Skin Changer : A Hobbit FanFiction (Discontinued)

A New Situation

Sunlight fell in dappled warmth across the forest floor, the vibrant green of the leaves casting the light in a similar shade. A man strode across the foliage with purposeful strides, his brown robes barely a hindrance. Behind him, a small woman in white struggled to keep up, her shorter legs working twice as hard to match his pace.

The man kneeled beside the path, leaning heavily on his walking stick. “Oh, no. This is bad, very bad. Ilma! Take this.” The girl curled her lip at the rotted leaves in her hand, the blackened goo of them an all too familiar sight of late. Something was poisoning the forest.

Looking up, she found her companion far ahead of her, and she held her skirt up in an attempt to make more leg room. All along the path animals and plant life alike lay dying or dead, and Ilma had to wrench her eyes away, lest she fall too far behind. She panted as she reached the clearing where the little house she shared with her teacher lay nestled amongst the trees, pushing open the door to find the old man rushing about the main room, his panicked babbling adding to her already addled thoughts. Then she gasped.

On the table lay Sebastien, her master’s dearest friend among the local hedgehog population, coughing in a small, wheezing voice.

“Master Radagast, what is happening?” She asked, her soft voice cracking. “I’ve never seen the wood so...defiled!”

Her master tried another remedy on the poor little mammal, muttering to himself as if he hadn’t heard Ilma speak. “I don’t understand, it’s not as if it’s witchcraft!” His head snapped up, meeting his student’s gaze with his own, his expression serious.

“It is, isn’t it?”

He nodded slowly. “A dark and powerful magic.”

Shadows blocked the light from the windows, low scuttling sounds reaching their ears. Simultaneously they moved to block all the entrances, locking windows and barricading the door. As they finished, Sebastien gave a final whimper, his body relaxing into the sleep of death. Ilma looked to her master, the tears in his eyes dangerously close to spilling over. The walls seemed to close in on them, the beasts outside trying desperately to find a way in. Radagast waddled to the other side of the room where his staff was propped, reaching into the top of it a retrieving a blue jewel.

“What are you doing?” Mice ran across her feet, some climbing up her dress and finding refuge in her pale hair, others clambering onto her master where he now sat with Sebastien in his arms. “Master?” She called, but he was lost in a trance, his eyes rolling back into his head as he chanted words of power he’d only just begun to tell her about. Ilma drew her arms around herself, frightened by the creaking of the walls. She yelped as something broke through the thatching of the roof, one spindly leg blocking out the light of the sun as it reached into their home.

Spiders.

More and more holes appeared above her, and she brought her hands up to her hair where the mice took refuge, the motion as much for her comfort as it was for theirs.

Suddenly, the spiders stopped their aggressive entry and retreated, their silhouettes darks against the windows. Radagast stood, startling her, and handed her Sebastien as he ran for the door. To Ilma’s immense relief, the little hedgehog looked just fine, her master’s magic having drawn the poison from him. Following the old man outside, she took in the sudden amount of large webs in the trees. Her teacher stood not far away, speaking with a starling. Turning to her, he called out loudly.

“Ilma, I go now to track those foul creatures.”

“Then I will follow-.”

He held up a hand, halting her. “No, where I go is too dangerous for you. Besides, I need you to do something for me.”

“Yes?”

A trace of the old sparkle could be seen in his eyes as he spoke. “I need you to find Gandalf.”