"I got it!" Bilbo jumped on the rope and grabbed it, but then started getting dragged away, down the riverbank. Agarwaen ran over and grabbed him with one hand, and the rope with the other. Multiple hands then seized the rope, and pulled the boat back toward where they were supposed to cross the river.

"Well that could've been bad." Dwalin sighed in relief.

"We have no oars, though. How will we get across?"

"What if we were to throw another rope and catch it on the trees across the river?" Fili suggested.

"Then we could pull each other across a few at a time, and then the next group can pull the boat back with this rope." Agarwaen agreed. "Do we have any more rope?"

"Right here." Nori said, tying another hook to the second rope. She then tossed it up and across to the trees, successfully catching it on a branch somewhere up there.

"Alright. Bilbo, Fili, Balin, and Agarwaen will be the first to cross with me." Thorin said, waiting for the four of them to get in the boat before jumping in after them. The elf looked nervously over the edge of the boat at the black water, praying that the boat was stable. Her, Thorin, and Fili pulled the boat across by use of the second rope, flinching everytime a branch snapped above them, or a twig fell from near where the rope was caught. Should the hook slip, they would all be washed away by the river. When the bottom of the rowboat scraped the bank of the other side, she breathed a sigh of relief and hopped out after Bilbo and Fili. She then helped Balin step out far enough from the water, and Thorin jumped out behind the white haired dwarf.

"Pull it back!" Fili yelled across the river after securing the second rope to one of the rowlocks. Kili, Oin, Gloin, and Dori were the next ones to cross, and before long, nearly all the company was across and safe. All that was left was Bombur and Dwalin, who came last, and had just landed when the sound of hooves galloped toward them. Everyone turned in time to see a deer come flying out of the brush, and leap across the river. An arrow whizzed through the air after it, and it tumbled down on the other riverbank. Kili grinned, excited that he managed to shoot some food that wasn't a disgusting squirrel. Everyone was torn from their thoughts of venison when Bilbo's scared voice tore through the air.

"Bombur fell in!" He cried. Sure enough, the dwarf was knocked off balance as he was getting out of the boat by the deer, and was splashing in the water, drowning. Agarwaen ripped the rope from the trees, and threw it in, hoping that he would be able to grab on. When he did, everyone worked together again to pull him to shore. By that time, he was fast asleep, and there would be no waking him.

"What do we do?" Bofur asked, worried for his brother. "Will he be alright?"

"He's only sleeping. But I don't know for how long." Agarwaen said, earning a sigh from Thorin.

"How long do you estimate? A night? A day? We can't afford to lose any more time."

"More than that. He could be asleep for a week for all I know. This is why I wanted to take the forest road!"

"And what of the marshes at the end of it?"

"It would have been safer than an enchanted river! What if more of us fell in? What if dragging Bombur behind us the whole time means we don't get to the mountain on time?"

"Then we split up, and half of us will head for the mountain while the others stay with Bombur."

"We're not leaving anyone behind. Not in this Iluvitar forsaken forest, not after we're out, not ever."

"Then what do you propose we do?" Thorin asked, frustrated that she was right. She stood up and looked around.

"I might have an idea. But I need some large and sturdy sticks." Dwalin was about to cut some down, when an elven horn sounded in the distance, and more deer ran across the path.

"Everyone hide!" Agarwaen whispered to the company. They pulled Bombur along with them into the brush and hid. "It's a hunting party." She explained. "We're not far from the palace."

"I can't hear anything." Dwalin whispered.

"Shh, I can. And if I can hear them, they can hear us." Agarwaen whispered back. She listened to them, their voices just barely audible in the distance. She heard more deer running through the forest, and the group of about eight elves were following them. The company sat hidden in the brush for so long, night descended upon them, and so they just waited out the night again, all pressed against each other with a happily sleeping Bombur at the center of the group.

It was Bofur and Bifur's time to take watch, even though most of the party was still awake, and Agarwaen tried to keep her eyes open, but eventually felt herself falling forward where she sat as her head dipped. She jerked it back up, and sat up straighter, rubbing her eyes.

"You can sleep." Thorin said, much closer to her than she remembered him being. She realized it was his fur cloak that she'd been pressed against to her right since they had to hide. "It's not your turn for watch yet."

"I...I have to keep listening. You won't be able to hear elves creep up on us." She said drowsily, her voice more hoarse and weak sounding than usual. The elves were only half her reason too, she didn't want to see Belegurion die again, especially now that they were so close to her old home.

"It's pitch black, I doubt they'll be wandering around here until morning." His voice was soft, and quiet, yet still gravelly and deep.

"We can't take any, uhm, any risks." She muttered, beginning to nod off again before jerking her head back up.

"The forest is playing with your mind, we're safe for now." Thorin insisted. She hummed in acknowledgement, before he finally felt her head fall backwards, leaning on him and Bombur, who laid behind them. He sighed, annoyed at the fact that her head now rested on his shoulder, but he couldn't find it in him to push her off. She was working extremely hard to try and keep them safe, the least she deserved was some sleep, restful or not.

Thorin was awoken from his own slumber about an hour later by Agarwaen struggling to breathe in her sleep beside him. She sounded like she was choking as she clawed at the air and anything around her. Was there something physically wrong? Was it her breathing issues? Was the forest beginning to suffocate her? He was about to shake her awake, when he heard her gasp and suck in a large breath before coughing. She sat up, and he assumed she was now leaning forward. He heard her heavy breaths with coughs mixed in, and wondered if he should ask if she was alright.

"Agarwaen, are you alright?" Bilbo asked from Bombur's other side.

"Yes, just...reliving the stone giants tonight." She slowly laid back again, not as close to Thorin as before. He felt her arm brush his, but that was about it. "It's something new almost every night." She sighed, still trying to return her breathing to normal. It wasn't a rare nightmare that she had, but every time, her dream felt real and she felt like she was being crushed again. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and one time in Rivendell during her recovery, she nearly died because of it.

Thorin wanted to comfort her and tell her that it would be alright, but he wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe it's because her nightmares reminded him of his own? Or maybe it was because she'd grown to be a close friend to the entire company? Whatever the reason, he felt like he'd be overstepping his boundaries, and therefore remained silent.

Agarwaen, Fili, and Kili were the last three to take watch that night, and when the forest finally became bright enough to see again, she stood up and got to work while the brothers woke everyone. If Bombur was going to have to be dragged along, she would at least try to make it easier. She gathered a few vines, and what rope they had left, and had Dwalin chop down a few branches of her choosing.

"What are you making?" Thorin asked.

"A sled that we can drag. I'll tie together these branches to make bar supports in the middle, we can tie a few of our cloaks around it so that he doesn't wake up with too bad a back, and then we can take turns pulling it two at a time with rope over our shoulders." She explained, already tying the frame together. The dwarves watched as the sled began to take shape as she made the frame. She then made the runners, and made sure to support it with more than enough supports, all while keeping the runner short enough so that it would be less likely to break under Bombur's weight.

"Are you sure that will hold him?" Bofur asked.

"Structurally, yes." She laid out some more thin logs atop the frame, and started weaving rope and vines between them. "His weight will be distributed across all of these, so it won't be likely to break, and the runners should be okay with all the extra supports I added." Everyone was amazed at how quickly she could come up with something like this. And not only design it, but build it.

"You should learn how to work a forge, lass. Craftmanship like that is surely a gift from Mahal himself." Bofur smiled.

"Jobs were never really my thing. Not to mention, women are supposed to be seamstresses and bar maids."

"Not if you're a dwarf. We have several woman smiths. We take strength and wits wherever we can get it." Dwalin told her.

"I suppose I was born the wrong race, then." She tied off the ropes at the front. "Alright, let's see how it holds." She wiped her hands on her thighs and sighed.

Dwalin, Thorin, Gloin, and Fili all worked together to drag Bombur over to the sled and lay him on top. The wood creaked, and she half expected some vines to snap, but they never did. Dwalin and Gloin then wrapped their hands around the pull ropes, and pulled the sled after them. At this, she grinned, quite proud of her creation.

"How did you do that?" Fili asked.

"Common sense, I should think. It's a basic sled and we had everything we needed." She smiled down at him. "Let's be going, and everyone be quiet so I can listen for elves."