A.N.
You may have noticed I haven't been posting these. Here is the first and hopefully the last one.
I have been a fan of The Hobbit book most of my life. I am not great fan of the films. I however like a lot of the stuff in and about them, and here I am mostly following them. With that said, you might have also noticed that I change and omit what I like. I am retelling a well known story and a piece of fan fiction that the films are, and I am doing it for fun. I don't wish to retype the same lines, copy the same songs, show the scenes from the same angle. What would be the point of that?
So, to summarise, while keeping the general outline of the book and films, I change what I wish and omit what I don't like or think I need, including whole characters or smaller events.
And of course, no infringement is intended.
The stuff of nightmares was chasing them.
The stuff that was worse and more horrific than any stuff of nightmares she had ever had, was chasing them with the unmistakable intent.
Not several moments have managed to pass since Gandalf presented her with the Sting (Everyone was naming theirs, so why not she. When in company of dwarfs...) when its blade developed a blueish glow and immediately they heard a wailing like sound of a horn and howling and thumping of many heavy feet running fast towards them.
"Warg scouts! Everybody run!" Gandalf led the way with Thorin and Dwalin at his feet.
They left the last trees behind very swiftly and were now being hunted throughout a grassy downs sprinkled with massive boulders and rocks that afforded them some protection from the occasional black arrow that would whoosh by.
Although Roni's heart threatened to come out of her mouth and her lungs explode and legs fold under her, the company appeared to run at a drunk snail's pace and trajectory. Kili was holding her hand and pulling her after him, while they zig-zagged from boulder to boulder. And still their pursuers were getting closer.
After what she estimated was several hours of this mad hide and seek game, they entered a cluster of rocks and Gandalf was yelling at them to follow him even as the top of his obviously magic hat - how else would it still be firmly perched on its elevated place - disappeared into a crevice of a massive tor rising out of ground before them.
She practically stumbled through the same space, now pushed by Bifur, because Kili lingered, keeping the most foolish of the orc riders, heedless of their lives and wellbeing getting alarmingly close to their ends, at bay with some impressive archery, giving the rest of the group time to duck into relative safety. Moving on, to the sort of a small open atrium, she saw Gandalf standing at the beginning of what appeared to be a narrow downward sloping tunnel. He urged the dwarfs to keep going down it.
While she was passing him they heard sounds of many horns and very soon swishes and more cries, followed with heavy thumps. Thorin was standing beside Gandalf, being the last one to come down save Kili, and was now listening to the going on above and with such dark expression that Roni thought his forehead might get a permanent new line etched into it, perpendicular to two glossy, black ones that posed as his eyebrows.
First relieved to see Kili jumping into the safety of the natural shelter they were in, and then startled to the point of bumping her curly head to the carved ceiling , Roni saw a body tumble through to where they entered. A vile looking creature, quite dead apparently, if the glassy eyes and multicoloured arrow sticking from his forehead were anything to go by, was sprawled on the rocky floor.
Thorin examined the arrow, curling his lip in obvious disgust (the dwarf's face showed more expressions in the last few moments than it had since they left the Shire). Whether it was because of the elegant arrow or the dead orc she couldn't tell. The ridiculously ornate fletching- she imagined if the fletcher's motto would be somewhere in the lines with "Our arrows take one away, expeditiously and with style!"- had nothing on misplaced sense of accessorizing she noticed on the dead… um, person. Hideous face was made even more so by what must have been near a pound of iron trinkets adorning his features... Nauseated, she closed her eyes, but that only made the image etched itself more in her memory and she quickly opened them searching for some other motive to cleanse them.
Thorin turned and started into the tunnel decisively and obviously angry, gripping her hand as he passed by her and pulled her behind him. She followed without a word. The dwarf had the ability to make her speechless, just as much as Ori claimed she had one to do the same to poor defenceless dwarfs. At one point she felt her other hand being taken and when she glanced back Kili was there, one step behind her. During one surreal moment she was like a little girl being dragged by two stone faced parents. Every little girl knew those kind of faces meant they were in deep trouble. But what she has done this time she hadn't a clue.
Thorin felt her jerk when Kili pulled her hand a bit and turned. Seeing Kili's hand and a cocked eyebrow, Thorin let go of her, turned on his heel and continued to march on.
When the tunnel finally broadened and spewed them outside, they found themselves on a wide, stony perch, overlooking a hand painted picture postcard variety, one sent their family when one went on faraway travels to Bree sort of scene of what could only be an elven dwelling.
Roni wondered if they had a postal office in this august place.