Author's Note: Well looky there. Another scene from the book.

Chapter 20-Strange Enchantments

"The path goes this way."

Karra stared at the trees ahead of her, trying to collect her muddled thoughts into something coherent. Why was it so important which way the path went? Oh yeah…the path. Don't leave the path. Somebody had warned them not to leave the path. The wizard. What was his name? Silly her. She should be able to remember the wizard's name.

She finally just quit trying to collect her thoughts and focused on staying on the path. If she let her thoughts wander it was easy to simply walk right off into the seemingly endless forest. It was often hard to tell the difference between the path and the underbrush, and the air in the forest….the air in this forest…what about the air in this forest? She had been thinking something, but she had lost it yet again. Losing her attention for a moment, she stumbled forward and nearly fell to the ground.

She caught herself, trying to bring her attention back to the matter at hand. Follow the path. Keep your feet on the path. Stay on the path. She kept her eyes steadily fixed on the dwarf ahead of her. She realized vaguely that if he strayed from the path, so would she. She pressed her hands to her head with a groan, trying to clear her thoughts. "Get a grip," she mumbled. "This is silly. You can't let the forest affect you like this. Wake up!" she cried, realizing a minute later that everyone had heard her. All eyes turned her direction. "Nothing," she mumbled. "Just trying to get my sanity back. This forest…it's so…sleepy…like the air is sleepy." As if to prove her point, she let out a large yawn. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Time enough to stop for the night," Thorin said gruffly. "We will stop here, it's as good a place as any. Get some sleep, everyone." Karra sighed. Maybe stopping and resting a bit would clear her mind.

"Karra," Thorin ordered, "you will take the first watch." Karra nodded, not replying. She didn't have the energy to reply. Instead she sat with her head in her hands, trying to reclaim her lost thoughts. This was horrible. This forest…this sleepy forest…would it ever end? It was enchanted, there was no doubt about that. Would it keep them all wandering in circles until they died, never getting out, never feeling the clear air again…

She jerked upright, squeezing her eyes shut. Don't think that! Darn it, now the forest was planting unpleasant thoughts in her head. And it was worse when she had to keep watch at night. Everything was just so creepy here.

She turned around to see that everyone was settled and nearly asleep. She felt a shiver run down her spine. How much time had passed? How long had she been sitting here? What time was it, anyway? Was it even nighttime? What was happening in the outside world? It was beginning to seem as if the outside world didn't even exist anymore.

Trying to situate herself in a more comfortable position on the forest floor, she felt an unexpected stab of pain in her arm. Wincing, she settled herself back down carefully and unwrapped the bandage. Even though it was dark, she could see that the wound didn't look much worse than the last time she'd looked at it. But it didn't look better either. It was red and slightly swollen and when she touched it she felt a stab of pain. Opening her pack, she pulled out her water skin and poured some water into her hand. She hated to waste water like this, but if she didn't keep her wound clean she was afraid it would get infected—if it wasn't already. She washed it as best she could with what little water she could bear to use and rewrapped it, wincing slightly with the pain.

She shivered. It was suddenly very cold. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she stared out into the dark recesses of the forest, trying not to think of the eyes that were probably staring at her from between the trees. She was sure they were there; she had seen them before. She shivered again. It really was cold here. She felt odd little tingles run up and down her spine. "Brrr," she muttered.

And then she felt something being draped around her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize that it was a coat. "Thanks," she murmured, not having the energy to turn and see who it was that had given her the coat. She just pulled it closer about her. It did help a little. She stared out into the darkness again, trying to find something to think about other than the forest creatures that she knew were staring at her. She could think about home. Yeah, that sounded good. Her home seemed, in this forest, almost more real than the world she was in. She leaned back and stared up at the sky as if she could see it, trying to remember…she never wanted to forget her home…

"Why do you always have that key, daddy?" She stared up at him and reached her little fingers towards the key that hung around his neck.

"You will know more about that when you are older, little melhekh nathith," he said, laughing and patting her on the head. That was one of his little nicknames for her—he told her it meant princess. She giggled.

"Tell me a story, daddy," she said plaintively, looking up at him. She knew he couldn't resist her big, eager brown eyes.

He stroked her hair with a gentle laugh, but there was a hint of wistfulness in his voice as he began. "Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom, one of the greatest in the world, ruled by a great king. It was happy, healthy, and prosperous, until one day…"

"Karra."

Karra started and her eyes popped open. Someone had tapped her on the shoulder, she realized. Had she...oh gosh, she'd fallen asleep! And when she was supposed to be on watch! She sat up quickly. "I'm sorry!" she cried. "I just…I didn't mean to! I…" Her voice trailed off and she saw Fili standing there. His face was serious.

"You know, something or someone could have attacked and killed us all while you were asleep," he said quietly.

Karra dropped her gaze. "I'm really sorry," she mumbled. "I…I don't know what to…" She looked back up at him. "I'm sorry?" she said. He just looked at her for a moment, then a grin broke the serious expression and he began to laugh.

"I've been keeping watch for you for the last hour," he said. "Go on, I'll take your place." Relieved, Karra grinned back at him.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "I don't know exactly what happened. I mean, I've never fallen asleep on watch before…"

"Don't worry about it," Fili cut in. "I won't tell Thorin." Karra, still a bit stiff from sleeping sitting up, got to her feet, realizing as she did that she still had the coat draped around her shoulders.

"Oh," she mumbled, slipping it off. "Whose is this?" Fili just looked at her for a moment, and realization dawned on her. "It's yours, isn't it? You gave me your coat?" He nodded slightly, a gentle smile on his face. She tried to hand it back to him. "Um…you can have it back." She realized a moment later how ungrateful that must have sounded, and stood there awkwardly with the coat draped over her arm.

Fili smiled again. "You can keep it. It is cold here."

"Oh. Thanks," Karra murmured. "Um…well…goodnight." She turned quickly and walked back over to the fire, slipping into her bedroll with a sigh. Now she really could go to sleep. And dream about her father again.

Karra stared blankly out at the trunks of the trees surrounding them. Could it only have been last night that she had fallen asleep on watch? It felt like two weeks. Maybe it had been two weeks. It was so hard to keep track of time here anyway. Maybe they had been in here for a year and didn't know it. Maybe they had missed their only chance to find the hidden door. Maybe…

"Karra. Your turn to lead."

Karra jumped and snapped out of the thoughts. They had been taking turns leading all day…it was so easy to lose your concentration and just wander off that it was best to switch out every so often. With a sigh, Karra took her place at the head of the line. No sooner had she done that than her foot caught on a rock and she found herself sprawled on the ground. She tried not to wince as she felt a flash of pain through her tender arm.

"Are you alright?" asked Fili, apparently having seen the quick look of pain that flashed across her face.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said hastily, getting to her feet. There was no way she was going to admit how painful the wound on her arm really was; not after she had been keeping it a secret for this long. Making sure to keep her eyes on the path, she continued on, trying not to make a big deal of her clumsiness.

Soon it became almost mechanical. One foot in front of the other, keep your eyes on the path, don't be clumsy, one foot in front of the other. She had pretty much ceased all thought when something unexpected happened. She was walking along, her eyes dutifully on the path, when suddenly there was no path. She was looking straight down into a deep, dark river.

She jumped back. "Wait, everyone stop!" she cried, throwing her arms out to keep the nearest dwarf from walking past her and into the river. Everyone stopped rather too quickly, and someone ran into her. "There a…a river," she explained.

One of the dwarves stepped forward and stared at the dark water. "This must be the river that the wizard warned us about," he said. Karra couldn't help a little wry grin. So she wasn't the only one who kept forgetting the wizard's name.

"How are we to get across?" questioned Fili.

At least we're not all too befuddled to ask valid questions….

"It appears that there was once a bridge," observed Balin. It was true. Karra poked at the rotting timbers with her foot.

"A lot of good that will do," she said scornfully. "A bridge isn't any good if you can't cross it."

There was a moment of silence as they all stared gloomily across the foreboding river.

"Well this isn't going well," Karra said presently. "C'mon, guys! Can't we think of any way to get across?"

"Wait…wait..." Bilbo peered through the gloom to the other side. "I…I think I see something."

"What do you see?" someone exclaimed. For some reason Karra just couldn't think of his name. Bif…Bo…Bom…it started with something like that. He had a hat….augh! This forest! First the wizard, and now a dwarf? Would she forget her own name next?

"…a boat!" Bilbo was saying. "I do believe there's a boat over there."

"Well, that's a development," Karra said dryly. "But it had to be on the other side."

There was another short moment of silence. Then Kili reached into his pack and pulled something out.

"I can throw a rope," he offered. Karra nearly burst out laughing at the please-let-me-help expression on his face. He gave her a look that pretty much said, what's so funny? She suppressed a grin. It certainly couldn't hurt.

Someone mumbled something about the boat being tied, but Kili ignored him and tied a loop in the rope and threw it anyway. It landed in the water with a splash and several dwarves groaned.

"Let me try, brother," Fili offered, taking the end of the rope and pulling it back in, careful not to touch the end that had touched the water. He threw it again, and this time it caught. But as he pulled, it slid loose and he found himself pulling in a piece of wood instead of the hoped-for boat. Just as he was gearing for another throw the boat began to drift. Not taking much time to actually aim, he just desperately tossed the rope in the general direction of the boat before it drifted out of their sight down the river and disappeared forever.

The rope caught, but just barely. "Quick, pull!" ordered Thorin. Several other dwarves including Karra grabbed the rope and tugged as hard as they could. For a moment it seemed the rope would slip off and leave them with no way to cross the river, but finally they managed to maneuver the boat back the bank of the river.

For a moment they just stared at the old, dilapidated thing. It didn't even look like it could reasonably still be floating. "Who will cross first?" someone eventually asked, a bit hesitantly.

"I will," Thorin said. "And Bilbo and Fili, you will go with me. Gloin, Balin…" And he divided them all up into groups of twos or threes, for that was pretty much all the boat looked like it could hold. Karra was last, with Bombur. Great. I get to ride with the sinking hazard.

Karra plopped down on the bank and watched as the one by one, the groups piled in and rode across. Between Bilbo and Fili they had managed to come up with some sort of system to hook the rope to a tree across the river and use it like a pulley. Karra wasn't even sure how it worked, but evidently it did. She rested her head in her hands and stared out into the forest. It would take a while for everyone to cross…maybe for just a minute….

Her head jerked upright and she opened her eyes. Bombur was the only other dwarf left on this side of the river, and he seemed to be ready to board the boat. She jumped to her feet and ran forward. How long had she been asleep?

She let Bombur help her into the boat. Ordinarily she probably would have protested that she was perfectly capable of stepping into a boat herself, but this time she was too nervous about falling into the enchanted river. She could feel the boat sink a little in the water as Bombur stepped in after her and put his full weight down. She stood nervously as the boat was pulled forward. She couldn't shake the feeling that as the last group across, something bad was bound to happen.

The boat was pulled up safely on the other side with no incident. Fili and Kili reached forward to help Karra out, and just as she had grabbed Kili's hand, something did happen. There was a sudden crash in the underbrush, and a large white shape appeared out of the trees. Turning suddenly, Kili let go of Karra's hand and set an arrow quickly on his bow. Karra found herself slipping—down the bank—towards the river. With a little gasp of fear, she threw her hand desperately upward, grasping for anything. She felt someone grab it, and then she was sitting on the bank, breathing hard.

Taking a moment to recover her senses, she heard a noise in the distance. Glancing its direction, she saw something or someone fleeing through the trees. It must be that…well, whatever it was that had just run by and almost gotten her drowned. She glanced back towards the water, wondering vaguely what would have happened had she actually….

Wait.

What?

Bombur! "Bombur!" she cried. "Bombur fell in! He's drowning!"

All heads turned her direction. And then everything was happening at once. "Throw him the rope!" someone shouted. A rope flew past her, and she almost had to jump out of its way. It fell with a splash beside Bombur. His hand reached weakly up and grabbed for it. With a little skillful manipulation, Fili managed to hook the rope around his wrist and several of the dwarves tugged. Bombur slid up the bank, apparently still half conscious, for he struggled a little, not helping the dwarves that were hauling him in the least. Finally they managed to pull him up onto the bank, panting.

He began to snore. He was totally unconscious now, and no amount of poking or tapping jabbing one's foot into his side would wake him. They all just stood there for a moment, staring at the sleeping form.

"Why did it have to be Bombur?" Oin groaned presently. "Now we'll have to carry him!" That produced a groan from everyone, but they began to scurry around looking for something they could carry him on. Finally they managed to pull together a rickety stretcher from some sticks and cloth and stuff they found in their packs. And then they were moving again. Karra was glad she didn't have to carry the stretcher first, but she was sure her turn would come.

And it did. Over the next couple of days everyone had their fair share of carrying the heavy stretcher. It made for slower going, and if possible, the days began to seem even longer. Karra was beginning to seriously wonder if they were really just going in circles, hopelessly lost with no way out. Were they even on the path anymore? Sometimes she forgot there even was a path.

And so it went, on and on into the endless forest.

A little shout-out to my reviewer Knowing Grace for helping me with that dwarven word. It means 'king's daughter', which was the closest thing I could find to 'princess'.