✓ | Forget-Me-Not ~ Fili FanFiction / Hobbit FanFiction / Fili FF

「 Chapter 21 」

Ilèyn set foot through the Elven Gate.
A sparsely paved path wound its way into the tangled darkness of the undergrowth before their eyes.
She felt dizzy and sick. A high-pitched squeak filled her head and ears, making her almost deaf.
The dwarf touched her forehead.
Think clearly, Ilèyn. Come on.
She shook her head and focused her gaze straight ahead. She brought up the rear of the single file march of the company, which bravely fought its way through the thicket.
Dwalin, Thorin, Fili, and Kili led the way. With each step they checked to see if they were still walking along the path.
At first the dwarfs looked around the forest with great interest and curiosity. Black roots protruded from the earth, creepers wound their way up the mighty tree trunks, and lianas hung over their heads. The path led them up and down slopes, winding through the strangely grown plants of the forest.
Dwalin patted the ground with the handle of his axe until he hit stone.
"This way." he said, the group followed him. They balanced over trunks and huge roots, but gradually exhaustion spread among the dwarfs.
"Air..." Bofur groaned "I need air..."
"My head, it's swimming..." Oin added exhausted.
"We found the bridge!" Kili called from the front. His voice echoed in the vast forest.
Ilèyn did the same and slowed her pace. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in the air of the forest.
A shiver ran through her body as fast as lightning. Images flashed by in her mind's eye. Memories.
Warriors.
Screams.
Sadness.
The river... the river under a stone bridge.
Emptiness. Endless emptiness.
And a swamp of disappointments.
Then a wave of pain. On her back, chest, legs and arms, as if thousands of scars that she thought had healed were torn open at the same time.
Pain in her heart, pain in her soul.
Ilèyn opened her eyes.
Her heart was racing. Her eyes were clearer than before, her ears perceived every little sound. She could have felt the flapping of a butterfly's wings on her skin. From now on, her senses were sharper than before. Ilèyn had always been sure that this would hardly be possible, but she had been deceived in that.
New strength flowed through her body like a river through a dry river bed. The nausea and dizziness disappeared.
But one thing was not gone. The fear. Fear of a real threat, Ilèyn knew exactly what expected the group.

Wide awake and energized, she ran after the company approaching the bridge. Ilèyn made no noise, was as quiet as a nimble deer.
She squeezed past the dwarfs and the hobbit.
"Fili!" she hissed as she caught up with the blonde who had reached the bridge after Dwalin and Thorin. She huddled next to him.
"Ilèyn!" Fili said surprised, "How... how did you recovered so quickly? You looked terrible."
"I'll explain later, you have to turn around, now!"
The urgency in Ilèyn's voice worried the dwarf.
"We can't just turn around and leave." he contradicted quietly, so that they just didn't get Thorin's attention.
"You're in danger, all of you!" Ilèyn whispered tensely.
"We could try and swim it." Bofur said at the front of the group.
He and Bilbo stared at a broken bridge and the water of the river, which lay calmly before them.
Fili looked a little absent when he left Ilèyn without an answer and walked to his uncle. The blond dwarf looked at the bridge. There was no way over there.
"Didn't you hear what Gandalf said? A dark magic lies upon this forest. The waters of this stream are enchanted. We must find another way across." Thorin strode slowly along the river bank. Ilèyn nervously watched her surroundings. Her senses alarmed her at every sound, she already had a hand on the dagger on her belt.
She was so full of anticipation that any moment the danger would leap out from between the trees that Kili's voice made her whirl around in alarm.
"These vines look strong enough!" he called to the group.
He and Fili had climbed a trunk that protruded into the river and the younger one was hanging on one of the long twisted branches.
"Kili!" his uncle warned sternly "We send the lightest first."
Slowly all the dwarfs turned their heads to Ilèyn and Bilbo.
The hobbit stared at the ground, as if he could escape the situation that way.
"Great..." Ilèyn grumbled.
She walked past Bofur, then Thorin, and Fili and Kili. She turned to check on the hobbit, who was slowly following her.
Ileyn carefully set one foot on the branch directly below her. She checked to see if the bark was wet and slippery. When she was convinced otherwise, she hopped quickly from branch to branch, like a squirrel. She reached the other bank with one last daring leap and let out a contented breath. She turned around and saw Bilbo, who had not even got hold of the first overhanging branch and was moving his big feet slowly forward, extremely carefully and yet awkwardly.
"It's all right." he said hastily, "Can't see any problem." The hobbit grabbed the nearest branch, missed it, and immediately fell over. Ilèyn hurried back to the... improvised bridge and was about to get back on the big branch when she saw that Bilbo was holding on with both legs and all his strength, which made him hang overhead over the river.
"Everything's... fine..." he huffed as he reached for the thinner branches that protruded straight out of the water.
He dropped forward to grab lianas and hovered just above the surface of the water.
When the hobbit stopped moving, Ilèyn realized that the spell was beginning to attack his mind.
"Bilbo!" she called for him.
As if she had woken him up from a little nap, Bilbo startled and shook his head. Now he kept climbing. He came closer and closer to the bank on which Ilèyn was standing and stretching out her arms to help.
With one last unsteady jump, Bilbo came flying right towards her. She got hold of his jacket and quickly pulled him to her.
Bilbo clung to her and she pulled him to his feet like a sack of potatoes.
"Something is not right." the hobbit groaned and stood more securely on both feet again.
"Stay where you are!" he called to the dwarfs on the other side.
"Give it up..." Ilèyn grumbled and turned Bilbo's eyes towards the river.
The dwarfs hung in the branches, found hardly any grip, slipped and tried to reach the safe bank as quickly as possible without any system.
The first one who successfully got over to Bilbo and Ilèyn was Thorin himself. The moment he landed next to them, Ilèyn heard a crack. She spun around, daggers drawn.
Bilbo and Thorin looked at her in confusion and shock. They too now heard a noise. The three were staring in the same direction when a majestic white stag appeared from the depths of the forest. The animal stopped right in front of them, lit by a pale beam of light.
Ilèyn let out a relieved breath and relaxed a little. She lowered the dagger. Suddenly she heard the unmistakable sound of a bowstring tensing. She turned and saw Thorin about to shoot the stag with an arrow on the bowstring at any time.
"No!" Ilèyn rushed to him to strike the string with the dagger. The dwarf leader was startled and the arrow hissed forward. He missed the animal, which, startled, galloped back into the forest.
Thorin looked angrily at the archer.
"You shouldn't have done that." Bilbo said softly. Ilèyn straightened up again and moved away from Thorin.
"It's bad luck." the Hobbit ended.
"I don't believe in luck!" Thorin replied harshly. "We make our own luck."