Beorn gave us his horses so that we could reach Mirkwood faster. The road to it passed us relatively quickly. When I saw it, I knew immediately that it was a bad idea to go in there. It was obvious at first glance that the forest was suffering from disease. But as Gandalf said, we had no choice. By going through it, we'll save roads. I had a really bad feeling about it, and I'm not just talking about the fact that we might have met some elves there. Something was really wrong with this forest. Didn't hear any birds or anything like that.
Gandalf told us to let the horsess go back to their master, and so we did.
"What do you think? " Kili asked me.
"I have bad feelings. " I replied.
"Me too. "
"There is something wrong with this forest. " Fili interjected.
"Oh, really? Tell me how did you come up with it, brother? " Kili asked his brother, and then they started fooling around.
Kili grabbed Fili and this time it was him, he ruffled his head. Looking at it all, I just nodded my head and smiled. And how can you not love them?
"Not my horse! " Gandalf calledd suddenly, walking briskly out of the forest.
"But..." I started, but Wizard interrupted me.
"I know, my dear. I don't want to leave you all, but unfortunately I have to. " He said then turned to Bilbo and exchanged a few words with him.
"Why do you think he's leaving us? " I asked Kli.
"I don't know, but you know that Wizard... You don't understand him." He chuckled, and I joined him.
However, I still wish Gandalf would come with us.
"I'll be waiting for you at the overlock, before the slopes of Erebor." Said and walked over to his horse. "Keep the map and key safe. Don't enter that mountains without me. " Got on his horse and then continued. "This's not the Greewood of old. There's a stream in the woods that carries a dark enchantment. Don't touch the water. Cross only by the stone bridge. The very air of the forest is heavy with illusion. It'll seek to enter your mind and lead you astray. You must stay on the path. Don't leave it. If you do, you'll never find it again. No matter what May come, stay on the path! " He called, and drove away, leaving us alone.
"Come on..." Thorin urged us. "We must reach the mountains before the sun sets on Durin's Day. "
After these words, we entered the forest. We followed the path as recommended by Gandalf. Looking around, you could tell how gloomy and dark this forest is. Dense crowns of branches blocked the rays of the sun and covered the whole forest with a menacing shadow. There was such an overwhelming silence where we were now that every step seemed to be louder than a hammer blow. As we struggled through the narrow path, we had to move bent over, as we were surrounded by jagged branches on all sides. The path climbed up and down, then twisted and walked straight again. The road seemed to be endless. The air was so dry you could barely breathe. We felt dizzy from it and we felt like sleeping. I lost track of time, I was terribly tired even though we didn't walk that long. I wanted to stop and lie down, and fall asleep. But I also knew that if I did, I might not wake up anymore. After a few long moments, we found the bridge. Destroyed bridge.
"We could try and swim it. " Bofur suggested.
"We can't. " I replied to him.
"Didn't you hear what Gandalf said? " Thorin interjected. "A dark magic lies upon this forest. The waters of this stream are enchanted. "
"Doesn't look very enchanting to me. " Bofur said.
"Appearances are deceptive. " I added and walked over to Thorin. "What we gonna do now? "
"We must find another way across. " Dwarf replied.
"But where? There's nothing here except those vines. "
"By the way, those vines. " Kili exclaimed. "These lines look strong enough. " He added and was about to climb one of them, but Thorin forbade him.
"Kili! " Oakenshield called him. "We send the lightest first. " Said, so we all looked at Mr. Baggins. "Malia, you'll go next after our burglar."
I just nodded to show that I agreed.
I followed hobbit to the vines. They did seem quite strong, although we could only think so. I looked at the water, it was very dirty and, as Thorin said, there was something wrong with it. That black magic surrounds it.
I looked ahead, it's a lot of way through these vines, it'll be hard. After all, we have to somehow get through. Suddenly something caught my attention. I thought I saw someone on the other side of the bridge. And when I looked closely, I noticed that a little girl was running there. It was impossible for such a small child to run alone in such a gloomy forest, but I did see her. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. And the second time I looked there, she was gone.
Strange ... I thought. For a moment I thought I knew her, but it was just such a strange feeling, so I ignored it.
Bilbo climbed the first climber and we watched him go. He was doing pretty well, maybe he slipped once or twice, but luckily he didn't fall into the water. After Baggins was halfway there, Thorin told me to go second so I went. The vines were bending under my weight and swinging side to side, so it was a bit hard to balance, but slowly I managed to move on. Bilbo had already crossed over and was talking, but I couldn't hear him at all. He slapped his face to regain consciousness, but from what I could see he wasn't doing the best. I looked ahead again to see how much distance I had left to the other side, and then I saw her again. That little girl. I lost my balance and slipped off the vines, but luckily I grabbed the other one and hovered just above the water,
"Lia! " Kili exclaimed.
"Are you alright?! " Thorin shouted, as he and the rest of the Company were already crossing the vines to the other side.
"I'm fine! " I shouted back.
I tried to pull up, but the first time it didn't work out, only the second time I climbed up and went to the other side. I sat down next to our hobbit and breathed a sigh of relief. We waited for the others to join us. Sitting there, I was getting even sleepier so I decided to break the silence.
"Have you seen that little girl? " I asked burglar, who after a while looked at me in surprise.
"What girl? " He asked.
"Well, she was just running here. " I said and waved my hand briefly.
"Malia, there weren't any girl here." Hobbit said.
"But..." I started but didn't finish.
I must have seen an illusion, as Gandalf said. After a while Thorin joined us, and he, like the others, didn't look very well. He was looking at something ahead, and when I looked there, I saw a beautiful white deer. Oakenshield motioned for me to take my bow. I did as he said and drew the string, but I hesitated and didn't shoot.
"What're you doing? " Baggins asked. I thought he was talking to me, but after a while I noticed he was talking to Thorin.
Oakenshield grabbed his bow, drew the string, and fired, but didn't kill the deer. He just wanted to scare him.
"Why did you do that? " I asked and rubbed my eyes again.
"You shouldn't have done that. " Bilbo added. "It's bad luck. "
"I don't believe in luck. We make our own luck. " Thorin replied.
After his words, Bombur fell into the water and fell asleep.
"We have to get out of here as soon as possible. " I said and leaned against one of the trees.
During our onward journey, Fili, Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Nori and Dwalin carried the sleeping Bombur on a stretcher.
"We need to take a rest. " Someone from the Company said, but I didn't recognize who it was.
His voice echoed completely in my head. We stopped for a moment, and with each subsequent moment, it got worse with us. My head was dizzy, my legs tangled as I walked, and each voice echoed even louder. Thorin told us to follow him, but not along the path. Bilbo called us to come back, but we didn't listen to him. This is how we got lost. We found some other path, but it wasn't the one we were looking for. I kept walking and more and more often my mind played tricks on me. Instead of Fili, who was walking in front of me, I saw myself as well as instead of Kli, who was following me. I looked down at my legs and I thought I was walking backward, not forward. It lacked air and sun. I don't know how long we've been wandering here, we were still walking in circles. Bofur even found his pouch, which he lost a few minutes ago. Or maybe not even minutes, but hours ... I didn't know, time flowed differently here.
"There's dwarves in these woods. Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, no less. " Bofur said. "This is exactly the same as mine. "
"Because it's yours Do you understand? " Bilbo said. "We're going around in circles."
"We're lost. " I added.
"Yes, we're going around in circles. " Fili agreed.
"But it's not a normal circle. " Kili interjected. "It's a twisted and round circle."
"We're not lost. We keep heading east. " Thorin said.
"But which way is east? We've lost the Sun. " Balin asked.
Dwarves started arguing among themselves while I sat down to rest a bit. My breathing was very heavy and my eyes were closing on their own. Suddenly I heard someone laughing. I looked at my companions, but neither of them was laughing. When I turned around, I saw the same girl as last time. She ran right next to me.
"Wait... " I said, and my voice echoed.
I stumbled after her. The girl laughed and completely ignored what was around her.
"Wait! " I called out louder, and she suddenly stopped. Maybe she finally heard me.
She turned to face me and looked into my eyes. I looked at her and she really seemed familiar to me, but I didn't know where from. The girl was maybe five or six years old. She had shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes, just like mine. And she was wearing a pink dress that reached all the way to the ground. There was also a medallion on her neck... Just like mine.
"Hey, I have a medallion like that too. " I said. "Look. " I added and showed it to her.
At first girl didn't react, but then she smiled broadly and started running. I thought he was running towards me, but still I was wrong. She ran right by, and I followed her with my eyes.
"W-wait..." I started, but I broke off my words when I saw who she was running to.
She ran to the man, he was about Thorin's height. He had brown eyes and black hair and a beard. And there was a sword scar on his cheek. But it can't be...
"Dad...? " I said incredulously.