Bella absolutely hated Mirkwood.
She thought the Misty Mountains were bad because she wasn't allowed off her pony, but Mirkwood was so much worse.
Because she could still feel the cries of the decayed land around her, begging for her to heal it all.
Logically, Bella knew she needed to stay on her horse so she couldn't accidentally touch anything and get sucked in trying to save everything. She knew that, she did, and yet…
Another tree nearby started screaming as she faced her head forward, her jaw clenched tight, and continued ignoring them all. Forgive me, Lady Mother. Bella prayed as they rode on in silence. Well, silence for the elven party, but loud screaming all around for her from the trees. She grimaced and barely refrained from putting her hand to her temple to relieve the oncoming headache. The elven guard captain, Tauriel, explained to her that it was a week's ride from the entrance to the Elvenking's Halls. Bella had grumbled a bit at that but sighed as she resigned herself to sleeping in the saddle again.
No way was she going to fall asleep while riding with these elves that she just met. Maybe if she had the Rivendell elves with her that she knew and trusted more, or if even Gwaendaer had come with them she could sit with him and let him do all the hard work of holding her while riding the pony, and she could try to sleep away this entire blasted trip through these twisted trees of agony and death. Bella huffed, tightened her grip on the reigns, and stubbornly looked ahead, boring holes in the back of the poor elf in front of her.
It had barely been an hour since their journey started through the dark wood, and Bella was already sick of it all. If this was how the rest of the trip was going to be, then she was going to die of boredom after going deaf from all the screaming done by the poor trees and other vegetation around them.
She hated Mirkwood.
Hindsight, Bella decided, was working side by side with Karma. They probably huddled together in a dark corner of the universe somewhere, rubbing their hands gleefully and cackling at her plight while making it worse. They were three days into their trip, and it was going smoothly; a little too smoothly, if you asked Bella. That's when the giant bloody Valar-forsaken spiders dropped on them. Literally dropped, and Bella was crouched onto her pony, flattening herself as much as she could while the elves were fighting them all around her.
This is what I get for daring the Valar. I dared to be bored on a trip though a cursed land, and now they're making up for the easy journey so far. The only thing worse than this right now that could possibly happen is if a dragon decides to drop in and join the party.
Or, get knocked off her pony from a spider that managed to break through the elven defense.
It attacked her pony, killing it while trying to get to Bella. The pony reared up in defense, but doing so dumped Bella who was not prepared to face the dang thing, and she screamed as she fell to the ground.
Bella was wrong.
She was so, so, so, so, so wrong.
A dragon joining was not the worst thing that could've happened to her.
It was, in fact, getting knocked to the ground in the middle of a cursed land that she was not mentally prepared to heal yet.
As soon as she hit the ground, she understood why the elves did everything in their power to avoid letting her touch anything. As soon as she touched ground, she was submerged into a world of decay. Her vision went dark, and her other senses faded as well, leaving her blind to everything around her.
Everything was so wrong.
Her sight was supposed to be replaced with the lights of the magical auras around her that were in every living thing. Instead, it remained dark, only a fuzzy haze allowing her to slightly sense the vegetation around her. Her magic cried out to her, begging her to let it out to heal the poor trees, and as it tried to leak out she felt some of the dead energy come back to her. She shivered in disgust. The aura itself felt like mold, trying to clog up her senses. It wasn't just the mold either. There was something else there, too. A different power mixed in. She could feel it crawling up her spine, trying to overwhelm her, and she grit her teeth, ready to try to fight it with her own magic.
Before she could, however, a golden ray broke through the black haze, bringing her back to reality. She gasped, feeling as though she was taking a breath for the first time. She blinked her eyes back into focus, and whipped her head around, but all she could see was a blur of trees. Wind whipped at her face and tore at her hair, but still she was able to hear faint elvish coming from above. She looked up, and was surprised to see the elven prince, Legolas, looking down at her. It was only briefly, but she could see the relief in his eyes before looking back up to focus on the path ahead of him. She glanced around them, and noticed for the first time that he was holding her on his horse, and they were racing through the trees. The rest of the elven guard was surrounding them, all eyes alert to their surroundings. Captain Tauriel was just ahead of them.
"Legolas..? What's going on? What happened?"
"I am sorry, Lady Bella. We thought the spiders were being suspiciously quiet recently. We foolishly thought they would continue to do so while escorting you back to my father's Halls, and were not fully prepared for their attack. One of them broke through and attacked you and your steed. The pony didn't make it, and you were thrown to the ground. We worried you wouldn't wake, and rushed to get you to my father as quickly as possible. Lord Elrond's missive to us explained that you were connected to the land through the power of Lady Yavanna, but we did not know it was this powerful." At this, Legolas looked back down at Bella. "You did not respond, and were barely breathing, and we worried that the sickness of the wood was too much for you to overcome on your own. My father is especially talented at healing, and has a connection with the lands as the King."
"Lord Legolas, how long was I out for?" He hesitated only briefly before answering Bella.
"You were out for a day and a half. We have been riding hard after finishing off the spiders, and we should be there soon. My father will still want to look at you, to make sure there will be no lasting effects." Bella nodded, and looked ahead. She lost herself to her thoughts when they broke through the treeline and came upon the Elvenking's Halls. The guards snapped to attention and opened the gates for the thundering troop. They finally slowed down, and stopped just inside, the elves seamlessly dismounting from their horses. Legolas lifted Bella off the saddle, and more guards came to take the horses to the stables, their sides panting from the long run. Bella worried over their state before being whisked away, still in Legolas' arms, towards where she presumed the Elvenking would be.
Oh goodie.
When Bella was finally set down, it was on a bed in what appeared to be some sort of medical wing. She took in her surroundings, ignoring the elvish dialect being spoken above her head. Let them worry about the wither-tos and why-fors; Bella was a scholar and her curiosity wasn't yet satiated.
Before she could do much more than stare at the herbal cabinets on the other side of the room, the doors opened and Bella felt the power of… something engulf the entire room like a cloak. It was similar to her own power, yet… different. Ancient yet new at the same time, and the sight that greeted her was just as odd. She wasn't connected to the earth, yet her sight was almost completely overtaken by the golden aura surrounding this being. When she blinked, she could see the elf that she was certain was her host. King Thranduil himself. Her vision continuously switched between his aura and his real self, and Bella could feel a migraine start to build. She groaned slightly and closed her eyes, shoving the heel of her hand into one of them, attempting to stop the onslaught. Suddenly, there were gentle fingers prying her hand away and gentle elvish words, and she opened her eyes to see Thranduil in front of her, his form still flickering.
"My Lord, I know this is terribly rude to ask, but if you are going to be in the same space as myself, could you stop flickering?" She mumbled out, squeezing her eyes shut again. The other elves in the room, Legolas and the healers, as well as two of Thranduil's guards stationed inside, muttered in confusion, but Thranduil silenced them with a hand.
"Please, young one, explain yourself. What do you mean by flickering?" Thranduil's cool voice had a touch of confusion and concern in it, and Bella briefly opened her eyes again to meet his own before closing once more. She waved a hand in the air around her vaguely.
"You keep flickering in my vision between your true self and glowing golden, and it is causing an abysmal migraine." She swayed a bit, and felt several hands reach out to steady her, before laying her back down completely.
"Rest well, Child of the Green Lady. When you wake, everything will be fixed." Bella felt Thranduil's hands over her temples, his voice soothing and then she knew no more.
Bella woke as though she was surfacing from a deep sleep, and as she opened her eyes, she noticed once again that she was in a different room. Huh. I'm seeing a bit of a trend here. I don't know if I should be disturbed or not. She huffed a slight laugh, only to shriek in surprise as a voice suddenly spoke next to her.
"It seems you are awake now. Good. It's been nearly two days." Bella turned her head to the side while sitting up, and saw King Thranduil sitting in a chair by her bed. To her relief, he was no longer flickering. His eyes focused intently on hers, and she stared right back at them, feeling herself suddenly in a silent test. Before long, something flickered in Thranduil's eyes, almost like approval, and he stood, turning toward the door. "You have indeed been blessed by the Green Lady, and have a strong will to come out this far on your own."
"Ever since Rivendell, I have not been on my own."
"Even with your guards and guides from Lord Elrond's house, you are alone in this venture, the only halfling to come so far." Bella bristled at the insult.
"My people are called hobbits, not halflings." Her face twisted in disgust at her own usage of the term. "We are half of nothing, and you and everyone else would do well to remember that." She sniffed in disdain, barely resisting the urge to cross her arms in front of her chest. Thranduil didn't smile, but there was a hint of one in the corner of his mouth, and when he spoke, there was only the barest trace of amusement hidden in his cool voice.
"My son tells me that you corrected him quite viciously when he used that term before. I suppose I must apologize to you for using it, but I needed to see for myself."
"See for yourself what?" Her anger fizzled away into confusion at this. Thranduil didn't answer for a moment, instead standing up and moving to the window, his hands clasped behind his back. When he spoke, it was with a gravity that made Bella shiver.
"I needed to see for myself if you would have the strength of will to face the darkness." His eyes bore into Bella's again, and again she stared back, determination shining bright in her own. Thranduil nodded once, and turned to the doorway to leave. "You must get yourself ready. You are to be my guest tonight at dinner, and tomorrow we will begin preparations for you to continue on." And with that, he strode out the door, his guards' footsteps just behind him.
Bella stared out the door in confusion before giving up and flopping back on the back with a sigh.
Well, she wasn't chosen by Lady Yavanna for nothing. Rolling herself over to the edge of the bed, she made up her mind, once more determined.
Whatever was calling her for help, it was desperately needed, and even King Thranduil feared it, enough to try to test her resolve.
Bella just needed to locate the source, and purge the land.
After all, it was just a dragon.
No biggie.
Bella snorted.
Yeah, right.
The next five days were a rush as elves and hobbit alike were busy gathering supplies and preparing to continue on to the last leg of the journey. King Thranduil was kind enough to lend her supplies, giving her blessings in Quenya of peace and protection, and several of his subjects did the same. An honor guard was formed to lead Bella the rest of the way through Mirkwood and on towards Laketown, as they had to cross through there before being able to go on towards Erebor.
Just the thought of an entire town over water made Bella's insides twist with nerves. She was perfectly fine not needing to go over water, no thank you. Dry land only for this hobbit, thank you very much.
Still, Bella realized the necessity, and resigned herself to her fate. Prince Legolas and Captain Tauriel weren't in her honor guard, as they were sent to wipe out the spider's nest. Bella was sad that they were not going to be travelling with her, as she had become fond of them (as well as the fact that they were some of the only elves she knew here), but she knew they had their jobs, and she had hers.
Soon enough, the days had all passed, and it was time for her to leave. A pony had been provided for her, since hers had been killed by the horrifically large spiders, and before she mounted it, she turned and bowed to Thranduil.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your help in this venture. I am indebted to you for your help and kindness, and I hope one day that I will be able to repay you for it and help you rid your own lands from the evil festering here. It would be my honor." She straightened and received Thranduil's answering nod in return.
"Go now, young one, and may the Valar bless you. Tenn' omentielva enta."
Bella nodded and mounted her pony, riding through the rest of Mirkwood towards the Long Lake, her guard flanking her on all sides.
Somehow, she had a feeling this was like the breath before the final plunge.
If you couldn't tell I really like the trope that hobbits viciously correct when someone calls them halflings
Also, Quenya!
Tenn' omentielva enta! - Until our next meeting
The dwarven counterpart of this chapter will be posted next. This chapter itself is the same length as the other ones, and it's just Bella's side, and I expect the next part to be just as long. If I had done it all in one chapter it would be twice as long as the others, and while that's not a bad thing, I gotta be honest guys, I haven't even started the rest of it. It's hurt my brain a lot just trying to do this part. I really didn't like the Mirkwood or Laketown parts of the original storyline, so I've had to power through it. Anyways, I hope this tides you over until I can manage to bring myself to type up the next bit.