Hello! Thank you so much for all my reviews, I am actually over the moon at how many I have! Over 300! EEK! Also this story has been viewed so many times and I am so happy! It was a great Christmas gift to receive such awesome reviews, although fanfiction wouldn't actually let me upload this on Christmas Day, which is very sad :P
I finally got the Extended Edition of AUJ which I watched while writing this, so forgive any mistakes that stemmed from my happy distraction!
Chapter Twenty One # Spider Ring #
Bofur had never been so miserable in all his life.
Two weeks had passed since the company left Beorn's home. It had taken four days for them to reach the wood, which meant they had been drowning beneath the stifling trees in the psychedelic (and probably psychopathic) forest without so much as a slither of sunlight for ten days now.
Under a mountain, a lack of sunlight was fine - the rock did not need the sunlight to exist. However, Bofur was pretty sure that most plants and animals - good ones at least - needed an ample amount of sunlight to flourish, and that made him wonder just what kind of plants and animals inhabited the forest of Mirkwood.
The worn path was often overrun by moss and grass, leaving the company to struggle to guess where they should be heading. Food supplies were already wearing low, and no one slept very much, the threatening darkness of the trees looming over them and chasing any sweet dreams away.
Bilbo Baggins seemed particularly hit by this new style of travel. Harsh rationing was very different from seven meals a day, Bofur noted, and a rough forest floor was never a decent substitute for a bed. From Bilbo's noticeable weight loss, Bofur guessed that there was a very good reason why hobbits had seven meals per day, and the hobbit's frequent chatter wore away to sporadic mutters.
Kíli also seemed to be struggling. The youngest dwarf's wounds were all but completely healed but the sunny mood brought about by his physical healing was being overshadowed by the lack of food and the dark forest, and though he tried to smile more than most of the others, Kíli tired quickly and often retreated back into himself.
Fíli was another who tried to smile, wearily running his hands through Kíli's hair when his brother started grumbling or murmuring calm words of assurance when his uncle began to snap at unsuspecting company members.
Bofur himself was one of his king's frequent victims, his weak attempts at lightening the mood being seen as irritating.
Thorin's shorter-than-usual temper was sparked often, though he was a little more wary of his tongue around Kíli, and to some extent Bilbo. Bofur knew that the king had no desire to irk his nephew further after the incident following the stone giants.
At least Thorin's complaints and reprimands made sense - Bifur's quiet mutters were as nonsensical as ever, though surprisingly Bofur's beloved axe-ridden cousin was one of the least agitated of the dwarves, and he seemed no more restless than usual.
The same could not be said for Bombur, who was not enjoying reliving the starvation of their impoverished childhood. The only thing stopping the rotund dwarf from eating all that he could was the fact that he kept slipping bits of his own food to the hobbit, alarmed by rate that Bilbo was losing weight. As far as Bofur could see, the company burglar was in no immediate danger, but that would not stop his brother, Dori and Kíli fussing over the exasperated hobbit as if he were made of glass.
Dori settled his nerves at being in the forest by keeping Ori no less than a hand's distance away at all times, scanning the forest around his brother with wide eyes and cautious pessimism – whenever he was not whining and moaning for the entire world to hear.
For his part Ori put up with his brother well enough, calmly obeying Dori's cautionary commands. Bofur was sure that the lad felt safer when closer to his brother anyway. The young scribe did, however take advantage of the eerie plant life, making numerous sketches in his journals whenever they stopped.
Nori on the other hand stayed as far away from his stifling sibling as he could during the day, though he placed his bedroll alongside Ori and Dori at night. The kleptomaniac had been picking pockets for days now, and Bofur had batted his friend away from his own pockets several times.
Dwalin did not take gladly to having his pipe or knives pinched during the day, but there was little he could do about it, especially with Dori around, so after retrieving his items (and everyone else's, to Nori's frustration) from Nori's hoard, he focused his glares and growls on the woods around him instead of the thief.
That Glóin's axe was constantly in his hands was hardly surprising, and much like Thorin, the banker's shorter than usual temper was felt often by the younger members of the company who dared to try and smile.
Largely due to his brother's snapping and the arguments it caused, Óin forsook his ear trumpet so as to muffle the whines and moans of the tiring company. Bofur wished that he could do the same, but there was little he could do aside from pulling the flaps of his hat down to block out any sound from his ears.
Balin chided him for doing that, though. Having attempted to cross Mirkwood before, both Balin and Dwalin were on high guard. The brothers were quieter than usual and more solemn, and they accepted no tomfoolery from anyone.
Not that anyone had the will or the energy for tomfoolery anymore.
Bofur sighed during one of their meagre breaks, slowly chewing a measly morsel of bread as the sounds of soft bickering came from behind him.
"No..."
"Kíli, eat it."
"It's yours, Bilbo-"
"No it's not, and I'm not going to starve anytime soon. Eat it, Kíli."
"No."
"Kíli..."
"No." The hobbit groaned. "Well, I'm not eating it."
"Fine."
For a long moment there was silence. Then-
"Bilbo, please..."
"Kíli..."
The following silence told Bofur that either father or son had won that particular little debate. He was not sure which, but he was too tired and hungry to care.
Put me on, the ring seemed to whisper. Put me on and never worry about your friends again. Put me on-
"Bofur!"
The miner blinked, meeting Bombur's eyes. "Aye?"
"Here." His brother passed him another thin crust of bread.
Bofur nodded gratefully and began to chew on that little morsel as well. When they were little, Bofur and Bombur had lived in abject poverty, and the miner had learnt from an early age that chewing the food as much as possible made it feel like they were eating just a little bit more.
"How much longer do we have to go?" Ori asked timidly, before stammering to justify himself. "I'm not trying to complain - I just want to know how long we'll need to ration for. If it's to be a while, we may have to rethink…"
"I cannot tell." It was Balin who answered. "We have no idea how far we are into the wood – I have never travelled this particular path."
"We could send someone up a tree?" Fíli suggested. "They could see how far we have to go."
"Oh, I'll go up a tree!" Kíli volunteered eagerly, but Thorin shook his head.
"No, to be of any use you would need to poke your head above the trees and the topmost branches would not hold you. Bilbo, on the other hand..."
The hobbit sighed regretfully. "Really? Oh, fine. Fine... I'm not half as good as Kíli, though."
Bofur noted Kíli's childish pout with slight amusement as the hobbit began to struggle up the tree. Apparently unsatisfied with his guardian's slow ascent, the youngest dwarf of the company swept forward and slung his hobbit over his shoulder, shooting up the tree like a monkey. Bofur roared with laughter as the hobbit yelped in protest.
Even Thorin smiled as he shook his head and the others laughed with Bofur while Kíli stopped, having climbed as far as he dared up the dwindling branches.
"There you are Bilb- ow!"
Bofur snorted as Bilbo hit his son.
"Idiot boy!"
"What can you see?" Dwalin bellowed.
"Wait a minute!" Bilbo returned, scrambling up higher.
The shout came shortly afterwards. "I, I can see the mountain! We have a long way to go, another two weeks or so maybe but we're on the right path! We're going the right way!"
"Excellent." Bofur crowed. "We might actually see the light of day again!"
"Burglar, Kíli, get down! We must move on!" Thorin shouted up, and Bofur watched Bilbo kick Kíli's 'helpful' hands away.
And so the walking continued, day after day, until they reached the river.
Oh, brilliant.
"So," Bofur summarised, "We can't leave the path – which ends here, but we can't touch the water of the river which is separating us from the rest of the path."
"Exactly…" Bilbo mused, rocking back and forth on his ankles with his hands on his hips, something that Bofur had recognised as a thinking habit from the hobbit.
"What do we do now?" Ori asked innocently, earning him a snarl from Glóin.
"Well if we knew that, laddie, we'd be doing it!"
"It was a simple question!" Dori snapped back, putting a hand on Ori's arm. The younger dwarf blushed but his brother was not done. "I don't see you offering any solutions!"
"I just said that there aren't any solutions, if you'd bother to take your braids out of your ears!" Glóin returned angrily.
"Alright, settle down." Thorin's voice was low and dangerous.
"I see a boat!" Fíli volunteered. "There, on the other bank!"
Kíli frowned in the direction his brother pointed. "Why is there a boat there?"
"Who cares, as long as we can use it?" Bofur chipped in, earning him a sharp look from the young prince.
"It could be a trap."
"From who, the elves? I thought you like elves, lad?"
"I don't think that the elves are the only things living in this forest…" Kíli said darkly, looking around.
"What you say makes sense, Kíli, but we should not linger." Thorin decided. "Bifur, get a grappling hook, we need to bring the boat over to this side of the river."
It took Fíli a couple of tries to sling the rope across, but eventually they figured out a way of moving the boat across the river. Bofur was not really concentrating, if he were completely honest with himself.
He was brought back into the conversation by his brother's load protests, though.
"I don't want to go last!" That Bombur was vocalising his protests at all was rare, but the vehemence of the protests let Bofur know that his brother was truly worried about being the last to cross the river.
"We cannot risk the boat collapsing under your weight before we all cross." Thorin said quietly, and Bofur put a hand on Bombur's arm.
"Don't worry, Bombur. You'll be fine."
Bombur glared at him in response, sitting down on a nearby rock with a heavy sigh.
Biting back a comment about how it was Bombur's own fault really, Bofur followed orders and got into the boat with Fíli and Kíli.
After an incident which almost involved Bombur falling into the river, the company sank down on the opposite river bank.
"Well, that could have been-"
"If you finish that sentence with the word 'worse', Bofur I'll skin you alive." Dwalin threatened, though there was an amused smile on his face as he said the words.
"I was actually going to say more comfortable." Bofur winked back.
"We move on." Thorin declared, and Bofur reluctantly dragged himself up onto his feet once more.
"I don't think I can do this for much longer…" Bombur murmured quietly to his brother as they settled down for the night. "It brings back too many memories…"
Bofur pulled out his pipe. "Aye…but we pulled through then and we'll pull through again."
"We did not all pull through then, brother."
Bofur paused, thinking of those they had lost to starvation, including their pregnant mother. "No… but we've no children among us now. We'll be fine."
Bombur just sighed.
Uneasy dreams plagued Bofur's sleep until he was woken by a weary Kíli for his watch. Automatically, the dwarf reached for the ring of gold in his pocket, finding himself strangely soothed by the cool metal band as he looked across their camp at his watch partner.
Nori nodded at him and went back to sharpening his knife.
As ever, whispers plagued the night and eyes seemed to stare out of the trees at them, but Bofur busied himself whittling away at a new piece of wood until his bladder beckoned. He stood off, stowing a knife in his belt and signalled to Nori, who nodded.
Bofur moved far enough into the trees to attain a little privacy while keeping a section of the path in sight. After relieving himself, he took the ring out of his pocket and admired it a little. It was such fine craftsmanship, without as much as a scratch on the surface of the beautiful band.
The miner had become very attached to his ring, despite his reservations about the strange strength of its hold over him. It was a pretty little thing…
He slipped the ring onto his finger, gasping as once again the world grew a little darker, the little light melting together and making the world a disconcerting blur of shades and shadows.
A strange scuffling noise drew his attention back to the camp and Bofur walked back towards his friends. If Nori was wrestling with Dwalin after trying to pick his pockets again Bofur would not be happy.
To his horror, the creature Nori was wrestling with was most certainly not Dwalin. Instead, his friend was struggling to stop his head being bitten off by the largest spider Bofur had ever seen.
Bofur let out a cry, but before he could physically do anything another spider crashed into him and sent him hurling into a tree. He would later feel very humiliated that a single blow to the head stole his consciousness, but at the time all Bofur could feel was pain as the world went black.
When he swam back to consciousness, Bofur was momentarily terrified that he was as addled as Bifur by the sheer haziness of the world, but he was quick to realise that he was still wearing the ring. Comforted slightly by the sense of immunity it gave him, Bofur kept the damned thing on his finger as he staggered into the deserted camp, staring at their deserted possessions. Grabbing a hold of his mattock, Bofur looked to the ground.
He was not a tracker, not in any sense of the word, but he knew enough to recognise the route that the spiders had taken his friends and kin.
Flinching as a spider scuttled past, Bofur broke into a run behind the foul creature stopping short when it slunk into a tree and started to poke at a large bundle of webs.
"So juicy…"
Bofur flinched as the spider's voice met his ears. Since when did he speak spider?
"Let's eat them now, while they're fresh!"
With a start of horror, Bofur realised that the bundles of cobwebs dangling from the trees were in fact his company.
Oh for the love of all things golden…
Bofur's terror grew as he realised that the largest bundle – the one now being prodded by the hideous creatures – must be Bombur. His heart pounding with the desperate desire to protect his brother at all costs, Bofur wracked his head for a plan. By Durin, he was only a miner, he had no idea how to devise tactical plans of any kind. All he knew was that there were four spiders there – at that precise moment – and that there was only one of him.
Abandoning reason for action, Bofur lunged forward and swung his mattock through the head of the spider attacking his brother, crushing its skull instantly. The other three spiders around him hissed and screeched, their spiky legs stabbing at the air around Bofur.
"What is it?" they screeched over and over, but Bofur knew better than to stay in one place.
He stepped between their legs with forced agility, wielding his mattock effectively and destroying all four of his foes while he was completely invisible.
Breathing heavily, Bofur began slicing through the webs engulfing his friends, working his way through the trees as quickly as he could even as he heard more spiders heading towards them.
"Wake up!" he yelled as he sliced through web after web, a jolt of relief shooting through him as the company began to struggle out of their silky bonds. Even as Bombur, Bilbo and Dwalin became fully free and managed to grab their weapons, dozens of spiders poured into the clearing and the attack began again.
Certain that there were no more dwarves dangling from trees, Bofur threw himself back into the fray, slashing and smashing his mattock at his foes with a sense of sick satisfaction.
"Bofur!" a familiar voice yelled in distressed Khuzdul. "Bofur, where are you?"
Not wanting to be seen appearing out of nowhere, Bofur looked around for Bifur, ducking behind a tree to pull the ring off as he yelled back. "I'm right here!"
A strange sound from his left drew his attention and he looked at Bilbo, who was staring at him as though he had grown an extra head.
A sense of dread flooded Bofur as the hobbit's eyes flew straight to the ring Bofur was sliding into his pocket.
Bilbo knew… Bilbo knew that the ring made him invisible.
It was Bilbo's ring…
Bofur's thoughts were interrupted by a spider lunging at the distracted hobbit, and Bofur lurched forward himself, automatically burying his mattock into the beast's head to protect his hobbit friend.
Without the benefit of invisibility, Bofur found himself more of a target for the spiders but he fought nevertheless, until an arrow embedded itself into the head of the spider above him.
An elven arrow.
Bofur gasped as what appeared to be a whole patrol of elves burst from the woods, shooting and slashing the spiders with wicked swords, warding them away from the company and the clearing. A rough hand grabbed Bofur's arm and he patted Bifur's hand quickly.
"Kíli!" Fíli's horrified scream met Bofur's ears and the miner turned to see a horrified Kíli scrambling away from a particularly large spider, throwing his hands above his face in a vain attempt to protect himself.
As sudden as a burst of lightening, an elven maid leapt from the trees and fought the spider away from Kíli, who stared at her in shock and wonder.
Even as the red headed warrior saved Kíli's life, however, it was obvious that these elves were not at all like the elves of Rivendell, and already the other dwarves were being rounded up as prisoners.
"Get off me!" Bofur yelled as an elf grabbed him from behind, holding him still so that his friend could wrench Bofur's mattock from his hands. "Get off!"
"Silence, dwarf!" the elf snarled, thrusting Bofur's hands in front of him so that the other elf could chain them together.
With a furious roar, Bifur lurched forward and punched the back of the elf manhandling Bofur, but in mere moments he was overcome by several other elves.
"Get off him!" Bofur yelled furiously, even as the depressing thought came into his mind. We're not getting out of this… We're not getting out of this.
Put me on, the ring seemed to whisper. Put me on, we can escape!
No, that's crazy! Bofur reasoned. I still have the chains on, if I disappear now it will be obvious!
That was when Bofur saw him. A hobbit crouched in a bush, watching with helpless wide eyes as his friends were led away.
Bilbo could not sneak past elves, but he could if he was invisible.
If I drop the ring now, he'll find it. Bofur knew. He could then help us…
No! He'll kill you for taking it and then he'll keep it for himself!
That's not important right now, Bofur argued with himself. What's important is keeping everyone safe.
He'll take it and run!
No he won't, this is Bilbo we're talking about.
You can't give it to him. It was his in the first place, that raises questions –
He can help us!
Kill him! Kill him!
"Oh, will you both shut up!" Bofur hissed at the voices in his head.
He knew that he had to make a decision, and he knew that he had to make it fast.
Unbeknownst to the dwarf, the 'simple' ring he was carrying in his pocket was panicking a little. It was currently in the hands of a dwarf – one of the most easily corruptible species on earth, when it came to treasure. In the hands of a dwarf, the ring knew that it could defile and destroy its carrier the same way that it had consumed Gollum. It had a tight hold over the dwarf already, the stupid creature should be physically unable to let the ring go…
Bofur steeled himself and made sure that no one was looking, before dipping his hand into his pocket and flicking out the ring, watching subtly as it bounced to Bilbo's nose. The hobbit snatched the gold band with a look to Bofur before vanishing.
Bofur kept his gaze there for a moment despite the sickeningly profound sense of loss he felt, hoping beyond hope that Bilbo could understand his clear intentions and his meangingfl stare.
We're all stuck in this here mess, Bilbo, and it's up to you to get us out of it…
Yay! Bofur's broken the ring's hold! I hope that was okay :) Bofur's possession of the ring may seem here brief and random but there is a greater reason for it, and as a teaser I will say that it links to the Battle of Five Armies :)
Wow, a whole chapter in Bofur's perspective, I hope you liked it!
See you soon; I hope you had a great holiday!
