An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Forty: The Enchanted Forest

"I have a bad feeling about this place," Thalia murmured standing beside Thorin, she looked at him knowing that she couldn't shake the feelings that she got from the trees before her. 

Thorin looked at Thalia wondering what she was sensing from the forest, he nodded his head at her before turning to look at Gandalf who was speaking with Bilbo quietly away from them. 

"This is where I leave you all," Gandalf announced looking over the company knowing that he had other things that he needed to be doing right now. 

The wizard's eyes settled on Thalia knowing that it would be best if she came with him, he could sense the evilness of this place and that last thing that Middle Earth needed was for her to be corrupted. 

"Thalia... you shall be joining me," Gandalf said moving towards the demigod, he knew that this place would turn her mind; he could already see that his words hadn't gone down well with anyone. 

Thorin glared at the wizard wondering what he hoped to achieve by taking Thalia with him, he didn't want the woman that he was courting out of his sight. 

"No I won't," Thalia said with a shake of her head, she had no intention of going anywhere alone with the wizard and she was more than happy to curse him so that he got the point.

Gandalf stepped towards Thalia to try and convince her to come with him when thunder and lightning erupted across the sky making them all look up.

"And apparently Zeus and Poseidon agree with me," Thalia murmured wondering why they were in agreement of this, she knew that there had to be a reason why they wanted her to go into the evil feeling forest. 

Gandalf frowned looking up at the sky, he didn't know why these Gods were meddling but he had a feeling that Thalia knew more than she was letting on.

***

Thalia grumbled walking through the dark forest, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something; the hair on the back of her neck was stood on end and an uneasy feeling filled her. 

"Lia?" Ori asked as Thalia stopped walking and looked behind her, they hadn't been walking in the forest long and already it seemed like they had been inside for days. 

Thalia shook her head as she took a deep breath, she knew that as the daughter of Poseidon that she wasn't going to be fond of enclosed spaces; she swallowed as she focused on her breathing for a moment.

"It's close in here," Thalia murmured explaining her strange behaviour, she rested a hand on her heart as she tried to calm herself.

Ori nodded his head knowing that he could sense it as well, the forest wasn't like anything that he had been inside of before and he knew that Thalia was more in tune with nature than any of them were. 

"We need to keep moving," Thorin's voice sounded from the front of the line, he had noticed that Thalia had stopped but they needed to keep moving. 

They were going to walk until they could no longer see and Thorin knew that Thalia and Bilbo would struggle when the darkness came. 

"It'll be okay," Bilbo said stopping next to Thalia and Ori, he looked up at the blonde as he wondered what she was sensing. 

Thalia had once explained her powers to him and it had to be the reason why she had come to a stop, she seemed to be looking for something that wasn't there. 

"I know... but I don't think we are alone," Thalia whispered nervously before she continued walking, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched and it wasn't by a force for good. 

Bilbo and Ori quickly looked around nervously before they hurried to keep up with Thalia, whatever was out there had certainly put her on edge and they knew falling behind wasn't an option.

"What do you think it is?" Ori asked as his brown eyes looked around wildly, he stuck close to the blonde as he worried his bottom lip; he glanced at his brothers who were walking ahead of them. 

Thalia shrugged her shoulders, she felt a little ill and she knew that it was the forest affecting her; she swallowed heavily knowing that she didn't want to slow the company down any more than she already had. 

"I have no idea... but I think we better be on our guard," Thalia warned the two as they hurried to catch up with the rest of the company, she really didn't like the fact that she couldn't sense what was out there watching them. 

Thalia had a feeling that it was the forests doing that she couldn't sense what was going on around her, her head was starting to ache as she walked. 

"This way," Thorin called as he continued on, he had no idea that there was something out there watching them; his only thoughts were of getting out of the forest as quickly as possible. 

The last thing that the dwarf king wanted was to get lost or loss the path, Thalia had been right when she had said that there was something bad about this place and he trusted her more than the wizard. 

"Thalia no. Please no," said an unfamiliar voice in Thalia's head, it made the blonde pause for a moment knowing that whoever had spoken to her had been a woman. 

Thalia paused for a moment to see if the voice would say more since she was just used to Poseidon speaking with her and no one else; however the voice didn't speak again making her shrug her shoulders and continue on with the rest of the company.

***

Slipping through the trees slightly, he smirked as his blue eyes remained locked on his target; he had been tracking her for months and he finally had her in his sights. 

Cornelia's diversion had done nothing to slow down his mission and had only delayed it for a few days, he was determined that the blonde would suffer for what had happened; that he would have his revenge. 

The man carefully moved through the tress so that he could remain undetected, he would need to wait until he could get to Thalia alone; her dwarven protectors wouldn't be able to stop him until it was too late. 

His eyes gleamed as he watched Thorin lead the company off of the path that the old wizard had warned them to stick too, he knew that this would only make things easier as the forest corrupted their thoughts. 

The man had spent weeks plotting his revenge against the daughter of Poseidon, he had been waiting for the right angle since she wouldn't be expecting him to attack. 

He had lost his brother because of hers and he found it only fair that as a child of Poseidon that she should be punished for what had happened. 

David Castellan hadn't believed the tales that he had been told when Camp Half-Blood had been repaired after the battle against Kronos. 

He didn't believe that his younger brother had died because of the titan and he held the son of Poseidon responsible for what had happened to Luke. 

And soon Percy Jackson would know his pain, his sorrow... soon Percy would loss his only sister like David had lost Luke.

David stared at Thalia knowing that not only would he have his revenge soon but Sauron would reward him for destroy one of the balances that had been created to destroy him.