Infinity through different life

Chapter 392 The Darkness Spreads
The Misty Mountains run from north to south, starting from Mount Gambarda in the north, and ending at Massidras Peak and Medras in the south, with a total length of 1367 kilometers. It is one of the most important geographical landmarks in Middle-earth.

East of the Misty Mountains, east of the Anduin River, there is a very large forest called the Greenwood.

This forest occupies most of the land in the east, and what the Lonely Mountain, Long Lake Town, and the dense forest elves occupy is only a small piece in the upper right corner of the forest.

Between the Greenwood and the Anduin, on the great wilderness along the banks, there was an oak forest surrounded by thorns, and in the forest, there was a huge wooden house.

The owner of the cabin is a human being who can turn into a giant bear. His name is Beorn.

No one knows where Beorn came from. He is a vegetarian, has a kind heart, takes good care of animals, and raises animals with high intelligence, but he is very wary of strangers. The half-orcs in the Misty Mountains hated it even more.

Even in human form, he still possesses the strength of an ordinary bear. He is strong, brave, and very terrifying. Orcs and wargs do not dare to enter his territory easily.

Gandalf knew of Beorn's existence, but the other party didn't know him at all. If it was normal, he would not venture into the territory of such a powerful human being.

But on this day, after twelve months from the start of the adventure, he still brought Thorin, thirteen dwarves, and Bilbo here.

In the past twelve months, their adventure journey has been very unsatisfactory. Not long after leaving Shire, the half-orc warg who got the news from nowhere appeared near them and chased them all the way.

They also met a troll, and the dwarves almost became each other's dinner. Later, Thorin also had differences of opinion with him. The map Thorn left was written in ancient dwarf language and hid something. Now it can According to the interpretation, there are only a few remaining ancient elves in Middle-earth.

But the stubborn Turin dwarves deeply remembered the hatred of Thranduil, the elf king of the woodland kingdom, for not rescuing Iruber, so they also did not like the elves of Rivendell and refused to ask for help.

Gandalf played some tricks and managed to bring the dwarves to Rivendell. In the end, in order to restore the country, Thorin, despite the dissuasion of other dwarves, took out the map and handed it to Elrond for interpretation.

After getting the clues, they planned to continue on the road, but Elrond learned the purpose of the dwarves by reading the map, and then notified other guardians of Middle-earth, Queen Galadriel, the white robe wizard Saru Man, came to Rivendell one after another, and held a meeting of the Holy White Council.

At the meeting, faced with Saruman's questioning, Gandalf expressed his fear that Smaug would form an alliance with the "enemy".

But Saruman insisted that Sauron had been destroyed long ago. In desperation, Gandalf told the bad news he got from the brown-robed wizard Redagast:

Evil forces appeared in the green forest, and the descendants of the spider Ungolian ran rampant. They weaved webs in the forest and spread darkness. Now the original green forest has been renamed the Mirkwood by the residents.

Ridagast, who tracked down the giant spiders, went to Dol Guldur, where he discovered dark energy that he had never seen before. This energy summoned the undead, and there was a hidden necromancer.

Due to Redagast's unreliable character, Saruman still didn't believe it, but Gandalf took out a sword that Redagast had brought from Dol Guldur under the motion of Galadriel.

This sword is a relic of Mordor, forged by the Witch-King of Angmar, and then buried in Rudol's Tomb, and sealed with a powerful spell in the depths of the cemetery that will never see the light of day.

This impossible item left Saruman speechless, but he still disapproved of the dwarves' adventure, but just as they were meeting, the dwarves who had long discovered that something was wrong quietly left Rivendell.

Sorin led the dwarves and Bilbo into the Misty Mountains. They encountered a huge mountain giant fighting on a rainy night, and were almost killed by the cliff. Then they were captured alive by goblins in the underground cave while they were sleeping in the cave. , only Bilbo escaped alive.

From the mouth of the goblin leader, Sorin and others finally knew the truth about the half-orc hunting them down. They thought that the dead mutated pale half-orc Asog was still alive, so they issued a reward order for Sorin.

When their lives were hanging by a thread, Gandalf finally caught up, rescued all the dwarves, and led them to escape to the east of the Misty Mountains.

Bilbo is missing, and Thorin loses his temper, thinking that Gandalf has found an unreliable snitch and has escaped.

Bilbo, however, remained invisible, overheard their conversation, and made a decision to appear himself, regaining everyone's trust.

No one knows that while fleeing, he fell near the bottom of the underground lake in the goblin cave, and then met a short and ugly monster.

He got a ring from the other party. This is a ring with unique magic power. People who wear it can become invisible. It has its own will, and it voluntarily abandoned the original holder and chose Bilbo.

The party resumed their journey, and then they were overtaken by the orcs who were pursuing them. Asog himself appeared and drove them up the cliff.

At a critical moment, Gandalf found the descendants of the Eagle King Thorondor through the moths, and the eagles led them across the Anduin River to the east bank.

But the half-orcs rode on the wolf and continued to pursue them persistently. With no choice, Gandalf led everyone into Beorn's territory.

While Beorn transformed into a giant bear and wandered in the wild, they broke into each other's house and locked the door.

Sure enough, the orcs did not come after them, and they passed the night safely.

After daybreak, Beorn, who had turned back into a human form, was chopping wood outside the house. Gandalf planned to negotiate with the other party, and repeatedly warned the dwarves not to go out, and waited for his signal to act.

But he obviously overestimated the IQ of the dwarves, and the good plan was messed up in the end.

Fortunately, Beorn is kind-hearted. Although he hates dwarves and their greed and blindness, he hates half-orcs even more. He heard that after they fought with half-orcs, he offered to help them and told Gandalf everything he knew. .

Taking advantage of the daytime, when the half-orcs were afraid of the sun and dared not come out for activities, Gandalf and others continued on the road, riding the horses provided by Beorn, and came to the edge of the Mirkwood before the night came.

Arriving here, Gandalf finally saw the changes in the dense forest with his own eyes. A large number of those green and vibrant trees died, and darkness almost enveloped the entire dense forest.

The suspicion in his heart was getting deeper and deeper. Before Beorn told him that half-orcs hidden in various places were gathering in Dol Guldur, and all the corrupted things were attracted by the evil there, and more and more gathered, including Lu Doyle's deserted mausoleum, where undead appear.

Gandalf felt the seriousness of the matter, such a situation only appeared in the dark age when Morgoth and Sauron ruled separately.

And I also know that the one buried in Rudol's desolate tomb is Angmar, who once held one of the nine human rings, and is a ring spirit. Combined with the news of the brown-robed Redagast, if everything is true , that Angmar had obviously gone to Dol Guldur.

Gandalf took a breath. If it was true as he guessed, it could only mean one thing - Sauron had returned, and he was probably hiding in Dol Guldur, and only Sauron could summon the Ringwraiths.

He made a judgment in his heart, but he couldn't believe it. While he was terrified, he resolutely decided to confirm his guess, so he bid farewell to the adventure team and planned to go to Rudol's Tomb first.

……

(End of this chapter)