D: I only own my OC
AN: Not my favorite chapter, the next one will be a lot better. I promise ;)
"The Elven Gate. Here lies our path through Mirkwood." The ponies stepped nervously up to the forest, whining with fear.
"No sign of the Orcs. We have luck on our side."
"Set the ponies loose. Let them return to their master." The elf slid unceremoniously to the grass, drawing Thorin's eye.
"This forest feels...sick, as if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" Bilbo was right, the forest was sick. Sick with darkness that loomed everywhere. It was already giving Valaira a headache.
"Not unless we go two hundred miles north, or twice that distance south."
Both Gandalf and Valaira heard Galadriel's words in their ears. "Something moves in the shadows unseen, hidden from our sight. Every day it grows in strength. Beware the Necromancer. He is not what he seems. If our enemy has returned, we must know. Go to the tombs in the mountains."
Gandalf nodded then looked at Valaira. She agreed, Gandalf will go to the tombs, she will stay with the dwarves. She was longtime friends with the King of Mirkwood. And if they happened to cross paths with the wood elves, she could, hopefully, avoid conflict.
"The High Fells. So be it. Not my horse! I need it." Gandalf called before his horse was released.
Shocked murmurs were passed around the company.
"You're not leaving us?" Bilbo asked, bewildered.
"I would not do this unless I had to. Valaira will remain and guide you through the forest."
Valaira watched Gandalf and the hobbit exchange a few words.
"You've changed, Bilbo Baggins. You're not the same Hobbit as the one who left the Shire."
"I was going to tell you; I...found something in the Goblin tunnels."
"Found what?"
Gandalf leaned forward with interest, and Valaira saw the Halfling fumbling with something in his pocket. "What did you find?"
"My courage." The hobbit said after a moment.
"Good. Well, that's good. You'll need it." Valaira eyes the small man suspiciously, he was definitely hiding something.
"I'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor. Keep the map and key safe. Do not enter that mountain without me." Gandalf gave Thorin a hard look before he rode off.
"This is not the Greenwood of old. The very air of the forest is heavy with illusion. It will seek to enter your mind and lead you astray."
"Lead us astray? What does that mean?"
"You must stay on the path; do not leave it. If you do, you will never find it again."
"No matter what may come, stay on the path!"
Valaira took the lead, but she had an ill feeling about the greenwood. More than a feeling, she could see abnormal shapes floating through the trees. She could hear strange whispers but could not find their source. Walking into the forest seemed like she was walking into a nightmare.
"Come on. We must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin's Day."
"Durin's Day. Let's go!"
"This is our one chance to find the hidden door."
In the first few steps beyond the archway, Valaira's mind became clouded, muggy, and sluggish even. It was a strange dark magic that seemed to affect her more than the others. Maybe she should have taken Gandalf's place and ventured to the High Fells.
After an unknown amount of time, Valaira fell back and motioned for Thorin to lead on. The darkness wasn't affecting him.
"The path goes this way." Thorin noticed the stone slabs turn abruptly.
"This way."
"Air. I need air." The dark magic was started to distort the dwarf's minds.
"My head, it's spinning."
"What's happening?"
"Keep moving. Nori, why have we stopped?"
"The path...it's disappeared!"
"What's going on?"
"We've lost the path!"
"Find it. All of you look. Look for the path!"
Bilbo noticed something strange about the elf. Her normally silvery colored eyes had darkened to a gray color.
"Are you alright?" He asked Valaira. The elf turned her unfocused gaze to the hobbit and seemed to look right through him, like he wasn't even there. She didn't answer him either.
"I don't remember this place before. None of it's familiar."
"It's got to be here."
"What hour is it?"
"I do not know. I don't even know what day it is."
"Is there no end to this accursed place?"
As the dwarves are trying to find the path again, Bilbo finds a spider web. Not just a normal spiders web, this one seemed to extend throughout the entire forest, there was so much of it. He plucks at some of it and watches the vibrations travel out of sight. He hears strange hissing or whispering.
Valaira hears it too, but instead of unintelligible sounds, she hears voices. These voices are different than the ones that have been clouding her mind with dark, evil images. These voices are speaking to each other.
"Look.
"A tobacco pouch. There's dwarves in these woods."
"Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no less. This is exactly the same as mine."
"Because it is yours. You understand? We're going round in circles. We are lost."
"We're not lost. We keep heading east."
"But which way is east? We've lost the sun."
"Elf! Where are we? You were supposed to keep us on the path." Thorin growled at the female. A bit surprised at himself for the burst of anger. But she didn't hear him. She couldn't hear any of them. The voices, the whispering it was deafening. It was everywhere. Voices speaking in the black language.
"Valaira?" Thorin questioned. The elf's eyes were darting all over the place, as if they were seeing things. Thorin looked, trying to see what she did, but there was nothing there.
"The sun. We have to find the sun. Up there. We need to-" Bilbo was speaking, but no one was listening.
More whispering. Louder this time. Valaira's hands covered her pointed hears, her head was throbbing, her eardrums felt like they were going to rupture.
"Make it stop." She finally spoke.
"What? What's that?" Thorin heard it too.
"Enough! Quiet! All of you! We're being watched."
"Make it stop! Make it stop!" She gasped.
"Valaira?" Thorin shook the elf's wrist. "Valaira? Make what stop?"
Then she stopped moving. Her hands fell back to her sides. Her eyes were open and deathly still. Thorin was shoved back by a force invisible to his eyes.
"What's going on?" He spluttered from the leafy forest floor.
Bilbo had an idea. He saw sunlight leaking through the leaves. So why not climb one of them? The Halfling did just that. Up and up he went until he could climb no more. He cleared a few braches out of the way and he saw everything.
His mind cleared, the black magic washed away.
"I- I can see a lake! And a river. And the Lonely Mountain. We're almost there! …Can you hear me? I know which way to go! Hello?" He shouted down the tree.
"Hello?" Nobody answered.
Bilbo saw trees swaying unnaturally in the distance. He started back down the tree but slipped on one of the webs.
That's when he saw them. The giant spiders, spiders bigger then he was. And they were coming after him.
"Kill them. Kill them." Bilbo slid the ring on his finger,
"Their hide is tough. There is good juice inside." And he could understand what the spiders were saying.
"Stick it again! Stick it again! Finish it off!"
"Ahh! The meat's alive and kicking!"
"Kill them, kill them now. Let us feast."
"What is it? What is it? Kill it! Feast! Feast!"
"Fat and juicy. Just a little taste."
Bilbo chucked a branch, distracting the spiders.
"Curses! Where is it? Where is it?!"
The hobbit took off the ring. "Here!" And stabbed the spider.
"It stings! Stings!"
"Sting. That's a good name."
"Sting." Then he began slicing the dwarves from their hanging positions.
"Where's Bilbo?"
"Bilbo!"
"I'm up here!"
"Whats wrong with Valaira?"
"Why isn't she moving?"
"Is she doing that thing again?"
"Look the spiders are trying to get to her. But they can't." Two of the spiders' hairy legs were trying to reach the elf, but were unsuccessful. She was well protected.
The spiders were attacking from everywhere. They pulled the legs off from the body of one. The legless body of it was left on Bomburs torso.
Another spider grabs Kili.
"Kili!" His brother shouted.
Even more of the creatures crawl after them, the dwarves ready their weapons. Preparing to fight them off, but then the elves arrive. They appear out of the woods, arrows drilling into the giant hairy bodies.
The woodland folk take care of the beast quickly and efficiently, before facing the dwarves.
"Do not think I won't kill you, dwarf. It would be my pleasure." Legolas, the Kings son, had his bow trained on Thorin.
The elves greatly outnumber their shorter counterparts.
In the distance, Kili shouted, "Help!"
"Kili!"
A female elf glides to Kili's rescue. She kills a few spiders in a matter of seconds.
"Throw me your dagger! Quick!"
"If you think I'm giving you a weapon, dwarf, you're mistaken!" As she says this, she flings her knife into the last spider who had been charging Kili.
"Search them." The white-haired elf ordered.
"Hey! Give it back! That's private!"
"Who is this? Your brother?"
"That is my wife!"
"And what is this horrid creature? A goblin mutant?"
"That's my wee lad, Gimli."
Legolas was handed Thorin's sword. "This is an ancient Elvish blade. Forged by my kin."
"Where did you get this?" Legolas interrogated Thorin.
"It was given to me."
"Not just a thief, but a liar as well." Both shared a mutual glare.
"Legolas, this was with the dwarves." Tauriel motioned to the obviously ill elf.
"Who is she?" Legolas questioned. Tauriel replied. "I do not know."
"Take her weapons."
"Thorin." Kili whispered. "Look at her eyes." They were completely black.
Two of the guards stepped forward to disarm the elf, but they couldn't reach her. Both slammed into an invisible wall. Legolas pulled out his bow and arrow and aimed his arrow near the she-elf's feet. It bounced away before it could come even close to her.
"She's wounded. You need to take her to your healers." Thorin exclaimed.
"Why is she with you?" Legolas questioned.
"She was guiding us through the forest."
"An elf aiding a group of dwarves? A Likely tale. What did you do to her?"
"Nothing. We swear." Fili said, offended.
"Take them!" The princeling ordered.
"Thorin, where's Bilbo?" It seemed like the Halfling was always getting himself separated from the company.
Legolas and Tauriel stayed with Valaira.
"Legolas, what is this strange shield?"
"I know not." He said, dragging his knife along the edge of the invisible wall.
"Do you think she came willingly with the dwarves?"
"Doubtful. Look at her. She is wounded and filthy."
The elf was released from whatever spell had been cast on her and she fell to the dirt, unconscious.
The Prince and the Captain of the guard shared confused look.
"Well, what do we do?"
"We bring her to the King." Legolas lifted the fallen elf and carried her to their home.
Well? What do you think? What would you like to see happen?
Please share your thoughts!