Welcome back! I actually remembered to update on Monday this time. Go me.
Thanks as always for your continued support!
Chapter Nine
The Hunt
Alison lingered on the edges of the trolls' camp, keeping out of the way as the dwarves retrieved the weapons and gear that they'd been stripped of before her arrival. She'd fetched the dagger Thorin had given her and cleaned off the troll blood in disgust before sheathing it once more at her waist.
Well, she'd thought while scrubbing off the blood, some use I was.
She'd followed the snapped branches and trampled undergrowth the dwarves had left behind until she'd reached the trolls' camp, ducking behind some bushes for cover to assess the situation. She remembered her father reading about the trolls to her when she was younger, but she'd had no idea just how big they would be—great, lumbering creatures ten feet high, with limbs thicker than tree trunks and gray, mottled skin. They smelled atrocious as well, and it was eventually her need to cough that had given her away when one of the trolls had looked over and seen her hiding spot.
She knew Thorin was furious. Even if she hadn't heard the anger plainly in his tone when he'd spoken to her, the look in his eyes had been enough indication. She was screwed.
She looked up when a shadow fell across her feet, the strengthening sunlight hitting her eyes and forcing her to squint at Gandalf.
"So nice of you to rejoin us," she said.
He frowned at the accusation in her tone. "The situation seemed plenty handled to me."
"We almost got eaten by trolls."
"But thanks to Bilbo's ingenuity, you did not." He peered closer at her. "I thought you knew what would happen with the trolls, Miss Ashburne?"
She averted her gaze. "Gandalf, I barely remember this story. My father read it to me years ago. You can't expect me to know the book cover to cover."
"Which is why I instructed you to re-read it when we first met," he said, stern.
She sighed. "Yeah, but was I really going to listen to some creepy old man at a bus stop? No offense."
"Well, what does it matter?" Gandalf said, turning away from her. "You're here now. It seems we'll just have to play it by ear." He glanced back and raised his bushy eyebrows. "Though I expect you'll work with the memories you do have?"
She nodded, her gaze shifting to where Thorin stood with Fíli and Kíli. The dwarves conversed in low voices, though when Thorin caught her eye, he gestured for her and Gandalf to come over.
She swallowed and trailed behind Gandalf. When they approached, Thorin looked the wizard up and down with a steely gaze. "Where did you go, if I may ask?"
"To look ahead," Gandalf replied simply, his attention now on the stone trolls. Alison looked at the one who'd grabbed her and refrained from flipping it off, strangely satisfied to see its face contorted in a silent roar of fury.
Thorin stared at Gandalf, unimpressed. "And what brought you back?"
Gandalf looked to Alison with a knowing twinkle in his eyes as he said, "Looking behind." He swept his eyes over the clearing and the remains of the trolls' camp. "Nasty business. Still; you are all in one piece."
"No thanks to your burglar," Thorin said with a dark scowl.
"He had the nous to play for time," Gandalf said. "None of the rest of you thought of that."
Thorin's glare shifted to Alison. "Indeed not."
She looked to Gandalf for support, but the wizard had already turned back to the trolls.
"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors," he murmured.
"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?" Thorin asked.
"Oh, not for an age," Gandalf said, frowning. "Not since a darker power ruled these lands."
Alison glanced at the dwarves, wondering if anyone else was confused by the vague eeriness of that answer, but they all looked troubled by the wizard's words.
"They could not have moved in daylight," Gandalf added.
"Then there must be a cave nearby," Thorin said. "Dwalin, Nori, Bofur, Glóin! With me." He jerked his head. "The rest of you clear our camp and bring back our supplies." Before he trekked into the woods with Gandalf and his chosen men, he fixed Alison with another hard stare. "You and I will speak later."
He moved off, leaving her alone with the two princes, who avoided her eyes awkwardly.
"Looking forward to it," Alison muttered. She glared at the princes. "What?"
"Nothing," Fíli said quickly.
Kíli snorted. "And Thorin calls me reckless. Did you think you could take on those trolls by yourself, Miss Ashburne?"
"Someone had to do something!" she snapped. "If I recall, you all were about to become troll food by the time I showed up. At least I distracted them for a few minutes."
"You still disobeyed a direct order from Thorin," he pointed out.
Fíli intervened before Alison could reply.
"Let's just go back to camp and gather our things," he said, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "Come on."
He headed back in the direction of their camp, leaving Alison and Kíli with no choice but to follow him. As they trudged through the woods, Alison turned to Kíli hesitantly.
"Do you think Thorin will kick me out of the Company?" she asked.
He blinked. "What?"
She stared ahead, her heart sinking. "You're right; he gave me an order and I didn't listen. Will he banish me?"
He had the audacity to laugh at her, which only made her feel worse.
"Thorin won't banish you for not listening to him," he said, shaking his head. "Do you think I'd still be here if he banished anyone for disobedience?"
"You're his nephew," she said, sullen. "That's different."
"I assure you it's not," he said. "Thorin is fair, Miss Ashburne; harsh, sometimes, but fair. I promise you he won't banish you. Especially if it is the Valar's will that you're here."
"Okay." She remained unconvinced despite Kíli's words; Thorin seemed as hard and unyielding as stone. The only time she'd seen him look remotely human was the morning prior when he'd given her his dagger. And now whatever small understanding had sprouted between them was dead, ripped out root and stem because she was stupid and didn't listen, and thought she could be a Hero.
And there it was: the truth.
She hadn't gone after the Company just because they needed help; she'd also done it to prove something—whether to herself or everyone else, she didn't know. But all the talk of Heroes and how great and brave and strong they were…she'd let it sink in. She'd allowed herself to believe in all that crap just for a second, and she'd almost become stew because of it. She didn't know what Gandalf or the Valar were thinking. She wasn't a Hero, no matter how much they wanted her to be.
They made it back to camp and Alison peeled off to where she'd set up her bedroll the night before, her backpack still atop it, untouched. She packed away her things, resigning herself to the fact that she wouldn't be sleeping yet, though her eyelids were heavy, and every limb dragged in exhaustion now that her panic and adrenaline were gone.
The rest of the Company moved back into the woods once the camp was packed, following the trail that Thorin and the others had left behind to the troll cave. Alison smelled it long before she saw it—a mixture of rotting meat, excrement, and something she could only describe as death.
The dwarves complained and gagged on the stench, and Bilbo had gone so far as to hold his nose, breathing instead through his mouth. Alison covered her face with her sleeve as they got closer, her eyes watering from the reek while her other hand flapped in front of her to ward off the flies swarming around the cave mouth that now loomed before them, its entrance strewn with bones and muck.
"We'll wait here," Fíli said, casting the cave a disdainful look while he set his and Thorin's packs on the ground a fair distance away, keeping a clear view of the entrance still.
Alison found a long since fallen tree even farther away and settled herself down on its trunk, dropping her backpack at her feet. She twisted her back several times to make it pop and rubbed her shoulders, still incredibly sore from when the troll had dropped her. She didn't even remember stabbing it in the face; she'd just done it, and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground with all the air knocked out of her.
"Not very pleasant, is it?"
She looked up when Bilbo sat beside her, jumping slightly to get up on the tree. He gave her a small smile. "Getting dropped by trolls, I mean. The same thing happened to me before the others arrived."
"Could be worse." She shrugged. "They could be using us as toothpicks right now."
Bilbo snorted. "You don't have to tell me twice." He then sighed, twiddling his thumbs. "A right mess I got us in, though, right?"
"You also got us out of it," she reminded him.
The tip of his nose twitched. "Thank you, by the way. For playing along."
She leaned back on her elbows, sighing blissfully when the muscles in her back stretched. "Anytime, my dude."
He gave her a weird look but chose not to ask. "How did you know about the trolls, by the way?" She froze. "You knew sunlight could harm them. How?"
"I, er, overheard someone…talking about it once," she said, trying not to look as panicked as she felt. How could she even begin to explain the story to him? Was she even supposed to? Gandalf had never explicitly stated that she had to keep it a secret. But what would happen if she told the truth? Would the Valar smite her on the spot? They hadn't exactly given her any rules to follow…
Though Bilbo looked as if he didn't entirely buy her story, he still nodded. "Hm. All right."
Fortunately, the troll cave party emerged just then, cursing the horrid stench and scowling. She looked on in interest when she saw Thorin carrying a sword, dirty and covered in cobwebs, that he must have found in the trolls' hoard. Gandalf had one sheathed at his waist, too, and a smaller blade that he held in his hand as he spotted Bilbo and Alison and walked over to them.
"Bilbo," he said. He held out the blade to the hobbit. It sat in a sheath, dusty and grimy from the cave, but the leather-bound grip looked polished, its silver inlay shining faintly in the sunlight. Bilbo took the blade, curious. "It should be about your size."
Bilbo's eyes went wide when he realized what Gandalf meant. "No, I—I can't take this, Gandalf."
He tried to hand it back, but Gandalf shook his head. "It is of elvish make, which means it will glow blue whenever orcs or goblins are nearby. Quite useful, I'd say."
Bilbo frowned, his expression troubled. "I have never used a sword in my life."
"And I hope you never have to," said Gandalf, his voice grave, but his eyes gentle. "But if you do, remember this: Courage is knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one."
Bilbo glanced at Alison. "You should have it. You're supposed to be a Hero and all that."
Alison shook her head, sharing a secretive look with Gandalf. "No, Bilbo, it's yours. Something tells me you're meant to have it."
He seemed ready to object, but before he could, the woods came alive with the sound of crashing undergrowth and birds trilling a warning, taking to the air in a flurry of wings and shrill cries.
"Something's coming!" Thorin said.
Gandalf drew his new sword—also an elvish blade, Alison noticed—and rushed forward, shouting, "Stay together! Arm yourselves!"
The dwarves followed, their weapons drawn, as Alison and Bilbo leaped to their feet. Bilbo unsheathed his new blade warily, looking at it like it was a poisonous snake, and Alison drew her dagger, wishing, disgruntled, that she at least had a sword like everyone else seemed to have. She grabbed her backpack and followed the rest of the Company, Bilbo on her heels, and prayed that it wasn't more trolls. She might as well just kiss her ass goodbye right then.
The Company took positions atop a grassy ridge, claiming the high ground as they faced whatever was coming toward them, the noise steadily growing louder. Alison felt a bit stupid, holding her dagger in the defensive position Thorin had taught her the night before, but when the foliage before them started to wave wildly, she realized how serious their situation was and focused, her heart hammering.
"THIEVES! FIRE! MURDER!"
Something burst into the clearing below them—a sleigh. She blinked. A sleigh pulled by…rabbits. She blinked again. Rabbits the size of…dogs.
"What the hell?" she said aloud.
"I second that," Bilbo murmured beside her. "Who is that?"
Alison had been so focused on the freakishly large rabbits that she hadn't even realized that there was someone riding the sleigh—an old man, though he was perhaps the most bizarre-looking person she had ever seen.
He was dressed in ragged brown robes, with a frayed brown hat that was covered in patches and what suspiciously looked like bird droppings. His gray hair was wild and tangled, sticking out at odd angles like he enjoyed putting his finger in electrical sockets for fun, and his eyes shone with a manic light.
He looked absolutely bonkers, which was why Alison was taken aback when Gandalf said, "Radagast! It is Radagast the Brown!"
She stared, dumbfounded, as Gandalf put away his sword and strode forward to greet the newcomer. "What on earth are you doing here, Radagast?"
"I was looking for you, Gandalf!" the other man said. "Something's wrong—something is terribly wrong!"
Alison spoke to Bilbo from the corner of her mouth. "Do you have any idea what's going on right now?"
"That's another wizard," he said, frowning at Radagast. "He's a part of Gandalf's order; Gandalf told me about them—the other wizards—a few days ago."
She looked the frantic wizard up and down. "Is he supposed to be batshit crazy?"
Bilbo snorted, loudly enough to garner the attention of the dwarves, who had stood down and put away their weapons once they realized the Brown Wizard was not a threat.
As Gandalf and Radagast moved away, speaking in low voices, Thorin marched to where Alison and Bilbo stood. He jerked his head at Alison as he moved past her. "With me."
Alison gulped. Bilbo gave her a nervous glance, but she only smiled tightly before following Thorin, willing some confidence in herself. Kíli had assured her that Thorin wouldn't banish her.
So why did she still feel like she was walking to the gallows?
When they were out of earshot of the rest of the Company, Thorin turned on her. Though his eyes were as solid as a frozen lake, they lacked the anger she had seen in them before, which gave her some small hope.
"I ordered you to remain at the camp last night," he said. "Yet instead you opted to disobey me and endanger yourself."
She nodded, mute.
His eyes tightened, the faint wrinkles around them standing out more prominently. "I understand that you are no dwarf, Miss Ashburne, but you signed the contract, same as everyone else. I am the leader of this Company and your signature on that contract means you are bound to me and the orders I give."
She shifted under the weight of his stare. Though they were nearly eye-level, she still felt like a little kid being scolded. "I know. And I'm sorry; really. I won't do it again."
He studied her for a long moment before saying, "I know what you intended upon following us; it was a selfless thing you did, but a foolhardy one all the same. Just remember there is more to being a warrior than noble deeds and brave acts. It takes thought and a steady heart; a clear mind and sharp wits are always your greatest allies."
She nodded. "I understand."
He glanced over her once more and gave a tiny nod of his head. She wasn't entirely sure if that meant he'd forgiven her or not, but he hadn't exiled her or anything, so she figured that was as good as she was going to get.
She floundered for something to say, but before she could even open her mouth, the morning was shattered by a keening howl—a wolf, she thought, but there was something sinister about it that sent a shiver of dread down her spine. She and Thorin shared a bewildered glance before they turned in unison and moved back toward the Company, who were looking around the woods warily, their weapons out again.
"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked, his face white. "Are there wolves out there?"
"That was no wolf," Bofur said, his hands tight on his mattock.
Gandalf appeared out of the thick foliage with Radagast on his heels. He had drawn his sword, but Alison glimpsed him tuck something away within his robes just as a deep growl reverberated through the woods.
The Company tensed, and Alison fumbled at her waist for her dagger, fear making her fingers stiff and clumsy. She managed to free the blade just as something lunged out of the woods—right at Thorin, who stood directly in front of her.
She stood, paralyzed, as the creature went in for the kill with a roar that was unlike anything she had ever heard. At first, she thought it was a great, black bear, but the creature was distinctly canine and even bigger than a bear.
Thorin whirled faster than she could blink and cut down the creature in two clean strokes, his new elven blade slicing through bone and tendon like they were nothing more than paper. Alison gaped at the dead thing at her feet, its maw still open in a silent snarl, as another one launched itself at the Company across the clearing.
Its jaws snapped at Nori, but Kíli loosed an arrow that pierced its brown-furred side. The creature roared—more from anger than pain—before it was silenced by Dwalin, who brought one of his axes down upon its neck. Alison heard the crushing of bone from the opposite side of the clearing, and she thought was she was going to be sick until Thorin spoke.
"Warg scouts!" he spat. "Which means an orc pack is not far behind."
"Orc pack?" Bilbo squeaked, echoing Alison's thoughts exactly.
Gandalf strode forward, his eyes blazing when he turned them on Thorin. "Who did you tell of your quest, beyond your kin?"
"No one," Thorin snapped.
"Who did you tell?" Gandalf demanded.
"No one, I swear!" Thorin scowled. "What in Durin's name is going on?"
"You are being hunted," said Gandalf gravely.
"We have to get out of here," Dwalin growled.
Ori appeared at the top of the ridge, his face panicked. "We can't! The ponies have bolted!"
We're going to die, Alison thought.
Radagast the Brown unexpectedly spoke up then. "I'll draw them off."
Alison had quite forgotten the other wizard was there, and it seemed Gandalf had, too, for he turned on him in shock.
"These are Gundabad wargs," he said. "They will outrun you!"
"These are Rhosgobel rabbits," Radagast said, indicating his fleet of bunnies and his sleigh. That manic light shone in his blue eyes again, and a crazed smile danced across his face, mischievous and exhilarated. "I'd like to see them try."
Yeah. We're all dead.
The Company stood silently in the shadows of the trees, waiting for their cue to begin running. They were leaving the thick tree cover of the forest behind; ahead of them stretched an empty golden plain, interrupted here and there by sparse mounds of large gray boulders.
Alison's heart pounded in her chest, and she gripped her dagger tightly, sweat slicking her palm and making it hard to hold onto. She raked her gaze over the landscape, trying to ignore the shivers coursing down her spine as the howls of the wargs drew closer.
At that moment, Radagast broke free of the tree-line half a mile to their left, riding his rabbit-pulled sleigh as at least a dozen wargs tore after him, about half of them with orc riders on their backs. They were too far away to see clearly, but Alison could spot the gleam of their wicked weapons and the profiles of their bodies, some ranging from skinny and vicious to downright giant and nightmarish.
As Radagast and the hunters whisked out of view, Gandalf said, "Come on!" and sprinted out of the trees, the Company close behind him. They were horribly exposed without the tree cover, and the sun beat down on them harshly, hindering their eyesight and overheating them in their clothes and armor, with their heavy weapons in hand and supplies bouncing on their backs.
They reached the first cluster of boulders and hid with no problem, catching their breath, and were about to go again when Radagast whizzed by far too close for comfort, leading the hunting party after him. Luckily, none of the orcs or wargs noticed them, but they had to wait for them to move far enough out of range again before they could resume their path.
Alison wondered why their quest was now being tailed by some orc hunting party; she recalled Gandalf and Thorin's heated exchange back in the forest, but somehow, the wizard's accusations didn't sit well with her. She had a nagging feeling that this wasn't just about the Company, but herself, to an extent. Gandalf had told her she was a Hero, and that not everything would stay the same because of her presence; maybe this is what he had meant.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Gandalf gesturing the Company after him until half the group had taken off around her, only registering it when Fíli sprinted by and grabbed her wrist, tugging her after him. She yelped, but he shot a look over his shoulder that plainly read Please shut up before you get us all killed.
She swallowed her indignant comment and instead raced behind Fíli, his hand still clamped around her wrist as they ran across another stretch of the plain.
Radagast and the hunting party suddenly neared them again, cresting over a small hill and close enough to where Alison could see the wizard's erratic smile and the pursuing wargs' frothing mouths. The Company ducked behind another pile of boulders, fortunately before Alison could get a glimpse of the orcs, or else she probably would have stopped running out of sheer fright.
"Ori, no, get back!" Thorin snarled when Ori lost his balance and almost toppled into view of the orcs. Thorin pulled the young dwarf roughly back into cover, and Ori flattened himself against the rocks, his face red from shame and exertion.
They watched as Radagast and the orcs shrank farther away down the plain, but before Gandalf could order them to move again, Thorin looked to the wizard with narrowed eyes. "Where are you leading us?"
Gandalf spared Thorin only a short glance. "Stick together, and move quickly." He dashed from their hiding place and made for another large boulder rising up about halfway down the plain. Thorin looked furious, but he sprinted after him all the same, the Company on his heels.
As they ran, the orcs neared them again, still being led on by Radagast. But as Alison watched, one of the riders in the pack slowed its warg down. The warg paused and sniffed the air before gazing in their direction, and Alison saw its orc rider draw a curved machete that had to be the size of her leg.
"Thorin!" she gasped. Fear rushed through her body, making her already numb legs go weak, though Fíli still pulled her on relentlessly. "I think one of them sees us!"
"Keep moving!" he ordered. They sprinted to the boulders as the ground began to quake with thudding footfalls coming ever closer. They threw themselves against the boulder, pressing their backs into the rock, and Fíli pushed Alison close behind him, his arm secured across her waist.
The Company held their breath as huge paws leaped atop the boulder. Nails scraped the stone as the warg sniffed and growled low in its chest, no doubt sensing their presence. A couple of places down from Alison, Thorin gestured with his head to Kíli and his bow, then up to the boulder above them.
Kíli acknowledged his uncle with a glance, and silently, pulled an arrow out of his quiver, fitting it to the bowstring. He heaved a breath to steel himself, then pushed away from the boulder, taking aim above and shooting the warg through the throat. The creature snarled, its claws scrabbling on the stone as it fell down before them, throwing its rider with a roar of surprise and anger before Bifur and Bofur quickly disposed of the beast with their weapons.
The orc, shrieking a battle cry, grabbed its crude blade off the ground and charged at Kíli, who shot another arrow into its shoulder. Thorin and Dwalin drew their own weapons and attacked the orc before it reached the younger prince, knocking it down and stabbing and pummeling it as the creature howled and screeched, the sound grating on Alison's eardrums.
They were making far too much noise, she realized; the hunting party was bound to hear them, but she watched in horrified fascination as the orc was slain, black drops of blood spattering the ground at her feet. Her stomach roiled as Dwalin polished off the orc for good, swinging his axes in a large arc that splattered the nearest members of the Company—including herself—with oily, foul-smelling blood, and it took everything she had not to throw up or pass out right then and there.
"Move! Run!" Gandalf cried as the sounds of howling and shrieking drew nearer, and as the Company ran for it, Alison saw the hunting party on their tails, a dozen wargs and riders tearing after them across the plains.
"There they are!" Glóin yelled as the riders caught up to them, closing in on their prey.
Gee, Glóin, thanks for the heads up, Alison thought vehemently as they ran on. She glanced ahead to see Gandalf still leading them on across the barren plains, no shelter or anything in sight. This wizard better have a grand effing plan beneath that stupid pointy hat of his or we are all dead.
"Quickly! This way!" Gandalf shouted as if he'd heard Alison's thoughts. He pointed to a large spire of rock reaching high into the air about a quarter of a mile in front of them.
Through her terrified haze, Alison wondered what that rock could possibly do for them, but she continued toward it anyway, right behind Fíli. She stumbled, her legs burning and her chest heaving, but Fíli didn't slow, his grip gone after the last rocks. It took Bofur's steadying hand on her back to keep her upright, though she knew she couldn't go on running forever.
They made it to the rock just as the orcs closed in on them, and there the fighting started. Óin and Nori took down an orc and warg duo, breaking bones and smashing heads with their axe and staff. Dwalin hefted his two humongous, bloodstained battle axes, bringing down another warg and then splitting the skull of its rider.
Fíli brandished one of his two swords beside her, deftly moving in front of her while her knees turned to jelly. She gripped her dagger so hard her hand was beginning to cramp, but she ignored the pain as Kíli readied his bow and shouted, "There's more coming!"
The orcs closed in, menacing and vile, and Alison knew that for as long as she lived, she would never see anything as petrifying as them swarming for the kill as they ambled closer, their beady eyes sparking evilly and sadistic smiles crossing their oozing mouths.
"Kíli, shoot them!" Thorin said, and Kíli obeyed, launching arrows at any orc who came near. The other dwarves engaged the hunters, but Alison knew they were greatly outnumbered. She tried to hold in a whimper, knowing that that wasn't very heroic at all, and she prayed to whoever was listening to give her some of that fabled Hero blood of her ancestors.
"We're surrounded!" Dori cried, keeping an orc at bay with some sort of whip with a blade attached to the end of it.
"Where's Gandalf?" Fíli shouted, and Alison looked around, realizing with a spike of panic that the wizard was nowhere to be seen.
"He's abandoned us!" Dwalin snarled as he cut down another warg.
"Hold your ground!" Thorin roared, raising his sword with a flourish as he faced the approaching hunters.
The orcs closed in, encircling them. Directly in front of Alison and Fíli, a rabid warg was creeping closer, bearing a fearsome rider upon its back. The orc was smaller than most of the others, but no less terrifying, wearing a horrible barbed collar made from giant fangs and bones of some sort that bristled out of its back and shoulders, and from the way it carried itself and the wicked spear in its hand, Alison guessed this one was the leader.
The orc leered at her from astride its beast, its black tongue rolling over its lips, and Alison shuddered. Fíli stiffened, his muscles coiled as he sank into a battle stance. Ori suddenly appeared out of nowhere, using a slingshot to try and ward off the warg, but the stone bounced harmlessly off its head, only succeeding in making the beast angrier as the orc laughed, its voice coarse and cruel.
Ori backed away, and Alison gripped his elbow as Fíli pushed her behind him and said, "Go, Alison, Ori."
"Fíli—" she said, but he barked, "Go!" once more, not taking his eyes off the orc.
Suddenly, Alison heard Gandalf's voice from behind them, rising above the sounds of battle like a cry of thunder: "This way, you fools!"
She turned, seeing the wizard appear out of a hole in the spire of rock they were scattered around, and the dwarves began running to him, having no other choice besides being attacked and overpowered by the orcs.
Bofur disappeared into the rock first, followed by Bilbo, and Alison ushered Ori toward it, casting a fearful look to Fíli.
"Fíli, come on!" she cried. But the dwarf prince ignored her, still focused on the orc, who cackled maliciously as his gaze lingered on her again. Her skin crawled, but then her heart stopped as the warg lunged at Fíli.
"Fíli!" she screamed as he brought the blade down on the beast's side. The warg roared in pain, but it stayed upright. The orc snarled, raising its spear as Fíli staggered back from the warg's momentum, his sword swinging wildly as he tried to regain his stance.
Without thinking, Alison raised her dagger, almost forgetting the thing was still in her hand as a red-hot wave of fury washed over her when the orc prepared for the killing blow. Alison let the blade fly. The dagger glanced off the side of the orc's head, slicing it shallowly across the temple, but it was enough of a distraction for Fíli to slash with his sword, sending the warg rearing away with the orc snarling in fury, its eyes burning into Alison.
Not having any time to process what she had just done or to go back and retrieve her weapon, Fíli turned and shoved her and Ori in front of him as they raced toward the rock, Thorin yelling, "Move, quickly! All of you, go!"
Ori dove into the hole in the rock, sliding down a steep incline, and Alison quickly followed, scraping her hands and snagging on rocks as she tumbled down, Fíli right behind her. A few seconds later, Kíli came flying down after them, with Thorin being the last one to enter behind him.
The Company piled together in the cavernous space they'd landed in, listening as the orcs drew closer, until a clear, piercing noise that sounded like a hunting horn blew across the plain, followed by the sounds of many hoofs and the twanging of bows.
Startled cries and hisses echoed from the wargs and orcs. An orc toppled into the cavern, tumbling to a messy stop at the Company's feet, an arrow protruding from its heart. When it was clear the orc was dead, Thorin bent down and removed the arrow from its chest, gazing at it before scowling and throwing it down in disgust.
"Elves," was all he said, spitting out the word as if it were poison.
"I cannot see where the pathway leads!" Dwalin called from farther down the cavern. "Do we follow it or not?"
"Follow it, of course!" Bofur said, hurrying down the pathway in the cavern behind them, the others following behind without argument.
Alison leaned against the back wall, her head spinning and her lungs burning ferociously as if someone were pressing a shirt-ironer to her chest. But she couldn't stop thinking about the dagger, and what she had done…
"Alison, can you walk?" Fíli said, looking at her. There was a strange glint in his eyes, half-wariness, and something else she didn't quite recognize. She nodded, accepting the hand he offered her before following him down the passage.
Farther and farther the Company went down the pathway. Alison looked up to the high cavern walls on either side of her, seeing the gleam of sunlight way up above them. The air turned warmer and sweeter as they went on, and Alison could imagine it shimmering and singing, filling her up with a wondrous sense of…something. She didn't know how to describe it, but it tugged at her as if sensing her presence and wanting to draw her into the light.
"Gandalf," she said to the wizard, who had taken up the rear behind her. "Where are we?"
"You can feel it?" the wizard replied, looking down at her and smiling slightly.
"Yes," she said. She wondered whether Gandalf would scoff at her before determining that if there was one thing a wizard would not laugh about, it would be this. "It feels… Well, it feels like magic."
To her surprise and relief, Gandalf only nodded, looking pleased as they came to the apparent end of the passageway, for suddenly it was wider, and more light poured in. She paused with the wizard before following the others out of the passageway.
"That's exactly what it is," he agreed. "A very powerful magic."
And with no explanation, he exited the passageway. Alison hurried behind him, her questions vanishing along with all the breath in her body as Gandalf swept his arm before them.
"The Valley of Imladris," he said as Alison stepped up beside him, speechless, with Bilbo trailing after her in astonishment. "In the Common Tongue, it is known by another name."
The memory came rushing back to Alison as she gazed at the beautiful scene before her, and at the same time as Bilbo, they breathed out one word together: "Rivendell."
And we've made it to Rivendell! We'll be here for a few chapters, but there are several very familiar faces to meet in the meantime ;)
Let me know what you thought! It's always wonderful to hear from y'all!
Until next time!
