Chapter 25: Into the Fire

I have a new summary. What do you think? Better, or worse? :) I got a bit stuck with this chapter, not sure why, but I did :/

With that she withdrew her blade and pushed past the creature, sprinting down the trail and around the corner after the dwarves without looking back.

Behind her she heard the curses and wailing screams of 'Baggins!', and chokes of 'Gollum! Gollum!' but she no longer had mind for the creature: catching up with the company was her goal.

Bella ran and ran as fast as could, leaping over rocks and stumbling on uneven ground. Thankfully the company was still close enough to be in sight, and even when they entered the trees she was near enough that she could determine their heading.

It had stopped raining while they were in the caves and the sun had risen, but the ground was still wet and Bella more than once lost her balance and acquired more than enough mud to make up for what a dunk in a lake had rid her of. She didn't slow down, eager to be as far away from those dangerous mountains and the horrid creatures that lived in them as possible.

It took some time to reach the others and she only did so in the end when the dwarves had halted. She stopped at the edge of the clearing they were gathered in and did her best to catch her breath, knowing that she was still invisible to those in front of her, but not wanting to appear to them in such a state as she was at present: she had very little dignity left, but it would be nice to keep whatever she could. She sheathed her sword and took Bofur's hat from her head, pushed her hair from her face and straightened her clothes, doing up what buttons had remained intact on her waistcoat. She sighed. If her father saw her now...wet, muddy, bruised and bleeding from scratched knees and forearms...Just hold your head high, that's all you can do for yourself at present.

She took a deep breath and was just about to slip off the ring and step out from behind the tree she leant against when she heard her name being spoken.

"Where's Bilbo?"

Her ears pricked. Fili, of that she was sure. She could imagine he and his brother looking about with panic when they realised she was not in sight. Evidently whatever had happened in the caves had been enough of a confusion that her absence had not been noticed, for soon the clearing was filled with mutters and exclamations.

"Bilbo?" Oh, it was good to hear Gandalf's voice after so many weeks, she had missed the old man.

"Where is our hobbit?" The wizard all but roared, his concern for her bringing anger to his words when no one gave an immediate answer.

Bella felt a pang of guilt that she caused them to worry and decided it was high time to reveal herself with a 'It's okay, I'm here.' But then a thought struck her. What would they do if they thought her gone? What would they say? It was a cruel, curious part of her mind that kept her from stepping out.

"H-He's...gone...I-" Nori. Not sounding all that good either. Bella glanced around the tree to take a look.

The dwarf in question had his hand to his head. Bella saw blood. She let her eyes drift over the others. Many of them had bruises already starting to bloom. Oin was halfway through wrapping a bleeding hand and Bombur was rubbing his jaw unhappily, checking that all of his teeth were still intact. They may have escaped but by the look of it they had also taken quite a beating.

"What do you know?" Gandalf rounded on the dwarf. "Speak!"

Nori winced. "I let him go...didn't think we- that you'd come for us. I thought we were going to be killed."

Gandalf slumped, looking older than he ever had.

This is silly, you shouldn't be doing this. Show yourself now. Go on-

"Can you blame me? I gave him a chance to get home, which is more than I thought we had."

"No. You did right." Gandalf shook his head. "I have failed him."

Alright, enough. End this-

"Let us hope that he has succeeded in doing something right for once and is alive and on his way home as we speak." Thorin had his back to her as he spoke and there was an edge to his voice which Bella couldn't identify. She didn't dare assume it could be concern for her welfare.

Gandalf had turned in the direction they had come, staring back at the mountains in contemplation. He looked about to go back. Thorin's words made him whip his head back around to face the leader. "What hope do you think he has alone? No, master dwarf, I do believe the likelihood of our burglar returning home is low indeed."

Thorin stayed silent, his shoulders tensing noticeably. Balin and the rest of the dwarves had their heads hung low, her fate seemingly certain in their minds. Bifur still looked around, his expression one of distress. He asked his cousin something in ancient dwarfish, but of course Bombur could not answer, and Gandalf had set his attentions on the mountains again.

"But-" Kili and Ori looked ready to cry, Bofur and Fili devastated, Nori the picture of guilt because to him he was partly responsible: though he could not have known at the time he had tried to help her, if he hadn't she would most probably have been with them now. Oh no, look now what you have done! Move now. Move move move-

"He knew what he was in for when he signed the contract. It is a choice we must respect." Thorin shook his head slowly. "Our own chances of returning home have become slimmer also, Gandalf. Before there were very few people alive who knew of our plans to retake Erebor."

Erebor. Home? Bella had not really thought of Erebor as home to the dwarves before. It had been their home at some point of course, it had been said so on the night she was first told of the quest. But then since she had rarely considered it such, for what she had been told of their lost land was mostly about the riches that lay there.

Dwarves liked gold, she had always known that from her books. The one that had first really told her of Erebor had been Bofur, perhaps the dwarf in the company to have the least interest in precious things, but never-the-less he had told her about them. He had only been a child when he had lived in Erebor and the time his father had shown him the mines was one of his few memories of the place. She supposed it had been all he could tell her, but that and the fact that the older dwarves who could remember more hadn't told her anything meant that the gold and riches were all she had ever really heard about. It had been all too easy to forget and think of the quest as merely for the gold when there was no talk of the things that had actually made the place a home.

But...home. She supposed it was. There had to be more in it than the gold.

Bella thought of all she missed about her own home, the place that she belonged, and thought back to those terrible words she had spoken to Bofur in the cave about them having no such place. Well, that was the point of all this wasn't it? For somewhere to belong. Everyone deserved that. A home.

Bella had, not a day ago, dangling from that ledge back in the mountains, been angry at herself for throwing her life away for 'a blasted treasure hunt'. But this was different. Could she put down her life for this? Could she die for this?

Everyone deserves a place to belong. Her eyes ran over the dwarves, over Fili and Kili and Ori. They deserve a home.

Yes. Yes, she supposed she could.

She slipped off the ring and stepped out.

"...The map is lost. And worse yet likely now in goblin hands-"

"I am begging your pardon, Mr Oakenshield," She ignored the gasps and cries of 'Bilbo!' and 'Mr Baggins!', walking up to the leader who had spun round like a shot upon hearing her voice. She fished the map out of the pack she carried as she came to stand in front of him. "But it is not."

Bella offered the map to him, which he hesitated before taking, opening his mouth wordlessly as he stared at her in shock.

There was a moments silence, her sudden appearance taking a few seconds to sink in. Bella held her head high as they stared, hoping beyond hope that that wasn't mud on her nose she could see from the corner of her eye. Please let it not be-

"Bilbo Baggins!" Gandalf's booming voice was flooded with relief, joy, and no small amount of astonishment. He shook his head disbelievingly and sighed before he began to chuckle, most likely at the state of her. "Oh, my dear!"

Bella sent a half-glare at the wizard at that. My dear? Of all the things he could call her. No one seemed to find the wizard's words odd in their distraction though and she was quickly surrounded by Fili, Kili, Ori and Bofur. "Mr Bilbo!"

"By Aule, yer soaked!" Bofur exclaimed as he clapped her on the back. "Whatever happened to yer?"

"Took a little tumble off a ledge, is all." Was Bella's mumbled reply from between the others as she handed the miner back his hat.

All of the dwarves came over to pat her on the shoulder, all except Thorin, but she found she hardly cared about that. She didn't expect him to.

Ori gave a squeak of joy when it was brought to his knowledge that weeks worth of writing had not been lost, and she was just about to pass Balin his dagger when familiar howls cut through the air. The company froze.

"Aule, no..." Bella heard Dwalin breath from behind her.

Thorin met Gandalf's eyes. "Out of the frying pan..."

"And into the fire." The wizard finished. He glanced around at them all. "Run...RUN!"

Running, Bella thought to herself, was all she seemed to be doing of late. With a pack of wargs on her tail she could hardly stop, however.

The company made haste through the trees. Bella looked up at the sky as she jumped off another rock. The last light of day was fading, the shadows were becoming darker, night was approaching fast. The howls and growls grew nearer and nearer, they could not out run the beasts, not on foot.

"Quickly, quickly!" Gandalf urged her on despite knowing she could not possibly move faster. He was worried. They all were.

Closer. Too close. They sounded almost as if they were among them now. Bella didn't dare turn around to see for fear she'd trip.

Bofur was behind her, Dwalin to her left with Fili and Kili, Bombur-

"Ahh!" Bella gasped as a growl sounded right at her back. A warg leapt off the rock she was just passing, landing in front of her and turning. Bella skidded to a halt as it set eyes on her. Horrible black eyes. Giant sharp teeth-

She stumbled backwards as it charged, pulling out her sword and-

Bella watched, eyes wide, as it fell to the floor, her blade wedged in its forehead from where it had impaled itself with its own momentum. She looked up, breath coming shallow and quick and eyes darting about. More wargs had reached the company.

She stood in shock against a tree as Ori ran past to her left, taking down a snarling creature with Dwalin's war hammer as he gave a terrified cry. Thorin was to her right, a dead warg lying at his feet. His eyes widened as he glanced back in the direction they had come. Damn. That couldn't be good.

Bella surged back into action, trying to yank her sword from the dead warg's forehead. It didn't budge. Bella swore and felt no shame over doing so as she put all her strength into pulling at the blade.

"Let go." Bella dropped her hands from the sword as Thorin placed a foot on the warg's head and gave the blade a hard tug. It came free.

"Here!" The sword was shoved back into her hands. Some of the company were a way ahead, what they had found was bad. A sheer drop. They had nowhere to go.

"Up into the trees!" Gandalf cried. "Come on! All of you! Climb!"

They ran to where the others were swinging themselves up into the tall pines. Bifur threw a rock that hit a warg pursuing them before hauling himself up into the branches.

"They are coming!" Someone yelled, Bella was not in right mind to tell who. Dwalin pulled up Balin, Kili helped Fili, Nori was up a tree like a shot, Bofur close behind. Bella saw Bombur heave himself onto a branch and thanked the Valar that the wood was strong.

"Get up! Hurry!" Thorin lowered his hands for her to step onto. She did so in a second and he boosted her up. "Dori!"

"Right!" The mentioned dwarf on the branch above closed his grip on her forearms as she reached up, pulling her into the tree as if she weighed nothing.

Thorin jumped and hauled himself up as well and then all three of them were climbing upwards, Ori already somewhere above them.

Once they had reached a suitable height Bella glanced down. As many as twenty wargs were running about below, snarling and growling over the shouts of the dwarves.

Then they went silent. It took a few moments for Bella to realise why.

"Azog!" Thorin breathed in disbelief and pained misfortune as she set eyes on the pale orc. Bella felt fear wash over her at the sight of the terrifying creature, the creature that wanted to destroy the line of Durin, wanted to see Thorin dead.

It's skin was white, covered in scars, and one of its forearms was gone - the one Thorin had taken. Now in its place was a grotesque weapon, driven through the beast's flesh itself. Its eyes, its nose, teeth and ears, it was a creature of nightmares, and Bella knew if she lived through this encounter it would haunt her. There was nothing but hatred and ice cold malice emanating from the giant orc, the desire for blood and torture, pure murderous intent; it was strangling.

Once Bella would have doubted such evil could ever exist outside of books, now she wished she could still believe such.

Dud Duh Duuuuuuuuhhhhh! Thanks to the people who reviewed about how I should continue this, I am going to keep this as one long story. It will probably get to around 60 chapters in the end, but that's a long way off I know.

Next chapter will probably take it to the end of the film, and after that I'll go forth with the book and my own imagination. I will included bits from the book and whatever info I can gather as to what will be happening in the films, but of course this will be where things start to change and go differently. There will be bits from the book I will decide to leave out, and bits that aren't in the book that I will put in. I can promise there will be a dragon at the end. Apart from that though, I don't know.