Reverie - 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓷 𝓞𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓭 𝔁 𝓞𝓒

Chapter 12 - Wonder

"So, you're telling me," Kili asked, "You basically play in the dirt all day?" Blair laughed, clutching the reins of her pony to keep from falling off.

"Come on, brother! That's insulting," Fili interjected, reaching over and whacking him on the back.

"Ow!" he snapped.

"No, it's completely fine. Compared to what you all have been through, playing in the dirt just about sums up what I do," Blair said. Both of the brothers smiled, falling into a comfortable silence as they traveled through a grassy meadow. A gentle breeze carried the sweet fragrance of nearby wild flowers, swaying the tall grass, and providing a sort of refreshment from the scorching sun in the cloudless sky. They all had fell into a sort of bunched line, Thorin at the head, of course, then Dwalin close behind, the rest of them bunched and walking as they chose. Gandalf tended to either wander far ahead, or far behind. On this particular leg of their journey, he was quite far ahead, and stopped, looking into the horizon.

"Now what's he doing?" Bofur said aloud, watching Gandalf. Bifur grunted something incomprehensible in response. Suddenly, Gandalf turned around, riding back to the group swiftly on his horse.

"I have just recalled a swift passage we can take to safer lands," Gandalf announced to the group.

"Safer lands? What do you mean?" Bilbo asked, stopping his pony abruptly. Bombur's pony quickly stopped, almost bumping into Bilbo's, causing a grumble from Bombur.

"I sense something I have not sensed in a long time," Gandalf said, his voice sounding far away. "Either way, this passage is much quicker than the one we are on now."

"What passage is this? I haven't heard of this before," Thorin questioned, suspiciously. A few of the dwarves muttered in agreement.

"Of course you haven't. In normal circumstances you wouldn't be allowed on it," Gandalf replied matter-of-factly. With this, he turned his horse around and started trotting forward. The company looked at one another with confused expressions.

"What does he mean?" Ori asked.

"Probably nothing. He's led us this far, let's just keep following him," Dwalin said. Thorin gave a small nod before urging his pony forward, the company following his lead.

Bilbo rode up beside Blair, his face creased with worry. "Unsafe lands? Blair, this is getting to be a lot more than we bargained for."

Blair scoffed. "Are you serious right now? Nothing's happened! Stop being a worry-wart."

Now it was Bilbo's turn to scoff. He immediately muttered something under his breath and let his pony fall back.

The company continued to follow Gandalf for a few miles, moving from grassy terrain to rough, rocky grounds. After what felt like going uphill for hours, they finally appeared in front of a cavern of sorts. The walls were a mix of red and orange, and appeared to be some sort of sharp chalk. The path through the cavern appeared dark and jagged, a heavy air wafting out from the blackness.

"Please tell me we took a wrong turn," Nori said as they all stood looking at the path ahead.

"I have no recognition of this place," Dwalin said.

"Where does this even lead?" Dori sighed.

"The ponies can't fit through there!" Fili said, exasperated.

"You're quite right, Fili. We must leave them," Gandalf declared. Immediately, the whole company started yelling and cursing in both English and dwarvish. Normally Blair would've laughed at the whole ordeal, but the thought of leaving her pony filled her with sadness.