Author's Note: Well, I feel like I've been kind of neglecting Bilbo lately. So here you go, more Bilbo.

Chapter 22-Bad Things Happen

Karra stared at her feet as she plodded along the path. She had given up looking through the trees, trying to find some indication that the world outside still existed, as there never was any, and hadn't been for…well, Karra didn't know how long it was since she had last seen the sun. The only evidence that there was a sun anymore was the fact that there was light in the forest. And even that was dim enough to make one sleepy.

She didn't see the tree until she ran into it with a jolt. Peeling herself from the hard, poky bark with a wince, she looked around and realized that she didn't see anyone. She looked at her feet and realized she wasn't standing on the path anymore, either. She was just opening her mouth to call out when she heard a noise.

"Are you alright?" She recognized the voice to be Bilbo's before she turned to see him standing there. She sighed with relief.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she mumbled, not wanting to admit that she had just slammed headfirst into a tree and almost gotten lost. She could be so terribly clumsy, and this forest only made it worse. She further proved this point by catching her foot on a rock and nearly falling into the hobbit's arms. "I'm fine," she said again with a little embarrassed laugh. She let Bilbo take her hand and lead her back to the rest of the group, glad he that seemed to know where he was going.

"Karra." Bofur—oh good, she had actually remembered his name this time—tapped her on the shoulder. "Your turn." Without so much as asking if she was ready, he unceremoniously handed her his corner of Bombur's stretcher and walked on ahead.

"Well, thanks!" she called after him, situating the stretcher on her arm. It wasn't like he could have helped her position it or anything.

Walking along, she tried not to grumble. If there was one thing the entire company was good at, it was complaining, and she tried not to add too much of her voice to that chorus. They groused about everything, from the growing lack of food to having to carry Bombur's heavy stretcher. Karra had tried to reason that they didn't have to feed him, so they shouldn't be complaining about both things, but no one listened. They just kept complaining.

"We stop here for the night." Thorin's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"We stop where for what night?" she heard Kili grumble. "I can't even tell whether it's night or not." She jabbed him in the side with her free elbow, whispering,

"Well, don't try to convince him not to stop!"

It felt good to be able to put her corner of Bombur's heavy stretcher down and rest. Considering her work done after setting up her bedroll, she plopped down against a tree and began to unwrap the bandage on her arm. Sometimes it seemed as if it grew more painful every day, but perhaps that was just another illusion of this forest.

The wound didn't look any worse, but then again, it didn't look any better. She sighed and reached for her water flask to wash it again, but decided against it. She probably shouldn't be using their dwindling water supply for something like this. So with another heavy sigh, she rewrapped the bandage again, wishing she had another, cleaner one to replace it with.

She had just finished when she heard her name being called. She wandered over to the campfire for what she supposed was dinner, though by now, it was little more than a handful per person. She took bites slowly, trying to fool herself into thinking it was more than it was. Of course, that never worked. It tasted stale, too.

The fire began to burn low, its flames dulled by the air in this forest. Apart from the occasional one-or-two word exchange, the group was silent. The dwarves eventually began to drift off to their bedrolls, and some fell asleep around the fire. Karra found herself not wanting to get too far away from the flames. It was a bit chilly and she liked the security the light gave her. So, tiptoeing over to her bedroll, she dragged it near the fire.

She lay staring into the flames for what seemed like hours, though she could never actually tell how much time had passed in this forest. She just couldn't get to sleep. She thought she saw eyes peeking out from between the trees. Trying to ignore them was pointless. But if she looked their direction, half afraid of catching their owner's attention, they would be gone. She tried rolling over, but she could see them in that direction too. Closing her eyes still left her with the eerie feeling of being watched.

Her eyes popped open. She was being stared at! Two of the largest yellow eyes she had seen yet were staring at her from between two trees that were disconcertingly close. She jumped and sat up. These eyes didn't go away when she stared back, and she just sat there for a moment, half afraid she had caught herself in a staring match with some dark creature of the forest.

Finally managing to tear her eyes away from the beast, whatever it was, she carefully crawled out of her bedroll and tiptoed towards the lone figure keeping watch. It seemed it was Bilbo's turn. Feeling a little glad she didn't have to show her nervousness to one of the dwarves, she sat and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and turned, obvious relief showing on his face when he recognized her.

"Need some company?" she asked quietly.

"That's always welcome," he replied.

"Thanks." The eyes were less disconcerting when she wasn't alone, even if it was only Bilbo who sat beside her. Glancing the other direction, she noticed the two large ones that had been staring at a minute ago had disappeared. She sighed with relief.

"What's wrong?" Her thoughts were interrupted by Bilbo's voice.

"Nothing. It's just…" her voice trailed off for a minute. "There's eyes in the forest. And they're all staring at me."

Bilbo put a hand on her arm. "I saw them too," he said gently. "But they always disappear when I look at them. I think they might be scared of us."

"Well, I guess it goes both ways," Karra grumbled. "Because I'm scared of them too." It felt good being able to admit being scared. She always hesitated admitting fear in front of any of the dwarves, even Fili or Kili. "Are we ever going to get out of here?" she said softly, almost to herself.

"I certainly hope so!" replied Bilbo, staring out into the darkness. "At least we seem to have stayed on the path so far, so we're bound to be going somewhere."

"Careful!" exclaimed Karra. "You'll jinx us."

Bilbo looked at her. "What?"

Karra shook her head. "Nothing." Me and my modern-day-earth-isms.

For a while they sat silently, both starting into the recesses of the forest. Karra found herself beginning to get sleepy. She should probably go back to the fire now…

She awoke with a start. It was morning; or at least, it was lighter now and the eyes were gone. Looking around her, she noticed that everyone else seemed to be awake. She groaned and sat up. Why did she always seem to be the last one to wake up? Yawning, stretching, and getting to her feet, she wandered over to the now burnt-out campfire where everyone else had gathered. As she sat down in the circle, she found a couple of pieces of food being pressed into her hand.

"And that's nearly the last of it, if you must know," Balin snapped. Karra stared. Balin was never crabby. But then again, nearly everyone was getting crabby after so long in this forest, even Fili and Kili and Bilbo. She had been crabby ever since they had entered the forest, she thought guiltily.

Soon they were on their way again. Karra was glad not to have to carry the stretcher right off. Her arm didn't hurt too much if she didn't use it and just let it hang at her side.

The day progressed slowly, as usual. They didn't stop for lunch, for it seemed they didn't really have any lunch. Karra resisted the urge to pick a leaf and try to eat it. Who knew what kind of poison was hidden in the trees in this forest?

Soon enough, it was Karra's turn to carry a corner of Bombur's stretcher. To her chagrin, she was asked to take the left side this time. She accidentally took hold of it with her right arm and had to bite her lip to keep from crying out in pain. Quickly switching to her left arm, she let her bad arm drop to her side. It was a little awkward this way, so with some maneuvering, she managed to balance the stretcher on her left shoulder, hoping no one would notice her fumbling with it.

All of a sudden, the stretcher began to move. She jumped and nearly dropped it, as did the other dwarf carrying it. They carefully set it on the ground and found Bombur sitting up, blinking. "Where am I?" he grumbled.

The entire procession of dwarves stopped and stared. Bombur was awake!

"Well, what's wrong?" snapped Bombur. "Shouldn't we get moving so we can get out of this confounded forest?" And without further ado, he stood and stepped off the stretcher, seeming confused about why it was even there.

"I'm hungry," he grumbled, shaking himself off. "Any food around here?"

Everyone stared at him for the second time that day. One of the dwarves gave a shake of his head, and the company began to move again.

"Don't see why I had to wake up," Bombur muttered to himself as he stumped along. "I was having a wonderful dream about a banquet…"

Everyone groaned. "Well, for goodness sakes don't tease us about it!" Karra cried. They walked in silence for a moment. "So…" Karra said. "What kind of food were they serving at this banquet?"

"You told me not to talk about it," grunted Bombur.

"Fine. I didn't really want to hear about it anyway," retorted Karra, moving ahead so she didn't have to walk beside the big grumpy dwarf.

And so they walked on. And on. And on. It was beginning to seem like it should be night now, or even past night. Maybe they had been walking for two days and didn't know it. Bombur threw in the occasional grumble, but otherwise it was silent, and the silence was beginning to wear on Karra's nerves. She was developing a throbbing headache, which perfectly coordinated with the throbbing in her arm to make her miserable. Everything combined made it feel like she was going to stifle.

Suddenly and without warning, she stopped, bumping into the dwarf in front of her. There was a moment of confusion, as the dwarves all found themselves running into each other. "What happened?" Karra cried, and her voice sounded louder than she thought it would. She jumped.

"Why have we stopped, Nori?" Thorin asked sternly, addressing the dwarf in front.

"The path…" Nori mumbled. "It's disappeared!"

"What's going on?" someone grumbled from the back of the group.

"We've lost the path!" cried Oin. His voice seemed to echo a little, accentuating his despair, but maybe that was just another illusion.

Karra looked down. The ground beneath her feet certainly didn't look like a path. It just looked…suddenly she realized she was standing near the edge of a cliff. A very tall cliff.

A wave of dizziness swept over her. She jerked back. As if from a distance, she heard Thorin calling, "All of you look for the path!" She turned, and, keeping her eyes away from the dizzying cliff edge, stumbled off in a random direction. She had no idea where she was going, but at least she was doing something.

Weaving her way clumsily through the underbrush, she kept her eyes on the ground. How would she know if she'd found the path? What if it was overgrown and unfindable? What if they kept wandering in circles here forever? We're lost. She couldn't shake the thought. She noticed briefly as she watched the ground that she was taking very uneven steps, and she probably wasn't even going in a straight line. She suddenly slammed into something and looked up to see a dwarf.

It took a moment to register in her mind that this was one of their company. He stood holding a pouch, staring at it confusedly.

"A tobacco pouch," he said, and his words sounded slightly slurred. "There's dwarves in these woods."

"Dwarves from the blue mountains, no less," observed another dwarf who was also standing there. What was his name again? Karra couldn't quite remember. "This is exactly the same as mine," he said, snatching the pouch.

"Because it is yours!" cried Bilbo, almost shaking him. Where had the hobbit come from? Karra hadn't remembered seeing him before. "Don't you see?" His voice held a hint of desperation. "We're going in circles! We're lost!"

Lost. Lost! The word echoed through Karra's mind. No! They couldn't be! They couldn't have gotten too far away from the path! Seeing a slight opening in the trees, she ran towards it, but it disappeared as soon as she reached it. To her right, she saw another opening, and half realizing she should know better, she followed it. And once again, it was nothing.

Looking behind her, she found that she couldn't see anybody. She turned quickly and headed back, trying to quell her rising panic. She couldn't get separated from the group. She couldn't. Hearing a noise to her right, she headed towards it. It didn't sound like an animal. At least, not any animal she had heard so far.

"Hello?" she called, but there was no response. "Hello? Who's there?" The noise just grew louder, and she ran towards it, not even thinking anymore. She didn't know who or what she was following, she just knew she was doing something.

The sound increased ahead of her, and she felt sure she would catch up to it soon. She stumbled into a small clearing, and suddenly it was silent. She looked around and saw nothing. She looked around again, her thoughts numbed. Nothing! She dropped to her knees in exhaustion and discouragement. Had she just spent precious time following a false lead? Or something more dangerous? She swept her eyes around the clearing again, her head spinning. She still saw nothing. It had only been an animal!

"Help!" she cried. "Help! Somebody!" But there was no answer. "Fili? Kili? Balin? BILBO?" She heard nothing, and her cries were swallowed up in the stifling darkness of the forest.

She was lost and alone in Mirkwood.

I have nothing to say about this chapter. Umm…if you review I'll give you Bilbo? ;)