Chapter Five: The Wonders of Facial Hair
Emelia had stayed on the ground as long as possible, staring up at the trolls, until she was finally brought out of her reverie by a very loud voice a couple of yards away from her. She tore her gaze away from Tom, or what used to be Tom, and looked over to where the group of men was still standing. There were, upon further inspection, 13 men, the little man-child, and a man that Emelia would have assumed was a giant. He was standing out with his unnatural height from the rest of the group, making her fear him more than the rest. He was very intimidating, for some reason, as were the rest of the men. And they were all looking over at her.
She felt her eyes go wide as the men looked over at her. She tried to push her body further down into the dirt in a desperate attempt to get the large group to stop staring at her.
They looked at her for what felt like an eternity before someone addressed her with a soft voice.
"Why don't you come out of the bushes, Lass?" Emelia shrank back even further at the sound of the obviously Scottish accent floating over at her. She felt her tired and impossibly hurt body tensing up even further as she peered out over between the branches of the bush she had been dropped behind.
All of the men were holding their weapons, flipping them over in their hands.
"Put your weapons down." Emelia said shakily, doing her best to sound intimidating. "Please."
To Emelia's utter horror the group of men let out loud booming laughs that sent shivers down her spine. "We aren't going to hurt you lassie."
The voice sounded genial and warm. It almost comforted her until she remembered that the owner of said voice was currently holding an axe that was probably bigger than she was. She could hear the group muttering to each other in some language that sounded like German and Russian combined into some ghastly, unappealing language child. She strained to see if she could understand any of what they were saying, only to come up horribly disappointed when she found that she couldn't.
"My Lady, I can personally guarantee that none in this company will lay a hand on you." A higher pitched voice said. She vaguely recognized that voice.
"Is that the man-child talking?" Emelia asked, hearing the nervousness in own voice.
There was even more laughter, causing Emelia to sink back behind the bushes almost instantly.
"What did she just call me?" The voice spluttered, sounding embarrassed and flustered.
"She pegged you right I would say Mister Baggins." A loud gruff voice said, struggling to keep their voice even from chuckling. "She sounds cheeky. I like her already."
"If it would make you more inclined to come out of the bushes, we will gladly lay down the more intimidating of our weapons." Another voice said. Emelia peeked out of the bushes, looking for the most likely source of the voice.
"All weapons are intimidating if they can stab me." Emelia squeaked out.
"My Lady, when I looked at you hanging in the tree, you appeared to be severely hurt." The higher pitched voiced called out. "You require attention."
"Umm," Emelia paused, feeling the nausea and exhaustion that she had been feeling come washing back over her for a brief moment. "Maybe you could just…"
"My Lady, if you could just come out of the bush." The voice that spoke that time sounded much more irritated than the others. "We will not harm you."
Emelia weighed her options with a blurry mind. On the one hand she was completely and utterly hesitant to trust people holding medieval weapons as if they were their most prized possession. Of course, she was quickly losing what energy she had left crouching in the manky bush. She wanted to stand up for the first time in days very much. It was a desire that almost rivaled the one of wanting to take a shower. She could feel the filth from the past four days coating her body, making her skin feel tight and sticky.
"You could be a traveling band of homicidal maniacs for all I know." Emelia said, shifting slightly in her spot.
"I assure you my dear, we are not." She liked the comfort in that voice. It sounded so soothing; she almost stood up from the spot she found herself in.
"Enough of this." The irritated voice said gruffly. "Just come out of the bushes."
"I think I'll just stay here, thanks."
"We will come to you then."
Emelia stood up so quickly, she felt every joint in her body crack painfully. Her legs cried out in sheer shock at being used properly for the first time in days. Her left arm still hung limply at her side from the dislocation she was sure she had suffered. She felt the bruises on her stomach and chest stretching out as her skin was pulled out as she stood up to her full height. The men were all looking at her with alarm, as she twisted her body in an attempt to return feeling to all of her outer limbs.
"Oh Lassie," One of the older looking men took a step towards her.
"Stay where you are." She snapped in an embarrassingly shaky voice. "I'm war… I'm warning you."
"You aren't really in a position to be making threats little lass." She looked over at the owner of the voice and felt all the blood drain from her face. The man that was addressing her was one of the most intimidating she had ever seen in her entire life. He was covered in muscles and tattoos, reminding Emelia vividly of the men her mother had always told her to avoid at all costs. Seeing the man looking at her like she was slightly insane made her take a tentative step backwards.
"I think you had better just stay where you are."
One of the other men leaned over to his companions, saying something that caused the other two to smirk. Emelia narrowed her eyes in their direction, shooting them a very scathing look. It hardly seemed like the time to be cracking jokes.
"You are so firm in your statements, considering you are huddled in the bushes wearing nothing but your undergarments."
"Fili!" One of the older men snapped, shooting a dark look at the blonde headed man who had made the quip.
Emelia looked down at herself, feeling her face flush as she realized she was, in fact, in nothing but her underwear and socks. She lifted up the arm she could move to cover her chest, dropping down to the forest floor so quickly her joints snapped all over again.
"Will you run if I come near you to give you something to cover yourself?" The oldest man asked. Emelia peered out from behind the bush, keeping her arm over her sore chest.
"It is a distinct possibility."
"Try and fight the urge then." She heard footsteps coming closer to her before she saw a pair of feet directly in front of her on the opposite side of the bush. "Lassie?"
She reached out a cautious arm, trying to turn so that the man wouldn't see her chest, before snatching the article of clothing out of the air. Her feelings of discomfort at being almost completely naked outweighed her feelings of distrust of the group of men for the moment. "Me taking this doesn't indicate my wiliness to come out of the bushes." Emelia snapped. "I am still afraid you're going to murder me as soon as I step out."
"I assumed as much, Lass."
"Stop calling me that." Emelia said, hearing even more chuckles coming from across the clearing. "Sir." She added as an afterthought.
"Balin is fine."
Emelia paused in her actions of pulling on the old man's large cloak. It was almost too small for her in the sleeves area, while completely swallowing her in the shoulder department. "What?"
"My name. You may just call me Balin, Miss…" He paused, trailing off in indication that she should tell him her name.
"Montgomery." Emelia said quickly, almost instantly regretting it.
"That's odd sounding." One of the other men said loudly. Emelia had to fight the urge to say something nasty. She glanced behind her, weighing her options of just running away from the men altogether. She could see a clear path, relatively speaking, that she could run down with very minimal impact to her body from rocks and trees. She might even be able to get away fast enough for her to outrun the men.
"Kili, quiet." One of the voices hissed sharply.
"We are on a strict schedule Lady Montgomery." The irritated voice said again. "So if you could come out of the bushes once and for all."
Emelia stood up, weighing her options. The men, in general, smiled at her as they thought she was planning on finally listening to their words. She wasn't planning on it, despite the kindness of the older man. In fact, she was planning on just the opposite. She took a tentative step back from them, gauging whether or not they noticed. She felt her socks fraying and catching on the rocks and grass underneath her feet, but paid no mind to it. She was quite sure running away would be one of the most excruciating things she had ever done, but she wasn't about to stick around and get murdered by the odd men. She had somehow avoided that scenario with the trolls and she wasn't about to repeat the experience.
She had been able to rationalize everything that had happened to her, but she was beginning to come to terms with the fact that she had somehow been pulled out of Alaska, and plopped down in the middle of nowhere.
Perhaps she was being punished. Perhaps it was a kidnapping. Perhaps it was something she hadn't thought of yet. Whatever the reason, she wasn't going to stick around and find out whatever the man child and his little band of merry man had planned for her.
So she did the only thing she could think of.
She ran.
She dashed off into the woods, ignoring the shooting pain in her limbs, pushing the things that slowed her down out of her way. She could hear shouts from behind her, spurring her to move forward. The adrenaline that she had attributed to keeping her alive allowed her to move faster than she normally would have thought possible. The cloak that she had been given swallowed her completely, catching on branches as she struggled to make her way as far from the men as possible.
After getting caught twice, she finally shrugged it off, only pausing slightly, before pushing herself to keep moving. She was aware of a pair of feet following after her, spurring her to move faster. The chafing between her thighs burned her as she moved, making it almost impossible to ignore the fact she had been wetting herself and sweating all over herself for the past couple of days. The footsteps weren't far behind her. In fact, when she checked over her shoulder, the person was only about ten or so yards away from her.
She spurred her legs to move faster, hoping desperately that the person behind her was particularly out of shape and wouldn't be able to keep up with her for long.
She had barely moved ten feet after noticing the person following her when she was roughly grabbed around the middle.
Her feet flailed about in the air as the person attempted to calm her down. She felt the hands digging into her hips, making her insides squirm uncomfortably. She cried out, flinging her arms around, trying to come in contact with anything she could to get the person to let her go. While the trolls had always been rough with her, this terrified her a little more. This was a person treating her like this.
"Stop flailing about like a baby bird trying to fly." The voice said, struggling to keep her still.
"Let me go." Emelia said, using her good arm to try and pry herself from his grip. The tight hold on her body was making her dislocated shoulder hurt almost to the point that she was crying involuntarily.
"You'll just run away again." The voice said, finally succeeding in getting her to stop flailing.
"I won't." Emelia found herself saying before she realized it. "You're hurting me."
The person immediately dropped her, freeing up her right arm completely. She, surprising even herself, brought her elbow back towards his face, catching his nose with a loud crunch.
"Did you just…" The voice trailed off thickly.
Emelia should have just run. She should have, but hearing the pain in the voice, she couldn't help but turn around. She had never elbowed someone before, so the whole thing alarmed her. She had never felt that sort of thing before.
"You wouldn't let go." She said, facing the person for the first time. It was the dark haired one who had made fun of her name. She felt her eyes narrow at him as she saw him holding his nose to stop the bleeding. "I thought you were going to kill me."
"I still might." The person said, noticing the look on her face when he said that. "I'm only joking."
She opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the sound of his companion's feet. "Did you find her Kil…"
"What did you do to his face?" One of the shorter men asked.
Now that Emelia was looking at them, they were all fairly short with the exception of a select few, one of which was currently bleeding from the nose. She was taller than a good portion of them, with only a few of them reaching above her head by a couple of inches. They all had beards of varying length and majesty, making Emelia turn her head slightly in confusion.
"I thought he was going to kill me." Emelia said, addressing the only person whom she knew the name of. Balin let out a small sigh. "In fact, I thought you all were going to kill me. I mean, aren't you?"
"Why would we, lassie?" Balin asked, moving forward with his recovered cloak.
Emelia looked around at all of them, weighing her options. Balin, for his part, seemed nice enough. She wanted to trust him, but she was very hesitant to. The others were eyeing her, taking in her now positively crazy look.
"I'm…" She trailed off, losing focus on what it was that she really wanted to say. "You promise youre not lying to me?" She asked quietly, making eye contact with Balin.
"We wouldn't dream of it."
"Yes, we wouldn't dream of it." The man with the broken nose said thickly. She could hear the sarcasm dripping from every word.
"Sorry about your nose, princess." She snapped over at him. "Maybe next time you shouldn't tackle me to get me to stop running."
"Maybe next time you shouldn't run." He spat back, shooting her a glare from behind his hand.
Balin lifted the cloak onto her shoulders, making her flinch as he touched her dislocated shoulder. All of the men twitched as she cried out in pain, lifting their weapons up out of a reflex. Her eyes went wide as she saw them, making her step back from Balin, taking his cloak with her. She raised her good hand up in a defensive position, ignoring the way it shook. Balin immediately let out a heavy sigh, moving in front of her and grabbing her hand. He handed her the cloak, helping her put it on gingerly.
"Stop scaring her." He said to the rest of them. "For goodness sake."
"What is wrong with your shoulder?" One of the older men asked.
"The trolls dislocated it." She said, keeping the story simple. "It's been like this for a while."
"We can fix it for you."
While she still wasn't entirely sure what their intentions were, she was quite tired of her arm feeling like it was going to fall out of its socket. She nodded her head blearily, indicating that she would allow the old man to fix her shoulder.
"Kili, grab her so she won't flinch when I pop it back in." The man said, handing his axe off to one of his companions. "This will only hurt for a little bit, lassie."
The bleeding man moved towards her, shooting her a wary look before attempting to grab a hold of her to keep her from moving too much. She immediately threw up her good hand, stopping him where he was. "I would rather the man who looks like he just discovered the wonders of facial hair not be the one to steady me, if you don't mind."
"She's got spunk." One of the others said with a slight chortle.
"Indeed. Oin, make this quick. We cannot linger here for long." The speaker was by far the most intimidating of them all. She had thought the large muscley one was the worst, but this man knocked him out of the park. He was regarding her as if she was something he would very much like to leave where they found her. He was taller than her, although not by much, and dwarfed her in size of muscle and intimidation factor.
"Lassie, just grab a hold of Fili."
The blonde one came sauntering over to her, sending her what she assumed was supposed to be a charming smirk. "Pleasure to meet you, My Lady." He said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly. "Although, I would have much preferred to meet you on another occasion and in different circumstances."
"You seem nicer than dark and brooding over there." Emelia said, shooting the man who had grabbed her a dark look. "My name is Emelia."
"I thought you said you name was Montgomery." The blonde, Fili she asssumed, asked, looking over her shoulder for a moment before meeting her gaze.
"That is my las…" She suddenly felt her left arm being wrenched so roughly, she felt tears spring into her eyes. She heard and audible crack as Oin popped it back into place. "Son of a bitch!"
"Most interesting indeed." Balin said with a laugh. She was rather thankful that the kind man didn't think her expletive was meant for him. "Are you alright lass?"
Emelia was biting her tongue so hard, she could feel blood in her mouth. She felt like her arm was being broken repeatedly. The man, Oin, gave her a reassuring pat on the back before moving to stand next to the others. Tears were spilling down from her eyes as she pulled her hand out of the Fili's, bringing it up to her shoulder to rub the pain away. The men watched her for a moment before Balin finally spoke up, pulling Emelia out of her pain reverie.
"Now how about we find you some clothes?" Balin said, with a twinkling smile.
Emelia instantly felt bad for thinking he was a murderer.
"I would very much like some food and water," She paused, looking underneath the cloak on her body for a moment. "And a bath."
The men shot her sympathetic looks for a moment. She could see them eyeing the way she looked, putting the pieces together of what had happened without her need to go into too much vivid detail.
"I think that is something that would be a priority." The dark haired one, Kili, said. "You smell terrible."
"Kili!" All of the men shot him disapproving looks at his lack of tact.
"What?" Kili asked, sounding indignant. "She broke my bloody nose!"
"And I would do it again." Emelia muttered, instantly feeling like she was five years old again. Kili shot her a scowl from his spot next to the blonde haired one. He had stopped bleeding, now only sporting a red stain down his front that disappeared into his stubble. Stubble that she noticed he was the only one sporting. Everyone else had full beards except him.
"Interesting is an understatement I think, Master Balin." One of the men shouted, earning even more chuckles.
"Now lassie, about that bath…"
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