Thanks, everyone! I'm glad you're liking it :))

@Amethyst, yeah, sorry I didn't make that clear - I'm writing under an alias.

@Lupine - yes, I think that generally the elements aren't supposed to include even sky and ice, but I decided to add them and sunlight in.

Here's the next part! As usual, thoughts are welcome, and if you feel unhappy or uncomfortable with anything that's happening, feel very free to say so. I hope you like it! :)

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Part 3.

Artemis looked around, thinking that she had never known naything to be quite as exciting as this. It was late afternoon more than a week after they'd started. The Edge of the Wild already lay behind them; they were, Elrond had told them, nearing Rivendell. Rivendell... that she should ever really have been expecting to see Rivendell. That she should ever have been here at all, Artemis thought. Middle-Earth was stunningly beautiful, full of forests threaded with light and shadow, and rocky streams with high banks of earth that had to be forded - forded! - and long grasslands of smooth short grass rising in gentle hills. It was all thrilliingly amazing- riding by day, sleeping under the open sky at night, following the wizard and the elf who ought not to have existed at all.

And then, of course, there were the dwarves. They had already met several dwarves, taller than Artemis had expected and also wilder-looking, with long beards and faces that looked as if they had been carved from rock or silver. They were kindly faces all the same, Artemis had htought, looking down from her horse; or perhaps it was only because Gandalf was with them.

Her pony lifted her head ans whinnied, an echoing, lonely, end-of-the-day sound that the soft breezes scattered. Artemis, seeing that the others were far ahead of her, urged her pony into a canter and leaned forward into the delicious wind that brushed against her face. It would be sunset soon.

It had been a long day, Amethyst reflected, turning in her saddle to watch the west. Yes, a long day, but, she decided, a happy one. The sunlight, she noticed without really thinking about it, was golden now, with all its last glory. It even made the mountains look as if they were tinged with gold... how close the mountains were now. The little band was almost at their very foot. And how many little valleys opened up suddenly almost underneath you before you saw them, gentle grassy valleys, that were cups full of sunshine and dark shadows...

She was aware suddenly that Elrond and Gandalf had stopped on the edge of another such valley. Moving up beside them, she found herself looking down into a large, narrow gorge with a river running about half-way through and, beyond the river, small and dazzling in the setting sun, a small cluster of groves and houses and a palace.

"Rivendell," breathed Echo, coming up behind her.

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Rivendell. Lupine stepped out of the palace for a last glimpse of the sunset. High above them the mountains rose, frowning and rocky and yet beautiful at the same time. She leaned against the palace wall, revelling in the fresh little breeze that sprang up, smelling already of nighttime. They had come through the valley and over the bridge, meeting the elves among the trees. Oh, the ecstasy of meeting so many elves at once! Lupine took a deep breath of the cool air, fragrant with the scent of many flowers.

They would be staying at Rivendell for a few days, among elves who didn't yet know of the danger - "It's pointless to tell them," Gandalf had said. "They can't help anyway, and the fewer people who know about this the better." After those few days, they would start off to cross the Misty Mountains. And beyond that... beyond that, adventure. Lupine yawned and turned to go in. A proper bed would be pleasant.

Darkvine, however, was far from thinking of bed. Gandalf had said something to Elrond, who had said something to one of the elves, who had left the palace and said something to Someone, who had come to the palace with him. and so it was that Darkvine, going into one of the rooms without the least knowledge of what had been happening, found herself face to face with - 

"Legolas!" she gasped.

This is great so far! I think you've done an awesome job of matching your writing to the characters' style—especially Bilbo...

Thanks! My natural style is fairly descriptive, so I think it goes well :) @Hex, yes, I am trying to match my style to whoever is "narrating" at the moment...

As usual, thoughts/hopes/feelings are welcome, and here is the next part:

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Part 4.

Hex looked up at the cool blue sky. They were crossing the Misty Mountains now - towering heaps of rock that seemed to turn and frown at them, hostile and menacing. These days Hex couldn't keep her thoughts from turning to goblins, and she was very glad they had stopped at Rivendell. There was something comforting and inspiring in knowing that she had the elvish sword Elrond had given her hidden underneath her cape.

And, of course, there was Legolas. Hex's gaze slid to him - a tall, handsome elf with eyes like unconquered oceans and a ready smile. He was talking just now with WildSong, who was smiling. Would they meet Tom Bombadil, Hex wondered? Or the Sackville Bagginses? By now it seemed unlikely. They had left the pleasant part of their journey behind them at Rivendell, and now they were on the dangerous part.

Night came suddenly that day: there was just a quick flash of sunset between ragged clouds, and then the night set in, thick and dark. They settled down on a rocky ledge and made a small fire, huddling around it in their thick cloaks that barely warded off the chilly mountain air. There was an ominous feeling in the wind. Even the ponies seemed to sense it and snorted and stamped a little way away.

Suddenly Legolas sprang to his feet, with the attitude of someone listening. Gandalf, looking into the darkness that had closed around the narrow path, seemed to be listening too. But there was nothing to hear, Flamarestii thought uneasily, straining to catch any slight sound.

Gandalf rose and quenched the fire. To Flamarestii's whispered "What is it?" he answered quietly, "Goblins. Try getting higher up along the path."

Gandalf's wand gave off a faint light, but the path was steep and difficult, and none of them could go quickly in the semi-darkness. And soon Flamie also could hear the sounds of several heavy beings climbing up the path behind them. Her heart was in her mouth, and she hurried as much as she dared with a steep drop to one side.

Then Gandalf paused and wheeled around, the light from his wand suddenly much stronger, warning the world that magic was being prepared. Flamarestii saw that, as they couldn't keep ahead of the goblins for much longer, Gandalf had chosen a good place for defence: the path widened where they were; there were no sudden twists in the path close to them; it was impossible to climb down from above. The other CBers and Legolas halted too. Some of them drew their bright elvish blades; Lupine and Artemis fell back a pace and strung their bows, to be on the safe side; Peregrine's eyes were stormy green as she led the horses higher up the path; WildSong and Darkvine were close behind Gandalf, their swords already bared; Hex looked around for something to throw or some tree/rock/whatever to hide behind; Flamarestii decided, wisely, to leave most of it to Gandalf, but drew her sword too. Scuttles and Jay joined Darkvine, WildSong and Legolas; Echo sharpened up her wits, while Amethyst and Ponsettia drew their swords, but joined Hex in looking for something to hide behind if things got drastic.

Then the goblins came charging into view.

Yess a cliffhanger! It's taken me some time to post the next part seeing as how the last part was a cliffhanger, sorry :/ As always, thoughts/predictions/feelings will be welcome, and let us proceed from this boring introductory thing to the next part:

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Part 5.

"What do you want?" Darkvine demanded, her green eyes glinting with sunlight even in the darkness, her sword flashing brightly.

The goblins had stopped, and their leader now stepped forward. "You know what we want," he hissed. "The jewels!"

"Which jewels?" Legolas said shortly.

"You know which jewels," snorted the leader, his eyes glowing from the dark shadow of his cowl. "Give them to us!"

"Why?" WildSong demanded, moving foward with a dangerous toss of her head.

But Echo spoke too. "Yes," she said slowly, "we had the jewels."

The goblin turned toward her quickly. "Had?"

"Had," Echo went on, more strongly this time. "But we don't have them any more."

"It's quite true," Poinsettia said, seeing what Echo had in mind. She shivered as the goblin's gaze turned to her. "We left them at the foot of the Misty Mountains."

"Why did you do that, I find myself wondering?" squeaked a small goblin.

"Because we had to leave them in one place and go back to the edges of Mirkwood to use their magic," Flamarestii said cleverly. "We found a scroll of paper with the jewels, with moon runes on it that told us to do that."

"We'll go to find this place," the goblin leader said, and starting foward, added, "But you'll come with us - "

"No, we won't," snapped Jay, springing foward with sudden moonlight flashing blindingly on his blue blade. "D'you think we're fools enough for that?"

"Come on," squeaked the small goblin nervously, hopping on one foot. "Comeoncomeoncomeon... besides, think of the jewels."

The goblins muttered among themselves, their gazes darting swiftly from one elvish sword to another, from the dangerous looks in the CBers' eyes to the bow that Legolas had raised. As most of the CBers sprang forward impetously, and as Gandalf lifted his wand warningly, they finally retreated in an untidy, milling mass down the path.

For a moment after they had gone there was calm, beautiful silence. Then Peregrine drew a deep breath of the clear night air. "Thank goodness," she murmured.

"We'd better go," Legolas said, and they turned to get back to the ponies.

Right! As the last part was very short, I'm going ahead and continuing today. thoughts/reflections/predictions are welcome, and I'm getting tired of saying it each time but what can i do :|

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Part 6.

After this encounter they hurried onwards more quickly. It wouldn't take the goblins long to find that they had been tricked, and then they would be going towards Mirkwood too, as quickly as they could. By now, too, they were all more used to living outdoors.

They managed to evade more meetings with goblins by sticking to the safest routes, and nothing more eventful than a thunderstorm occured to them in the rest of their journey over the mountains. Even this was eventful enough, as three of the horses took fright and ran away in the middle of it, and they had to leave their shelter and find them again, and once they had they realized that one of the horses had spilled its pack into a ravine and they had to get it back, and then - 

But aside from a few trifling incidents like this, they came safely over the mountains - something Poinsettia was very grateful for, after their earlier brush with danger.

On an evening which, Gandalf told them, was their last in the Misty Mountains, they came to the rocky crags where the Eagles lived on their vast nests. Gandalf and Legolas and the Chatterboxers were very cordially received, and a pretty, young female eagle invited them onto her nest. Poinsettia, sitting on it with her arms around her knees and a soft wind ruffling her hair gently, felt new hope and courage rising up in her as she faced the glorious sunset. They were already nearing Mirkwood, and soon their adventure would be over. They only had to get to the jewels.

Suddenly a large eagle came flying out of the sunset, his powerful, broad wings flashing in the sunlight. Poinsettia watched him through half-closed eyes, thinking how beautiful he was, clearly outlined, springing from the heart of the sunset. Then, as he swooped in to land on the nest beside them (he was the brother of the she-eagle), she caught the alarm in his amber eye and rose. "What's the matter?" she asked.

He gave a slight shake to his wings and folded them. "I saw goblins, not six miles away and hurrying," he said. "And it looked as if there were some Wargs and other nasty-looking creatures with them."

"Well, then," Legolas said decisively as he, too, rose, "we shall have to refuse the hospitality you offered us, kind Eagles. I think we will be going on tonight."

"Yes - unless we want to let those goblins get ahead of us," agreed Darkvine, and they all bade farewell to the kindly Eagles and went down to where the ponies were tied.

"Hurry," Gandalf reminded them as they swung onto their horses and gathered up the reins; and as they headed into the gathering twilight, Poinsettia felt discouraged again.

They rested at midnight; by dawn they were heading onwards again, over hills now. There was an endless monotony to them, Flamarestii thought, hills and hills, rising into the horizon that never drew any nearer - the horizon filled with promises that were empty promises; and behind them the craggy mountains and the goblins, and behind them the same hills, except that those went backwards to the Edge of the Wild instead of forward to Mirkwood...

Gandalf, she realized, had stopped, and wore that look of "Now listen I'm going to say something" that she had come to know so well. She stopped her horse too, hoping that it wouldn't be more bad news.

"Ahead of us," Gandalf said instructively, "is Beorn's house. And there, if I at all understood what the Eagles told me, are some more - h'm! - personages - who might be able to help us. Now, come along! don't just stand there, for gracious' sakes."

And when they got there they were glad they had hurried, for Éowyn herself was there to meet them, with her arm around Aragorn...