Daisy couldn't describe the feelings that were rushing about in her mind at that precise moment. She'd watched as Thorin had been thrown aside as if he was a rag doll, and had cried out in horror when she'd seen an Orc draw his sword and place it at Thorin's neck. She couldn't loose him; not now.

'Master Bilbo!' Bofur shouted as Bilbo swept passed the branch Daisy was clinging too.

'Where is he going?' Dwalin voiced gruffly. 'He'll get himself killed,' There was a second of silence as the dwarves looked at each other.

'Well then.' Kili said, climbing his branch. 'Don't know about you but I've become rather fond of the little guy. ' Daisy held onto her branch tighter as the tree shook with the weight of the dwarves swinging onto the trunk.

'Would you look at that?' Balin said, his voice full of admiration. Daisy spun her head round to see Bilbo tackle the orc to the ground, and raise Sting above his head before plunging it into the stomach of the gruesome creature.

'Yeah! Go Bilbo!' Kili shouted gleefully. 'Ouch! Fili what was that for?'

'You forget one simple thing brother; all that stands between Bilbo and a terrible death by Azog and his warg is a little piece of metal that Balin calls a letter opener.' Kili's face quickly morphed into one of horror and without further ado the remaining dwarves charged down the tree, causing Daisy to duck so she missed being hit by their weapons.

'We'll be back!' Kili called as he went passed her. 'Hold on tight.'

As much as Daisy wanted to worry for her friends, she knew that panicking now would not help them or her in anyway. And as Kili pointed out; she needed to hold on tight.

The night air was becoming very cold indeed; despite the fact that around them the forest was burning from Gandalf's little spell.

'Master Gandalf! I don't think I can hold on any longer!' A voice cried and Daisy positioned herself to see Dori and Ori clinging onto Gandalf's staff for dear life. The wizard seemed to be struggling to hold them, and it was only a matter of time before they fell.

Cries of anger and pain reached Daisy's ears and she was torn between looking at the battle which had her hoping the dwarves and Bilbo were alright and the two dwarves and wizard who could fall to their deaths any second. She felt utterly useless.

Bilbo had been through just as much as her, perhaps even more, during their time in the caverns of the mountain and he was able to help fight. There was no excuse for her. She began to climb her branch, ignoring the pain from the several cuts she had obtained.

'Do not even think about joining them Daisy. You have nothing more than a little dagger to protect yourself with,' Gandalf called to her, seeing her actions. 'Instead come and help an old man out.'

'How can you be so calm?' Dori called angrily from below. 'We are hanging over a several thousand feet drop, about to fall and our friends are about to be slaughtered.'

Daisy was agreeing with Dori on this occasion. Gandalf seemed to calm given the current situation. All it would take is one slip of the staff then the three would be over the edge, or for a warg to get past the line of dwarves and attack them, or for every single one of them to meet a very sticky end at the hand of Azog-she just couldn't think straight.

There was something wet and sticky on her brow and she realised that her cut on her head had opened again. She'd managed to pull herself onto the trunk of the tree in time to see Fili narrowly avoid his head being severed from his body. She cringed, not wanting think what would have happened if he'd not ducked.

'I know what you're thinking!' Gandalf called again, his voice sounding a little strained and Daisy realised he was struggling to hold the dwarves' weight. 'Don't try and help them. You're skills do not lie on the battlefield, much like young Ori's,'

'Hey!'

'Master Gandalf leave the girl alone and help-' Daisy stared in horror as Dori lost his grip on the staff and he and Ori fell out of Daisy's line of sight.

'Gandalf!' Daisy cried, looking to the wizard, who was stretching.

'Well it's good to get rid of them. My back was really starting to play up.' He got up steadily before he saw the look on Daisy's face.

'G-Gandalf, they'-

'They are quite alright I can assure you. Look' Gandalf pointed to the horizon where Daisy saw what looked like an eagle with two figures on the back. 'However we will not be if we do not help the others. Are you capable of walking?'

'Y-yes. Where are the eagles taking them?' Daisy asked.

'I do not know. But we can assume they'll take us there too.'

'How did they get here?'

'Now is not the time for questions. First we must get to the others.' And with that Gandalf took hold of her arm and lead her to the edge of the trunk. Daisy stared in horror when she realised what the wizard was going to do. ' I'll hold you and you'll be perfectly safe.' Gandalf told her sensing her discomfort. Before Daisy could protest Gandalf had stepped off the branch and they were falling. Daisy would have screamed but they landed surprisingly gently on something feathery and she realised it was the back of an eagle.

Daisy looked down from the eagle's back and saw the battle that was taking place. The eagles had thrown several wargs to their deaths below, and rescued many of the dwarves in the process. She saw Bilbo being cornered by Azog and was going to voice this to Gandalf, but an eagle swooped in and picked up the hobbit.

Gandalf instructed the eagle to fly lower to see if any dwarves were astray, and Daisy held onto the wizard's robes for dear life.

'Can you see any of our company?' Gandalf called to Daisy. Daisy looked down in time to see a large eagle pick up an unconscious body and her breath hitched when she realised it was Thorin. How bad were his injuires? What if he was dying? She shook her head, this was not the time to think negative thoughts.

'I can't see any dwarves,' Daisy replied, tearing her eyes away from the spot where Thorin had been lifted from.

'And what about hobbits?'

'I saw Bilbo, an eagle took him.' Gandalf let out a sigh of relief.

'I think it's time we left this place,' Gandalf said darkly and the eagle changed direction and started to fly away from the Misty Mountains.

HHHHHH

The night morphed slowly into dawn as the eagles flew onwards. Daisy heard Fili cry out for his uncle, but he was not answered. Gandalf had taken to holding her very firmly so she would not fall, for which she was grateful, but this also meant that she could not see anything that was not in her line of sight. She'd tried to ask Gandalf where they were going but the wizard either hadn't heard or chosen not to answer so she'd given up.

Sat in silence with only sky and cloud to look at, Daisy's thoughts turned to Thorin. She knew that if Thorin, no when Thorin, had recovered that they would talk about what happened during the time they were separated in the mountains. She couldn't get the creature out of her head, she still felt as if it's eyes were seeking her out. Thorin would want to know, and even though Daisy knew he was only trying to help she knew it wouldn't be easy.

Her thoughts then turned to Bilbo. How had he escaped? She'd truly believed that he'd been killed. And what had he stolen from the creature? There were so many questions that needed to be answered, and Daisy felt that the company would be up well into the night discussing this.

'We have arrived.' Gandalf declared drawing Daisy from her thoughts. The eagles had begun circling lower around a large rock, and soon Gandalf was helping her slide of their eagle's back. Gandalf murmured something that Daisy could not understand to the eagle, who then flew off with its kin.

Before she'd even had the chance to turn to face the spot where Thorin was lying, she was embraced tightly by Fili, Kili and Ori.

'It's good to see you made it out alright,' Fili said with relief clear in his voice.

'Yeh, otherwise Uncle would have had our heads,' Kili joked and then remembered the current state of his uncle. Daisy's eyes went wide as she tried to get to Thorin's side, but the strong Durin heirs held her back.

'Let Gandalf do his work,' Fili told her, though she could hear the doubt in his voice. Please, please let him be alright she thought as Gandalf said something in a strange language as he ran a raised hand over Thorin's body. She looked to see Bilbo standing nervously near the edge of the rock, fiddling with the thread that once held his buttons. She was about to tell him to come to her but was interrupted as Gandalf let out a breath of relief.

'It's alright, they're both here.' Daisy whipped her head around to see Thorin sitting up, eyes scanning the dwarves. When they settled on her, he quickly tried to stand up and with a little help from Dwalin he managed to stand on his own two feet.

Before she could register what was happening Thorin's arms had lifted her into a tight embrace and he'd placed his lips over hers. Normally she wouldn't display such open affection, but right now she couldn't care less. She'd almost lost the one person who loved her as she'd never thought she could be loved, and she wasn't going to let him go.

There were several laughs among the dwarves, who even cleared their throats when Thorin continued to hug Daisy.

'I love you. Don't ever forget it,' Thorin whispered in her ear before he finally pulled away. Daisy felt a small blush creep up her cheeks when she looked around at the others, who all cast her knowing looks. All except Bilbo. He was currently backing further away from the group, and Daisy feared he was actually going to fall off the edge. Thorin followed her gaze with an icy glare, and for a moment Daisy feared what he would do to the hobbit, but he turned to wink at her before stepping forwards leaving Daisy shocked.

'You. Did I not say that you would be a burden, that you would not survive in the wild and that you have no place amongst us?' The whole company held their breath as Thorin delivered these harsh words to Bilbo, who looked as if he was facing Azog all over again. 'I've never been so wrong in all my life.'

There was a small silence as Thorin's words sank into the rest of company, before they all cheered when the dwarf swept Bilbo up into a hug. Daisy smiled knowing that Thorin and Bilbo could now go about being friends.

'Look! A raven! The birds are returning to the mountain!' Oin cried as a bird swooped low around them.

'That my dear Oin, is a thrush.' Gandalf said and Fili and Kili snickered.

'Never was good at naming birds' Gloin told Daisy.

'We'll take it as a sign. A good omen.' Thorin smiled at her and took her hand in his. Daisy smiled back and looked to the horizon. There, in the distance, stood a single solitary peak.

'You're right. I do believe the worst is behind us.' Bilbo exclaimed happily, though Daisy didn't miss the look of amusement on Gandalf's face at his words.

'Our home,' Thorin told Daisy following her line of sight.

'It looks impressive.' Daisy breathed and Thorin laughed.

'If you think it looks impressive from here you should see it up close!' The group lapsed back into a comfortable silence staring longingly at their journey's end, until Kili said:

'I don't want to ruin the moment or anything but….how do we get down from here?' The company turned to Gandalf for an answer who was looking a bit sheepish.

'Ah…' The wizard began. 'You see…'

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So yeh I'm sorry about the wait! I had awful writers block. I hope this chapter is ok and was worth the wait. Sorry again!