There weren't any particular words that Ali could use to describe the forest, at least not the feeling that it gave her. It was as if the forest had its own personality. Like that one questionable person everyone knows, and you're not sure if you should be nice to them so they don't kill you when they snap, or not nice so they don't paralyze you so you can't run away. It was creepy and questionable, but it didn't seem evil, yet.
Stumbling over a root Ali caught herself on the sleeve of Thorin's jacket. He merely shrugged her off without turning. Which given his recent affections seemed out of place.
"Thorin?" Ali tried, but he just continued without acknowledging her. The rest seemed out of sorts when she turned to check on them. Their eyes almost glazed over as they stared blankly towards her.
Bilbo was the only one who seemed even remotely with her still, if just barely. Alright, Ali thought, I'll just make sure that we stay on the path, Gandalf said to stay on the path. Freaking wizard didn't even seem like he knew magic; Chris Angel would put that man to shame.
"Air, I need air," Bofur mumbled.
"My head is spinning," Oin groaned.
What was going on? Ali didn't feel a thing, she followed closely to Thorin, and even he seemed to sway. She was a bit beyond concerned as she continued to watch the dwarves behind her stagger.
"Ooooof,' Ali wasn't paying attention in front of her when she ran square into Thorin's back.
"What's happening?" Oin slurred, holding his hand up without his horn.
"Keep moving. Nori, why have we stopped?" Thorin demanded. Ali snuck a glance around him and her stomach dropped.
"The path…it's disappeared." Nori turned wide eyed, pointing to the huge canyon before them.
"What's going on?" A strange note of panic in Dwalin's voice.
"We've lost the path!" Oin shouted.
"Calm down!" Ali yelled back, not helping much. How could she let this happen? She was the only one with any sense, this was her fault.
"Find it. All of you look. Look for the path." Thorin barked, already beginning to wander from the group.
"Thorin wait!" Ali yelled, trying to pull him back. "No! Don't just split up!" Ali darted after Ori as he began to move the opposite way. "Let's look for the path as a group!" Ali yanked on one of Dwalin's belts only to be swatted away.
They weren't listening to her, Thorin, she needed to convince Thorin. Darting back the way she had came it took her a second to find Thorin wandering farther than the rest.
"Thorin this isn't a good idea, the forest has affected you. You need to call everyone back into a group." Ali grabbed his arm, again trying to pull him back. Really this was getting old, it's not like it worked the first three times. Ali pursed her lips, she had to find another way.
Thorin grabbed her, spinning her around, pushing her back into a tree. Biting her lip against the searing pain in her shoulder, Ali's heart jumped into her throat as Thorin leaned his head down beside her ear.
"You're here to torture me," Thorin whispered, his deep voice sending shivers down to her toes.
"What? I can't even redirect you when you're walking, how could I torture you?" Ali laughed nervously, she wanted to rub her shoulder.
"I can't even touch you," Thorin rasped, his large hands finding their way to her waist.
"You're touching me right now, I'm right here," Ali placed a hand on his neck to reassure him. Perhaps this forest was bringing back memories from when she died?
"Not in the ways I've dreamt of touching you."
"What do you mean?" Ali asked confusion and dread beginning to weave together.
Wrapping one of his arms around her waist, Thorin yanked her against him. Circling the other hand around behind her head he tangled his fingers in her hair, crushing his lips down on hers. Thorin's rough beard matched his hands as Ali gasped in surprise. This wasn't the Thorin that she knew; he wouldn't be treating her so roughly when her shoulder was this bad.
Turning her face was harder than she wanted. Not because his fingers were threaded through her hair, but because she wanted him to hold her. In fact Ali wished to tangle her fingers through his hair, and then follow the strong lines down his body, till… No, no, Thorin wasn't here right now, this was forest mind controlled Thorin. Jerking her face to the side Ali broke their kiss. Thorin took the opportunity to move to her neck, trailing hot kisses.
A protest was on her lips when Thorin gently nipped her collar bone; it came out as merely a moan. Not good, Ali shivered, her knees going weak.
"S-stop, Thorin," Ali did her best to sound demanding. To her surprise he halted immediately.
"As you wish," Thorin growled darkly, his jaw clenched as he released her as quickly as he had grabbed her.
"We need to get everyone together," Ali swallowed, trying to ignore the obvious anger in Thorin's eyes. Thorin jerked his arm out of Ali's fingers when she tried to grab him. "Don't be mad."
Thorin wheeled around, "you only want me for my fortune, don't you? Admit it!" Thorin demanded.
Ali took an automatic step back, "what? No."
"You've always lived in poverty, now you see your way out, never mind my feelings," Thorin took another step forward.
Ali stumbled back as he advanced, his sudden change in attitude scaring her, "Thorin you're not yourself, you know I wouldn't do that."
"How would I know? I know so little, and you refuse to tell me anything when I've opened my heart, I bet you've been lying about everything. You can't even stand to touch me." Thorin growled, Ali grinded her teeth together, determined to stand her ground.
Ali wanted to protest, tell him that he was wrong about everything, but he wasn't. Thorin was right, she had left so much unsaid, and that was the same thing as lying. "I would want to be with you even if we lived in a dirt shack, eating bugs, and barely getting by."
"You are a selfish liar!" Thorin clenched his fist, striking a tree.
That struck too close to home, sending Ali flying into the woods. Memories of her father fueling her flight. Screw the path, and screw this journey. Ali's heart pounded with fear as she bolted, branches whipping her in the face as she ran. A branch caught Ali's foot, sending her sharply to the ground. This was it, Ali thought, I'll just stay here for a second.
Thorin was right, angry but right. She was selfish. Leading on a man as nice as Thorin when she knew she wouldn't be able to be with him when this was finished. But he didn't get to know that, no; Ali hadn't told him not to get his hopes up. Then she ran when the dwarves needed her the most, they were all wandering helplessly and she was laying down on the job.
Ali pushed herself up, leaves and twigs clinging to her hair and tunic. Thorin had selflessly given her his heart; the least she could do was try to understand him. Breathing deep Ali slowed her pounding heart as she followed her path back. This was going to be embarrassing.
She wandered for too long. There was no way she ran this far. Ali began to panic, she had lost the path and now she was never going to find it again, just like Gandalf said.
"Hello!" Ali called, straining to hear even the faintest sounds of the dwarves. Nothing, even though they were the loudest group she had ever met she couldn't catch a single noise. "Not good, not good!" Ali picked up her pace, pretending as if that fallen log didn't look strangely familiar.
Ahead of her Ali heard the distinct sounds of twigs snapping. Oh thank god, she thought, getting her apology ready, and brushing falling leaves out of her hair. At least she wasn't going to be lost forever, Ali was relieved as she continued to swat at falling leaves.
Where in the world? Ali shielded her eyes against the barrage of foliage, trying to see where it was coming from. A faint shadow moved through the branches over her head. Ali squinted to try and make out what she was seeing. A flurry of crunching branches and swirling leaves in front of her made Ali's heart leap into her throat.
Jumping back Ali stumbled, barely keeping her balance. A flurry of legs thrashed. A string of eyes turned towards Ali, giant pincers clicked and squealed when they found her. It was the largest spider ever, the size of a small car.
Ali couldn't hold the scream in, the spider screeched back. Faintly Ali heard her name being called from somewhere. She didn't have time to figure out where the voice came from, she turned heel and ran. This thing was big enough to scare an Australian, which meant that it was too much for her. The monster spider crashed noisily behind her, screeching, and gnashing its pincers. At least that's what Ali thought, she didn't bother to turn around to check.
The turning twisting paths were too much. Ali felt the flair of pain as her face bounced off the ground. Clawing at the dirt Ali didn't stop to look behind her, dirt flying as she tried to gain speed. This time something heavy collided with her back, sending her sprawling forward again. Flipping over to face her attacker Ali continued to crawl away, trying to ignore the strain on her shoulder.
Another scream escaped when she saw the teeth bearing down on her, spit and venom dripping onto her clothes. Doing the only thing she could think Ali stopped moving away and tried to quickly shimmy under its body, barely getting out of the way as the spider ate a mouth full of dirt.
Heart pounding Ali crawled only a second before she found her feet again; sprinting back along the path she had just run. She couldn't die in this god forsaken forest and leave Thorin to die at Erebor.
In front of her a tall blonde man stepped out of the trees, raising a bow and arrow. What now!? Ali gasped, flailing her arms to keep balance as she redirected her path at full run. Behind her the screeching of the spider doubled, then ceased.
Had he really killed it? Ali spared a glance behind her without slowing, shocked to see the crumbled figure of the spider motionless. What she didn't see was the man stepping into her path until she bounced roughly off his chest. The tall blonde caught her firmly by the upper arms before she could hit the ground from the impact. The resulting yank sent stars flashing across her vision.
"Who are you?" the man demanded before Ali could even register what was going on.
"Lord," Ali groaned, heart still hammering.
"Why are you in the forest? Are you with the dwarves?" The man continued, still holding onto her.
"Your killing my arm, let go," Ali whined, then his words registered, "yes I'm with the dwarves, are they ok?" Ali stood up straighter, pushing back the pain again.
"Sir, we need to leave," a female voice broke in from behind the man.
"Where are the dwarves?" Ali asked as the man pulled her around him and began to move along the path towards the woman. She was as tall as the man with long red-brown hair; she barely spared Ali a glance at all. They were elves, at least to the best of her knowledge they were, not like she was some kind of an expert. Ali took up walking between them only for a moment before she stopped.
"Where are the dwarves? Who are you? I'm not going to move an inch until you tell me," Ali demanded.
"You are in no place to ask anything," the woman firmly said, not missing a step.
The man yanked her off her feet, tossing her under his arm like some sort of dog.
"That's not fair! I haven't done anything to justify this treatment!" Ali wiggled but wasn't able to find any good footing to struggle. "Thank you for killing the monster, don't get me wrong, but this is just mean." Ali squirmed a second longer as their silence continued before turning to dead weight. "I just want the record to show that technically I didn't move an inch…you moved me."
Ah, refreshing action happening again :)
Stay tuned next week to hear from Thorin and what the King of Mirkwood has in store for hapless little Ali
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