Chapter eight: Danger

Kili and Elona chased each other through the forest, Elona on her black mare and Kili on his appaloosa. The snow flew up from under the thundering hooves, the horses seeming to have as good a time as their riders. The bellowing laugh of the dwarf and the chiming giggle of the elfling could be heard echoing and bouncing off the trees, alerting everything in the forest to their presence.

After a few hours of frolicking like children, the two decided to settle down and make a fire. It was starting to get colder, but Kili thought nothing of it. Neither one saw the ominous grey clouds starting to appear over the peak of the Lonely Mountain.

The two dismounted and tied the horses to a nearby tree. Elona grabbed the lunch she had packed before leaving while Kili tried to start a fire. Elona couldn't be in happier spirits. The sun was shining, making the snow sparkle like a million diamonds, and a soft breeze was making her hair flow gently around her face. It had come out of its braid earlier, and she hadn't bothered to put it back.

To Kili, Elona looked like a perfect picture of child youth and innocence, and swore to keep her like that for as long as possible. She was the little sister he had never knew he had wanted, and now he couldn't imagine life in Erebor without her. Now he knew how Fili felt as an older brother, and it gave him a new respect for his second half.

Kili turned his mind back to the task at hand. This wood wouldn't catch a flame! Whenever he had a small spark, the wind would snuff it out. Speaking of the wind, how had he not noticed it getting stronger?

"Kili?" Elona was looking at him in worry. She had noticed the wind as well, but the trees still hid the clouds from their sight. "Kili what is going on?"

Kili sent her a reassuring smile. "It's nothing, just a small bit of wind passing through. We best be heading back though, I don't want you getting too cold." Elona scowled.

"You're just as bad as Thorin." She muttered. They gathered their things and turned back to the horses, but froze when a loud crack split the sky. The horses neighed and pulled on the branch until it gave with another loud crack.

"Wait, no! Come back!" Kili called after them. But it was too late; their steeds were already long gone. Thunder rolled through the forest. "Oh Mahal," Kili breathed. He had finally spotted the approaching storm. He knew those clouds, and terror struck him.

"Kee, wha…what's going on?" Elona was looking up at him, terror clear in her face. She was scared to death of the look on his face. Kili was never that serious. He crouched down in front of her.

"Elona, you need to listen to me," he grabbed her shoulders. "This is not the time to be scared. You need to keep your wits about you, and stat close to me. Never let go of my hand."

"Why Kili? What's happening?" Elona wrapped her cloak tighter around her as the wind started picking up, biting her cheeks and making her eyes water.

"There is a blizzard headed our way, and we need to walk into it to get back to the mountain." Kili grabbed her hand and started trudging through the snow. "We have no time to waste."

The first flurries came a few minutes later. The wind was blowing so hard now that they had trouble hearing each other. Kili gripped Elona's hand tighter and tried to move faster. "Keep moving Elona. If we stop we might not be able to keep moving." The wind was making the temperature drop rapidly, and Kili could feel Elona's hand trembling viciously in his. He looked up. There, the break in the trees! They were almost out of the forest.

The snow was extremely thick now. Kili couldn't see ten feet in front of him. He looked back at Elona. She was almost as white as the snow around them, whether from fear or cold, he didn't know. Probably both. Her eyes snapped up to meet his, and they were full of terror.

"Kili, look!" Kili snapped his head forward again, and saw what had Elona so terrified. There was none other than an orc atop a warg glaring at them through the snow.

"Elona, stay behind me, I'll take care of him." no sooner had Kili drawn his bow, than five more orcs came out of the trees and surrounded him. Elona whimpered and clutched his leg. "Kili, what do we do?" Kili swallowed, but offered no answer. He would not give her false hope. "We fight." And with that, he charged the orcs.

Tauriel shivered and wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. She was sitting by the window in her room, watching the vicious wind whip the snow around outside. She could only hope that Kili and Elona were already back and warming up by the fire. But, if Kili was back already, then the first thing he would have done was come find her. She was sure of it. Perhaps he had decided to take care of Elona first? She decided to go check in with the guard on duty to make sure.

She went down to the stables, where she knew they would have come in first. What she saw immediately told her something was wrong. All the guards were running around in frenzy, gathering weapons and cloaks and amour. Dwalin stood in their midst, barking out orders as he strapped on his own armor and pulled on his warmest boot.

"Dwalin," she called, panic entering her voice. "What happened? Where are Kili and Elona?" Dwalin whipped around to look at her, his eyes filled with worry but his face a mask of determination.

"Tauriel, there you are! Kili and Elona are currently stuck in a blizzard without horses." He gestured over to where the stable boy was calming down Elona's mare and Kili's appy. Tauriel gasped as her hands flew to her mouth.

"Are you going after them?" Dwalin nodded and started to his horse. "Aren't you coming?" he called over his shoulder.

Tauriel nodded. "It's not like you can make me stay behind." She grabbed her armor off the wall and quickly started strapping it on.

They pounded out the gates, the royal guard trailing behind them. Tauriel scanned the woods stretching before them.

"Alright men, spread out!" Dwalin thundered over the wind. "We meet back at the stables in half an hour. Search in parties of two; no one is to be alone in this weather!" he nodded to tauriel, and the two of them entered the trees together. Tauriel let her horse pick the trail, as she scanned the snow for any signs of her dwarf.

Dwalin was calling Kili's name, but most of the time his voice was carried away in the wind. Then they heard it; the scream of pain and terror was clear as day. "Elona," Tauriel breathed out.

Their horses pushed through the trees in the direction of the voice. Suddenly Tauriel spotted something long and thin laying on the ground. She dismounted to get a better look.

"No!" it was Kili's bow. The string had snapped, and where his hand would go was covered in blood. "Dwalin!" she all but screamed at him. Dwalin turned in his saddle to look at her, and paled when he saw the familiar weapon. They pressed on with renewed vigor, fighting the wind with every step. Images of Kili flashed through Tauriel's mind: Kili wounded; Kili dying; Kili dead, the snow around him stained with his blood. It was all she had to keep from sobbing his name out.

Soon, Tauriel saw something else in the snow. It was a sword. Kili's sword. She picked it up to show Dwalin, but he had dismounted his horse and was digging through an irregularly shaped lump of snow. For a moment she thought he had gone crazy, but then Dwalin cleared the snow off of the lump, and Tauriel saw a figure with dark brown hair and a leather cloak laying face down in the snow.

"Kili!" she screamed, dropping to her knees beside him and gently turning him over. His eyes fluttered open and he groaned. "Tauriel…" he rasped.

"It's okay, I'm here. What happened, where's Elona?" she cradled Kili's head in her lap as Dwalin checked him for injuries. His lips were slowly turning blue, and he was white as a sheet.

"Blizzard…horses…orcs took…Elona…" he closed his eyes and grimaced as Dwalin poked his ribs.

"Broken rib," Dwalin announced. "We need to get him back to the mountain. The men can finish searching for Elona." Tauriel nodded and backed away as Dwalin helped Kili stand up. He helped Kili mount his horse before turning back to Tauriel. "I'll take him back. You need to go inform Thorin and Fili."

She nodded and got back on her horse. She could only hope that Elona was found soon.

AN: So yeah, it's kinda short, but you should be proud of me for doing two chapters in one day! All I can say is that writing about Middle Earth is a ton better than doing geography.