Hello everyone and welcome back! I hope you've all had a great start to 2016! As per usual I'm late posting... Sorry! But here's the first chapter of 'The Desolation Of Smaug' I hope you enjoy!
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug.
Fan Fiction.
Chapter 1; What Choice Do We Have?
Thunk
Thunk
Thunk...
The sound of the dagger digging itself deep into the pine wood was barely audible to me now; I was so deep in thought.
"Why can't you just rest?" A drowsy voice drifted up to my ears from the ground beside me, shattering my concentration and sending the next knife whizzing past the tree I had been aiming for, and landing deep in the soft earth a few feet back.
I groaned in annoyance, crawling forwards to retrieve the knives and scuttling back to rest against the small rock I'd made my bed.
"Because, Bilbo is taking too long." I muttered, cleaning the muddied blade on my already grubby trousers.
Kili sighed, opening one eye to stare up at me. "He's done this plenty of times now. He knows what he's doing. Please stop worrying and get some rest." He closed his eyes again and shuffled further down into the mossy ground, trying to drift off into a peaceful sleep again.
I had no intention to rest. It didn't matter how many times I was told to calm down, or relax, nothing worked. I was worried for Bilbo, being all on his own. And if it hadn't been for that blasted head injury I would have ploughed my way through the Dwarves to go with him.
As it was, I had been set firmly on the ground and told to rest up, placed under an insistent watch from the Dwarves by command of Thorin. It was infuriating.
My wound had been cleaned and bandaged shortly after we'd been released by the Eagles, I'd been fed and watered too and I felt astoundingly better than I had. But Thorin still insisted on me resting for a few days, or as much as I could, what with the constant running.
Instead of attempting to sleep, I picked up one of the knives I'd been handling, brought the tip up to rest against my cheek, aiming, and with a flick of the wrist, sent the blade soaring forwards and embedding it deep into the pine tree a few feet in front of me.
Thunk.
I sighed in frustration, my breath clouding before my eyes.
It was cold. It was always cold now. The night had fallen early as it always does in autumn. A sharp chill bit at my cheeks as I waited, in the middle of camp, surrounded by sleeping Dwarves and a dense forest, hoping for Bilbo to return.
It had been three days since we'd escaped the Goblin mines. Three days since we'd been placed down on the top of that mountain by the Eagles and three days we'd been on the run.
I'd have thought the Eagles would have put some distance between us and them. It turned out, an Orc pack is fast. Not five hours since the Eagles left us did we hear the screeches and calls of the Wargs.
Travelling was no longer safe, or at least not in the way it had been. No longer could we tread the path before us calmly, following our own speed. We had to be safe with our travels now, we had to be clever. We'd made temporary camp under the cover of trees and sent the light footed among us forward to track the path ahead. That meant Bilbo, Bilbo was sent out, all on his own to give us a clear path to travel.
I hated it, the thought of him running into the Orc pack made me sick with nerves, like worms squirming in my intestines.
He'd managed it for three days now though. I'd give him credit for that, and how brave he was proving himself to be. It could almost make me feel proud, had I not been so scared for him.
Thunk.
Another knife embedded itself deep into the tree. I was getting rather good at throwing knives now, considering it was all I could do, when made to sit at camp for hours on end.
I went to throw another, when suddenly a pair of large warm hands wrapped themselves around my smaller one. I glanced up with soar eyes to see a pair of dark brown staring back at me, like warm chocolate.
There was a sad tenderness swimming in Kili's eyes as he held my gaze firmly and took the knife from my hand, placing it on the ground beside him. A gentle smile curled his lips as he took both my now empty hands in his and squeezed them gently.
"You must stop worrying." He murmured "You know Bilbo can take care of himself, he has proven that many times now." Then glancing down at the knives beside him he added. "And if you continue to play with those, I'll think I've been a bad influence on you." I let out a short huff of a laugh and sighed, tearing my gaze from his and staring down at our hands.
"I guess you're right." I murmured, my thoughts drifting for a moment.
I felt another soft squeeze on my fingers, and lifted my gaze to meet his. There was a strange look to his eyes. They'd deepened somehow, darkened, the warm chocolate becoming a burning coal. I felt my heartbeat quicken, ever so slightly and a bizarre heat coloured my cheeks at his stare.
A snapping twig and the sound of scampering feet snapped my attention up and away from Kili.
"Bilbo," I whispered and shot up from the damp ground.
The other Dwarves were roused also, apparently not quite as asleep as they'd seemed, and rushed up, weapons in hands, towards the sound.
Bilbo came scampering down a rock path with speed, skidding to a halt in front of Thorin and Dwalin.
"How close is the pack?" Thorin grumbled anxiously.
"Too close," Bilbo huffed, "Couple of leagues, no more." I dashed over to him as he stepped forwards into the crowd of Dwarves, still huffing from his run. "But that is not the worst of it." He added, hands on hips and gasping for breath.
"The Wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin growled, a severe expression twisting his features.
"Not yet." Bilbo huffed, shaking his head. "But they will do."
I could feel myself twitching nervously, clenching and unclenching my fists, wishing I still had a hold of those knives. I felt a tall figure step up behind me, and calmed slightly as Gandalf put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"We have another problem," Bilbo started.
"Did they see you?" Gandalf asked, his voice rumbling against my back. Bilbo turned to Gandalf. "They saw you!" The Wizard rushed, his grip on my shoulder tightened ever so slightly.
"No!" Bilbo sighed, "That's not it..." Gandalf's grip relaxed and he let out a more cheerful hum at the good news.
"What did I tell you?" Gandalf began, turning to the Dwarves with a grin.
There was something wrong; I could see it in Bilbo's eyes, something he needed to tell us.
"Quiet as a mouse!" Gandalf continued, dropping his grip on my shoulder. "Excellent burglar material!"
"Will you listen?" Bilbo huffed, desperate for the mumbling Dwarves attention, he was far too agitated for my liking. "Will you just listen!" Bilbo cried, loudly, silencing the group around him. "I'm trying to tell you, there is something else out there!" He pointed over the ridge of the rocky path he'd descended and turned back to the group.
I felt myself tense again, my pulse quicken and my breathing catch. We were in more trouble than we thought, and I desperately wanted to feel the sure and cold steel of a knife between my fingers. Something, anything to keep Bilbo and I safe.
I could see Bofur staring off over the ridge with trepidation. I started when Gandalf spoke up solemnly behind me.
"What form did it take?" He asked, stepping forwards, towards Bilbo, a steely look in his eyes. "Like a Bear?"
"Y-Yes?" Bilbo stuttered, turning to Gandalf with a quizzical look etched onto his features. "But bigger, much bigger!" He continued, turning to glance at the others. The Dwarves, were beginning to scan their surroundings, searching for this large Bear, hands twitching over their weapons.
"You knew about this beast?" Bofur called, all attention now on Gandalf.
Gandalf turned, a stern look to his face and gazed out over the scene before him, the trees fell away only a short distance from us, allowing us to look out over the valley below, scan our path ahead, whilst the rocks behind us gave us cover from prowling eyes.
"I say we double back!" Bofur called, turning to the Dwarves and leaving Gandalf to stare out over the valley, seemingly searching for something.
"And be run down by a pack of Orcs?" Thorin scolded, finally joining the conversation. Aggravated grumbles rose from the others. The tension was thick in the air; it had been for several days. Everyone was constantly on edge, waiting for an attack that we couldn't see coming.
"There is a house," Gandalf called, silencing the Dwarves as he turned back to face the company. "it's not far from here, where we might take refuge." Gandalf was being cryptic again...
"Who's house?" Thorin called, still on edge from the last place Gandalf had us visit. "Are they friend or foe?"
"Neither." Gandalf's expression darkened. "He will help us, or he will kill us." I felt myself tense even more. I didn't like the sound of those options, but the idea of an actual safe place to sleep, not only for me but for the others, and Bilbo in particular, was extremely tempting.
"What choice do we have?" Thorin grumbled.
On cue, a loud and guttural roar tore around the small camp we had. Everyone turned at the noise, I started, grabbing out instinctively and latching onto Kili's arm. That was no Bear. No Bear could make such a noise, it rivalled even the Wargs' howls in sending a chill up my spine.
"None..." Gandalf murmured, staring out over the valley.
Okay, so thank you for joining me in the second installment of this series. Hopefully if you're reading this you've already read my first Hobbit fanfic, if not, you're reading things in the wrong order :p
I'm doing things differently this time, in 'An Unexpected Journey' I'd finished writing the whole fanfic and just updated where and when I could. This hasn't been finished and although I don't like the idea of posting without having a finished product, I felt as though I'd be leaving things for too long, if I decided to finish this first before posting, so I may be a little slower with my updates than I was, and god knows I was awful at updating before :S But I am determined to finish this.
Anyhoo, enjoy and feel free to leave your comments and thoughts, also I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd give the series a favorite :3