Everyone knows that everything belongs to Tolkien, except for the OC and the weird parts of the plot
Fear crippled me and I just couldn't imagine myself living in my old world again. It was maybe a cruel thought, but I just couldn't accept the possibility of being torn from this place I had come to love. I was frozen on the spot until I realized that this time, instead of going away, the light was coming towards me. This was different. Somehow it reassured me. This light didn't seem so threatening anymore. And then I suddenly thought that it might not be such a good omen actually. After all, it might be another creature holding a torch.
There wasn't much I could do at this precise moment anyway. Going back to the cave made no sense as the creature was clearly going that way. I could only prepare myself for another fight and hope it wasn't a troop of enemies coming up. I tightened my hold on my daggers and ignored the pain in my palms. Taking a deep calming breath, I positioned myself in a defensive stance. I squinted my eyes and, following common sense, avoided looking directly at the light. It would be stupid to blind myself and give such leverage to a potential threat. I only had to wait now.
My heart was beating steadily.
I wasn't afraid.
I was prepared, trained by some of the best warriors I knew. I wouldn't let them down. I would fight back whatever would appear in this corridor.
The first thing my eyes caught sight of, was a greyish material that brushed the ground. It belonged to a long grey robe I had seen several times already. As my eyes trailed upwards, I noticed the familiar beard, the frown on his face and finally his grey hat. I couldn't tell what I felt right then. This man had been bearing terrible news the last time I spoke to him. Still, he was more welcomed here than the creatures.
"You!" His frown deepened at my sight and then he spoke some more. "Where are the dwarves? Are they with you?" He wasn't talking loudly, but I could hear him clearly.
"No. They are somewhere down there." I replied in a low voice, pointing in the direction he had come from.
"How did you arrive here?"
I could have asked him the same question, but I understood that it wasn't the right time for that. My surprise at seeing him appear in those corridors would have to wait, I had the feeling that the dwarves might need us soon.
"Bofur pushed me out of the cave when the ground opened under them. When I managed to get back in, the ground was flat again, as if nothing had happened. Then there was this weird creature that attacked me, coming from some sort of hole or door in the back wall." I didn't say anything but I was pretty sure that the glance I sent his way was clear enough.
He grumbled and gestured for me to follow him. Turning back he started walking down again, all the while mumbling and grumbling. We were walking at a brisk pace. Now that I had light, I could see that the corridor had been carved rather clumsily into the rock. It was nothing like the perfectly carved ones that I had seen in the dwarves' Halls. The ground was uneven too. As I glanced up toward my unexpected companion, I realized that the soft white light was coming from his staff. I felt my eyes widen, how could light come from there? I barely managed to stop myself from actually asking him, and caught one of the things he was grumbling.
"Those damn dwarves. They were supposed to wait for me before going in the mountains. They are riddled with goblins."
"Goblins? That's what they are." I whispered to myself.
The old man glanced at me then and nodded. This kind of information was puzzling, though in retrospect it made some sort of bizarre sense. If this world had dwarves, elves, hobbits, orcs and stone giants, then it seemed oddly normal that goblins existed too. I pulled a face, my brain only now grasping all the possibilities that were still left. I had never been such a fan of fantasy back in my old world, but even I knew that there were many more types of creature that could exist. It made me shiver. I wasn't sure I wanted to meet any of those other species.
Those thoughts occupied my mind a bit, distracting me from my other worries. I had no idea how long we walked but at some point we arrived at an intersection. One way was going up, the other, further down.
"I know ways under the mountain." The wizard said, pointing at the path going up. "I was planning to catch up with you all this way after I realized that Thorin hadn't waited for me." He explained calmly. "But now we have to go down to a place I had hoped to avoid."
Instead of going the way he had pointed at, he turned right and I followed him without asking any question.
"What place?" I frowned, trotting next to him to follow his long strides.
He didn't answer at first and we walked in silence for several long minutes. At some point though, I heard some noise ahead and frowned. Now I could easily see some light at the end of the tunnel. Wordlessly, the old man slowed down and I instinctively imitated him.
"Goblin Town." He groaned before stopping me with his arm.
Cautiously he walked to the end of the tunnel and I followed. The noise I heard was clearly the unintelligible mass of many voices that cheered and shouted. They were really loud and I could tell that the crowd we were about to face was incredibly huge. As we both glanced around, I was glad to see that no creatures seemed to be on the platform on which we arrived. Said platform was made of wood, but I honestly hesitated stepping on it. It didn't seem like it was a sound structure. I was slightly afraid that the whole thing would topple down if I put a toe on it.
The old wizard had no such qualms.
He didn't even slow down when he stepped on the thing.
Sighing, I didn't hesitate anymore and followed him.
As I looked around and took in the sight of the place he had called Goblin Town, I felt my stomach knot. Everywhere my eyes could see, similar structures to the one I was standing on were crowded with those disgusting creatures. A town. A whole underground city populated with goblins, that was what Goblin Town was. I couldn't even hope to fight off these things. Now though it made sense that the dwarves would have been taken away. They couldn't possibly fight such a crowd.
A graveling voice resonated in the huge cave and my eyes tried to locate it.
A painful pang surged in my heart as I finally saw my friends.
They were gathered and crowded by goblins on a platform further away from where we stood. They were facing a huge, ugly creature that was wearing some sort of weird crown. Further away, I saw some goblins who were carrying frightening constructions made of metal and wood. My stomach lurched when the fat and huge goblin pointed at one of my friends and ordered him to be tortured. The dwarves immediately started to protest and were trying to fight back. I was about to say something when I realized that the wizard was swiftly going further down on the wood platform. Quickly I caught up with him.
I wasn't looking at my friends anymore, my gaze focused on the rotten wood under my feet. I was concentrating to try and avoid the weaker looking planks. No one needed me to fall to my death right now. I wasn't paying much attention to the cheers and shouts around at that time.
Then a booming voice made me look at the dwarves again.
"Kill them all!" The creature shouted.
To my utter horror I saw the goblins starting to attack the dwarves, using whips and spears against them. My voice was lost for a second as I could only witness the events from afar. I was about to react when the wizard stopped me from jumping forward with his staff.
"Close your eyes and be ready to fight." He ordered me before joining his staff and sword in front of him.
I didn't even question it. I obeyed.
I shut my eyes as tightly as possible while I heard him mumble some sentence in a foreign language. Not a second later, and even with my eyes closed, I could tell that a very bright light had exploded in the cave. I felt some sort of wave try to push me down but I somehow managed to stay on my feet.
"Stand up!" The wizard yelled. "Fight back!"
I opened my eyes immediately to see him rushing towards a narrow wooden bridge.
"Follow me!" He ordered me once more.
Immediately I ran after him. My heart was pounding in my chest. Adrenaline was rushing in my veins. I told my brain not to pay any attention to the fact that the bridge was dangerously bouncing under my feet. I focused on following the wizard. I ignored the dark emptiness that would welcome me if I took one wrong step. As soon as we reached another platform, goblins seemed to pop out from everywhere around us.
My body reacted.
My right arm shot forward as one creature was about to attack the wizard. I sliced the side of its throat just before I had to duck under a rusty blade. I kicked another goblin that squealed as my feet hit its knee. Without pausing I stabbed it in the chest and whirled around to slice at another one that was coming in my back.
I was already getting separated from the wizard. He was further down, on another bridge, and I was still fighting off those stupid, ugly things.
"Follow me!" He shouted again from above his shoulder.
"I'm trying to!" I mumbled under my breath as I pushed a goblin away from me and jumped on the shaky bridge.
I sent a short prayer to Mahal as I ran on the wooden planks that seemed ready to fall at each step I took. Ahead I could see that the wizard was being crowded by goblins. I didn't even think, I pressed on and jumped on one of the goblins back, stabbing it with both blades in its neck. The creature's body cushioned my fall and I barely had the time to catch my breath, as I yanked my blades free from the corpse and stood back up. The wizard had gotten rid of the others and was already running towards another platform. From the corner of my eyes, I registered that the dwarves were currently running in the direction of that same platform.
I rushed.
If anyone had asked, I wouldn't have been able to tell how I actually managed to reach the platform so quickly. As I stepped on it, I tried to slow down, but ended up colliding with Bifur who grunted and pushed me behind him before slicing through a goblin with his spear.
"Amelia!" I heard before large hands grabbed my shoulder and pushed me sideways.
A rusty blade swished near my face and was stopped by a definitely dwarvish axe.
"Careful!" Another voice, Dwalin's probably, shouted before painfully squeezing my arm. "Keep up." He ordered me and I nodded.
I was with the dwarves. I was safe.
In a matter of seconds I found myself completely surrounded by my friends as we ran behind the wizard. From then on, only a few goblins actually managed to approach me close enough for me to slice them. All of those who succeeding in passing through the dwarves' protective wall were already quite wounded by the time I ended them.
Everything was a blur.
I could somehow tell that Kili was running next to the wizard, Dwalin not far behind him. Dori was next to me and Ori was just behind him. The kind dwarf was holding his own quite well. My eyes scanned the crowd around me. Bofur, Bombur, Oin and Gloin were easy to spot. I could see Thorin and not far from him the blond head of Fili was easily noticeable. My heart was beating at an incredible speed and for a second I was terrified that I couldn't find Nori. I was about to stop when a hand pressed between my shoulder blades.
"Keep running!"
My heart did a somersault in my chest. Nori was alive. He was behind me. Immediately I caught back with the others. I wasn't really paying any attention to where we were going or what was happening. I was busy trying to keep up with the dwarves and they were busy eradicating the goblins that came too close to their weapons.
"This way!" the wizard shouted and ducked in a dark tunnel.
The dwarves didn't hesitate to follow him. Dwalin and Bifur though stayed at the entrance, fighting off the remaining goblins while we rushed past them.
"We can't…" I started to complain, not wanting to leave them behind when Nori cut in.
"They're right behind us."
The tunnel was narrow, its ceiling quite low, and only the wizard's staff provided light as we rushed in the dark. We turned into another, similar one, before we ran into a larger path. We had been running for quite awhile. I wasn't going to say it out loud, but I was reaching my limit. The pain I had tried to forget was making itself known once again. My arms and legs were burning. Each breath I took was difficult and strained my chest. My hands were burning as I tightened my hold on my daggers, only because I felt my fingers starting to shake and was afraid to lose my weapons.
"Light!" "Daylight!" Several voices shouted and I looked up.
Indeed, not too far from where we were, I could see daylight stream in the corridor. We would soon leave the mountain's tunnels. We kept running as we exited the long cave. For a second I was blinded by the sun. I stopped and looked at the sky. It was mid morning, we had spent hours in those tunnels. Quickly I sheathed my weapons back in their small scabbards and was about to bend in two to try and catch my breath.
I didn't have the time to do it though.
"Keep running." Nori grabbed my wrist. "We need to go as far as possible."
I let him drag me down the mountain side. The slope wasn't too steep, but it was still quite stupid of us to run like that. Any of us could have fallen and broken his neck. We kept running for several hundreds of metres, until we reached some dry bushes and where finally under the cover of some pine trees. Only then did the dwarves slow down a bit, but we kept trotting further into the pines' forest.
I wouldn't lie.
I was glad when we finally stopped.
I was out of breath. I couldn't take any deep inhale, it hurt way too much. I was panting like a dog, taking small gulps of air. As we had all stopped I felt two arms engulf me in a tight hug.
"Ouch!" I yelped and winced while the arms immediately let me go.
"Amelia, are you hurt?" Dori asked me, his hands on my shoulders.
I wanted to reply but had trouble finding enough oxygen to do so.
"There's blood on your coat!" Ori exclaimed.
"I'm fine." I stammered between gulps of air.
"You're hurt." Nori groaned behind me. "What happened?"
Taking a few steps, I pressed my back against a tree bark and let myself slide to the ground. I could see most of the dwarves around. A few metres away, the wizard was talking with Balin and Thorin. I saw that Fili was checking that Kili wasn't injured, while Kili was doing the same with his older brother. Bofur and Bifur were sitting near Bombur. Dwalin, Gloin and Oin were already going toward Thorin. It was only when Nori repeated his question that I realized I hadn't answered yet.
Before I could, Bofur spoke up.
"How did you get in the cave? I pushed you out before we fell in that stupid trap." He seemed genuinely surprised and concern was obvious in his eyes as he looked at my battered state.
I closed my eyes for a second and sighed when Dori asked once more how I had gotten myself hurt. Tiredly I opened my eyes again before closing them almost immediately.
"I fell down the slope when Bofur threw me out."
I hadn't spoken loudly. I hadn't even thought about what I was saying. I was too tired to think properly and pain was all my brain could think of right then. As a heavy silence fell though, I found myself opening my eyes again. I blinked several time until I realized that almost all the dwarves who were close enough to hear me were either looking at me with horror painted on their faces, or glaring at Bofur. The poor Bofur was looking at me with wide, frightened eyes. His face was paler than usual.
Immediately I realized my mistake, but it was too late.
I was too tired to deal with the dwarves' over protectiveness right now.
"Amelia, I…" Bofur started but I stopped him by holding my hand up.
"It's fine." I said as I heard several gasps.
In an instant, Nori was holding my hand, looking at my palms. I felt a soft tingle going up my arm when his warm fingers closed around my wrists.
"Why didn't you wear your gloves?" He asked me, his eyes boring into mine.
"I…"
Dori and Ori soon encircled me too. They didn't have a chance to say anything though as Thorin called us all. Nori helped me stand back up and I bit back a groan when I put my sore muscles to use. The pain in my chest hadn't receded at all and the move only seemed to worsen it.
"We have to get going. I want us to be as far away as possible by nightfall." Our king said. "This place will be crawling with goblins."
The wizard and several dwarves nodded. I sighed and was about to start walking when the old wizard's voice stopped us all.
"Where's Bilbo?" He looked around, frowning. "Where is our hobbit?"
As I heard his question I immediately started looking around, realizing just then that I couldn't see the little man.
"When did you last see him?" The wizard asked once more.
"In the cave, before we fell." Bofur replied instantly.
The dwarves were all looking around and at each other. The hobbit was nowhere to be seen though.
"I saw him when we were down there." Gloin grumbled. "He was with us before the goblins arrived."
"I saw him too when we were being dragged away." Kili added.
"He sneaked away at that time." Nori calmly said.
There was a short silence before all eyes turned toward the thief. I looked at him and Nori's eyes met mine for a second before he looked back at the others.
"And you're telling that just now?" Thorin groaned.
"What should I have done?" Nori shrugged. "Ask the goblins not to separate us from him?"
The dwarves suddenly all started to shout at one another, blaming whomever they could. The wizard was actually fighting with Thorin and I heard the king reply something close to "I am not responsible for your burglar."
I could feel a headache coming up behind my eyes when I cleared my throat and shouted, loud enough to catch the dwarves' attention.
"Oy! Bilbo is still in there!" Some of the dwarves looked at me as I spoke. "He's still in there!" I repeated louder and winced slightly when I moved a little too jerkily.
Silence once more settled on us.
"We need to do something." Kili spoke up, looking around at our companions.
"We are not going back into that mountain!" Thorin shouted loudly.
"But Bilbo needs us!" I exclaimed.
I couldn't believe that we would abandon him in that hell hole. The dwarves I knew and loved wouldn't do that. They were loyal. They weren't the kind of people who would abandon one of their own behind.
"That hobbit sneaked away, he escaped on his own." Thorin snarled. "He is probably half way back to his home."
I opened my mouth to contradict him when another voice spoke up from behind me.
"No, he's not."
We all whirled around to see Bilbo calmly coming out from behind some trees. He quickly joined us and we all looked at him in silence for a short moment. Then several shouts came up.
"Bilbo!" I exclaimed with a smile, glad to see him here.
"You got out!" Kili happily bounced towards the little hobbit.
"We thought you were lost in there." Fili added, smiling widely.
We were all more or less happy to see the little hobbit back with us. Well, at least I thought we were. It turned out that some dwarves were a bit surprised by Bilbo's appearance.
"Why are you here?" Thorin suddenly asked, his eyes narrowing on Bilbo. "Why did you come back? Why aren't you running home? Don't you miss your tea and books?"
I grimaced at the tone of his voice. Melancholy suddenly started to rise in my chest. I wasn't sad because of Bilbo. No. The hobbit was, in my opinion, rather lucky. What saddened me terribly though, was the pain I could see in Thorin's eyes. It reflected in most of the dwarves. They didn't have a home to go to. It seemed that a light appeared suddenly in my mind. Maybe this was partly why the older dwarves were a bit harsher with Bilbo. They envied him. The hobbit had a home. He didn't need to fight for it. He could very well abandon us all and go back to his home. Thorin wasn't so lucky. None of the dwarves were.
It clearly astonished them that a hobbit, who had a home, would miss the chance to run back there and would instead choose to follow our ruddy bunch to a faraway mountain. I felt as though Thorin really didn't want the hobbit to follow us. But maybe for the first time, I somehow had the idea I might just know what the king was thinking. Or, to be more precise, I knew what he felt. He couldn't believe that someone might willingly help them after all those years being on their own. No one helped the dwarves. That much I knew. So if no one helped the dwarves, why would a hobbit of all things choose to help us?
I looked up as Bilbo talked. I hadn't paid any attention to his tirade and only caught the end of it.
"I want to help you get your home back." Bilbo said with a surprising confidence.
I didn't know the hobbit had it in him to look like that. It made me smile, though I wasn't mocking him. I was glad that he was standing up for himself a bit more.
Thorin nodded and for a moment, we all stayed silent. Balin ended up being the voice of reason, which didn't really surprise me, and broke the peaceful silence with his calm comment.
"We shouldn't stay here. We need to go further away from the mountain before nightfall."
"Let's go." Thorin agreed and gestured for us all to follow him.
I barely managed not to whine. I really didn't feel like walking right now. Nori glanced at me. I saw him frown, concern evident in his eyes as he looked at me. He leant in my direction and I wanted nothing more than to let him hold me. I longed to be in his arms. I ached to feel his broad chest against my back. I wanted to feel his arms around my waist. I needed to feel… but right now it wasn't possible, not without advertising our feelings to everyone. I knew my eyes were shining with unshed tears as I shook my head slightly. His movement stopped immediately. Our gaze locked for a second and I could see that it pained him not to be closer to me. Our feelings were so similar in this instant.
But the dwarves were already leaving and we had to keep up.
"Amelia, are you alright?" Dori asked, forcing me to look at him. "Do you need help to walk?"
I honestly pondered before I answered. I took a few tentative steps before I actually replied negatively.
"I'll be fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes Dori." I nodded, though I actually wasn't. "Let's go or Thorin will have a fit."
Dori frowned but he turned away and, pushing Ori gently, started to trot behind the other dwarves. Nori gently took hold of my elbow and looked at me.
"If you need to stop, let me know." He whispered and I nodded.
Running had never been so painful and hard. Nori was silently, and rather discreetly, helping me. As time passed I ended up leaning on him quite a bit, up to the point that I just couldn't go without his support anymore. Gingerly he helped me place my right arm around his neck. I almost hissed in pain when he held my waist and started to walk again. I grimaced as my muscles protested the slightest movements I made. It wasn't comfortable to run like this. But I actually needed Nori's help.
We spent the whole day alternating between running at full speed and trotting. My eyes were riveted to the ground just before my feet. I was having trouble breathing and I felt light headed. I had no more energy. I ran because I had to, because I was already doing it, because at that moment I had forgotten how to do anything else. It was as if I couldn't do anything but that.
Dwarves had endurance. I couldn't compete with that. What little energy I had left was solely focused on keeping me moving.
When we finally stopped, I almost fell on the ground. Hadn't it been for Nori, I knew I would have. He was the only thing holding me up, because my legs were just not doing their job anymore. I felt as if I would never be able to breathe normally again. My eyesight was narrowed on a small central spot, all the rest seemed lost in a dark haze. I knew I needed water, food and rest. Right now.
"Alright, we'll stop here for now." Thorin said, he too was breathing heavily. "Do we still have food?" He asked.
"Did any of us manage to grab his pack?" Balin was clearly suffering from our forced run through the forest.
His question though highlighted yet another problem we would have to deal with. We didn't have any other equipment than the weapons and clothes we were carrying. Suddenly the fact that I wore my satchel under my leather coat seemed almost like a miracle. We all looked at each other rather helplessly. Our food and most of our equipment, including warm blankets and extra coats and weapons, were lost in Goblin Town.
"Alright." Thorin exhaled loudly. "What do we have?"
"Our weapons." Dwalin replied with a grunt.
"I lost a dagger." Fili grumbled while checking all his hidden pockets.
"I got my bow, but I only have a dozen arrows left." Kili commented, checking each of them. "And three need to be repaired." He frowned.
All around us the dwarves started to mumble and grumble, loudly complaining about all that was lost. Dori and Ori came closer to me and Nori. To my disappointment, the thief stepped away from me. I didn't say anything and remained where I was. I was exhausted. My body hurt. Thankfully, my legs at least weren't painful anymore. The heavy training I had gone through had made sure that I quickly felt better after I exercised. I forced myself to stretch my legs, trying my best to avoid getting stupid cramps. I didn't even listen to the dwarves. I was more bothered by the pain in my chest, arms and hands. At that moment, a painful cramp in my abdomen remembered me of my annoying situation. I felt dizzy. After a short while though, I could talk again. Not hesitating for a second, I cleared my throat and spoke up.
"I still…"
I couldn't say anything else as a howling sound came up in the distance.
We all looked in the direction where it had come from. My blood froze in my veins as another similar sound echoed from another location, then a third, and a fourth.
"Is that…" I looked uncertainly at Dori.
"Wargs." He breathed out.
"Run!" Thorin and the old man yelled at the same time.
We all bolted.
Sharp pain immediately pierced through my chest but I ignored it. I ran. I knew I had no other choice if I wanted to have a chance of survival. I had no idea what a warg was, but from the sound of it, it probably was something similar to a hound or a wolf. My last encounter with a wolf hadn't exactly been what one would call healthy. I was sprinting behind Bombur and Bofur when I saw the other stop abruptly. I struggled to avoid colliding violently with Bombur and lost my footing. I was about to fall when one hand grabbed my right arm, and another held my waist. I muffled a cry at the pain that shot through my upper body while Fili let go of my arm, and Kili cautiously helped me regain my balance.
I took a long shaky breath before I looked up. We had only run for about ten minutes, I didn't understand why we would stop now. Surely our leader hadn't suddenly decided to fight the pack hunting us. As my gaze trailed ahead, I soon realized the reason for our abrupt stop.
We had stupidly reached the edge of a cliff.
I looked around me. Nori wasn't too far ahead. Dori and Ori were nearby too. I was about to jog to them when the next order came up.
"Climb the trees!"
My eyes widened as I looked at one of the tall pine trees next to me. There was no way I would be able to climb that. Not with my hands as they were. Not with this crippling pain in my chest at every move I made. As Fili and Kili rushed past me, they each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me to the nearest tree. I hissed in pain because of the sudden move.
Fili easily jumped and climbed up to the lowest branch before he leant down. I looked at him stupidly just as I felt Kili squeeze my waist.
"Up you go Meli." Kili managed to sound both cheery and worried at the same time.
At these words I felt the young dwarf throw me upwards.
"Your hands!" Fili tore me out of my daze.
Between Fili grabbing my wrists, and Kili helping me by pushing on my feet, I soon found myself sitting on the lowest branch of the tree. In a matter of seconds, Kili was with us and Fili was already going further up. I was still rather dumbfounded by the whole event.
"Come Amelia." Fili said.
With the brothers' help, I managed to go up that tree. I was sitting on one of the branches not too far from them when the creatures appeared. These wargs were huge and a memory of our arrival to Rivendell came back to my mind. I shuddered as the beasts ran towards the trees and started to bark loudly, jumping as high as they could to try and bite us. I held onto the tree's trunk to keep my balance. It was as if a sudden chaos had erupted all around us.
From the corner of my eye I could see that the wargs were jumping dangerously close to where Kili was. The young dwarf was even trying to kick the animals.
"Kili!" I called. "Come here."
"The branch you're on isn't strong enough for us both." He replied, barely managing to keep his feet away from the warg's teeth.
"I'll go further up." I told him.
I swallowed hard. I really didn't feel like trying to climb anything right now. I was hurting all over, but more than that, those wargs were starting to properly terrify me. Fili was on a branch on the other side of the trunk, but slightly above me, I could reach another one.
"Be careful Amelia!" Fili frowned at me as I cautiously started to climb to that other branch.
"No kidding…" I muttered between my teeth as I concentrated.
I could feel sweat beads on my forehead. My hands were burning every time I would flex my fingers. I could only curse our bad luck. As I slowly managed to reach that third branch, I heard Kili start to climb upwards too. At least the three of us would be safe for a moment. I had no idea how we would get out of this situation without a bloody fight. Those animals would probably stay under the trees for awhile, and at some point we would have to go down.
I muttered a curse as pain rippled through my chest when I heaved myself up. A few tears gathered in my eyes but I ignored them. I clenched my teeth and managed to finally sit on the branch.
"You alright?" I heard Fili but I wasn't sure he was addressing me.
I closed my eyes and let my forehead rest against the trunk. Instead of trying to take a deep breath, I took several shallow ones. It was all I could do to limit the pain in my chest. I frowned. I knew I didn't have any broken ribs, but I was quite certain that I had bruised them. It should be alright after some rest. The only problem was that resting wasn't an option right now.
"Amelia?" Kili then asked after a few seconds.
His voice managed to reach through to me, despite my lack of attention and the terrible noise made by the wargs.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Are you alright?" Both brothers asked.
"I'm fine."
As I said those words, a long whistle seemed to calm the wargs. They remained under the trees, but they had stopped to try and climb them. Pain was forgotten once more as my eyes tried to find this new threat. There was no doubt in my mind that whomever managed to tame those wargs wasn't an ally.
From the tree line a bit further away I saw several wargs slowly walk in our direction. There were many of them, at least a dozen. As I counted them, I soon realized that they were mounted by dark figures but I couldn't properly see who it was. A memory of the chase before our arrival in Rivendell flashed through my mind. Could it be the same creatures? Could it be orcs?
As they took their time to come closer I realized one of the wargs was actually white furred. Below us, the growls and gnarls of the other beasts didn't stop until the mounted wargs came closer. I soon realized that more wargs without riders were behind the mounted ones. I frowned and shuddered.
There was definitely no way we would be able to get out of this situation without fighting.
The creatures slowly crept closer and finally stopped not too far away. Only the white one kept walking, quickly jumping on a large rock as if it was a pedestal.
I heard a loud gasp from another tree but I didn't dare turn to have a look around. At the same time, the orc mounting the white warg started to speak.
"What's this language?" I frowned and looked down at Fili and Kili.
Fili was glaring at the orc and Kili seemed a bit lost as he looked up at me.
"It's the orcs' language."
I quirked an eyebrow, though now wasn't really the time to tell Kili that I could have guessed that on my own. I couldn't understand one word that the creature spat but I could tell one thing. That tall, pale orc was really enjoying the situation. He was clearly mocking us, though his eyes didn't leave one spot.
I didn't dare try to find out who was capturing his attention so much. I was too busy trying not to fall. Then suddenly the pale orc shouted something, an order obviously, and all the wargs that weren't mounted immediately resumed their attack on our trees. As the trunk shook under the assault, I still glanced at this orc. He was smiling.
I shuddered.
"Damn!" I heard Fili groan. "There's too many of them."
I looked down and realized that there was indeed quite a lot of wargs who were relaying to attack our tree. Each time they would jump in our direction and hit the trunk, it would shake violently.
"The trunk isn't going to resist for long." The blond dwarf added, voicing my thoughts.
As if on cue, we heard a loud crack.
For a second my heart stopped beating.
Then adrenaline rushed in my veins yet again as the tree slowly started to tilt. During a brief instant, it felt as if it froze in space. Then it started its quick fall.
I yelped as the tree fell in the direction of the other trees where our friends were still hiding from the wargs' jaws.
"Amelia, jump!" I heard Fili order me.
I honestly couldn't.
My body had decided to react in the most stupid way, and by the time my brain managed to realize it, it was already too late. I was uselessly holding onto the tree trunk.
"Amelia!" I heard both Fili and Kili shout before their voices disappeared in the mess of sounds around me.
I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against the trunk, scraping my skin. I felt branches whip my back as the tree crashed against the other one. The only positive thing was that I had managed to keep my hold on the tree through the shock. I probably looked like a stupid koala right now, hugging the trunk for dear life. Luckily for me, lower branches had stopped the fall, allowing me not to finish crushed between two trees.
Roars and growls came from the wargs that were now trying to jump on the tree I was still clinging to.
"Amelia!" Someone shouted.
I finally managed to shake myself out of my frozen state and, pushing away any thought of pain, I twisted my upper body to get a grip on the second tree's branches. One of them was just behind me, above my head. Once I grabbed it, and with agility skills I didn't know I possessed, I let go of the first tree and swung to a lower branch. My feet made a soft thump as I fell on the lower branch. I swayed for a few seconds before I leant against the trunk. I had no idea where the others were.
Breathless and completely bewildered by the whole situation, I looked wildly around.
Quickly my eyes caught sight of Fili, Kili, Bofur and Bombur. Bombur was trying hard to avoid the jaws of the wargs. Bofur was helping Kili who had lost his footing. Meanwhile Fili was trying to go in my direction. I had somehow ended up slightly above them all.
"Are you alright?" Fili called to me and I just had the time to nod before another huge crack resonated in my bones.
I saw Fili's eyes widen and his face paled. I knew my own face reflected the exact same emotions. The tree we were on was breaking under the assault and the weight of the first broken tree.
"Jump!" Fili ordered me as the world once more tilted.
This time I was more prepared, even though nothing could really prepare you to live through such a thing. My mind and body were completely focused on the task I had to accomplish, and if someone, or several persons, called my name, well I didn't hear. The growls and gnarls fell into the back of my mind. The powerful smell of pine that was all around me became some sort of background. My eyes focused on one spot. Just one spot. A branch, not too far away, that was rapidly approaching me and would be slightly above me. Maybe I should have chosen another one, but the only one below was way too close to the ground for my liking.
I tried to crouch as much as it was possible on a moving tree branch and finally jumped at what seemed to be the best moment.
During a second I feared I wouldn't make it.
Then my hands touched the wood of the branch.
My chest collided with it violently.
The air was expulsed forcefully from my lungs and I let out a pained yelp as a few tears escaped my eyes. If none of my ribs were broken after that, I could consider myself lucky. I ignored the tears and pain and tried to heave myself on the branch when a shudder preceded by a loud crack alerted me of what was to come.
I wouldn't have the chance to jump anywhere this time.
My eyes were impossibly wide as I witnessed the fall of the tree I was clinging to yet again.
I heard voices around but couldn't catch any word.
A part of my brain registered that after this tree, there were only two left before we would all fall to our death in yet another precipice.
Then reality crashed around me. Literally.
I managed to cling to the branch as my body swung in the air. Pain tore my arms and suddenly I couldn't take it anymore. My mouth opened in a soundless scream as I fell. My only reflex was to try and protect my head as I crashed against branches, needles scrapping my skin. I bounced from one branch to another. Another loud crack terrified me as I hit the ground brutally. My mind was foggy at best. The fall and the hits taken had disorientated me terribly. Pain seemed to radiate from everywhere. A thought crossed my mind and I wondered if the crack had been coming from my bones. It certainly felt like it.
As I thought this, I was hit violently on the side and back.
Everything turned to black.
I coughed.
Pained seared through me as my body shook and trembled.
I couldn't open my eyes yet.
I couldn't breathe either.
I coughed again. Every convulsion sent more pain through my chest and limbs.
I tried to moan, but my throat was on fire. I could feel my body burning. If the fever was already that strong, then it meant I had been unconscious for a long time.
I coughed again and managed to let out a wordless sound. It didn't make me feel any better. Sweat was dripping from my brows on my closed eyes. I couldn't open them yet. Still, my face was burning and I fought against my own body to once again control it as I should. I managed to move a hand, and as I placed it in front of my eyes, I oddly felt a slight reprieve from the heat.
Coughing some more I suddenly realized that I was inhaling fumes.
This sudden realization made me cough yet again and I finally had the strength to open my eyes.
The world around me was on fire.
I had no idea what had happened.
I only knew that I had been trying to escape from wargs when I had fallen to the ground. As I tried to move, I found out that I was smashed against the ground by a branch. The trees at my right were in flames. The fire was slowly but steadily advancing towards me and the wood that was still left untouched by the furnace.
I held my breath as much as I could as dark smoke whirled around me before going up in the night sky. I had no idea where the dwarves were. I couldn't afford to think about them now. If I didn't escape from this vegetal trap, I would soon be roasted. I fought against the memories of the trolls that came to me at this moment. Now wasn't really the time to have a panic attack.
Trying to kneel didn't do me any good. The branch pressing on my back was too large to be bent or broken. Luckily it hadn't completely flattened me on the ground. Wiggling and pushing on my feet, I managed to slide slightly to the side, further away from the fire. Alright, at least it seemed I could crawl my way out of there. It took me ages though. Crawling on the ground wasn't helping the injuries in my chest and hands at all. The pain was properly excruciating and for a long moment, that probably only lasted about a minute, I wondered whether or not I would be able to withstand it and get away from the flames. I felt the pressure against my spine slowly recede as it increased in my lower back and, finally, my legs. Thankfully, the fire wasn't any faster than me.
I was exhausted when I freed myself from the tree's prison. Still relief flood me as I extricated myself from the deadly trap.
But I wasn't saved.
Far from it actually.
From where I was, kneeling on the ground, I was completely encircled by fallen pines in flames and the precipice. The edge of the ravine wasn't even two steps away from where I was. The heat from the flames was already burning me, even though the fire hadn't reached the branches closest to me yet. Further away, I could see through the flames that the last tree that had been standing at the very edge of the precipice, was now barely hanging there. Its horizontal position froze the blood in my vein.
My breath got caught in my throat as tears welled up in my eyes.
Where were the dwarves?
Please Mahal…they couldn't have fallen.
I somehow managed to stand on shaky legs. I made one step, swaying on my feet as pain and exhaustion were becoming simply too powerful to control. My second step wasn't any better. I squinted my eyes, bringing my right hand to my face to try and protect myself from the heat. Looking ahead, I finally saw something odd about the tree.
There was a very weird branch that seemed to barely hang to the trunk. Squinting my eyes some more I finally let out a gasp as I realized that the branch was in reality two dwarves swinging in the air. A gust of wind blew the heavy smoke in my direction at this moment and I had to bend in two as I coughed heavily. My eyes were stinging and every cough made pain shot through my whole body. Still, the knowledge that two of my friends were facing their death had me take several steps in their direction.
When the smoke cleared a bit around me, I looked back up.
Now that I knew dwarves were still on that tree, I forced my eyes to focus some more to get a better view of it. I now easily spotted darker spots in between the branches. Some were moving, feet dangling in the air. I couldn't count them, so I had no idea whether or not they were all there. I was too far away from them yet to call them, and I didn't want to catch the attention of the wargs. My brain was still fuzzy when one figure slowly stood on the tree and disappeared behind the wall of flames that separated me from the wargs. I tried to shake my head to clear my thoughts, but it wasn't helping much. I was burning and I could hear my heart beat strongly and rapidly. At the same time, I heard several voices shout desperately and I feared the figure I had seen, was now in danger. I didn't have the opportunity to think about it, I had to bend once more as yet another gust of wind surrounded me with dark smoke and sparks.
This time though, I tried to concentrate on the pain I felt. I tried to use it as a mean to wake my brain. Thankfully it worked. Now that I was becoming a bit more lucid, I could hear the wargs' gnarls above the cracking noise the fire made. I glanced at the tree to realize that several dark shapes were missing. I opened my mouth but no sounds came from my throat. I would have screamed if I could when I saw the two dwarves dangle one last time before finally falling in the darkness of the precipice.
My throat was too raw to do anything else beside whimper pathetically though.
I didn't have any tears to shed.
My world seemed to freeze for an instant.
For a whole moment I forgot the flames. I forgot the wargs. I forgot the orcs.
My world was frozen.
The pain I felt was more terrible than anything I had ever felt before. Physical pain could be cured. But it was my very soul that hurt when I saw my friends disappear in the precipice.
I fell to my knees.
After the pain, despair came so quickly that I let out a broken sob as my right hand clutched my tunic above my heart. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream and shout. I wanted to destroy those wargs and orcs. They were responsible.
As I turned a heated gaze towards the flames, I only then realized that I was now hearing some battle sounds. My heart leapt as my ears caught an unmistakable Khuzdul war cry. Some dwarves were still alive!
I made an unsteady step in the direction of the flames, but it was entirely too stupid of me to think I could cross them. They were burning high and I couldn't even get close to them without suffocating.
It slowly sunk into my brain that I was stuck on this side while my friends were probably fighting a losing battle on the other. I heard someone scream and several more shouts just as huge shadows passed above me.
I instantly whirled around only to see a huge, a really freakily huge bird come straight in my direction. It hovered above me for a short while, its immense wings creating a strong wing that pushed the flames in the other direction, making them grow twice as high in the same time. I fell to my knees and protected my head, though I knew it was stupid and useless.
When I saw the animal's claws move in my direction I honestly thought my life would end soon. Of all the different deaths that I had thought about, finishing in some eagle's stomach hadn't been one I had prepared myself for.
I was completely numb as the claws circled around me and I felt my feet and hands leave the ground. Air rushed around me but I didn't close my eyes. I couldn't as I saw for just a second the battlefield where some of my friends were still trying to escape from more huge eagles. My stomach lurched as I witnessed someone, I couldn't see who, got taken by an eagle only to be thrown in the precipice.
When I felt the animal's grip on me loosen, my heart stopped.
And then I fell.
A/N: And once again many readers were kind enough to leave a review. Huge thanks to all of you who read, follow, review and put this story in your favourite. It's always a pleasure to know some people like this story. I just wish to apologize, I don't really have much time to reply individually to your reviews, but know that I read and appreciate them.
I do want to reply to one of the guests though, who told me that it didn't make sense that there was both a door and a trap in the cave. Well, I'm sorry you felt this way and maybe I didn't explain it properly. In my mind it just made more sense that there was indeed a door somewhere in the cave for the goblins to use, and I don't see why that would prevent them to put a trap there too. Does it truly make no sense?
On another note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which was obviously a bit more action oriented. How did you find the description of the fights? I still don't feel overly confident in it. Was it clear enough?
I'm slowly writing the chapters, trying to keep them long and to keep the story both different and entertaining, hence the very slow updates. My life is also very busy right now (both on a professional and personal level) and will most likely become even more busy in the coming weeks and months but I will try to update between 2 to 4 weeks from now (so in the worst case scenario it'll be in a month from now.)
Thanks again for showing your support!
