"Thorin!" Balin chided the leader of their group as he push the Dwarf's arm down, forcing him to lower his sword.

"It's a woman. A human no less." He finished as he moved past the rest of the group to approach the tall young woman. Her hair was a light blue when it caught the small peeks of sunlight the dark Mirkwood forest allowed in, but in the shadows it was an odd, eery, blueish blonde. Her sharp features regarded the group, then the approaching Dwarf, with blantant confusion and curiosity.

"What're ye doin in a place like this all on yer own lass?" The older Dwarf asked as he stopped in front of her, her deep, sea blue eyes looking down at him in bright curiosity and wonder.

"I am not alone." She stated. As she said that, a light twitter and flap of wings sounded, as a very small bird tittered and landed on the woman's outstretched finger as she smiled at the small creature. It was an Eastern Whip bird, deep, deep green and black with a small feathered crest and white cheeks. It chittered nervously and hopped back and forth of her pale slender hand.

The company regarded the small bird in mild wonder. It was not native to these parts. Others in the group, more so it's leader, looked at the tall beauty with a glare, believing she'd gone mad. A tiny bird was hardly company at all, let alone in a place like this. Then again, the forest was making them all a little mad.

"Where have ye come from lass? Are there others with ye?" Balin pressed as he searched the tall twisted trees around them for any signs of life. The little bird fluttered it's wings again anxiously, the woman stared at it for a few seconds, before it took off and flew back the way it had come. Between the woman and the bird, they had yet to see any other signs of life at all.

"There are a few, but not as many as there used to be." The woman said as she lowered her hand to her side again.

She was dressed in a long, aqua blue, cape that dragged across the filthy ground behind her. It appeared to be made of some kind of metal fabric that reflected the light, and looked strong, but moved like water. A fur the likes of which none of the company had ever seen before, it's colour, the blue her hair seemed to shimmer adorned the wide collar of her gown, a long, plain, light blue dress that just dusted the dirty ground around her bare feet.

"Come! The woman is clearly aled by some curse of madness, she speaks in riddles, and looks elvish. We mustn't waste our valuable time with her. We should be off. I fear the need to stay in this place any longer than we must." Thorin called to Balin as he sheathed his sword and turned back to his company to continue on their path. Balin looked at the woman in curiosity and mild worry. The woman tilted her head to the side and mirrored his expression.

With a sigh Balin glanced back at his company as they all began to treck further away. He glanced back to see the woman was gone. His heart raced in his chest as he looked around the trees and the ground where she'd been standing. There were no foot prints leading away from the ones where she'd stood.

"Balin! Keep up! We can't dally any longer!" One of the others called back to their old wise friend. The Dwarf furrowed his brows as the hairs rose on his arms and the back of his neck, goose pimples coating his skin as he got the feeling something was watching him. Shaking his head when he was called again, the Dwarf quickly turned on his heels and hurried after his company, praying to the Valar, that they'd be out of the damned forest soon.

Unfortunately for the Dwarven Company their next encounter with life in the cursed woodland realm was even worse than the first.

Bilbo climbed higher and higher in the twisted tree. The air grew lighter the higher he climbed, and he found the ever present fog that had settled in his mind since the day they'd entered the forest, had finally began to lift. As the small Hobbit pushed through pinkening, and orange leaves he burst free and into bright, warm sunlight.

Butterflies fluttered around him, some of them bigger than his hand, and he smiled in wonder at their coloured beauty as he took in a breath of fresh, clean air, his soul suddenly feeling lighter as he looked out over the tops of all the Autumn coloured trees.

A bird whistled at him and chittered a happy little song as it flapped around his head. The bird was a shiny, emerald, blue, with two, long, thin feathers that flanked either side of its tail. Bilbo chuckled at the bird as it swooped his curly hair in greeting flapping around his head again happily. It was a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Bilbo noted as he remembered seeing them hop and flap around his garden back in the shire.

The halfling chuckled again as the bird landed in his hair and hopped around in it playfully. He felt a sense of nostalgia at the sudden memory of his home at Bag End, but was broken from his thoughts when the little Drongo flew from his hair and chirped noisily in his face, flapping ergently.

"What is it?" He found himself asking the blue bird, suddenly empathising with the strange woman they'd seen earlier. The bird really seemed to want to tell him something. It flapped and gripped his curls tugging his head to the left.

"Ow." He cried out in protest of the pinch in his scalp. He carefully swatted the bird away but it flew at his face again and he swatted it once more, nearly knocking the poor bird out of the air. It chittered angrily at him and he glared at it before his eyes rested behind the creature.

"I can see a lake and a river! And the lonely Mountain!" The bird chirped happily at him in reply, and Bilbo laughed heartily.

"I'm sorry my little friend. Thank you." Bilbo apologised to the bird as he held his hand out, and it landed in his palm with a happy tweet. He smiled at it before leaning down under the leaves to yell out to his Dwarven company, keeping his hand up for the bird to remain on.

"We're almost there." He shouted excitedly as he laughed in joy again. The bird in his hand chittered happily before suddenly lifting off his palm. Bilbo raised back up to look at the bird in confusion as it twittered quickly, suddenly anxious.

"Can you hear me?!" He called out as he ducked his head down again in concern, worry growing in the pit of his stomach.

"I know which way to go."

"Hello?!"

"Hello?" Bilbo popped back up again as the deep blue Drongo began to flutter and chirp aggressively in fear. His heart began to pound in his chest as he watched the tree tops sway as cracks resounded from them, something big was moving threw the forest in their direction. With a gulp Bilbo began to scramble back down the tree, pushing through the overwhelming, suffocating air as his eyes slowly readjusted to the lack of sunlight.

The Racket-tailed Drongo flew around in a worried circle before taking off in the oppisite direction, flying as fast as its wings could carry it, before diving threw the canopy and swerving between the familiar branches and trunks, heading for its home and leader, as fast as it could.

A/N: Part two is on its way already.