Chapter 15: From Frying Pan to Fire Encounter: Part I

It was not that Fili was watching her, he was merely observing, noting, learning. There was not much he gained from his studies, but one of the few things he gleaned and found to be sure about, was the woman was a creature of habits. The most reliable and repetitive of her habits were those of her morning routine.

Like clockwork, Thyra would begin her morning with daily prayers. To what deities she offered up her muttered words, he did not know. But following her short kneeled utterings, she would proceed with packing her bed roll, and then catch a spot of breakfast before reporting to Thorin. Following her report, she would set out to scout ahead while the rest of the company prepared for their own departure as a group. It had been like this since their first day of departure and not a single morning had been different. Until now.

He had just finished his shift as the final watch and was on his way back to the main camp to rouse the rest of the slumbering group. On any normal morning, he would come across Thyra, kneeled on her knees muttering quiet words in Régan. The moment he would come across her, she would finish by licking her first three fingers and drag them through the dirt before standing up and silently walking back with him.

But today he did not come across her.

Thrown off by the irregularity, he glanced towards her bed roll the moment he reached camp. He had been expecting to see her sleeping soundly beside Sigurd but was only greeted by an empty space of flattened grass that was the only evidence that she had ever laid there.

Shaking his head, he moved on to a new assumption that perhaps she had somehow woken earlier than usual. He had been noticing the past few nights that she had not been sleeping well. He assured himself he had not noticed because he was concerned, it was merely and observation that he had taken note of.

With this fact in mind, he deduced that since she had woken early, then she would have already left to go scout ahead. At this, a twinge of annoyance began to form in the back of his mind. He did not like how Thyra could so easily go about undetected. He had not even noticed her departure.

As he made it around the camp, he finally approached his sleeping uncle and gave him a small shake to waken him. He watched as his uncle's eyes immediately shot open, then slowly relax as he took in his nephew.

"First light is here," Fili said to which he received a nod from his uncle.

He watched as Thorin rubbed the sleep from his eyes then stretch his body, his bones let out several cracks and pops as he let out a tired grunt before slowly standing up.

"Anything to report from last night?" He asked in a tired tone as he began to pack his things.

"No," Fili replied, then added curiously, "When did Thyra check out with you before leaving this morning?"

Thorin paused in rolling up his bed roll to look up at his heir with a confused look.

"Thyra did not check out with m," he looked around the campground. "Is she not still here?"

It was those words that disturbed Fili greatly. Suddenly, he knew that something was very, very wrong.

"Has anyone seen Thyra this morning?" Thorin called out to the group milling about the campground as they did their own morning routines.

At his words all stopped and looked at him. He scanned their faces, looking for any source of a glimmer but was disappointed when all he received where confused and blank stares.

Thorin was suddenly struck with a nervousness. He had promised Asha to watch out for the two young women of their company and now he had just lost one. Had he been to confident in letting her come and go without pairing her off with someone? Did she seek out privacy to attend to personal needs and get caught?

He shook his head. No, her belongings were gone meaning that she had left without the intention of coming back anytime soon. Most likely she had left to begin the usual scouting ahead.

But it was not like her to leave so early and without any word.

He looked to Sigurd.

"Sigurd," he said, his voice perhaps coming out a bit too roughly with his hidden worry. "Did Thyra say anything to you about leaving?"

Sigurd startled but immediately shook her head.

Thorin sighed in frustration, doing his best to not get angry at her. He ran a hand through his hair as he searched his mind. He did not have the time to waste searching for her today. He had planned it out carefully that they would travel hard for several weeks then rest a day then take up a vigorous pace again. So far it was working and they were making good progress but time was still precious.

Thrade could see the agitation growing within Thorin. He had heard the underplaying worry in his words but the cause was uncertain. He was not sure if it was for the loss of time by trying to solve Thyra's disappearance, or for worry for Thyra's safety. He hoped it was for the latter reason.

He had noticed that Thorin watched over and treated Thrya well. A feat that he was pleased to discover in the man that he had always idolized. Thrade himself already felt himself beginning to worry as he ran every scenario of her disappearance. He always worried, despite the fact that she was more than capable to take care of herself.

"Fili, did you notice her leaving during any part of you watch?"

Thrade immediately looked hopefully to Fili at Thorin's question. Fili shook his head, a twinge of what Thrade perceived as either embarrassment or annoyance showing on the princes' face.

"No,"Fili answered. "The last I saw of her was when she woke me for my shift after she finished her own watch right at midnight."

Midnight, Thrade thought.

It was nearly seven hours ago and Thrade shivered at the thought of how much could happen in that time. As he was about to go out and begin his own independent search for Thyra, Sigurd spoke up in a quiet voice.

"Wait, what is today?"

Fili looked at Sigurd in confusion at her question. Why in all of middle earth was this girl worried about the date when the most mysterious person of their group suddenly disappeared. He could think of a hundred more things to be worried about than the date. All of a sudden his paranoia which had become dormant some time over the past weeks came flooding back.

"It's tuesday," came Balins voice.

Fili caught Sigurd shaking her head.

"No not the day of the week. What day of the month is it?"

Fili caught a change in Thrade's face at her words and he focused on the dark haired man as a small glint of understanding came to Thrade's face.

"It's the eighteenth," Thrade answered.

Sigurd turned to him and nodded.

"Today is the day."

"Excuse me, but would one of you mind filling me in as to what is significant about today's date?"

At Thorin's deep voice both of them turned to him.

"Every year on this date Thyra goes off by herself," answered Sigurd, "we don't know why and she has never said anything about it. She just leaves early in the morning and then shows back up the next day. She never says anything about what she does and we have never asked. We just made the connection a few years ago that it is always on the same day, the eighteenth of this month."

"We don't have time to wait around for a whole day," Thorin said sternly. He turned to Fili and Kili. "You two go start searching the area–"

"Wait," came Thrade's voice causing Fili and Kili to pause in their steps to prepare to leave. "We don't have to wait, we can carry on as usual and Thyra will catch up."

Thorin studied the young man for a moment then looked to Sigurd who gave a small nod in agreement.

"You are sure of this?"

Thrade nodded.

"Yes," he said confidently. "She is smart enough to not expect us to wait nor would she ask us to. If anything it will be us trying to catch up with her."

Thorin kept the young man's gaze as he debated his words. Finally, he decided to trust Thrade to know Thyra's action better than himself. He knew if Thrade was not confident he would not have suggested it. He saw the way he looked at her and knew that he would never abandon the girl if he thought she was in any harm.

"Very well," he said before looking to Fili and Kili. "Forget searching, we will continue going forward."

Fili hesitantly nodded while he went back to preparing his bag for the days journey instead of scouting the wilderness. He told himself he was more than happy to continue on instead of traipsing through the rough terrain while looking for a woman who was more than capable of evading anyone's detection if she wanted.

The day dragged on and while nothing of any concern presented itself, Fili could not help but shake the feeling that something was wrong. He hated to admit it, but he could not wait until Thyra was back. She may get under his skin easily but she also brought a sense of security to the company. With her gone, the group felt...vulnerable.

By morning he woke early and automatically swept the area in hopes that Thyra would somehow be nearby doing her routine prayers but again, she was absent and was nowhere to be found.

As breakfast was finished and the camp was packed up even Thorin addressed the issue of her absence to Sigurd and Thrade again. They each gave their assurance that she would be back at any moment and that they could depart.

By mid morning when they stopped for a quick break, Thrade's and Sigurd's confidence wavered as they admitted that she was never this late in returning.

Bilbo spoke up then and made the suggestion that perhaps she would be later since she would be catching up. They all grasped onto the possibility of it being a sound suggestion as they began to move again. And while Thorin was adamant that they could not delay, Fili could not help but notice their pace had slowed significantly since that morning.

Kili glanced behind to notice that he and his brother were no longer bringing up the rear as he had thought a few moments ago. She was only a few meters but he was surprised to find Sigurd lagging behind the group as her steps slowed. She fell farther behind as she kept her neck craned to look behind, her eyes searching desperately.

Knowing exactly what she was doing, Kili slowed down until Sigurd had caught up with him. Gently, he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to reluctantly pull her eyes away from whence they came.

"Siggy, she will be fine." Kili supplied.

Sigurd looked up at him and nodded, though he could still see the worry in her face.

"Hey," he offered again as he forced optimism into his voice. "I bet you anything she is already ahead of us with a secured campsite and supper already stewing for us.

This coxed a small laugh from her lips as she nodded. Pleased that he had relieved her of some worry, he grabbed her hand and began to walk a little faster. She in return began to match his steps until they had caught up with Fili.

At their approach Sigurd and Kili continued to muse and entertain what exactly Thyra would have prepared for them in order to keep the real worry from their minds. But despite their joking manor, Fili could not let the optimism break through is own worry.

He glanced back, searching for any sign of the Règìnn but he was only met with a still landscape. A sudden heavy breeze ruffled the grass below his feet and caused his hair to shift with the wind. There was a sudden change in the atmosphere and the pressure suddenly felt heavy.

In the background Fili could hear the faint rumblings of thunder far away.

At the sound he caught Kili giving him a worried look from over Sigurd's head. He was suddenly hit with the sensation that it was a bad omen for their future. This single thought caused him to frown in displeasure. He did not like the thought of Thyra's superstition beginning to rub off on him.

The wind had picked up and the ominous dark clouds were closing in on them but they had yet to feel a drop of rain. They had gathered together after reaching a small forested area and began to debate on if they should focus on finding shelter to wait out the storm or if they should continue on and make the best of what day light they had left.

As they debated, a frantic pace of light footsteps began to sound not far from them. Every once in awhile, the sound of leaves being rustled or a fallen branch snapping in half would accompany the steps. To Fili it sounded like an animal running through the forest. But what animal, he was uncertain.

By the alert looks of several others in the group, Fili knew that he was not the only one who had become aware of it. Soon all talk died down as the company began to look around for the source of noise.

Through the gaps in the trees, Fili caught sight of what the cause of the ruckus was from.

Thyra was sprinting towards them as she weaved through the tall pines at speed that was nearly unfathomable for a dwarf to reach. Her steps faltered and stumbled occasionally as she kept the majority of her attention focused behind her, instead of the trees she was narrowly avoiding running into.

As she closed in on them, with signs of not slowing down, Fili realized that she was not even aware of their presence. This assumption was proven correct when her head suddenly twisted forward and she skidded to a hard stop just before running over a small Bilbo.

The hobbit instantly took several steps back to avoid a collision as Thyra slid across the slippery carpet of pine needles that covered the ground.

Her hair was a mess as it flowed widely down around her face and shoulders, the usual band that kept it up was nowhere to be seen. She was utterly filthy. Dark brown mud covered her clothing and colors of blue and black paint adorned her face in what could have once been distinguished designs but were now smudged and streaked lines. There was a splatter of dark color that did not seem to match the rest of the paint and that is when Fili realized it was not paint, it was blood. Orc blood judging by the blackness of it.

The evidence of why she was late in catching up was now clear. She must have run into a few rouge orcs and decided to clear them out. But then he noticed the way she was holding herself and he noticed the maroon stain that had seeped along her left side. More blood, this time obviously her own as it bleed from a large gash that ran across her exposed arm.

"Where have you been? What happened?" Came Thorin's commanding voice.

Her eyes were wide a round as they dashed around the group until they finally landed on Thorin. The moment she caught sight of him her mouth opened and she vomited out a string of Règan in one breath. Her tone was panicked raising alarm amongst the group.

Not understanding a single word of the girls native tongue Thorin looked to Sigurd for a translation.

"Sigurd, what in Mahal's name is she going on about?"

Sigurd shook her head.

"I don't know , she is going too fast."

As Thyra continued to ramble on at a fast pace she kept gesturing back behind her, then pointing around them. In an effort to try and calm her down Sigurd approached the panicking Régínn and tried to talk to her using words in Thyra's native tongue.

Thyra seemed to calm down slightly enough focus on Sigurd and answer her question. But her words came out thickly accented and so fast there was no distinguishing when a word started and another began. Sigurd's brow creased as she tried to reap as much as she could before looking to Thorin.

"She keeps saying something about a white something...and something about an animal. But I cannot understand the other words, I am unfamiliar with them and she is going too fast."

It was obvious that Thyra was getting frustrated as she pushed Sigurd to the side and looked to Thorin.

"Hvítur Freki," she said desperately as if pleading for Thorin to understand.

When all she received was a confused look she let out a growl.

"Wolf," she said in a thickly. "Ôrc...sit on wolf. Veiðimenn, come."

Thorin strained to work her words into meaning.

It was a mixture of Westron and Règan but it still did not make sense. Thyra grabbed at her hair in frustration. Thorin could sense that something was certainly amiss. He knew Thyra struggled with Westron when distressed, Asha had warned him of this. But he had never witnessed her struggle to communicate so much. It was only a testament to how rattled she was. But what would cause her this amount of panic?

"Run," she managed to get out, breaking Thorin from his thoughts. "You run!"

There was no mistaking her message now. Whatever it was she was trying to convey, the message was clear. Thyra had run into danger at it was not far behind her.

Suddenly a warg scout burst from a ledge above them. With Thyra's frantic and injured appearance they had already been put on high alert. Kili sent an arrow into the orc scouts chest as Dwalin brought down his axe into the wargs head, ending its life.

But they had been too late in silencing the scout as a loud screech left its lungs.

The shrill sound echoed out as they all stood still, hoping beyond hope that it had been too far away to be heard. Seconds past and just as the relief that their position was not compromised a faint sound echoed back to them. The hunters had caught wind of their prey.

There was no need for his command as they were already moving but Thorin's stern shout on cemented the urgency in their attempt to flee.

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