Forgive me if you were reading my story and couldn't continue, I went through a long process to fix my chapters, noting in the content was changed, no notes added, I only fixed the chapter layout, if you read this before I changed it you know how it just ran together, sorry if it booted you out, but hey, now I have chapters.
Thank you! Thank you or reading and I hope you enjoy, and tell me what I need to fix or change, or add, maybe even let me know what you would like to read!
The days worn on and the hot sweltering summer days and summer nights turned slowly into the end of summer to the early lively rustic fall colors. A year had passed since the company had set out from Hobbiton, or the Shire as Bilbo described to me, lush green hills swooping down into the valleys, and the sparking blue of their rivers of where many hobbits could be found fishing around the entire year, he explained on.
I then later told him of my homeland, with lakes and rivers that shined like sapphires under the moon, and that the sky was the clearest blue she'd ever seen, the meadows were pure gold swaying in wind, and when the sunlight hit the waterfalls it was like watching silver liquid pour down. I sighed whenever I spoke of it.
The days were long but not as near as long as they used to be in the summer, but the nights were even longer. We slept till dawn, ate very little, in fact I've eaten a total ten times since we left Rivendell, I need to quit that habit. The nights were filled with terrible dreams as I slept close to Thorin, I was having more nightmares since I received me wings, I would mutter first, then I would wiggle around some, then I would growl[apparently to Thorin I did]low, the growling became more aggressive and I would then grind my teeth, when I was in the climax of the nightmare I would whimper and shake some and I would then awake screaming or jolting myself up, and every time I met his eyes I saw his pain and hurt, he couldn't sleep, couldn't help me, the rest of the company couldn't sleep nor help. I couldn't even help myself.
He would sometimes explain what I was saying or doing in my sleep but how is he supposed to know, one day I asked him why," Thorin, why do you watch me sleep?"
He responded with the truth," I don't, I hear you muttering and talking next to me, it mainly your childhood, a bunch of bad memories that, and sometimes you swing your arms in your sleep, so I've learned to sleep with one eye and ear open." He then proceed caress check bone, and over the scar, then kissed my forehead and I was back[its like watching 'The Shinning' with Jack Nicolson," Here's Johnny!"]into the nightmares again.
From then on I started to sleep with my back towards him, but then I would just wake up on my other side again or listen to someone complain that they couldn't sleep with me grinding my teeth, they said it drove them mad, so now everyone was bitchy, I can't sleep due to I suffer from night terrors, as if that's my I then began to sleep away from the company, in which they still complained, all but; Thorin, Gandalf and Bilbo who took the time to understand what I was saying and muttering under my breath in my sleep, so I was stuck sleep up against trees away from the warm fire, in the cold night air and the open wind. Everyone else slept nicely from then on, but not this bitch!
Over the next days I was sneezing my nose off and coughing every minute, everyone[but the given handful I told you in the last paragraph]spoke of how well they slept, but that's where one slipped up majorly," So Vaajl, how have slept," asked one in the morning as I came out from the woods doing my business to have breakfast.
I came around the group and sat in an open seat next to Bifur, Bilbo came over and handed me my portion of breakfast," How I slept? Let me ask you: How did you sleep?"
"Very well, a quite peaceful night with the warm fire as everyone did," I noted it was Gloin, he said as he picked up his sausage and popped it in his mouth.
" Good, good," I said then turning behind me to sneeze multiple times, I turned around and looked to everyone in turn, who all had their attention," very good," I continued and caught Thorin's eye who was paying attention to me, he read my face in an instant and sat up," that you can sleep here by this warm cozy fire." I sneered holding my plate and not eating, Bilbo had figured out my pattern and knew when I was up to eating, Bilbo sat there watching me, knowing something wasn't right.
"Yes, I did," Gloin said looking to me confused.
I sneezed and coughed more," Well, then you would notice I have a cold with all the god damn sneezing and coughing I've been doing lately," I said still staring at Gloin, then I raised my voice higher for all to hear," for the past few days I've been sleeping away from everyone because of the bickering over my night terrors, complaining they couldn't sleep, and now they are sleeping great since then. I however have not, I've been sleeping away from the fire, I've gotten sick now," I growled," my neck feels pain every time I turn it, I have lower back aches as everyone else has been sleeping here soundly as I have suffered," I shouted now," every fucking night!"
They all were silent for a few moments," DOES ANYONE HAVE AN EXPLAINTION!" Is shouted and a few jumped or dropped what they had in their hands.
Thorin stood and started an attempt to cool me off," Vaajl-"
"Sit down," I shouted, my face split in half revealing my bloody skull, the top of my skull broke open and spewed out old red blood and an orange light shot from my eyes and melted a hole through his stomach, eating away all in its path, then pea green soup erupted from my mouth and made a waterfall down my chin as the devil himself pried himself out, hands first, and split my mouth open as my jaw broke in half.[Okay that didn't happen, but I did shout at him]. He simply sat down not wanting to quarrel with me at all.
"Yes, I suffer from night terrors, and I shout, yell, and punch and kick from them, yes I get it, it difficult to sleep around me, but," I said ticking my tongue," unless everyone wants to take their turn sleeping how I am and live the nightmare that I do every night, not rainbows and unicorns, there is no happy gaily elves prancing about with their pointy ears. This is no dream where dwarves can set and watch their breads grow like they rubbed fertilizer on it,' look ladies and gentlemen, its miracle grow ',"I said.
I sat and waited, most of them had their heads hung low, it was Gandalf who laughed," My dear girl, I know how to stop your night terrors," and he explained how easy it was, all I needed was to face whatever was in my dreams and overpower or defeat what bothered me.
My face turned red as I shoved my plate to the next person setting by me, I got up and kicked the nearest rock, muttering and cursing myself the whole time. I picked up rocks the size of my fist and threw them at the ground, I threw whatever I could find. They company sat and watched me as I had my fight with myself, why didn't he say it before.
When I was finished, I straightened my armor and marched back to where I had sat, I pulled my helmet off, why I always wore it was because: I'm paranoid, and ran my finger through my long white hair. I then reached to my breakfast that sat on the next persons lap, it was Bombur's lap it sat on," Give my food back," I growled, and took it back as I stuffed the sausage in my mouth and another one when I had swallowed the previous sausage down.
Bombur then reached for the rest, I snapped my fangs at him and growled like a warg," If another thing my brother taught me was: that when living in the wild, you must fight for your food if you before you starve to death."
"Vaajl," Thorin said crossing his arms over his chest, he gave me the-knock-the-shit-off-look.
"What, I'm eating, can't you tell."
He just shook his head ,"We all leave soon, with or without those that can't keep up."
And we did, I had to throw my food back to Bombur as I bolted up and gathered my belongs, if there was one thing you didn't mess around Thorin with was his built in schedule , I had to give the man credit for that even though plans of his never worked out but we always came out on time.
We walked jogged further on, Thorin set the pace, as always, but whenever I'm up front something always happens so In was behind him, nearly falling on over him when he did brake checks. You see, he would be going a good pace and then his hand went up," I heard something, we are being hunted," he would grumble and off we went again, this went all day mind you. He loved to brake check-no doubt about it.
Night came upon us as we sent Bilbo to scout out the lands, the rest of us were hiding together as a group when Bilbo came bounding back.
When he had reached us he stood breathing hard, something was amiss.
"Where are the orcs," Thorin asked before anything else.
"A couple of leagues that way," Bilbo pointed from where he came from.
"I say we double back," Another announced.
"And be rode down by a pack of orcs!" Thorin said.
"Did they see you?" It was Gandalf this time.
"No," Bilbo said quickly, he clearly had more to say.
"What did I tell you," Gandalf said addressing the whole company," Light footed and quick, even more so quite."
The dwarves then started to talk all at once in agreement, Bilbo was know frustrated," Shut it will you!" I exclaimed over the all the voices," Bilbo has more to say," then voices died," Now let him explain."
Bilbo nodded to me," There is something else out there," he said pointing back where he had saw it.
"What form did it take," Gandalf asked," like a bear."
Bilbo looked up to him," Yes," he shook his head in disbelief," but bigger, much bigger."
I then in turned to look at Gandalf who looked like he knew something," There is a house not far from here," he started.
"Friend or foe?" Thorin glared,remembering Rivendell most likely.
"Neither, he will help us or he will kill us." Gandalf said cryptically.
"What choice do we have?" Thorin asked.
Then we heard a roar that didn't sound like any normal bear, it erupted and pierced through the air, and I then felt the hairs on my neck stand up ," None," Gandalf said casually.
We then had to full out sprint, Bilbo was gone in one flat second, I ran to the front of the group and kept my pace, if we weren't being chased by an oversized bear then they wouldn't be able to keep up.
The trees thinned out into a clearing, at the middle was the house Gandalf spoke of, it was large, far too large for one person, surrounded by gardens, around that was wooden walls in an open golden field. Behind me Bombur was passing everyone up, he then sprinted past me, soon I was the last to reach the door, sarcasm bit me in the ass, like always, finally when Bombur had reached the large wooden door he rammed straight into them and bounced backward to the ground. Fili was next to reach the door as he slammed into the side of it with his shoulder along with his brother Kili. Then the rest of us came, Bilbo stood at the side as I stood behind him, sword drawn, Gandalf stood near keeping watch,looking over his shoulder. Another roar erupted, I turned back
Thorin had to shove his way through the rest of them to lift up the large latch, and when he did the company wedged themselves through," Go!" I shouted to Bilbo and Gandalf, as they rushed in with me behind them. The bear was right behind me as Thorin grabbed my arm and slung me in on the floor just as the beast slammed itself against the door, the dwarves struggled with the latching since the bear was far stronger then any of them but they together managed, as they all shouted and yelled, along with long grunts, because we had numbers.
They all sighed in relief as the beast drew back, I reached for my fallen sword that laid in front of me but as I reached for it someone picked it up, I looked up to see who," Didn't bother to help with the door I see." It was Thorin, his deep blue eyes had laughter but I saw how weary he was, where he always popped out of nowhere I never understood,he was by the door, now he's not.
He offered me his hand," Yes well, I was thrown through the door and down here," I said as he helped lifting me up and I took my sword back.
"Now who would have done that?" He said snickering.
"Well, for starters I'll guess the invisible man did," I said over the bickering of another dwarf arguing with our wizard about our host, ya know who he was and all that jazz.
"That rules me out doesn't?" Thorin smiled, his eyes lying against his smile.
"I'm not sure, you tend to appear out of nowhere at times, but I'm not ungrateful at all, if you hadn't done that I wouldn't be here, at least in one piece," I said speaking the truth," Now off to bed with you, we've another full day tomorrow." I started to push him over to the hay and stray.
"A little pushy, are we." He said planting a kiss over my lips, I responded with my own pulling my helmet off.
That night as I laid there for hours to come, on the straw and hay, I was frightened to sleep for fear of the nightmares, my grip on Thorin's overcoat tightened, as the horrible dreams started, I was pulled closer around my waist, he understood all too well, I fell asleep that night on him basically, I then slipped into sleep listening to his breathing and heartbeat.
I slept there the whole night without any interruptions,maybe Thorin prevented my nightmares, just having him near made me feel portected, when I awoke the company was nowhere to be found, but I could sure hear them, and Thorin was in the other room with them no doubt, I stood and stretched out like a cat after it had slept.
I walked in staggering as I normally do each morning," Vaajl is up finally," Bilbo chanted as he stood up from his seat and bowed as low as the dwarves when they rendered their services.
"And beautiful none the less, even if she did sleep with mice in her head," Thorin joked about how my hair looked, yes, it was a scary sight to behold," To think I woke up next to her." Small laughter arose.
I waved my hand at him, telling him," Surprised you didn't wet the bed." I mocked arousing more laughter from the company.
"Ah, there's the famous wit of hers," Gandalf spoke not to us, I heard footsteps behind me,' Beorn, this the one I was telling you about, Vaajltirqa Vul Soren-"
"The Valkyrie, yes, you've told me," Beorn said in his low deep voice, my mouth dropped open, Ardaradon, he's huge, look at his height," since you first came in here from your slumber."
"Oh, I have didn't I," Gandalf said then looking to me, his eyes pleading, probably because he didn't want any smart comment from my fat trap.
" So why is a Valkyrie in these lands with a full company of dwarves no less?" Beorn asked.
I decided to answer truthfully, from the sight of him and his long dark hair and beard, and the large muscles that were on his very long arms, but what was most unsettling was his eyes, brown they may be, but I saw the wild carnage bear behind them, aching to be free," I was not so when I joined this company."
He sat back, thinking carefully over my words," You know what I am, yes," I nodded.
"A skin-changer."
"Yes, I am, and you are a Valkyrie, not by choice, neither am I given such a choice," he said," I was not given a choice you see, this is what I got in return," he said lifting his hands up to show iron cuffs." I was enslaved by the orcs you see, not for labor but for sport, because of what I am."
" I understand how you feel," I said locking my eyes with his," I was enslaved in a different way, I was a slave to my fear, my fear of the Defiler," when I said that his eyes shot with fury, he wanted to hear the rest," Azog destroyed my home and murdered everyone but me, and this is what I received from the orcs," I moved my mangled hair and showed him the scars over the left side of my face, he eye shined with a new light," you were cuffed and the animal, enslaved into madness and a fire for vengeance, I was a given my scar that marred my face, that many call beautiful and became blind for several years of my life, I just recently escaped my fear and conquered it."
" Then where are your wings?" Beorn said more than asking.
"In me, " I whispered.
"Then show me Valkyrie, if you want to gain my favor and blessing wherever you may choose to go."
I did and out slide my wings, it was less painful than the last time, but I still cringed, my wings were still the gorgeous white and just as big, taking up the door way of his dinning room, " These are my wings skin-changer."
He seemed marveled at the sight and size of my wings," So the wizard is speaking the truth, your wings are you entirely Valkyrie, you are welcome in my house whenever the need arises." Beorn said as I whispered my magic trick and in my wings went." I shall know it is you should I ever see your great white wings in the sky."
I nodded to him once more. The company now then didn't have to worry about an outstanding cat fight going on so they ate the rest of their breakfast, all but Thorin who was ever so vigilant of who and where the dwarf ate, he was really picky about that.
Beorn then brought up the notion to ask where Thorin was heading." What business do dwarves have so close to the Greenwood and Moria?"
Thorin's throat tightened.
"We are traveling to the east to visit relatives and very old friends, we plan on going taking the Elven road through the Greenwood," Gandalf said smoking slithering up from his pipe, like a snake.
" The Elven road is dangerous," Beorn started," you are being hunted by orcs and you are a foot," he added looking towards Thorin, the animal in his eye darkened," you will never reach the Wood alive."
Thorin matched his glare, Beorn stood up," I never liked dwarves, they're greedy," he walked over to Thorin, ducking under the wood structuring and picking up an albino mouse that Dwalin moved off his hand not a second ago," treating other as they please if the deem their life lesser than their own."
Thorin just stood their, arms crossed, and giving that I'm-not-impressed-look again, along with hi cocky posture," But orcs I hate more," Beorn continued," what do you need?"