I Run To You

A/N- Been a long time since I updated, a little too long. I am very sorry about that everyone. Life has been rather hard as of late.

I do hope this update is worth the wait.

Disclaimer- I do not own this world, the main characters and such, but the family of Ludeth and Dinodas are all mine. Lurol and Poppy are my babies. =^..^=

'Thoughts'

Khuzdul

Please enjoy this chapter.

=^..^=

Chapter 7:

She was getting good at this.

Poppy smiled to herself as she began another braid, she made sure to keep it tight as she went. Kili and Fili were on either side of her, tossing out suggestions and pointers when needed. They had decided to show her how to make a bow string, a rather long and arduous process.

She was glad of the distraction though, it made worrying about her sister and the rest of the company easier to ignore. Although she knew she would be checking up on her sister rather soon, she'd yet to return after all and it had been a good long while since they all had left. But the real thing that worried her was that they had gone into that foul smelling cave, she just hoped her sister wouldn't catch something while down there.

Kili reached out to place a slave on the cut she'd gotten fighting the Trolls and Poppy couldn't stop herself from flinching. It really stung. "That should clean it enough until it begins to heal, I'm happy you didn't get any worse injuries back there."

Smiling at him at that, Poppy winked, "Just goes to show I'm a lot tougher than I look. Now, how's this?" She held up her finished string with much pride, it looked halfway decent to her eyes. Fili was the first to respond, "Not bad for a first try, but you forgot one important thing. The loop for the end."

"You can still add one before we seal the braid, it's quite easy to do actually." Kili reached out to take the end of the bow string from her and Poppy watched closely as he began to show her what to do. That was when she heard noise from the cave entrance and glanced that way.

Her sister was the first to exit, but she looked troubled. Worried by this, Poppy quickly excused herself and rushed over to her sisters' side, ignoring the cave's stench. Before she could reach her though, out came Thorin a rather strange look on his face as he stared at Lurol. Something he seemed to be doing a lot of lately.

"Lurol? How did it go, find anything good?" Poppy tried to sound excited but she was still worried. Turning to look at her, Lurol held up a rather large jewel, one that had Poppy's eyes widening in shocked surprise. "Is that?" Not even saying a word, her sister just nodded her head, still looking out of it and now Poppy knew why.

The jewel was about the size of a large grapefruit and was a deep amber, inside it was flawed, hence why it had never been cut or shaped. But it had a deep significance to both Lurol and Poppy. If what their Amad had described to them was true, which they were learning was always the case, then this jewel belonged to their Amad.

When she'd been younger their Amad's parents had gifted each of their children with an imperfect stone, this one was thought to be still in the possession of her parents. Especially after how she'd left, so to find it like this, here and now must have been fate.

"We will bury it here and then collect it on our return journey. We cannot risk losing such an heirloom, considering Mahal only knows what other dangers lay before us on this quest." Lurol looked around and taking in the tree nearby that looked to be growing right out of the rocks, she decided that would be a good a place as any. At least it would have a visible landmark.

"There will be good. Come Poppy, let's bury it quickly." Poppy didn't need to be told twice she looked around and finding a rather sturdy looking stick, she hurried over to the tree Lurol had pointed out. Once the best looking place was found, Poppy started to stab at the earth until she'd dug a pretty decent sized hole.

Both stared at the jewel, taking in all the details before they covered it over and did their best to hide the freshly turned earth. They had to make sure no one else would think to look here for whatever the reason. Once done both of them rejoined the company and were surprised when everyone was staring at them in silent questioning.

"That was a needed action to safeguard a lost family treasure. Now, are we about ready to move on?" Lurol asked this with crossed arms and a slight glare, hoping it warned anyone across from her that questioning her was a very bad idea.

Before anyone could respond though, a loud crashing sounded as a voice screeched though the air. Some sort of nonsense about 'murder' and 'thieves.' In crashed a large sleigh like contraption pulled along by large rabbits. Poppy took one look at them and lit up; she's always had a thing for animals. Cooing she moved closer, completely ignoring the commotion with their new arrival.

Kili tried to stop her but Poppy moved forwards none the less. They were very cute rabbits to her eyes and looking up she saw she was being watched by a rather odd looking wizard. She believed him to be Radagast the Brown; at least he was wearing brown. He seemed to sense her interest in his rabbits and to her surprise he motioned her forward.

She did so, her eyes moving back towards the rabbits. The nearest one tilted its head as it turned towards her. It was almost as big as her, seeing it close up like this she could make out the claws and fangs the rabbit had. 'Fierce beast it must be,' cooing softly as she would to any of the wild rabbits from the shire, Poppy kept moving closer.

When she was within touching distance of it she held out a hand palm up and did her best not to make any sudden movements. The Rabbit perked up its ears and fully faced her, its nose twitched as it sniffed at her hand. Then finally after a long drawn-in breath, the rabbit touched her hand with its nose. Poppy felt a smile break her lips, "you are a beautiful creature aren't you?"

At the same time Radagast was speaking to Gandalf of what he'd come to tell him and Lurol watched them interact with a narrowed gaze. She didn't really understand this new wizard's behavior, he was rather unorthodox but something about his arrival had her ill at ease. Something was coming; she could feel it in her bones.

Shifting she looked around her hand drifting down to sit atop her sword hilt, she saw that Thorin was looking her way and she gave him a pointed look. It seemed he understood as he motioned Dwalin to his side quickly, "keep a sharp eye, if the wizard was able to surprise us anything can." Dwalin nodded and shifted about to start a circle of the clearing.

That was when a howl filled the air; Lurol gripped her sword and fell into a defensive stance. "What was that? Some sort of wolf?" Bilbo's voice sounded worried and Lurol was glad of it, he seemed to finally be gaining some wariness of their environment. A good skill in the wilds. Bofur shook his head as he glanced about as well, "That is not a wolf. I wish it were."

The others in the company all armed themselves as they prepared to defend themselves, which was when Lurol noticed that Dori was missing. This was the least of her worries when another howl pierced the air, this time it was a lot closer. As Gandalf turned to argue with Thorin about something dealing with their quest, Lurol sighted something moving through the underbrush and prepared a throwing dagger.

The moment the wargs muzzle broke through the bushes she hurled the dagger as hard as she could, her dagger buried itself in the wargs eye killing it and bringing its rider down with it. Dwalin quickly dispatched the Orc. Moments later Dori came crashing into the clearing looking panicked, "The ponies bolted, tried to catch 'em but they got away."

Thorin growled as he gripped his own sword until his knuckles went white; Gandalf looked to Radagast whom seemed to have focused upon Poppy. She had gotten close enough to the rabbits to scratch behind their long ears and ruffle their fur a bit. Three of them crowded her, all looking for attention.

"I will distract them for you Gandalf, then you can all make your escape." His voice was clear, which for Radagast that was a major feat. Gandalf looked impressed while he shook his head, "the wargs will run you to ground, best escape yourself instead." Radagast waved off Gandalf's words as he motioned to his rabbits, "these are Roscabell rabbits. There isn't a warg alive that could outrun them as you well know Gandalf."

He then moved to his sleigh before Gandalf could lodge any protest, he clicked his tongue a couple times and the rabbits all moved into line. Poppy looked disappointed but seeing that the others looked worried she hurried over to Kili's side, "what's going on?"

Before anyone could answer her, Radagast was off. His rabbits leaping away with enough force to tear at the earth beneath their paws. He cried out a battle cry of some kind while Gandalf spoke quickly, "move quickly now, we must away."

And then they were running.

Lurol kept her bow at the ready, not wanting to let even the slightest thing get past her as she ran at the back of the company. Her sister was with Bilbo near the front and she was grateful for this, her sister wasn't the best runner and neither was Bilbo. They would be safer where they were, Lurol wanted to make sure of this. Hence why she ran at the back.

Gandalf had been leading them on a rather crooked path past the wargs and Orcs that rode them. She wasn't sure but she had the feeling he was leading them somewhere in particular. Seeing warg closing in, Lurol knocked an arrow and let it fly. It struck the rider bringing it down while the warg ran on, unfazed by the loss of its rider.

Cursing at this, Lurol was in the motion of firing another when the warg went down; at her side Kili had fired an arrow of his own. She smiled and they knocked wrists before they hurried to catch up with the others having fallen behind slightly.

When the company was called to a sudden halt Lurol slipped on a wet patch of grass and almost went down, a strong pair of arms caught her about the waist and she was pulled against an even stronger chest. "There are several warg around the bend, stay still." The voice whispering into her ear was all Lurol needed to figure it out, it was Thorin.

His arms felt rather warm to her and she found she liked that warmth, this surprised her but she suppressed the feeling. Right now they were in danger and more important things should be on her mind. Seeing a warg coming from the other side of the rocks, she quickly drew and fired. The rider was caught and even though the others hurried to silence it, its loud screeching cry filled the air and revealed the position in the same moment.

Cursing behind her Thorin seemed to stiffen in his anger at being found. Gandalf's voice called to them to run and run they did once more. Thorin had released her but had remained at her side as they ran, Lurol knew that they weren't going to get far now that they'd been placed. She just hoped that Gandalf had some trick up his sleeve.

When they reached an impasse and were surrounded on all sides, Lurol Began firing her arrows as quickly as she could. She wouldn't give in so quickly or easily, Kili was firing at her side as well and she was glad to have him at her side. Once she had used all her arrows she drew her sword and took up a stance, ready to fight in close quarters.

"This way you fools!" Gandalf's voice had her turning towards it and she saw her sister disappear into rocks, Bilbo was right with her. Thorin stood near that same set of rocks and shouted, "Kili! Lurol! Hurry!" Seemed she and Kili were the stragglers. Both hurried towards the rocks and Thorin, Lurol was behind Kili and as they ran. They were almost there when she felt something hit her hard in the shoulder.

Hissing in pain she kept running, knowing that to stop, even for a moment could and probably would mean death. She reached the rocks right after Kili and after he leapt in she quickly did so as well, feeling Thorin follow her down. As she did though she heard something snap behind her and it caused a flash of pain to sear through her shoulder.

She grit her teeth at the pain and got up, she saw that the others were all looking towards the entrance and turned just as an Orc came flying down. It landed and the others checked it but it was dead. That was when someone asked if they should keep moving and with that everyone headed down the narrow passage before them.

Poppy moved over to walk at her side, "I wonder where we are going now. I really could use a moments rest, we all could." Lurol just nodded in silence, not wanting to let on that she'd been hurt. Until they found a place to truly rest, one that was truly safe she couldn't stop, she couldn't let herself fail.

As they walked onwards she could feel lightness, something that felt rather strange. That in itself had her wondering about this place, she had a sneaking suspicion she just hoped that Gandalf knew what he was doing. A wave of dizziness flooded over her and she swayed but fought it as she kept walking. Once they had all exited the path and saw the open splendor before them, Lurol knew she had been right.

The Wizard had led them to Rivendell. She saw its beauty but she knew there were far more beautiful things out there. At least to her eyes.

It was, well she couldn't even think of a word to call it. Poppy stood next to Bilbo as he gazed at Rivendell as well and she knew they both felt the same in that moment. This place was wondrous, more so than any of the tales they had been told when they were children.

It was as if the whole place was bathed in light and both she and Bilbo walked together as the company made their way down the rest of the path and into Rivendell itself. Once they had crossed into the city itself, she felt calmness wash over her and it made her smile. This would be a wonderful place to rest and recoup, 'wise old Gandalf, he knew we'd come here.'

As Gandalf went to speak with one of the elves that had approached them, Poppy felt a hand slide into hers and she looked up to see it was Kili. He shifted closer to her pulling her to him and keeping her close, she was happy he was showing affection but the look on his face told her it was something else that had prompted this.

That was when a host of elves and horses came riding in on the same path that they had taken but moments ago. She felt herself, her sister and Bilbo being pulled into the middle of the company as the elves slew to a stop. One dismounted his horse and spoke happily with Gandalf, but as he turned to address them he saw Thorin. "Thorin Oakenshield."

Poppy was listening until she felt something wet fall on her leg. Looking down she was shocked to see it was blood; she removed her hand from Kili's to look herself over but found she wasn't wounded. She looked to her side at her sister and her eyes widened as she saw blood dripping heavily from her arm. "Lurol!" She cried out, catching everyone's attention as she turned her sister, whom seemed listless and looked wan. She saw where the broken shaft of the arrow was protruding from her back and winced at all the blood that clearly soaked the back of her clothes from the wound.

Thorin was at her side rather quickly and Poppy looked up at him pleadingly, "she's been shot by an arrow, it's broken off inside her shoulder. She's lost too much blood, we need to get the arrow out or it could get worse." To her surprise Thorin paled at her words and genuinely looked worried.

He then reached out and lifted her into his arms, Lurol cried out in pain as her shoulder brushed against his. He turned and looked towards where the elves and Gandalf were standing, "one of our number is wounded badly. We need a healer for her, will you help us?" Poppy could hear in his voice just how much he loathed asking such a thing and was glad he was setting aside his hate for her sisters' sake.

The Elf Gandalf was speaking to stepped forwards; he bowed his head a bit as he spoke, "of course we shall, please bring her this way. Lindir!" As another elf stepped forward, the one Gandalf had approached first; Thorin carried Lurol from the crowd of dwarrow. Poppy was about to go with him when Thorin stopped her with a look, "stay with Kili. I shall attend to your sister."

Poppy felt Kili grip her shoulder and she reached up the squeeze his hand, her worry for her sister overwhelming her. She hoped at this moment with all her being that Lurol would be okay.

A/N- Thank you all again for reading my story. I hope this update was worth the wait for it. I am trying to make up for lost time in the best way I can. By writing whenever I have a chance.

Khuzdul-

Amad- Mother

May the Fluff Be With You!

=^..^=