Eruanna POV
"Hush now you may rest" I say gently, stroking some of the other rabbits, helping them calm after their run.
"The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows any more, at least nothing good. The air is foul with decay. But worst are the webs." I frown at his words, webs?
"Webs? What do you mean?" Gandalf asks, my eyes looking to Radagast for his answer,
"Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant, or I am not a Wizard. I followed their trail. They came from Dol Guldur."
My heart freezes at his words, my breath stilling, I don't want to think it, not hear the name of that forsaken place,
"Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned." Gandalf says, his eyes finding mine, before we both look to Radagast, his eyes looking sadly at me before looking to Gandalf,
"No, Gandalf, it is not. A dark power dwells in there... ...such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits... ...of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf. From out of the darkness... ...a Necromancer has come" he says, I turn away, walking past the dwarves and stand before a tall tree, my eyes widen with fear my breathes coming out quick and…my hand, raising it up slightly I see it shaking…no, it cannot be him, it cant…
"Sistrumm? What has happened?" Dwalin asks, coming to stand at my side, my eyes look to him, he looks at me with fear, seeing my own in my eyes,
"Sistrumm?" I look down not sure what to say, what to do or think.
"Dwalin, allow her to breath, Radagast found something, and we are not sure what it is…it may be related, but we cannot be sure until it is further investigated" Gandalf says, I look to him but I sense something off…he has something, I look around him trying to find the source. He places his hand on my shoulder, bringing my attention back up to him,
"Deep breathes my dear, we are not sure yet…but when we do, you will be the first to know" he says, I do as he says, nodding in agreement, but I don't take my eyes off him,
"Gandalf, what do you have?" I ask, surprised with how calm my voice sounds but I am anything but,
"Something dark, but I will show it to you when we are in private, your keen eyes will know more I am sure" he says,
"It is not what I may see, but more what I can feel Gandalf…I feel… evil from what is you have" I say quietly, he frowns at me for this but nods in understanding. Suddenly we hear a howl in the trees,
"Was that a wolf? Are there…are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asks, I look to him at this,
"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf" Bofur says I draw my bow again notching the arrow listening and looking before I see the warg with in the trees and quickly aim at it just before it leaps at us, Kili also firing an arrow at it and the others attacking it with their weapons once it falls to the ground, ensuring it is dead,
"Warg scouts! Which means an orc pack is not far behind!" Thorin says, I nod in agreement,
"Orc pack?" Bilbo asks, I step closer to him, he is the least experienced in a fight or any kind of dangerous situation, he will need the most protection,
"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf asks Thorin,
"No one" he responds.
"Who did you tell?!" Gandalf shouts, but I don't think Thorin would have told anyone of this quest, none of us would.
"No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?" Thorin asks,
"You are being hunted" Gandalf responds, I knew it! I knew I heard something all those nights ago, I shouldn't have let my guard down!
"We have to get out of here" Dwalin says, I nod in agreement, drawing another arrow to be safe,
"We can't! We have no ponies. They bolted" Ori cried.
"I'll draw them off" Radagast says, I look to the trees where the warg came from and climb up the mound, looking to see if I can find where the group is, climbing a couple of trees until I spot them, all on large wargs and armed of course.
Quickly I hurry down and back over to Radagast,
"They are coming up to us from the west" I say, he nods at this, getting the rabbits ready,
"Sistrumm, are you sure he can do this with those rabbits?" Dwalin asks, I smirk at him for that,
"The speed of those creatures will surprise you" I say, he nods in understanding before we all head in another direction, allowing Radagast to distract the scout party and lead them away from us.
"Come on! Stay together" Gandalf says, the group now running together as close as we can, I head to the front to be of better use with my sight,
"Behind here!" I say backing into a large rock, the others following but Ori almost running in sight of the orcs before Thorin and I grab him,
"Ori, no! Come back" he says, I bring him beside me against the rock, Gandalf looking around the rock, hearing Radagast jeering the orcs on,
"All of you, come on, come on! Quick!" Gandalf says, leading us on, I hurry in the front, leading the dwarves, knowing without speaking to Gandalf where we are going, I hurry us away before spotting the orcs getting too close and lead the dwarves behind some more rocks. However I can hear the sound of a wargs breath above us, I catch Thorin's eye whom is looking at me in question, I nod confirming to him and look up to direct where it is, he then looks to Kili as I do the same, he catches his attention and indicates above us, I catch his eye and hold one finger to show that there is only one and then point exactly where I can hear the beast, he nods at this, takes a breather after drawing his bow and arrow before stepping out and shooting the warg above us.
But when the creature falls, it isn't dead, and neither is the rider. I unsheathe my daggers and slit the orcs throat before he can even look at me but the others aren't as quiet in killing the warg, I listen out and of course the other orcs heard us and the cries of the warg.
"They heard us!" I shout, Gandalf and myself running away from the scene and towards our destination, the others following behind us, I bring out my bow and an arrow before quickly turning and shooting an orc rider in the head, seeing it drop off its saddle dead.
"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf shouts, leading us to the pass, but we cannot let the orcs know of the secret passage, I take a stand a few feet from the entrance shooting at another orc,
"There's more coming!" Kili shouts, the two of us taking a stand together,
"Kili! Eruanna! Shoot them!" Thorin shouts,
"What does it look like we're doing?!" I shout back, hitting another orc,
"We're surrounded!" Fili shouts, I look around us without turning my head, seeing them around our group,
"Where's Gandalf?" Fili asks, I don't look behind me, watching the orcs, when one comes towards us, either myself or Kili indicate to shoot it, I know that the orcs are watching us, or…myself in particular. None of them are familiar to me thankfully but they will all know of me, one thought I didn't think of is that Thorin may not be the only one hunted. I myself could have brought this danger upon this quest, and to these people whom I care and love.
"Hold your ground!" Thorin shouts, some of the dwarves coming closer to us to be ready to fight,
"This way, you fools!" shouts Gandalf, I look to him for a second, seeing him appear from the entrance, I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my side, I look down to see a small blade piercing my flesh but thankfully not hitting anything too important, I glare up at the orcs and fire another round of arrows at them,
"Come on, move! Quickly! All of you! Go, go, go!" Thorin shouts, I walk backwards, grabbing Kili's elbow to lead him with me, us both providing the others with a barrier between them and the orcs, I hear a horn in the far distance and smile happily,
"Kili go!" I shout, shooting another orc, letting him go down the entrance just as I see the horse riders approach us, I hurriedly go behind Kili, grimacing at the pain of the blade in my side as the rock touches it on going down.
Thorin pulls me up quickly and I look behind me in time to see an orc's dead body roll down, the dwarves aiming their weapons at it in case it isn't completely dead, but the arrow lodged in its neck is a good indicator,
"Elves" Thorin says after pulling the arrow out, I glare at him for the tone he uses, he see's this and looks down looking a little ashamed,
"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or not?" Dwalin asks, coming from around the bend of the tunnel,
"We follow it, of course!" Bofur says, going after Dwalin through the tunnel,
"I think that would be wise" Gandalf says, I smile at that faintly before the feeling in my right leg begins to go, forcing me to kneel down on my good leg, my hand holding onto the blade in my side,
"Eruanna! Oin she needs help!" Thorin shouts, Oin quickly comes over with Dwalin and the others,
"One of them threw it at me before, I haven't…" but I gasp in pain, feeling something else there, I look down and use one of my own blades to cut the fabric to show the wound…no.
"It's poisoned, Eruanna we need to remove the blade before I can help" Gandalf says, I nod in understanding, Dwalin helps me to sit down against the wall, kneeling before me with Oin beside him. Dwalin takes my hand in his, I nod to him in thanks, Oin placing a rolled up piece of cloth in my mouth which I bite down on.
"Are you ready lass?" he asks, I take a few deep breathes before nodding to him, holding Dwalin's hand, I know he doesn't like to show this side of himself but it gives me great comfort him doing this for me.
Oin takes hold of the blade and then carefully and quickly pulls it out, I scream out in pain, feeling the exposed wound touching the air and the pain only increases.
"She's losing too much blood, Gandalf if you can help I suggest you do it quickly" Oin says, I look to Gandalf, feeling my strength leaving me some, must be from the loss of blood and the poison combined.
"My dear I will do my best to keep the poison at bay and will cauterise the wound, but we must get you seen to as quickly as possible" he says, I nod in agreement, trying to use some magic to keep me going.
His spell helps some, though the cauterizing hurt a lot but was done quickly, my wound is then wrapped with a clean cloth.
"Lean on me my dear" Gandalf says after they help me to stand, I couldn't stop myself from swaying slightly which I know has worried them but I manage to walk still with Gandalf's help.
"Not far now" he says, I nod in understanding, but my sight is going off,
"Gandalf…" I try…but my voice doesn't come out, my body feeling like it is on fire,
"You can do this Eruanna, you are strong! Keep going" he says, I take more deep breathes trying to use more magic to keep myself going, but the trouble is if I keep using it the more drained I will be.
Finally, after what feels like years we come out of the tunnel, I feel better after smelling the fresh air and feeling the sun on me, and the sight before me brings great joy to me.
"The Valley of Imladris. In the common tongue, it's known by another name." Gandalf says,
"Rivendell" Bilbo says, I look to him and smile at the look of wonder in his eyes, knowing the fantasies that hobbits have of this place,
"Here lies the last homely house, east of the sea" Gandalf says, beginning to guide us forward,
"This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy" Thorin says stopping us, I have no control over my actions, I feel like my eyes light up in anger at him and the very air within me feels thick, he takes a step back at seeing me, sensing the power and anger within me,
"Watch your tongue Thorin son of Thrain" I growl,
"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself" Gandalf says, his hold on me a little tighter understandably,
"You think these Elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us" he says, I take in more deep breathes trying to block out his words, not understanding how I am suddenly feeling so riled up from his words, I can only guess it's from the stress and pain I am going through and that this is only delaying me seeing to a healer.
"Of course, they will. But we need the healers here to help Eruanna urgently and we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be successful this will need to be handled with tact, and respect, and no small degree of charm, which is why you will leave the talking to me" he says, I try not to say anything, but allow Gandalf to lead us forward, about half way he is supporting most of my weight and I feel like I am slipping in and out of conscious,
"Mithrandir" I hear, I look up slightly unable to greet Lindir with my usual smile, the look he has upon seeing my face shows how I must look, most likely how I feel,
"My lady! Asca Raitha!" he shouts, but I don't hear anything else, my head rolling to the side and my legs unable to hold me up any more collapse under me, I don't feel the fall, I may have been caught my Gandalf but I do not know. All I feel, hear and see is darkness.
Rough Translations:
Asca - Means 'Hurry'
Raitha - "to rescue, save (from ruin, peril, loss)"
I know Dwalin is the tough guy but I wanted to show in this chapter how he puts this aside to be there to support his "sister"
Sorry it has been so long since last update but I hope you enjoy this chapter x
