Chapter 12:

"Something's coming!" Thorin shouted.

Kili and I looked up. All the dwarves sprang into action. Kili grabbed my arm and pulled me up with him. He then prepared his bow and went to stand next to Fili, who was holding out his two swords.

"Stay together!" commanded Gandalf. "Hurry now, arm yourselves."

I stuck close to Bilbo, who hesitantly drew his sword. I drew my own sword, wishing Kili and Fili had given me another lesson.

I was mentally preparing myself for a orcs and goblins. What I was not expecting was a strange old man riding a sled.

"Thieves!" the old man yelled as we all stared. "Fire! MURDER!"

He stopped short right in front of us. He was the strangest looking man I had ever seen. Considering who I was traveling with, that was saying something! He had long brown-grey hair and beard with something that looked horribly like dried bird poop tangled through it. His wide green eyes were partially hidden under wild eyebrows and he wore a long, tattered, moldy robe and hat. To top everything off, his sled was being pulled by giant rabbits.

"Radagast!" said Gandalf, sounding relieved. "Radagast the Brown. What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong."

"Yes?"

Radagast opened his mouth to speak but then closed it again, his eyebrows knit together.

I gave a confused look to Bilbo, who shrugged.

"Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh. I had a thought...and then I lost it. It is right there on the tip of my tongue..." Radagast said. "Oh wait. It's not a thought at all. It's just a silly old stick insect."

Gandalf reached up and pulled the bug from Radagast's mouth. I gagged.

That did not just happen!

Gandalf took Radagast aside and they began to talk quietly to each other.

I looked across the clearing to Kili. I could tell he was as confused as I was.

A sharp howl rang through the air, making me jump.

"Was that a wolf?" asked Bilbo, nervously. "Are there-are there wolves out there?

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf," said Bofur.

Suddenly, a giant wolf creature leapt through the trees. Thorin sliced it with his sword. I stood, petrified, looking down at the dead monster by my feet.

There was a fierce growl from behind me. I turned to see another creature glaring at me with red eyes. With drool dripping from its fangs, it lunged at me. I screamed, positive that my life was over.

An arrow pierced its shoulder and it fell to the side where Dwalin quickly finished it off.

I turned back to face Kili, who was holding his bow and staring at me with wide eyes. We were both aware of how close I just was to death.

"Warg-scouts!" said Thorin, pulling his sword out from the first warg's head. "Which means an orc pack is not far behind."

"Orc pack?" squeaked Bilbo.

So there are orcs after all...great.

"Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin?" asked Gandalf.

"No one," replied Thorin.

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf demanded, harshly.

"No one, I swear! What is going on?"

"You are being hunted."

"We have to get out of here," said Dwalin.

My thoughts exactly.

"We can't!" yelped Ori. "The ponies must have bolted when the wargs attacked."

I was panicking by now and totally overwhelmed. I was almost positive we were going to be captured and killed by orcs.

"I'll draw them off," said Radagast.

"These are Gundabad Wargs," said Gandalf, shaking his head. "They will out run you."

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try!"

Radagast set off on his sled, going to distract the orcs. We waited until Gandalf gave the OK to run through the woods and out into a rocky plain. We ducked behind the rocks and Gandalf looked out.

"Come on!" he said.

"Move!" Thorin yelled and we started running again.

We ran and we ran. The farther we ran, the farther I fell behind. I was struggling to keep up with Bilbo and Bombur, which was pretty pathetic. Finally we ducked behind another rock. My chest was heaving and I was having difficulty breathing. Bilbo nodded to me in equal discomfort. Kili made his way over to me looking concerned.

"Libby," he whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I...think...so," I said in between deep breaths.

I'm just regretting all the times I blew off gym class!

Gandalf started running again and I couldn't hold back my groan. Kili took my hand and ran with me to another rock. He made sure I didn't fall too far behind.

I leaned back against the stone, my chest was in serious pain. There was a sniffling sound from above us.

I looked up at Kili with wide eyes and stopped my breathing altogether. He squeezed my arm, but was watching Thorin. Thorin nodded. Kili pushed me into Fili then pulled out an arrow to prepare his bow. From under Fili's arms, I saw Kili step out quickly to send an arrow into the beast above us. It let out a squeal and tumbled down to us. The dwarves promptly took care of the warg and its rider, but not without making a lot of noise. We heard the howls from the other wargs.

"Move," said Gandalf. "Run!"

We ran through the tall grass; the wargs were closing in around us, herding us. I pulled out my sword, but my hands were shaking too much to actually do anything. I stood back-to-back with Bilbo, who was shaking as well.

"There's more coming!" I heard Kili yell.

"Kili, shoot them!" Thorin shouted back.

"We're surrounded!" said Fili.

I didn't think there was any hope for us. Even Kili and Fili were scared. We were done for!

"Where is Gandalf?" asked Kili, his voice retrieving me from my gloomy thoughts.

"He has abandoned us!" Dwalin said, angrily.

Something didn't make sense; it wasn't like Gandalf to just leave us in trouble.

"Hold your ground," commanded Thorin.

We are dead! We are so dead!

"This way, you fools!" came Gandalf's voice.

My heart soared as I turned to see him standing by a rock. This rock had a crack in it, making it perfect to slide into. Bilbo and the dwarves slid into the cave, but I hesitated.

A warg came out of nowhere and lunged at me. I screamed, but Thorin killed it with one swing of his sword.

"What are you waiting for?" he growled. "Get in!"

"No!" I cried desperately. I watched the wargs get closer and closer to Kili as he tried to shoot them all. "Not without Kili."

Thorin glared at me before yelling, "Kili, run!"

Then he picked me up like I weighed nothing -which was far from the truth- and threw me into the cave. Thankfully, the others caught me as I tumbled down. After a moment Kili and Thorin slid down to meet us.

"Kili!" I cried, throwing my arms around him. I pulled him off to the side and kissed his rough cheek over and over. I was so relieved that we were both alive, I forgot to by shy or embarrassed.

He pulled away, smirking. Then I remembered, my face hot as I began to push away. He just laughed and pulled me back into his embrace.

The company stood in silence until we heard horns sounding and horses galloping above us. An orc corpse rolled down into our cave and I buried my face in Kili's chest. Those things were scary! Once we were sure it was an orc corpse and not still alive, Thorin reached down and yanked out the arrow that had killed it.

"Elves," he snarled after examining the arrow. He threw it on the ground with disgust.

"There is a pathway over here," said Dwalin. "I cannot see where it leads. Do we follow it or not?"

"Follow it, of course!" replied Bofur and the others mumbled their agreement.

"I think that would be wise," Gandalf winked at me as Kili pulled me along.

The path was between two rocky cliffs and it became very narrow at one point. It wasn't a problem for Bilbo or I, but for the wide dwarves it was more difficult. Kili kept a firm grip on my hand the whole time. Although, I wasn't really sure where he expected me to go. I was wedged between two cliffs one way and two dwarfs the other way.

After a while, the pathway ended, leaving us on a cliff overlooking one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.

It was a perfect city, built into the side of the mountains. It was surrounded by flowing waterfalls and luscious, green plants. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It was so perfect that it didn't look real. From what I had read in both Tolkien's and Bilbo's books, this could only be one place.

Gandalf spoke first. "The Valley of Imraldis. In the common tongue, it is know by another name."

"Rivendell," Bilbo and I said at the same time. I looked over at him to see his eyes filled with wonder and awe.

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea," continued Gandalf.

"So, this was your plan all along," Thorin accused. "To seek refuge with our enemy."

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

"Stay back from the edge, Libby," said Kili quietly, pulling me closer to him.

I hadn't even realized I was walking forwards. It was like the city was magnetically drawing me to it.

"It's just so beautiful," I said.

"Eh, it's okay," said Fili from next to us. "I've seen better."

I gave him a look.

Kili wrapped his arms around me, making my heart flutter. I caught Bilbo's eye; he was grinning at me. I tilted my head up at Kili, who was talking away to Fili now. It was as if he didn't even realize he was holding me close. I smiled and leaned back against him. My feet were aching from all the running we did and I was starving. I didn't feel like walking anymore, so I was determined to enjoy this restful moment before we had to start walking once again.


Thanks for reading this chapter! Endless amounts of thanks to all who have favorited, followed, and reviewed. I promise there will be some really exciting things coming up in the next chapter. I am going to try and get it up very soon. Please review, follow, and favorite if you would like to and get ready for the next super exciting chapter!

~Fantasydreamer44