Chapter 18:

In the morning, we all got up and stared apprehensively at the forest. "Do we really have to?" I asked Gandalf, hoping I didn't sound whiny and just nervous.

"Yes, Freya," replied the wizard, looking unusually grave. "Not unless you wish to go two hundred miles that way -" he pointed north, "and meet a great deal of Orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins of the worst description on the slopes of the Grey Mountains. Or you could go twice that distance that way -" he pointed south, "and go to the home of our resident Necromancer."

I sighed. "A simple yes would've been fine."

"But then you would not have seen the actual reasons of why you have to go through Mirkwood."

His wording was not lost on the dwarves, but I was the only one who spoke up. "Whaddaya mean, 'you have to go through Mirkwood'? Aren't you coming, too?"

"I have business elsewhere, Freya," replied Gandalf. A harder edge came into his voice as he added, "Thorin Oakenshield's Company and their quest for the Lonely Mountain are not my only responsibility, Freya. And neither are you my major priority."

Stung, the rest of us watched as Gandalf took Bilbo aside and started to talk with him. I still don't know what he said. However, I assumed it had something to do with a small, golden band of metal that Bilbo had in his pocket. This was judging by the amount of fidgeting from the hobbit and the fact that his hand kept straying towards his pocket and fingering something inside.

"What d'you think is in his pocket?" asked Kili, following the same wavelength as me.

"I dunno," I said evasively. "It must be something he picked up in – underground."

Kili raised an eyebrow at me, but I didn't elaborate.

Just then, Gandalf came over and drew me aside. "Oh, I get a turn?" I asked him.

"You are an unexpected traveller in this venture," replied the wizard.

"Uh-huh," I said. "And Bilbo is, too?"

Gandalf hesitated a moment too long. "No," he replied. "But -"

"Don't," I told him, holding up my hand. "You didn't talk to Bilbo because he's an unexpected traveller, like I am, which is why you're going to talk to me. You were talking to him about -" I lowered my voice and pulled him further out of the dwarves' earshot, "The Ring."

Gandalf sighed. "And you know about this how?"

"The books, remember? They're called Lord of the Rings for a reason, you know!"

"Right. Well, I am trusting Moonshadow to keep you out of trouble, my dear. And you to keep the dwarves from the same. Please try not to let them leave the path!"

And with that, he strode back to the group and began informing them that they should not leave the path, that they would most certainly die if they did, blah blah blah.

Meanwhile, I stood off to the side. I leaned against Moonshadow, scowling that Gandalf couldn't trust me to look after myself. As I watched, Gandalf briefly pulled Kili a few metres away from the mass of dwarves and whispered something to him. My scowl deepened as I saw them both glance in my direction, then Kili nodded and Gandalf smiled. He seemed to say, "Good lad," or something like that. Beats me.

Then the wizard mounted his own horse and started riding away. When he was a blip on the horizon, determined to have the last word, we all heard him yell, "AND DON'T LEAVE THE PATH!"

I growled and mounted Moonshadow. The dwarves looked at me oddly. "What?" I snapped. "I'm not walking the whole freaking time we're in there!"

And so we started on the path into the dark, overhanging branches of Mirkwood.

I shivered as we passed a particularly gnarled tree. "What's wrong?" Kili asked, walking beside where Moonshadow was plodding along.

"It's the trees," I explained. "They seem like they're...alive."

"Trees are alive," he pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. "Well done, Sherlock. Yes, they are, but these ones – it's not a normal tree's kind of alive-ness. These ones are more aware. They're ancient. And unfriendly."

"How can you tell?"

I shrugged. "I can just sense it. Can't you?"

He cocked his head as he walked, as if listening. After a few moments he shrugged and shook his head. "Guess not."

I frowned and urged Moonshadow forward a bit.

But I soon realised that it was hard not to go ahead of the dwarves while riding.

It had been so many days since we'd entered the forest, I'd lost count. Our food supplies were waning, and we'd already crossed the horrible river in the middle of the woods. This involved me leaping across on Moonshadow at a gallop (he can jump quite far, you know) and promptly being told when the others reached me that the horse should carry Bombur, who was now sleeping after a dip in the water.

To make a long story short, Moonshadow almost threw me off and they took that to mean no.

"Will you hurry up?" I called back exasperatedly after the dwarves had lagged a good fifty yards behind.

"Well, excuse us, Freya, but we're not all riding horses!" yelled Bofur in reply.

I made a face over my shoulder at him and continued to plod along. I was so incredibly bored, just walking through the woods, that I actually started to fall asleep on Moonshadow's back. As matter of fact, it wasn't even starting – I remember dreaming nostalgically about some of my favourite foods, back home – chocolate chip pancakes, spaghetti, fish and chips. The pancakes I had discovered in the States.

Next thing I knew, I heard a yell and was jarred back to full wakefulness. "Wha – pancakes!" I blurted, surprised to suddenly find an annoyed horse glaring down at me.

I heard a snigger in my ear and turned my head to find, to my mortification, that Kili had caught me before I hit the ground.

"What?" I snapped, feeling my ears turn red. "Have you never fallen off a horse?"

"Actually, no," replied Kili with another snigger.

I stuck my tongue out at him and jumped out of his arms. "What do you know?" I muttered. In my annoyance and embarrassment, I unsheathed both of my swords and moved to attack a tree.

"Nope!" yelped Kili suddenly, grabbing my wrists. I almost dropped the blades in surprise, then opened my mouth to yell at him.

"You can't tell me what to do, Kili Oakenshield!" I screamed, ripping my arms out of his grip. My cheeks burned as the heat of fresh embarrassment hit them, and now he had made the mistake of getting me mad. "I can attack whatever I want, and you better be careful, 'cos next it might be you!"

I must admit, I must have looked terrifying, with my bright red face, hair all askew, my teeth bared in a snarl as I shouted, not to mention the swords. After all, Kili backed up a step. I felt a lump growing in my throat for no apparent reason as all of the dwarves stared at me. Kili especially was giving me a look like he'd never seen me before.

I shoved my swords back into their sheaths and leaped on top of Moonshadow, spurring him into a gallop – and for him, a gallop is very fast indeed. As the trees blurred around us, I thought I heard Kili's voice yell, "Freya! Wait!" but we were already gone.

Getting closer to that kiss! Please review!