Chapter 3
Each one of my footfalls caused my sleeve to rub painfully against the still fresh wound on my arm. The soft skin had begun to feel inflamed. "If it is left to bleed much longer it will become infected." I thought, beginning to panic. A cold icy sensation trickled down my spine. I needed help and I couldn't ask for it. I couldn't explain that the increasing pain helped to heal something inside of me. That my blood soaking through the material that covered it made me feel alive. That the friction against me kept opening the wound again and again. Still I walked on.
The group had mingled now, covering plenty of ground. I was still at the back but Fili and Kili no longer lead. I looked across at the Archer, Kili, as he scouted for threats on both sides of us, bow in hand. "Alright?" he asked, only just noticing me. "What? Ohh, yes thank you." I said, trying to muster a weak smile. "It's just, you look really pale. Are you sure you're okay?" he hedged. "I – I'm fine, really, just tired." I replied. Bilbo must have heard, he turned and looked at me meaningfully. He was perceptive, and had a good heart, that much I could tell already. But he noticed too much, it made me nervous.
After a while my legs began to slow, it felt strange that the woodland around us had hushed, in a muted calm. An unnatural calm. I had a sudden urge to grip Tracer's silver leather-bound hilt tighter. I stopped dead, heart beating louder and louder, blocking out all else. A creeping sensation wound its way through my limbs. Not wanting to trust my instincts, I turned cautiously, the second's defied time as I looked over my shoulder. My fears were confirmed. Far off I saw them, bloodthirsty and wild. "Orc pack!" I screamed. I was sure they had followed us, but not by sight. Silence cracked, and shattered around us. The terrible screeching cries and barks of huge Wargs reached us and clung in our ears from a mile away. Everyone turned, shouted to one another, then ran for cover in a denser patch of trees. The ground beneath my feet started to vibrate as the enemy approached. It shocked me and set me off balance. I made it to the thicker shadier foliage and smacked into what I perceived to be a solid unbreakable Dwarf sized rock. Except the rock grabbed me around the waist and pulled me against it from behind, a steady hand clapping over my mouth as I struggled. I caught Thorin's calming musky smell as he shushed me. I tried hard to keep my body still, ears alert, but his strong heartbeat thumping against my back was a distraction for me. Once again I tingled unbearably, half desiring to writhe away but we couldn't risk being seen. The Wargs sped like daggers through the air along the woodland path we had just walked. There were sighs of relief around us as they passed by at speed. That second of calm was short lived. A solitary Warg could be heard sniffing around the path we had taken. It's rider muttering in Black Speech. Fear coiled around my heart like a viper, stopping my breath. Thorin's arm tightened around me, drawing me in. I gripped his big forearm to steady myself. Could the evil creature smell my blood? A bone chilling roar of a far off Orc seemed to end the beast's search and the sound of its huge paws immediately pounded away into the distance. "Is it gone?" whispered Dori from behind a huge tree stump. "If we follow that path we'll be run down by Orc's!" Dwalin warned menacingly. I freed myself and leaned against a fir tree, exhaling deeply. When I moved I realised with horror that I was wet and slippery somewhere far too intimate to think about. I looked at Thorin as a debate over directions raged. He had no idea what he had done to me, or that the way I responded to being against his body was wrong. I was angry at myself, the way my own body had betrayed me. I deserved pain. I decided to deal with my thoughts later. Instead I focused on the matter at hand. We had to find a different route, and quickly. Out of options, the company needed it's leader to speak up, and he did so. "We find another way, I've heard of a place near here that could serve us well, but be on guard, it is below ground." He ordered.