Author's Note: You're all so amazing! Thank you so much for the positive response. Thank you CannonRebel, Guest, Obsessed Reader, Never33, DwarvenWarrior, Oninha, biddle29, , xXtryingXx, Ink Scribble, Rhiniel, Estelle, Luinwen-2013, znk99fg7, and A5mia for reviewing! Every review and message means so much 😊 This update is a bit shorter, and the next one might take somewhat longer to write. I got chosen for a writing mentorship, which means a published author will be guiding me through querying my current manuscript to agents. So in short I have mentee homework to get done. Again, thank you so much for the continual support for "Heroes."
Disclaimer: I do not own "Don't Let Me Go" by RAIGN.
Chapter Thirty-Four: Don't Let Me Go
Rue screamed. And screamed. The sound was so gut-wrenching, it felt like the shriek had been clawed out of her throat by a fishhook. She trembled, legs so unsteady she fell onto the floor, knees scraping against the wood. Was the pain actually real? Throbbing sears of skin being melted off her bones? She thought about how Bofur had talked about Smaug melting the flesh right off the bones before. Rue remembered the few times of her life back in her world when she'd burned herself struggling to make Mac and Cheese, and then would Google burn wounds and really be in a world of nightmares.
In the haze of smoke and flames, the man in the blue cloak somehow picked back up the torch, going across the room to the bedroom window, bringing the torch to the bottom of the curtains. It took Rue a few seconds to realize two things. One, the fire had never even touched her. It had been on her, but it hadn't burned her. Instead, it pooled around her jittery legs. Two, sounds of chaos echoed from the doorway. With a start, she saw Thorin sprint across the room in a few steps, snatching Blue Cloak by the back of the neck before he could set fire to the curtains. In panic, Thorin turned away from Blue Cloak, motioning for an incoming Kili and Gimli to hold him in place.
"Do not let him escape!" Thorin cried. Kili and Gimli trapped Blue Cloak, cornering the bastard against the wall.
Thorin ran to Rue's side, joined by Dwalin, Fili, and Gloin. With smarts beyond Rue's capabilities, Thorin pulled the blanket off the bed, stuffing it onto the fire that surrounded her. Gloin and Fili joined forces, stomping the remnants of the embers into oblivion. Bilbo, Ori, and Dori came into the room next, demanding to know who in the hell Blue Cloak was. Mr. Hobbitkins brandished a bucket of water, tossing it onto where the fire had been seconds earlier, missing his mark and accidentally soaking Rue's shoe. Go figure.
Thorin fell to his knees in the spill of water in front of Rue, visibly shaking as he checked her over for any injuries, looking scared out his mind.
"Are you hurt? Where are you hurt?" Thorin asked, his voice booming.
"I—I don't feel anything right now," she said.
Thorin came forward, gingerly touching Rue on the back of her neck, pressing their foreheads together. "I'll have the—the others check you more th—thoroughly after—" Thorin glanced at Blue Cloak regretfully.
Rue nodded in understanding. "Go."
Thorin stood up, waving at the available Dwarves. "Help Rue to her feet. Check her for injury."
He barreled after Blue Cloak now like a wolf on the prowl, motioning for Kili and Gimli to get out the way.
"Who are you!?" Thorin demanded, jerking Blue Cloak by the neck, slamming him against the wall with a thunderous crack. A pair of keys cluttered to the floor. Blue Cloak winced, too scared to even attempt to pick them up. Rue was no Einstein, but she even knew those had to have been the same pair of keys only the Master of Lake-town had access to. The ones Naji had used to get in here the first place earlier in the morning…
A horrible sensation reared into her lower back, making her sick. Of course. Naji had to have been behind this. If she would've just married him tomorrow, then none of this would be happening. Rue wanted to chuck herself out the window right about now, and run away screaming into the night. It was all her fault.
Thankfully, Gimli and Ori came to Rue's side, one Dwarf on each arm as they helped her off the ground. She coughed from the smoke inhalation, muffling an elbow over her nose to keep from passing out. A few moments later, Nori, Bofur, and Bifur entered the already crowded room, Nori running straight to the window to let the smoke from hell out.
"I cannot answer," Blue Cloak said, a whole head taller than Thorin, but shrinking from the torrent of fury bursting off Thorin's every movement.
Suddenly, Balin, who Rue swore hadn't been in the bedroom until now, came up to Thorin and Blue Cloak. He handed Thorin one of the stolen weapons Nori, Fili, and Bilbo had pilfered earlier: a sword.
"Surely, he will remember his own name now," Balin said.
Thorin thrust the end of the sword at Blue Cloak's throat, his arms quivering, probably minutes away from popping a blood vessel. Rue had only seen Thorin this pissed very few times. His confrontations with Azog being one of those times, along with being held prisoner by Thranduil, and also the time Gollum had bitten Rue. But none of those compared to this Thorin. A ball of rage, steaming coming out his ears pissed. Would he actually kill Blue Cloak? Should Rue stop it or sit by while it happened?
Blue Cloak stammered,"Os—"
"Speak your name!" Thorin bellowed, the tip of the sword piercing Blue Cloak's neck, a trickle of blood appearing on his flesh.
"Osmar!" he cried.
Thorin loosened the sword, but only a wee bit, still trapping Osmar against the wall.
"Did you come on your own accord?" Thorin spat harshly.
"N—no."
"Who sent you?"
"Naji, son of Master of Bree."
Rue, Bilbo, and the Dwarves shared collective gasps. Sure, they had known all along Naji had obviously been the culprit, but to hear their greatest fears confirmed sucked ass.
Dwalin marched over to Thorin's side, yelling at Osmar, "Curse you!"
"I beg of you do not—do not maim me," Osmar pleaded, shivering, his leg pressed against the torch that had long since been extinguished by Thorin or one of the other Dwarves. Rue hadn't noticed everything that happened in the chaos.
"You lack all mercy—" Thorin broke off in a violent growl, kicking Osmar in the kneecap. He doubled over in pain, whimpering, unable to fully stand as he permanently limped now, tears running down his pale face.
Rue couldn't watch it anymore. She winced from the sight of Osmar's limp, wondering if this was even justified. He had attempted to kill her, but she clearly wasn't dead. So shouldn't that mean they let Osmar go? The real moustache-twirling-demon-cackling villain was Naji.
"Thorin!" she called, pushing her way through the Dwarves to get to where Thorin, Dwalin, and Balin surrounded Osmar.
"Grab the lass!" Dwalin yelled, and suddenly Gloin and Kili were attempting to pull her back.
"No don't!" Rue shouted, trying to non-violently push Kili and Gloin away. "Don't kill him! I'm alive and—he didn't kill me. Naji's the one who should pay the price."
Suddenly, Fili made his way through, much easier than Rue had since the Dwarves parted ways for him. They probably didn't want to piss the heir to the throne off.
"Uncle!" Fili cried. He wedged himself between Thorin and Osmar, fixing a steely stare on Thorin. "Rue is not dead. It is not this fool's blood we should shed. We should slay Naji, but if we commit such an act without reclaiming Erebor first and having aide, we will suffer greatly. They will stop us from reaching Erebor. Now is not the time. If we find the Arkenstone, we can command the seven armies to aide us if Lake-town wishes to pursue war after we have killed Naji."
Fili had put words to what Rue couldn't have mentally computed on short notice. Lake-town was convinced Dain's army was possibly coming already, but when they saw Iron Hills never arrived and Naji's corpse on the Master of Lake-town's front porch, what would happen? They could stop the company from reaching Erebor. Rue had gone through the ten layers of hell to get here. They'd fought Orcs, escaped ghosts, dealt with Gollum, went back to Rue's world and magically came back, escaped Mirkwood. All of that would be for nothing if they never made it to Erebor. Thorin would be…devastated.
Thorin looked ready to bite Fili's head off, so Rue reached for Thorin's arm, hating how she felt him trembling. He looked at her, gaze softening.
"Fili is right," Rue said, reminding herself to play along with the threat of the Iron Hills. "Right now we are outnumbered, but not for long. Dain is the only one who will come and help us without having the Arkenstone first. It can be his marriage present for us to take Naji out, but until then…"
Thorin connected the dots fast, grip on Osmar slackening. He seemed to regret letting go of the assassin, fists clenching and unclenching around the sword in his hand, but eventually Thorin let up. He shoved Osmar away from the wall, pushing him toward the doorway. Then with a rupture of blindsided rage, Thorin punted him in the kneecap one last time, a sickening crunch echoing after.
"Deliver the news to Naji with your broken limb!" Thorin bellowed as Osmar wept a river, snot running down his nose. The man halfway crawled and limped out the bedroom, Nori following him to make certain he left the house.
The Dwarves didn't seem too happy with the idea of letting Osmar go, particularly Dwalin as he said in disbelief, "Thorin, he almost—"
"Do you not think I know that!?" Thorin roared.
Rue jumped in fear, hating this more than anything. There were so many gray areas right now, and—nothing was right or wrong, and everything felt sickening. Thorin had just banged up a guy's kneecap, but wasn't it justified? If the fire hadn't somehow traveled to the floor instead of her, then she'd be six-feet under or dying in Thorin's arms.
The room had fallen silent, except for the sounds of Bilbo reorganizing the burned blankets. Soon enough, Nori returned, shoulders sunken like he was having trouble processing what had just happened.
"He has left. It is wise we also flee before Naji learns of the news and comes here," Nori said.
"Let him come," Thorin said, sinking his forehead against the spot on the wall Osmar had been cornered against.
"Not yet, but soon," Fili said.
Balin gave Fili an accusatory stare before getting close enough to Thorin to whisper something in his ear that Rue couldn't make out. Thorin nodded.
"All right, it is settled then," Balin said. "Go gather your belongings. Take as much food as you can store. Make certain you do not forget any of the weapons. Fit in blankets, extra water, rope, and anything else you see dire."
At once, the Dwarves left the room, scattering across the house. Only Balin, Bilbo, and Thorin remained. Rue bit her lip so hard, the cool taste of metallic was on the tip of her tongue from her own blood. She knew she needed to bring up the Black Arrow, but Balin was here, and she didn't want him catching on to her lies. Couldn't she just come clean to the rest of them about how they were book characters in her world? But the risks…shit, it would be disastrous if Bilbo decided to lose the One Ring on purpose after finding out how big of a deal that was to the whole of Middle-earth. And what if worse came to worse, and other Dwarves died in Kili and Fili's place?
"We need to get the Black Arrow before we go," Rue said, awkwardly going to wipe the back of her hand against her runny nose, thinking better of it and stopping. Just because she almost had died didn't mean she could wipe her snot everywhere.
"And how do you suppose we do that?" Balin asked.
"Is it not obvious?" Bilbo said, motioning to his pocket.
"That magic ring is going to cause you a world of trouble one day, Master Baggins," Balin said, sighing in annoyance.
Rue couldn't help it, laughing like a hyena-horse hybrid creature. Balin gave her a piercing glare, and she had to muffle her laughter to keep from falling backwards in her fit of giggles. The irony of Balin's words was like a metaphorical punch to the gut, putting the pressure on so much that she felt like she would faint if she didn't laugh.
"I'm—sorry," she said after a few seconds. "Really. I—I—I'm not new to Middle-earth anymore, but I can't get over how everything is so hard here. How much pressure there is—" Rue stopped mid-sentence as Bilbo tilted his head at her like she was insane— "I almost died. Don't judge me."
Balin, Bilbo, and even Thorin seemed taken aback by her words, looking at each other like they were trying to make sense of this new Rue. It wasn't her fault she had finally evolved into her final Pokémon evolution during an important conversation. Bad analogy.
"Do you know of where Bard the Bowman hides the Black Arrow?" Thorin asked quietly, pulling his forehead away from the wall, sinking his back against the wood instead like he needed the support to keep from curling up.
She shrugged. "Naji never mentioned exactly where—"
"It must be in his home," Bilbo said. "Ori mentioned that Bard had at least three other spies watching him earlier. He would not be so daft as to hide such a rare weapon in anything but his home if the Master of Lake-town is always sending spies after him."
"Me, Rue, and Balin will distract him on his doorstep. Ask him to help us secure two boats for the journey to Erebor. We will keep him talking long enough for you to go inside and find the Black Arrow, Master Baggins," Thorin said, chest heaving up and down.
No one said anything else. Rue, Balin, and Bilbo simply traded nods in agreeance with the plan. Rue didn't have much time to do anything else when Thorin called for Oin, having him check over Rue about three times for any wounds even when she insisted to Thorin she miraculously hadn't been burned.
Fifteen or so minutes later, Rue and Thorin had arms wrapped around each other, smiling chummily as Balin knocked on Bard the Bowman's front door. Their breaths came out in small puffs of clouds, the biting cold making Rue shiver as she pressed herself closer to Thorin for warmth. Only warmth. Who was she kidding? Rue had been a goner for King Under the Mountain for almost the entirety of the Quest. She took a casual glance behind her, getting creeped out by the inky night, but knowing all too well Bilbo already had slipped the ring on, hiding in plain sight behind her so she shouldn't be freaked out. Really, Rue wished more than anything she had an invisibility cloak on to join him.
"You two seem to have no difficulties staying true to your marriage story thus far," Balin said nonchalantly.
Rue swore she saw Thorin become fire engine red. His grip softened on her, like now he was paranoid about looking too happy faking marriage to Rue. Fucking Balin.
The sound of the door opening made them jolt.
Bard the Bowman stood in the doorway, sleep rumpled, yawning.
"Do you know what time it is?" he said.
"Yes, we are well aware," Balin said, attempting to turn on the charm factor, casually fishing for a bundle of coins wrapped in a small sack out of his pocket. Bard's eyes widened at the small sack. Well, Rue was more than glad now Nori had suggested they give Bard some coin to help them find two boats while at the same time giving Bilbo more time to find the Black Arrow. Only thing to worry about was either Naji gunning after them like Bigfoot or Bard the Bowman's kiddies catching Bilbo in the house.
"Why do you have coin?" Bard asked, eyes narrowing on them suspiciously.
"We must leave Lake-town right now. Unfortunately, we have ran into trouble with the nephew of Master of Lake-town," Thorin said. "We were hoping you could aide us in finding two boats. You would receive payment for the trouble."
Bard the Bowman opened the door wider, stepping outside his door, the space between his brows pinched. "And you assume I would be so willing to aide you? What trouble do you speak of? I cannot risk my family's well-being if I'm caught helping you."
Bilbo brushed past Rue. She could feel it, goosebumps prickling up her arms from the featherlight footsteps she heard entering into Bard the Bowman's house. The kind of footsteps you had to know were there to be able to hear it at all. Crap. Her anxiety spiked.
"Please help us," Rue begged, desperate enough to fall on her knees and make a show if it meant helping Bilbo. "Naji sent an assassin after me, and luckily I survived. I'm so scared and—" She wiped at her eyes, making a choking noise at the back of her throat— "I was so happy because today was the first day me and Thorin were honest about being married. All I wanted was a beautiful night, but—" Rue really upped the ante, thinking about the worst things from her past: her mom a hundred times over, rude customers at Wal-Mart, not being able to afford private lessons on her cello, being homeless. It worked. The waterworks kicked in, and tears ran down her face. Rue turned to Thorin, purposely burying her head in his shoulder. And Thorin held her tight, running a hand up and down her hair.
"Please do not cry. Please, I shall help you just—" Bard the Bowman turned back, closing the front door behind him. Bilbo. Calm down, Rue. He'd be okay. He was the craftiest—only—Hobbit she'd ever met. Wait wasn't Gollum a Hobbit? Anyway, Bilbo would be just fine. Peachy. A-Okay. All of the above.
"Thank you, laddie," Balin said, carefully handing the bundle of coins into Bard's hand. "I knew from the moment we met, you were the best of the men in Lake-town."
Bard the Bowman silently nodded, leading them across the narrow streets as they squeezed past wooden houses after wooden houses. Rue resisted the urge to turn back and look at Bard's house. No matter how frantic her heartbeats had become.
"What of the other Dwarves?" Bard asked.
Rue jumped at the question, so on edge from thinking about Bilbo, she nearly bumped into Balin.
"They were gathering are very little belongings when we left," Balin explained. "They will be meeting us at the main dock after."
Bard the Bowman suddenly stuck out his arms, stopping them. He hushed all noise, peeking behind the corner of the smallest gated backyard Rue had ever seen. Conversation rose, the familiar voices of Alfrid and…Naji coming from behind some buildings.
"How could twenty Dwarves move so quickly?" Naji hissed. "They are still in Lake-town. They have to be. How dare Osmar fail to kill that ugly woman? Next time I shall pay Orcs to do such a job."
"Can you not count? There are sixteen Dwarves," Alfrid said.
"What of the difference?"
Bard motioned for them to get down. Rue, Thorin, and Balin listened, ducking down fast, disguising themselves against the wooden gate. Naji and Alfrid stomped by, their conversation the equivalent to listening to nails run down a chalkboard. Footsteps faded into the distance. Rue muffled a sigh of relief into her arm. After a minute or so longer, Bard gestured for them to get back up.
"We have to move quickly," Bard said, slightly jogging ahead.
They speed walked to keep up with Bard, weaving past through more narrow passages. Finally, after another solid two minutes, they headed closer to the center of Lake-town, stopping once they reached water. Several boats were anchored against a dock, the moonlight catching on blue-green algae clinging onto the side of at least three boats.
"Hurry," Bard the Bowman instructed, waving for them to get their asses in the boats. Rue cast a glance over her shoulder, looking across the gloomy buildings and houses, where she could see the whipping post assembled on the small piece of land in the middle of the lake. Rue shuddered at the memory of Thorin being beaten there. From here, she had the perfect view of Erebor's snowcapped mountain peaks, thinking about Smaug's stank ass, which led to the One Ring, and most importantly Bilbo. She prayed Bilbo was already on his way. Please.
With shaky legs, Rue climbed into one boat, Thorin helping her with soft instruction and the offering of a solid arm. Bard the Bowman nervously bounced on the balls of his feet. Balin climbed into the opposite boat. Thorin remained on the dock, slowly untying the ropes from the anchors.
There was the sudden noise of a whole lot of footsteps in the distance. It could've easily been mistaken for a herd of elephants coming their way, which meant—
Bard the Bowman followed the incoming footsteps with bugged out eyes.
"I must take my leave. If you allow that dragon to escape the mountain, I will never forgive you, Thorin Oakenshield," Bard said.
Thorin nodded in understanding, his eyes glassy as he wiped a hand across his forehead.
"Thank you for the assistance. We are grateful," Balin said. But Bard the Bowman had already taken off back toward the path that led to his house.
Thorin quickly untied one boat, which unfortunately was Rue's boat. Her boat bobbed along in the gentle current as she waved frantic hands.
"We can't leave Bilbo," she said, already halfway climbing out.
"Stay in the boat. I shall go back and find him," Thorin said.
"But I'm not leaving you either," Rue said, the hairs standing up on the back of her neck.
Just then many silhouettes had emerged in the distance, steadily running for the boats. No. From this far away, Rue couldn't make out their heights. Fear reared into her stomach, making her nauseated. If it was Naji, it would probably be her turn on the whipping post. Except Naji would kill her after, and feed her corpse to the kraken. Wait. Did the kraken exist in Middle-earth?
"Lass, come on," Balin said, gritting his teeth as he made a grab for her boat.
"I'd rather be dead than leave Thorin and Bilbo behind," Rue declared with all the dramatics, refusing to budge.
She heard Thorin make the tiniest gasp. For a second, she thought her words had some kind of profound affect on him, but that wasn't the case. The silhouettes she'd been terrified of a minute ago had come into focus. It was the rest of the Dwarves, looking relieved to see the two boats as they skidded to a halt on the dock.
"Uncle, we have arrived," Kili said.
"No thanks to you, beardless whelp," Gimli said.
"Who are you calling beardless?" Kili said.
"Keep your voices down," Dwalin growled.
"Aye. That wretched man is already in search of us," Thorin said grimly.
"Where is Bilbo?" Fili asked, looking left and right.
"He hasn't come back yet," Rue said, taking a deep breath, legit scared he'd been caught. All he wanted was to sit in his comfy chair in the Shire and read books, not even be on this Quest Gandalf had pressured him into going on in the first place.
"Yes, yes, I actually have come back."
A voice had rose out of the darkness. The Dwarves looked behind them, and for some reason Bofur bent down to stare at the dock like Bilbo was as tall as a weed. And Rue being the lamest of the bunch, patted the boat to check if Bilbo had been sitting next to her the whole time.
Seconds later, when Bilbo had probably gotten finished laughing at them, he showed himself, removing the One Ring like it weighed as much as a block of ice. He stood by a broken wooden fence, unsteady on his feet as he had trouble holding the gigantic Black Arrow. Rue hadn't imagined the Black Arrow that big. Did Mr. Tolkien describe it that big in the book? That was a detail Rue couldn't recall correctly right now.
"Bilbo!" Bofur cried, running to Bilbo's side along with Ori, Gimli, and Fili. They helped him across the dock, Fili shouldering the Black Arrow himself, smelling it for some reason and wrinkling his nose after. They guided Bilbo into Balin's boat. In better circumstances, Rue would've thought it was adorable.
"I can't believe you found it," Rue said.
"Will you do me a favor?" Bilbo asked, leaning back to sigh like he had run a marathon.
"Anything for you, Mr. Hobbitkins," she said playfully.
"Take it for now," Bilbo said, shoving her the One Ring all too fast like it had the audacity to yell at him like one of Mrs. Weasley's howlers.
Rue shoved it into her pocket, moving her butt so Bifur could squeeze in. After all the Dwarves had finally climbed into the boats, Thorin last but not least got into Rue's boat, sitting at the very front close to her. Bombur and Gloin started paddling first in Rue's boat, the boats moving rather quickly down the water passageways. Kili and Gimli paddled Balin's boat, whispering insults to each other. Some things never got old.
She couldn't help but look over her shoulder every 1.1 seconds, terrified of seeing Naji and Alfrid standing at the docks. But the docks got farther and farther away with each paddle stroke, and Rue was beginning to think everything was okay but—
As the boats began to enter the main lake, leaving Lake-town behind in the dust, there was a sharp intake of breath from Dori next to her. This quickly turned into the Dwarves pointing, trading murmurs.
"That's him!"
"Isn't that him?"
Rue had to squint to see who they were exactly looking at. None other than Osmar the assassin stood by the gate you had to pass to enter Lake-town, beady eyes focused on them, still very much limping. She groaned in frustration, shaking her head. Just their luck.
Thorin tensed up, and Rue leaned closer to him, gently touching his shoulder.
"If they dare come after us, I cannot allow him to escape again. Any of them," Thorin said.
Rue didn't say anything, fiddling with the Ring in her pocket, which felt like carrying a brick around. She thought about the fire again, wondering how in the hell hadn't she been burned? No one appeared to have noticed the fire avoid her like a repellant. Rue wasn't even sure any of the Dwarves had been in the room to see that happen. Thorin had barged in after if she remembered correctly.
"We've got the Black Arrow at least," Rue said, lightly nudging Thorin.
Thorin nodded.
"And we got two boats…maybe everything will be easy from now until Erebor," she said.
Thorin buried his head in his hands, sighing in distress, looking so sickly and defeated. So much for everything being easy now. Rue had to think of a plan to make Thorin feel better. For now, she just gently rubbed his back, softly telling him she couldn't wait to hear him play his harp once they had officially reclaimed Erebor.
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the update. Please let me know what you think and feel free to review. You can follow me on Tumblr at pearlprimrose. I'll have responses for the anonymous reviewers below 😊
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