"How ya doing, Hobbit Man?" asked Rachael as she sat down next to Bilbo. He looked highly uncomfortable sitting on his own at the edge of the camp. Rachael was actually surprised that no one was talking to him. He had, after all, saved them all back there. She chuckled as Bilbo gave her a confused look. "How are you, Bilbo?" She reworded.
"I'm okay, I think." He replied.
"I'm a little confused why no one is talking to ya, you know." said Rachael, turning so she was facing him. "I mean, I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't for you, we'd all be troll food by now."
"Oh, no…that's…that's not…"
"No, I mean it. You distracted those trolls long enough for Gandalf to come and help. That was smart thinking, Baggins. No one else thought of that." She smiled. "Have any of the others said anything to you about it?"
"No, they uh…no." Rachael frowned at Bilbo's dejected tone. It was obvious that he was still not being accepted into the group of Dwarves, or even felt remotely comfortable around them. She'd spent so much time around Fili and Kili (among others) that she figured that Bilbo was fitting in as well. Obviously she'd thought wrong. Even so, it wasn't very nice of them to not even thank Bilbo for saving them.
"Well, they should." She replied. "You are a key member of this company, Bilbo. Even if they don't know it yet, they will soon, trust me. Just…try to hang on in there until then, yeah?"
As Bilbo nodded, thankful that at least one person in the company seemed to enjoy his company, the two of them heard a shout come from the other end of the camp. "Something's coming!"
Eyes widening at Thorin's shout, Rachael leapt up and stood slightly in front of Bilbo. She knew she could fight better than he could (even if it was only by a little bit), and he was her friend. She would protect him if she could. She noticed Fili and Kili jog over to stand next to her.
"Stay together!" yelled Gandalf. "Hurry now. Arm yourselves!" Seeing Bilbo hold out a small sword (which was actually the perfect size for him), Rachael held her new bow in one hand, an arrow in the other.
"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" she heard a voice yell in the distance, slowly getting louder as it came closer. She cocked her head to the side in confusion as a strange looking man (with bird poo on his head to top his look off) riding a rabbit drawn sled came to a halt in front of them all.
"Radagast!" cried Gandalf, in relief. "Radagast the Brown. Ah! What on earth are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you, Gandalf." Replied the other wizard. "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."
"Yes?"
Lowering her bow and returning the arrow back to the quiver, Rachael watched in wonder as the brown wizard opened and closed his mouth with a confused expression. "Oh, just give me a minute." He murmured. "Um, oh…I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was…it was there, on the tip of my tongue." He paused for a second, holding his hand up to his mouth. "Oh, it's not a thought at all; it's a silly old…" Rachael watched in disgust as he pulled a stick insect out of his mouth. "…stick insect!"
"Of all the things I was expecting…it wasn't that." said Rachael as the two wizards wandered off to talk in private. "I mean…he has to be the strangest person I have ever met."
"Mmm." Agreed Kili, relaxing now that the risk of a threat was over.
"Hey." Said Rachael, a thought suddenly occurring to her. "What month is it here?"
"About the middle of May." Replied Fili. "Why?"
"Just wondering. That means it's almost my birthday, though. Yay!" she grinned.
"Really?" asked Kili. "How old will you be?"
"Kili, you should know that you never ask a woman her age." She smirked. "But since I don't really care, I'll be nineteen."
Kili's mouth fell open. "Nine…nineteen? You'll be nineteen?"
"Yeah? Why do you look so shocked?"
"We hadn't realised you were so young, lass." Said Dwalin. Turning around, Rachael hadn't realised that the others had gathered around them, listening to their conversation.
"Nineteen isn't that young." She defended. "I mean, I'm an adult and everything and fully capable of looking after myself, just so you know."
"That may be true from where you're from, lass, but in our society, nineteen is barely anything."
"What do you mean?"
"Dwarves can live up to two hundred and fifty years old." Explained Fili, gently. "Sometimes longer."
"Nineteen is incredibly young." Added Balin. "Gloin's son Gimli was considered too young to accompany us on this quest, and he's sixty two years old."
"And…and that's young?" Honestly, Rachael was surprised that anything shocked her anymore, but seriously…this was…insane.
"Aye. There was even a lot of discussion to let Fili and Kili come along."
"Fili and K…wait a minute. So…how old are you two?" Unaware that the rest of the company had retreated to allow Rachael to get her head around everything, Rachael stared at the two brothers expectedly.
"I'm eighty two." Said Fili, after a minute. "And Kili is seventy seven."
Rachael nodded. Oh my God, I'm crushing on an old man. "You're so…old."
"I think it's more like, you're so young." Smirked Fili, walking over to where Thorin was standing.
Rachael didn't know what to say. How did you respond to finding out that you were crushing on someone that was seventy seven years old? "So…how can you look like that when you're seventy seven?"
"Look like what?"
"Like…that." she gestured to his face. She sighed at Kili's confused look. "God, this is embarrassing. You're very…I mean you… I think that you're…quite good looking." She cringed and kicked at a stone with her boot. "And it's very hard to believe that you're seventy seven when you look…like you do."
Kili grinned as Rachael looked awkwardly at the ground. He himself was blushing at her compliment but he liked the way she stuttered as she tripped over her words. No one had ever complimented his appearance before (unless you counted his mother, which he didn't), definitely no one as pretty as Rachael. "You think I'm good looking?" he teased.
"Yes, okay! Now shut up." There was no use denying it; she'd already told him anyway, and she'd gathered from what he'd told her earlier about people mocking his appearance that he didn't hear things like that often.
"Okay, okay! But can I say something?" Rachael nodded, finally looking up. "Seventy seven really is quite young for a dwarf. I'm barely an adult; you shouldn't focus so much on it."
"Yeah, yeah, I know that now. But it's hard to take in. If you were in my world, you'd probably be hobbling around with a walking stick and a head full of white hair like dear old Balin's." she joked. Kili chuckled. "But yeah, you're a young, handsome Dwarf, yadda yadda yadda. Point taken. And I just told you I found you handsome…God…I'm just going to walk over here now…"
"Hey!" Gently grabbing a hold of her wrist, Kili pulled her around so she was facing him again. "You, uh…shouldn't be embarrassed by what you said…" He cleared his throat. "It's…it's nice to hear things like that. It's just hard to believe someone like you would say that."
"Someone like me?" Rachael asked, smiling slightly.
"Yeah…you know, beautiful. You're …beautiful. To me…" In that moment, Rachael understood how Kili was considered young. He had a look on his face that made him look incredibly shy and was staring at her with wide eyes like he couldn't believe he'd just told her that.
"Ah, well…thank you." This is awkward… About to say something else, and trying very hard to stop a huge grin appearing, Rachael was cut off by a loud howl in the distance.
"Was that a wolf?" asked Bilbo. "Are there…are there wolves out there?"
"Wolves?" replied Bofur, lowly. "No, that is not a wolf."
Holding her bow up again, and retrieving an arrow, Rachael watched in horror as what could only be described as a huge, ugly, snarling wolf-thing leapt through the trees and into the midst of the company. Breathing deeply, she watched as Thorin struck the, what she would later learn was a Warg, in the head with a new sword. As soon as it collapsed to the floor, Rachael turned to see another Warg approaching them from behind, backing up slightly as Kili hurried to shoot it in the head with an arrow.
"Warg scouts!" exclaimed Thorin, darkly. "Which means an Orc pack is not far behind." Rachael shuddered at the word 'Orc', dark memories of her first encounter entering her mind. No, no! Now is not the time! You need to focus!
"Orc pack?" squeaked Bilbo, looking wildly around.
"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" demanded Gandalf, towering over Thorin who was glaring up at the wizard.
"No one!"
"Who did you tell?!"
"No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?"
"You are being hunted." Rachael shivered at those words.
"We have to get out of here." Urged Dwalin.
"We can't." said Ori. "We have no ponies; they bolted." Looks like the ponies had the right idea…thought Rachael.
"I'll draw them off." Said Radagast, walking over to his sleigh.
"These are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you." replied Gandalf, giving the brown wizard a worried look.
"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try." Smirked Radagast.
Rachael was very glad she was a decent runner. She'd done cross country at school for a couple of years, although she'd never thought it would come in handy. Right now, she was very glad that it did. The company were currently running blindly through an open field as Radagast led the Wargs and Orcs on a wild goose chase. Rachael had to remind herself that she was in a company of experienced fighters- the Orcs would get nowhere near her. And if worst came to worst, she had her bow.
"Come and get me! Ha ha!" they heard Radagast cry.
"He is mental!" she exclaimed, making sure she didn't trip on the uneven ground.
"Come on!" urged Gandalf, causing them to break into another sprint. Their plan so far seemed to be that they were to run from rock to rock, hiding behind them until the Orcs had gone. Rachael had found herself running between Fili and Kili, not that she was complaining. "Stay together."
"Move!" said Thorin, as they all hid behind a large boulder. Rachael's eyes widened as Ori started to run past the safety of the rock, only to be pulled back by Thorin. "Ori, no!"
"Come on, quick!"
"Where are you leading us?" asked Thorin, staring up at the wizard with a suspicious look. Gandalf didn't answer as they stopped behind yet another rock. Rachael gasped as she pressed herself against the rock face, noticing along with the others that a lone Warg and Orc had parted from the pack and was currently standing on top of the rock they were hiding behind. She looked to her side at Kili as he moved forward, arrow loaded as he drew his bow back to shoot the Warg above.
Rachael had to look away as the Dwarves leapt forward to kill the Orc and Warg as they fell to the ground in front of her, Kili's arrow not killing them completely. She wasn't used to seeing this much blood and gore (not in real life at least; films didn't really count at this point), and it was like a big shock to her system. But she told herself that she would freak out about it later; if she did it now, she would only become a burden on the others and Thorin had made it clear that she was not going to be that if she wanted to be in the company.
Continuing on with their streak of bad luck, the company cringed as the Orc roared and screamed as they were killing it, no doubt drawing every enemy in the area towards them.
"Move! Run!" yelled Gandalf, causing Rachael to break out into a sprint.
"Oh my God…" she muttered, coming to a stop and pulling out an arrow. They were now surrounded by Wargs, all bearing their teeth at them, no doubt intent on ripping them all to shreds.
"There's more coming!" shouted Kili.
"Kili! Shoot them!"? cried back Thorin, stabbing a warg in the head.
"We're surrounded!" Yelled Fili.
"Where is Gandalf?"
"He has abandoned us!"
"Hold your ground!"
Rachael tried to control her breathing, notching an arrow and taking aim at a Warg that was becoming far too close for comfort. Trying not to panic when she missed, she loaded another arrow, taking aim again. Trying to remember everything that Kili had told her not an hour ago, taking a deep breath, she released an arrow again, smiling when it hit her target. Unfortunately, it wasn't a fatal shot, only hitting the Warg in its shoulder. Although it now limped, it was extremely angry and even more intent on killing her.
"This way, you fools!" cried Gandalf.
"Come on, move! Quickly, all of you! Go, go, go!"
"Rachael!" yelled Kili, seeing her back up away from a Warg that was quickly advancing on her. "Rachael, come on!" He could see an arrow sticking out from the Wargs shoulder, and although he took a second to be impressed (she'd only had one brief lesson and had managed to hit a moving target already), he quickly shot an arrow, hitting it directly in the head. "For Mahal's sake Rachael, run!" The rest of the company were currently running towards a large crack in the rock that Gandalf had found while Kili remained behind waiting for Rachael to catch up.
Hearing Kili's shouts, Rachael turned around and ran as fast as she could towards him, running slightly in front of him towards the crack in the rock. Seeing Thorin standing just at the entrance of the crack, she paused slightly before jumping down, wincing slightly as she fell on her bum at the bottom.
Breathing heavily as she stood up, she sighed in relief as she saw Kili (and Thorin, of course) slide into the hole. Leaning against the wall- partly in exhaustion, partly in relief- Rachael frowned as she heard a horn sound from above. Before she could question aloud what it was, the body of an Orc tumbled down landing in front of where she was standing. Staring down at it, her hand absentmindedly scratched her neck. This one was no less hideous than the ones she had run into, and she found herself backing up so she was nearer to Fili.
She watched as Thorin knelt down beside the Orc, pulling out the arrow that was embedded in the Orcs' chest. "Elves." He spat, saying the word like it was poison. Rachael tilted her head in confusion. The Elves must have done something bad to warrant such hatred from their leader, but then again, she didn't doubt that Thorin was one of those people that could hold a grudge for the stupidest thing. She decided to ignore her curiosity for now. She could just ask Kili later.
"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?" asked Dwalin, casting a worried look over at Rachael. Thorin was right when he said that Dwalin felt responsible for her; although he'd never admit it, she'd grown on him over the few days they'd travelled to Bilbo's together and he'd been worried at what he reaction was going to be when the Orcs had come. He was proud of how she was handling everything.
"Follow it, of course!" replied Bofur, optimistically.
"I think that would be wise." Said Gandalf, walking forward to lead the way. The path they were following was very narrow as Rachael tried to squeeze through. She was amazed that the Dwarves could fit (Bombur especially), but she was actually hoping that there would be a warm bed at the end of it. It was obvious that Gandalf knew where they were going, and if Gandalf was knowingly leading them somewhere, that 'somewhere' must be somewhere safe.
Finally coming the end of the path, the company found themselves standing on top of a cliff overlooking a valley below that was one of the most beautiful places Rachael had ever seen.
"The Valley of Imraldis." Said Gandalf. "In the Common Tongue, it's known by another name."
"Rivendell." Breathed Bilbo.
Okay, I'm not going to lie, this chapter was pretty hard to write and I'm not keen. I'm not sure why, but hey ho. I hope this is okay. We've got some Kili/Rachael fluff in it and some Bilbo/Rachael bonding time! Yay!
Thanks to everyone who's taking their time to read this! Please remember to favourite and review!
