We Are Put in Prison

The day after the fight against the spiders, we tried to find the road. We took a vote and eight of us agreed on one way. So we walked in that direction and did not find the road.

"This is hopeless!" I muttered. Suddenly, hundreds of red torches lit up all around us like stars and wood-elves leapt out from nowhere and told us to freeze. Bilbo disappeared and the rest of us were bound with ropes in a single file. They put me in the way back of the line. They were a little hesitant with me because they saw my bow. It was of elvish craft and they might have thought I was an elf. Nonetheless, they tied my hands as well as all of the dwarves. The elves blindfolded everyone except me. Bilbo was standing in the back invisibly; but I knew he was there. They made us walk very quickly to the king's palace. Our walk there was very strange; it was pitch-black, but I could see everything. 

"The wood-elves can see everything too. Well, obviously they can see because they are elves. But I'm not an elf; I'm a hobbit.  Maybe I'm just adapting other beings natural powers or something awesome like that," I thought. While I was doing all of this thinking, we halted in front of a bridge that led to two stone doors. The stone doors opened and we proceeded. We walked across the bridge, at a normal pace, and went right through the open doors. It slammed behind us with a bang and we walked through many passages which were glowing red from the torch-light. We came to a great hall where the Elvenking sat on a big wooden throne. He was wearing a crown of berries and red leaves, for the season was autumn. In his right hand, he held a staff carved out of oak. He ordered the guards to unbind our hands.

"There is no need here," he said. "No prisoner has or ever will escape my magic doors without my consent." I tried to stay out of his sight. He questioned the dwarves and asked them about their doings, where they were coming from, and why they were in the forest.

"O King, why do you question us so? What have we done?" said Balin, who was the eldest. "Is it such a crime to be lost in the forest? To be starving and thirsting? And to kill some spiders? Are the spiders your tame beasts or pets? Is that why you are so angry with their deaths?" 

This made the king even more angry and he replied,

"It is a crime to wander in my kingdom. Did you forget that you were in my realm, using my people's road that they made with their own hands? Three times you have pursued and troubled my people, not to mention that you roused the spiders. After all the trouble you have caused I believe I have a right to know what your purpose here is. And if you are not going to tell me now, I will keep you all in prison until you have learned some manners and gained some sense! Take them away!" He ordered that we would all be in separate cells and that we were not to see or talk to each other until at least one of us would tell him the truth. He did not say anything about Thorin. We were marched to our cells and we all thought to ourselves about what we should do.