Chapter Eleven: Kibbles and Bits
Emelia wished, looking back on it, that she had spent more of her time doing physical activity when she had been home. She had developed nice arm muscles and a strong core from all her time spent on fishing boats and frozen lakes. However, a strong core and well-muscled arms didn't really help her with the amount of running she was currently being forced to do. She was ashamed to admit, but as she was running she felt like she was eighty five, as opposed to eighteen. It was all wheezing and huffing like a chain smoker.
It helped matters to have not only Fili literally dragging her along, but a pack of wargs bearing down on her from behind. She wouldn't have been able to keep going otherwise. Of course, she wouldn't have to be running in the first place if it weren't for the back of wargs.
All in all, she would rather be back in the troll cave, much as that made her sick to think about.
Fili, bless him, kept a firm grip on her arm, only releasing it briefly to move his hand down to grip her own hand, squeezing it so tightly she stopped being able to feel her fingers after a short time. She was quite positive that had he not been holding onto her, she would have been chum in a matter of seconds.
The dwarves kept themselves packed tightly together, only thinning out whenever one would dart forward to clear the way in the forest, shouting encouragement to each other and helping some of the older, and fatter dwarves, jump over things. Fili kept Emelia smashed behind him and some other unknown dwarf the entire time that they ran. She had tried to look behind her to see who was pushing her roughly, only to be jerked into a faster sprint by a panicked looking Fili. She had to admit, it made her feel slightly less out of the place to see that they too were panicking. Of course, she was positive that even a full grown, massively huge Greco-Roman wrestler would be panicked and twitchy at the pack behind them.
It did not take the company long to get out of the forest that they had met Radagast in. Normally Emelia would have welcomed a change in scenery, considering all the how unfortunate all her experiences in the forest had been, but upon seeing the massive amount of open plains in front of her, she felt her heart drop even more. There was nowhere to hide out on those plains. The plains only had tall yellow grass and boulders that looked like they were only capable of hiding one or two dwarves, not all thirteen of them, Emelia, Bilbo, and Gandalf. No trees. No caves. No nothing. Just massive open space that would be perfect to get caught in.
She paused, her shoulders subconsciously slumping as she looked at all of the openness in front of them.
"We have to keep moving Emelia." Fili said, pulling her along and out into the large grass in front of them.
She felt a rather rough hand on her back, pushing her faster and causing her to stumble slightly as they sped down the small hill that led into the plains. Her feet slipped on the slick grass, forcing her into Fili's back with a rather loud and ungraceful smack. The dwarf behind her didn't seem to notice, or particularly care, as evidenced by their even rougher shove to keep her moving. The dwarf, who she was now beginning to think was either Thorin or Kili, judging by the roughness of their shoves, didn't once let her stop moving.
Not that she would have wanted to.
The dwarves moved much faster than Emelia would have ever thought possible, judging by their height and overall girth. They ran with all of the speed of a full heighted man, never pausing or stumbling like Emelia seemed to be so fond of doing as she ran along with them. She couldn't help but think that the dwarves would make a rather fabulous football team, with their overall burliness and strength. She immediately chided herself mentally for this. They were being chased by man eating wargs, after all.
The sounds of the wargs bounced all around them, filling them up with even more panic. It sounded like they were getting closer. The dwarves glanced over their burly shoulders, sweat dripping down their faces and into their beards from the sudden appearance of intense sunshine from the lack of tree cover. They hissed things to each other, some words of encouragement, some colorful curses, and some well-placed and worded phrases of hate towards the warg.
The howls and sounds of paws scrapping against the grassy ground filled up Emelia's ears and chest as she ran. For the first time in their little track meet, she gripped onto Fili's hand, causing him to look over his shoulder at her in surprise for the briefest of moments.
The farther and farther they got away from the forest, the more Emelia realized that her first assessment of plains was entirely wrong. The boulders were, thankfully, much bigger than she had originally anticipated. When they finally reached them, Fili practically threw her against the rocks, crushing her sore body against the rough surface with his back. Her hand squeezed his even tighter as they listened to the noises of the warg pack. All of the dwarves glanced around at each other, fear written all over their sweat dirt covered faces. Even Thorin looked afraid from what Emelia could see from behind Fili and his massive amount of blonde hair.
It was the massive amount of blonde hair that kept her from seeing Radagast go speeding past them on his rabbit drawn sleigh, shouting things that Emelia was sure weren't even real insults, more just a babbling slew of words and odd sounds.
In fact, the only thing she saw for quite some time was Fili's blonde hair. He kept her pushed so far into the rock, she couldn't even manage to peek out over his shoulder until the company began to move again.
They dodged and weaved through the tall grass, stopping occasionally to allow Gandalf and Thorin to clear them to move on before they sprinted off again. It felt like they did this for a hundred years before they finally came to stop behind a boulder that was large enough to hide them all completely from the other side. Fili pushed her against the rock, like he had every other time, choosing instead to keep to just have an arm thrown haphazardly over the top of her chest, as opposed to using himself as a human, or dwarf, shield.
She was just beginning to think that the wargs had moved on, which was altogether foolish, when she heard the rocks above her head shifting slightly.
Every single dwarf around her pulled out their weapons, entire bodies tensed as they looked back and forth between each other.
Emelia gripped the knife Fili had given her, feeling very much like a small child using a butter knife for the first time, as she breathed heavier and heavier.
She was quite sure she would end up hurting herself before she managed to do any lasting damage to a warg, whatever the hell they were.
She pressed herself even further into the rock, trying to steady her breathing when she heard the rocks shift even more, sending the smaller ones pouring down over them. Emelia leaned back even further when she felt one of them smack her on the top of the head, sending a stinging sensation jolting through her.
Emelia kept her gaze on Fili, who was smashing her into the rock with one arm as he looked up, trying to get a glimpse of the creature coming towards them from above. The dwarves were all tense as Kili stepped out from the rock, bow poised. Emelia barely had time to look before he was firing it at the creature, sending it crashing to the floor directly in front of them. She would have screamed if it weren't for a dirty hand being thrown over her mouth silencing her completely.
The warg, and the thing riding it, were some of the most disgusting things she had seen in her entire life. It was covered in nails and staples in odd places, causing both the warg and its rider to bleed out black blood that congealed and gobbed in the most grotesque way. Perhaps the most disturbing part was the obviously human bones covering the chest and back of the rider. He wore them like a suit of armor, making Emelia's stomach squirm at the thought of who the bones might have belong to.
The warg and its rider squealed and howled as the dwarves made quick work of killing them. The screams reverberated through Emelia's chest, making her squirm underneath the hand over her mouth.
The company, all of whom were appallingly less effected by the dead warg and its rider, immediately began to move once again, faces going paler when they heard the noises from the rest of the pack escalate almost instantly. The howls were almost deafening as they floated down over the now panicked company of dwarves.
"Everybody move!" Gandalf shouted suddenly. "Now!"
All of the dwarves, Bilbo, and finally Emelia, immediately pushed themselves away from the rock. The hand that had covered her mouth, which had incidentally belonged to Bombur, removed itself and moved to the small of her back, pushing her towards Fili who had re-grabbed her trembling hand.
Gandalf was surprisingly spry for such an old man, out running almost all of the dwarves as he led them through the hilly landscape. Emelia imagined he would have been able to outrun them all if he wasn't worried about getting them to safety.
"They're coming this way!" Emelia wasn't sure who had shouted that, considering it had come from behind her, but she was sure she wasn't fond of the panic in their voice.
The riders were getting closer and closer, shouting things at the dwarves in a language that made her entire body feel squirmy and sick.
Fili never let go of her hand as they made their way up a little hill and towards a small outcropping of rocks. She made a mental note to give him the biggest hug if they made it out alive. Of course now that she was able to turn around and look, she was certain she was being faced with being eaten alive. Again.
The wargs were on all sides of them by that point, forcing the dwarves to move in closer and closer. Emelia could see Bilbo shaking with fear, much like she was sure she was. He was holding his little sword out in front of him, rapidly changing his vision from warg to warg.
"There's more coming!" Emelia could have told them that.
There was what felt like hundreds of them bearing down on the dwarves from all sides. She gripped the knife in her hand so tightly her hand turned white. She wasn't sure if her heavy breathing was from running so much or from being terrified. She surmised it was the latter. She felt like she was having a heart attack for the second time in only a couple of days. Fili had moved her behind him, but was standing far enough away that she couldn't reach out to grab him, even if she wanted to.
"Kili! Shoot them!" Emelia knew that angry voice anywhere. Thorin was currently backing away towards the dwarves, sword raised out in front of him in a defensive stance.
She backed away even more, desperately searching for a way for them to get away. There was nothing. They were completely and utterly surrounded on all sides.
"Where's Gandalf?" One of the dwarves called, drawing all their attention to the fact that the tall man in grey was nowhere to be found. Emelia didn't blame him, if he had found a way to disappear. She would have too. Of course, she would have told the rest of them, but that seemed to be beside the point.
"He's abandoned us!" Emelia could see Dwalin out of the corner of her eye, swearing under his breath as he flexed his massive muscles out of anger and adrenaline.
"Stand your ground. Stay focused." Thorin thundered at all of them, making Emelia shudder even more. He was just so damn intimidating all the time.
Emelia pulled Bofur's cloak closer to her with her free hand, feeling her hands slipping over the material from sweat and nervousness. Emelia wished that Fili could have been closer to her. She felt like she was on a mini island, facing all of the wargs on her own, as preposterous as it sounded to even herself.
"This way, you fools!" Emelia jumped at the sound of Gandalf's voice. All of the dwarves immediately looked over, seeing the man peeking out from behind one of the rocks in the outcropping. "Quickly, all of you in."
Thorin looked reluctant for a moment before he moved towards the rocks, peering down. "In." He shouted, turning around to look at the dwarves.
Emelia didn't need to be told twice. Fili shot past her, grabbing her hand to pull her forward. She stumbled slightly, accidentally pulling her hand from his. He looked back at her, seeing that she was still following before continuing, choosing not to re-grab her hand. All of the dwarves moved faster than her, including Bilbo. By the time she was about five feet away from the entrance, only Thorin, Fili, and Kili were left. Thorin was standing at the edge, making sure all got in safely.
"I will catch you Miss Emmy." Fili said simply before jumping into the whole.
She didn't doubt he would. She kept moving, thoroughly excited about getting away from the wargs, until she felt something pull at the end of her cloak, pulling her back with the opposite force from her fast running. She looked down, feeling her heart rate increasing as she searched for the source of the delay. She could feel the wargs coming closer and closer as she scanned, making her panic even more. She felt her heart beat relax ever so slightly when she saw that Bofur's cloak had been caught in a small twiggy bush.
She tugged on it, looking back and forth between the end of the cloak and the ever advancing wargs.
"Kili!"
She kept tugging, hands shaking as she struggled more and more. She felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest as she realized it wasn't budging. Nothing she did could get the cloak to move. Nothing. She finally reached the knife down, hacking viciously at it in a desperate last ditch effort to free herself. The wargs were howling even louder, making hot tears spring up into her eyes and spill down her cheeks. She felt like she was back with the trolls, facing her death.
"Shit." She hacked even more, hands shaking with the effort. "Shit! Shit, Shit, Shit."
"What are you doing?" The sudden feeling of arms wrapping around her waist made her jump. The person, who she now saw was Kili, wrenched her so roughly the cloak rubbed against her neck, leaving behind angry fabric burns. "Are you trying to get yourself and myself killed?"
He pulled on her until she was finally free with a loud rip to the fabric. He pulled her along behind him, not noticing the warg that was so dangerously close to them Emelia could feel its breathing on her back. Her legs struggled to keep up with the pace he had, making her stumble with the effort to stay standing as they ran. He was practically dragging her across the plains.
She made the mistake of looking over her shoulder.
The warg was literally on top of them, barring it's teeth at them. Kili hadn't noticed, or if he had, he paid it no mind. She picked up her knife, ignoring the shaking in her hands, and threw it, not really aiming. She knew she had hit something when she heard the sound of something whining and a small thud. She would have been proud of herself if she wasn't so terrified. It felt like a thousand years before they finally made it to the place that all of the dwarves had disappeared into. Thorin was standing there, watching them and scanning for danger. Emelia didn't even chance a glance around them before Kili and her were literally throw into the hole. The last thing she saw before Kili shoved her down the entrance was a very angry looking Thorin and a very, appallingly bright sun.
She and Kili went flying down the hole in a ungraceful mess of limbs and hair, tumbling over each other before they finally came to land in a heap.
Kili landed on top, his forehead going flying into her nose with a loud, deafening crunch, causing stars to shoot across Emelia's already suspect vision.
Emelia saw blurs of shapes, in addition to red blood, as she just laid there, completely oblivious and dazed. She was vaguely aware of Kili sitting up slightly, rubbing his forehead blearily. He had barely sat up when he was sent flying back forward by a large rolling object, sending his forehead into her bleeding nose again.
"Damn it Kili." Emelia groaned, feeling her eyes roll into the back of her head.
"Kili get off her." Fili said, bending down next to them.
Kili sat up, seemingly to suddenly realize that he was crushing her to the ground with his body. He placed his hands on either side of her, moving lazily and blearily. Emelia could see the blood from her nose peppering his forehead like grotesque freckles. He stumbled slightly as he got up, teetering on his feet before he righted himself above her.
Fili immediately bent down, helping Emelia to her feet, ignoring the glare she was shooting at Kili from behind her bleeding nose. She opened her mouth to say something, only to be cut off by a thundering and sputtering Kili.
"What in the name of Mahal was that?" He snapped, moving towards her slightly, using his hand to wipe her blood off his forehead.
"What do you mean, 'what in the name of Mahal was that'?" Emelia ignored Fili's warning grip on her arm, moving towards Kili with two angry steps.
"You nearly got us both killed you cra…"
"I wasn't doing it on purpose. You think I wanted to be kibbles and bits to a pack of wargs?" She folded her arms over her chest, ignoring the looks she was getting from the rest of the dwarves.
"If I hadn't have been there you would have been." Kili fired back. "How thick are you to not run away?"
"Are you asking for a thank you?" Emelia moved forward until they were almost touching, clenching her fists up at her sides. "Because you aren't going to get one, Princess. Not in a million years. I didn't choose to play twister with a shrub, and I didn't choose to have to you tackle me to the ground as a form of rescue. I would have much rather done the swan dive down this little hole of wonders on my own."
"Look you little…"
"Kili!" Fili stepped between the two of them, pushing them both back with his arms.
"Consider smashing my nose us being even." Emelia snapped, storming back as Fili pushed her with his arm.
"That doesn't even begin to cover it." Kili seethed, pushing the bow over his shoulders with angry movements. "We almost died because of your idiocy and ineptitude. You are a foolish and selfish person if you don't see how reckless and damaging you are to this company."
"Big words, Kili. I'm impressed. Do you practice those insults at night in front of the mirror while you're fixing your hair and outfits? How about this? How about you pretend I don't exist, and I ignore you completely." Emelia offered, hearing a few of the dwarves snickering, only to be silenced by an angry look from Thorin.
"If you…"
"Enough." Thorin said suddenly, causing both of them to fall silent. "You are acting like children." He directed the last part more at Kili than Emelia, fixing him with a very nasty glare before moving away towards Dwalin, indicating that all of the dwarves should do the rest. "Oin, make sure that Miss Montgomery is well enough to move. Kili, come with me."
Emelia did not miss the utter disgust Thorin used on her name just like she didn't miss the look of hatred from Kili. She felt Fili sidle up next to her, carefully removing the cloak from her shoulders, relieving the pressure from the fabric burn that itched on her skin.
"I think he likes you Emmy." He said simply, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards a waiting Oin. "I mean, I can't remember the last time I saw a lass make him so infuriated and excited all at the same time."
"Shut up, Fee."
"No need to get testy." Fili said with a laugh. "I am just merely pointing out the obvious attraction the two of you have."
"Me and Kili have about as much chemistry as you have with a teaspoon." She said, scooting closer to Oin. The pain in her nose was staring to become uncomfortable. All of her words were coming out goopy and thick from the blood spilling out over her mouth.
"I happen to love teaspoons Emmy."
So umm, all of you guys are awesome. I cant believe the response this story is getting. It literally makes me want to write for you guys every single day. REVIEW! I want to know what you guys want to happen in this story.! Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!