Chapter - 12

I smile softly at Beorn as I thank him for allowing me to use one of his horses. She was a dapple-grey mare named Sophie. I smile as I run my hand over her soft coat her head resting against my chest. She was a beautiful soul. Leaning my face against her forehead I take a deep breath and suddenly I am brought back to the stables of Asgard. The golden brick reaching even there making it a marvelous spectacle. My chest tightens at the memory of Surtur destroying it all. I feel her nose nudge me gently in the stomach pulling from my memory and I push the pain down.

"Are you ready?" I hear Gandalf ask and I nod. I look toward the woods and my heart soars in my chest at the possibility of meeting my brothers along the way.

"What makes you smile (Name)?" Thorin asks pulling me attention from the woods and towards him.

"The thought that soon I may be home." I reply keeping my brothers a secret. Though I knew not why I did. I could tell Thorin and the rest of the company that somehow Thor and Loki had come for me; but something deep inside me told me not too. He offers a sad smile as he gently pats my shoulder.

"I hope you are able to return to your home. Though we will miss you." Thorin says his eyes lingering on mine for a moment longer than he usually would have. He opens his mouth to continue but instead shakes it and offers me a stiff smile.

Before I have a chance to reply he has walked away from me and to his pony. I stare after him for a moment before Gandalf calls for us to saddle up and be on our way. I give a wave to Beorn and surprisingly he gave one in return. We are soon galloping over the fields the sound of Beorn's roar echoing over them. In what seemed like no time at all we reach the forests edge.

I stare in concern as I feel the sickly aura it gives off. I didn't know why; but something told me I shouldn't go inside it. As the horses come to a stop the Dwarves dismount them and I find myself frozen atop my little mare, my hands clenching tightly to her reins. I hear Tony's words fill my head about how Thor and Loki are here and somewhere in these woods and it makes me force myself to dismount.

I turn to Sophie and pulling the bit from her mouth I set the bridle upon the saddle horn and giving her a quick pat on the head let her turn and return to Beorn. I watch her run back the way we had come for a moment silently hoping she made it back safely. Then turning back to the woods, I reluctantly walk up to it and placing my hand on what Gandalf called the Elvin Gate feel a deep dread fill my body. There was something terribly wrong with this wood.

"Not my horse! I need it!" Gandalf calls as he exits the wood passing by me a worried expression filling his face.

"You're not leaving us?" Bilbo says voicing our curiosity.

"I would not do this unless I had too." Gandalf adds making me feel worry and fear fill my body. I turn back to the trees and gulping down a breath of air I walk over and touch a tree. I could feel its pain and sorrow causing tears to sting my eyes. What was going on here? I feel the tree shudder and I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around it and tell it everything was going to be okay; but, how could I?

"Come on, we must reach the mountain before Durin's Day." I hear Thorin call and I turn to see that Gandalf riding away.

I watch as one by one the Dwarves walk into the woods and follow the path. When it was just Bilbo and I, I wait for him to go in first before I follow after. I groan outwardly, displeasure clear on my face. We walk for hours and hours, along the path. We walk overnight, well at least it felt like overnight since no light was able to peak through the branches. The dwarves start to whine about the effects of the forest when finally, we come to the bridge. The bridge however is broken leaving no way to pass over it.

"We could try to swim it." Bofur calls and my brow furrows at the thought.

"Didn't you hear what Gandalf said?" Thorin starts pulling my attention toward him. "A darkness lies upon this forest; the waters of this stream are enchanted."

"Doesn't look very enchanting to me." Bofur adds making me chuckle to myself.

"We must find another way across." Thorin says causing us all to look around.

"These vines look strong enough." Kili says as he starts to climb out onto them.

"Kili!" Thorin yells stopping the dark headed dwarf in his steps. "We send the lightest first."

They all turn to Bilbo who realizes they mean him and he scowls.

"Wait," I say against my better judgement causing them to turn to me. "I'll do it."

"What? No." Thorin retorts making me roll my eyes.

"I know I'm not the lightest one here; but-"

"No (Name)," Bilbo interrupts pulling my attention towards him. "I can do it."

I want to argue but he is already walking forward and climbing over the vines. He struggles a few times before making it to the other side. Before he has a chance to say that it's okay the dwarves are already climbing across the vines like they are impatient.

"Stay where you are!" I hear Bilbo yell and as I look over at him, I see a look of defeat fill his face. I look back at the bridge and giving it another once over realize that I can probably make it if I jumped. Taking a deep breath, I ready myself and then running lunge across the opening making it safely across with no trouble at all. I make my ways down to Bilbo who looks groggy and a little lost.

"Are you okay?" I ask kneeling down beside him. He nods his head once as he blinks his eyes quickly. I go to say more when a figure land beside me. I turn to see Thorin had made it across. I want to tell him that something isn't right but the sound of twigs snapping pulls my attention. I look into the woods to see a white stag appear and I feel my heart rise at the hopeful sight of it.

"What are you doing?" I hear Bilbo ask and I turn to see Thorin readying his bow and I narrow my eyes at him.

"Don't you dare!" I warn him causing his eyes to find mine. "Let him go." He opens his mouth to say something but the stag bounds away spooked by the sudden splash sound.

Standing, I turn toward the stream to see that Bombur had fallen in and I wince. This wasn't good. As the rest of the dwarves drag him out of the stream I think back to when we entered the forest and I find myself wishing I has stayed with Elrond. Using fallen branches, they make a makeshift stretcher to carry Bombur seeing as he wouldn't wake up. Placing him atop it I watch as Bofur, Dwalin, Kili, and Fili; all grab a corner and lift him up. Thorin calls us to follow him and taking a deep breath I bring up the rear as we start again through the wood.

~~~

The more we walked, the further we walked, the more I felt my head start to get cloudy. I look around at the rest of the dwarves to realize that they were feeling this weird sensation too. I stumble in my footsteps as a wave of dizziness washes over me, I would have hit the ground had it not been for the strong pair of arms that wrapped around my waist catching me.

"Are you alright?" I hear Thorin ask and I shake my head as I try to find my feet.

"It's hard to breathe in here." I say as he steady's me.

"Let's take a break!" Thorin calls out to the rest of the company. They all release sighs of relief as they welcome the breather. "Sit over here." He adds as he motions me over to an uprooted portion of a tree trunk.

"I hate this feeling." I say as I reach up to pinch the bridge of my nose. "Feels like when Amora used to try to play her tricks on me when we were kids."

"Who's Amora?" Thorin asks standing directly in front of me.

"A friend, well she was more my brothers' friend, but we used to play together as children." I add making him nod. "God, I wish I could think clearly."

"I agree, is there no end to this accursed forest?" Thorin says making me chuckle to myself.

"I usually love the woods, but this place... this place confuses me." I say as I start to hear whispers among the trees. "What is that sound?"

"What sound?" He asks reaching up to cup my face with his hands. "I hear nothing, what do you hear?"

"Voices..." I say causing his thumbs to rub my cheekbones therapeutically.

"I don't hear anything." He adds and I lean into his touch as my mind starts to slowly clear itself. "Feeling better?" He asks and I nod.

"A little, thank you." I say my eyes meeting his. I am suddenly sobered by the hungry look in them. Clearing my throat, I reach up and pulling his hands from my face to hold them in my lap say, "Maybe we should check on everyone else." He says nothing but gives my hands a quick squeeze before he pulls away from me to check on his kin.

I stare off after him for a moment, my eyes watching as he checks on each and every one of his company. Reaching up I run a hand through my hair as I try to clear my thoughts. I needed to focus on finding a way out of this forest and to where my brothers were. The quicker I escaped the forest the faster I could go home and the more likely that I wasn't going to let myself acquire feelings for someone I couldn't be with.

Looking up I see the sun trying to peak through the branches and glancing at Bilbo say, "Hey, wanna help me out?" I glance back up to the tree tops and following my gaze he replies, "We have to find the sun." I nod as I look for a nearby tree to climb. He follows right as an argument erupts between the dwarves. I glance back at them for a moment before I shake my head and continue climbing, Bilbo close behind me.

It surprisingly doesn't take us long at all to make it to the top of the trees. As our heads erupt from the darkness of the branches, clarity washes over me causing a bright smile to fill my lips. My eyelids flutter as my eyes try to adjust themselves to the light. When I open them, I see beautiful blue butterflies swarm around us as they lift off into the sky and I watch in wonder.

"I can see a lake!" Bilbo calls out and I follow his gaze to see not only a lake but the lonely mountain as well. "And the Lonely Mountain! We're almost there!"

"I can't believe we're this close." I say to him a chuckle escaping my lips.

"Can you hear me?!" I hear Bilbo yell back down toward our group telling them that we knew which way to go but we hear nothing back.

I go to say something when the sound of branches snapping in the distance pulls my attention. My eyes widen as I realize that whatever was causing the commotion was rushing towards us.

"Bilbo, lets get back." I urge as we peek under the leaves towards where the noise was coming from. I narrow my eyes to try to see something when all the sudden Bilbo falls and I reach out to catch him only to now notice the plethora of spider webs surrounding us. Fear washes over me as I look at my hand to realize I was touching a spider web. I instantly jerk my hand away from the webs causing me to lose my balance and fall after him.

I try to grab onto anything as I fall but it's no use. I continue to fall until I land on something soft and sticky. I look back to see what I had landed on to see that I had in fact landed in a web and I let out a loud scream. Heat covers my body as I try to free myself from the web's clutches. I thrash around until I hear something to my right and turn to see a giant fucking spider racing towards me.

I scream again as my body moves on its own as fire erupts from my hand surging towards the spider wrapping it in flames burning it to a crisp, its cries filling the air.

"NO! NO! NO! HELL NO!" I cry as I burn through the webs and land safely on the ground. "NO ONE SAID THERE WAS GOING TO BE GIANT FUCKING SPIDERS!" I scream out to anyone who was listening as I start to run from a horde that was now chasing me. Fear overtakes me causing me to forget everything and just run. I didn't know how far I had gone while doing so but by the time I realized the spiders weren't following me anymore it was too late. I trip over a tree root and as I face plant against the hard ground.

I start to realize that my lungs were burning. I heave in and out as I try to fill them. Rolling over I stare up at the leaves as I silently start to chastise myself for running away. Reaching up I rub my forehead where it had smacked against the ground and groan. I had to go back. I had freaked out and left them all at the mercy of those things. What kind of person was I to do that to them?

Pushing myself up off the ground I stare back the way I had come. Biting the inside of my cheek I have a silent argument with myself about going back. I mean I had too. I couldn't just leave them. They were in trouble... but there were spiders, big ones. "UGH! I don't wanna do this." I groan as I force myself to go back the way I came.

As I slowly walk back the way I had come my body starts to shake from the possibility of seeing more spiders. I clench my fists tightly as I try to force the fears out of my body. I knew I should probably be walking faster but I couldn't seem to move my legs fast enough. Why did it have to be spiders? Why didn't anyone say that there were giant spiders in this god forsaken place?

I continue walking until I start to see the webs again, then my body freezes on its own. My heart starts to race as I look around at all the webs. Taking a deep breath, I try to focus my mind on anything else as I force myself forward into the darkness. I cautiously walk through the webs making sure not to touch them as I search for Thorin and the rest of the group.

I come upon our abandoned gear and feel a sense of hope fill my body. They had to be somewhere close by. I start by looking up into the trees which was a bad idea as I see spiders hovering just above me and find myself frozen in fear. Reaching up I cover my mouth to hide the sound of my breathing. That and to keep myself from screaming again.

I watch as they slowly start to rush off into a direction a wave of relief washing over me. It was for naught as I realized I would have to follow them to find my friends. My heart races uncontrollably as it suddenly gets harder to breathe. I gasp for air as a panic attack starts to settle inside me. I couldn't go after them.

How many more spiders would there be? I couldn't just light them all up, I'd burn down the forest. What as I going to do? I couldn't help them. As I struggle to breathe, I feel my legs give out from under me. black spots started to pepper my eyes causing me to cry out in pain. I hear something to the left of me and before I pass out, I see a bright light with something or someone in the center then everything goes dark.