The Fifteenth Member

A Breath of Fresh Air

Attara's POV

We followed the twists and turns of the elven path for what seemed like years. The air around us felt thick, and it was becoming difficult to catch our breath. Although I was following the same path I had walk hundreds of times in my journeys, it felt nothing like the Greenwood I had known. The dwarves were the first to be affected by the air, but soon my mind began to feel muddled as well. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. 

Bofur suddenly came to a stop in the path and hit the handle of his hammer on the ground. "Air" he exclaimed, "I need air."

The rest of the dwarves came to a stop as well, clearly in agreement with Bofur. I turned to face them as more of the voiced their discomfort with the woods.

"My head, its spinning." Oin complained.

"We must continue." I urged, and we took off again. 

The longer we continued through the woods, the more clouded my thoughts became. I let Nori take the lead as I attempted to clear my head. I came up alongside Bilbo, who seemed to be the clearest of mind in the group. 

"The air in these woods is" he paused "sick" he concluded.

I simply nodded in agreement. Taking a few deep breathes I managed to clear my head a little, but suddenly we came to a halt. 

"What's happening?" Oin asked.

"Keep moving" Thorin commanded, "Nori, why have we stopped?" he asked. I headed forward to see what was going on.

"The path... its disappeared!" Nori exclaimed.

Sure enough the path was gone. In front of us was a sheer drop off of a small cliff and all around us were trees. No path was in sight. 

"What's going on?" Dwalin asked as he approached Thorin.

"We've lost the path!" Oin exclaimed.

"Find it. All of you look. Look for the path!" Thorin bellowed.

We wandered through the trees, but there was no sign of the path. As hard as I tried, I could not remember how to get back to it. The air lay like a heavy blanket over me, and I felt as though I was being smothered.

"I don't remember this place" Balin said, "none of it's familiar."

"It's got to be here." Dori replied.

"What hour is it?" Thorin asked.

There was no way of knowing in this place. A heavy canopy of leaves laid overhead blocking out any sunlight. It felt as though we had been wandering the woods for years.

"I do not know. I don't even know what day it is." Dwalin responded. 

"Is there no end to this accursed place?" Thorin asked, strain evident in his voice.

Ahead of me, Ori suddenly came to a stop. He then bent down to pick something up and Dori took it from him. I couldn't see what it was so I approached him for a better look.

"Look!" Ori exclaimed.

"A tobacco pouch. There's dwarves in these woods." Dori gasped.

Bofur then took the pouch to examine it. I felt as though I had seen it somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where. "Dwarves from the blue mountains, no less." Bofur added, "this is exactly the same as mine." 

"Because it is yours!" Bilbo burst out "You understand? We are going in circles. We are lost." He explained. 

It hit me then where I had seen the pouch before - in our camps. I felt as though a fog had lifted from around me and my head became clearer. We've been going in circles this whole time.

"We're not lost" Dwalin argued, "We keep heading East."

"But which way is East?" Oin countered, "We've lost the sun."

Next to me, Bilbo looked up to the canopy above us. "The sun. We have to find the sun." he whispered, "Up there. We need to-"

Bilbo suddenly began to climb the nearest tree. As I realized what he was doing I took off to fly alongside him. Breaking through the canopy was like a breath of fresh air; my head completely cleared and I could see the tops of trees stretching for miles. Hundreds of beautiful butterflies took off all around us. In the distance the Lonely Mountain towered, we were nearly there.

"I-I can see a lake! And a river! And the Lonely Mountain! We're almost there!" Bilbo exclaimed, but there was only silence from the dwarves below. 

"Can you hear me?" Bilbo shouted "I know which way to go! Hello?"

In the distance trees were swaying under the weight of something that was approaching. Whatever it was it was large, and it was coming fast. Bilbo and I met each other gaze before he began to hurry down the tree. Part way down he lost his balance and fell, falling through great spider webs. I dove to catch him, but my wings become stuck in a web as well. Both of us were trapped, and four giant spiders were coming at us.