Ever since getting stabbed by that stupid goblin's sword, Mei had been unconscious. She had heard voices around her a few hours ago-or had that been a few days ago? Her sense of time had been completely warped, and she didn't quite remember where she was anymore. She just lay there, in a state between life and death.

Every once in awhile, she'd be "alive" enough to experience searing pains, presumably from the wound on her stomach. But every time this happened, the pain has lessened, getting less apparent each time. Was she being cured? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about anything now.

And then, after what seemed like eons of darkness and pain and more darkness, Mei felt her senses awaken. Her body felt like it had that night she had landed in the grassy meadow in Hobbiton. She could feel the weight of her eyelids against her eyes, the tickle of grass on her arms. Mei even felt the dull throbbing of her wound, as well as a sore prickle where the goblin's sword had grazed her shoulder and hip. But she was alive, and that alone was enough to make her heart sing for joy.

She opened her eyes, slowly, allowing them to adjust to the bright sunshine. How many day was I unconscious? she wondered, trying to sit up. But she quickly lay back down as soon as her stomach wound loudly protested. Wincing a little, Mei looked at her surroundings. She was in the same spot where she had been stabbed-behind the boulder near the camp. The grass around her had been imprinted with footprints, informing her that people had been walking around near her.

But what caught her attention was the dark-haired dwarf leaning up against the boulder and dozing. He was snoring softly, his breath coming out in soft plumes.

"Kili!" she cried, overjoyed to see her friend. Her voice was slightly cracked, probably because she hadn't spoken in what seemed like forever, but Kili heard her nonetheless. His eyes flew open, and he grinned when he saw her.

"Mei! I'm so happy you're alright!" He scooted closer to her, and said with another smile, "I would hug you, but seeing as you're… er… on the mend, I'll spare you the pain."

Mei laughed, relieved to see that Kili's good spirits had endured. "Where is everyone?" Mei asked.

Kili hesitated slightly. "Oin, Gandalf, Bilbo and Fili are behind this boulder," he said at last, and nodded at the huge rock that loomed over them.

"I'm glad that they're alright," Mei sighed. "But what about the rest of the company? Thorin, Balin, Bofur… where are they?"

His face darkened.

"They're… alive, right?" Mei asked hopefully.

"Yes, they're all alright," Kili said, although there was a bitter edge to his voice.

"So…?" Mei prompted him. "Where are they?"

"They left," Kili said.

"Left?" Mei asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Thorin didn't think it was wise to dawdle here," Kili said, his voice laced with anger. "So he wanted to leave you behind. He thought that if we lingered here too long, the goblins would return."

Mei processed this for a moment, feelings of betrayal swirling through her mind.

Kili continued, "and so Oin, Gandalf, Bilbo, Fili and I all stayed behind to help you recover."

The two of them were silent for a moment.

"Thank you," Mei said at last, reaching out to touch Kili's hand.

"That's what friends are for, right?" Kili said, plastering what looked like a fake smile on his face. Mei could tell that refusing to follow his uncle's orders had taken it's toll on the young dwarf-prince. It must have been hard, she figured, to disobey someone you had trusted and known all your life.

Their silence-this time a more comfortable one-was broken by approaching footsteps. From around the boulder came Bilbo and Fili, who must have heard the two of them talking.

"Mei!" Bilbo cried. "You're alright!"

"We were ever so worried!" Fili added, as both of them came and sat down next to Kili.

Oin and Gandalf came to join the three of them, huge smiles on their faces.

"It's good to see that you're alright," Gandalf said, chuckling.

"I tried my best to heal your wound," Oin said. "But you'll likely carry it's scar for the rest of your life."

"It's a good thing you had Kili here!" Fili said, pounding his brother on the back. "He hardly left your side!"

Kili blushed a little, but everyone else laughed.

"Kili told me about what happened," Mei began, after the laughs had subsided. "About Thorin."

The rest of them stiffened slightly.

"And I'd just like to say, that I really appreciate what all of you have done for me. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you." She smiled at all of them. "Like, seriously. You guys are the best."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Kili asked Mei, for what had to be the one millionth time.

"I'll be fine," she answered, giving him a reassuring smile.

The six of them (Gandalf, Fili, Oin, Bilbo, Kili and Mei) were setting out after the rest of the company. It had only been about three hours after Mei had awoken, and even though her wound still hurt, she had practiced walking with a wooden walking stick in laps around the camp (with Kili's help, of course) and was pretty confident in her ability to walk, and even run now. Besides, she was eager to start traveling again. They were at least a day and a half behind the rest of the company, and she didn't want to imagine what sorts of danger they may have encountered since then.

~ From Thorin's POV, one day earlier ~

It had been at least five hours since they had left his foolish nephews, the wizard, Oin, Bilbo and the girl behind. The company (or what was left of it, at least) kept throwing him looks that consisted of equal parts anger and admiration.

Thorin still felt guilty about what he had done. Leaving the girl behind like that? He just hoped that Oin would be able to cure her. He also hoped that the ones who had stayed behind would be able to catch up with them-being six members short of a full company would allot for some hardships along the way.

The remaining members of his company were whispering amongst themselves, probably forming an explanation as to how and why the goblins had ambushed them so far from the Misty Mountains. Thorin had been wondering about this as well, but he forced himself to push all of his rambling thoughts and feelings of regret and guilt aside so that he could focus.

Since Gandalf had left them to stay behind with the girl, Thorin wasn't exactly sure how to reach the safe path Gandalf had mentioned. According to the wizard, the path was far away from the goblin tunnels in the Misty Mountains, and if they reached it, they would be safe from their attacks. But where was the path?

Thorin had heard Gandalf say that the path was about a day's travel from where they had set up camp-where they had been ambushed. But six hours into said travel, and there was no sign of the thick forest clearing out.

Then, Thorin heard leaves crunching not far ahead of them. He quickly held up a hand to halt his company from walking any further. With a cautious hand on his sword hilt, he tried to listen to the sound more closely. It seemed as if a large group was heading their way, and they weren't making any effort to disguise their approach. As the leaf-crunching sounds grew louder, Thorin screamed, "run!"

But they hardly made it half a mile before the first goblins of the pack broke out from the trees and started racing towards them.

"More goblins?" Balin cried, pulling out his sword. "How?"

"Never mind that," Dwalin told his brother. "How are we going to kill 'em all? There must be at least a hundred!"

Thorin surveyed the oncoming army with a sense of impending dread. There was, in fact, at least a hundred goblins like Dwalin had said. There was no way that their company of nine could defeat an army like that.

"Thorin!" Balin yelled. "What do we do?"

"Keep running!" Thorin commanded. "Try to find the safe path. Maybe we can outrun them!" He knew it was unlikely that nine dwarves could outrun an entire pack of extremely fast goblins, but it was their only hope.

The company dashed blindly through the forest, desperately trying to seek out any traces of a path nearby.

"In there!" Dwalin cried, pointing his axe at a nearby cave.

"Mei warned us not to go into any caves!" Bofur exclaimed. "She said that if we did, the goblin king would capture us!"

Thorin's mind raced. Was it better to have a high likelihood of dying immediately at the hands of the goblin army chasing them, or an even higher likelihood of dying in a prolonged period of time at the hands of the goblin king? Finally, he made his decision.

"Into the caves!" he cried.

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