Author's Note: I own nothing.
10 Ghosts from the Past
Thorin panted as they raced out of the mountain. That had been undeniably unpleasant, none of them had expected to stumble onto a town of Goblins. Making it out alive was another shock, and it was mostly thanks to Gandalf's timely arrival. They paused down the hillside from the exit, well into the safety of daylight. All of them were panting, many were scraped and bruised, they'd lost most of their supplies, only barely recovering their weapons. Gandalf was counting heads and he frowned.
"Where is Bella?" Gandalf asked. No one spoke. "Where is our Hobbit?!" He demanded. Nori stepped forward.
"I think I saw her slip away when they collared us." He said with a little hope in his voice. Arguments broke out about who was responsible for the Hobbit.
"Did no one see what happened to her!" Gandalf called out, anger building in his voice.
"At best she took her chance and left. At worst she was killed in the caves." Thorin said a frown on his face. He couldn't help the guilt building in his gut. He'd said from the beginning that she shouldn't have come, that this endeavor was too dangerous for gentlefolk. He hated that he'd been right. There were tears building in Ori's eyes. "She is long gone." Thorin finished the reality of that fact weighing heavily on all present.
"No she isn't." The voice cut through the silence, ringing and nearly musical. The whole group spun, spotting Bella stepping out from behind a tree. She was slipping something away in her vest. She looked a bit worse for the wear. There were a few buttons missing from her vest, her sleeve was torn and she had bits of what looked like mushrooms clinging to her hair and clothes. But she had somehow faired better than the rest of the company, if only because her pack was still on her back. Ori rushed forward pulling Bella into a hug as Kili laughed and followed suit.
"Belladonna Baggins! I have never been happier to see anyone!" Gandalf said with a fond smile. Bella rolled her eyes from around Kili's arm.
"How did you get away from the goblins?" Dwalin demanded.
"I fell down a hole, I'm afraid the story gets complicated from there." Bella said shaking her head, small pieces of mushroom falling from her curls. Several of the dwarves laughed. Thorin frowned.
"Why did you come back? You could have made it back over the mountain." He asked, the company falling silent. Bella sighed.
"I know you don't believe in me Thorin. Truth be told I don't believe in myself here. But I cannot return home knowing I could have helped my friends take back their home in whatever capacity I am able, and yet did nothing. I will help you take back your home if I can." Nor can I sit back knowing you may die on this quest and I would never hear you sing in my mind again. She added, though only to herself. Kili pulled her into another side hug but his grip slipped as a deep rumbling howl shook the mountainside. Looking up they spotted a pack of Wargs bearing down on them.
"Out of the frying pan." Thorin commented nearly resignedly.
"And into the fire." Gandalf finished. "Run!" He called out and the company scrambled off down the cliff. Unfortunately they were herded to a sheer cliff-face with no means of escape.
Bella shuddered as the blade of her little sword sank deep into the skull of a Warg. She'd never killed anything before, except fish she'd caught from the Brandywine river. She just managed to yank her sword back out of the dead beast and shove it back into its sheath in time to scramble up a tree to avoid the snapping jaws of the rest of the pack. Fili pulled her further up into the branches.
Their situation was looking dire, Gandalf's trick with the flaming pine-cones had only bought them time and now the Wargs were ripping up the roots of the trees forcing the company to dangle off the cliff. Bella was certain that they were done for when someone managed to pull themselves up and raced towards the oncoming pale Orc, a figure straight out of Balin's story, the murderer of Thorin's grandfather, and likely his father as well. Of course the charging dwarf was Thorin himself and the rest of the company cried out in despair trying to struggle their way back up their dangling branches to help him as he battled the pale Orc alone. But as the white Warg got its teeth into Thorin, Bella knew none of the rest of them would get to him in time. Azog's mace sent him flying, splayed out on a rock barely conscious.
No one was looking at Bella, every eye here was fixed on Thorin, which is probably the only reason she managed to do what she did. With a strength she didn't know she had she managed to pull herself up onto the tree and scramble down its length back to the cliff pulling her little sword as one of the other Orcs approached Thorin. Without thinking Bella charged. Somehow she took the creature by surprise, knocking it clean off its feet and driving her sword once, twice, three times into its chest. It stilled and Bella sprung back to her feet finding herself directly between Thorin and the pale Orc. She could not understand what Azog hissed at her, she didn't really need to, the look in his eyes told her he had ordered her death. Her grip on her little sword tightened as the other Orcs advanced still astride their Wargs. Bella steeled herself for death, at least she had gone out fighting. It was then several of the dwarves charged back into the battle having managed to finally pull themselves up.
Still if it had not been for the eagles they would have died there on that cliff. But as they flew through the night sky Bella kept her eyes fixed on Thorin where he was gently gripped in the talons of the eagle ahead of her. She could barely make him out in the dark of the night, the moonlight glinting off Orcrist. He didn't look to be moving. She glanced back at the others, by some miracle they had all survived, all escaped the pale Orc and his hunting party. They flew through the night, and well into the next day before the eagles swooped down to land on a tall rocky formation.