Ash's POV

I scrunched up my fist on my lap and took a deep breath. "I have no idea what your talking about my friend but can we continue it in the morning ?... I'm tired.." I told him. I saw him sigh and nod. I took my journal back off him and put it into my quiver. He got up and went to where his nephews were, laying near them obviously to make sure they didn't do anything stupid.

I couldn't help but smile and I curled up into the hay and slept. The next morning I felt someone shaking me. I opened my eyes to see Bofur nudging me with his foot.

"Las. Ya slept it. You have to get up" he told me. I yawned and nodded. I got up and followed him to the others, passing a sleeping hobbit, while I pulled straw out of my slowly matting hair. They were all sitting at the dining table and an extremely tall man was pouring them glasses of milk. He glanced at me and then went back to focusing on what he was doing. Just after I sat down bilbo seemed to appear beside me. I remembered Gandalf saying the tall man's name was beorn.

"So you are the one they call Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?" Beorn asked thorin, as he walked past him. "You know of Azog? How?" Thorin asked curiously. "My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the Orcs came down from the north. The Defiler killed most of my family, but some he enslaved." Beorn said, I glanced to see the remnants of manacles on his wrist. Poor man..

"Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him." Beorn replied, seeming rather cam yet his eyes showed great fury. "There are others like you?" Bilbo asked curiously. "Once, there were many." Beorn replied sadly. "And now?" Bilbo asked almost reluctantly. "Now, there is only one." Beorn told him. We all look on in silence.

"You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn?" Beorn asked. "Before Durin's Day falls, yes." Gandalf answered, nodding. "You are running out of time." Beorn replied bluntly. "Which is why we must go through Mirkwood." Gandalf said. As soon as he did I almost chocked on my milk. I coughed from it going down the wrong way. Thorin noticed my shock from him saying our next destination and shot me a confused look.

"A darkness lies upon that forest. Fell things creep beneath those trees. There is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and the Necromancer in Dol Guldur. I would not venture there except in great need." Beorn said. "I agree with our host..." I muttered, yet no one heard me. "We will take the Elven Road. That path is still safe." Gandalf said. I'd lost my appetite, I gently pushed away my plate slightly.

"Safe? The Wood-Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They're less wise and more dangerous. But it matters not." Beorn said. "What do you mean?" Thorin asked. "These lands are crawling with Orcs. Their numbers are growing, and you are on foot. You will never reach the forest alive." Beorn told us bluntly. Thorin looked shocked. Beorn stands up from the table and faces Thorin. "I don't like dwarves. They're greedy and blind, blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than their own." Beorn began as he picked up a mouse that had been scampering on the table and holds it, all the while approaching Thorin. who is standing with his arms crossed. "But Orcs I hate more. What do you need?" He asks. "Horses" I tell him. He nods and leads us outside, right after we all grabbed our weapons.

We ride rapidly across the land, slowing to a stop as we approach a looming, gloomy-looking forest. My home.. Gandalf dismounts and walks into the edge of the forest through an ancient archway. I follow him slowly and look around. "It looks a lot worse then when I left..." I mutter to myself, yet I hear Gandalf hum in a agreement.

Gandalf yelled something back to the others, yet I didn't hear as I looked around in a daze. 60 years is a blink in the eyes of an elf.. yet it has been long enough that my own home looks strange to me..

I stare at the trees.. this isn't my home.. I remember it being sick but it was never this bad..

I snap back into focus when I hear bilbo ask "You're not leaving us?". I turn to see Gandalf getting back on his horse. What is he doing ?... "I would not do this unless I had to." Gandalf replied. He looks at Thorin, then turns and looks at a dejected Bilbo.

"Ash." I hear thorin say bluntly, catching my attention. "Yes ? What is it?" I ask. "Your an elf. Do you know these woods ?" He asks. I shake my head. "No. But the elven road shouldn't be to hard to follow" I tell him, trying to sound confident in my words.

"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." Gandalf said to us. I nodded. "You must stay on the path; do not leave it. If you do, you will never find it again." Gandalf finished as he road away, once again warning us to stay on the path.

"Come on. We must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin's Day." Thorin yelled. Dealing repeated his last words enthusiastically. "This is our one chance to find the hidden door." Thorin told us as we enter Mirkwood. As we keep following the path through the forest, it twists and turns over all sorts of terrain such as bare ground, high ledges, fallen tree trunks, and more. Dwalin thumps the handle of his hammer on the ground to find the paving stones of the trail.

It seemed like hours. My head felt clouded. I rubbed my eyes as they blurred in and out of focus. Suddenly we all stop, I almost stumble over my short companions. "What's happening?" Oin asked. "Keep moving. Nori, why have we stopped?" Thorin asked. "The path...it's disappeared!" Nori Yelled back. "What?..." I asked, in a state of utter confusion. "What's going on?" Dwalin asked. "We've lost the path!" Oin yelled back. I stumbled to the front. We're standing on the front of a steep cliff, and there is no path ahead of them... no bridge ruins or anything..

"Find it. All of you look. Look for the path!" Thorin ordered us. We all nodded and frantically searched. I climbed up various trees, looking for anything close to a path.. yet I found nothing. We wander the forest, the lack of air was beginning to affect us mentally and we all staggered about like injured startled cattle.

"I don't remember this place before. None of it's familiar." Balin said. "It's got to be here." Dori muttered. "What hour is it?" Tktiun asked, his voice seeming to echo. "I do not know. I don't even know what day it is." Dealin said as he leaned against a tree.

I sat on the ground and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to focus. "Is there no end to this accursed forest?!" Thorin yelled. "This is it isn't it?... I'm gonna die lost in my own homeland..." I muttered to myself.

We all wandered and rambled on our confusion till I gave up and sat in a leaf patch as the dwarves began to fight and bilbo disappeared from my view.

"Enough! Quiet! All of you! We're being watched." Thorin yelled us, making us be silent. We all listen closely for noise. I lean against the tree behind me and strain my ears to listen. I hear a skuttling and whispering that
Didn't sound like any dwarf, hobbit or elf. Suddenly I saw the dwarves stare horrified at something behind me. I look at them in absolute confusion before I feel something grab me and lift me up. Before I can scream I feel something bite me deeply in the side and something flowed into my. I feel my body go limp as I see a blurred image of my friends being picked up by something and scooped away. What ever was holding me suddenly decided one bite wasn't good enough so be big harder and everything faded to black.

I wake up after god knows how long, my side hurts, my ears are ringing. I fee like I'm gently falling. All I see is white. Suddenly I hear ripping and I see kili's relived face. He asks me something but I can't hear him. I just nod and hope it was "are you ok". He helps me up and I'm surrounded by the others. I reach back for my arrows and feel I have very few left. I curse under my breath and load my bow as my hearing comes back.

We begin fighting the spiders as they charge towards us, probably attempting to recover there feast. As weak as I feel the adrenaline is pumping through me and ignoring the pain.

Any spider that attacks any of us is immediately slaughtered. Suddenly I hear someone running through the trees. I look up and see a blonde elf. I quickly pull up my hood and keep fighting with my companions. Suddenly the elf landed infront of Thorin with his bow loaded. I growled and used my last arrow to load my boy and aim it at him. I recognised the elf now.. Legolas..

"Do not think I won't kill you, dwarf. It would be my pleasure." He said to Thorin. I couldn't help but snark slightly as I pulled back my bow string more, straining it. I glance around to see we are completely surrounded and outnumbered by Mirkwood Elves, all with drawn bows aimed at us. Shit..

"Search them." Legolas orders. I watch as the elves search the company. Legolas searches join and pulls out a locket, insulting the look of his wife and children. I look sympathetically at gloin.

An elf searches me yet is 'kind' enough to not pull off my good and to dump my Journal on the floor while he was making sure there was bouncing hidden in my quiver. He took my bow and arrow two, leaving with it. I picked up my now filthy journal and hugged it slightly.

I saw an elf bring Legolas Thorin's sword. "Echannen i vegil hen vin Gondolin. Magannen nan Gelydh.." Legolas said as he studied the blade. I wanted to yell at him, yet I bit my tongue to make me shut up. "How did you get this?" He asked Thorin, who was obviously offended by the implication that he was a thief.

"It was given to me." Thorin told him. Legolas points the sword at Thorin as he says "Not just a thief, but a liar as well.". He looks at his soldiers and orders "Enwenno hain!".

I growl as I can't hold back my fury anymore. I push past the elves leading the dwarves away and scream at Legolas "Súrë túla cendeletyallo! You save our lives and then you take us prisoner ?! What the hell is wrong with you ?!". Some of the elves freeze and stare at me. Legolas simply glares at me. He rips my good off and stares at my face.

His furious look melts away into one of shock. "L-Lithônion?..." he asks. "Hello brother.." i reply.

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Echannen i vegil hen vin Gondolin. Magannen nan Gelydh
{This is an ancient Elvish blade. Forged by my kin.}

Enwenno hain!
{Take them!}

Súrë túla cendeletyallo
{you are a liar}

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Hope you enjoyed

Lil'nightfury