Chapter Six
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The trail up the mountain was thin and steep, Bilbo hung onto Verity as much as possible for the ride up. Finding that she had strong muscular legs above the robotic limbs that were used to such extreme movements, and that she could handle his added weight with the ease of carrying a child. "What do you think of all of this?" Bilbo asked, unsure of himself. He clung to Verity's back as they moved higher up the rocky pathway.
"Death waiting to happen. I sense this is a trap in the making." Verity addressed Bilbo. Her robotic eye taking in every movement that seemed to follow along with their group. Something was watching them, and Verity just knew it wasn't anything good. It gave her bumps like the flood had done when her group of men had first run into them. Her com beeped.
"Commander, you are going up into high altitude, I do not think the com between us will work very well with that." Loki's voice was calm but the sound of fear was evident even for the AI.
"I know." Verity spoke back. Bilbo was close enough to hear both sides of the conversation this time. "There is really no other way around it. The group insisted on this path being the shortest. But something doesn't feel right?" She said.
"Flood?" Loki asked, questioningly. Verity shook her head in the negative before answering.
"No, I don't think so. The mountain feels hollow. I can hear my own feet echoing inside it." She said.
"Do you need us to come get you?" Rok asked.
"How will you do that, have you gotten any of the ships working yet?" Verity asked back.
"Yes, a few of them, along with some of the crickets and some of the guns on the ship are in full operation again." Rok answered back, voice deep with a low growl. "We will come if you need us Commander." He responded.
"No! I don't need more men in danger, I will get this group out of the mountain path and we will be closer to our destination. I hope our coms last that long. I also don't need to explain more about our technology and how things work." She answered, hearing her com beep as it fell out of range once more.
"Those are your men?" Bilbo asked in wonder. Verity smiled over her shoulder at him and nodded her head.
"For the most part. The Sangheili are more of their own men then they are mine, but the humans. Those are all mine." She answered with a smile. Rain started to come down sharp and cold, pelting like rocks against their skin, and speech became more difficult so Bilbo couldn't ask her what she meant by Sangheili. He ducked his head to protect himself and more of Verity from the icy water that was slashing down over them. As his Cloak doubled over both of them.
Soon the Dwarrow up ahead were pointing out movement and Verity narrowed her robotic eye on it. The massive mountains were moving, coming alive as giants and fighting each other. The sounds they made were like thunder to Verity's ears. "Holy Mother of Mary and all the angels in the world." The narrow pathway allowed for very little movement let alone cover as the giant's fighting were soon upon them, smashing into the mountain they clung to. Verity tightened her hold on the hobbit as a gap was made between them a few other dwarfs and the rest of the company.
"You're going to have to jump lass." Oin shouted. Verity sent him the evil eye and hoped he felt it, as she backed up as much as possible and swung Bilbo around into her arms.
"What are you doing?" Bilbo cried, and screamed out as she tossed him over the gap and into the waiting arms of the dwarrow. Thorin had caught him, arms tight around the small hobbit as the hobbit looked around and watched as the tall woman tossed the other dwarfs that had been separated by the stone giant before leaping over herself.
She missed, but her metal arm slammed into the rock and her feet dug holes into the stone and she started climbing her way back to the others, who watched open mouthed as her fist tore into the stone like it was sand. When she made it to the top the group helped to pull her up onto semi solid ground of the trail. Bilbo and Ori came over to make sure she was okay, but she waved them away as the group caught their breath.
Fili and Kili came back to report that a few feet ahead of them was a small cave that they can take refuge in while they waited out the storm. Bilbo helped Verity to her feet and Ori stuck close to them as the trio made it into the cave. Verity stopped at the entrance, eyes searching the darkness with an intensity that seemed to confuse the dwarrow and Bilbo. "What is wrong?" Bilbo asked.
"Something is off." She answered and took a step outside back into the rain, refusing to enter the cave afterwards and stating she would rather be washed off the edge than sleep in that rat's trap. Thorin shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't care either way what she did or didn't do, as long as she stayed out of his way. He said something similar to Bilbo, only about how he should have never come on the journey in the first place if a human had to save him almost constantly. Verity rolled her eyes from her point a few feet above the cave entrance where she had found a nice nook to hide in. Helmet on and rifle ready for any surprise that would come her way. She settled in for the night.
The sound of the ground opening up beneath her nook shook Verity awake. Gun up she leaped from her spot and eyed the now seemingly empty cave. Just what she needed the bastards had to go and get themselves thrown into a rat trap. Just as she had predicted, she hated being right at times. Yet, years of dealing with covenant had taught her a hard lesson of survival that had stuck with her even today. If something looked too good to be true, than it probably was a trap in waiting.
She didn't have her come working so she couldn't rely on the back up of a team mate or so she thought until she looked over to the left as saw Rok coming out of the mist in full armor and energy sword blazing. "What the hell!" Verity stated, but Rok came to a stand still beside her looking into the empty cave as well.
"I couldn't allow you to face an unseen foe alone, commander. Especially with such dim witted beings to be backup." Rok answered, looking down at her with green eyes.
"I would kiss you right now you damn Sangheili if I wasn't so upset over you disobeying orders. How the hell did you get here?" She answered back, The elite took a step back as if unsure of her intentions.
"Banshee, was cloaked throughout the flight, landed in a clearing a few kilometers away. Will leave once we are done here." Rok stated, and Verity laughed with a shake of her head, slugging the elite in the shoulder and motioning for him to follow behind her as she started toward the back of the cave, a sense of direction seemingly guiding her to the dwarrow and hobbit that had been taken hostage.
"I hope you brought me some ammo as a courting gift." Verity jokes, only to choke on her breath when a pack of clips were handed over to her. She looked at the Sangheili who looked over at her, his sword stowed away and his rifle out and ready for combat. "Well look at you bringing the bacon home." She snarked, and Rok gave her what would be a smile in Sangheili terms.
"Keep moving commander, we have dimwits to save." Rok stated.
"They are not that bad." She argued back, "Childish and stupid yes, but not that bad." Rok just shook his head in the negative and followed behind the woman as they slowly descended the slide that seemed to have been made over time from carving at it. A rat trap indeed, Verity thought. They reached the bottom of the trap and slid out, Verity taking out her knife to slice the ropes holding the door shut and Rok slowly cloaked behind her. "Stay quiet and stay low." Verity whispered, looking around the area that they were in. She couldn't see Rok answer but knew that he nodded his agreement of the command.
They slowly dispatch the outer ring of the goblins, ugly little things that only make Verity want to shake her head in disgust. They were not as disgusting as the flood or the prophets but they came close. She inched closer peering around the corner at were the majority of the group had gathered around a larger portly goblin that was just flaps of fat that folded over itself. She could smell him from where she was hidden in the darkness of the caves that were carved out of the Mountain. She rolled her eyes as he started in on his grand speech, her gaze quickly counting the smaller figures that were tied up before him. Only Thirteen of them, one was missing. She cursed under her breath in Spanish and nodded her head at the almost visible image of Rok. She could only see him thanks to her robotic eye, no one else could and for that she was happy for the low technology of this world.
They would need to wait for a moment to spring a surprise attack in order to free the men caught in the trap, and boy would Verity like to gloat afterwards but she would have to wait for that. They slowly move from dark nook to dark nook getting closer and taking out any one who is too far away from the rest of the crowd to be noticed until it is too late. Lambs to the slaughter or wolves as one of her commanding officer had once described how Rok and Verity worked together. She had scuffed at it, but it was true. They worked well together, like a pack already with two alphas and the rest just waiting to be called in.
They slowly eased the distance separating them from the main prey when a blinding white light cause Verity to close her human eye, the robotic adjusting to see that it was Gandalf causing the light and she wanted to shout in triumph as the opening they needed came. Rok and her advanced at full speed, knocking goblins off the thin bridges or shooting them down with single fire as they arrived beside the dwarrow. Ori and Oin looked surprised to see Verity as she sliced through the ropes that kept them bound together. "Quickly get your weapons, we need to move fast." She told them. Having them follow behind Gandalf as he made his way through the caves. She shot out in the seemingly darkness hitting her target with an ease that came from years of practice.
She could feel Rok close beside her as the group was lead out of the caves and into the heavy woods that surrounded it. Gandalf counting them as they passed him. "We're missing Bilbo." She stated, a flush upon her skin as she removed her helmet and gazed at Gandalf with confident eyes.
"So we are." He stated, looking back in the direction of the caves and started back toward them with a few of the dwarrow that had befriended the small hobbit along the way. Thorin opens his mouth to state something and Verity turns on him like a lion protecting a cub.
"No, you were to blinded by pride to see that cave was a trap, it was to hollow to smooth from the makes, you were to dumb to realize that Bilbo isn't some useless baggage to be tossed around, he is a living being. So you have nothing to say unless its an apology." She snapped, standing to her full height and feeling Rok step up behind her to lend her his shadow of intimidation. The dwarrow seem to sense that something else had made it out with them as they look around nervously at the wooded area. However, before anything further could be done Bilbo popped out from behind a tree, startling everyone but the two who were not from this planet.
"Sorry." Bilbo stated, and started on his speech about how the dwarrow didn't have a home and how he hoped to help them gain it back. Verity mimicked throwing up, but the sounds of what appeared to be wargs howling nearby had the group once more running for their lives. She hefted Bilbo up onto her shoulders and started to speak to Rok.
"Those wolf like beasts are ugly as fuck, but can be easily taken down, the orgs are similar. They don't have the fighting styles your people have, but in mass they can be very dangerous. Like grunts with grenades." Verity told Rok, who grunted his affirmation as he moved out of the line and into the shadows on his way in another direction. Verity knew he wouldn't be gone for long. The Sangheili never were when it came to fighting, they had a talent for that.
The sounds of the wargs increased and the group came skidding to a stop mere inches from falling off a cliff. "Into the trees." Gandalf ordered and the group started to climb. Verity tossed Bilbo up as far as she could, but she didn't climb up herself. Those branches wouldn't hold her heavier robotic limbs no matter how hard she tried. She stood her ground on the floor beneath the tree line and waited. Her breathing even and helmet once more in place.