I'd decided when I was very little that I wanted to grow up to be a Paleontologist, I had this fascination with dinosaurs you see. Ever since Mum let me watch Jurassic Park I was sold, dinosaurs were the best thing since sliced bread in my opinion; not that anyone took any notice of the opinions of a 5 year old. I was convinced once by my grandad that if I sat on a rock that we dug up in the garden for long enough then it would hatch into a baby dinosaur, it was egg shaped after all. I know now that it was never going to hatch, but if you tried to tell little 5 year old me that it wouldn't hatch...You'd be met with a very adamant 'Yes it will, just you watch!'

I guess I'd always been a bit stubborn about things, which was why I refused to believe that we were going to die in that cave. There was no way I was going to end up in that gremlins belly.

"Bilbo -"

"- Rory."

I turned to where the creature was slinking through the rocks, its wide, gaunt eyes boring into mine. "We'll eats the fat one first, talks too much." Come again?

"Fat one?" I lowered my dagger in disgust as I spun to face it, "Who are you calling fat?" I circled back towards Bilbo as the creature sat there laughing. "At least I don't look like skeletor!" I huffed out, we'd managed to slowly inch our way over to a possible escape route, it hadn't noticed yet, not with Bilbo distracting it with a game of riddles.

It was safe to say that I didn't partake, I was awful at jokes...I usually ended up saying it wrong and telling the punchline too soon. So I figured I'd be equally as useless at riddles.

There was no other way out that we could see apart from the one about 3 foot away, my hands were sweating and I could feel my heart starting to creep its way up my throat. I wondered why it was me, why I had to have fallen down here with poor Bilbo. Neither of us could defend ourselves or use a sword.

'I don't even have a sword, just Fili's dagger' I thought bitterly, feeling my way backwards with my feet. 'Fili would know what to do if he was here…'

"Yes but he's not here Rory," Muttering I gripped the dagger tighter and nudged Biblo with my elbow giving him the signal. "You ready for it?"

He nodded towards the floor and let out a low, long whistle.

My heart stopped as we stooped to the floor and plucked as many pebbles and rocks we could carry before running towards the exit, pummelling the creature with them as we went. We ran through the stone passages with no direction as to where we were headed, both of us holding onto the other for dear life.

"Rory, here!" Bilbo called breathlessly as he grabbed my arm tighter, pulling me down a smaller, narrower path. "Down here, he won't see us!" He rushed as he began to squeeze through an opening in the wall. My eyes scanned the paths frantically, expecting to see the creature come barrelling towards us any second. "Bilbo hurry!" I cried feeling sick with worry, just as he fell through the passage his brass buttons clattering on the floor.

I shimmied sideways sucking in my breath in a desperate attempt to shrink myself to fit. "I won't fit," I gasped, trying with everything I had to calm down and just think for a second. I'm going to die, oh god what am I doing? I wiggled the other way with the same result.

"Bilbo I can't fit." The creature was getting closer now, his angry wails echoing from one cavern to another as I palmed my eyes.

"Yes, you can! You must," I looked around frantically as I removed myself from Bilbo's vice like grip, the sound of my heart drowning out his words. "Miss Rory if I escape without you, Mr Dwalin won't -"

Move Rory, move now.

"I'll meet you outside." I called behind me without looking back as I sprinted towards the tunnel to the left. If I could just make it to a wider tunnel then surely that would lead outside, away from that foul creature. My chest began to tighten and ache with all the running, my body beginning to cramp now that the adrenaline was wearing off. My ribs and leg had began to throb once more, you've survived this long just a little bit more.

I took winding route after route, helplessly trying to find a way out or even something that looked vaguely different. Just something to show I was going in the right direction, anything.

I began to wonder again why I was here, why after all these years Mum decided to go to that old Oak tree, why I was on this journey. I wasn't anything special, I wasn't strong like my father or ruthless like my mother, I was just normal and so afraid.

I leant against a wall, trying desperately to catch my breath as I let out a choked sob.

I was going to die without saying everything I wanted to say to the people who meant the most.

"You're being pathetic again," I whispered as I remembered how helpless and stupid I felt after the warg attack. I was sick of feeling like I was a burden, like I had to be helped and saved by someone who knew more.

With shaking hands I stood up and began to walk with a force in my step and determination in my heart. I was going to make it back to the company, and I wasn't going to be the damsel in distress anymore.

It seemed as if something had switched, for suddenly there was a blinding light to the left - a way out I sighed. Sprinting forwards, I clutched the dagger as I pushed forwards and into the dwindling light.

It was all but dark, the sun setting behind the horizon quickly. I padded forwards in the darkness from tree to tree, slowly stumbling into a run downhill towards a blazing fire in the distance. "What the hell..." There were dogs, giant white dogs like the ones that had ambushed us after the trolls.

"Wargs," I realized, as the company came into view. They were hanging on for their lives, literally, on a fallen tree.

I heard my father yell for Thorin who was being tossed around like a doll by the largest of the wargs. I had gone unnoticed so far and I intended to keep it that way, if I could just stay under the radar then I could be of use.

I snuck around the side of the pale warg, atop her was the most terrifyingly large creature I'd ever seen. Azog, I thought bitterly remembering the stories Fili and Balin had told me. I leant my back against the tree I was hiding behind, I could do this. This was the creature that was hunting my family and friends, the creature that had vowed to murder my best friends and their king.

As I peeked from around the side of the tree everything seemed to go into slow motion.

Thorin was dying. Bilbo was running like a fool straight for the defiler, the dwarves were losing hope. I let out a breath and began to run, tackling the white warg with my dagger I attempted to aim for the neck. I'll never forget the way I felt the blade sink into the beast's flesh, or the warm spill of its blood over my arms as I pulled away.

I was in shock, I'd just stabbed something and it was bleeding profusely. I began to run towards Thorin in my panicked state, praying to something that he was still alive, my hands fumbled around his matted hair on his neck as I began to search for a pulse. "Come on please," I whispered as I readjusted my fingers and the company sprung into action behind us, the clattering of swords making it difficult to concentrate.

There, a pulse. It was faint, but it was there nonetheless.

"Rory look out!" I heard Bofur cry from somewhere to the right just as I was scooped up by the largest creature I'd ever seen. An eagle held me securely in its talons as a group of them began to fly away from the cliff.

I pinched its foot, "No! You have to take me back, my friends-" It swooped lower towards the other eagles, showing me that the company had been rescued by them just as I had been.

We were alive.

It's been so long, and I haven't written in years, and this chapter was SO unbelievably difficult to write you have no idea. Which is why it sucks, but I have to put it out there so I can move on with the rest of the story. Action has never been my forte, so I guess we'll just have to move on.

How have you all been anyway? I've become a scrub nurse, got engaged, and have become a first time home owner in the time I've been away. Please let me know how you all are and if you're still even reading, I do so want to get back into Rory and her budding relationship with our charming Fili! :)