Chapter 15
"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."
― Mahatma Ghandi
"Wait, so let me get this straight." Madison huffed as she followed her mysterious new companion Erich. "My sister isn't dead, but she's been transported into another world?"
"Middle Earth, to be exact." Erich corrected her nonchalantly. Madison almost started hyperventilating right then and there. "You know what Middle Earth is, don't you?"
"I'm pretty sure I'd remember learning that Middle Earth was real in school if it was." Madison stopped and folded her arms over her chest. Erich turned to face her and sighed.
"Do you have a…what are they called, cellular communication device?"
"A phone?" Madison raised her eyebrows.
"Yes, a phone. I apologize you must remember I'm not from around here." Erich reasoned as Madison pulled out her phone. "Can you search things?" She nodded and pulled up the app and handed him the phone.
"Ah, here it is." He smiled to himself with pride as he pulled up a video for her to see. She watched in silence.
"Thorin, you gave a promise."
"You brought upon them only ruin and death."
"You've won the mountain, is that not enough?"
Stones fell from a mountain.
"Now, we defend it."
She saw the golden words hit the screen like massive boulders crashing onto her as her fear rose.
This December.
From the director of the Lord of the Rings' Trilogy.
"You cannot see what you have become."
"Everything I did, I did for them."
Prepare for the defining moment, of the Middle Earth legend.
The golden words shimmered and Madison staggered back as the next scene flew by so fast she questioned if she had seen it.
"You are not acting like a hero right now, Thorin Oakenshield, and if I have to die for you to see it then so be it."
The unfamiliar words came from a golden haired and blue eyed girl wearing clothes that didn't fit and had a voice Madison would know anywhere.
"The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies," She whispered in horror. "That movie coming out in a few months." Her fear turned to anger. "Is this some kind of sick joke? My sister is dead, and you try to tell me she's living in this fictional world? You obviously made this on the internet somehow…" Madison trailed off as tears fell from her eyes. That voice, it was unmistakable. How could he have digitally replicated it?
"Madison please, I came to you because I knew you would believe. I can take you to Middle Earth, it is very much a real place; and your sister is in the middle of it. She needs to be returned home. You are her sister, she'll believe you. An elf there has lied to her, and now she is grave danger." Erich reasoned with an alarming sense of urgency in his voice.
"What kind of danger?" She asked slowly as the fear rose steadily.
"You know the ending to the story. Thorin will succumb to the gold-sickness, and he will kill your sister."
There was a long pause as Madison thought things over.
"How would we get there?" She couldn't believe she was even entertaining the idea of just going on a trip to Middle Earth casually, but at the same time even the smallest hope of seeing Nina again made her consider going.
"I thought you'd never ask." Erich grinned. He grabbed her hand and led her further into the woods until they reached a small, unnaturally and perfectly circular clearing. "Thrak alnej votar, mausan goth!" He shouted into the air. Madison questioned his sanity, not for the first time since their meeting.
"What did you say?" She asked incredulously. Erich looked far too excited for his own good.
"It means, 'bring me home, my lord.'" He translated. "Now, hold on." He grabbed her hand, and Madison noticed the wind picking up. Before she could say anything, the wind had swirled around them and the world went red before Madison's eyes. She could hardly scream.
She tumbled onto the grass after what seemed like too long, and she couldn't find the strength to lift her chest to heave in air. Erich crawled over to her and rested a hand to her back to comfort her. When she finally regained strength and began breathing properly again, she observed her surroundings. There was soft grass, blowing gently in the warm summer air. The sky was blue, and there was a beautiful mountain range before her.
"Where are we?" She rubbed her head, slowly standing to find Erich already up and examining the place.
"Looks like we've landed at the troll campfire…" He mumbled aloud. Madison set her hands to her hips.
"What does that mean?"
"In the story, there are certain specific places where Thorin's company experience major events in the story in your world. For us, they are reference points. We can use them to keep track of how far along the timeline the company has gotten. By the looks of this camp, they've been here already." Erich explained. Madison looked around. She was speechless in awe as she finally noticed the larger-than-life statues of trolls. They looked just like they had in the first movie, she noted.
"How soon must we catch up?" She asked, forcing herself to look away from the trolls. They looked like they could come alive at any moment. Erich met her gaze somberly.
"Before the dwarves reach Mirkwood, we have to catch them. If Nina travels any further with them, she will change the story too much. The book and movies in your world will be altered beyond recognition, but here things will be much worse. Nina's presence changes the entire fate and future of Middle Earth for those of us that live in it." Madison gulped nervously.
"You know, my sister is blind, she could never…" Madison trailed off, not even wanting to think of how afraid and confused her sister must be.
"The dwarves no doubt have taken her into their company." Erich assured her. "For now at least, I do not think they would harm her."
"For now?" Madison raised her eyebrows in panic.
"There is no telling how long the dwarves will trust Nina, she is so different from them." Erich frowned to himself. "That's why we have to save her." Madison nodded.
"This is insane." She kept nodding frantically. "But if it means I see my sister again, I'll do it. Why the heck not?" She threw her arms into the air. Erich smiled gently.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
"I do have one last question…for now." Madison said as Erich rolled his eyes. "How does time work here?"
"Relatively the same," Erich replied easily as they started walking. "Nina has been here close to a month now, which is how she's been dead in your world, is it not?"
"Yeah." Madison tried her best to keep up.
"So then however long it takes us to save her is how long you'll be gone too." He glanced over to gauge her reaction. She only nodded with steely determination.
"Then we'd better get going."
"Nina, wake up." Fili whispered next to her in their cell. She stirred, her eyes heavy as she forced them open. The smell of goblin and rotting flesh reminded her abruptly of where she was. She sat up slowly. "It's time to get out of here." She could hear the eagerness in Fili's voice as he said the words.
"How?" She mumbled groggily. She heard the commotion of dwarves moving around hurriedly. Fili gently shushed her as the sound of goblins entered the prison.
"Thorin has a plan, stay quiet but be ready to go." He instructed. Nina nodded as she strained to listen to what was happening.
"Dwarves disgust me anyway," One of the goblins grunted, shortly after making the vilest sound at the back of his throat. "Come on then, your majesty!" They mocked Thorin with the sarcastic title as the sound of his cell door opening screeched through the prison. Before anymore could be said, Nina heard the goblins struggle and squeal as Thorin grabbed the first one's weapon and finished them off. He grabbed the cell door keys from the hip of the goblin and began quietly and hurriedly freeing the others.
"Come on." Fili urged in a hasty whisper as he got up and dragged Nina out of the cell by her hand. "We'll be safe now, we just have to get out of here." She nodded and felt his hand leave hers'.
Nina staggered forward, grasping the nearest wall and walked along, her hand steadily touching the wall as she followed, slowly, the noise of the dwarves. They were gathering their weapons from the pile in the next room, and Nina was anxious to get Macilril strapped to her side again. Someone took her sword and strapped it to her, to which she mumbled a small thanks.
"Come, this way." Thorin started forward, the company on his heels as he led the way out of the dungeon. Nina followed urgently, keeping one hand on the wall and focusing on nothing but the sound of the dwarves and staying on their heels. They half-jogged for a solid ten minutes before Nina smashed into the back of the dwarf in front of her. They didn't react to her, which she found weird until she registered the constant hum of goblins surrounding them.
"There's thousands of them." Dwalin whispered in horror in front of her.
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, a—a box without hinges, key, or lid; yet golden treasure inside is hid." Bilbo stammered, his sword outstretched to protect himself from Gollum. He had fallen into this abyss the day before, knocked out for most of the night until he had followed Gollum, an altogether unsightly creature, to this place.
"A box…and a lid…and then a key…" Gollum squeezed his head in frustration. They had entered a game of riddles, but Bilbo found that it was no game at all. If he lost, Gollum would end his life, and if he won Gollum would help him escape. Bilbo wondered if he'd see the dwarves again.
"Well?" He prompted, an excitement rising in him as the odds turned to his favor.
"It's nasty!" Gollum spat.
"Give up?"
"Give us a chance, precious, give us a chance!" Bilbo rolled his eyes restlessly. "Eggses! Eggses! What crunchy little eggses, yes, grandmother taught us to suck them, yes."
"Correct," Bilbo muttered exasperatedly. A fluttering noise sounded and he turned to look, and returned his gaze to find with horror that Gollum was nowhere to be seen.
"We have one for you: All things it devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel, and grinds hard stones to meal. Answer us." Gollum's sinister voice echoed and seemed to come from everywhere all at once.
"Give me a moment, please, I gave you a good long while." Bilbo racked his brain for an answer as he searched with his sword out for Gollum. "I don't know this one…" He mumbled to himself nervously.
"Is it tasty? Is it scrumptious? Is it crunchable?" The voice kept echoing. Almost immediately, Bilbo felt cold, bony fingers grip his throat and he lurched out of the way in time to point his sword at Gollum.
"Let me think!" Bilbo ordered, determined not to take his eyes off of Gollum this time.
"It's stuck." Gollum grinned horribly. "Time's up." Bilbo felt cold fear as he watched Gollum prepare to attack him. Then it hit him.
"Time. The answer is time." Bilbo smiled in relief when Gollum snarled in defeat.
"Last question. Last chance." Gollum decided. "ASK US!" Bilbo stammered, unable to think of another riddle. He moved toward the lake and thought, letting his hand drift absentmindedly to his pocket. There he felt the outline of a ring, namely the one he had found when following Gollum earlier.
"What have I got in my pocket?" Bilbo murmured. Gollum growled.
"That's not fair! It's against the rules!" He exclaimed, throwing down a rock he had been concealing. Bilbo raised his eyebrows and gestured to the rock sarcastically. And he says I'm not fair, thought Bilbo.
"No, you said 'ask me a question.' Well, that is my question. What have I got in my pocket?"
"Three guesses, precious. It must give us three." Gollum reasoned, holding up two fingers. Bilbo ignored it.
"Very well, guess away."
"Handses!"
"Wrong, guess again."
"Fish-bones, goblins' teeth, wet shells, bat's wings…Knife!" Gollum rattled off. "Oh, shut up!"
"Wrong again, last guess."
"String!" Gollum whipped around with realization. "Or nothing,"
"Two guesses at once," Bilbo reminded in a sing-song voice. "Wrong both times."
"No!" Gollum sobbed like a child.
"So, come then, I won the game, you promised to show me the way out."
"Did we say so, precious, did we say so?" Gollum snarled, looking up slowly to meet Bilbo's gaze. "What has it got in its pocketses?"
"That's no concern of yours. You lost." Bilbo staggered back a little, losing his confidence as Gollum fearlessly approached.
"Is it?" Gollum smiled evilly. He reached into his pocket, then upon realizing it was empty, screamed in rage and cursed. "Lost! Curses and splashes, my precious is lost!"
"What have you lost?" Bilbo called to him, a creeping suspicion that the ring was his lost possession.
"Mustn't ask us! Not its business! Gollum, Gollum." He sobbed over the surface of the lake, and Bilbo started to back away while trying not to be noticed. Gollum shook with rage.
"What has it got in its nasty little pocketses?" He hissed.
Bilbo made no reply, only clutching the ring tighter in his pocket.
"He stole it. He stole it! HE STOLE IT!"
"Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung. You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin Town!" The Great Goblin sang joyously as the dwarves and Nina were grouped to the center of the throne room and stripped of their weapons—again.
"What a lovely song," Nina growled sarcastically to herself.
"I know that sword! It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks!" The Great Goblin suddenly squealed from atop his throne as Thorin's sword is revealed.
Suddenly, Nina felt stinging sensations on her back as it registered that she was being whipped. She hissed as the scars from the orcs' whipping were reopened from the goblins.
"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Cut off his head!" The Goblin pointed savagely at Thorin. Thorin was ripped from the group of whipped dwarves and held down to be beheaded. The dwarves screamed in rage and protest, struggling to free themselves to fight back. Before any of them could be successful in that, a bright light enveloped the whole town. Nina felt everything go silent, and goblins flew into the air, smashing into walls. Gandalf walked up slowly once the wave had settled, ignoring the stares.
"Take up arms, fight!" He ordered, allowing Nina to recognize it as him. Her sword was handed to her by Dwalin and she unsheathed it almost without thinking.
"You can't use that thing!" Dwalin yelled to her. "You haven't been trained properly!" Nina frowned.
"I was told that if I was going to survive this quest I would have to rely on all of you failing. I can at least try to fight." She reasoned, her voice oddly calm given the situation. Kili appeared beside her.
"At least I've taught you something." He grinned. Nina couldn't resist the smile that crept across her face as she started to actually feel useful. They all leapt into action, the dwarves fighting like experts. Nina listened closely for each swing of a blade that got too close and she hacked at any that did. She managed to injure many of the goblins in her path, taking care not to hack at a dwarf.
"Follow me, quickly. Run!" Gandalf ordered urgently. Nina sheathed Macilril and felt a familiar hand grip hers' as she was guided along the goblin tunnels.
The dwarves maneuvered their way through the tunnels in a way that Nina could only imagine being part of a video game. It didn't take long before Kili had to release her hand so both of them could fight, him shooting the goblins and her hacking blindly at what she could. They reached a ledge with no path; they were trapped with goblins closing in. Thorin ordered that the ropes be cut, and soon Nina felt herself swinging. Kili grabbed her hand to steady her.
"Hold onto me." He ordered quickly. Nina had no time to question him and wrapped her arms around him like a small child. She felt the sensation of flying, even if only for a few moments before they landed abruptly onto the wooden paths again. There was a thunderous bang.
"You thought you could escape me?" The booming voice of the Great Goblin bellowed. Nina could have cried in exasperation at this point. Gandalf stepped forward boldly. "What are you going to do now, wizard?" He snarled.
Gandalf poked him in the eye and sliced his belly. The Great Goblin fell to his knees and the pathways shook, allowing Gandalf to finish him off with the slice of his neck.
"That'll do it." The Great Goblin gurgled out before he slumped down in a dead heap. The pathways shook fiercely.
"Oh no." Nina gasped just before the platform gave way and the dwarves were plummeting to the ground below. She gripped the side of the falling platform in time to stay alive when they hit the ground, all of the dwarves grunting in agony.
"Well that could have been worse." Bofur grunted. As if there was some all-powerful force against them, the corpse of the Great Goblin landed smack-dab on top of the company.
"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin roared in pain as the dwarves and Nina crawled out from under the wreckage. They all were grunting and complaining, and for a moment it seemed like all danger was gone. Only a moment.
"GANDALF!" Kili screamed with desperation from other side of the fallen platform. Nina's head was on a swivel as the deafening sound of thousands of goblins rushed at her. She swallowed dryly before forcing herself to her feet.
Never let yourself get comfortable in relying on us to be perfect.
Kili's words rang in her ears and Nina nodded to herself with steely determination. She started to run. The sounds of Gandalf and the company were just ahead of her, and she knew she was not being left behind. She ran straight, focused on the sounds of heavy breathing and the smell of sweat.
For the first time in this quest, Nina felt very confident. Despite the situation, she found herself laughing breathily and smiling widely. She was running, really running. She was hearing, smelling, touching, using every sense and emotion she had and in a way it felt like she could see. She was following those dwarves and she was doing it on her own, without sight. She beamed, her blue eyes tearing up. There were no marks in trees for her to recognize, no hand to guide her, it was all her. And that hadn't happened before in any world.
"I can see, I can see!" She exclaimed to herself in a gasp. Though her sight didn't function, Nina used her other sense to a new, heightened degree that she had never known she could do before. "Screw the Valar, I've got this whole thing down without sight!" She laughed. Fortunately none of the dwarves were paying attention. She ran and ran until she could feel the warmth of sunlight on her skin. Her boots crunched on the grass fresh with dew and she was aware of everything. She always had been, but now it seemed like she could do anything. She felt invincible.
All of her life, Nina had aspired to be an artist. Though blind, she was determined to defy the odds and achieve her goals. However, she had never realized how it really had affected her. Ever since being in Middle Earth, Nina had let the dwarves protect her, and she honestly hadn't been trying hard enough when being trained by Dwalin. Now though, it felt as though everything had changed. She could use her other senses so confidently and somehow that was a big deal for her. It meant that she could do this. She could live through this, and she could do it on her own.
"Five, six, seven, eight…Bifur, Bofur…that's ten…Fili, Kili…that's twelve…and Bombur makes thirteen. Now we have Nina, which makes fourteen. Where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit?" Gandalf spoke as Nina sensed that everyone was stopping. No one answered. "Where is our Hobbit?!"
"Curse the Halfling! Now he's lost?!" Dwalin growled. Nina was too busy gaining her breath back to think about what had happened to Bilbo.
"I thought he was with Dori!"
"Don't blame me!"
"Well, where did you last see him?" Gandalf huffed as Nina rolled her eyes at the dwarves.
"I think I saw him slip away, when they first collared us." Nori piped up. Nina stepped forward slightly.
"What happened exactly? Tell me!" Gandalf ordered. Nina felt a presence near her, but she didn't know what it was.
"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin barked. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing out Hobbit again. He is long gone." Nina felt the presence beside her move forward and a voice uttered from it.
"No, he isn't." Nina jumped back at Bilbo's voice next to her, and she felt a strange sick feeling. Something wasn't right about Bilbo.
"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Gandalf chuckled with relief.
"Bilbo, we'd given you up!" Kili cried cheerily.
"How on earth did you get past the Goblins?" Fili gasped in awe.
"Riddles in the Dark…" Nina muttered to herself quietly. She knew it was a chapter title in the book, and she nodded as she remembered the game of riddles that Bilbo played with Gollum.
"What did you say?" Bilbo looked to her with puzzlement and she could sense the fear in his voice.
"Nothing, just rambling nonsense like I always do." She laughed it off, making a mental note to improve her excuses.
"Well, what does it matter? He's back." Gandalf chuckled with some suspicion.
"It matters! I want to know: why did you come back?" Thorin stepped forward. There was a long pause before Bilbo spoke.
"Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home to me. And that's why I came back, because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."
There was a stunned silence after his words, one where the dwarves were pondering what had just happened, Gandalf was pleasantly surprised, Bilbo was nervous, and Nina was beaming in the direction of the small, brave Hobbit. She truly did admire him, the way he could acknowledge how much he missed his home but was still able to find it in him to care about the dwarves' home. She would have to ask him how he did it, she thought. Thorin's gaze dropped to the suddenly interesting ground.
"We should keep moving, it will be night soon." The company nodded and all followed, Bilbo feeling slightly discouraged from Thorin's underwhelming reaction. The walking lasted only a moment, however, before there was a gut-wrenching screech and the company stopped in their tracks.
A Warg charged at them and Bilbo ducked just in time. Thorin huffed angrily.
"Out of the frying pan…"
"And into the fire. RUN!" Gandalf finished. Nina ran with more urgency and kept up with the company. She felt the presence of someone next to her and she spoke to them as she ran.
"What is it? What are we running from?"
"Orc pack and Wargs!" Bofur answered in a panicky voice. Nina felt a cold fear run down her spine as she quickened her pace. She could not have been more grateful when she heard a dwarf scream "cliff," or else she may have run right off of it in her frightened state.
"Up into the trees, all of you! Climb, Bilbo, climb!" Gandalf ordered and Nina thrust out her hand to find a tree. She remembered her treehouse back home and how she had to climb the steep ladder, however it seemed to be nothing compared to the slippery pines here. Instead of tree, her hand found another warm and slightly sweaty hand which hauled her up just in time as a Warg reached up to snatch her.
"Don't worry, you're safe." Kili squeezed her hand. Nina was grateful that he wasn't letting go, considering she wasn't near the trunk to hold onto it and the Wargs were shaking the trees violently.
"Thank you," She gave a short nod.
"They're coming!" Thorin warned, and Nina suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Of course they were coming, even a blind girl could tell that.
There was a low growl, one so soft and menacing Nina wondered if she was imagining it. But in no time she knew she hadn't, for the trees had stilled and the company was near silent. She struggled to breathe properly from the fear that clutched at her throat.
Thorin watched as the pale Orc nudged his Warg closer, allowing the dim light of the moon to catch his face. Thorin felt as though a giant boulder had smashed into his chest. It couldn't be.
"Azog?" He said, his voice barely coming above a whisper. The pale Orc grinned sickeningly as his white Warg growled softly. He had been hoping beyond hope that the Great Goblin had been lying, but here he was: the creature that had destroyed his family and haunted his dreams.
"Nizdigid? Nuzdi gast? (Do you smell it? The scent of fear?)" Azog finally spoke. The rough language and the evil voice chilled Thorin to the bone. Nina racked her brain in fear. Azog never lived to be in the book, so how would this end here and now? "Ganzilig-i unarug obod nauzdanish, Torin undag Train. (I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin son of Thrain.)"
"It cannot be." Thorin's voice broke with anguish, the mentioning of his father causing pain and grief. Azog only smiled.
"Kod, Toragid biriz. (That one is mine)." Azog pointed ominously at Thorin with his mace-hand. "Worori-da!" He ordered, and all could assume it was an order that they be killed. The Wargs leapt forward mercilessly and Nina gasped as she clung to Kili as the trees shook relentlessly.
"Jump!" Kili ordered as their tree began to plummet. She swung to the next branch with her free hand and they gained their bearings on the new tree. They were forced to do this tree-hopping twice more before Nina was breathing heavy and turned to Kili.
"We can't keep doing this." She reasoned. He nodded.
"You're right. And this is the last tree. There's no more to jump to." He explained, his voice more serious than she had ever heard it before. She nodded solemnly.
"Fili!" Gandalf shouted as he tossed down pinecones. Everyone looked at Gandalf puzzled, but Nina was too busy keeping her balance. Using his staff, Gandalf lit the cones on fire and the dwarves caught on. They started chucking the flaming pinecones down onto or near the Wargs, creating a protective fire wall around them as they all now huddled in one tree.
"Mister Gandalf!" Dori shouted in fear as he and Ori hung precariously from a branch, facing down the cliffs below. While the others were distracted with Dori and Ori, Thorin stood slowly. He knew what had to be done.
"Face me." He spoke, his voice barely above a whisper but still somehow heard by all despite the roaring flames around him. He walked toward Azog and his Warg, picking up an oaken branch as a shield. It brought back bitter memories of the battle where Azog was supposed to have died. His walk turned into a jog, and then a full out sprint as he charged the Orc. This time, the filth would die.
"NO!" Balin cried, and Dwalin struggled to try to reach Thorin but in the end was forced to stay on his safe branch.
Azog leaned forward menacingly on his Warg like a cat ready to pounce, and the white Warg leapt into the air and crashed down on Thorin, knocking him from his feet. Before Thorin could retaliate, the Warg knocked his sword from his hand and pushed him back the ground. Thorin looked up to see the Warg stretch open its powerful jaws and clamp down on him. The teeth sunk into his flesh like thousands of daggers, and Thorin's blood-curdling cry in pain only caused the company to scream for him more. Azog laughed heartily, letting his Warg fling Thorin to the ground like a rag doll.
"Biriz torag khobdudol. (Bring me the dwarf's head.)" Azog ordered soberly. Thorin was too weak to protest as another Orc strode over to him and raised his sword. No one, however, had noticed Bilbo jump down from the trees until he was running toward the orc about to behead Thorin. Thorin stared down the orc and nearly screamed in surprise when he saw the little hobbit suddenly tackle it. Soon though, from lack of experience, Bilbo was soon overpowered and cornered with Thorin.
Nina panicked. She racked her brain for something to do, after all she was supposed to be the next protector of Middle Earth if all of this was real. Both of the men down there needed to live past this event. She closed her eyes, letting go of Kili's hand. He didn't notice of course, he was far more concerned with his uncle dying before his eyes. A tear dropped from Nina's face and she was surprised to see that it had fallen because of Thorin dying. She took a deep breath. This is not how it ends, he lives longer than this. He will live to see that mountain one last time.
A flash of bright, blinding light.
Following the light was a wave of sheer power, power that knocked every Orc and Warg to the ground, including Azog. The light had extinguished the fire wall, and Nina focused further as she stretched her hands out. As she focused harder, she felt the warmth of fire again as she created the wall again. Thorin fell unconscious. Gandalf had called the eagles while Thorin had been fighting, and now they came. Nina wasn't done. She jumped down from the tree with her hands thrust out. Azog watched her closely, no longer concerned with Thorin. With just the wave of a hand, another, though smaller, light came through and knocked the Orcs back to the ground again. Eagles were picking up the dwarves behind her, and as she stood there she heard Thorin being picked up by an eagle. Azog roared in anger and she could tell he had turned to her. She glared.
"Today, Thorin Oakenshield lives." Was all she could say before an eagle snatched her up. With a gasp, Nina clutched its feathers and hung on. She exhaled with relief. She had done it, she had set the story straight again. Or at least as good as she could get it for now.
"What are you waiting for, this is the time to get her!" Madison exclaimed, smacking Erich's shoulder. He sighed exasperatedly as they watched the scene unfold from behind a boulder. Azog and a band of Orcs had chased Thorin's company right up to a cliff-face, and Nina was beginning to step down from her tree. He smiled a little, having an idea of what she was about to do.
"Watch." He said simply, jerking his head in her direction. Madison watched as a blinding light carried through the scene, knocking all of the Orcs and Wargs to the ground. She thought that she was imagining things. As she looked over to see how Erich had reacted, she saw that he was only smiling with an emotion she hadn't seen him use before—pride.
Madison looked back at the scene to see her sister drop from a tree. With a wave of her hand, another light came and fire erupted from nowhere. Madison couldn't believe what she was seeing. Then, just as she was thinking that she had seen it all, giant eagles came rescued the company and Nina. Madison could hardly breathe.
"Did you—did you see that?"
"I did," Erich replied, the proud smile still plastered on his handsome face. "So you must know that your sister had a lot of courage to use her powers like that. Naturally then, her confidence is very high right now, and I doubt she would listen to us and come back. She thinks too fondly of the dwarves now, we must wait until they have spent a little more time together, to let her really see the dwarves as they truly are."
"Nina has powers?" Madison peeped. Erich nodded.
"Do you remember how I told you there was an Elf lying to her? The Elf made Nina believe that she is her mother, and she must have given Nina powers to convince her. But the Elf only wants to use Nina to destroy Middle Earth, we have to save your sister. So we must wait until the perfect time."
"I see." Madison nodded dumbly. Erich set a hand to her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm glad your…boss, or whatever you call people here was able to transport us here in time to catch up with them. I didn't really want to climb all of those mountains." This caused Erich to laugh with her.
"Yeah, well I am too. Don't think I would've carried you."
The eagles soared through the clouds and Nina closed her eyes letting the sunlight and wind warm her face. She couldn't smile however, not with everyone shouting Thorin's name and praying for a reply. She had been able to save him from being beheaded, but she may not have saved him from death by his injuries. Nina kept telling herself that she only cared about him because she wanted to stick to the book and needed him to live, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that maybe it mattered to her if the dwarf king lived.
"Thorin!" Gandalf half-jogged to his limp body with concern as the company was dropped off onto a large rock. Nina heard the others saying it looked like a bear.
"He has to make it…" Nina was startled when she felt Fili and Kili's presence next to her. Her heart nearly broke at the sound of such anguish in Fili's voice as he said the words.
"I can possibly heal him," Gandalf informed the others. "But his wounds are very serious. I am not sure if I can." They nodded, and Nina bit her lip.
"Would I be able to heal him, you think?" She moved forward toward Gandalf and Thorin carefully. She couldn't see it, but Gandalf gave her a sad smile.
"I wish that you could my dear, but saving us back there has drained your power. You must let yourself rest before using it again." He reasoned and Nina nodded, too shocked that Thorin might be dead to argue. Gandalf brushed his hands over Thorin's eyes, using powers of his own. It was silent.
Nina breathed a sigh of relief as she heard Thorin's raspy, weak voice.
"The Halfling?"
"It's alright, Bilbo is here. He's quite safe." Gandalf smiled with relief. Kili rushed to his Uncle's side to help him up, and quickly gave him room once Thorin was on his own two feet. Thorin turned to Nina.
"I saw what you did briefly before I lost consciousness." He said gruffly. Nina gulped nervously. "I am in debt to you, Miss Nina. I have never taken you seriously in this company and now I know I was wrong. Forgive me?"
"Of course Thorin," Nina chuckled, shocked at his display. "I'd gladly do it again." He gave a small smile and squeezed her shoulder kindly before turning to Bilbo, his face darkening.
"You!" He barked at him, causing everyone—including Bilbo—to jump. "I saw you jump out in front of me and face that Orc. What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?" He roared, and Bilbo shook with fear. The others dared not speak, and Nina felt worried for the hobbit.
Then he shocked them all.
"I've never been so wrong in all of my life!" He exclaimed as he embraced Bilbo in one of the tightest hugs ever. "I am sorry I doubted you." The whole company, and Nina, were smiling broadly at this.
"No, I would have doubted me too." Bilbo chuckled once Thorin had released him, sounding flustered from the unexpected embrace. "I'm not a hero or a warrior…not even a burglar." They all laughed at that. Bilbo looked out into the distance to find something that nearly took his breath away.
"Is that what I think it is?" He peeped breathlessly.
"What is it?" Nina asked eagerly.
"Erebor—the Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle Earth." Gandalf explained. Nina smiled softly.
"Our home." Said Thorin with a wistful tone.
"A raven! The birds are returning to the mountain." Oin called to the others. Gandalf chuckled.
"That, my dear Oin, is a thrush."
"Soon I'll be walking the halls of Erebor, where my people lived. My new home." Kili commented to Nina. She smiled, though the guilt she felt nearly swallowed her up.
"You'll see it." She smiled in his direction, taking his hand and squeezing it kindly. He leaned down and whispered in her ear:
"Mahal, I wish you could see it when we get there." Nina gave him a sad smile as they listened to Bilbo.
"I do believe the worst is behind us."
And oh how wrong he was, thought Nina.
Author's Note:
Soooo that marks the end of AUJ! Now into DOS...I'm so excited. So what do you guys think of Erich now that we've learned a little bit about him, and what about Madison? Hmmmm... anyway leave a review to tell me what you think and all that good stuff. Until next chapter!