Hiding Myself. A fem!Bilbo Bagginshield fanfic

Chapter 10

     The dwarves were walking along the waning path when Kili stopped dead in front of a tall tree.
     "Kili? What on earth is wrong? " Thorin asked.
     "I was just thinking... What if someone could climb one of these trees here and try to figure out where this forest ends? We might be able to figure out if we're on the right path or not. "
     Bella gulped when many of the Company turned to look at her.
     "I expect you think I should go, being the burglar and all? "
     Thorin nodded discreetly. "Only if you feel it is a worthy idea, and a safe one. We can't go losing our burglar before we even get close to the Mountain. " he said, attempting a joke. Bella noddex and forced a smile.
     "I can try. " she said before climbing up a few feet into the tree. She grasped onto branch after branch, slowly but surely reaching the top. The very highest branches seemed too flimsy to support her weight, but surprisingly, she never fell.
     When she finally reached the top, Bella gasped. She gulped in the fresh air and gazed around. Enormous butterflies flew languidly around her. The late afternoon sun shone down onto her upturned face, her eyes closed.
     The shouts of the dwarves brought her back to earth and she opened her eyes to see where they were.
     Her stomach plummeted. All she could see, in every direction, were trees. An endless sea of trees was before her. She frowned and climbed back down to her Dwarven friends.
     All was not lost. If she could've known exactly where she was, it wouldn't have been so bad. The forest was in a bit of a valley, and the tree she'd climbed had been right in the middle of the valley's bottom. They were in fact very close to leaving the forest and continuing on their way.
     "And? Where are we, lassie? " Bofur said as she scrambled down.
     "There's trees everywhere. If there is an end to this forest, I fail to see it. "
     Thorin frowned. "What on earth are we to do now? "
     Bella sighed. It seemed hopeless.

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     The only scrap of comfort came from Bombur waking up after falling into the enchanted river. He sat up one morning, rambling on about a dream feast in a forest. Thorin barked grumpily at him to be quiet, a dream feast was no good if they couldn't share it.
     As they walked along the path, Kili once again stopped dead. This time he darted ahead into the trees. Fili shouted after him and followed, shouting his brother's name. Thorin shook his head at his nephews foolishness and signaled to the Company to follow them. They found the brothers standing a ways into the forest staring ahead.
     "Uncle, look! Fires, as if for a feast! " Kili exclaimed.
     Indeed, before them they could see a fire through the woods. Thorin stepped forward and peered through the trees.
     Before he could do anything, Kili ran forward toward the elvish feasters, for that's what they were. Before he could say anything, the fire went out as if by a switch. The Company ran around counting heads. Bella stood in place before being ran into.
     "Ack... " she murmured.
     The dwarf that had ran into her seemed to sit up. "Burglar? Is that you? "
     Thorin.
     Bella was about to respond when another light appeared. For a moment, she gazed at the Dwarven king. Thorin was looking ahead and counting up his dwarves. His hair hung in black-and-silver locks about his shoulders, his beard shorn much shorter than any of the dwarves near his age. Bella noticed a look of determination in his blue eyes, eyes that could pierce through you like the edge of Orcrist.
     "Baggins. Get up, hurry. " Thorin's voice startled her out of her thoughts. He smiled, noticing her blush. "Did I disturb your thoughts? "
     "N-No... Of course not. " she stammered. Thorin chuckled and offered his hand to her. She took it gladly, pulling herself up. Reluctantly, she let go of his hand that had been calloused and tough, yet warming to the hobbit.
     The pair returned to the group where Fili was standing near the edge by a fire. Once more a dwarf darted towards the fire, once more it went out, and once more they were left in darkness. This charade continued until the last try, when Thorin stepped forward. When the light went out, Bella tried to find her way back to where he'd been standing. She soon found the Company and sat down. They had mostly fallen asleep, but Bella tried to fight the sleep.
     Thorin.
     She had to find him.
     But sleep seemed too much for her tired body to resist and soon she too fell asleep, head filled with thoughts of the leader of their group.

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     She woke up and drowsily tried to stretch out of the blanket wrapped around her tightly.
     Wait...... A blanket?
     Her eyes shot open just in time to see a huge spider wrapping it's threads around her. She struggled and somehow managed to grab ahold of her sword. She ripped it upwards, startling the spider above her. She jabbed it into the spider's head and grinned in satisfaction as it's body fell limply at her feet.
     "I shall give you a name, and I shall call you Sting. "
     She darted forward to find more spiders around bundles on a tree she assumed to be the dwarves. A nose poking out of one told that at least Fili was alive, as the bundle kicked at a spider who approached it.
     Another spider laughed, a horrible creaking sound. "The meat's alive and kicking. "
     "I'll soon put an end to that. " the first hissed, crawling towards a wrapped-up Kili beside his brother. Bella frowned.
     Not her dwarves.
     The foolishly brave hobbit reached for a stone and threw it, hard, at the spider. She slipped on her ring and danced around as the spiders chased her, Bella singing.

Old fat spider spinning in a tree!
Old fat spider can't see me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Won't you stop,
Stop your spinning and look for me?

Old Tomnoddy, all big body,
Old Tomnoddy can't spy me!
Attercop! Attercop!
Down you drop!
You'll never catch me up your tree!

    The dwarves seemed to respond to her voice and began struggling and kicking around. The spiders were, of course, maddened by the songs. Obviously, no one likes being called Attercop, and Tomnoddy was an insult to anybody. The spiders began weaving webs around the trees which began a new song.

Lazy Lob and Crazy Cob
are weaving webs to wind me,
I am far more sweet than other meat,
but still they cannot find me!

Here am I, naughty little fly;
you are fat and lazy.
You cannot trap me, though you try,
In your cobwebs crazy.

     She raced under two strings of web between two trees and brought the spiders away from the Company. She took them far enough away and stole back, quiet as a mouse. Climbing up a tree, she encountered a fat old spider who'd been pinching and prodding each dwarf.
     It fell with a thump, not knowing what had hit it. Bella grinned with an odd satisfaction and shimmied over to the first bundle. She managed to free the dwarf and pull him onto the branch.
     "Thank you, little sister. " Fili murmured, causing Bella to smile. It was the first time the elder of the two brothers had referred to her as a sister like Kili had.
     The next was Kili, and then Bombur. The latter fell straight to the ground while Kili embraced Bella tightly and whispered promises to never let her go.
     When he finally did and all the bundles were freed, Bella looked around.
     "Fili, Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Oin, Gloin, Balin, Dwalin, Dori, Ori, Nori, and.... " she trailed off.
     Thorin, the most important dwarf and the one who meant the most to Bella (though she wouldn't admit it) was missing.