Sorry this one took a bit longer, but I had some tests and a report I needed to make, plus I'm kind of really tired, almost like Dís.
So this one's a short chapter, but I promise next will be longer, and I hope it will come sooner!

Again, thank you for the very sweet reviews who nearly make me cry 3

Filthy Orcs & Eriador

'Dís. Dís, wake up! We're moving on.' Someone says, shaking my shoulders in an attempt to wake me up.

'Hmmm, I'm coming.' I mumble, slowly opening my eyes and let them get used to the bright daylight. I stare for a while, until I remember where I am and that we need to get going. We were still wandering the wild, but it seemed like we were making a bit of progress. We had been wandering in Eriador for already quite a while, and the place wasn't as nasty as the ones before us were. Still, we needed to get going, since again it would be winter soon. Plus we were lying in the open air right now, and there had been at least ten dwarves guarding the others when they were asleep. Of course, it were different dwarves every hour, but even so that little hour I was awake longer than the rest, and still pulling along the carriage, was really a bit too much for me and no matter how much I slept, I was exhausted.

'Today, if possible, please.' The dwarf says whom woke me.

'Shut up.' I snarl, standing up and rub my eyes, looking around to find the carriage. My friend and her baby were already lying in it, so I walk over them ignoring the dwarf saying 'You can sleep when you're dead.' and pick up the carriage.

Within a minute all the dwarves are walking again, but with a slower pace than usually, since everybody was so exhausted. Children were carried by now, but they switched to another dwarf now almost every ten minutes. I wish we could sleep longer, but in the open with orcs that isn't an option. It surprised me actually that we weren't attacked tonight. Sadly, that didn't last for long.

'No…' I plead, but no one listens of course, certainly not the orcs who were racing to the dwarves. It were more than the last time, unfortunately, and the dwarves were weaker. I get my bow and arrow and start shooting as many orcs as I can, before they reach the first dwarves, who slay them with the axes. But it doesn't take long before the first dwarves are wounded, and some drop dead on the floor. I defend the carriage, what seemed to attract the orcs to it like dwarves are attracted to gold.

I hear a scared scream behind me, and when I look around after I cut some orc's arm off, I see another one grabbing my dear friend's wrist. 'Filthy orc, go back!' I sizzle, firing an arrow through his head. The point of the arrow evens comes out the back of his head because he was so close, and the point hit the orc behind him in the head as well.

Looking rather smudged, I look if my friend is alright, and continue slaying the others. I see my brother somewhere in the distance, handling a sword and axe at the same time. But I don't have a long time to look at him, because another orc approaches the carriage. I kick him in his stomach, what made him groan, and more angry. He stings me with his sword in my arm, and I let out a painful cry. I immediately feel the blood streaming out of my arm, and hear my friend gasp, but not of the same reason I thought.
'Dís, behind you!' she says, but before I can turn around the orc in front of me strikes again. I quickly put my sword against his, but I feel something scratching my shoulder blade and this time I groan in anger. To my surprise, it didn't go through me, it even went away very quickly. I give some very quick waves my sword, so fast that the orc in front of me gets confused, attacks to late and his head falls on the floor, a moment later followed by the rest of his body. Immediately I turn around, and see my friend struggling with an orc.
She had taken a bow out of my tube, and was stinging the dwarf with it, while she kept slapping him in the face or where else she could. Underneath all the sounds, I can hear the cries of a baby underneath the blanket. I lean across the carriage and put my sword in his chest. The orc's face looks wrenched and painful before it falls on the floor. Just in time, because the orc's sword fell on her chest, and if I hadn't turned around by now it would have gone through it. I can see she trembles, like me, but quickly pat her head before I turn around again. I keep slaying the other orcs who were coming this way, but not without any other painful wounds.

I can see that more dwarves than I had expected had died, and I quickly look around for Thorin. When I can't find him my stomach begins twisting, but I reassure myself that he's just out of sight at the moment. I look for him again, and when I can't find him I look some more. I can even see my grandmother standing in the distance, wounded but alive.

I give a worried glance at my friend; she was exhausted from just that little thing. It probably were the nerves as well, but she's trembling more than her baby does. 'Please, I'll be right back.' I say, running off to my grandmother.
'Where's Thorin?' I ask her shortly, afraid of the answer. Afraid to have lost another brother. 'Over there.' She nods in a direction. I takes a while, but I finally recognize my brother. A float of relief waves through me, and I shut my eyes for a moment. He's still alive, I think. I was about to turn around when I remembered my grandmother. 'Are you alright?' I ask. When she nods, I excuse myself and run towards Thorin. He only just turned around when I jumped into his arms, what made him almost fall over. Luckily he had recognized me in that split second, and didn't push me away, thinking I was an orc or a strange dwarf or something. I allow myself to slightly tremble. It had been a lot of orcs just attacking, and for some moments I had really thought he was gone, just like Frerin.

'Thank Mahal, you're alive.' I whisper under my breath, not expecting him to hear it, but he did, and he pulls me away.

'Of course I'm alive, Dís, don't worry.' He says with a frown.

'What do you mean, 'of course?' Some dwarves died, you know! I couldn't find you anywhere, so I thought that you were one of those dwarves. So if I want to worry over that, I will!' I say, a bit more sharp than I meant. But he could've been dead, for all I knew. Yes, he was a very skilled warrior, but so was Frerin.

I breath deep in and keep telling myself that Thorin's alive. He's standing before me, still with that frown on his face.

I remember the carriage again, and walk back. Luckily my friend had done the same thing and wasn't trembling anymore. 'Are you alright, can I get anything for you?' I ask.

She shakes her head. 'No. Thank you for saving my life, Dís.' I had firmly forbidden her to keep saying thank you for pulling the carriage to me.

I shrug. 'That's what we all do.' I simply say, and walk back to the front of it to pick it up again. 'Now let's really move on.'

A day or two later (I was so exhausted that I even can't remember how many days ago the attack was) we were walking into a place that seemed rather nice, actually. There was a town very nearby with we could trade with, the people weren't so scary but quite nice, there were a lot of stones and the location wasn't that terrible either. There wasn't a single hint that orcs were here right now, or had been in the past week. Pulling the carriage became a bit more hard with all those people, especially when they're looking at you. Is this how all those horses must feel? I cannot help to wonder.

We stop when Thorin ordered us to stop here, and he started talking to someone I couldn't see. Suddenly, a man comes walking down to me, and I immediately freeze. There hadn't anything happened since that strange man in the woods, and this man didn't look at him at all, neither he reminded me of him. But it was a man, and he was coming to me, and I put down the carriage, my hand resting on my sword.

'Ho, I'm not coming here to declare war!' the man says when he sees my hand. He sounded nothing like the man in the woods at all. I say nothing and just keep staring at him with a strange, angry look.

'I wanted to ask if you would like to buy one of my self-made maps? They are the best quality, I can assure you, and-'

I don't let the man finish, and look at the maps he had in his hands. 'Can I see?' I interrupt him, looking curious at the maps. The man seemed surprised but happy and showed me some. Some were a bit different, but they actually all seemed the same to me.

'Where are we now?' I wonder out loud, and the man points on the map. 'Here, Eriador. There's the river Lune, you see? Behind it are mountains.'

I look up at him with a look of surprise and hope. 'Mountains?' I ask with the same voice as my look.

'Yes, mister dwarf. Would you like to buy a map? I also have just made maps about Eriador, so you can see most of it better.' He holds out another map, with a strange place painted on it, apparently called Eriador.

I ignore that he calls me mister, because I know that I look like a male dwarf in the eyes of a man, when I'm not in a dress. Maybe they think I'm a male dwarf in a dress than? 'I take them both.' I say, handing the man over some money. 'How much are they?'

The man gives me the price and I hand it over to him, getting the cards in my hand.

'Who are you, may I ask?' the man asks curiously. 'Dwarves normally never get here.'

'We're the dwarves from Erebor, finding another place to live. I'm from the line of Durin.' I reply to him, leaving the man in a surprised state when I turn around to the carriage. 'I'll be right back, if you get any trouble just scream.' I say, and after a nod from her I run over to Thorin, passing all the dwarves who seem to be sleeping while they're standing up straight.

'Thorin!' I call him, not caring he's already in a conversation with some other man. He doesn't react and I wait impatiently for him to finish, giving him an irritated noise when he finally comes. 'So, that took a while.' I complain, and he opens his mouth, probably to give me a lecture about all things I'm not interested in, but before he has the change to say something I already interrupt him.

'There are mountains nearby, you know that? Mountains!' I say and can't hide the excitement and hope in my voice.

'I just wanted to say that to you; how did you that?' he asks in surprise, but I can also see the same hope reflected in his eyes.

'Somebody just told me. Don't be angry, but I already bought his maps.' I say and show them to him. He takes them over and studies the one with Eriador on it for a while.

'You see, there a lot of places we could trade with if we could live in the mountain, there are nearby cities to which we can easily walk with using these roads.' He points at the map, explaining some more things.

'So, do you think we could live there?' I finally ask when he's finished.

'We don't know that yet, Dís. I can see as well that it would be a good place to live, but perhaps the mountain isn't safe at all.'

'Well, let's find out! It isn't that far away, and we at least must give it a fair try.' I say, and I feel more hope when Thorin agrees with me.

'Let's go on than. Can I keep these?' He says, waving with the maps.

I nod and somehow manage to run back again. I'm almost forgetting my exhaustion. I feel I'm getting new hopes. I tell my friend about it, and I see her face brighten up during the story, what makes me brighten up as well.

'Oh, I hope it's a good place where my son can grow up!' she prays.

'I'm sure it is. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.' I quote my grandmother.

It took another half a day, but we finally arrived there. The mountains were beautiful, I thought, but that's not enough reasons to live there. Thorin summons up as much dwarves as he can, only the ones who were wounded, or to old or young to take another step could rest. He let them search the place, and me with some others take care of the wounded and the others that stayed here. We immediately start working on dinner for the dwarves, and while we look around we all hope that this is can be a good place to live. I wonder if Frerin would have liked it. I look up at the sky without really knowing, until someone pokes me.

'Are you looking if it's going to rain or does your neck hurt?' Feeling a bit stupid, I said 'both' and quickly wandered off to the carriage again, giving the dwarves on it some food and water.

It's really evening when the others return, and I'm pleased to see them all without any more cuts than they already had. They even had smiles on their faces. Even more hope starts to growl within me. Please, Mahal, let this be a good place to live!

The last group to return was Thorin's; he was with some others having a look at and inside the mountain.

'It's already done!' I hear a dwarf say with a voice full of excitement. 'We can work inside the mountain tomorrow if we want to; almost everything's already there. It looks like there live dwarves a very, very long time ago.'

'And why are they gone?' A grumpy old voice says, and I already know who it is; the one who refused to go any further some time ago. 'Did orcs kill them, did the man, or something else?'

'Shut up!' I yell at the dwarf, giving him a firing angry look. 'We haven't travelled this far to wander the wild forever. We need a place to stay, and don't forget that winter's upon us. Do I need to remind you that that was the reason we stayed at or previous settlement? Because we had nowhere else to go and we would all die if we didn't stay there that winter, but that we would find another place to live? Well, we've done that now, so learn to recognize a good place when you one!' my voice pierces through all the other dwarves, and everything immediately went quiet when I started. When I ended, there are approving voices and support, but I don't even hear that. My eyes are spitting fire, and my nails are painfully piercing my fists, and I have to do everything and give all concentration to not smash them in the dwarf his face. I feel someone pulling me back, probably Grodri, but I don't notice.

Finally, another voice cuts through the air, and somehow knows to distract me.

'We stay here. This is were the line of Durin will stay, until we reclaim Erebor.' Thorin's voice echoed in the air.