Thank you to weareserialkillers, jacisnaps, basketball4444, BadLuck92, Chocking On A Dream and Rae01 for reviewing and following.

Jacisnaps: I'm glad you like Kari, I'm really trying to make her more normal, I guess(: Here's the next chapter.

In the breeze, fluttered single strands of dark brown hair with a touch of auburn. Other than the light sound of rustling leaves, the entire scenery was silent. Right in the middle of all the towering trees was the single body of a girl.

Kari moaned as she lifted her head. She had a massive headache and she could hear ringing. She tried to open her eyes but the light from the sun blinded her. With a shaking hand she covered them.

She dropped her head towards the floor of the ground and once again tried to open her eyes. At first she didn't think anything unusual. Kari remembered going to the woods, of course that was the only thing she could, so it didn't surprise her to see just grass. But that was it, just grass. She couldn't see anything out of the corner of her eyes because of a think curtain of hair blocked her view.

Kari fell back with a small cry and grabbed the ends of her hair forward to look at the length. She was able to stretch her arms with it.

"What the he….." she then noticed she was wearing sleeves.

She began to get up. Although she struggled because of the spinning her head was doing but she managed. She looked at herself.

She was wearing a long-sleeved brown shirt, which was covered with a leather brown corset that had several belt strapping it onto her body.

Now Kari was not what you would call skinny. She had very round hips, no waist and her stomach wasn't exactly flat. Of course Kari had long learned to love herself just the way she was, she was now regretting not losing some weight. She could barely breathe. The leather pants with even more belts did not help that situation.

She tried to loosen the straps but only managed to make them slightly bigger by an inch. She cursed herself under her breath now secretly wishing she could be slim like Emma.

Trying to get that thought out of her head she continued to inspect herself.

She had on knee high dark brown boots, which were absolutely beautiful in Kari's opinion. Simple, but elegant.

Then she noticed the cloak. It was rimmed with gray fur at the neck and hood. It enclosed Kari's entire body, showing only half her boot down. Again she was pleased.

The sudden realization of her situation came crashing down on her once more when her eye caught a flash of light in the tall grass.

"Is that…a sword?" disbelief coloring her voice. Where on earth did you just come across a sword lying in the grass? More importantly how was she dressed the way she was and where the hell was she?

Karialynn took a cautious step towards the weapon, then two more.

Now that she was closer she could see that the sword was halfway into a brown leather sheath. Finally letting the curiosity get the best of her, she closed the distance between herself and the sword and picked it up but instead of the weapon she lifted the sheath causing the blade to fall back onto the ground.

Kari dropped the sheath in surprise almost thinking something bad was about to happen but after a couple of minutes, she picked up the sword once more with both hands.

She began to examine it. The blade had a goldish tint in it instead of being silver, how Kari had always thought them to be. The hilt was gold-red. It had several spirals decorating that after much studying it, Kari realized they were roses.

"Well, this is not what I expected a sword to look like. I mean really, it looks more for décor then killing….OH GOD!" KILLING? Really killing? She began to pace around the small clearing where she found herself. What the hell was she doing with this, why? Was this some type of joke?

Kari started to panic. She kept muttering things under her breath acting like a crazy person. She was interrupted by a sudden screech that cut through the air.

Though the sound sent chills throughout Kari's body, she quickly made up her mind.

She was walking the other direction.

Kari had seen to many movies where the girl would always go check out what the weird noise was then got killed. She was not going to run that risk. Besides until she found out what happened to her, she rather not go straying off in some unknown direction in search of who knows what.

She looked down at the mysterious weapon. She might as well use it for self-defense while she had it.

She quickly sheathed the blade and tied it around her waist. Once it was secured she scanned her surroundings.

To anyone else, they would have said they were in the same forest as before but not Kari.

She knew her forest; she had been there so many times she could recognize which direction was which just by looking at the trees. These trees were completely distinct.

The trees were immense. They looked like skyscrapers. All of their top branches huddled together cutting any view of the sky, but the light passing through the cracks convinced Kari it was day out.

This was not helping her situation. She took a deep breath and weighed her options. She could stay where she was and hope that came by or she could go in some random direction looking for it.

She decided to walk. Kari did not want to wait for the person that had brought her here; she'd rather go and look for someone to help.

She started in the direction opposite of where the noise had come through.

She just hoped she had done the right thing.

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"Where the hell is civilization?!" Kari screamed towards the sky.

She had been walking for an hour and a half and still all she could see was trees from every side.

Great now I'm lost, she thought to herself. How did this even happen?

She was exhausted. She hadn't stopped for anything, and she still hadn't eaten or drank anything.

She shoveled her feet until she came to a small patch of grass with no rocks over it and laid down.

What if I die out here? What if I never come back? Her heart began to race. She tried to get those thoughts out of her mind. She was not going to give up without giving it her all…but for that moment all she wanted to do was sleep.

Kari closed her eyes. She was slowly drifting until she heard the low mixture of hissing and gurgling.

She slowly lifted her head and rolled her body so she was lying on her stomach. She looked around her but found no one. She began to think she dreamt it but the sound started again and she was wide awake.

It sounded like a voice, saying something in a language Kari didn't understand which was unusual. Her mother had forced her to take several foreign language classes and it was rare when she heard one she didn't know or at least heard of. This was neither.

She stood as quietly as possible and advanced towards the voice. She was cut off by a couple bushes. Perfect, this way she could stay hidden if necessary.

She peeked through some branches to look at the figure speaking. She quickly covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

The owner of the voice was some type of creature. It looked like something from a nightmare or a horror film. It didn't look natural. In its clawed hands was a huge piece of red, bloody meat. Something was strange about it.

Kari tried to figure what it was but didn't figure it out until she saw the pieces of clothing adorning the floor and the pair of boots carelessly thrown away.

Its…that….a human? She felt nauseated. That thing killed a person and was eating them. She was going to be sick

Unfortunately, it was too much for her and she emptied the contents of her stomach on the tall grass next to her. When she was done, all she could think about was concentrating on steading her breath.

It soon became clear to her that the noises had stopped. Her eyes grew wide.

A long scaly blood-matted hand reached out and grabbed her by her hair.

"AHH! LET GO!" she trashed around trying to get the thing to let go of her.

The creature finally threw onto the ground rather violently. It spoke again in its strange language.

"I don't understand you!" she continued to scream at it.

It began to ponder for a second then began again. It spoke very slowly and the words seemed forced like it was not familiar with the language but knew words.

"-sscuum….dwaaarf-scuum," it stated in a high-pitch voice, although the words sounded as if it was drowning in them.

"Dwarf-scum? No I'm not a dwarf or scum for that matter." She hesitated this thing, was unpredictable, at any moment it will give up on her and kill her. She needed to escape quickly.

"el…ellviish-fiiilth." Once again it urged, almost like trying to get her to accept.

"I…no, no I'm human, not dwarf or elf." For some reason this satisfied the creature, because it opened its mouth in what resembled a smile, showing off its broken, blackened, sharp teeth. Realization dawned on Kari. It wanted her to be human, so he could eat her also.

"oh god…," she quickly picked herself up and ran as fast as she could. Unfortunately, the thing was also fast.

It jumped on her back taking her to the ground. Kari kicked and screamed all she could. It didn't seem to work and also it hurt. For every time she managed to land a punch or open her mouth, the thing would scratch her with its long nails.

She then remembered her weapon. She gave one last kick with all her might into the things stomach, which caused it to finally roll off of her.

It recovered quickly, but Kari already had the time she needed.

She slashed the sword in all directions towards the creature hoping to land a hit. She was finally rewarded when she heard the loud screech come from its mouth.

She opened her eyes, which she had closed without knowing, and looked at the creature.

It was trashing on the ground, holding its face in its hands. Black blood was spilled over the vibrant green grass.

She stared at it until another scream brought her to the present. She once again fled.

She ran and ran. Not wanting to look back.

She never even saw the figure walk out in front of her, until she crashed into it.

Huge arms supported her from falling back onto the ground.

"NO! NOT AGAIN, NO!" A hand covered her mouth to stop her screaming.

"Girl, will you be quiet! Do you want to attract all the orcs in the area?" a voice hissed.

Kari stopped struggling and focused on the person in front of her.

It was a very tall man. He was a nice tan, natural, and had black hair and eyes. He also had a beard and wore clothes from the same time period to the one Kari's clothes would have been.

She couldn't tell whether to trust him or not.

"Come with me, girl. Well get some food into you and you can rest. You must have been very shaken up." He began to walk through the trees. Kari was still uncertain, but another loud screech had her running after the large man.

She could only hope she was right this time.

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"Here, girl have another!" another of the men said, giving her another big bowl of soup.

"Oh no, I can't I'm already full." And she really was, they had already given her three.

The man shrugged and walked off.

The huge man that had originally found her, who later told her his name was Balan , had brought her to a small campsite that held three other men, a cart full of bags of crops, and a horse.

The men kept eying her. She didn't know what to do. They didn't look at her like creeps did, they looked like she merchandise, something you wanted to buy but wasn't sure you really needed it.

At that moment she lost any further faith in her judgment to handle situations.

Several of the men, including Balan, were huddled off to the side discussing something in low voices.

The only one left was the youngest, a cocky boy that didn't look older than 19, smoking across the small makeshift fire from her.

"So what's a pretty thing like you doing out here alone in the woods fighting orcs? I thought your kind protected fiercely its women," said as he puffed a cloud of smoke towards Kari's face.

She coughed. "What do you mean my kind? Were both humans aren't we?"

Now the boy began to cough, then laughed, causing the group of men took glance over. They just shook their heads and continued their conversation.

He took in deep breaths to calm himself. Then he leaned over towards Kari looking serious but with a mocking in his voice and eyes.

"Girl, you are no human. I would have thought you would recall the race you were born into, for you are a dwarf."

Kari stood up. "What! I may be short but I'm not a dwarf!"

Then he stood up and walked over towards her. Kari could immediately see the differences of height between them. And this guy was one of the shortest of all the men present.

"I'm not a dwarf..." she whimpered as the male had a hard expression as he loomed over her.

"Turin! Stop harassing the girl! You know were not allowed to," said one of the men.

Turin looked surprised at him, and very slowly he was answered with a slight nod.

Turin reacted like a bullet, quick and sure. Before Kari knew it, her hands were bound, and she was lying on the floor.

"What the hell! Let go of me! Why are you doing this!" she screamed. One of the men came over and began to tie her feet. She searched for Balan. She found him unloading bags from the cart they owned.

"Balan!" He looked over, sighed; spoke to another man near him. While he made his way towards Kari, the other man resumed what Balan was doing.

When Balan reached Kari he crouched down so he was almost eye level with Kari, she was still 2 heads lower then he was.

He didn't say anything; all he did was looked at her with pity, being the only one that looked at her like that.

"Why? I trusted you," she whispered. He looked down, not being able to look her in the eyes.

"It's what we do," he said softly ", look for girls that are alone, girls that will not be missed." He paused.

"Then I found you. Alone, fighting off an orc… surely you had no one to be doing that! So I brought you here, where we decided where to take you, with whom."

Kari swallowed. "What exactly happens to the girls you take?" She prayed it wasn't what she was thinking. She could not go through something like that. No one should.

"Well we take them to sell them to our client. Then they… well you will soon find out. The client that you are to be taken to, has already been through 3 of our girls, we are hoping you will last longer,, since you did fight an orc…and survive."

Her eyes went wide. The fear of her sudden future, terrified her, not only for herself but for all the girls before her and the ones still to come. How many times had they done this?

Balan stood up. "Were leaving," he said loud and clear to everyone and walked away from Kari towards the cart.

Another of the huge men came over and picked her up. Her tension was building up.

It wasn't until she was thrown into the cart that she let out the blood-curling scream that was building up in her chest. In that scream she poured in all her fear and desire for someone to come and help.

"Shut her up!" shouted a voice trying to be heard over Kari's scream. "She's going to attract attention!"

All of a sudden, she felt an additional weight fall on her, knocking the wind out of her. She wheezed. Bag after bag were beginning to fall on her.

"If we keep this up shell die before we even hand her over," said a voice.

Oxygen was starting to get harder and harder to get.

"It was her own fault! She shouldn't have screamed," answered another.

Kari's chest began to hurt for the pressure applied.

She focused on trying to breath, getting oxygen into her lungs, and ignored all else. That was until she heard the battle cries.

Now the outside of the cart had her attention.

There were angry shouts, and cries being cut off. What's going on out there?

"Where is the girl?" Said a voice filled anger, and something else, anxious?

"There is no girl here, as you can see," responded a man, Balan.

"Do not lie to us, we heard the scream!" another voice cut in.

"Thorin is right, the scream came from this direction." The first voice spoke again.

"Well actually, now that you mention it, we did see a dwarf girl walk by. We also heard the scream and went to investigate. We found she was being attacked by a stray orc. We tried to help, but it was no use, by the time the orc was dead, the girl had already passed." Said Balan solemnly.

"How was that even possible?! The first voice spoke again. "There are four of you and you say there was only one orc! Are you such incompetent fools that one orc was too much for you!" the voice grew louder and louder with rage.

Everything was silent. Kari's throat burned.

"Gandalf," the second voice said softly, something with a t recalled Kari, "she's not here. We have to go."

There was a very loud sigh. "Very well, if that is all the information you can provided for us, then we must take our leave."

"Yes, yes! Well we are sorry there is nothing we can do. Was she something of yours?" One of the men spoke up instead of Balan.

"She was someone I had the intent of meeting, I had heard great things about her. Never the less, we bid you a good-bye."

Shuffling of feet sounded. No! Thought Kari. They can't leave! Screaming would do no good without any oxygen, so she tried wiggling around trying to make the bags catch one of the voices attentions, but they were too heavy. She whimpered, she didn't want to go down like this.

"Uh, Gandalf?" a new voice sounded, quieter than the others, more polite.

"Yes what is it Bilbo?" "Well I fell over this sword and it looks like it belongs to a female."

Silence. "Let me see that."

She began to see black spots. Kari thought she heard a shout but her heart pounded in her ears.

The pressure against her body and the burning of her lungs for air was becoming unbearable.

All her senses began to fail, leaving her with her eyesight only.

Meaning the last thing she saw was a light beginning to form through all the bags, when she lost total consciousness.

Well I am so happy I got the chance to update earlier then planned:D

So people please, please tell me what you think. Review, PM me, whatever I don't care I just want to know what you think(:

I'm open for suggestions if anyone has them. Also I'm pretty sure everyone has guessed that everything is going to go slowly. I don't want to rush things. Everything has its time and what happens, happens(: I mean in the next chapter she will barely just meet the dwarves and well you need to establish trust before you go and do anything else, so I hope you enjoyed it!