I am so relived I managed to update this Sunday, because I've been busy with school and all. I'm sorry if this chapter isn't that good, I tried my best. But I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 11

Another three weeks had gone by and now we were striding the paths and roads of the wilderness in the middle of nowhere. I somehow had gotten into Thorin's mind; he still hadn't sent Rue off (thank the Lords). But maybe that was because there had been no city nor village that we had gone by. We truly are out in nowhere. I am usually good at reading maps and guiding, at least around in the Shire, but out here I'm completely clueless.

If Thorin should send off Bilbo, then I wouldn't be much of a help to guide him back home. Besides, Thorin had no reason to send him off, yet. Bilbo have improved; he's helping out a lot more around the camp and he has begun to take night-watch shifts.

Rue had been doing great also; he was on good terms with almost everyone in the company, particularly with me, Bilbo, Kíli and Fíli. To be honest, we all had become great friends in the course of a week. Thorin rarely spoke to the boy, he only addressed him over brief commands. But at least he wasn't watching him like a hawk.

Every night Fíli had me spar with him and learn the basic movements in swordsmanship, like Thorin had suggested. And Kíli had Rue practicing his archery skills. We were both progressing, as if we were scholar pupils.

We were riding through some small rocky hills and the sun was absolutely amazing. I felt the urge to let go of the reins and let Mirra run. Perhaps if I asked our leader nicely he'd let me run. It was still a bit awkward between us since my approach, but it wasn't tense.

"Oi Kíli." I said and looked at him.

"Aye?" he replied and looked back at me.

"Do you think Thorin will let me run off a little bit?" his eyebrows furrowed.

"What do you mean run off?" he questioned. Fíli, Rue and Bilbo noticed us and they also stared at me.

"You know, just let my pony gallop a little bit. I'll only ride ahead a league or so!" I causally said.

"If you ask him nicely perhaps." Fíli answered and gazed at his brother. Both of them smirked. "And if you let us come with you." Kíli added and winked.

"Really?" I smiled. "What about you two?" I faced Bilbo and Rue.

I faced the two of them; Rue's expression was delighted, but Bilbo's face was concerned.

"I would love to join, but I'm not sure with mister Baggins over here." Rue glanced at Bilbo. He shook his head intensely.

"Oh come on Bilbo! Don't be such a chicken!" I complained as I glared at him. "If you're not coming then you'll have to ride with Gandalf."
"Deal!" he exclaimed and waved his hands. "Rue could you please halt the pony for a second?"

Rue stopped their pony and Bilbo swiftly, but clumsily dismounted and ran off to Gandalf. I smiled mischievously at the others as I trotted my way up to Thorin.

"Good day, master Oakenshield." I greeted him as I reached. He nodded at me in response. He did not look that too happy, well he never did.

"I've got something to ask you," I spoke, "may Fíli, Kíli, Rue and I gallop ahead a little?" I asked and put that little twinkle in my eyes.

"Do whatever pleases you, miss Baggins." he replied, not looking at me. I frowned at his short reply, but smiled seconds later when I understood what it meant.

We get to go! I trotted back to the others with a huge grin on my lips.

"He gave us permission?" Rue tweeted. There was that feminine pitch again, but I again ignored it.

"He did!" I tweeted back and looked ahead of us.

There was a huge boulder ahead, at least a league or so off.

"What say you of a race?" Kíli taunted, he had been eyeing the same boulder as I.

"First one to the boulder wins." Fíli said competitive and I felt my heart pound faster.

"Deal." came the voices of me, Rue and Kíli.

In the blink of an eye, as if the word deal was a command of fleeing, Mirra and the other ponies shot off. I was so startled I nearly fell off, but I managed to hold on the mane. We raced beside the company with the wind hitting our faces and making our hair strike backwards. My heartbeat quickened even more and my eyes went wide open.

Rue had taken the lead, he was ten metres or so ahead of us and Kíli and Fíli were slightly behind me. Mirra whinnied and bucked violently at the two equipages behind; it had escalated into a race between the ponies as well, so now it was the real deal.

I looked ahead of us again and rose onto my toes in the stirrups to make it easier for Mirra to gallop faster.

"Faster Mirra!" I commanded eagerly. In response she once again bucked and then went faster forward. I felt adrenaline pump around in my veins and goosebumps appeared allover my body. I couldn't help but smile triumphantly; this was the best thing I knew.

I realized then that I passed Rue, but I was side by side with Kíli. I glared teasingly at him and he gave me a sharp glance back. I gazed forward, the boulder was getting closer. It was only a matter of an half minute until we would reach.

Kíli ladled his pony and yelled in thrill. I yelled along, my lips forming an 'Wooh!'.

And suddenly, Mirra stopped abruptly, sending me out in the air. I landed on the ground and rolled, until I hit something hard that made me stop. It was the boulder. I sat up and shook my head from the impact. Had I won?

I glanced over my shoulder and found Kíli, still sitting on his pony, grinning ludicrously down at me.

"Did I win?" I questioned as I rose.

"Nope. You lost fair and square." he chuckled.

Dang it.

"Are you alright?" he asked through the chuckles.

"I'm fine, just a little shaken I suppose." I answered as I wiped of some dirt from my coat. Fíli and Rue arrived, with laugh choking their throats.

"That has got to be the most elegant dismount I've ever seen." Fíli snickered ironically.

"You should've seen yourself!" Rue laughed, "You flew off the beast in just one second!"

I grumped and sighed as I mounted Mirra. "Shut up."

Eight hours later.

"We will camp here for the night." Thorin announced as all of us dismounted our ponies. "Fíli, Kíli, keep watch over the ponies." he commanded his nephews.

We had reached another hill with an old abandoned house on top of it. Trees were surrounding it and some of the branches had fallen into the ruined roof of the building and it had fallen apart. But it looked good enough to camp in, it still had a working fireplace with a proper chimney.

I went closer to the house to examine it closer. Gandalf joined me with a concerned expression on his wrinkly face. The house was overgrown by damp moss, ivy and tree roots. It looked like no one had lived here for a long time.

"A farmer and his family used to live here." Gandalf mumbled as he stroke the broken facade.

"What?" I said and gazed at him. He did not notice me, instead he mumbled another row of inaudible, strange words. I ignored him and walked about the house, until I found a pile of bones in the right corner.

I froze on the spot and my body stiffened. Those were no bones of an animal; those were the bones of a Man, because there lay a scattered rib cage and a skull among them.

My legs began to move backwards as my eyes were locked on the scattered skeleton. This was no safe place, we had to leave now. Those bones were freshly torn away from flesh, which must mean that something is near.

"Gandalf?" I spoke breathlessly. "Come here a second." I begged. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to him. His face expression had not faded, it had in fact increased by the sight of the pile.

"We cannot stay." he mused, "I must go and speak with Thorin." he said.

Just at that moment, Thorin appeared.

"I think it would be wiser to move on." Gandalf informed as he turned to him, "We could make for the Hidden valley. This place is not safe, I fear.". Thorin gave him a hardened glance.

"I have told you already, I will not go near that place." he practically growled.

And then they started to bicker. I felt very uncomfortable to be near them while they discussed sternly with eachother, so I went back to the others. I walked up to Rue and Bilbo, who had been watching them from afar.

"What is going on?" Rue questioned as he gazed at the two arguing men.

"They're arguing if we wether stay or leave." I responded, "Gandalf wants the company to move ahead to the Hidden Valley, but Thorin disagrees."*
"No wonder then." Fíli and Kíli appeared.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

Before any of them had the chance of answering, Gandalf had come back.

"Save me from the damned stubbornness of dwarves!" he snarled as he walked towards us.

"Is everything alright?" Bilbo carefully asked the wizard, "Where are you going?"
"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense." Gandalf muttered bitterly.

"And who's that?" my cousin inquired.

"Myself Master Baggins!" Gandalf snapped grumpily.

The wizard walked away from us, muttering curses and vile words. Bilbo fidgeted nervously and then began to talk anxiously with Balin.

"We cannot let him leave like this!" Rue suddenly said and looked to Balin as well. Then the nymph boy ran after Gandalf.

"Fíli go after him. He'll not come back until the wizard has joined him." I said and glanced at him.

"Which will apparently not happen." Fíli replied and began to follow Rue. "I'll take the lad back."

I knew that Gandalf would return, he was a wise man and he knew that we would not make it without him. I've known him for a long time and I know he won't abandon us in this hour. He just needed some time for himself.

I turned to Kíli.

"Want me to accompany you while you watch the beasts?" I asked him. He smiled at me and pulled me with him to them.

I had made an agreement with Bombur. I would not have to help him cook the food, because I had to practice with my sword. It was indeed important that I could handle one if we should get into trouble. So his brother Bofur would take my place instead. Besides, both of them were better cooks than me.

Fíli and Rue had come back after a few minutes and then it was time for both of us to practice.

Kíli set up another target by the forest line for Rue to practice on and Fíli and I practiced near the ponies. Both of the brothers had become pretty relentless to us, pressing us to become better and smoother with the weapons. Which made Rue and I frustrated.

Fíli swung his right twin blade towards me and I quickly blocked it diagonally, so that he couldn't cut me with his other blade. I slipped his blades of my sword and then gave him a harsh push on his chest. He stumbled backwards and then I swiftly attacked him. I aimed at his legs, but he jumped even more backwards and then made a spinning attack towards me. He hit my sword with his blade and then shoved me violently on the ground.

He put his foot on my abdomen and then put all of his weight on it, emptying my breath.

I cried out in anger and then instinctively grabbed his foot and violently twisted it, making him fall to the ground. He gasped for air and I quickly sat on top of him and pressed my sword at his throat.

"Give up." I hissed as my eyes stared fiercely at him. As soon as he caught up with his breath, he chuckled darkly.

"I give up. Now please get off me." he slung me to the right and then sat on top of me, with a stranglehold on my neck.

"Damn it Fíli!" I cried out. "Have some mercy on me, will you?"

"An orc would not have mercy on you, he likely would've strangled you to death by now." he rose and held out a hand to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up.

I was exhausted, I needed a break.

"Perhaps that's enough for today." Fíli chuckled as sweat ran down my temples. "You're getting better at this, but you still must remember that you can't let your opponent have an open window."

"Yes yes I know, it's just hard to keep up when everything goes so fast." I mumbled and I wiped the sweat off my brow.

"I remember that feeling from when I started to train swordsmanship. It was particularly hard for me to keep up since I only had a sword to practice with." Fíli mused.

"Because it was easier for you to fight with twin blades?" I asked curiously, my mood becoming cooler and I put my sword back in its sheets.

"Aye, I am able to wield a sword, but I like the blades better." he answered.

I heard Rue and Kíli approaching us. The nymph had had enough of archery for today and wanted to spar with Fíli. Kíli and I watched them and I must say that Rue was excellent at fighting, for being a young boy of course.

The sun began to wane and the air was getting a bit chilly. It was then that I remembered… Kíli and I were suppose to have watched the ponies. As the others continued sparring, I looked to Kíli.

"Just recalled that perhaps someone should watch the ponies." I inquired. He frowned and then rose to his feet.

"Don't." I said and mimicked his movement. "I can keep watch over them, enjoy yourself."

He smiled gratefully at me and then sat back down.

But I wasn't going to go to the ponies, well not now, I was going to go and see if Gandalf had returned.

But unfortunately, he hadn't. Bilbo was still nervous and he walked about the camp, looking for the wizard. I myself didn't manage to find him either, which concerned me a bit. I walked to the slope of the hill and gazed out into the field, but found no sign of him.

Suddenly, I heard a voice coming from down under. It was coming from the cellar that the farmer had stored his food when he was alive. I followed the voice and soon I heard that it was two voices, talking sharply.

I recognized the voices; it was Balin and Thorin discussing something. I lay down flat on my stomach and crawled towards the rock formation that held the door together.

"You cannot let your mind travel away just because we have a woman in this company, Thorin." Balin said seriously.

"My mind is not traveling away and she is not just some woman, Balin, have you ever looked at her? Do you see how much she resembles-" Thorin hissed, but was interrupted.

"Her, I am well aware of that. You could almost think she was her twin, but that does not mean anything." Balin stood his ground.

It was obvious that they were talking about me, for some strange reason. I crawled closer to the rock formation until I could peek down at them.

"That is a lie and you know it." Thorin bit back, "Everytime I look at her, it's like I'm looking upon Valerie's reincarnation."

"Is it that you suspect? Magic of some sort?" Balin questioned.

"I am not certain, but there is something peculiar about her, something I cannot put my finger on. But I am certain that she must somehow be a descendant." Thorin mused.

"That is impossible Thorin. You and Valerie were together for mere than a decade until…" he trailed off.

"Until Smaug came." Thorin finished his sentence. "Until that slug took her away from me and murdered her." he growled between his teeth.

They continued on arguing, without noticing me

I backed away from the formation and soon rose to my feet. It felt like I had been deceived and lied to. My stomach turned of unease and my brain was filled with questions. Who is or were Valerie? Why am I looking like her as if I'm her twin? Why was she so special to him? Why haven't Thorin spoken to me about this? Was this why he acted so strangely when we first met back in the Shire? Is this why he's been so distant lately? Did he only let me join this quest just because I look like her?

I was hurt and I got madly upset. I stomped off back to the camp with a ravaging mood. The others noticed me approaching and they looked confused.

"Something troubling ya Bella?" Bofur asked.

"Indeed something is." I practically snarled. I walked through the camp and back to the ponies.

"Where are you going?" Bombur called after me.

"To look after our bloody ponies!" I yelled back.

Gandalf was not the only one to be absolutely furious with our leader right now. I had done almost the exact exit like he had.

I reached the ponies and sat down on a boulder next to them, crossing my arms grumpily as I stared out in thin air. I heard in the distance that Fíli and Rue were still sparring, with Kíli cheering on. The sun had sank down by the horizon by this hour and it was getting dark.

After a couple of minutes, I heard something clomping, the sound coming from the forest. I sat completely still and listened closer to the sound. It was coming closer and suddenly it sounded like trees were ripped out of the ground, breaking and wrecking. Someone was coming, someone huge was coming.

I swiftly jumped up from the boulder and hid behind a tall, but narrow fir-tree. I peeked out from it and I saw that a huge, ugly-looking monster was stomping towards the ponies. My eyes widened in fear and I held my breath.

The monster reached the ponies that were closest to him and with ease, he snatched the two of them up in his arms. The other ponies whinnied in fear and tried to tear off their bindings to the trees. The ponies that the monster had picked up were struggling in his grip and squealed in horror. He then disappeared further into the forest with the two helpless beasts.

And then, from behind, I felt an enormous hand picking me up. Before I had the chance of screaming for help, I went unconscious by a strike to my head.

What did you think? Feel free to tell me, I appreciate as much help I can get :)