I fought back against the arms dragging me backwards. The rough, calloused skin of his palm scraped across my skin. One hand was still firmly pressed against my mouth reeking a cloying scent that made me gag. Another arm banded around my middle so that I was crushed to the person's chest. My feet left the ground as they hauled me away.
I tried to scream behind the hand but the sound was muffled. Help me. Anyone. Please! Panic shot through me like electricity, zinging through my blood and setting every nerve ending alight.
Kili had taught me how to get out of holds. What had he said? What was I supposed to do? All of our training sessions seemed to disappear from my mind in a puff of smoke.
Still, my body rebelled against the hold with everything I could muster. I kicked out my legs trying to make any form of contact. My elbows were doing the same. For a second the attacker slowed as my attempts at escape seemed to be working. My heels scraped down a shin bone and my elbow made contact with a shoulder.
His hand left my face, briefly, as he tried to readjust his hold on me. I saw my chance and bit down on the fleshy part of his hand, between the thumb and forefinger. My bite didn't hold back and I pierced the skin. The man dropped me with a pained cry. I crumpled as I hit the floor, my ankles twisting painfully underneath me. But I needed to get up. I needed to move. The bag fell off my shoulders as I tried to scramble away.
Three feet was all I managed before a fist flashed out and collided with my cheek. It reverberated through the bones of my skull in a burning wave and I was knocked off of my feet. Blood filled my mouth, a hot tang of salt and rust across my tongue. The world swayed in my vision, not helping my coordination. I tried to get my arms underneath to push myself up.
"HELP!" I screamed, needing to be heard.
My body was slammed back to the ground with incredible force. A booted foot stamped down on the middle of my back. It ripped the air out of my lungs with a pained gasp.
"You'll pay for that you stupid Bitch."
Next thing I knew I was hauled upwards once more. Only this time their grip was tighter, unbreakable. It was difficult to breathe as he crushed my lungs. I tried to scream from beneath his hand but his firm grip muffled any sound. He dragged me out of town and towards the outskirts of a forest.
"Good morning, princess," I recognised the voice and a shudder of dread ran through me. A new man stepped out in front of me with a triumphant grin. "Remember me?"
Of course I did. It was Roderik, the creep from the bar. His smug face was forever seared into my mind. The man stood next to him and the one who held me in a bruising grip were his friends.
Without warning, I was dumped onto the ground and my legs collapsed underneath me. I landed oddly onto something, the edges of it undoubtedly causing a bruise. But when I shifted, I realised that it was no rock.
The dagger!
I'd put it into one of my pockets and it was now dug painfully into my leg. If I could get to it I might be able to use it. Stab one of them in the leg and make a run for it.
Before I could reach for it a hand grabbed my hair, right by the roots and yanked. The sting brought tears to my eyes. My hands stretched up to the one grabbing me, trying to remove it and lessen the pain.
"You should have taken my kinder offer," Roderik said, running a thumb across the fresh bruise on my cheek. His deceptively soft touch felt like ants under my skin. "It's not our fault it came to this."
"Let go of me!"
I swung at my attacker's face with a tight fist. The blow glanced across his chin and he stumbled backwards. His grip slackened in my hair and I jerked my head backward. Strands of hair wound around his fingers were yanked out by the root but I got free. Only for another pair of hands to reach out and grab me. They pulled my arms and pinned them behind my back. The muscles screamed as they were stretched in the wrong way. I dug my nails into the arms holding me but they didn't let go.
Roderik recovered quickly. A bruise had already started to form on his chin and his lip had burst. My punch had more power than I thought it did. He brought his hand up to his face and swiped away a drop of blood. Assessing the liquid on his finger, his expression turned feral.
"Well aren't you a fiery one," His own eyes were fire as he approached me once more.
One hand wrapped around my throat, his thumb squeezing against my pulse point as a warning. I stumbled backwards and tried to get away from his hand but the person behind me held fast. The hot sweat from his calloused fingers slid sickeningly across my skin and an acrid burn of acid rose up my throat.
A blade appeared in my eyeline, levelled at my face with the morning sun glinting off its wicked edges. My breath froze in my lungs and my muscles seized in paralysing panic. A cry came unbidden as I felt the metal brush against my cheek.
"Not so fiery now," he said in an almost whisper. His eyes brimmed with glee at my fear.
I felt the tip of the dagger drag across the edge of my jaw. Not deep enough to cut but enough to threaten. My lips trembled as I tried not to cry in front of them. The man had bent forwards and his putrid breath ghosted over my face. The blade made its way across my jaw and down the side of my neck. He stopped at the hollow of my throat. The cold metal burned against my skin.
"You, little princess, are going to make us a lot of money. Who knows how much someone would pay for you?" his hand squeezed slightly as he spoke.
"I don't know about you but I know plenty of men who'd pay a pretty penny to bed an elf," someone mocked from the side.
A roaring started in my ears. No. No. No. No. No.
"I've often dreamt of it," the blade against my neck trailed further down. To the front of my shirt.
NO!
With a terrified yet angry growl, I bucked against the hold. A new surge of panic burned through my body and every nerve ending was on fire. A prickling sensation shot through my hands. It was like they were vibrating, a strange bristling energy centred in one spot. The grip on my arms disappeared with an agonised cry. Roderik backed away in surprise, hand falling away from my neck.
I didn't wait. My hands shot towards my right trouser leg, tearing into the pocket with shaking fingers. The handle of the blade grazed against my palm and I yanked it out, throwing the leather sheath to the ground. Without hesitation, I grabbed it with both hands and charged forwards. Roderik only had the chance to widen his eyes before the blade plunged into his stomach.
The force of my attack was enough to send us both sprawling backwards. He crashed to the ground and I followed, still clutching the dagger in pale shaking fingers like my life depended on it. Deep red seeped out of the wound, a fast-moving river without end. It coated my hands and soaked through my clothes.
He made a gurgling sound from the back of his throat, trying to speak, cough, or breathe. Only for a sputter of blood and sputum to come up instead.
All I could do was stare. Frozen. I was watching a man die
A roar to my left alerted me to the other men. The other skinny one backed away with a horrified look in his eye. The large one had drawn a sword and was levelling it at me with twitching, unsure arms. Something was wrong with them. He could barely keep the weapon aloft. With a shock, I realised that there were now two hand prints burned into his skin. Right where I had grabbed him.
Could I have done that?
It did not make sense.
There was a wild look in his eye as he hefted his sword higher. An executioner readying for a killing blow. I didn't even have the chance to cover my face, before I could even move it was over.
His stomach erupted in a gleam of blood and metal. Skin, muscle, bone and sinew severed down the middle as a sword was pushed through his back and out the front. He stared uncomprehendingly at the foreign object, then his own sword clattered to the floor and he fell forwards. There was a revolting sucking sound as the sword slid out of his body.
Thorin Oakenshield emerged from behind him, with a look of pure rage in his eyes. With one man's blood still dripping off the end of his sword, he swung around and dispatched the other man with a single swipe. His throat bloomed red and he crumpled to the ground in a pile of limbs.
Thorin turned to me, eyes wide and assessing. When he looked down, I followed his gaze and took in the blood and death rattle of the man below me. I hadn't even realised I was still sitting on top of him. With a wave of horror, I stumbled backwards, desperate to be away.
"Look away, Leah," Thorin said, as he reached for the dagger still buried in the man's abdomen.
I scrunched my eyes tightly, not wanting to see anything else. The zing of a blade sounded in the air, followed by a wet gurgling noise. Acid burned its way up my throat and I could no longer contain the contents of my stomach. I threw up onto the ground next to me, coughing and sputtering as I tried to keep my breathing under control
A hand touched my shoulder and I flinched violently away from it.
"It's just me," Thorin said, his voice soft but firm. "Are you hurt?" A hand found its way to my chin and urged me to look at him. "This blood, is any of it yours?"
I shook my head, wide-eyed.
"Good. Good. Now, we need to run. Do you understand?" Thorin said, a stable, solid presence.
I nodded, not quite trusting my voice.
Then we fled into the forest, leaving three dead men behind us. Thorin set the pace, dragging me along behind him by my wrist as we stumbled through the undergrowth. He was alert for every sound and his vigilance never dropped. We ran for quite a while before Thorin decided it was okay to stop. My breathing was slightly heavy but it was nowhere near as out of breath as I would normally be. Being an elf was good for something at least.
"I think the coast is clear," said Thorin, looking around him.
Thorin did not let go of my wrist. Instead, he led us both over to a stream that bubbled alongside us. He pointed towards a flat patch of stone on the edge of the river bank and politely but firmly told me to sit. I followed the command without hesitation, half-falling to the ground as my adrenaline left me. Now that we'd stopped running my body was beginning to relax. The roaring panic that blocked out sounds as it thundered in my ears lessened as my heart started to return to normal.
Thorn knelt down in front of me, swinging two bags off his back. His and my own. I reached a hand up to my shoulder, unsurprised not to find a backpack strap there. In the rush of hysteria, I forgot it had slipped off my shoulders. I had just come so close to losing all my worldly possessions, possibly along with my life and here Thorin was saving both of them.
Thorin opened his own pack and rifled through its contents. He pulled out an off-white piece of cloth.
"Give me your hands."
It took a few seconds for my mind to catch up with his meaning. I looked down at my hands and saw the rust-coloured stain of dried blood, peeling off in flakes. The realisation made my stomach turn and I thrust them away from me. Thorin took hold of one of them in a gentle grip and dipped the cloth into the water. Once it was thoroughly saturated, he squeezed out the excess and wiped it across my skin. The blood was stubborn but Thorin was determined. His lips pressed into a thin line as he worked to clean my hands.
"I killed someone," I said, barely a whisper.
The sight of him struggling for breath beneath a puddle of his own blood flashed into my mind. Even when I closed my eyes, it played out beneath the lids.
"No," he said, dipping the rag back into the river. It produced a brown cloud in the water. "I did. Their deaths are on my conscience, not yours."
He had struck the killing blow but that didn't change the fact that I had stabbed someone. That deed was on my conscience, however, deserved the deed was.
"You should never feel guilty about defending yourself. You did what you had to do to get out of a bad situation. Understood?" He was nearly finished now, wiping up the last remnants.
"Yes," I breathed.
"Good," Thorin nodded. "There, that's better."
I looked down at my hands, turning them over to see every angle. All that remained was clean, pale skin and all traces of blood were gone.
Thorin did not have to do this for me. His kindness affected me in a way I had not expected. A watery smile came to my face and I launched myself at Thorin, wrapping my arms around him tightly.
"Thank you," I said with a sob.
Thorin only hesitated for a second before his own arms wrapped around me. "You are okay, Leah. It's over now."
He let me cry into his shoulder while he patted my back. After a little while, the sobs started to subside and I felt reasonably calmer. My arms loosened their chokehold on Thorin and I sat back, an apologetic look in my eye. Thorin only looked slightly uncomfortable by my sudden hug.
"Tell me what happened," he said once I sat back down.
I picked at the leather strap attached to my bracelet, not wanting to look at Thorin while I recounted. "I was going to wait for you when I saw that the forge was lit. I thought Mani might be there and I would get to say goodbye." Stupid stupid stupid. I shouldn't have lingered alone after hearing those men last night. I should have woken Vivni or Alddi, and asked them to escort me, but I hadn't been thinking. "I got halfway down the road before the big guy grabbed me. He covered my mouth and I couldn't scream for help."
I raised a shaking hand to my lips. I could still feel it, a phantom of his crushing grip lingering. My fingers pressed harder, nails biting into the skin, wishing the sensation away.
Thorin's hand circled my wrist and tugged, pulling it away from my face. He held it in his solid grip, his thumb rubbing a soothing circle into the palm. I turned my hand so that I could squeeze his properly. I held onto him like he was the last handhold over a precipice.
"I tried to fight back," I told him. It felt important that he knew I did not go down without a fight "I kicked him in the shins and bit him till he bled. He dropped me and I nearly got away but he knocked me down."
Thorin reached a hand towards my face, tracing over the place the man had hit me.
"Is this where he struck you?" He growled.
I nodded. He made an angry noise at the back of his throat.
"I might have something that will help it heal." he said "Carry on. What happened next?"
"He dragged me to the forest where the other two were. I punched one of them but then he pulled a knife," my heartbeat increased at the memory "They joked about wanting to bed an elf and I panicked. Somehow the guy dropped me and I picked up the knife and I…" I trailed off not wanting to say the rest.
"Ozodl ezun muzm! Abrâfu shaikmashâz!" A string of angry khuzdul fell from Thorin's lips.
He was the angriest I'd ever seen him. Teeth clenched and muscles ticking in his jaw. After seeing my widened eyes, he tried to calm himself. A few deep breaths through his nose, and his face returned to his usual stoic expression.
"You're safe now. That's what matters." He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and sighed heavily.
"I have something for you," he said, reaching behind him.
My eyebrows rose as Thorin turned around and pulled something from behind him. In his hand was a short sword encased in a leather scabbard. The same leather scabbard that I had helped to create.
"A sword?" I asked, astonished.
"Courtesy of your friend Mani."
Mani made this for me?
A burst of warmth spread through me at the thought. A small smile stretched across my face as I reached for the object. The hilt was smooth yet still grippy and a geometric pattern was carved into the pommel and the cross-guards.
"You know, this is probably the first time a dwarf has ever forged something for an elf of their own volition. You should consider yourself lucky," he said with a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
My cheeks heated slightly and I let out a small chuckle at his words. An unsteady calmness was starting to win out the longer I was away from danger. The fear and panic gave way to an exhausted hollowness and I buried my face into my hands with a deep shuddering sigh.
Thorin inhaled sharply.
I lifted my head up in alarm, scanning our surroundings for danger. When I came up with nothing, I turned back to find Thorin's gaze firmly attached to my wrist. To the bracelet that hung there.
"Did Kili make you this?" He said with wonder.
"Yes."
He turned my wrist around so that he could read the runes there. His eyes widened when he saw them.
"Did he tell you what these say?" he pointed to the runes.
"He told me it said 'penis' actually."
Thorin was taken by such surprise that a booming laugh fell from him. His amused expression made me giggle as well, at the sheer silliness of it. It felt good to laugh.
"I'm sure he did," he said, a smile still on his face. "I'll leave it to him to tell you what it really says."
I knew it didn't really say penis.
Seeing as there was a perfectly good river next to me, I decided that I would not waste the opportunity. I needed to wash away the lingering imprints of their hands on my body if I was to function properly. Thorin acquiesced to my request and told me that he would stand guard through the trees.
The clothes I was wearing were basically ruined. Dark, dried blood had soaked thoroughly into the fibre and I knew simple water would never get them clean. I conceded that the only course of action was to throw them away. Or possibly to set them on fire in a ritual burning ceremony. The latter sounded more therapeutic.
I grabbed spare clothes from my bag and laid them out for once I was clean. The dirty clothes had almost formed a crust over my skin and I nearly gagged as I peeled them off me. Once off, I threw them as far from me as I could. I kept my underwear on, though. Nothing would get me to actually be naked in a forest.
The river was absolutely freezing but I grit my teeth, determined to be clean, and pushed through it. The citrus scent of my soap was an unexpected pick me up. It was like a remedy, I felt something akin to relief when I smelled it. Perhaps it was because it kind of smelled like home.
I dressed in fresh clothes and brushed through my tangled hair. When I was finally finished, I felt more human again. Well, more elf again. I made my way towards Thorin and thanked him for waiting for me. He raised an eyebrow when he saw me.
"That's not your tunic is it?"
My cheeks heated as I looked down. "Uh no. It's Kili's"
"I see," was all he said.
Thorin produced some kind of poultice from his pack. It was an odd texture and it smelled of what I can only describe as 'green'. He spread a small amount onto my face and I hissed when he touched it. The spot was still tender.
We started walking after that. There was a deadline Thorin needed to keep and we had already spent too long in one spot. Thorin seemed fine with silence as we walked. I was fine with it at first but after a while, I felt the sudden need to fill it.
Starting a conversation with Thorin wasn't easy. He mostly gave one-word answers to the questions I asked him. I managed to get him to speak up though once I brought up the topic of Kili. Thorin told me what it had been like for Kili since his return home. I was shocked to hear how broken up he was about leaving me. It felt strange to know that our pain was mutual.
But what shocked me the most was learning that this happened six months ago! Kili has been here for six months and I had only been here for three weeks. The timelines between our worlds were completely out of sync. It's a miracle I hadn't landed 100 years in the future or something. What if Mum had been spat out at a different time too? I shook my head and tried not to think about it.
After nearly a whole day of walking Thorin finally decided on a place to stay the night. It was mostly flat and partially covered by an overhang of rock. At least we'd be covered if it rained. I may have slept outside before but I usually had a tent to cover me. This would take some getting used to.
Thorin prepared a simple meal of bread and dried meat for dinner. The nondescript meat was rather tasty. I think I needed something salty after the day I had. After we finished our food, Thorin told me to turn in for the night. He wasn't going to sleep any time soon though. It seemed that he was going to keep watch for a while.
Exhaustion overcame me pretty quickly and I fell into a fitful sleep.
Dad-mode activated, Thorin your protective side is showing.
Ozodl ezun muzm!- Vile hateful beasts
Abrâfu shaikmashâz- descendant of rats
