"The path goes this way." Thorin called out to the others as Dwalin thumped the handle of his hammer on the ground to find the paving stones of the trail.

"This way." Dwalin affirms and they continue into the forest. As they went, many of them grumbled about the effects of the forest.

"Air. I need air."

"My head, it's spinning."

Nori, leading the party, suddenly stopped which caused the dwarves to run into each other.

"What's happening?" Oin called out, wondering why they had stopped all of a sudden.

"Keep moving,"Thorin urged the others as he stopped to stare at Nori, "Nori, why have we stopped?"

"The path...it's disappeared!" Nori replied in shock. The others began to panic.

"What's going on?"

"We've lost the path!"

Thorin began to worry too as he ordered the others, "Find it. All of you look. Look for the path!"

After what seemed like hours to them, they find themselves completely lost. Balin mutters to himself solemnly, "I don't remember this place before. None of it's familiar."

"It's got to be here." One of the dwarves replied. The sickness of the forest had affected them so much that they could no longer tell each other apart. Time was lost to them; they could have been in the forest for days or minutes, they wouldn't have known either way.

"What hour is it?" Thorin asks hazily.

"I do not know. I don't even know what day it is." says Dwalin in an equal state of unease.

"Is there no end to this accursed place?"

The dwarves were all muttering and rambling as they stumbled about. Bilbo absentmindedly reached out and plucked a spiderweb, sending shivers down it. As if he were a child discovering a new form of entertainment, Bilbo curiously plucked the web again. He heard a strange whispering noise and turned around to locate it but was unsuccessful.

They continued to stumble through the forest when all of a sudden Ori leant down and plucked a tobacco pouch from the undergrowth. Dori quickly snatched it from him and began to mumble his thoughts.

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

"Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no less. This is exactly the same as mine." Bofur said taking the pouch.

Bilbo seemed to be resisting the influence of the forest "Because it is yours," He tried to talk sense into the others but his attempts were in vain, "You understand? We're going round in circles. We are lost."

Dwalin reluctantly argued with Bilbo, "We're not lost. We keep heading east."

"But which way is east? We've lost the sun." Oin managed to splutter from his stupor.

"The sun. We have to find the sun. Up there. We need to-" Bilbo suddenly caught sight of an opening in the canopy. He walked over to a nearby tree trunk and began to climb.

Thorin suddenly heard whispering from off into the distance, "What? What's that?" The dwarves were too busy bickering to notice, "Enough! Quiet! All of you! We're being watched."

***

I had been roaming through the forest for what seemed like hours being sure to stay on the path. I had the feeling that it would be terribly dangerous to leave the path. As I travelled further and further into the forest, the dwarves' tracks got messier and messier. A veil had begun to cloud my mind making my head feel too overcrowded for it's contents. I shook off the dizziness and studied the tracks more closely, ensuring I didn't lose them.

It was strange. The map Lord Elrond had given me depicted the Old Forest Road as a straight path through the forest but in truth, it wound back and forth like a river. This must have proven difficult for the company as their footsteps had become very irregular, stopping every few steps. There was no sign of Gandalf's footfalls anywhere. He must have left them behind as he said he might have had to. This in turn made me rather nervous for the company.

I continued to follow both the path and their trail until the two split. I didn't know which one to follow. Leaving the path seemed like the least sensible option available to me but the dwarves had done so anyway. Had they lost the path or had they known something that I didn't? Gandalf had instructed me to watch the company so I supposed that meant following them into the woods. As much as I hated the idea, I knew it was what I had to do so I took a deep breath and stepped off of the path. Every few steps I would turn back to check if the path was still there but the more steps I took, the less visible it became until it was entirely gone.

"Well, there's no turning back now." I said with a sigh.

There were no birds nor any other living beings. This put me on edge; no forest should be this silent. The rustling of trees filled my mind and played with my emotions like an instrument as I wandered through the obscure mess of foliage.

I continued this way for what I assumed was another hour when suddenly I heard Thorin's voice;

"Is there no end to this accursed place?"

His voice floated through the air and I could barely believe it to be true. But I had to investigate so I followed their tracks more carefully until I could hear the squabbling voices of the company. I quickly and quietly climbed a nearby tree and watched them from afar. They were a mess; none of them were themselves. Bilbo looked less affected than the others.

I watched Bilbo closely as he scoured the area in search for something. His eyes stopped dead just above where I was situated. I thought I had been spotted when I suddenly heard him mumble something about the sun. Then he was off. He scurried over to a tree and started to climb up it's thick roots. None of the others had noticed his disappearance. They seemed to be too busy arguing about being lost. Suddenly Thorin looked around and alerted the others.

"What? What's that?" He looked around again, I hid away as he scanned the trees, "Enough! Quiet! All of you! We're being watched."

A swift rustling surrounded them. Trees thrashed about violently as enormous black and orange spiders erupted from them and took out all of the dwarves while I watched in horror, crouched in my tree. These spiders looked exactly the same as the ones I had already encountered at Radagast's house.

I was not supposed to help them unless absolutely necessary but this was urgent. Just as I was about to step out of my hiding place, another spider slinked past, carrying another figure. Bilbo! Before I could react a sword shot out from the webbed cocoon and struck the giant spider straight in the abdomen. The spider screeched in pain and seethed at Bilbo preparing to attack but the hobbit struck again, this time gutting the spider. Bilbo flung the creature from the treetop and clawed at the web he was wrapped in. Bilbo was safe. He pulled a shiny gold object from his pocket. My blood ran cold. Before I could determine what it was, he slid it onto his finger and disappeared from my sight.

"What on Middle Earth..." I barely managed to blurt out those words before I realised that I was all alone again. I couldn't lose the dwarves or I'd never escape this hell so I ran along the branches in the direction of the rest of the spiders.