Welcome back to the next instalment! I'm kind of on a roll at the moment, so I might as well post another chapter even though it hasn't even been a week yet... what can I say, I'm excitable.

Once again, I only own little Todd.


Chapter 34 – In Sickness

"Well… this looks lovey" Todd deadpanned, as she joined the rest of the Company as they dismounted at the edge of the Greenwood.

She had been dreading this since they had left the safety of Beorn's homestead. After what the bear man had spoke to her, and her growing realisation that something inside her must be wrong if the increase in the itch was anything to go by, let alone the dreams. She had this ominous and jarring feeling that all the ill content and darkness that had been festering in her dreams and in the back of her head as they made their way towards the Greenwood was all coming to a point. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out what the sickness lying over the wood would do to her. The dwarves were all muttering and moaning about the Wood, and they hadn't even set foot in it yet. Todd understood why though, if they were feeling anything like her, they were feeling agitated and a little queasy. It was a feeling she could do without, she knew feeling like it would start to make her loose her concentration, and she needed that to make sure that nothing was following them or about to attack them.

Todd groaned as she rolled her neck on her shoulders, the horrid feeling she had been suffering on their approach to the Greenwood reared its head as if in greeting to the sick trees. It made her head feel fuzzy, and it made her mood completely sour instantly. She scowled a head at the branches, sneering at how they were almost reaching out to her, as if they were wanting to pull her in and never let her go again. She looked to her dear friend Bilbo just in time to see him reach his hand into his pocket, a habit that she had realised he had taken to. As if there was something inside that he kept touching and holding, something to give him comfort, and she thought this because when ever he stuck his hand into his pocket he would get this look come over his face. Todd was yet to decide if it was a relieved kind of expression, or a far off lost in his own world kind of expression. All she knew was, every time he did it, the itch in the back of her head rolled over and stretched out.

"Are you ok?" Bilbo asked, coming to stand right beside her, his large brown eyes filled with worry for her.

"I'm fine" She replied, her voice clipped.

"Are you sure?" He pressed, not believing her for one second.

She huffed, not wanting to have to speak for any longer than she had to for her head was thumping with every word she spoke. The more Bilbo looked to her with his worried eyes the more the itch sparked, making her mood digress.

"I said I'm fine…" She snapped, moving away from Bilbo to stand on the outskirts of the rest of the company. A few of the Dwarves looked to her, hearing her raised voice, watching her stride away from their burglar with a face like thunder. Bofur who had been closest, and eaves dropping because even he had noticed her turn in attitude from where he was keeping a distance, moved over to Bilbo. Bilbo stood with his eyes wide and stunned at Todd's retreating form, taking hardly any notice of Bofur before he was right before him.

"What was that 'bout?" He asked.

"No idea, I only asked if she was feeling ok… maybe you should go and see what's wrong, you know she will talk to you" Bilbo tried to convince.

"You know why I can't do that" He muttered, scratching his head and throwing his gaze over in her direction.

"Well, yes… and you know what I think about that" Bilbo retorted with a huff, his own sour expression appearing.

"I want to, Mahal knows it… but I have been ordered by my King, my hands are tied"

"Complete goblin piss to that" Bilbo muttered under his breath, his mood completely ruined by Todd's outburst and the ongoing issue with Thorin sticking his nose into where it didn't belong. Bilbo turned from Bofur back towards his pony with a slump in his shoulder, making Bofur sigh.

Gandalf called out from where he had wondered into the wood, making the company look to him. Todd let her eyes slide over to him, he stood under what looked to be an arch way carved out of white bark. If she had not of been in an awful mood, and feeling like her stomach wanted to empty out onto the ground before her, she would have taken note of how the beautiful carved archways formed a rather grand opening into such a gross and revolting looking wood. Yet her eyes were trained souly on the Wandering Wizard as he moved to look further into the wood.

"Here lies our path through Mirkwood!" He stated, everyone looking to him and nodding in varying degrees of reluctance.

"No sign of the Orcs" Dwalin interjected, shifting in his seat atop his pony. "He have luck on our side!"

Todd snorted and let her eyes move back to meet Gandalfs, they both knew that the only reason they had not met any Orcs was because Todd and Beorn had been there to dispatch them before they could even get within ear shot of the Company. Todd felt her irritation rise at the fact that her hard work had hardly been noticed, making her feel like she shouldn't have bothered, but with a shake of her head, she tries to get rid that thought.

"Set the ponies loose, let them return to their master" Gandalf called, choosing to ignore Dwalin as the others had agreed with him, nodding and sharing nervous chuckles with each other. Todd had already let hers loose upon their arrival, her borrowed pack upon her shoulders, the pony she had ridden was nudging at Nori's. She usually would have moved to help them then, but she could barely find the mind set to smile let alone help, so she just stood there with a face like thunder, till she caught Bilbo making his way over to the wandering wizard.

"This forest… feels… sick. As if a disease lies upon it" Todd heard Bilbo state uneasily again as he moved over to stand closer still beside the Istari.

"Is there no way around?" She called out from where she had been stood away from the others, furthest away from the creaking woodland. Both Gandalf and Bilbo eyes her as she scowled back.

"Not unless we go 200 miles north, or twice that distance…." He turned and shuffled further in. "… south"

Todd huffed and set off to stand with Gandalf and Bilbo. There was no way she was being left behind, so if going into the Mahal forsaken wood was what she had to do, she would just have to grin and bear it and hope to Yavannah that she didn't go mad from the constant itch in her head. Upon crossing the threshold of the wood she felt a shiver run down her spine, making her pause and her eyes widen a little. An echo of a voice flashed through her mind, guttural and livid.

That was when she felt a hand on her shoulder, a warm and calming pulse of energy flowed through her then and she instantly knew who it was. The itch in her head receded as the feeling flowed through her, the queasiness lessening with it letting her mind clear up, even if just a little. She let her eyes rise to meet Gandalf's as she let out a shaky breath, she could see concern in his eyes but this was not the same as how Bilbo had looked to her, it was knowing, like he could see exactly why she was feeling the way she was.

"You are going to need your friends in here Little one… you are going to need them indeed" He implied, making her shuffle.

"I don't think this place is good for me" She whispered, letting her fear run through her voice. "I can feel it pulling at me… I think there is a darkness in me"

"There are creatures in this place that would do you harm, that would seek to grow that darkness… you have the tools to banish it, I believe in you"

"I don't think I can do this Gandalf… before I was allowed to join you, all I had done was run from darkness because I think somewhere deep down I knew that If they tried to turn me… I might not be strong enough to fight it" She barely whispered to him, but she knew he had heard her confession. "Now, you're asking me to willingly walk through his place, even though the mere smell of it makes my head ache and mood break."

"You have a company of friends at your side, and not to mention a particular dwarve who is rather fond of you" Gandalf tried, but it only made her feel more hopeless.

"Gandalf, Bofur hasn't spoken to me in days now, he won't even look at me… I can't do this"

"My dear" He sighed, looking over her head back out to the company, then back to her. "You're so much more than you see in yourself"

She watched then as he moved off to a tree a little way off from her, the loss of his touch making the itch creep back in and the sick feeling flood back up her throat. Gandalf edged forwards towards the tree and she watched as he began pull at the ivy. She watched silently from her spot just inside the arch way as he rustled around, before flinching backwards away from the tree as if it had stung him. She frowned as he then seemingly started to talk to himself, his words clipped. The shift it the wizards demeanour put her straight on edge, hands immediately coming to rest on the hilts of her daggers. She gasped and jumped a little as Gandlaf spun round and strode out towards the Company leaving her to just shuffle around the entrance, a hand coming up to pull at her hair.


Thorin scowled as Gandalf strode over to him, with such purpose that anyone else would have shrunk away, but not Thorin, not the proud King under the Mountain.

"I wish to speak with you… alone" Gandalf stated, his eyes looking to Balin as if daring him to do anything more than move off to give them privacy. So Balin did, he bid his farewells and plodded off to seek the company of his Brother, who was stood not too far off from Thorin anyway.

"What is it?" Thorin deadpanned.

"What have you said to our Bofur, regarding Todd?" He came straight out with it, and the nature of the question and the frustration in the wizards voice when asking it made Thorin raise his brow. For what was it to Gandalf how he managed his men? He thought.

"She agreed to not become a distraction to any of my men, otherwise she would be cast out of the Company… she has indeed become such a distraction to Bofur, and therefore he has been asked to keep his distance" He stated, not once looking away from Gandalf's fuming eyes.

"Fool" Gandalf hissed.

"I was kind, I could have cast her out just like I had promised" Thorin argued.

"You do not comprehend the consequences to your actions, once again"

"I am the leader of this Company, Wizard, and I will not have this woman distracting my men… they need to be ready at the blink of an eye and not lost in such trivial things as finding their one" He hissed, his voice low enough so that only Gandalf could hear him.

"You are to enter a wood full of sickness, where a darkness is spreading…"

"Yes, I heard what the shape shifter said, but you underestimate our strength" Thorin barked out, louder this time.

"Indeed, yet some of you will struggle the sickness that festers here…" His eyes darted to where Todd was once again stood away from the group and on the edge of the woodlands, Thorins eyes following his. Her face was downcast as she scowled at the floor, arms crossed over her chest as drops of cold rain started falling upon them. "One of you I feel will suffer a great struggle and you may have taken the only light keeping them going, away from them"

"Todd?" Thorin questioned.

"I implore you to see reason, lift your hold over them and let what will pass, pass" Gandalf sighed.

"I will do what is best for my Company!" Thorin bit back, not relenting in the slightest.

"A good tell of her state of mind will be her hair, I have heard tales off the hair and fur of Rebhane's darkening with their fall from the light" He gave up, he didn't have time to worry about the fate of one, when the fate of the many was not at hand. "I must leave you all now, for there are other more pressing matters to attend elsewhere, but I warm you… look out for her and for pities sakes, lift your sword from off their destiny" Gandalf pleaded as he headed over to stop Ori from taken the saddle from his horse.