Heather quickly found her boot and slipped it on. She ran to catch up with up Gandalf; she tried to pull aside to continue talking to him about her world, but by the time she could grab his arm, they just joined the dwarves. There was a large, well hidden hole on the side of the mountain. A few dwarves, with their backs to her, were digging feverishly. Gandalf had entered the cave and Heather followed him; she had nothing better to do and the hard beat of the nearly summer sun was hurting Heather's brain. The dark, damp cave provided an excellent shade for Heather's still aching head from her nasty fall out of the Bill's stone hand.

She just barely saw Gandalf look through some old chests in the back a little ways. Multiple and various forms of weaponry were leaning up against the dirt walls, among rusted chainmail, boots, and shields. Clothing from males females, and children, were balled into a pile and thrown into a damp corner of the visible cave. Heather suddenly had the thought that the trolls might have eaten her family.

Casually, she scanned the cave and walked to the pile of clothes, hoping to not bring attention to herself. After searching the small amount of blooded shirts and dresses, Heather was relieved that none of the clothes even looked like her father's or her sister's.

"Is everyone here?" she heard Thorin's deep voice say from behind her, near the cave entrance. Heather dropped all of the tattered clothes in her hand and stepped into the dwarven king's view.

He gave her a dirty look, as if giving her some unknown threat. This feeling made her uneasy, but she would be damned if she let him know. Instead, she just glared back. So, I can essentially save your life and you still give me the worst looks imaginable? This is going to be a long journey.

"We're leaving," Thorin finally said and turned away from her. He led a handful of dwarves downward, while talking to Dwalin; most likely about Heather. I love how gossip exists in this world too.

"Lady Heather," she turned around and saw Gandalf watching her from just outside the troll cave.

She made a smirking noise and shook her head, as if answering a question. "And you said he likes me,"

Heather turned away and was about to start walking with the rest of the short men, but Gandalf called after her. "He does," She glanced back at him, "He just has a funny way of showing it,"

"Oh, really now?" Heather said sarcastically. He replied with a smile and a small nod.

"Give it time; he will realize this before the journey ends."

"And how long is this journey again?"

"Impatient?"

"Not at all, I love long trips, although I'm not fond of getting treated like the scum of the Earth."

"In that case, let me give you this." He pulled a sheathed sword from his robes and offered it to her. It definitely didn't look all that special, not like the dragon dagger she had in her pack. However, it was obviously longer, which means it was already more valuable to her than the dagger she used on the trolls.

She took it and examined it. It was definitely a normal sword; probably one from the cave.

"Thanks, now I just need to learn how to use it."

"Not necessarily, a selected few are born with a talent to wield a blade."

"You think I have that?"

"I could guess, considering you sliced open that troll's hand with a dagger alone. Their skin is ever so hard and thick." Gandalf walked passed her and began following the dwarves on their downward path back to their belongings and ponies. Heather took a moment and then jogged after the wizard.

"Luck, I would guess,"

"Just be sure to never lose this sword. It glows blue when orcs or goblins are near," he told her while picking up her own pack, which she left in the small clearing when she first regained consciousness. She swung it over both shoulders and positioned the sword in her belt on the left, because she was right-handed.

"Goblins?" she asked as she tightened the hold on the sheath.

"Yes, and orcs,"

Heather had heard of goblins when she was a child, but only in one or two stories. She hardly believed that goblins could be real either, however, a troll almost ate her last night. Orcs were a new thing to her, but she was sure they weren't any better than trolls or goblins.

They caught up with the dwarves because they had stopped to hear of the surroundings. Apparently, Ori had heard a howl from a wolf, so they wanted to be extra careful.

It's a sad day when wolves are the only similarity to this world and mine. Heather went hunting with her father a few times, so she could take down an adult wolf. That is, if she had a rifle and not a magical sword that changes color.

Everyone circled up close and begin to ready their weapons. Heather, being a mediocre tracker, kept her sword by her side, and remained silent to listen to the few howls coming from beyond the trees. All of the dwarves were glancing around, trying to spot the prowling wolf, but Heather kept her eyes shut and attempted to picture it in her mind.

Suddenly, a loud howl was coming from her left. She noticed that that howl was different in pitch and was significantly longer than the rest. Faster than she thought possible, Heather dropped to the dirt. A gray wolf pounced over her crouched body and landed into the center of the small clearing. She looked up and saw Dori hit the wolf with his frail and knocked the beast on its side. Then Nori used his mace to impale the wolf's skull. Heather was terribly surprised at the size of the wolf. It was three normal wolves combined into a hideously power one.

At the sight of the wolf, Heather stared at the corpse in complete disbelief. "Jesus Christ!" she shouted. "What the fuck is that?!"

"A wolf-" Balin said, thinking she seriously didn't know what it was.

"Maybe if the wolf was taking steroids!" she said to the elderly dwarf.

"Keep quiet!" hissed their leader. Thorin glared at Heather in order to keep her silent. "There are more,"

More?!

Just as Heather was about to lose her sense of self-control, a sled, being pulled by rabbits, landed in the clearing, forcing everyone to jump backwards and hold up their weapons in battle ready position. A man, vaguely similar to Gandalf, was on the sled, holding the reins. He was covered in a thick layer of dirt and had terribly matted hair. He held a staff in one hand. Immediately, the dwarves lowered their weapons, almost disappointed that the man wasn't another wolf.

A man hopped off his makeshift shed and stepped to Gandalf. "I've been looking for you everywhere! What a coincidence you are here!"

"Hello Radagast," Gandalf greeted him.

"I was following this strange aura, when I ran into you! What great fortune!"

"What do you need, my dear friend?"

"First, I must find the source of this strange aura!" Radagast lifted his nose into the air and began sniffing around, as if he was a dog. What the hell is going on?

"Be swift, Dirt-Man," Thorin commanded the sniffing man, "A patrol of wolves are near, and we must be leaving as early as possible,"

"Yes yes, of course," Radagast quickly made his way to Heather. He scared her and made her feel very uncomfortable. But, glancing over the "Dirt-Man's" shoulders, she exchanged a look with Gandalf, who was particularly telling her to just go with Radagast's strange habits.

"Yes! It's you!" he seemed very happy to have identified her.

I guess I can't smell dwarf, or my own scent. Heather became self conscious since every living thing could smell her but she couldn't.

"You are a strange one," Radagast giggled to himself. She laughed, just thinking of something along of the lines of Look who's talking.

"How am I strange?" she asked, trying to play into his game so they could leave as soon as possible.

"You, clearly, are not from here; in fact, your aura is from a completely different world!"

She swore he couldn't have shouted that any louder. All of the dwarves were now watching them, and she felt every single pair of eyes burrowing into her skin.

"Wh-what makes you say that?"

"I know! I know I am correct! Your aura is very sophisticated, very intelligent, and very abnormal. Nothing in this world has such an advanced aura such as your's!"

"A different world?" Kili asked the man. "What do you mean?"

Heather gave a desperate look to Gandalf, who was looking around the surroundings, listening to the howling instead of the mindless chatter of Radagast.

"I am glad you asked!" Radagast faced the crowd of curious dwarves.

For some reason, Heather didn't think exposing her true origin would help. In fact, she saw it as that if he dwarves found out, they might kill her. Especially Thorin, since he was already a huge fan of her's.

Before he could start any sort of explanation, Heather quickly drew her new sword. "Be quiet!" Heather was about to swing her sword at Radagast's back, when she noticed that the blade was blue. She stopped and everyone's attention was on her blade. Thankfully, even Radagast was shocked at the blade and had stopped talking.

Gandalf finally rejoined the group mindset and was the most surprised out of anyone that the blade was glowing blue. "Those are orc wolves!" he said.

Suddenly, more howls, accompanied with horrible battle cries, echoed the forest. Heather looked around, just as another large wolf jumped at them. While still in the air, Fili quickly shot an arrow at the wolf and it landed hard on the ground. Dwalin used his war hammer to break the wolf's neck. Two more wolves pounced into the clearing, but were immediately bombarded with various weapons. It took all of the dwarves corroborating help to take these two down. Heather helped them by simply staying out of the way of the swings.

Radagast had pulled Gandalf to the side, as the dwarves collected themselves. They braced themselves for the impending attack from the wolves. Heather realized that Radagast must be a wizard, like Gandalf. Very quickly, Radagast mounted his makeshift sled and whipped his rabbits to run at full speed. He disappeared quickly after. Gandalf silently told the dwarves to run through the forest and into the plains that lie beyond it. With their weapons still in hand, they followed Thorin's command. Heather was right with the running mob of dwarves.

"What about Radagast?" she asked Gandalf.

"He can take care of himself," but Heather had heard him mutter "I pray that he can," which didn't give her any confidence in Radagast's abilities.

The company was able to run out of the forest without fighting anymore wolves, or orcs. However, the plains provided poor hiding spots. Instead of waiting out the attackers, Thorin was leading them in the opposite direction of the orcs riding the large wolves. Every now and again, they would spot Radagast and his sled riding the hills, leading the orcs away from the company. Heather's longer legs definitely helped her keep up with the dwarves, but they also made it harder to run inconspicuously. It didn't help matters any as Heather still had her backpack on and it was making all sorts of noise and making it increasingly difficult to run. So, she put her magical blade away and decided to carry her pack in her hands; to insure a more silent run.

Somehow, even to the aid of Radagast's fast rabbits, they were widely surrounded by orcs on the backs of wolves. They were standing in front of a large rock formation, where a large rock was overlooking a smaller one. The dwarves were preparing for their possible final battle. Heather was demanded, by their fearless leader, to stay back by the rocks, and to not run from that spot unless she could get away. Feeling that she wouldn't be much helpful on the battlefield, Heather only nodded.

The dwarves were positioning themselves as Fili began shooting arrows from his bow to pick off some orcs. A horrible sound came from one of the orcs, probably the leader, and the crazy mob of orcs riding wolves began to charge. The dwarves held their ground, ultimately bracing themselves for an epic battle.

"Lady Heather!" she heard her name being called from behind her. She turned immediately and saw Gandalf in between the rock formation. "Come quickly! I've found an escape!"

Not one to look a gifted horse in the mouth, Heather was about to jump over the smaller rock when Gandalf stopped her. "Get the others!" Then he disappeared behind the rocks. At least this wizard can disappear into thin air.

Taking a chance, Heather tossed her pack where Gandalf was just standing and anticipated the noise that would've followed. However it was a larger drop than expected. She glanced over the smaller rock and found that there was a tunnel hidden in between the rocks! Heather faced toward the impending battlefield and used her thumb and index finger to whistle loudly. Most of the dwarves had turned around.

"There's a tunnel! We must hurry!" Heather used exaggerated hand and arm gestures to indicate where the hidden passage was. Some dwarves ran while the rest were slowly backing up, still ready for a charging orcs on monstrous wolves.

One by one, the dwarves blindly jumped into the hole. Their bodies slid down a surprisingly smooth rock path. It was a little bit steep, so they were sliding, rolling, and landing right on top of each other. Kili was continually shooting arrows into the distance, ensuring that his brothers would have cover as they ran from the mob of orcs. Heather stayed on top of the small rock, rallying the dwarves down as quickly as possible.

"Kili!" Heather shouted after the lonely dwarf still shooting rapidly at the orcs. "You're the last one!" He vaguely nodded and shoot one last arrow and then ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He dove headfirst into the pile of dwarves at the bottom of the slide. A few dwarves shouted her name for her to come down; and just as she was about to jump herself, an orc came from behind the larger rock and made a grab for her.

She barely missed the massive hand, but she wasn't quick enough to dodge the arrow that impaled her right shoulder. The force shot her back and down the hidden tunnel, onto the pile of dwarves.

A few dwarves had actually regained their balance and pulled her off of the grumbling mass of dwarf. The arrow was sticking out of her shoulder and thankfully, the tip hadn't gone completely through her bone and muscle. The remaining dwarves jumped up and defended what small orcs could manage through the hole; while Dwalin and Nori dragged Heather up against a wall.

"Good God!" she said through grinding teeth. She was breathing hard and fighting back the urge to cry; she didn't want to be spectated as weak. Instead, she simply balled her hands into fists and began stabbing her nails into her palms. "That's-ugh. Son of a bitch."

"More are coming! We gotta move!" someone informed them. Instinctively, Heather jumped onto her feet and ran down the narrow tunnel. Everyone followed her; either to get away from the horde of orcs, or to help her. Heather's body release adrenaline as she ran down the "one-at-a-time" path. She heard them called after her, instructing her to stop running, but she wanted to get as far away as possible while the pain in her shoulder was still numb.

Heather ran until there was a bigger area, where she could sit down and still have the dwarves walk over her. She slid down the rocky wall and fell on her butt, not really caring where she was or how much she was in the way of her company.

"Why did you run?!" someone grumble to her right. Heather's vision was blurry and having her eyes opened was making her dizzy.

"I-I heard more were coming." she barely defended herself.

"I could have carried you,"

"Any of us could have!"

"Just because I have an arrow in my shoulder doesn't mean my legs don't work."

"That doesn't mean you can run off like a mad woman."

Heather didn't have to see clearly to know that that deep, rough voice was Thorin's. She also didn't have to be a genius to tell he was angry at her.

She rolled her heavy head in the direction his voice came from and tried to look at him; but it was still difficult to make out the blurs in her line of sight. "I don't expect any of you to carry me, I can handle myself," she grumbled pathetically.

"An arrow has pierced your shoulder!" Thorin's voice became louder and closer to her face. She had guessed he knelt next to her. "You're lucky to be alive, considering orcs usually dip their weapons with poison."

"Poison? Well fuck." her breath became heavier and her heart started racing even more since she was running. "I think this one is dipped." she murmured very quietly into Thorin's ear; what she guessed was his ear through her near blindness and his mass amounts of hair and beard.

"Don't feat," Gandalf's usual calm voice was behind the blob mass of Thorin and next to two more blobs who could have been anyone of the dwarves. "We are close to an old friend of mine. He can help you,"

"That damn elf?" Thorin had directed it at Gandalf instead of Heather. "You planned this,"

"Does that really matter? She's dying," Heather knew that was about her, since she was the only she in a group of fourteen males. "And we need help, supplies, and a cipher of your map."

"Elves?" Heather heard many dwarves echo in disgust. "Absolutely not!" that old voice was Balin's.

"She will die before we ever reach The Misty Mountains." Gandalf shouted over the chorus of protests. "Then you will be out a thief and have your unlucky number 13!"

"I'm only here because you don't like having 13 people?" Heather was next to unconsciousness, but she understood when she was being used or toyed with. "At least in my world, we don't like simple numbers or superstitions get in the way of our hopes and dreams."

There was a short moment of awkward silence, before Gandalf turned to Thorin again. "Do you wish for her to die?"

"Of course not,"

"Then why are you assuming that your freud with the elves is more important than her life?"

Another silence followed Gandalf's harsh words. Heather couldn't blame him for being blunt and trying to save her life. Right before her head rolled onto her left shoulder, she felt herself being lifted up into some muscular arms, and being carried back down the path. She sneaked a quick glimpse of who was carrying her; and to her surprise, it was Thorin.