With that remark, he climbed back onto the wooden sled and the rabbits tore off, back through the bushes. She could hear him taunting the wargs and their riders for a few moments before the voice became too far away to carry over to their position.

The dismounted members of the company climbed on their ponies, and she drew her sword from its sheath on her back. As the Company began their gallop, she allowed herself a grin. This was where she was meant to be: sword out, the wind in her hair, more than ready to kill some orcs.

The plains were not bare, thankfully. Large rocks that towered above Gandalf would provide cover for them, and as they continued their escape, she urged Minty to move up in the line, closer to Thorin's pony. After all this time, she hadn't forgotten Arthmael's warning - the dwarves had to reach Erebor, and they couldn't do that without a leader. Kíli now rode beside her, bow up and an arrow notched, trusting his pony to follow the rest.

As they passed another outcrop of rock, she glimpsed the head of one of the warg scouts, but this time it carried a rider. She dropped the reins, transferring her sword to her left hand and retrieving a knife from her jacket. "Kíli! Scout!" she called, and wheeled her pony around as the rest of the Company galloped past, Kíli thankfully having the sense to follow her lead.

She caught a glimpse of Fíli's confused face as he rode past, but she turned her attention to the orc scout that was now prowling around on the top of the rock, sniffing the air. The two of them watched the beast continue its search for a moment. When it smelt them, its head snapped to the left, and it let out a fierce growl. Before it could attack, Kíli's arrow struck the orc in the heart, and it fell from its mount. Before the warg could attack them, it found Aella's knife buried in its skull.

"Come on! We need to catch up with the rest!" he urged, nocking another arrow and pushing his pony into a gallop. She followed suit, replacing her sword into her right hand and pulling out another knife: preferring to stay at a distance for now.

When they reached the Company, they were in a clearing, almost surrounded by orcs and wargs. Gandalf was nowhere to be seen. Thorin and Dwalin were on the ground, swords out and preparing for a fight. Kili immediately began firing arrows at the orcs, and his accuracy surprised Aella.

She guided the pony up alongside a warg that was advancing on the Ri brothers and launched herself from Minty's back to the warg, swinging her sword in a wide arc and using the momentum of her jump to take his head off.

The warg sensed that its rider was dead, and turned its head to bite at her leg, teeth the size of her hand bared. She drove her sword into the base of its neck and twisted sideways, sliding off as the warg collapsed. She looked round just in time to see an orc running at her.

She ran forward to meet it, bringing her sword above her head to clash with its blade and swinging it back down to cut into its side. It let out a screech of pain, and she used its distraction to spin on the spot and pull her knife from her belt. Once she faced the orc again, she blocked its swing at her left leg with her sword and plunged the knife into its heart.

Aella pulled the blades from the body and looked back up for the Company. The more skilled fighters - Thorin, Dwalin, Fíli, Kili, Balin and Glóin - were attacking the pack while the rest contained the ponies and gave assistance from where they stood. The fighters were putting up a strong defence, but they were severely outnumbered and she knew that they couldn't hold out for much longer.

As she thought, she joined the group of fighters, ignoring the irritated glance of Thorin and the disbelieving glance from Dwalin, and threw herself into the fray. More than once she managed to stop a sword or arrow from hitting Thorin, not that he noticed, and while she tried to keep an eye on the king she realised that Kíli had taken an arrow to his sword arm and was also bleeding from the leg. His brother was trying to fend off two orcs at once, standing between them and his brother. Running towards them, she brandished her sword with an ill-concealed growl, leaping in front of Fili and blocking a blow that would have taken his head off.

"Aella! How nice to see you!" he called as she twisted and lunged at the orc's leg, managing to make contact, and then having to spin away as the orc brought his sword down towards her back.

"And you, Fíli! Lovely weather we're having isn't it?" she replied, lifting her leg to kick the orc in the chest, causing it to stumble backwards. Aella followed, not giving it time to attack again, and thrust her sword into the orc's heart, just as Fíli finished off his opponent with a blow that took its head off of its neck.

"Certainly is," he agreed with a wink. "Right, come on, Kee; let's get you back on Daisy!"

Together they hoisted Kili to his feet and helped him over to Daisy, and onto her back. Óin immediately came over with bandages to stop blood loss, and as Aella pulled her knife from her belt to re-enter the battle, Gandalf appeared from behind one of the rocky outcrops.

"Here! Take shelter!" he cried, and Aella returned her sword to its sheath. Turning Daisy towards Gandalf, she slapped the pony's rump, sending it and a barely conscious Kili towards where the wizard stood. The rest of the Company began to follow suit, taking with them the ponies of the fighting dwarves.

Aella quickly grabbed Minty's reins and swung herself into the saddle, prepared to turn back and assist Thorin and his companions, when a second horn sounded. She looked around for the source, and her breath was taken away as she saw several elves mounted on huge horses galloping towards them to challenge the pack.

"Thorin! Dwalin! Come on, we need to go!" she yelled, catching the attention of only Balin, and frantically gesturing for a retreat. By now the elves had entered the conflict and were taking down orcs and wargs left, right and centre. She wasted no time in guiding Minty to the pass that Gandalf had shown them, hoping that the dwarves had enough sense to follow her.

Gandalf was waiting with the remainder of the Company, taking cover as they waited for the rest. The ponies were moving around skittishly, eyes wide and frightened, and the Company was watching the passage entrance anxiously. Barely had she dismounted to stretch her torso than Thorin, Dwalin, Balin and Glóin came running in, panting, and clutching bloodied weapons.

"Rivendell," Thorin panted. "You're taking us to Rivendell." He straightened, his blue eyes glaring at Gandalf. "I said I would not go there. Do you mean to betray our quest's purpose?" he said angrily, taking a step towards the wizard.

"Thorin, your Company needs food, rest, we have wounds that need tending, and we also have instructions on that map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond is the only person this side of Mirkwood who can read those runes, and we cannot continue without knowing what they read," Gandalf protested. Aella winced, as Thorin's eyes had landed accusingly on her when Gandalf mentioned wounds. She sighed inwardly as they climbed back on their ponies and began to move again. The king seemed to be in a constant bad mood. He also appeared to have forgotten that she had taken the blow for his nephew, and the injury hadn't been a result of an error in battle.

As the ponies plodded down the path, Aella made a promise to herself- no matter what happened on the journey, she would earn the trust and respect of every member of the Company, and prove to them that she could help them to reclaim Erebor.

A/N: So Chapter 9 is up! Thanks to T'Reilani, the fight scene is much better now than my first draft, so I hope you enjoyed it, please review and tell me what you think! LITD