The Ranger ➵ Kili Durin

PART 2 : CHAPTER 2

The company rode rapidly across the land, fearful of being seen by orcs as they passed. Soon, they slowed to a halt as they approached the looming, dark forest.

"The Elven gate," Gandalf mumbled, dismounting from his horse. "Here lies our path through Mirkwood." Each dwarf dismounted their ponies and began to take their things off of them.

"This forest feels... sick," Bilbo stated as he dismounted his pony. "As if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" The young hobbit turned to Elvira as he asked.

"Not unless we go two hundred miles north, or twice that distance south," she stated, shaking her head. Gandalf entered the forest a little ways, and came back out moments later.

"Not my horse! I need it," he shouted, just as Nori let the horse go and it ran in the other direction. The young dwarf smiled sheepishly, and Gandalf looked purely annoyed.

"Gandalf, take my horse. He rides swift, and I want him back, so it's best if you take him with you," Elvira pushed forward, saving the young dwarf from embarrassment. She trusted Gandalf with Celestial more than most others, and felt better now that she knew he wouldn't be wandering the wildlands of Middle Earth by himself.

"Thank you, Lady Elvira. I assure you, he will be returned to you." Elvira nodded, and Gandalf took Celestial's reigns from her and mounted him.

"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 spoke to Thorin. "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'll never find it again," and with that, Gandalf galloped away.

"C'mon," Thorin said after Gandalf was out of sight, "we must reach the mountain before the last light of Durin's day." The group began to walk towards the forest.

Elvira sighed. "I've always hated the idea of coming back here," she spoke quietly to Kili beside her.

"You've been in this forest before?" He looked at her, bewildered. Elvira nodded. "I truly didn't think I would be coming back."

"Perhaps you should be leading us through, then? Since you know the path," Fili turned around to comment.

"Uncle!" Kili shouted from the back. Thorin turned to look back at them.

"Elvira knows the paths through the forest, I think she should be the one to lead us through," Fili nodded as he spoke.

"No," Thorin growled gruffly. "I would not trust her to not lead us astray," he turned back around.

"Thorin!" she shouted, but he ignored her. She sighed angrily, finding him to be ridiculous.

"I'm sorry, Eli. He just doesn't trust you right now, but he's being absurd," Kili leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I should see it coming, I suppose," she sighed back. "Where is Bilbo?"

"Here I am!" The hobbit squeaked from up farther in the group. Elvira laughed.

"Just checking," she chuckled. Kili chuckled as well.

"You mother him," he stated with a smirk.

"I worry for him, I don't really think that's the same thing."

The path continued for a long while and Kili, Fili, and Eli carried on amusing conversations the whole time. They joked and laughed, and Fili and Kili shared stories of their childhood while Elvira and a few dwarves surrounding them laughed along. But their joy only lasted so long.

Soon, they became tired. Their legs shook and their heads pounded. Blood rushed to their heads and pounded in their ears, overpowering any other sound. They couldn't breathe. It was as if the trees surrounding them ate up all of their oxygen before they even got a chance to inhale any of it. Sometimes, Elvira would look back to look at Kili, watching his lips move but finding difficulty understanding his words. Her absence from the forest caused the powers to grow against her, and she felt almost as sick as everyone else.

She turned to Kili, eyes drooping, trying to tell him that she thought they were going the other way, but he wasn't there. Instead, a boy from her past took his place, his bright blue eyes distinctively different than the dark brown ones she was looking for. She stared at him oddly, wondering why he was there. She blinked and shook her head, and he turned back into Kili.

Kili's lips were moving, and she couldn't hear him. She saw his lips form three words, but she doubted he was actually saying them. She knew it was just a trick of the woods, but her heart leapt all the same to see his lips say those words to her.

"The path, it's disappeared," Nori muttered, his words sounding like it was underwater in Elvira's ears.

"We're lost!" Dwarves shouted.

"Should've let me lead," Elvira mumbled, and Thorin turned to glare at her, but he swayed back and forth, his eyes momentarily closing.

"Find it. All of you. Look for the path!" He shouted.

"It has to be here somewhere," some mumbled, as everyone spread out across the forest grounds to look for the stone path they had lost.

"Look," Ori bent down to pick something up off the ground.

"A tobacco pouch. There's dwarves in these woods."

"Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no doubt," Bofur took the pouch, "This is exactly the same as mine."

"That's because it is yours," Bilbo sighed. "We're going around in circles, we are lost!" Bilbo seemed to be less affected by the sickness, and Elvira decided she was stronger than this. She had been in the forest before, and she didn't like that it was affecting her so much. She tried to breath and clear her mind, and the next time she opened her eyes, she wasn't as dizzy as before. The voices of the people around her began to clear up, and suddenly they were loud, and she was awake once more.

"We're not lost, we keep heading east."

"Which way is east? We've lost the sun."

"The sun," Bilbo whispered, and began climbing the tree. Elvira smiled.

"Good work, Bilbo," she whispered to herself, and her thoughts were ripped from her when the dwarves began scuffling around, pushing and shoving each other around and arguing about pointless things.

"Enough! Quiet!" Thorin yelled, his voice overcoming everyone else's. "We're being watched." Elvira took out her sword and held it up, looking around. It was the first time she noticed the massive webs they were surrounded by, and she began dreading what was making the trees crack and shake until it was too late.

alright alright alright

*cue Matthew McConaughey voice*

I'm back woo

this chapter is shorter than others... i'm trying to make them shorter because they're hella long and it's kinda annoying

tell me what you think!!

Even though there's only like 3 of you who read this 

you three are loved, i want you to know that

thanks guys

stay relevant (have I used this one?)

em