Kara waited impatiently for the return of the hobbit. Bilbo had been sent away to scout less than five minutes ago and she was surprised at how he had set out with not even a mere moan of complaint. Ten months ago the hafling barely had the courage to set foot out of his door and now he was hunting out the creatures who almost killed her uncle less than a week ago. She shivered at the thought before smiling at how much the hobbit had changed; and it was for the better.
In this time Kara had had the adventure of a lifetime and she could scream in excitement at how there was still so much more to come. So far she had ridden an eagle, been captured by goblins, been chased by wargs and orcs, nearly drowned in a river, befriended elves...it was like a dream.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Fili tossed.
She blinked and grinned up at him. "I swear the last few months have flown by."
Kili snorted and walked over to them. "I think Bilbo will have a lot to say about that comment."
Fili slapped him. "Now now, he seems to be doing relatively well."
"This is taking so long! What if he's dead?" Ori squeaked in terror, yanking them from their conversation and she looked up. "I can't take it...I can't take the tension. I can't take it!"
Kili smirked. "Just checking, can you take it?"
Kara rolled her eyes. She was sick of Kili's morose attitude. His wounds had healed for the most part and he was acting fine, but Kara could tell something was nagging at him and knew that it was the weird scar on his arm that had died down a lot. They were still all trying to figure out what that meant.
Bilbo rounded the corner then and she could hear Ori's sigh of up most relief.
"How close is the pack?" Thorin demanded to the hobbit who was slightly breathless and placed his hands on his thighs to catch his breath for a moment.
"Too close, couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it."
"Have the Orcs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked with rising annoyance.
"Not yet, but they will do. We have another problem."
"Did they see you? They saw you." Gandalf told himself.
"No, that's not it."
Good, what did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material."
The dwarves began agreeing with Gandalf as the talking amongst one another rose immensely.
"Will you listen!"
"Let the guy speak." Kara ordered, quieting every member of the company which surprised her. The impressed smirk that Thorin sent in her direction wasn't missed.
"Thank you." Bilbo said to her. "I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there."
"What form did it take? Like a bear?" The wizard further questioned for specifics.
"Ye…Yes, but bigger. Much bigger." Everyone stared at Gandalf.
"You knew about this beast?" Bofur asked for them before sighing when he received no answer. "I say we double back."
"And be run down by a pack of Orcs?" The exiled king pointed out.
"There is a house, it's not far from here, where we might take refuge." Gandalf told them.
"Whose house? Are they friend or foe?"
"Neither. He will help us or he will kill us."
"Well what choice do we have?" Kara asked as everyone looked at her uncle in question.
A creature howled in the distance, an unfamiliar roar, one she had never heard before in her life.
"None." He answered bluntly and they were off. They hastened in the direction that Gandalf made them, darting hurriedly across fields, around streams, through a small forest and towards a house that nobody could actually see, though Gandalf assured them that it was there. Bombur seemed to refuel with energy and Kara was surprised how fast he could sprint, considering when she first met him she had wondered how the fat cook could even walk, let alone outrun a bunch of twelve other sprinting dwarves. She pumped her legs to make it to the door, gaining momentum with each push when she heard the bear close behind them. She continued to quicken her pace until her steps became leaps and she rushed through the door along with the rest of her companions and attempted to slam it shut in the face of the creature. Her breathing tried to calm itself but it was nearly impossible for it needed to appease her desperation for oxygen.
"Get inside, all of you!" The wizard ordered to the ones still trying to squeeze themselves in and they hastily obeyed. They door was stuck, two forces pushing it in two directions, as the bear had made it to them before they could completely slam the entrance shut. The peak of its snout was demanding a taste of their flesh as he fought against the door, and the dwarves were all yelling as they pushed against the power, determined not to let it win. Kara reached forward and punched it's snout forcefully, knocking it back and the door was able to shut. Sighs of relief and exhaustion broke out through the dwarves and Ori was the first to ask the question that everyone was wondering.
"What is that?!"
"That is our host." Gandalf replied calmly, though he looked very uncertain. The dwarves turned to look at him in confusion, demanding elaboration. "His name is Beorn, he's a skin-changer. Sometimes he's a huge black bear, sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not overly fond of dwarves."
"He's leaving!" Ori exclaimed, who was standing closest to the door and could hear the muffled footsteps of the bear hesitantly backing away.
Dori stomped over and yanked him away. "Come away from there! It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious, he's under some dark spell." He told the company.
Fili's eyes widened at the protectiveness of Dori and he felt Kara nudge him, making him glare at her and amble in the direction of the corner.
"Don't be a fool." Gandalf told him. "He's under no enchantment but his own." He removed his hat and looked around the room doubtfully. "Alright now, get some sleep all of you. You'll be safe here tonight." he ordered before looking out. "I hope."
"I think mum will be a little perturbed that we fought against the force of a bear." Kara whispered to Kili who smirked.
"He's kinda cute."
Dwalin stood behind them and glanced at their burglar who was sat by Fili, huddled against the wall with an expression of terror on his face and his arms curled around his knees for comfort. "Bilbo disagrees."
Kili stared at him numbly. "Bilbo yells at his pony."
Dwalin chuckled as Kara shook her head with a smile, moving to sit next to Fili and the hobbit to offer some comfort as she tried to get as much rest as possible, hoping that her flesh wouldn't somehow be ripped off in the middle of her slumber.
The next morning Kara awoke to the sound of Bombur's stomach grumbling. She glowered at his sleeping body and wafted away some wasps that flew around her with her hands before glancing around to see who was awake.
Nobody was, in answer to her wonderings, aside Bilbo.
He was holding something in his hands; something gold. He was observing it with a sense of delirious amazement as though it compelled him. She shifted her position so she was on her hands and knees like a newborn unable to walk and crawled over to him. When he noticed her he hastily shoved it back into his pocket. She tilted her head silently at him before sighing and moving to sit on the wall next to him.
"You know, you came on this quest to help us out and you are doing a grand job, but you need to understand that we're all a team. We help each other; Bombur's here to cook and we help him, Thorin's here to lead and we help him, Balin's here for brains and we help him, Kili's here to cover long distances and we help him with other weapons...but if you don't tell us things then you're gonna have to go through it separately." She smiled at him when he blushed and shyly looked in the other direction. "And you cannot handle that."
He smiled at her slight playfulness, understanding what she was hinting at and he pulled the ring from his pocket. "I found this in the goblin tunnels."
Something about it mesmerised her; it almost looked as though it was glowing. She reached a hand forward to touch it before pulling it away and shaking her head from the trance. "W...what is it?"
Bilbo slipped the ring on his finger and she stared blankly as he disappeared altogether. She widened her eyes in alarm. "Bilbo?" She whispered. He reappeared right in front of her again in the exact same spot which she continued to stare at in shock as he spoke.
"There is something magical about this ring. Its like it has a voice. Like it..."
"Have you told Gandalf?" She interrupted as she tore her eyes away from the spot and to his confused face.
"Well um...no..."
"You need to."
"I will, just not yet."
"Why?"
"It's not the time."
"And when will be the time?"
He shook his head. "Look, when we leave here I will tell him. I don't want to wake him now."
"Please make sure you do, ok, it could be dangerous."
"I know."
"I'm going back to sleep." She told him. "You should too."
"I will."
She sighed, letting her head rest back on her bedroll until she was once again dreaming.
"Kara." Fili was shaking her awake and when she opened her eyes blinding rays interrupted her sight.
"What?" She groaned in irritation as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"The skin-changer is here. Bilbo and Gandalf just left to speak to him."
She stood up and wandered over to where the company stood, pushing a few out of the way so she could sit next to Bofur and see what he was seeing through a window. Bilbo and Gandalf stood in front of a very tall man who worryingly held an axe as though he was about to chop their heads off at any second, presumably why Gandalf was trying so hard to keep the situation under control and not set his temper off.
"Go, go." Bofur ushered to Balin and Dwalin once he had filled Kara in on their plan, mistaking Gandalf holding his hand up for the signal so the duo exited together. Beorn, from her sight, did not looked pleased to see them and growled, raising his axe threateningly. Bofur continued to send more and more out. Kara and her brothers were ready to go when Thorin put a hand on her shoulder.
"You will come out with me." he told her and she nodded, watching her brothers depart and stand in front of the skin changer who glowered at the two.
"Are there anymore?" Kara heard the skin changer say when it was only her and her uncle left who took that moment to step outside. Beorn seemed to recognize Thorin and tilted his head before looking at Kara and stepping back in surprise.
"Your hair..."
Kara rolled her eyes. She had always been a small, pretty little thing, unlike a lot of her kin back in the Blue Mountains. Her eyes were a deep forest green but her hair was her most eye-catching feature; it was long, curly and ginger with one white streak woven into it which she had been born with. She didn't mind it though, and everybody was quick to compliment it though they always questioned what it was.
Beorn shook his head and changed the subject. "Come on in, I suppose you should eat."
Within the next five minutes everybody was gratefully seated around Beorn's dining table, brandishing the food that he offered whilst he told his story. Kara pitied him for he had said he was the only one left of his kind. She couldn't imagine going through what he and his own kin had been through.
He explained why he hated dwarves, for their beings were 'greedy and blind' which was fair enough, she supposed, for many a kind thought of her people that way and it was impossible for them to understand the truth.
"But orcs I hate more." He spoke, spinning around to face them with a new speck of determination shining brightly in his aged eyes. "What do you need?"
Kara spurred her pony forward after flashing a quick goodbye smile to Beorn who nodded at her before leaving. He almost looked sad. "Keep up!" Thorin yelled behind him as he desperately tried to get them away from their hunters. "Come on!"
She urged her pony to move quicker at his plea and soon made it to the edge of the forest where the speed stopped and everyone slid off of their steeds.
"Here lies our path through Mirkwood." Gandalf declared.
"No sign of the orcs. We have luck on our side." Dwalin informed them in relief.
"Set the ponies loose. Let them return to their master."
"This forest feels sick, as if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" Bilbo asked.
"Not unless we go two hundred miles north or twice that distance south..."
"We're not doing that." Kara said as she yanked her foot out of the stirrup.
"Then we must go." Thorin threw in as he tossed his saddle to Bombur who was helping Bofur to set them free.
"Not my horse, I need it!" Gandalf suddenly said as he ran back to them from wherever he had gone - Kara wasn't sure.
"You're not leaving us?" Bilbo asked.
"I would not do this unless I had to." He stopped to look at Bilbo as everybody scoffed at their wizard. "You have changed, Bilbo Baggins, You're not the same hobbit as the one who left the Shire."
Bilbo glanced at Kara who knew what he was silently asking and she dipped her head in encouragement.
"I was going to tell you..." He paused before making his confession. "I found something in the Goblin tunnels."
"Found what?" The wizard questioned, narrowing his eyes in suspicion when Bilbo hesitated with his response. "What did you find?"
"My courage." Kara felt her body sag in disappointment and she looked away in disbelief. She had been sure the hobbits reply would have gone something along the lines of 'I found a magical ring that can turn me invisible' but then again she wasn't sure how he would have worded it.
"Good. Well, that's good. You'll need it." Gandalf replied, daring not to press but he knew there was something that he wasn't being told. "I'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor." He continued, addressing everyone as he walked towards his pony. "Keep the map and key safe. Do not enter that mountain without me. This is not the Greenwood of old, the very air of the forest is heavy with illusion that will seek to enter your mind and lead you astray."
"Lead us astray? What does that mean?" Kara asked the wizard who mounted his pony and took hold of the reins.
"No matter what may come, stay on the path!" Came the response as he turned his horse and rode away.
She scoffed at the lame answer and looked expectantly at her uncle who began to walk towards the entrance to the forest.
"Come on, we must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin's Day. Let's go, we've got but one chance to find the hidden door."
However, the moment they began walking they regretted it; it was like they were trapped inside a small closet with no escape, like everywhere they stepped something was going to dive out of the bushes and strangle them, like they were walking in constant circles with no sense of direction.
Kara drank a sip from her bottle and grimaced. It was old water for they hadn't really found any nice streams in this gloomy forest.
"Can I have your water?" She asked Kili.
"No." He answered.
She pouted. "Why?"
"You have a whole bottle of it, I literally have none left."
"Yours is nicer." She moaned. "I just tried mine; its old. You filled yours up before we came in here. Isn't the older sibling supposed to uphold the needs of the younger sibling?" She questioned innocently with wide, puppy eyes.
Kili laughed. "I don't fall for puppies."
She gasped. "Why?!"
"Because, Kara, the amount of times that I have done puppy eyes in my life is higher than every single dwarf in Ered Lurin combined."
She smiled sneakily and dived for his bag, knocking them both to the ground. They began to wrestle one another, rolling over each other in the dirt as they each tried to overpower one another. Kara knew she was losing, like she always did for he was much stronger than her, but she was putting up a surprisingly good fight and unhooked his bottle from his bag.
"No!" He yelled, yanking a knife from her boot as a compromise attempt.
"Oi! Kili, give that back!"
Bilbo stepped forward next to Fili. "Should I be worried?"
"No, they're always like this." The blonde answered with a fond smile.
Kili pinned her down, her knife still in his hand and she growled at him. The company surrounded the two, watching in amusement aside Thorin who was up ahead with Balin, marching back when he heard noise. Bilbo was still a little concerned and stepped forward to intervene when unexpectedly the two suddenly burst out laughing, Kara dropping the bottle and Kili dropping the knife.
"Shut up, both of you!" A familiar booming, angry sounding voice ordered. "Kili, get off your sister." The archer begrudgingly obeyed and lay back on his elbows, watching his uncle study the distance. Without looking at his nephew he held out his hand. "Give me your bow." He ordered, a bad feeling sinking into his stomach. There was something around them, watching them, but he didn't know what.
Kili sighed and dropped it into his uncle's hand who slung it over his shoulder as a hopeful form of better defence.
Kara smirked at her brother who glowered at her and continued to walk. "You are naughty, Kara." Fili mused as he ambled next to her.
"That was his fault." She accused.
"You always make him get the blame." Fili said. "He was always the one that got in trouble out of the three of us."
"That's how siblings work, isn't it?" Kara asked, raising her eyebrows at Fili who chuckled at his sister's antics. "The eldest sibling pretends he has no involvement and the youngest sibling is so amazing that the middle sibling gets the blame."
Kili spun around to his sister and narrowed his eyes at her as she laughed. "I'm joking, Kee. That was me."
"We could try and swim it." She heard this come from Bofur's mouth and she frowned, walking ahead to see what they were talking about. Two halves of a bridge were either side of a river and the middle of the crossing was missing. What bugged her the most was that the river looked like mist; it looked enchanting.
"Didn't you hear what Gandalf said? A dark magic lies upon this forest. The waters of this stream are enchanted." Thorin said.
"Doesn't look very enchanting to me." came the toymaker's slow response.
"How?" She asked. "It looks like cloud."
"Aye." He agreed. "I guess it's been so long that I can't remember what a cloud looks like."
She snorted and listened back to what her uncle was saying. "We must find another way across."
"These vines look strong enough." Kili offered from where her brothers stood, sussing out their uncle's entreaty.
"Kili." Thorin spoke up to stop the archer from standing on them. "We send the lightest first."
She found herself grinning as she turned to look at Bilbo who had an expression of 'of course you do' on his face but he upheld Thorin's request anyways and was soon reaching his foot over, terrified that he was about to go tumbling into an enchanted river.
"Looks fine." He told them. "I can't see any pro..." he didn't finish his sentence for he had fallen sideways over the thick vine and curled his trees around it to stop himself from falling. "There's one."
Kara stood on her tiptoes to see if it was alright. "Be careful!" she called. Once he made it to the end Thorin sent her and her companions followed straight after as Bilbo redeemed himself and spun around.
"Stay where you are! Oh..." He watched them cross with a sense of regret. Kara leant forward and fell, grabbing the vine above her to keep her balance. Bombur, however, could not keep his balance and fell forward asleep.
She groaned at him and jumped onto dry land, ready to help when they heaved the sleeping cook onto the land. Her uncle behind her caught her attention though and she watched him draw Kili's bow in wonder. The noise seemed to drop in that moment as Thorin made to shoot, Bilbo watching him from the corner of his eye with a sense of foreboding. He released the arrow and she finally saw what he was aiming at; the beautiful white stag that dodged the arrow and gracefully leapt away as though mocking him for his inability to kill.
"You shouldn't have done that." Bilbo told him. "It's bad luck."
"I don't believe in luck. We make our own luck." Thorin growled in response before stalking away. Kara watched him leave sadly and turned around to help her companions make a stretcher with they eventually did once they found the right materials. Fili and Kili were at the head, the ends resting on their shoulders as everyone else situated themselves behind to lend a hand, though Kara, Thorin and Bilbo were off the hook and she honestly wasn't complaining that she didn't have to help with the carrying.
By now they had been walking for what seemed like years. She yearned for fresh air; yearned to run around an open field and let her arms dance with the wind, but she knew that wasn't possible and wouldn't be anytime soon so she dared not dream. The girl nervously glanced beside her when she heard a small crack in the near distance and found herself running straight into Kili.
"Nori, why have we stopped?" Thorin demanded.
"The path, it's disappeared!" Was the startled answer and everyone froze, beginning to look around them. Sure enough, they had lost the damn path.
"Find it. All of you, look." Thorin ordered, breaking away from their formation of a line to do so himself.
"Look for the path!"
"I don't remember this place, none of it's familiar."
"It's got to be here."
"What hour is it?"
"I don't know. I don't even know what day it is."
"Is there no end to this accursed forest!"
The consistent complaining was really starting to bug Kara and she itched at her face with a trembling hand before sitting down miserably against a tree trunk. She noticed a massive spider web next to her and cocked her head in wonder, flicking it with her finger which caused the weirdest vibration through a bunch of other ones, placing a bag feeling in her stomach. She touched it again and the same thing happened. She frowned, hopping down to tell them of her strange discovery when she saw something even more attention-catching and bent down to pick it up.
"Look." She said as everyone turned to her.
Dori took the item from her. "A tobacco pouch." he whispered. "There's dwarves in these woods."
Bofur took it to see for himself. "Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no less. This is exactly the same as mine."
"Because it is yours." Bilbo declared. "Do you understand? We're going around in circles, we are lost!"
"We are not lost." Thorin argued. "We keep heading east."
"But which way is east? We've lost the sun!"
The dwarves began to argue, one of their arguments where everyone was saying something over the top of one another so that the noise was enough to wake the entire forest, no doubt. The arguments that really got under Kara's skin.
"Shut up!" She screamed, silencing them all. She was slightly surprised at herself and looked sheepishly at her feet as everyone turned to look at her in confusion, awaiting for her to speak. She then raised her chin defensively. "If we keep arguing over one another something is going to dive out of those bushes and slit our throats open. You heard what Gandalf said; this forest is unnatural. We need to find the sun if we want to know which direction we're going, meaning somebody has to climb one of these trees." When nobody said anything for a good twenty seconds she began to get annoyed. "Any volunteers?!"
"I will." Bilbo offered.
"Thank you, master Baggins." She said at last. "I'll come up with you."
The hobbit nodded and began himself to climb up. When she moved to follow, the relief of the silence evident on her relaxed shoulders, Thorin grabbed her arm. "Be careful." He warned, before smiling slightly. "You know, you're a lot like your mother. When she yells everybody listens."
Kara snickered knowingly, blushing slightly at the praise. "Thank you. I'll be fine." She assured him before reaching up to grab a branch and using the strength from her arms to tug herself upwards after the hobbit. When she could no longer see the company below her she felt extremely high and the tiniest bit of a scared feeling overcame her.
"Bilbo!" She called. "Are we nearly there?"
"I see the top!" He answered in delight. "I see sunlight through the cracks!"
"Thank mahal." She muttered to herself. The dwarf reached up to grab another piece of bark when a branch from above her snapped and fell with the weight of Bilbo, striking her with a glancing blow from chin to knee. Kara, without time for even a grunt, fell sideways a good ten feet before landing on her back on another very thick branch in a different tree. She shook her head and groaned, propping up onto her elbows only to look at the most terrifying thing she had seen in days.
A spider.
It was the most giant, disgusting thing she had ever seen in her life and it was hanging from some web above it, one half of its legs on the branch to propel it forwards towards her.
So much for being careful.
Kara's eyes widened up at the spider and she crawled backwards, staring into its eyes as though it was a staring contest. It scurried after her but she had managed to draw her sword with hasty fingers by the time it leapt on top of her to sting her with poison and she stabbed it in the eye with her weapon. She listened to it screech in pain before dropping off of the side and down a large drop to the ground once its legs had curled up to show it was dead. She grimaced at the sight and ran along the branch to the actual tree where she wondered about how to get down.
Before she could come to that decision another spider leapt from a tree and she fell backwards, a bunch of webs breaking her fall until she hit the bottom, releasing a groan.
"Kara?" A voice asked and she sighed in relief, letting Fili help her to her feet. "You ok?"
"Aye. Where are the others?"
"Bilbo saved them from the spiders and they're battling. I came to look for you."
"Ok, let's go back." She said as Fili nodded and the two ran until they got stopped in their tracks by three more spiders advancing in a line towards them. "Fili..." She murmured as her brother drew his sword. The one on the left suddenly fell to the floor as an arrow downed it and she smiled in relief, running at one of them and slashed at it. Fili ducked under the other one and stabbed it's underneath until it fell sideways, dead.
Kara slashed off a leg so it was harder for the creature to balance and she was able to slice it's side relatively easy and eventually finish it off with a mere stomp.
"Are you guys ok?" Kili asked, running over to them as the two nodded.
"Yeah." Fili breathed. "Where are the others now?"
"Back there."
Another spider leapt out from behind the three, startling them for a moment.
"How many are there?" Kara exclaimed as she dove out of the way. All of a sudden she was tugged forward and stopped yelling as she felt as though her arm was yanked out of its socket. Her eyes snapped to her wrist and found that rope was wrapped tightly around it. She widened her eyes in terror and grabbed at it. "What the..." Suddenly a strong force hit the back of her head and she fell forward onto her side in a daze, interrupting her speaking and she felt the spider tower over her and jab a filthy sting into the back of her neck. She choked, some foamy puss falling onto the ground when she spat.
What she felt now was horrible; numbness made an unwelcome appearance and crept up her spine until she felt paralyzed and useless. She wondered why Fili and Kili weren't coming to her aid and dread filled her heart that she could be stuck feeling like this for ever.
The thought made her puffy eyes jolt open though she couldn't move the rest of her body. They were squinting, her vision blurry but she caught sight of Fili who lay on the floor, reaching at his foot where the same rope appeared to be wrapped around his ankle, having made him fall onto his back and knock the air out of his lungs. Kili stood behind, watching in horror until he felt an arm wrap around his mouth forcefully. He released a muffled scream, stamping his foot onto the figure's own who released him with a grunt of pain. He kicked his foot backwards into the shin of whoever was attacking him and the person fell backwards onto the ground, he along with them.
Kara recognized the figure the moment she saw the familiar blue eye mask that she had seen in the stinking troll caves.
"Fili..." She mumbled when her eyes flickered to her blonde brother who got jabbed in the arm by a spider's sting and he felt himself gag and fall backwards into darkness.
Kili managed to wrestle on top of his attacker and yank off the mask. He stared in horror at his own face and the figure took that opportunity to kick out and knock him backwards onto the ground before a swift kick to the face sent him rolling into the same place as his brother. Another figure tore out of the bushes and stabbed at the spider with a knife as though this was something they did everyday. That was all Kara could see until the effect of the poison overcame her young body which sagged with the weight of fighting for consciousness and she could see no more.
Yayyy, this took me weirdly long and honestly I don't know why.
The trio are in for a treat...especially Kara! The company are a little busy with a couple of our favourite elves in a different location in case you are wondering where the hell they are.
I am definitely going to go back and edit all of the earlier chapters this week (including this one, not a lot but it was a little rushed) and then post the next chapter at the end of this week, so keep an eye out for that.
Hope you enjoyed! :)