A little short, I know. But anyways, enjoy and review!

T.A. 2941- Somewhere in Eriador

They stopped for the night at a small clearing with a tall cliff at their back; it was something that offered them little protection. The duo— trio if you included the animal guardian at the woman's side— were far from any prominent civilization, yet Thorin knew that it was better to be careful regardless. Thorin was preparing a small fire while the woman and her companion scouted the area. Normally, Thorin would have insisted that the lass stayed so he could have scouted. However, the revelation of her magical abilities and her knowledge of protection spells quickly triumphed his own ability in scouting. He should have known that the woman following a wizard had her own knowledge of sorcery.

A soft yelp startled him. Her guardian dog had his tongue out, a smile clearly on his face. His gaze flew up, landing on the said witch's neutral face. The woman pulled her hood down, revealing her long brown tresses braided into a single plait. She removed her cloak and set it on the ground next to the fire before gesturing into the woods. "Thorin," his name rolled off her lips, stirring something deep inside him. "Red found a small river nearby. I've decided to bathe there."

Thorin nodded, watching as she walked off into the tree line with the golden eyed dog trailing after her. He had not missed the fact that the woman had taken every chance she could to bathe. Thorin had never seen a human woman bathe this much, even women who lived in comfortable wealth. From what he had seen of human royalty, she could match their cleanliness. It had originally shocked Thorin— for the humans he knew, they were quite dirty. Dwarves, despite the stories of bigotry told by the other races, were naturally clean; they had to be when living underground. Dwarves were robust, but no one of their people wanted to live in filth.

The king poked at the fire with a grimace on his face. He should have been able to shoot that damn squirrel earlier in the day; his stomach was craving meat, fresh meat, not jerky.

"My mother used to say that my face would freeze if I kept frowning like that," a smooth voice spoke.

"I was just thinking that it would have been nice to eat some fresh meat."

"Mmh." She sat down next to him, watching as he stoked the fire. "I could send Red out, if you were hungry enough for squirrel."

Thorin shook his head. "No, it's best we head straight for the Shire."

The woman made a noise before leaning close to him. Her fingers gently brushed against his hair, pulling his loose strands away from his. He had wanted to jolt from her touch, yet he also wanted to pull her in and wrap his fingers around her rich brown hair. Instead of either, he froze, allowing her to move closer to him. Her small body was practically glued to his large frame. He opened his mouth to protest.

"We're being watched; pretend to sleep tonight." The king was glad his body was already frozen, for he was sure his reaction would have been noticeable.

"We should get some sleep," he said loudly, before standing up.

She merely smiled at him.

This was going to be easy money, a man thought as he hid behind a tree.

The hunter watched as their next two victims settled in for the night. He looked to his right and found his partner. The other man nodded; the other three were in position. The leader looked back at the two. He had heard from other sources that the dwarf he was hunting would have been accompanied by a mad sorcerer and a ferocious beast, yet all he had seen was a harlot woman and an odd dog. He should get new intel. He'll deal with it later. He wants to get back and gather his money.

He took a deep breath and looked over to his partner. The leader put his index finger to his mouth. Slowly turning around the tree, the hunter quietly made his way over to the sleeping dwarf as the others began closing in on the three sleeping figures. As the fire slowly died down to embers, the hunter pulled back his dagger and—

"Ahhh!" The sound of flesh being ripped apart sounded through the clearing. Vines snapping could be heard with the cracking of bones followed directly behind it.

The leader looked up finding a scene of horror before him.

Dark vines writhed and climbed itself up over the trapped body of their youngest. The vines tightened around the soft body, squeezing and wringing around the poor boy's crunching limbs. The plant moved towards the boy's screaming mouth, puncturing through the underside of his jaw and through his open mouth. Despite all that, the boy still wriggled in the vine's grasp.

A howl pierced through the boy's screams as another wail of pain overtook the boy's own. The hunter snapped his head over to their thief and immediately knew that they had massively fucked up. A large hairy beast stood over the thief's struggling body. The beast was nothing that the man had ever seen before. It was something that had to be of dark magic— a magic that could combine the head of a wolf to the body of a strong man. Fear shook him as the wolf— man— whatever that beast was sunk its large fangs into his friend's throat. Red liquid splattered across the ground. The wolf beast threw its head back, tossing the chunk of flesh into the dirt before sinking its fangs back into his friend.

The hunter saw his right-hand man running towards the beast, his sword ready for the unsuspecting monster. Yet he stopped. His companion clutched at his stomach— pain clear on his face. The doubled over as his sword slipped out of his hand. His now free hand flew up to his mouth before shaking wracked his body. Crimson blood seeped through his fingers as he coughed, splatting more blood onto the dirt. Black spots began swelling on his body. As the buboes began swelling and his coughing turned into bloody vomiting, pus began oozing from his black spots. The man fell to his knees before he collapsed.

A woman's bizzare chanting finally reached his ears. The hunter's eyes found the face of the sorceress. Her left hand reached out towards his right-hand man as a dagger was clutched in the other. He quickly pieced together the source of his friends' misery and made a step towards the woman, ignoring the dwarf altogether— his final mistake.

Before he could take another step, he felt a penetrating sensation in his stomach. Looking down, the man found a glistening red blade protruding from his body. The offender yanked his blade out, leaving the leader to collapse to the ground. As his eyes began darkening, he found the form of the last member of their troop fleeing into the black of the forest, his bow long abandoned.

You coward.

"Azanara!"

The woman shouted something else in her language and the troop's archer was attacked by more vines. This time, they flung him high into the treetops where the branches shook and rattled as if being rudely awoken. The branches straightened and thrusted into the last remaining one of his companions.

As the body hit fell with a hard thud, the hunter took his last breath and surrendered to the blackness.