The whole company, without Gandalf, were climbing the Misty Mountains, just like the plan was. They left Rivendell without the wizard, but planned to meet him in the mountains, at least that was what Thorin said.
It was almost completely dark when it started to rain. Melia sighed and put cape over her head to protect herself from the rain, but frown on her face was replaced by a smile as Kíli squeezed her hand as walking by her. She loved him as well as he did her. No other dwarves were surprised as they saw them together, they all expected it. Only Bofur tried to act like a big brother should and pretended to give Kíli a lesson about treating Melia a proper way. But he was truly happy for them, because he never saw his friends more happier.
Suddenly out of nowhere, just as the thunderbolt lighted their path, the stone crashed on them. Kíli immediately embraced his love trying to protect her from any injury.
"It's the giants. The stone giants!" Balin yelled and everyone's eyes widen as they watched two giants started their fight.
"Move! We must go somewhere safe!" Thorin cried, but his yelling vanished in the noise. Even though, everyone understood and one by one followed their leader. Another thunderbolt cut across the sky and company watched with horror in their eyes as few dwarves and one hobbit got stucked on the leg of the giant when the stone beneath them parted the group.
"Stay still and don't jump until I tell you!" Melia yelled at her friends who was with her on the giant. She gulped heavily as she watched Kíli's eyes full of terror focused on her and grabbed Bilbo's hand before yelling "Now!" and jumping just as the stone giant crashed on the mountain before falling down defeated by his own kind.
"Where's Melia? Where is she?" Kíli frantically cried as not seeing her anywhere.
"Help!" Bilbo pleased loudly. He was holding himself only with his fingers trying to avoid falling from the mountain. He as well as Melia fell over the edge, but they both managed to catch the stones before falling down.
"Help the hobbit!" the princess yelled. She was struggling not to fall down, but seeing her friend on the edge of death was more important for her. Thorin didn't hesitate and reached for him just as Kíli jumped down catching Melia around her waist just as she started to fall and pulling both of them up.
"Don't ever do that to me," young dwarf whispered to her as they both were safe on the path with all the other dwarves.
"We need to find the shelter, but these caves are rarely unoccupied," Thorin said harshly, probably still angry at poor hobbit. Melia didn't understand why he was so rude to Bilbo, he never did anything wrong he always just wanted to help. He was there, on the journey, trying to help the dwarves found their lost home, but still Thorin didn't seem to notice the good in him.
They all followed their leader quickly, longing to hide somewhere safe and warm. It didn't took long and they all were sitting in some empty cave, though not comfortable or warm, but dry and without any stones falling on them. The cave was not very huge, but was big enough for everyone fitted in. The smell of fust hit everyone's nose as they entered, but despite it all of them came in and started to set the bed for a sleep. Kíli, completely soaked from the rain, was still holding Melia in his arms, afraid to let her go, as they sat down next to Fíli.
"I don't think we should be here, I can feel something bad," Fíli whispered to them as he put out his black blanket.
"I know what you mean. There is some evil in the air," Melia said quietly back to him, her lips still trembling from the fear and cold.
"But there's nothing we could do about that. It's better to be here than outside, so we should just get some rest," Kíli shrugged ignoring that strange feeling in his stomach that something bad could happen. He grabbed his blanket and gave it to princess not accepting her objections and kissed her temple as they lied down, slowly drifting into dreamless sleep.
Melia woke up at some quiet voices and quickly sat up reaching for her dagger. A quiet laugh escaped her lips as she realized it was just her friends talking and she relaxed immediately. She stood up and carefully, trying not to wake up anyone, came to Thorin and Bofur, who were discussing something.
"I suppose the sun is still not on the sky," Melia said as a greet as she sat down to them, putting her dagger back in a case which hung at her waist.
"It's still dark outside, but I still think we should wake everyone and leave," Thorin said before bringing his eyes from the entrance to the princess.
"But what about Gandalf?" brunette girl asked knowing, they were supposed to meet him in the mountains.
"If it is meant to be, he'll find us," leader said with a small frown.
"I don't think we should leave when it's dark. The paths in mountains are rarely easy to walk, they can be slippery and dangerous," Bofur disagreed with his leader while Melia nodded, knowing it was more safer to wait until the sunrise.
"No..." Thorin started but his painfull cry woke up everyone as the arrow got stuck in his left arm.
"Orcs!" Melia yelled as those creatures started to crawl into the cave.
