ADVENTURE | ❝I don't want you to leave me, please don't leave me.❞
━ IN WHICH Elirien is pulled into the adventure of a lifetime. She not only learns to trust more, but discovers the truth about who she is and finds the one great love.
| Book 1 in E...
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▌Chapter 12 ─ Mirkwood Forest ▌
━━━━━ ELIRIEN STOPPED HER horse, watching Gandalf climb off his and move towards the entrance. She knew that entrance all too well, she dreaded going into the forest. She dreaded the type of reunion that she would have with those who left her behind.
"Here lies our path through Mirkwood." Gandalf said, looking back at the company.
"No sign of the Orcs." Dawlin announced. "We have luck on our side." He soon climbed off the pony.
"Set the ponies loose! Let them return to their master." Elirien jumped off and grabbed her things. Thessalia walked over to her, after she had grabbed her things as well.
"This forest feels... sick. As if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" Bilbo asked.
"Believe me when I say this, I wish there was a better way." Elirien said, placing her eyes on the Hobbit who looked back at her.
"Not unless we go 200 miles North. Or twice that distance... South."
Gandalf walked further into the entrance while Elirien stared into it. "Don't go in there." The voice spoke, it had been the same voice from before when she had been in the cave.
"Why not? We have to go in there." Elirien said, her eyes on the ground. Thessalia and Thorin looked at her as she talked to someone, someone not present in the group.
"It's too dangerous. You'll get caught."
"I think we'll take our chances."
"Everything alright?" Thessalia asked her friend. Elirien lifted her head, staring at the human.
"Just being warned that's it." She replied, soon placing her eyes on Gandalf as he came walking out.
"Not my horse! I need it!" Gandalf said.
"What?" They questioned.
"You're not leaving us?" Bilbo asked the wizard.
"I would not do this unless I had to." Bilbo looked down, while Gandalf looked back at him. "You've changed, Bilbo Baggins. You're not the same Hobbit as the one who left the Shire."
"I was going to tell you. I... found something in the Goblin tunnels." Bilbo told him, Elirien placed her eyes on the Hobbit and listened closely.
"Found what?" Gandalf asked him. The Elf watched him mess around with something in his pocket. "What did you find?"
"My courage." She then watched him pull his hand out of the pocket.
"Good. Well, that's good. You'll need it. 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." Elirien looked up as it started to rain. "This is not the Greenwood of old. The very air of the forest is heavy with illusion. It'll seek to enter your mind and lead you astray."
