We raced across the land and I stuck to Lightfoots back like a burr. The ponies were saddled and laden with supplies. Not so much they they would be slowed down, hardy animals that they were, but there was enough there to keep the Company well fed for at least a week. If rationed, they would be supplied for two weeks, maybe more. Our hunters pursued us but I had a feeling they were deterred by Beorn. Gandalf and Thorin rode side by side, though the rest of us followed single file, and just as dusk was settling, we drew up before the dense tree-line of Mirkwood, riding along it for a few minutes until we reached a narrow, overgrown pathway heralded by an ornate stone arch. It looked of elven make, but it was now hung with ivy and other twisting vines so that it was hard to make out a few delicate lines of script across its lintel. Overall, the elven road of which Gandalf had spoke so confidently seemed very poorly maintained.
Mirkwood certainly wasn't what I thought it would be. Instead of a rich forest I saw a dank, dark wood that felt wrong somehow. Looking up into the crowded branches overhead, I was struck by how… dead they looked. Many of the trees were sparsely leaved, and the leaves that were present were a sickly red-orange, drooping, crinkly-edged. I turned to Gandalf questioningly,"We go through there?"
No one could help being affected by the pervasive, heavy feeling, the edge of foreboding, that seemed a very miasma in the air filtering out of the pathway. Gandalf didn't look very sure and I rubbed Lightfoots neck for comfort, eying the woods distrustfully,"This wood feels... sick." The animal didn't seem to like this place either, and shifted restlessly under me. I soothed the horses, dismounting when Gandalf did. "Isn't there some way around this place?" Fili asked nervously, watching the stone arch anxiously as he dismounted also, and moved to help his brother do likewise.
"Not without going 200 miles out of our way to the north, or twice that distance... south." Gandalf hesitated frowning at the overgrown entrance. Leaving his horse to graze nervously nearby, the Wizard approached the old causeway, reaching out to touch the stone. If he'd expected to see some blatant sign, the was disappointed. But there were other, more subtle messages for those who knew what to look for. Deep stains in the once-fair stone, ragged edges where the rock had crumbled away. This wasn't merely the ravages of time.
Gandalf turned back to the others, deeply troubled. "Go straight through," he instructed, taking his horse's reins and mounting quickly. "Don't eat or drink of anything you find within the trees. And for your own sakes, don't leave the path. You won't find it again if you do."
I could tell something was worrying Gandalf greatly, that had nothing to do with the woods. Knowing how important he was to Middle-Earth I knew that if he had to leave, it was for a good reason. Some of the Dwarves still tried to persued him but he ignored them."I will meet you again on the other side, at the overlook near Dale." The Wizard's gaze fell on Thorin. "Whatever you do, don't enter that mountain without me." Thorin had dismounted, and leaving his pony for the others to unburden, he stalked over to Gandalf, dismayed, angry. Perhaps a little betrayed.
"What do you mean by doing this?" Thorin jabbed a finger at the Wizard's face. "How can you leave us at a time like this, send us into such a place while you ride off in the opposite direction?" His voice was low but intense, full of justified indignation. "What could possibly be so important?"
The Wizard looked distinctly regretful, conflicted, as though his heart would rather have remained with the Dwarves, but he had no choice but to leave. Recognizing that Gandalf wasn't doing this out of caprice, Thorin backed off a little, shaking his head. "You're truly going, then." He sighed, glancing back at me. "I recognize you are not part of the Company and never have been, but I'd hoped," his voice was lower now, a concerned dagger edged with something like fear, "you would be able to help us through this forest, at least. There are those whom I must protect, and entering such a place without you… gives me pause."
The old man bowed his head slightly, the wide brim of his pointed hat hiding his eyes for a moment. "If the need were not so urgent, I would not leave you in such a place." The Wizard paused and sighed. "I have faith, however, that you will lead your Company as well in my absence as you do otherwise. There is no dwarf who could do better." Gandalf's gaze landed on me and I grinned at him, forcing my worry away, "No worries Gandalf, I'll keep an eye on these hooligans."
Fili and Kili grinned at me while some of the others snorted. Gandalf looked slightly relieved, "I will meet you at Dale. May the Light of the Valar guide you, Thorin Oakenshield." And with that, he was gone, spurring his horse into a frantic gallop back the way they'd come. The ponies, already divested of their packs, followed him with a will, whinnying and snorting as they plunged away. It was as the line of ponies disappeared over the hill that I saw once more the enormous, shadowy silhouette of a great, shaggy black bear. He stood near a copse of trees, his muzzle turned in their direction, motionless. I gave him a nod, which Beorn returned before disappearing into the woods. "Allonsy," I murmured, feeling oddly safe under the gaze of their mysterious, but generous host.
Heaving my loaded pack onto my back I went up and smacked Kili on the shoulder, who was looking warily at the woods. He looked at me and I smiled to show we would be alright, "We'll be fine." He straightened his shoulders and I stepped back, knowing he would be fine.
Thorin exhaled heavily, turning back to the others. "Come on. We can't be caught out here after full dark. We'll make camp best we can once we've traveled a while within the cover of the trees."
The Dwarves exchanged hesitant glances, then finally shouldered their packs and trailed after Thorin. Going into that dark, smothering forest, without the Wizard didn't seem to appeal to anyone.
As we entered the gate, Thorin paused, turning back to look over the Company. "Listen well," he said, glancing at Dwalin in a way that said he'd rely on him to enforce the orders he was about to give. "I don't know just what sort of foul enchantment lies over this forest. We all feel it, plain as that, and I warrant it's nothing to be trifled with. Everyone will stay together; no straying from the path, no touching anything, no losing focus, no speaking in anything above a whisper. Gandalf said the forest would seek to lead us astray, and I don't intend to allow that to happen." He turned to Gloin. "Get the torches; we can light them in here without fear of being seen."
They were fine, sturdy torches, dipped in beeswax, and Beorn had provided enough for the whole Company, though Thorin said they'd only require three at a time. Even so, they sent a reassuring measure of the gloom skittering away to hide behind twisted trunks and gnarled branches. Less reassuring was the light dancing in the eyes of watchful beasts as the Company passed, and the distant snapping and rustling of bush and bracken. It was only at my word that none of the beasts I sensed but couldn't see, would not harm us that kept some of them from drawing their weapons right there. The forest was cold and damp and airless, more and more we pressed on, following a flagstone path nearly hidden by the encroaching undergrowth. I gazed out at the gloom, feeling like this wasn't a forest, but a tomb.
0o0
Finally, some two hours after entering the forest, Thorin called a halt. They'd reached something of a clearing, though it was only open at its heart, since the surrounding trees had spitefully linked branchy hands far above, denying the weary travelers even a tiny glimpse of the night sky. "Make a fire, and be quick about it," Thorin urged Gloin in an undertone, glancing apprehensively about. He turned to the others. "No one wanders off. Keep together, and don't leave the firelight. Rest."
As Gloin and Oin started a fire I paced the clearing, looking out at the dark and trying with all my might to get a sense of what was actually out there. I could sense squirrels high up in the trees but they also felt wrong. But what mostly made me uneasy was the feeling that we were being watched. Not sure what to think of this I heard Thorin call for hourly shifts and went back to the others, feeling my head pound and my heart sink. We had to get through this creepy forest, and my usual way of sensing an enemy weren't going to help me here. What was I going to do?
0o0
Days past into more days as we tromped through this stupid, ugly, nasty forest! My temper was boiling higher and higher as I had to wrangle the Dwarves constantly to stay on the path, to not eat all the food, or drink what was left of the water. Something in the air was affecting them, tho less with me. My head was a bit foggy, but nothing I couldn't work around. When we finally did lose the path because the group seemed to think it went another way and walked right off it before I could stop them and as I went after them I lost it too. Punching a tree to try and relieve my stress seemed logical. This forest was driving me mad with it's foreboding feeling, my urge to get the hell out of here, the feeling of being watched and a stabbing hunger in my gut from lack of food.
Then to make things worse we had to find a way to cross a stream that reeked of bad stuff because the bridge was gone. I snapped at Bofur, who wanted to get a drink, "Don't touch it!" This startled them all to look at me and I sternly said, "Gandalf said not to drink from this place!" The water seemed to be hissing or something that only I could hear. I eyed it warily as Bofur swayed near the edge, "Can we try to swim it?"
I rolled my eyes at him as Thorin explained that the stream was enchanted and I began to badger the Dwarves in finding another way over. We found some vines that were sturdy enough to hold us. But then they argued that the vines wouldn't hold and who was the lightest to send over. I proved they would hold by grabbing the first and started scrambling my way across before any of them could stop me. When I reached the land on the other side I scowled at the dumbstruck Dwarves and gestured. When they hesitated, I glared and the Dwarves hastened to follow.
I leaned against a rock as my head swam, trying to get my bearings. Thorin landed on the shore next to me Both Thorin and I froze when we heard a noise and looked behind us as a pure white stag came out of the trees. I got the feeling it was more than what it seemed and saw Thorin raise his bow, "NO!" but it was too late as he fire, missed and the stag ran off. I glared at him, "That's bad luck." He glared back, "I don't believe in luck. We make our own luck." Then I happened to glance at Bombur and yelled. But no one could grab him in time as he fell asleep and then fell into the water. The others scrambled to get Bombur out without touching the water. I got a bad feeling as Thorin yelled orders.
The others somehow got Bombur out without touching the water, made a stretcher of his cloak and some stout limbs. It took six of the Dwarves to carry him. I wasn't sure how much time passed as we trudged on until we paused to rest. That's when I noticed the cob webs. A chill went up my spine as whispers reached my ears. Then suddenly Thorin took off and I hollered, noticing him brush a web as the others followed. None of them seemed to hear me as I tried to stop them, getting shoved around as if they didn't see me.
Finally having enough I reached down, grabbed a rock and chucked it at Thorin's big stupid head. It slammed into the back of his head and he spun angrily around, opening his mouth to yell. Only to get a surprise when I smacked him across the face. This seemed to wake him up as I barked, "We have no idea where we are going!"
Smacking their leader seemed to wake up the others slightly, except for the snoring Bombur, tho I think it was mostly the noise. Then the group started arguing about how to find the path and Thorin finally said, "We need someone to climb a tree and look for the sun to tell us where we are. Who volunteers?"
When nobody readily did I yanked off my practically empty pack, "I will." Thorin, frowned but nodded at me, "Your the fastest. Make haste and tell us what you see."
I nodded, paused for a moment, "Sorry for hitting you with a rock, but you needed it." His beard twitched and then I was up the tree like a squirrel, grabbing limbs and pulling myself up as fast as my tired body could go. Until finally I broke through the spindly topmost boughs, and as I peered through the red-leaved branches, it was like breaking through a barrier. The air felt thin, clear, fresh after the stifling closeness beneath the canopy, and I breathed deeply, feeling as though I had been in some kind of half-sleep before, and was now fully awake. I had disturbed a number of dark-winged blue butterflies, which fluttered up gently from the reddish-bronze leaves. One alighted on my shoulder which brought a smile to my lips, which I felt I hadn't done in too long.
Then my attention was immediately drawn to the lone, mist-shrouded peak visible beyond the distant border of the trees. We were getting close. So very close! We needed only to continue in a north-easterly direction for a score or so of miles and they'd be through the woods and home free.
I took a deep breath, a knot loosening in my chest. It was more apparent than ever that the forest was ill, the air sick and heavy.
I wanted to stay under the blue sky in the fresh air but the others would be waiting, and I needed to tell them quickly what I had seen. I ducked back down beneath the canopy of red leaves, and the same heaviness I'd felt before once more descended upon my mind, a drowsy sort of fog that made it hard to think. It was so sudden, the change was almost jarring. I shook his head, trying to clear it a little, and growled, "Damn forest!"
I paused for a second to try and get my baring again when I saw movement in the corner of my eye. Instinct took over as I pressed my back against the trunk as a massive spider crawled right by me, unable to see me. I stood frozen in fear at the mere size of it! It was bigger than a horse! It clacked it's fangs together and I realized I could understand it! Having never tried to talk to spiders before.
It was saying, "No more food up here! Lets take our finds to the nest!"
It skittered down the tree and that's when I saw more spiders, dragging big wads of web behind them. With a jolt I realized as I counted them that they had the company! Shaking off my fear I lunged forward, jumping from branch to branch, careful not to touch the webs as I followed the spiders. My misdirection ability came in handy as I was unseen by the spiders but was barely keeping tem in sight as they moved pretty fast for such big creatures. But soon I caught up with them and hid behind a tree as I stared at the web infested trees full of huge spiders! The spiders hung their prizes up on the webs and I tried to see a way to help the Dwarves when I heard, "This one's plump and juicy," hissed one of the spiders, almost directly in front of me as it poked what was obviously Bombur.
The first spider cooed, "Ooh, look, it's still wriggling. Get those juices flowing, lovely. That's right."
"How long must we wait?" asked the second, "I'm hungry."
The first smacked it with a leg, "Mistress will not thank us for starting without her. If you don't want to be part of the meal, we wait." I guessed Mistress was the queen spider. If these spiders feared her, how big must she be?!
The second spider grumbled, "She better not take too long. I hate dead food." I felt a jolt of hope hit me like lightening. They were waiting. The Dwarves were still alive! Not about to wait for reinforcements I whipped out my blades and ran along the webs at the spiders. They turned when they felt the vibrations on their webs but still couldn't see me as I concentrated hard on my ability of misdirection. I was on them before they knew it and my twin blades cut off two legs on the spider on the right and my other blade plunged into the head of the other. As it fell I dodged the remaining flinging limbs and cut down that spider.
As it too fell I saw Bombur begin to wiggle. I cut the string of web holding him up and he began to sink to the ground. I raced to cut down the others, whispering encouragements at them, dodging spiders and killing as many as I could as I went. Once all of them were down I turned on the spiders, keeping them occupied as I spied my friends getting themselves free from their cocoons. Then I was slammed accidentally into a tree trunk as the spiders began to swarm after my friends. The spider that hit me was twice the size of the others! It must have been the Mistress because as soon as she felt me she turned on me I cut and hacked at her legs but some spiders got past me and the Dwarves took up arms to defend themselves.
Then I saw movement as the Mistress spider in front of me got shot dead by an arrow to the head and I froze, still invisible as Elves seemed to come out of no where and started attacking the spiders. I slipped down the tree, wondering if I should show myself until a haughty blond elf pointed an arrow at Thorin's face, "Don't think I won't kill you Dwarf, it would be my pleasure."
Then I saw that my group was surrounded by more Elves who were aiming arrows at them. Thinking over my next move, I realized we were horribly outnumbered. Then I heard a shout from Kili and nearly ran over to him until I saw a pretty, deadly red haired she-Elf take out the spiders attacking him. Then I saw his face when he looked at her and hid a smile.
I stayed where I was, unable to do anything but watch as the Elves searched my friends, disarming them. I was amused greatly when I saw how many sharp objects came off of Fili's person. My hackles rose when the pretty boy Elf who was obviously someone of higher status, took Gloin precious locket that had portraits of his wife and son, calling Gloins wife his brother and Gimli a horrid creature. Finding this very cruel I had to force myself to stay still. Then the Elf turned to Thorin and saw Orcrist. He demanded to know where Thorin got it and Thorin told the truth when he said it was a gift. The Elf called Thorin a liar and a thief. I nearly vibrated with anger at how my friends were treated by these uppity Elves! They were so unlike the Elves of Rivendell.
I must have twitched or something because the next think I knew a arrow shaft embedded itself into the trunk under my left ear. I froze, unmoving as the red haired she-Elf looked at me but I could tell as her eyes slid over me that she hadn't actually seen me, just movement. The blond Elf asked her, "Something there?"
She shook her head and turned away, "Nothing, must have been the wind."
Then at a barking word from the blond Elf, the elves surrounded my group, chained them together and started to hustle them along. I slipped down from the tree, silent and still invisible and followed them at a bit of a distance. None of the Elves noticed this and I followed them carefully. It seemed a short walk that took us to a different area altogether. The trees were spaced further apart, and the air was cleaner. There were no spiderwebs here, and the path became more or less visible as they crossed a bridge, which seemed to be made of an enormously thick root. The root was, in turn, connected to a gargantuan tree, the limbs and trunk of which were twined about a curved stone structure of elven make. The gates were open, but guarded by several armed, dark-haired elves. Their eyes gleamed strangely as they watched the Dwarves pass, their expressions enigmatic at best.
I concentrated even harder when the blond Elf paused as if he heard me and I slipped in between him and the gate right before he turned and walked in. I forced myself not to heave a sigh of relief before following the group once again. I didn't see Thorin torn away from the group, forced upward as the others were forced down. I had to dodge a group of Elves that seemed to be heading back out, armed to the teeth and then a group of Elves that were carrying food and linens. By the time I got around them I saw the group turn a corner, and quickly followed.
I had to be extra careful as the passageways got smaller as the Dwarves were shoved down in the dungeon and into separate cells. That's when I realized that Thorin was missing. I had to hide behind an stack of crates as I saw the red haired she-Elf push Kili in a cell and he saw his brother relieved of another knife and asked with a wicked grin, "Aren't you going to search me? I could have anything down my trousers." She gave him a blank look, "Or nothing." and shut the door. I had to bite my fist from laughing, especially when I saw Kili's face when she turned away.
The blond Elf and the red haired one exchanged words and I finally realized that her name was Tauril and the other Legolas. Then I looked at my companions. Dwalin was already throwing himself at the door as the others tried their own means of escape. But I knew deep in my bones that there was no escaping this place unless we had a miracle. Clenching my teeth I turned back to head further into the castle, "Time for me to dig up a miracle. And find Thorin!"
