Chapter 1

Nymeria shuddered once more against the cool breezes of the night that swept across the high peaks of the valley and cut easily through her feathers. A small distance away burned a small fire, she longed to go to it and bask in it warmth, but such a thing would entail discovery. She had been following the dwarves for far too long to be discovered now. Her eyes scanned over their sleeping bodies, while her ears opened to the world around her, careful to detect any sign of elves. Thranduil surely would have noticed her absence by now; he may have even endeavored to send a team out beyond his protected borders to search for her. Another strong wind blistered through her perch's strong branches causing them to sway back and forth uncertainly in the wind; a squawk escaped her as she fell through the air before opening her wings and returning to the tree. Her cry had drawn attention from one of the dwarves; his steely grey eyes scanned the tree line, she froze a moment. Fear of discovery gripping her muscles, a hawk is nothing of note, she reminded herself as his gaze passed away. She could not say what had inspired her to follow the dwarves, the sight of them on the road was intriguing really. She had only heard of them fleetingly, and the only words about them spoken were of their greed and arrogance.

The hours of the night passed, each dwarf giving over to his own exhaustion until three remained to sit guard. The crackle and dance of the fire's flames beckoned her closer with promised warmth against the cold night, but there was no where for her to hide close enough. There was neither shrub nor bush for her to conceal herself within, rock guarded their backs with the exception of one narrow crack, large enough for a single man to walk through unaffected. In front of them spread the valley, vast and far below, any enemy approaching would find any attack ill-advised. A series of ponies were tied to the trunk of a sparse pine tree that stood on the edge of camp. She leaned forward, struggling to make her ears pick up their words,

"It's getting colder," one dwarf said scooting closer to the fire.

"What do you expect? Fall is nearly upon us," Another replied chuckling

"I could be eating vegetable soup," the third and smallest sighed. "With bread and butter, and fish, then a pie for dessert."

"You signed a contract," the first dwarf replied "Handkerchiefs and cold are just the beginning I fear."

"Why do you two complain so?" The second dwarf cried. "We're going to Erebor! All the wealth of our people brought to light again! How can you complain of cold and food when that awaits us?" A smile spread from ear to ear on his face, his eyes glowed with sight of their destination already.

"Well, I'm going to sleep before the others wake up and we're on the move…. Again," the small dwarf said before turning over and pulling a blanket on top of him. He was odd for a dwarf, for any creature for that matter, he wore no shoes and his feet were covered in thick dark curly hair.

The moon traced it's arc through the sky as Nymeria kept her eyes on the dwarf camp, the two sentries soon themselves were lost to sleep as well, leaning on each other. Steadily the pale pink of dawn began to fill the sky and with each moment a tug grew in her stomach. They would not see her, they could not as long as they slept. The winds lifted her up by her outspread wings as she drifted cover the chasm of the valley to the camp. She landed delicately in the same pine tree to which the ponies were tied. The tug returned again, closer, it urged.Wings reshaping into smooth pale arms, she reached for the first branch to lower herself down, the rough bark scraped against her hands. Each branch was more terrifying than the next, each one exposing her; her transformation rippled through her body dark brown tawny feathers receded into her skin as if they had never existed, replaced instead by marble white skin and platinum silver hair. The bones within her cracked and reshaped themselves, from wing tips came fingers, from talons came toes, and even her enchanted garments returned to clothe her body, by the time she stood among the ponies at the tree's trunk she was (as others would call her) human.

She moved closer to them, crouching low, carefully treading to not disturb leaf of twig; she padded through the mine field of their bodies, most twisted and turned tormented by their dreams, a large fat one with a grumble nearly rolled on top of her feet. She crept closer to the two who had fallen asleep. She was too close, too exposed for her own safety, every sense in her mind instructed that she return to the tree, but every cell in her body drew her closer; so close that she could see their chests rise and fall beneath their thick coats. One had fair hair, his beard cropped shorter than the others, from his mustache dangled two little braids that swung around his mouth. The other who leaned against the blond shifted in his seat, drawing her eyes, lightly tousled hair darker than death cascaded around his neck like a river at midnight. A jesting grin hid in his face; his beard was as short as his brother's, but there was something else, something stranger. Something that lay just beneath the service that this one had that none of the rest had. A fire began to burn in the core of her being, the longer she looked at him the hotter the flame grew. She could feel it reaching up her neck, racing through her arms. Her fingers moved of their own accord reaching out to gently brush a lock of thick dark hair out of his eyes. The sudden screech of a lark cut through the silence shaking her from her stupor, she sprinted from her crouched position for the edge of the cliff. Diving over the side a change rippled across her body once more, this time it was a falcon who soared on the hot thermals over the dwarves' heads.

She landed in an oak tree that stood by the entrance to a cave. Changing back Nymeria leaped from the high boughs of the tree to the soft earth below trodding over the thick carpet of leaves into the cave. Inside all of her belongings remained as they had been when she'd left them. Her bow lay in it's quiver amongst a forest of arrows, next to her belt, sword and dagger both properly in their sheaths. She swung her quiver around her shoulders and quickly buckled on her belt. The sunlight filtered graciously through the tree leaves, shading the whole forest in green and gold. She broke into a light jog nose open to the fragrant air to retrieve the scent of the dwarves