The Wind Fell Silent

Preview

  Hi guys, I know I promised you the new chapter would be out today, but I don't think it will. I finished it, but it's not really to my satisfaction, and I don't want to publish anything that isn't up to my standard. But I did promise you guys I would update today, and so I shall. I'm gonna post a sneak peak of the chapter, I will post the full chapter as soon as it is revised. Hopefully by tomorrow. Might be a bit longer (the chapter was truly atrocious). But I hope you like the preview!!!!!   

 Third Person

Dori shook Arenna awake. She would have groaned but it seemed to be too much effort.

"Wake up milady, it's nearly dawn" he whispered as the others roused themselves. Arenna looked around, wondering how anybody could guess the time, morning and midnight looked the same in the endless gloom of Mirkwood. It was their seventeenth day in the forest, and she was faring badly, very badly. Her head pounded persistently, her limbs felt weak and shaky, and she was constantly exhausted. At first, Renn had been able to keep up with the pace that the company kept easily, but she soon began to lag behind. The others could see it, she knew they could. She often caught their anxious glances and fretful whispers. They had tried to carry some of her baggage for her but Arenna had adamantly declined as she had declined their offers of extra food and water. The most concerned was Kili. He hovered next to Arenna constantly. She saw the worry in his eyes when he looked upon her, the disappointment when he tried to coax her into a lighter mood. But her thoughts were hazy and incoherent, and the most she could ever manage was a smile that was more akin to a grimace. Mirkwood was dark and stuffy and an aura of dread and ill-will hung in the air. The trees created a dome above the path and blocked out the sunlight and the starlight. Arenna could feel the forest around her. Old and sick and frightened. It begged her to heal it, pawed at her body, pulled her energy like a magnet. Though it hurt Renn to refuse it, she knew she must try, however there was only so much that she could do. Her life was slowly being siphoned out of her body. The Hum of the forest was excruciating and inharmonious and it took extreme concentration for her to tune it out. Arenna was getting worse, and most days it was all she could do to maintain consciousness.

After a rushed meal, in which Arenna discovered both Kili and the ever-mothering Dori attempt to sneak some of their rations into her bowl, they began travel. Though the company's pace was slow Renn couldn't keep up, she felt as if she would collapse at any moment.

Kili's Point of View

Our stay in Mirkwood had taken a toll on all of us, every dwarf began to thirst for the sun and the feeling of the breeze on their skin. The confines of the forest were like a prison and there was always the feeling that something was watching us. However for all of our troubles, Arenna was doing much worse, but I had hope that she would make it to the end of the forest. Until she declined even more.

Renn had been struggling to keep up, her, Dwalin, Bilbo and I brought up the rear of the company. I had noticed that the little hobbit and the old warrior had been keeping protectively near her as well.

Sometime after what I guessed should have been around noon, Arenna collapsed.

It happened quickly. One moment, she was trudging beside me, and the next she was crashing towards the forest floor. I was thankfully close enough to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Renn"I all but screamed when I saw that her eyes were closed and her skin wasdeathly cold.