BARREL RIDE AND ORC RAIDS

"Miss Jeanne!" Gloin fished around in the water and managed to grab ahold of her coat and yanked their lady out. He threw her headfirst into the empty barrel. "Don't worry, I got you."

Jeane felt at least three Dwarves pat her hard on the back while she expelled all the water in her lungs. She gasped for air and pulled her hair out of her eyes and mouth to see clearly. "Oh..ah." she hacked up the rest of the water.

Thorin reached into the barrel and yanked Jeanne upwards towards the surface of the barrel. "Well done, Jeanne." he patted the half-drowned Jeanne on the back and she gave a weak smile in response.

The Dwarves began to paddle through the lukewarm water down the narrow cave system until they heard the rumbling sound of rushing water. There looked to be a drop in the stream ahead, a waterfall that led to the great open sky, fresh air and all. Their goal was in sight and all they had to do now was get out of the Elves territory.

"Hold on!" Thorin shouted.

The stream dropped and they tumbled down the waterfall. Lungs filled with water, heads banged against the wood and everyone crashed into one another. The rapids were rough but they were making great time towards the gate ahead. There was a sudden loud horn blow though and Jeane witness the gate slowly creaking to a close, impending their escape.

"No!" Thorin shouted as they came to a halt, unable to float any further down the river to sweet victory.

The barrels began to pile up and the Elves started to crowd in on them. One Elf jolted his body though and he suddenly collapsed to the ground with a black arrowhead sticking out from his back. An Orc climbed up on the guardpost and snared at them with his crooked teeth and grueling voice. They were swamped by a pack and the Elves had no choice but to take their eyes away from the Dwarves to defend the guardpost. The party was stuck in the middle of an Orc raid against Elves with bodies falling into the water one after another.

Taking a chance, Kili got out of his barrel and hopped up on the guardpost, dodging the Elves and Orcs while he tried to get to the lever to unlock the gate.

"Kili!" Jeanne gripped her sword and yanked it out of her sheath. She held it in the air and threw as hard as she could. It pierces an Orc right through its face and pinned his body to the wall.

Kili grabbed her sword and used it to clear a path to the lever when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg when he was inches away from the thing. He gasped from the shock and looks down to see a black arrow embedded into his skin. Kili tried to reach for the lever that was just barely in reach, but the arrow drained him all his strength and he collapsed, dropping Jeanne's sword off the edge and into the water.

"No," Jeanne shouted but could no longer see her weapon. It sunk to the blackness of the river. "Kili!" she looked up and saw the young Dwarf struggling to move his body and knew...that something wasn't right. "Kili?"

An Orcs began to inclose in on Kili when an arrow shot out of nowhere and pierced it through the head. An attractive She-Elf ran out from the bushes and drew on her bow to take another shot when the rest of the Elf troops, including Legolas, ran out and fired a mist of arrows. This gave Kili a chance, and with the last of his strength, he raised up to the lever and finally pulled it down, releasing all the Dwarves stuck at the gate. They waited for Kili to jump down into the barrel, breaking off the arrow and gasping in pain, grabbing the She-Elf's attention.

Once more they were on the wild barrel ride through the mightly rapids that chucked and threw the Dwarves side to side in their barrel. Jeane was sure she was gonna have some pretty bad bruises if they ever get out of this situation. The Orcs were relentless though and chased them downstream, shooting arrows at them that luckily struck the barrels, and tried to cut them down when they floated by. Weapons went flying into their rough hands when they came upon a log that the Orcs used as a bridge to get close.

"Cut the log!" Thorin shouted and swung a 'borrowed' axe up and struck the log. The Dwarves, one by one, hit the log until it finally collapsed under the weight of all the Orcs that tried to kill them.

Jeanne kept a death grip on her staff that she had braced above the barrel. She took in what felt like a gallon of water down her throat. She tried to cough it up but only got another gallon. Her head was woozy and her throat burned from all the water, so she hunkered down into the barrel and waited for the ride to be over and for her river sickness to pass (Kinda like seasickness).


Land! Sweet, sweet land, Jeanne climbed out onto the steady rock and just basked in the sun for a bit. It warmed her shaking body. Her skin was a sickly green color and she looked like she was going to throw up any moment because of the large amount of water she swallowed and bruises she got. Literally, no force on Middle-Earth could make her move from this spot right now.

"Anything behind us?" Thorin asked and looked upstream from where they came. He couldn't even hear anything anymore, they drifted so far.

"Not that I can see." Balin looked over his shoulder.

"I think we've outrun the Orcs." Bofur followed up.

"Not for long." Thorin took a glance to Jeanne. She was just sitting there with a stone look in her eyes and green-faced. She was huddled up in a ball and just shook in silence.

Kili grit his teeth in pain and tried to wrap his wound up in some cloth but the blood just kept on seeping through. Jeanne slowly shited her head and gave him a concerned glance.

Kili caught her gaze on him like a hole being burned into his back. "I'm fine, it's nothing," he said and finally looked at the state she was in. "You honestly look worse than me right now, Miss Jeanne."

Jeanne managed to sputter out one single phrase. "Motion sickness."

Thorin walked over to Jeanne who didn't even look him in the eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked and Jeanne took a few seconds to answer.

"We...got an Orc pack on our trail...we gonna keep going." She said in short terms with a quivering voice. Her teeth were chattering too.

Honestly, her stomach was dancing right now. It twisted, turned, jumped in every direction and the feeling made her sick. Jeanne knew that they had to keep going but with the way she was right now, and Kili's leg...Nothing was looking promising.

Balin sighed. "A lake lies between us and the mountain. We have no way to cross it." he pointed out and Jeanne's head dropped.

Thorin rubbed his hand up and down her back to try and calm down her sickness. "We don't have any weapons to defend ourselves either." he took one look at Jeanne and Kili. "Bind his leg, quickly. You have two minutes."

That was the longest two minutes of Jeanne's life, and she did nothing more but sit still and looked off at the calm water current to try and find some sense of relief. It helped a bit, or time was just passing and her stomach was finally beginning to settle down. She could breathe easily now and her muscles weren't so tense.

A looming feeling suddenly came over her and she lifted her head up, seeing a large man hovering over her with a bow and arrow in his hand. His clothes were worn down and lacked color and his boots looked like they were a second skin adapted to his legs.

"Guys!" Jeanne distressed voice grabbed everyone attention.

"Miss Jeanne!" Dwalin rose up to defend her. He held a branch in his hand.

The man then suddenly shoots a single arrow at Dwalin and pierce the center of the branch, taking another shot at Kili who tried to throw a rock, knocking the rock out of his hand in a split second.

"Do it again, and the scarlet one dies." the man hissed.

Jeanne just sat there, astonished at what just happened and was still trying to process everything. "Me?" she spoke innocently and pointed to herself.

Dwalin slowly approached the skilled man with his hands up and placed himself between him and Jeanne. "Excuse me, but, uh, you're from Laketon, if I'm not mistaken," he spoke. "That barge over there won't be available for hire, by any chance."


Author's Note:

The barrel scene was the most...infuriating thing to write. Jeanne buckling down in the barrel was literally just me wanting to stop with the scene and move on. I'm still not overly convinced that it was good. I was hoping to at least aim for decent if anything. I'm pretty good with one on one combat, but total chaos...lets just say that LOTR's Helms Deep is gonna be a challenge. (The Hobbit trilogy is good practice though).

Now though...finally. We have calmed down and I can focus on Jeanne and Thorin's relationship during their stay at Laketown.

Jeanne's motion sickness was actually kinda cute to write, to be honest. It kinda makes her feel harmless and human. I took a lot of inspiration from my own experience, not with motion sickness but with heat exhaustion. I would have the same reaction as her. My skin would turn green, my stomach would be doing the macarena and I wouldn't dare move from the threat of throwing up.

And I originally was gonna have Jeanne keep her sword through her whole story but I thought of a better idea.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this...annoying barrel chapter, and I'll see you next week.