We Are Still in Mirkwood

We sat for a long time and did not move. I was dying to do something. It was one of the worst moments of Mirkwood. Some white deer appeared on the path ahead; there was a doe and a fawn as white as the hart had been black. Three dwarves immediately stood on their feet and shot arrows from their bows, although they had no mark of where they were aiming. The deer turned and disappeared back into the wood as silently as they had come. The dwarves shot more arrows after them.

"Stop! STOP!" Thorin shouted. But it was too late; they had wasted the rest of their arrows and the bows Beorn had given them were useless. Now they had to depend on me to be on my toes and be the archer. 

"Maybe they could learn to trust me now that they have no other option. At least, that's good I guess," I thought to myself. That night we were a very depressed party and the depression became more engraved on us as the days passed. The path beyond the stream wandered just as it had before and there was no change in the forest that we could see. If only I could have told them that we were reaching the eastern edge, then it would have been so much easier. 

Gandalf warned me at the beginning, before the gathering at Bilbo's house so long ago,

"It would be wise to keep your head while trying to help. It is possible that if you would say something, it could change the entire journey. I will ask for permission for you to join but be aware!" So I didn't say anything... well, I didn't say anything that could change the course of the story. If they had known and kept their hope and spirits up, we would have reached the near end, where there was thinner and less trees and sunlight came again. But sadly they did not know this and they did not keep their hope and spirits high. And we were also burdened with Bombur. It took four dwarves at a time to carry him, as best they could, and the others carried the four bags. If the bags had not been lighter, I don't know how we could have managed it. Although helping to carry Bombur was a sad exchange for bags filled with food, no matter how heavy the bag was. In a few days, we would be left with nothing to eat or drink. Nothing grew in the forest that was suitable for anyone or anything to eat.