, I missed hearing it." said Thorin with a chuckle of his own.
It was a day or two later that they finally managed to get to the river that they were warned about, where the waters were enchanted and if you fell into its depths, an enchanted sleep and forgetfulness waited for you when you finally reached the shore. There were the remains of a bridge, but that bridge seemed to have crumbled under the march of time, making crossing quite impossible.
"So, how do we cross?" asked Fili. "If we cannot swim across it."
"Fainas, do you think you can alter the river? Stop it's flow for a while or divert it?" asked Balin looking back at the lad.
Fainas looked down at the water and shrugged off his pack. "I can try." He held out his hands and closed his eyes, the water seemed to tremble, ripple and began to slightly pull back, the water level slowly lowering. But Fainas' eyes snapped open and he began to gasp aloud, the water came back in full force.
He tried once again, but unfortunately, the result was still the same, the water stayed where it was and would not shift for longer than the briefest moment.
"Fainas?" asked Thorin.
"Sorry, it's not going to change, not for me at least…perhaps with Gandalf…" said Fainas. "I even tried to bring the bits of the bridge back up, but that river won't let release anything. Then I tried sending out something to make a bridge, but everything just stops or refuses to budge."
Fainas leaned up against a tree, wiping the sweat off his brow. "There has to be something…anything that can…" He then looked a bit further upstream and smiled. "That'll do."
"What'll do?" asked Nori. Then to his surprise, a loud groaning came from up river and a giant fallen tree was brought over with the aid of the branches of a larger tree, bending its branches and twining them around like many fingers. It lifted the dead tree up into the air and it began passing it over to where they were with the help of the other nearby trees.
The tree was then placed in the water, making a makeshift bridge, it wasn't the sturdiest bridge, as the limbs got thinner as it went towards the other side. But it would hopefully serve its purpose.
"Better than nothing." said Fainas with a smile. "The water can't stop that, it's already dead…Shall we cross then?"
"Wait." said Thorin holding out a hand to stop the young wizard. "We send the lightest over."
"That would be me…" said Fainas with a quirked brow. "I'm the tallest, but I'm still the lightest by a few stones." *
"That would be Master Baggins, who is the lightest in the Company." corrected Thorin. "You are to turn into an animal and get across that way. I want you over at the other side with no problems."
The rest of the Company nodded including Bilbo, causing Fainas to sigh. "Alright, alright, I'm going to need a bit of space here." He stripped down once again and placed his clothes in his pack. "I could try and carry…"
"No…we'll be fine; you just get across." said Balin cutting Fainas off.
Without further argument, Fainas transformed into the large stag and with his pack on his back, backed up on the path and then took a great leap over the river. He made it across but stumbled slightly on his hooves and nearly fell to the ground, once he regained his composure, he turned back into his normal form.
"Be careful! I just about fell straight down halfway across, and this air…I don't like it." called Fainas looking around at the surrounding area.
The others looked down at the waters intently, and began to plan how to get across accordingly.
"Alright, Master Baggins, take this string and any branches you hear or feel that are weaker than what is safe for us to travel on, tie a bit of it to the limb and we'll avoid it." said Balin handing Bilbo a ball of twine.
"That would mean that you all will have to watch and memorize which limb I do walk on." said Bilbo, not altogether willing to stay in the tree as it sat in the water any longer than he had to, let alone tie a bunch of string to the branches. "Will you be able to do that?"
"We're all quick studies, Master Baggins." said Balin with a smile. "Now, be careful."
"Last call, I'm sure I can carry you all over here, one at a time that is." called Fainas from the other side of the river.
"You said that you nearly fell in halfway across and you just about hurt yourself getting over there, can't risk that happening to you twenty-eight more times." Dori called back.
Bilbo led the way up the tree, and across the branches, trying to find the strongest path to ensure the rest of the company got across, there were limbs that were too flimsy and creaked under his weight and would no doubt snap under the weight of the dwarves especially Bombur's. Following Balin's suggestion, he took the bits of twine and tied them to the branches, cutting them with the small knife he possessed.
Harry sat down on a rock on the other side of the river, watching the Halfling intently, wincing whenever his foot slipped or if his hand released the branch too soon. If this had happened far earlier in the adventures, he would have wrapped a vine around Bilbo's hands to steady him, but with that ring sitting in his vest pocket, his hands were tied.
There were many different ways for Fainas to get the dwarves over the river, each one easier than the last, but with the One Ring now in the equation, Harry could no longer offer physical aid to the hobbit and would have to do some very creative thinking to assist him.
He was immensely grateful for the fallen tree's presence, the sight of it laying partially in the water gave him the idea to use it as a bridge. It was already dead and it would have no altercation with the water it was already accustomed to. With a bit of luck, they would all get across alright, but he had a feeling that he was forgetting something and with the little book in his pack and with the dwarves right there he wouldn't be able to consult it right at that moment He needed to focus on making sure that they all got across alright, though with Bilbo, there wasn't much he could do.
But he was forced to abandon any sort of hope of that, as the limb that Bilbo was testing out the closest ones near the shore, snapped right from under him and he was falling straight down into the water. He was near enough to reach out and grab, but that would result in Harry suffering from a great amount of pain for as long as Bilbo and he touched.
He had no choice.
Using both the Opal the Turquoise and the Pearl, he reached down and latched onto Bilbo hand, a thin yet sturdy shield keeping the both of them from touching each other too much was thrown up and with an almighty pull, Harry hauled Bilbo to shore.
Harry had to try hard to contain the wincing and the bite back the yell of pain. Despite the shield around his hands, he could feel pain shooting up his hands as if both lightning and white hot fire clashed together in his grip, both burning shocking the flesh that was trying to hold onto the hobbit.
When Bilbo reached the shore, Harry wrapped his hand up in the Turquoise's power, all the while trying to hide the burnt and torn flesh that used to be his unblemished hand. He called over to dwarves, assuring them that Bilbo and he were alright. "You'll have to jump that last three feet."
"Is that that blue light again? What did you hurt?" asked Oin quickly, noticing the blue glow enclosed around the lad's right hand.
"Just wrenched my wrist, I'll be all better when you get over here." said Harry waving his uninjured hand dismissively.
"I'm sorry Fainas." said Bilbo honestly. "Do you want me to look at it?"
"No," said Harry quickly. "I'll be alright, it's nothing all that too serious. Let's watch the show, shall we?"
The others took to the trees slowly, they all had wanted to go at the same time, but when Dwalin and Balin stood on the same branch, which was strong according to Bilbo, began to creak loudly, they decided that one at a time was the best way to go. Or at least, one at a time on one particular branch.
Thorin was the first to come across the river, following strictly to where Bilbo had gone and landed safely on the other side of the river where Bilbo and Harry were. He looked down at the young man's hands and nodded, thankfully the turquoise stone had completed healing his hand before the dwarf king could arrive and ask some uncomfortable questions. He then looked back at the Company, and then looked out into the surrounding forest.
He stopped suddenly, seeing a large white stag just off into the woods and slowly drew an arrow and placed it carefully in his bow. Bilbo looked over at it, as if he were in a daze, unable to say a word as he watched the stag move and then take off after Thorin had shot his arrow at the beast.
The mention of bad luck came up, which Harry felt a sense of foreboding. With his experience, whenever someone mentioned luck, it was bound to turn horribly bad soon after.
There was a yell, and then a splash…. It just went horribly, horribly wrong.
Bombur took the crossing over the limbs as slowly as he could, wincing slightly for every creak and groan that emitted from the tree beneath. He was normally proud of his girth, attributing it to a good food and a good way of living, something that was quite a rarity since the loss of the Lonely Mountain. Most families found it difficult to keep themselves fed let alone their families, so Bombur having the size he was and the number of little dwarflings in his family he was considered quite blessed and somewhat of a good luck charm.
Now, he wished he was a bit on the leaner side, like Bofur. There was nothing he could do about it now, however, so all he could do was try and take the journey over the water as easily as he possibly could. But all the hoping he did, did absolutely nothing.
As he fell into the water, his eyes were clouded by a shimmering bright blue twinkling. He felt his whole body covered with what felt like soft, running water. There seemed to be two different kinds of water that kept trying to lap over him, there was a dark murky sort of water that seemed to make his body grow increasingly heavier and causing his mind to become clouded and befuddled. Then there was the other water, it felt cool, crisp and clean, trying vainly to bring him to wakefulness and soothe him somehow.
The twinkling never left his sight, but kept towards where the cleaner, bluer water was. Bombur tried to make a reach for the lights, but his arms felt so heavy, and he knew that he had to get to the water just as soon as he could. He tried to turn his body towards the twinkling water, feeling a bit more awake for every inch he made it closer to the different water.
But soon, that twinkling, dark blue light faded away and he could remember nothing more.
Bombur had succumbed to the drowsiness that hung over the water and had released his grip on the branches he was holding. Bofur and Bifur tried to reach down to him, but Balin stopped them from touching him, no knowing if just touching the water, however briefly, would bring about the same drowsiness.
Harry rushed forward, he threw more of a shield around Bombur and tried to move the more malevolent bit of the enchanted water away from the rotund dwarf to no real success. He resorted to giving a mighty yank to try and pull him back to shore. While he could not dare to hope to alter the water too much, he could at least try and separate the malicious water from the gentler benign water sitting towards the bottom of the river…at least for a short time.
"Bofur, stay in that tree! We don't want to lose the both of you." commanded Thorin sharply, stopping the hatted dwarf from leaping down into the water to help pull out Bombur.
Thankfully, it wasn't more than two minutes that Bombur had fallen in that he was pulled out of the water, fast asleep and wouldn't wake up for anyone.
Their luck, while it was bad almost their entire journey, just got decidedly worse.
I said that because it's said that hobbits are incredibly dense, structurally wise, hobbits sink…so I think that they may be a bit heavier than they appear to be.