Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC and any quotes from the movie do not belong to me.

Author Note: First off...I'm a terribly sorry this took nearly a year to update!

New Short Story in the works for my favorite Elf, Legolas; the first chapter has been posted. Please read and review! If the short story gets enough love, I may make it into a second project. I apologize this is a very short chapter! I promise I'll try to make it up in the next! Things have been pretty crazy with my job and my art business. Thank you all again for your support :)

Enjoy!

Chapter 14: The Storm

"Athaeben!" Phera called. The young falcon was a cheeky thing, he reminded her of a certain young dark haired dwarf prince. Athaeben at the moment was dropping cute little daisies in Phera's lap. At first she thought he was going to make a nest but then caught on that he wanted her to make a flower crown or in his case a necklace, so that he may soar through the sky without losing it. She shook her head in amusement as he brought back daisy after daisy. After she had finished the daisy chained necklace for the young falcon, Ernil made a fuss about having his own. After much protest from Athaeben, he finally agreed to gather more daisies for his new four legged companion.

The trek up the mountain had been peaceful. Some in the company might have scolded her for being so 'carefree' in such a tense time and place. It was a horrid defense mechanism to be ignorant and blissful. However, to Phera no matter how scary or difficult a path may be there will always be time to 'let go' of reality and dream.

"Just one more!" She instructed. Athaeben glided down from the treetops and landed gracefully on Phera's shoulder. She took the daisy from his beak and added to the newly completed crown. She examined her handywork making sure it was large enough for Ernil.

"There." she stated and placed the crown over the stallion's ears, brushing his mane, and gave him a firm pat. "Alright, that's enough break time...we have to catch up with the company."

Ernil huffed and hung his head low swinging it towards the narrowing path. Catching on Phera frowned...the young stallion would travel no further. The thin veil of peacefulness melted away, leaving her feeling vulnerable and quite honestly very, very afraid. As if feeling her uneasiness, the young falcon lightly grazed her cheek with it's mighty talon, signally her that he will still accompany her further.

"Thank you, Athaeben...now come on let's get further up and find a nice spot to wait for Gandalf." Giving Ernil a final pat on the back and her last ruby red apple, she said farewell to her new friend, and continued down the path towards the mountains.

It had been only a few minutes after they parted ways with the stallion when it started to rain. The wind and rain stung her aching body as she climbed higher and higher up the mountain's face. Giving a shriek of displeasure, Athaeben perched himself on Phera's shoulder, shook himself dry, only to get wet again. Phera giggled at her feathered friend.

"Oh stop being such a baby...I can see a small cave just up ahead." Phera took another careful step up the slippery uneven ground and hoisted herself up on the ledge. Having a great fear of heights, she willed herself not to look down. Well, even if she were tempted to look, there was no way she could see anything. The higher she climbed, the thicker the fog got. Phera clung to the mountainside and cautiously poked a walking stick in front of her, testing out the ground before she took a steady step forward. She knew this was going to slow her down, but rather safe, than sorry she thought.

She had never been one for the outdoors and hiking back home, so as she reached the final ledge to get to the small cave her legs were screaming at her and her arms felt like giant noodles. With a huff, Phera ducked into the cave, which was surprising not that deep, but good enough to shield them from the elements. Taking off her pack, she stretched her shoulders.

"There, get som-" A thunderous roar cut off Phera, she cupped her ears and ran over to the cave's entrance. The thunder sounded so close to her cave, a little piece of her heart sank into her stomach fearing it might have destroyed part of their path. To her worry it did not, however something more ominous had appeared as the fog started to clear from the heavy down pour.

The once foggy mountainside was now visible. Large jagged, inky black rocks glistened through the pouring rain and blinding flashes of lightning. With each eerie flash Phera swore the mountain moved.

"What the fuck is that?" She ventured further outside on the ledge, a large part of the mountain began to...move. It's large boulder of a head cracked and rolled as it picked up an adjacent rock and hurled it towards another...fucking...rock...giant. Phera watched in wonder and horror as the other rock giant fell in slow motion back into the side of the mountain, creating a gaping hole, and a devastating mudslide.

Cursing Phera cautiously moved further up the narrow path, her heart pounding in her ears. Phera's brain shouted at her to turn back, but she could not. The fear of losing the path pushed her to creep forward, praying the rock giant had not crushed all her hope of finding the company.

Although the thunder rang in her ears, Phera could make out a few shouts echoing through the mountains. "No, it can't be…"

"...No..." Through the pouring rain she saw them, the company smack dab in the middle of the battling giants. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw a part of the company being torn from the mountain on the rock giant's leg.

She yelled out to them, screaming her throat raw. However, the roar of giants and crumbling of rocks drowned her out. Throwing caution to the wind, Phera continued to make her way up the path towards the company. Her deep fear of heights completely forgotten.

Even though they were but tiny figurines in the distance, she did not want to give up hope of reaching them. Phera had made it to another bend in path that gave her a better view of the company. But, to her horror as she rounded the corner, Phera stood in complete shock. The dwarves that had been on the rock giant's leg had been crushed like roaches on the side of the mountain. Before she could call out to them, another stone giant fell before her blocking her view from the rest of the company and completely taking out what was left of the narrow path. She was now trapped and alone.

Forcing herself to move, Phera carefully made it back to the shallow cave. Cursing she kicked her pack and punched the uneven wall of the cave, leaving her knuckles bruised and bloody. Alarmed, Athaeben hopped over to the woman and began to peck and pull at her pants.

"What if they didn't make it?" She whispered, sinking to the ground. "Athaeben what am I supposed to do?" Phera held back ugly tears as she reached out and stroked the young falcon's feathered head. Shaking off her hand, Athaeben shreked and pecked at Phera's arm. "Ouch! Why did you do that?" The young falcon shook his head and suddenly flew out of the cave. "Wait!" Then she was alone, again.

Mistra Rose: Oh you better believe it! Lol

Kelly: I'm so sorry it took so long! Thank you!