AN: Thanks for the reviews.
Chapter 25: The Lost Gem
"Not good, not good at all."
Radagast was running through a forest. He was examining dying plants. Many animals were dropping dead mysteriously. Radagast plucked a mushroom and put it in his bag. When he tasted the sap of a tree it appeared to be infected. The brown wizard grew more and more worried. Suddenly he came across a human. A woman to be exact. And she was doing something unimaginable. She was drinking blood from a rabbit. It appeared that she has killed that poor animal. Radagast was shocked to no limit. With his eyes widened, Radagast pointed his staff at the human. Well she appeared to be human but something told Radagast that she was something much more. Something not ordinary but dangerous and fearful.
"STOP! Show me your face you monster. You're killing the animals of the forest. You sinful vile creature!"
The woman inhaled deeply and sighed out heavily. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before turning to look up at the brown wizard. It was none other than Katherine. And she wasn't worried a bit having Radagast pointing his staff at her. Since Katherine separated from the company, she has been traveling through the forest. She knew she couldn't just go back after what happened. Gandalf and the dwarfs would surely interrogate her. But Katherine was in no mood of revealing anything to them. However she couldn't just abort her mission of finding Azog. After all that was the purpose of her life. She had to get to him. No matter what.
However parting away from the company sure made things a bit difficult for Katherine. She couldn't even stalk them knowing Gandalf would sense her presence around and she didn't wish to get into any trouble with the wizard. Not that Gandalf could beat her but he might make things more complicated for Katherine if she indeed gets into trouble with him. Speaking of wizards, Katherine couldn't help but roll her eyes at Radagast.
"This rabbit, I killed. Those animals not exactly. They are poisoned with witchcraft or have you not figured that out yet?" Saying that Katherine stood up and started walking away but Radagast wasn't ready to let her leave.
"Stop right there or you'll suffer my wrath!" Radagast threatened Katherine. His staff still pointed at her. Katherine turned around and she raised an eye brow at the short wizard.
"Your wrath? Oh please." Katherine scoffed mockingly making the wizard glare at her. Seeing the anger in the wizard's eyes, Katherine rolled her eyes to herself.
"Listen brown, I know you love animals and all but I was hungry. And it was only one rabbit, so get over it. Besides, don't you have bigger problems on your hands right now? I suggest you deal with them and not mess with me." Katherine wisely advised Radagast but did he listen? No he didn't.
"My name is Radagast, not brown and I very much suspect you're the reason the animals are dying out here. Tell me witch, what is your purpose of destroying the forest? And how do you know who I am?" Radagast asked furiously. He was so enraged. Katherine could only roll her eyes at the old wizard.
"First, I thought you're a wizard. Why the hell you got a thick skull like a dwarf? I already told you I didn't kill those animals. Second, I know you because I happen to be from the future. Now I'll appreciate if you mind your own business and leave me alone." Katherine's answers made Radagast more baffled.
"I did once heard of a time traveler coming from the future. But how would I know you're telling the truth and not lying to me?" Radagast asked. Anger still visible in his eyes.
"Does it look like I really give it a damn whether you believe me or not? Look, I already have a lot on my plate, so don't bug me." Katherine again turned around to leave.
"Wait, if you're really from the future then tell me how to save the animals?" Radagast asked hopefully. Even though he didn't trust Katherine after all he was getting a dark vibe from her. But Radagast was desperate that time. He wanted to save the lives of the animals. And if Katherine knew a way to save them then so be it. He would gladly accept her help. On the other hand, Katherine was about to refuse the brown wizard. She had no wish to help him out. But then suddenly Katherine remembered something. According to the story line of the hobbit book, Radagast would seek out Gandalf after discovering something horrifying in the old abandoned fortress of Dol Guldor. Once he warns Gandalf, he would help the company by driving the Orc pack away from them. A very simple yet effective plan popped into Katherine's mind. If she stayed close enough to Radagast or even keep an eye on him, she would be able to get to the Orc pack. And that Orc pack would lead her straight to Azog in no time. According to Katherine, this plan was rather better than her plan of accompanying Thorin Oakenshield and his company. That grumpy dwarf was getting on her nerves. Katherine was quite sure about getting to Azog this time. Only if she knew that getting to that pale Orc wouldn't be so easy.
"Alright I'll help you but only if I get something in return" said Katherine very clearly.
"What do you want?" Radagast asked with stern tone of voice.
"Well first of all, point away that staff of yours from my face. And secondly, I want to stay with you for sometime but you can't tell anyone about me" said Katherine which confused Radagast very much but he simply nodded his head. If he wasn't so desperate, he wouldn't have agreed to it without a proper explanation.
"Alright, as you wish-"
"The name's Katherine" said Katherine making the wizard furrow his thick eye brows at her.
"You speak weirdly." Katherine only shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly in reply. Radagast whistled and his birds appeared. He lifted his hat and revealed the birds' nest on his head. Katherine couldn't help but crunch up her nose.
"Eww, do you ever take a bath Radagast?" Katherine couldn't help but ask. Radagast gave her a disbelieving look before calmly saying-
"As a matter of fact, I do." But somehow Katherine found that hard to believe. Radagast and Katherine were walking towards his cottage when the wizard's eyes fell on a hedgehog. It was suffering and dying. He couldn't bare to see it in pain.
"Oh Sebastian! Good gracious!" Radagast picked up the suffering hedgehog and cradled it gently. He looked back at Katherine.
"We must hurry!"
Katherine and Radagast rushed inside the cottage. Even though Katherine no longer had any magical powers in her but she knew of many spells and potions. She helped Radagast save the life of not only the hedgehog but few other animals as well. During that time Radagast couldn't help but wonder where did Katherine learn the spells from and mastered the art of making potions. Where exactly did she come from? And what was her purpose? However Radagast kept those questions to himself for the time being. Even though Katherine and the wizard managed to save a few animals but their troubles were far from over. Suddenly both Katherine and Radagast heard noises. They looked up and saw that several giant spiders crawling up the side of the house. Radagast hurriedly braced his door shut with a bench. But the spiders began to break through the thatched roof. Katherine could have easily taken care of those spiders but she didn't want to display Radagast her powers just yet. He might freak out and start running away from her. Radagast started casting off some spells over his house so that the spiders would leave. When those foul creatures crawled off the house, Radagast and Katherine both ran outside. They saw spider web all around the place.
"That wasn't very nice of them!" Katherine muttered under her breath sarcastically.
"Where on this good earth did those foul creatures come from?" Wondered Radagast. Before Katherine could say anything, a bird flew to the wizard and said something to him.
"The old fortress? Show me" said Radagast at once. The old wizard looked back at Katherine.
"Let's go!" Radagast said. But Katherine vehemently shook her head which confused the wizard. Only if he knew that Katherine was denying to come along with him because she knew exactly what was residing inside that old fortress. Katherine didn't want to face the Necromancer before taking her revenge on Azog first. Because as soon as the Necromancer is going to feel her presence nearby he would sense the power of the ring as well. And then everything would mess up in a blink of an eye for Katherine. And that's the last thing she wanted. At least before taking her revenge.
"I'd rather stay here" said Katherine at once. Leaving no room for argument. However in her mind, Katherine decided to keep an eye on Radagast from afar.
"Don't you wish to find out what is happening in the old fortress?" asked Radagast suspiciously. Why was Katherine so careless about something so serious?
"I don't need to find out about something I already know about" replied Katherine with calm yet confident tone of voice.
"Is that so? Then tell me what you know?" said Radagast. However Katherine smirked at the wizard this time.
"No, you should find out about it yourself because if you don't see it with your own eyes, you wouldn't really believe me." Radagast didn't have any time to argue with Katherine. He climbed on a sleigh pulled by several large rabbits. He spared one glance back at Katherine before riding through the forest. As soon as Radagast left, Katherine climbed the tallest tree in inhuman speed. She watched as the wizard approached the dark and gloomy part of the forest. That part was also covered with cobweb. With help of Katherine's heightened vision, she could also see the old ruined fortress in distance. Very soon Radagast would face a dark power that is going to leave him shaking.
On the other hand, Gandalf managed to turn the trolls into stones with help of sunlight. The dwarfs were already freed from the spit and from the sacks. Gandalf indeed had a pleased smile on his face for successfully rescuing the company. Gandalf had left earlier after having an argument with Thorin. But he couldn't abandon them. Therefore Gandalf came back. Thorin walked up to the wizard.
"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" asked Thorin.
"To look ahead" answered Gandalf wisely.
"What brought you back?" questioned Thorin.
"Looking behind, nasty business. Still they are all in one piece" said Gandalf rather happily.
"No thanks to your burglar" said Thorin belittling Bilbo. After Katherine left, the dwarf prince began finding faults in the poor hobbit and started disliking his participation in the quest even more.
"He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that." Gandalf defended Bilbo. Thorin looked repentant for a moment. Then he turned his attention to the troll statues.
"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors" said Gandalf also examining the statues along with Thorin.
"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?" Thorin asked the question more to himself than to Gandalf.
"Oh, not for an age, not since a darker power ruled these lands" said Gandalf rather worriedly.
"If a dark power has returned, I bet my bottom coin that it's that Katherine" said Thorin distastefully. Gandalf didn't say anything against that. Because he too suspected that Thorin was telling the truth. However why that woman had joined them in the first place remained a mystery?
"They could not have moved in day light" said Gandalf thoughtfully. He and Thorin shared a meaningful look.
"There must be a cave nearby" said Thorin. The dwarfs began searching for a cave and they found one too. It was a troll hoard. It smelt nasty but it was indeed full of treasures. They collected many things and kept some treasures buried so that they might come back and take them after their quest is over.
"Let's get out of this foul place" said Thorin hurrying the dwarfs out of the cave. On his way out, Gandalf stepped on something metallic. There he discovered another sword and it seemed perfect for Bilbo. Gandalf decided to give it to him.
"Bilbo!"
"Hmm" responded the hobbit.
"Here this is about your size" said Gandalf giving Bilbo the sword but the hobbit shook his head.
"I can't take this."
"The blade is of Elvish make which means it will glow blue when Orcs or Goblins are nearby." Gandalf explained to Bilbo.
"I've never used a sword in my life" said Bilbo more to himself than to Gandalf.
"And I hope you never have to. But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one." Bilbo thought about it for a moment then he said something Gandalf didn't expect him to say.
"You know the other day, Thorin said, Katherine could have killed him but she didn't. She spared his life. I couldn't stop thinking, if she's truly so evil as you all think, then why did she spare his life?" Gandalf furrowed his brows at Bilbo.
"What are you trying to say Bilbo?" The hobbit sighed out heavily and struggled a bit to explain his thoughts properly.
"All I am trying to say, is that, maybe we are thinking wrong about Katherine. Perhaps she's not evil. I mean she did nothing to harm us" said Bilbo but Gandalf had other ideas.
"Yes, she didn't but it could have been her intention. Bilbo I know you began to like her and trust her but my instincts said nothing good about Katherine. We should be glad that we got rid of her before she could have done any damage to us." After that Bilbo said nothing in favor of Katherine knowing no one would agree with him. 'She could have warned us about the trolls.' Bilbo couldn't help but think that in his mind. When Bilbo and Gandalf joined Thorin, the dwarf looked positively alarmed.
"Something's coming!" He said looked a bit tensed up.
"Gandalf-" Bilbo got worried too.
"Stay together, hurry! Arm yourselves!" Gandalf advised everyone. Later they found out that it was nothing to worry about. It was only Radagast the brown who was looking for Gandalf. He was there to tell Gandalf about what happened in the old fortress of Dol Guldur.
"A Necromancer has come." Radagast told Gandalf. The Grey wizard couldn't help but be shocked. Not for hearing about a necromancer but because Gandalf vividly remembered Katherine telling him about a Necromancer.
"So she was telling the truth after all." Gandalf thought to himself. Katherine was getting more and more complicated for the wizard to understand. Her presence was evil yet her actions weren't. Radagast also gave Gandalf a cloth-wrapped package. Upon seeing it's content, Gandalf got really worried because it was not from the world of living. Right then, a howl was heard in the distance.
"Was that a wolf? Are there- are there wolves out there?" asked Bilbo fearfully.
"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf" said Bofur confidently. Suddenly from behind a nearby crag, a warg appeared. It leaped in the midst of the company, knocking down one of the dwarfs in the process. Thorin immediately killed the warg using Orcrist. Another warg attacked from the other side. Killi shot an arrow at it and Dwalin finished it off. They figured out quickly that an Orc pack was nearby.
"Warg-scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind" said Thorin.
"Orc pack?" Bilbo turned pale imagining the horror of it.
"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf demanded answers.
"No one" replied Thorin at once but Gandalf didn't believe it.
"Who did you tell?"
"No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?"
"You're being hunted" said Gandalf worriedly.
"We have to get out of here" said Dwalin urgently.
"We can't. We have no ponies. They've bolted." Ori gave the bad news to the company.
"I'll draw them off" said Radagast on his own.
"These are Gundabad Orcs; they will outrun you" said Gandalf but Radagast said otherwise.
"These are Rhosgabel Rabbits, I'd like to see them try."
Radagast and his rabbits shot out of the forest as fast as they could. And as expected the Orcs started chasing him. However neither Radagast nor the Orcs had any idea that a few miles away someone else was running parallel with them. Katherine's plan had worked. The Orc pack that could lead her to Azog was within her sight. Katherine had no plan of attacking those Orcs just yet. She needed them alive to lead her to Azog. But suddenly the Orcs and the wargs stopped chasing Radagast and they changed their course. Katherine realized that they were going after the company. Along with the Orcs, Katherine had to change her way too. It didn't take long for the Orcs to find the company since they were running through a grassy plain. Katherine watched as the wargs started surrounding the dwarfs from all sides. Even though Katherine's initial plan was to stay away and later follow the Orcs but that sight of Orcs surrounding the dwarfs started reminding her of a quite similar situation. The scene of Liam in midst of filthy Orcs started floating in front of Katherine's eyes.
All those memories of Liam dropping on the ground, having his blood on her hand started flooding Katherine's mind. And that moment, something triggered in Katherine and she dashed towards the Orcs without thinking straight. She reached them in a blink of an eye. The Orcs were confused to see a human there and the dwarfs, Gandalf and Bilbo were shocked to no limit. The Orcs had no time to realize what was going on as Katherine started killing them with her bare hands. The company was stunned to see such inhuman strength in her. The Orcs were coming at her, sometimes two or three Orcs at once but Katherine was slaughtering them all with ease. When the dwarfs overcame their shocked state, they joined the fight as well. They killed as many Orcs as they could. The only exception was Bilbo who was hiding behind a large rock rather than engage in a battle. He would never win against an orc anyway. Better to stay clear of the fight and not cause trouble for anyone else. However the Orcs weren't gonna spare him just because he was a harmless hobbit. One of the Orcs spotted him and he shot an arrow at him. And not just any arrow but a poisonous Orc arrow.
Fortunately Katherine had noticed that and she ran as fast as wind and covered Bilbo with her body. Katherine did manage to save Bilbo but the arrow embedded into her body. She groaned in pain. Because Katherine maybe invincible but her nervous system worked just fine, therefore she felt pain when badly hurt.
"Katherine!" Bilbo exclaimed with shock as Katherine doubled over in pain and then eventually dropped on her knees. Even the poison started spreading through her body and it started affecting Katherine's consciousness. Bilbo quickly pulled out the arrow from Katherine. He felt greatly worried. Katherine saved his life and she might die because of that. Even though Katherine had just showed them great strength and power but Bilbo had no idea about the extension of her power therefore he worried about her life. The dwarfs on the other hand were still engaged in battle with the Orcs. But suddenly they heard a horn. It was a signal that the elves were coming. And as expected a troop of elves appeared on horses. They gracefully started shooting down the orcs. This time the Orcs started fleeing away. It didn't take long for the elves to finish off the Orcs and the wargs. Only one managed to escape from them. When the elves returned to the dwarfs, Katherine had already passed out. She was completely unconscious. Of course Gandalf was checking her and the dwarfs were surrounding her but no one exactly knew what to do.
Among the elves there was Lord Elrond. He dismounted his horse and made his way towards the wounded one. He didn't know yet who was hurt or perhaps sadly dead already. Bilbo was the first one to notice Lord Elrond approaching. He rushed to him immediately.
"She was shot with an arrow. Please help her." Bilbo desperately requested Lord Elrond. The wise elf rushed to the wounded. Hoping to be able to save a life. But when Lord Elrond finally saw who it was, he couldn't help but be shocked.
"This cannot be" gasped out Lord Elrond with shock. He simply couldn't believe his eyes.
"Lord Elrond, you seem to know her" said Gandalf, noticing Lord Elrond's stunned expression. Under difference circumstances they would've greeted each other more formally but there was no time for that.
"Her name is Katherine" said Lord Elrond, confirming Gandalf's assumption. The unfortunate events that had happened to Liam and Katherine weren't unknown to Lord Elrond. He even searched for Katherine when she disappeared. But it was impossible to find her. And eventually everyone thought that she couldn't survive the wild and died somehow. Lord Elrond looked at his fellow elves.
"Carry her to my healing ward immediately." As the elves picked up Katherine's unconscious body and took her way, Lord Elrond looked back at Gandalf.
"You must come along with me Mithrandir. I wish to know everything about your companion Katherine."