SORRY GUYS FOR THE REALLY LATE UPLOAD...
I've have been super busy and just not really had proper time to focus on this story because I loe it so much and just want so much detail into it, if you know what I mean?
Haha, anyways here it is and as always, enjoy!
After the encounter with the trolls, the group redressed and armoured themselves, preparing for the move. Bilbo quickly rushed over to Merona, who was brushing the dirt and bones that attached to her and her clothes. She smiled when she saw Bilbo walking over to her, but his face was the opposite of hers.
"Merona…are you alright?" Bilbo asked, but did not give her chance to answer as he went straight onto checking her himself. Merona let out a giggle, watching Bilbo check her over, like a mad man.
"Bilbo, I am alright. Bilbo!" She said, rasing her voice louder to grab his attention. He stopped his actions and looked at her. "I'm fine." She said, adding a smile after which always reassured him.
"Are you su-"
"Yes Bilbo," She laughed at his worry. He let out a sigh and look at her face, seeing there was a speck of dirt on her cheek.
"I just, don't want anything happening to you, Merona." He used his thumb to wipe the dirt away, which made her smile and nod at him, understanding his fear of any harm happening to her.
"I know, I understand Bilbo." She said to him and took at glance at the stone troll statues that used to be alive. "Besides, we should be talking about how you stood up against three, not one, but three trolls!" Merona turned and looked at Bilbo, who simply shrugged at her and brought up about herself going against the trolls, "I was terrified, I'm surprised I did not faint there and then! But, you were very brave, Bilbo, you saved our lives."
Merona smiled widely at him, which made him sheepishly grinned at the comment and hooked his thumbs underneath his suspenders. He always did this when he felt proud of himself but not all of the praise can go to himself. If Gandalf did not show, they would have been a scrumptious troll's dinner.
"Gandalf… where did you go, if I may ask?" Thorin asked him as he watched Gandalf thump his staff against the troll statue with a please smile on his face.
"To look ahead," the wizard replied, turning to Thorin.
"And what brought you back?" Thorin asked raising his eyebrow.
"Looking behind," he smiled back at the dwarf. "Nasty business. Still, you are all in one piece."
"No thanks to your burglar." Thorin answered unhappily.
"He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that." Thorin threw a repentant look at the wizard as he went back to examine the statues. "They must have come down from the Ettenmoors."
"It's very unusual for mountain trolls to travel this far from the mountains," Thorin said to Gandalf as he moved to where he stood.
"Not for an age, not since a darker power ruled these lands." Gandalf told him, making Thorin turn to him. "They could not have moved in daylight."
"There must be a cave nearby." Thorin turned to the company, who was fully clothed and armed. "Move on, let's go!"
When the group finally discovered the cave, the majority of the company was coughing and holding their mouths and noses at the horrid smell, including Merona. Though, her eyes widened at the amount of treasure that was placed around the open space, never in her life as she seen such jewels.
"It's a troll hoard. Be careful what you touch."
The company continued to explore the cave, marvelling at the piles of golden coins, jewels and trinkets. It made Merona wonder where they all came from and why the trolls would need such treasure. Then, something gleamed in her eye, making her carefully walk towards the pile of treasure, kneeling down and examined the pile. In the middle of the pile, she carefully picked up a delicate head crown. It was made out of silver and filled with white gemstones; Merona was too engrossed with the object, to notice that half of the company was leaving the cave.
Slowly, without a thought, she placed the head crown on her head and let out a breath that was held inside her. Merona felt herself smiled as she felt an unfamiliar feeling, went through her body, Merona was unsure but for some reason, it felt right.
It was almost powerful, like it belonged to her. Like she was a-
"Merona?"
She stood and turned towards the voice and saw that Bilbo was next to her. Merona didn't say anything but stare at him. Bilbo started to become worried as she only stared at him, as if she was could hear the company murmur to each other, making him worry at the state Merona was.
"Do you like it?" She asked him, as she slowly took the head crown off her head and held it out for him.
"It's beautiful Merona, it's a perfect fit for you," He commented, looking at the jewelled crown.
"Yes, but I am not a princess nor queen. Am I?" Merona told him as she placed the head crown back in the pile, reluctantly.
"Let's leave this foul place." Thorin declared suddenly before Bilbo could answer her. Merona and Bilbo turned to leave the cave but was stopped by Gandalf, who was approaching them with two covered swords.
"Bilbo, Merona, here. These should be about your size." He handed Bilbo a beautiful crafted blade which had a gleaming silver handle. Gandalf then, handed Merona a blade of a similar appearance but was a thinner blade than Bilbo's.
Both Merona and Bilbo looked at each other as they held the weapons in their hands.
"Gandalf, I-we can't take this." Bilbo told him, declining the weapons for him and Merona.
"The blade is of Elvish make, which means it will light when there are orcs or goblins nearby." Gandalf told him.
"B-but I have never used a sword in my life." Merona told him, and he could see a fear flash in her eyes, of having to fight for her life.
"And I hope you never have to. But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing, not when to take a life, but when to spare one." Gandalf said, sharing a meaningful look between the two of them.
Soon, they heard Thorin's bellowing voice from far outside the cave. "Something's coming!"
Everyone turned at to his voice, readying their weapons and ran towards the shout. They ran until the group was together, forming a huddle, reading to take aim. Suddenly a man on a sled burst through the trees and Merona could not help but stare wide-eyed. The animals pulling the sled were rabbits, and very large rabbits in fact.
"Radagast?" Gandalf asked, peering at the man. "Radagast the Brown! What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf asked in surprise, walking up to the man.
"I was looking for you, Gandalf." He told him. "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong." Radagast panted, seeming he was out of breath but judging by the sledge and rabbits behind him it was clear he had travelled at great speeds. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it almost immediately. He did this another two times, before giving Gandalf a rather confused look.
Gandlaf ushered Radagast ahead a few paces to speak privately. Merona guessed that Radagast was also a wizard, given that he wore robes and carried a staff. Her attention moved away from the two men as a piercing howl ripped through the air, Merona turned to the company, who all had the same petrified expression on their faces. "What was that?"
"Was that a wolf? Are there-are there wolves out here?" Bilbo asked, rather frightened.
"Tha was no wolf," Thorin said, scanning the trees.
A low growl sounded in the silence and Merona was the first to see the ghastly creature appear behind a nearby crag. The creature was much larger than any wolf; it donned dirty brown fur, a long ugly snout full of gnarled fangs and dark eyes. It leaped down into the midst of the Company, knocking Merona down in the process.
Thorin moved and killed the creature swiftly, with a new sword, that Gandalf had found for him. There was a strangled yelp of death as his sword swung down on the head of the bloodthirsty creature. He removed his sword from the Wargs head and moved himself towards Merona, quickly helping back up on her feet.
"Are you alright?" He asked, looking at her face intently. She could only nod but she winced as she felt a pain in her right shoulder. Thorin's eyes moved to where something red caught his eyes, there was a claw marks that was marked on her skin. Bloog was slowing seeping through her clothes but they had no time to stop and aid to the wound as there was another growl was heard. Another Warg hurdled towards the group from the opposite side. Kili's quick reflexes proved useful as he sent an arrow into the beasts head and a killing blow was landed by Dwalin's axe.
"Wargs scouts," Thorin snarled in disgust as he moved away from Merona. "An orc pack wont be far behind."
"Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin?" Gandalf walked towards Thorin, a serious look on his weathered face.
"No one."
"Who did you tell?!"
"No one I swear!" Thorin defended himself. Howl's sounded through the air once more. Merona became more frightened as more of those creature was coming for them.
Gandalf looked into the trees for signs of more foes approaching. "You are being hunted."
"We need to move. Get the ponies," Thorin ordered.
"We can't, they bolted," cried Ori.
"I shall distract them and lead them away from you, if I can." Radagast said as he stepped onto his sleigh and grabbed the reins.
"Those are Guldebrag Wargs! They will outrun you!" Gandalf protested.
"And these are Ruskabel Rabbits! I would like to see them try!" Radagast smiled and sped off through the forest.
"You heard the man, he is giving us the chance of escape, lets move," Thorin ordered.
Everyone followed Thorin, as they ran out of the forest, trying to escape the Wargs. Merona's heart was pounding as she could hear the howls of the Wargs, chasing Radagast across the plains. The group emerged from the forest and into an open field of tall grass and a collections of huge boulders. The boulders and hills of the field worked to their advantage, as they darted their way from boulder formation to boulder formation. However, it seemed no matter which way they turned the Warg riding Orc pack crossed in front of their path forcing them to change direction.
"Where are you leading us?" Thorin asked Gandalf suspiciously as this pattern continued. Gandalf merely glanced at the dwarf before continuing on and Thorin grimaced before following.
When they made it to the next boulder Merona slouched against it; it hurt to breath, her legs were burning but most of all, the wound on her shoulder was hurting. She was relieved that the group didn't immediately take off once again, however, her relief turned to fear, when they all heard a warg jump on the boulder above their heads. The group pressed themselves against the rock and held their breaths, praying that the warg wouldn't discover their presence. Thorin turned to Kili and nodded up towards the orc and it's beastly mount. Kili took a deep breath before pulling out an arrow and prepared to fire it. He took a second to collect himself then stepped out and fired his arrow.
The warg fell to the ground in front of the group and a couple of the dwarves bombarded the two enemies with attacks before they could retaliate. The dwarves were not very subtle and Merona winced as the death cries of the orc and his beast echoed through the air.
"Run!" Gandalf cried as howls were heard as the rest of the orc pack ran towards their location.
Once again, they were running for their lives with no safety in sight; Radagast was nowhere to be seen, it seemed that they were on their own. They soon slowed as they realized they were surrounded by the orcs with nowhere left to run. Merona swallowed and tried to pull out her sword to help but winced as the pain ran through her arm. Bilbo heard and moved closer to her, ready to defend him and Merona and their friends.
"Kili!" Thorin cried out to his nephew, "shoot them!"
Merona watched Kili obey the order, and his arrow nailed one Orc in the forehead.
"Where's Gandalf?" yelled Bilbo. He looked around frantically for the wizard, as did Merona did as she noticed the wizard was no where in sight.
"He's abandoned us!" growled Dwalin.
Merona's heart dropped. No. Gandalf would not abandon them all to die. She let out a shaky breath as she saw the orcs slowly move in closer to the Company.
Gandalf, however had not abandoned the group and popped his head up from behind a nearby rock. "Over here you fools!" he shouted, before disappearing again from sight.
Bilbo led the way, with Merona by hir side and the group ran for the hole, Gandalf had disappeared down. Thorin stood at the top of the rocky slope of the hole and ushered the dwarves into it. Merona slid down after Bilbo but banged her arm on a rock sledge as she went down. She let out a cry as the pain shot through her arm.
Bilbo went over to her, making sure that she was okay whilst, one by one, the dwarves slid down the slope into the hole, except for Kili. He had continued firing arrows as the others ran for safety and had only backed away a couple of feet.
Merona heard Thorin bellow out Kili's name, telling him to move and when the last dwarf had slid to the bottom, there was a sound of a horn from above.
"What's that? What's happening?" Merona asked but her answer came through the hole, as an orc body came tumbling into the hole. Thorin walked up to the body, examining the arrow sticking out.
"Elves." He muttered.
"I cannot see where the pathway leads." Said Dwalin, facing the other way. "Do we follow it or no?"
"Follow it, of course!" exclaimed Bofur, moving forward.
"I think that would be wise." Said Gandalf, moving towards Merona and helping her to feet before following the group.
The Company followed Thorin and Dwalin, as they weaved themselves through the tight narrow tunnels, Merona was at the very back with Bilbo, behind Bofur. Sooner or later, the company halted in place, just outside the tunnels on an open ledge. Merona could not help but look in awe as below them in a valley, lay a beautiful city made entirely out of white stone and marble. It was unlike any thing Merona had ever seen before.
"The Valley of Imraldis." Said Gandalf, laughing softly at the awed look on Merona's and Bilbo's faces. He walked towards the ledge. "In the Common Tongue, it's known by another name-."
"Rivendell." Breathed Merona.
So we are in Rivendell! Thank you so much for reading! I feel absolutely bad for not finishing this story, but I'm gonna try before the final hobbit film :'( haha! I'm so excited for it but can't believe its the last one!
Anyways, review if you like!
R x
