And finally Azog arrives.

How you guys on have dealt with this story being unfinished is beyond me. Ya'll are dedicated amazing people.

The sun was setting fast behind us as we ran.

I didn't think I had it in me to run anymore given how little ago I felt like I would collapse, but with the very real danger behind us, my body ignored the protests and ran ever on. My lungs burned, my foot stung, and my ribs groaned but I did not stop or slow down. We needed to get away.

"Go!"

Thorin's hand was a steady, firm grip around my own, and despite the danger of the wargs closing in from behind us, I felt that as long as we stayed together – all of us – we would be able to get away like the time before. The dwarves around us weaved around rock and tree trunk, over low hanging branches and jumping off rocks. Fili and Kili were beside Thorin and I, weapons draw at the ready but none of us were willing to take a stand against what was chasing us. We were all too tired, all too exhausted and beaten down. We needed to run away and hide.

Somebody shouted, a desperate cry. I couldn't tell who given the situation but someone did so, and looking back myself, I saw that the wargs were upon us. Nearly a pack of them scattered about the trees, running and jumping quickly to catch up with us. I heard their howls, the familiar sharp slice of pain on the skin behind my ears, and when the closest warg jumped for us, it missed Thorin and I only because of a dip where a rock had been.

I nearly stumbled when we dropped down, Thorin's hand slipping from my own so that he could take his sword in both hands and defend against the warg that landed in front of us. The warg stuck quickly, jaws wide and ready to bite down but just as soon as it lunged for us, Thorin struck it down and the brothers finished it off.

Even as they were preoccupied with one warg, another jumped over the rock above us and I caught the sight of its lightly colored brown fur before it turned back to me and readied itself to attack. Thorin and the others were still burdened with their warg, wresting their weapons from its thick pelt and bone. I was on my own. My eyes locked with its golden ones as it leapt straight for me.

I reacted before I could even comprehend the action, my fingers pulling out my sword from its sheathe and holding it up just as the warg came at me. I wasn't prepared for the force behind the very act of the warg running itself on my blade but I lost my breathe when I was pushed back, feet scraping against the dirt of the forest floor until with a firm smack, I was pressed flat against the truck of a nearby tree.

It didn't move. It was dead.

I froze, unable to process that I had actually just killed something. My hands were still firmly on the hilt of my sword and I registered the sounds of the dwarves around me killing wargs who came too close but everything else was a blur. I killed a warg. I looked down at its fur and felt sick.

When I looked up and saw Thorin looking at me as if he couldn't make sense of me, I felt as if I could do nothing in response. He was surprised that I actually managed to defend myself but there was no time for any of It. We had to escape. I wanted to throw up.

"Up into the trees!"

We both heard Gandalf shout from a little ways away and I watched as Thorin repeated to the rest of us on the ground, his eyes going to the various members of his company to make sure that they were following orders.

"Quickly!" Thorin told us before our eyes locked one last time, blue eyes mildly approving and sparing a quick nod. He took off then in the direction of the distant tall standing trees that Gandalf and the others disappeared off to. Acknowledgement. Pure and simple acknowledgement that given the situation we were in, he saw that I could defend myself if needed.

"Quick! Up into the trees! Bilbo! Climb!"

I pulled on the handle of the sword, grunting loudly when it didn't easily come loose from the skull that it was embedded into.

"Hurry!"

Thorin's voice was an icy chill on my back and I twisted and rocked the blade until it came loose and was freed; I wasted no time in sheathing it, running straight into the line of the trees and seeing where the lowest hanging branch was so that I could use it as either a footstep or some other means to climb. "Over here, Bilbo!"

Fili's voice sharp on my bottom and I followed where I physically heard it, seeing him hop down onto a lower hanging branch and reach down for me to jump up and take his hand. I used a nearby rock for a stepping point and swiftly jumped up, yelping in pain as I was grabbed and pulled up into the trees. I only felt Fili's strong arms around me briefly before he let me find my own footing on a branch, angling myself to look down and see where the wargs were surrounding us.

I watched from high above them as they snapped at the lower hanging branches, just wondering what we were supposed to do now that we were trapped. Yes, we were safe for the moment but what would we do once we needed to get down? Without food or water, we would just grow weaker in the trees and we couldn't exactly sleep to regain our strength either. We were truly and utterly trapped with no way down. I looked around at the other dwarves in the nearby trees, clinging to branches just as I was, shouting at one another to hold on tightly and not fall.

As the pack of wargs circled below us, I realized that we might not be alright.

"Bilbo?" I looked up, surprised to see Fili so close to me, "Yes?" I asked, stunned and bewildered that he would actually stop and talk to me in such a dire situation. His eyes were bright in the moon's light and he smiled at me briefly before pressing his lips to my forehead. "You look beautiful."

It went quiet below us, the wargs becoming silent.

My fingers unconsciously touched my forehead, feeling the exact spot where Fili kissed me. Don't worry; everything will be all right. I closed my eyes because the Durins always kissed me on the forehead when they didn't want me to worry when there was all the need in the world to worry.

My face streaked pure white hot fire.

I cried out in horrible agony, screeching even as I brought my fingers up to my cheeks but it wasn't just my cheeks that hurt. It was my entire body, lines of patterns on my arms and chest that blazed painfully. Fili's hands were on me, asking me if I were alright but his voice felt so far away. I cracked my eye open in pain, looking for the voice that caused such a horribly painful sensation and saw the wargs below all looking to one in particular.

"It cannot be."

Thorin's voice was in my ear, quiet and disbelieving and I glanced at him, following the line of his intense stare until my eyes fell upon the sight of a pale orc sitting astride a white warg. My mind paused because I thought again of how I described the orc below us.

A pale orc.

My memories churned out the name from the story of so long ago. Azog, the Defiler. Thorin's sworn enemy, who once vowed to wipe out the line of Durin, and was somehow before us when he was supposed to have been dead.

I looked at Fili, Kili, and Thorin and felt fear run like ice through my veins; I thought back to when I heard the story of Azog months ago and so foolishly and innocently asked of the pale orc's fate. Had I known at the time that this was the orc referred to in the story, I would have felt horrendously fearful instead of almost brushing off the detail.

That, that thing down there was pure evil. His voice burned as hotly as any fire because it stung as cold as ice. Now that I was focusing on his voice, I could feel the icy trail of it in lines on my skin and when he shouted something in his horrible, foul sounding language, I felt as if they could cut into my very flesh.

The wargs hastened to obey their master's command and just as quickly as he had given such an order, they were upon us, attacking the trees that we were took shelter in. They ripped and pulled at the branches, snapping them and gnawing them and each time they did so, they flung their body weight against the entire tree. Each time, the pull of weight rocked the skinny structure back and forth.

I heard a jumble of cries and I watched as one of the trees in front of us started to sag and lean.

"It's going!"

Dwalin's voice shouting out into the night, a sharp touch against my cheek. I could give no thought to his words or the fact that the other trees in front of us were falling, colliding into one another before the very tree that the brothers and I sat in finally shuddered once last time under the weight of us in it and the wargs against it. We were falling too. One after another in horrifying effect, the first tree tumbled into the next, ripping it down until it too fell.

"Come on!"

Just as the dwarves jumped and piled onto the trees one by one, I got ready to jump to Thorin's tree that we were swinging down towards. I saw Kili hop over to a branch near me as we fell, jumping over when we were close enough and I following after. Just as soon as we landed in Thorin's tree, we had to get ready to do it again since his was falling just as surely as any of the others. There was only one tree left that the wargs could not easly touch and that was Gandalf's.

I readied myself again, waiting for the right moment to jump with the others and when I saw a good branch to grab onto, I steadied myself before I leapt. As soon as I landed in the tree and grabbed onto the branch, I felt it groan and snap under my weight and plummeted down. Painfully, I slid down the tree's trunk until after snapping a few more and scratching skin raw, I managed to be caught against another branch as it collided against my chest and weathered my weight. I was in agony over how abused my ribs were, panting and sucking in breath harshly even as I clutched at my side.

Given the position of the last tree standing and how close it was to the cliff's edge, we were safe for the moment but looking around at the dwarves, I couldn't even be sure of that. They all looked worried and afraid, angry and distraught by the sight of Azog. Thorin himself could do little more than stare down his enemy from where he was forced to stay. Even knowing that he was battered and exhausted, I had a feeling that he would have liked nothing more than to go down there and face his old enemy face to face.

Something caught my attention in the corner of my eye, a small object that was thrown; I tried to think of what it could be but as soon as whatever it was struck the ground, it burst into flames, a wild spray of orange, red and yellow that engulfed the night and blinded my eyes! I gasped in surprised, sitting back along the branch as one more was thrown and spread the trail of flame. "Fili!"

I looked up and saw Gandalf pulling a pine cone from the tree's branches; when my eyes darted back to how the flames spread and how the wargs were briefly held back by the sight of the flames, I pushed myself up off my branch and climbed up closer to where the brothers were. I had to help! I saw that Fili was lighting a pine cone on fire for Kili and I grabbed a pine cone of my own so that he could share the ammo. He grinned at me before we had to dodge a falling pine cone meant to light the rest of what we would need to make for our quick defense against the orcs. We would fight back with what we had available to us and we were not down for the count yet.

Now this was something that I was skilled at!

I angled myself to keep balanced and steadied myself on the branch and aimed for where the wargs gathered; easily I tossed it and loudly I cheered when it landed exactly where it was supposed to go. A second later, I was given another pine cone and once again, I was tossing it right into the fray. Below us, the other dwarves were doing the same, cheering and excited whenever the wargs scattered and could approach us no further.

We were so happy that when the tree lurched, none of us were ready for it; Kili nearly fell and I barely managed to grip onto the nearby trunk before I realized with horror that we were actually falling! We were falling and unlike before, there was no where to jump to! I gripped onto the trunk tightly, feeling fear race through me at the sensation of the tree buckle under our weight.

I closed my eyes, willing my body to accept the inevitable fate of our descent.

The weight of the tree stuttered harshly, the roots still fighting to hold into the ground as it groaned under the weight of the dwarves and me. It gave one sag before lurching downward but once again, we did not fall completely. We were each unable to hold steady, though only some of us were completely dislodged from their places. I gasped as Kili was ripped from his spot, legs hanging freely as he desperately clutched to a thicker branch. A cry from my side forced me to see that Ori had fallen clear out of the tree and was grasping onto Dori even as he cried out for Gandalf for help.

We were going to die. If not from the wargs or Azog then from the very simple consequence of gravity doing what it has always done.

A step in front of me distracted me from the plight of the two brothers, forcing me to look ahead and see what was happening; my eyes locked onto the figure of Thorin standing on the tree trunk, sword drawn and staring down his great enemy. I stilled even as I understood what he was doing, my jaw dropping in disbelief as he started to walk away from us on the tree, heat from the flames in the distance drafting over us in the wind. What did he think he could do? None of us could help him if he were to charge into battle. Did he truly think he could survive a fight against the evil that Azog was by himself?

"Gandalf!" I shouted because truly there had to be something the wizard could do to stop Thorin or help him! Anything, just something so that he didn't go alone into battle!

Thorin charged on like nothing would deter him from this, like it were a moment in his life that was fixed, fated to always happen no matter what. A final battle with Azog. He would not back down from the pale orc and he would not let himself die before making sure that the creature met his death on his elven blade. I wanted to believe that he could fight such an evil thing by himself and win but with the knowledge of his exhaustion, I almost couldn't muster the hope for such a thing. I wanted to hope.

I needed to hope then I saw Azog and his warg brace themselves to attack.

My face twisted into something ugly and terrorized when I saw Azog strike Thorin down as easily as I feared he would. Time slowed and my heart raced. I couldn't breathe even as I gripped the tree because of how sickening it was to watch Thorin struggle to get up and just as easily be thrown back again by a blow from Azog.

What was happening. Why was this adventure turning out like this?

Gandalf promised that I would have a tale to tell when I came back but I didn't want to tell this one. I felt sick just looking at Thorin as he was practically masticated by the white warg Azog sat on before being so carelessly tossed aside. I felt horror and I felt disbelief. I could not cry. Without realizing it, I stood on the tree because I could not will myself to stay put.

My eyes widened as I saw an orc approach Thorin's body on the ground and draw his sword. I watched Thorin about to be beheaded, knowing that this would be it. This would be the very last image that would be ingrained in my memory of Thorin Oakenshield. This would be the tale that I would tell and this would be the end of our journey...

Just as easily as one could wake up one day and want to change their entire lives by wanting to go on an adventure, I understood what could make Thorin want and able to kill someone. I now understood what could make the brothers need to put themselves into danger. I had to protect him. I was afraid, body barely at my own heed, and yet I knew that I needed to protect him.

I drew my sword and felt the heat of the flames graze along my skin as I did the very same charge that Thorin did towards what was now my great enemy. This thing was not like Gollum. There was nothing pitiable about him and I would kill him before he hurt Thorin. I would not let Thorin become some story that I told to other Hobbits when they bothered to listen. I would not let any of that happen!

I shouted in terror and fury as my entire body protested the impact into the giant orc, the force of my small form just enough to tackle him down and away from Thorin; just as easily as I knocked him to the ground, I was being thrown off and he was rounding back to stab at me with his sword. There was no time to think. Only time to react. I was smaller as was my sword and I stabbed upward where his weapon could not hope to defend. He arched back away from me in pain, and I leapt up from my back, stabbing him again in the shoulder.

My hands never hesitated even when he was below me and I stabbed his chest over and over again, black blood spurting from wounds and on my clothing. I didn't feel like a different Hobbit even when the orc gave one last twitch of life. Compared to the warg, I easily pulled my blade from his chest and I twisted around to stand in front of Thorin.

I was now face to face with Azog. He was now my fated enemy.

I was terrified, not knowing what I was supposed to do when the rest of his band of orcs on their very own wargs came behind him to back him up. I held up my sword again because that was the only thing I could do and I did not know what would happen to me. I didn't care. I saved Thorin's life. I would die knowing that I defended someone I loved.

That was all that mattered.

Azog and I stared each other down, him towering over me even from the distance he was at and I unwilling to back down from him. I held my ground fast. I would not let him approach Thorin. I shook from my fear but I would not let him near Thorin!

I flinched when he ordered his orcs to most likely dispose of me, his voice burning icy heat along my skin in patterns that I suddenly recognized as his own. His scars painted themselves in sensation on my body...

I glared at the approaching pack of orcs, my stance and eyes telling them alone not to come near me. Just as I readied to swing my sword because they were close enough, I heard the shout of battle cries! My eyes widened in the disbelief of Fili and Kili shouting and attacking the wargs and orcs, their swords whipping in the air and slicing down to attack any enemy that came at them or was foolishly in their path.

Just as suddenly as Fili and Kili charged against the orcs, I saw the rest of the company follow suit! They were beating the orcs back!

An orc to my side pulled my attention back to it and just as his warg went to strike out at me, I whipped my sword around and sliced at its mouth and again at its eye. The angle it snapped its head back knocked me off balance and before I knew it, I was on the ground, twisting back around so that I would not be left unguarded and unaware of what was at my back.

Azog approached without worry, thinking that he could take care of Thorin while I was down and the other dwarves distracted. His eyes bore down into me, a promise of so much pain and other horrors for the one that kept him from his long sought after prize. I shivered when those eyes glared down on me in cold rage but just as quickly he was forced to look away from me.

I didn't need to turn my head but immediately after Azog was forced to turn away, a giant eagle swooped down and literally scooped up one of the nearby orcs, carrying him off and dropping him off the cliff! My jaw dropped in surprise, seeing as more eagles swooped down to catch various wargs and orcs and scatter them off the edges of the mountain side.

Some of them fanned the flames of the fire with their giant wings until it forced the rest of the warg pack back and upon seeing one swoop down towards me, I rolled over and covered my head. Almost as soon as I rolled over though, I was up again because I remembered that Thorin was nearby and just as my eyes connected to where he was, I saw him being lifted off by one of the eagles.

I wanted to shout but as soon as I made to do so, I was being scooped up by another eagle and unceremoniously dropped into the air!

I screamed as the rush of wind danced around me, my skirt flying up and my hair whipping wildly, until I felt the soft feel of feathers make up my fresh landing on the back of another flying eagle!

I nearly threw myself back from the creature because I did not like birds and I certainly did not like being up in the sky at so high a height! I remembered my sword and sheathed it again, looking around in the darkened night sky for the rest of my companions. I swore that if I did not see them following on birds like mine I would seriously not be at all bothered to rip out the damned eagle's feathers until he returned me to them!

I relaxed as soon as I saw that they were indeed following and with it, I leaned down to bury my face into the warm feathers of the giant eagle beneath me...

We were rescued. We were safe. None of us were dead.

With that realization, exhaustion rushed over my body and I cried because Thorin was nearly killed and I almost was close to follow. I sobbed into soft feathers because I was tired and because I just wanted this entire night to be over already.

The wind rushed around my face, my entire body felt sore when my eyes opened to the light of the coming dawn in my eyes. I was slow to move, exhaustion still ringing so strongly in my limbs, my ribs a dull ache that did not relent no matter how much I tried to find a position that was comfortable for them.

We were high above the mountains, swirling through clouds and when I sat up to look over, even I had to concede that it was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen in my entire life. The valleys sprawled out below us gracefully, rivers twisting and trees practically glowing green.

Life was beautiful. It was something so easily forgotten while in the dark.

"Bilbo!"

I turned my head and smiled at the sight of Fili and Kili on their very own eagle, both of them looking utterly spent as if they hadn't slept all night and staring at me as they tried to assess if I was injured or not. Of course, I was injured but it was nothing I couldn't handle anymore. I waved to them and smiled, a happy thing that made me laugh because we were alive and we were well.

My eyes found Thorin, who was still being carried in the claws of one of the eagles.

Not all of us were well though. Even as I registered Fili shouting out for Thorin, I too felt myself worrying over whether or not Thorin would be okay.

We would need to wait to know for sure.

When we finally started to descend in the sky, I was grateful partly because I wanted to actually touch the solid ground again and because I was desperate by then to see if Thorin was okay or not. I eventually saw a tall structure of a strange rock formation casually standing in the very middle of a wide open valley, and after we circled it a few times, the eagle that carried Thorin gently set him down on the very top of the rock.

Gandalf was set down after him and in a great motion, the eagle I was on landed on the very edge of the rock and bent its head for me to get off, waiting patiently while I wiggled off and found my footing. I watched as it easily lifted itself back into the air and circled again; concern for Thorin overpowered my want to see the eagles fly off or to see to the other dwarves.

I stepped closer but felt like I needed to give Gandalf some space as he checked on Thorin, kneeling down by his side and a hand covering his face. What did that mean? I fretted with the worry that Thorin was gravely injured or that I had been maybe too late and a fatal wound was done instead of the beheading. I clenched at my skirt and huffed in frustration.

My breath caught in my throat when I saw Thorin twitch and his eyes open. I went slack with relief because Thorin was alive and he would be okay and – why was he being so forceful about standing up...?

"It's alright, Bilbo is here. She's quite alright."

I stepped closer because maybe Thorin had asked about me and seeing him on his feet was such an amazing thing. I couldn't even keep my smile off my face as happy as I was to see him alive and well. I wouldn't need to tell sad stories about him.

The smile on my face was so quick to fall when I saw Thorin nearly push off his nephews and step purposefully towards me; he looked upset and he looked angry and I didn't know what to do. What had I done wrong? "You! You nearly got yourself killed!"

His voice was like nails down my arms and left unable to do anything but stare, I watched him as he angrily stepped closer to me, "What were you thinking!?"

I couldn't speak. I didn't know how to defend myself because I thought after everything that we've been through recently and back in Rivendell, he would understand.

"You have been a burden since the moment we left." My eyes widened, "You have barely survived out in the wild." I felt tears welling, hot and fresh and Thorin's image blurred, "Did I not also say that you had no place with us?"

I nodded dumbly, unable to process the way his voice slid down my arms and ached so teasingly against my back. Nothing was at all right about any of this. How could his voice tease me in such a way and yet be so hurtful? Why was Thorin mad at me and why did I want to cry to him to forgive me for saving his life?

"By Mahal, I have never been so wrong in all my life."

I startled in shock as he pulled me close, his arms wrapping around me so tightly that I felt pain in my ribs just from the pressure of his hold. It hurt so much and yet I couldn't stop myself from hugging him back. It was the first time Thorin had ever initiated any sort of hug, the very first time he closed the gap between us.

I hugged back so tightly that I winced even as I smiled.

I almost did not want him to pull back from me, almost tried to keep him close to me even as I felt him loosen his hold and look at me. His lips found my forehead and I laughed because this one was not meant to ease my worry. I remembered what Fili told me days past about it being done just out of love and a want to comfort. How quickly my heart beat at the soft press of those lips against my skin and how I yearned for those fingers that traced along Fili's braid carefully.

When he pulled back to look down at me, there was nothing guarded about him now. His smile was beautifully radiating. His eyes were bright and gentle. Nothing was hidden from me. There was open love and affection in there, desire and need only to show me just how much he cared for me. Softly, he leaned his forehead down against mine, that enchanting smile still on his own lips.

Only when the group cheered openly did we pull away from one another, the blush on my cheeks flushing brighter as I caught the grins on both Fili and Kili's faces.

Something had caught Thorin's attention the second we pulled away and now curious as to what it was, I turned around and saw in the far distance the very picture of beauty.

"Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf Kingdoms of Middle-earth."

Gandalf's voice was a wonderful weight on my shoulder, a guiding sensation as he always has been and would forever be in my future. I smiled at how familiar it was and turned my smile to Thorin as his voice curled over my spine possessively, "Our home."

Even as the dwarves looked off into the distance to where their kingdom lie in wait for them to reclaim it, I felt Fili and Kili come up beside Thorin and I; their presence was welcomed so fully that I leaned back into Fili's hand at my lower back and rested my head against Thorin's arm.

Given all that happened in our adventure so far, I felt that the very worst of it must have been behind us.