Chapter 2: I don't like this bear hunt.
"How close is the pack?" Dwalin asked quickly, the second poor Bilbo had slid down from the rocks he was on, watching for the pack of Orcs chasing us.
"Too close, maybe a couple of leagues... But I'm afraid they aren't the worst of it." The Hobbit replied breathlessly. I tensed up, knowing what came next as I curled my fingers around Fili's coat sleaves.
"Have the Wargs picked up our scent?" The Dwarf demanded, a look of pure nervousness on his face.
"Uh, no not yet, but they will. No, we have a bigger problem."
"Did they see you? They saw you." Gandalf assumed, Bilbo shook his head.
"No that's not it." He said peevishly, tapping his foot as the Wizard began to smile.
"And what did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse." He praised, I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"Will you all just shut up and let Bilbo speak?" I suggested angrily, the Dwarves closed their mouths pretty quickly and all nodded.
"Thank you Miss Reynolds, I am trying to tell you there is something else out there." Bilbo announced, the glade we stood in going deathly silent, not a single animal made any noise.
"What form did it take? Like a bear?" The Wizard guessed, Bilbo looked dumbfounded but nodded nonetheless.
"Yes, but much much bigger." Bilbo replied slowly, a frown spreading across Bofur's face .
"You knew about this beast?" He asked, Gandalf turned away and appeared deep in thought. "I say we double back."
"To be run down by a pack of Orcs?" Thorin argued, Gandalf nodded to himself and turned around, gripping his staff tightly.
"There is a house, not far from here where we might take refuge."
"Whose house? Are they friend or foe?" Thorin asked, sick of the Wizards detour.
"Neither, he will help us or... He will kill us." Gandalf replied, a mind numbingly loud roar rippling through the stale air.
"What choice do we have?" Thorin asked, I gripped Fili's arm as the sound boomed across the air behind us.
"I'm going to say refuge at the house sounds like a great idea, so let's move our asses."
It was like cross country all over again, except through a dense forest with a massive, deadly, intent on killing us bear following the long line of Dwarves running for their lives. It was just one of those moments I could almost imagine the Benny Hill theme tune playing in the background.
I remembered watching this scene in the cinema and covering my ears whenever Beorn roared, it was always too loud in there, the best part was coming up now though. Fili's face was priceless as we watched Bombur powering by us, taking over from even Gandalf at the head of the company, running face first into the locked door of the Skin-Changer's house. As the rest of the Dwarves piled up against the door, Bilbo and I stood at the back of the company, watching as Beorn broke the tree line and charged towards us.
"Open it! Quickly!" Bilbo shouted, being glared at by Thorin, who shoved his way to the door and flipped the latch, Dwarves crowding the doorway in their haste to get to safety.
"Push!" Dwalin howled as we slammed against the door, trying to push the bear's snout out of the door so we could close it and relock the door. Once we had done it however, there was many sighs and groans of relief from everyone, some of us going as far as collapsing to the ground and panting for breath... Bombur for one.
"What is that?" Ori asked, I rolled my eyes and doubled over, bracing myself against my knees.
"A freshly caught Cornish Pixie." I hissed sarcastically, the Dwarf missing my remark and looking at Gandalf.
"That is our host... His name is Beorn... And he is a Skin-Changer." I saw his grey eyes lightening as the Bear moved away from the door, probably heading out to kill some Orcs or something like that. "We shall be safe here tonight, rest while you can." He added, moving off towards the main room and leaving us in what looked like the stable.
"Don't leave my side tonight Clary, I don't feel safe here." Fili whispered, I nodded and took another deep breath, trying to breathe normally.
"I doubt we'll feel safe anywhere until we're at the Mountain and away from those Orcs we have up our asses." I replied, hearing the disapproving sound he made. "Sorry, but the bad language is part of the contract Sweetie." I added as we made ourselves comfortable on piles of soft hay. I sniffed and cuddled up to the furnace Dwarf, allowing his body heat to seep through my flesh and into my bones, warming me to my core.
"Warm yet?"
"Much warmth."
When I woke up, my legs were tangled in Fili's, his arms locked around me like a cage, hot breath washing my face and loud snores filling my ears like drills. I took this time to try and count the barely there freckles splattered across his nose and cheeks. So tempted to find Ori's quill and join them up into little patterns like constellations on his face. I withheld myself the honour and tasked my mind to getting untangled from the Dwarf's limbs, this was difficult as every time I felt like I'd made progress he moved and held on tighter.
"You're infuriatingly cute, you know that don't you?" I said, watching his mouth twitch the third time he'd moved back into my way. "Get off otherwise I'll end up wetting myself." I don't think I'll ever see Fili move that quickly again in my entire life, but he rolled away like lightening and sat up with a glare in my direction, watching as I got up and stretched.
"That was cruel." He pouted, I poked my tongue out at him before smiling.
"Yes it was."