Disclaimer: I only own Eva. Not making money, please don't sue.

AN: I present to you - the Chase! (finally). Now, let's hope this chapter writes the way I want….. You know that sometimes a story can run away with you…

Warnings: Language, some violence and gore

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Chapter 12 - Departures and Arrivals

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" cried a near-deranged voice.

Some of the younger dwarves still tried to stuff their things into their packs, while the elder ones drew their weapons, creating a barrier around the younger ones. Gandalf, though, didn't look half as alarmed as the others.

"Radagast! It's Radagast the Brown!" Gandalf cried. Many of the dwarves slumped their shoulders in relief, but as they turned to Eva, they realised that she had not slowed her hurried packing and searching, which confused them.

"Who's that?" Eva asked mindlessly as she helped Bilbo stuff some jerky into his pack.

"Another wizard." Fili replied, his eyes studying Eva's near frantic shoving of things.

Eva looked up at the blonde-haired dwarf in confusion. "Okay, I must have missed that conversation." Turning back to her task at hand, she made sure that the packs were secure, but before she could turn her attention to the ponies, a bone-chilling howl rent the air. The ponies scattered in fright.

"Oh…. fuck….." Eva murmured as the Company stilled.

"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo stuttered "Are there…are there wolves out there?"

Bofur's grip on his mattock tightened "Wolves? No, that is not a wolf."

Low growling cut off any further conversation and Eva froze, her eyes wide in fear. Suddenly, an enormous creature jumped from the ledge directly behind her. It would have clipped her had she not screamed and ducked.

The Company bolted into action. As Eva dodged out of the way of several sharp things including what she swore were a set of claws, she managed to dart her way over to Bilbo and push him flush against the rocks. The sound of metal cleaving flesh made Eva flinch as she held Bilbo back with what he thought was surprising strength. She finally let go of him once the scene had gone quiet again.

Eva turned to see Kili readjusting his quiver of arrows, and Dwalin yanking out one of his axes from one of the two clearly dead creatures. She saw Thorin, his eyes shining viciously, as he yanked his newly acquired sword from the body of the other now-dead creature.

"Warg scouts!" Thorin spat "Which means an orc pack is not far behind!"

Bilbo blinked in disbelief "Orc pack?" he stuttered.

Gandalf rounded on Thorin "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin? "

"No one!"

Gandalf didn't appear to believe him. "Who did you tell?!" he demanded.

Now Thorin's eyes widened "No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted!" Eva cried out.

The entire Company turned to Eva as one, Thorin's eyes blazing with rage "Did you give us away, woman!"

Eva's eyes widened in horror "What?! NO!"

"We need to get out of here!" Dwalin growled, trying to golf Thorin back from Eva.

Just then, Ori came running and confirmed what Eva already knew to be true. "We can't! We have no ponies. They bolted!"

"I'll draw them off." came Radagast's slightly crazed voice.

"These are Gundabad wargs." Gandalf began, worry colouring his voice, "They will outrun you!"

Eva swore she heard the steely undertone in the wizard's voice as he replied with a smirk "These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try."

Everyone secured their packs onto their backs and watched as Radagast snapped the reins on his funny little wooden sled, the rabbits sprinting out of the undergrowth.

"I don't wanna die today…." Eva whispered as she was pushed to the middle of the group.

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One thing that Eva immediately regretted as she made her escape with the Company was not taking her best friend up on the offer of an evening run when she was back in her old world. If she had remembered exactly how much running she would be doing at the moment, she would have never declined. She kept apace quite well in the beginning, but it was becoming apparent that her ability to move was beginning to be hindered by her lack of lung capacity.

Bifur was currently grabbing onto her arm, guiding her as to where she needed to go. His grip did not waver, nor did he allow her to fall behind. As big and stout as Bifur was, he was actually quite fast on his feet; her arm in one hand and his spear in the other. They halted suddenly and Bifur nearly crushed her into the stone, his hand over her mouth in a bid to quiet her breathing. Once the danger had passed, his hand was removed.

Eva turned to him and gasped out "I- hate- running-"

She saw one side of Bifur's mouth quirk upwards in a lop-sided but grim smile. He put a hand over his chest and mimicked rather exaggerated breathing movements.

Eva snorted "Yeah, well, I'm a small peep to begin with." she grumbled. Bifur grunted in reply.

"Move!" came Thorin's sharp order from the front.

Suddenly, they made a sharp turn and ran down the wide plains, the occasional rock jutting out in what Eva thought were random places. They ran towards yet another rocky area that appeared to give them temporary cover, and Eva saw Ori run past her, fear etched clearly on his young face.

"Ori, no! Come back!" Thorin hissed as he yanked Ori's tunic and pulled them both back to the safety of the little cluster of rocks. Eva made out the pack of orc riding wargs chasing Radagast just as Ori was pressed into the rocks, keeping the young dwarf hidden.

Eva waited, BIfur holding tight to her arm, before the signal was given to move again. She could hear the short, sharp voices and demands of the group in front of her, but paid no mind until she was again pressed into another outcrop of stone. This time, Bifur helf a hand over her mouth, but a little more gently.

Turning to look up the line, she realised that Thorin was signalling to Kili. Silently, she followed his gaze and blinked as she saw Kili reaching for an arrow from his quiver. He drew as quietly as he could before stepping out and releasing the arrow straight into the warg that must have been trying to sniff them out.

Unfortunately, the kill was not nearly as clean or as soundless as what Eva thought it would have been. The dying screeches of the warg and orc brought the attention of the rest of the pack. The thudding of paws on the ground sent a wave of fresh fear through Eva. She gripped onto Bifur's arm again after he had wrenched his spear out of the warg, wiping in hastily on the fur to clean it. Bifur was dazed for a moment, looking quite confused but almost pleased that she had latched onto him. The resulting howls confirmed what she feared.

"Move! Run!" Gandalf exclaimed, their cover blown.

"Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit-" Eva chanted as she gripped onto Bifur's arm as they ran - or rather as Bifur nearly dragged her.

"There they are!" Gloin cried.

The whole Company froze as they saw the pack approaching them head on. Eva crashed into Bifur who gave himself a firm shake.

"Sorry!" she panted. Bifur looked at Eva and grunted.

"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf cried out.

Somewhere in the back of Eva's exhausted mind, she remembered that it was Gandalf that had found the hidden passage before anyone else. Breaking away from Bifur, she raced towards Gandalf as she saw him run towards a large rock. Gandalf came to an abrupt halt, ending in Eva crashing into him with a muffled cry, landing on her bum.

"Sorry, Gandalf." she panted.

"No harm done, Lady Eva." he returned shortly. Eva scrambled to stand.

"He's abandoned us!" came Dwalin's outraged roar.

Eva poked her head out from behind the rock that Gandalf had ducked behind to see Throin looking around wildly and bellowing "Hold your ground!"

Without even thinking about it, Eva cupped her hands around her mouth and called "COOOEE!"

All 14 members of the Company snapped their heads towards her sharp call as Gandalf yelled out "This way, you fools!"

Eva stationed herself just shy of the entrance, pressing herself against the solid wall of the tunnel and stuttering out their names as they came sliding down the steep ramp.

"Nori ... Bilbo … Gloin …"

"…nine, ten…" Gandalf muttered.

There was a pause in the dwarves coming down and Eva scanned around.

Oh God! They're still out there!

"Thorin! Kili!" Eva yelled up the entrance. At the same time as Eva put her head up over the pass, Thorin jumped down and into the tunnel.

Kili was in the process of trying to shoot the pursuing orc and warg, but what he didn't see was the orc on his periphery that was aiming his way with a bow and arrow of his own. Eva, though, did see.

"KILI!" she screamed as she yanked the back of his tunic hard. She pulled far too hard though, and ended up tumbling with Kili down, down, down-

CLATTER! Went Kili's quiver of arrows…..

THUMP! Went the two of them as they landed at the bottom hard of the tunnel….

CRACK!

"Fuck!" Eva wheezed. "Oh-" she clutched her shoulder. She began to take short, rapid breaths. "Oh… Oh…. Oh.." she whimpered, screwing her eyes shut as she backed away from Kili.

There was a strange-sounding horn before the thudding of something falling down the tunnel had both Kili and Eva scrambling away from the entrance of the tunnel. The freshly dead body of an enormous orc rolled down to land unceremoniously at Eva's feet. Her eyes widened in horror as she fought the urge to scream and throw up at the same time.

Thorin stood suddenly and approached the body. He wrenched out a solidly made arrow out of its hideous figure and studied it, his gaze clouding with deep-seated anger. Eva's eyes were frozen in morbid fascination on the gush of black blood that spilled onto the ground.

"Elves" Thorin spat.

Dwalin's voice echoed from further down the tunnel "I cannae see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or not?"

Eva didn't hear the reply as pain blossomed through her shoulder and pulsed down her right arm. She squeezed her eyes shut in a bid to block out the pain. She whimpered softly as she stood up, but nobody seemed to have noticed the sound as they all trudged down the pathway and out into near-blinding sunshine.

The pathway, it turned out, opened out onto a glade which overlooked a stunningly picturesque valley. Eva wasn't even aware that she had slowed down to look at the view until she was tugged fairly firmly on the sleeve by Bifur, an unreadable look on his face.

"Aye, Aye, I'm coming." Eva whined as she struggled to keep the pain from his tugging from her voice. Bifur gave a huff, but said nothing in return.

"Rivendell." Bilbo breathed in awe.

Laughter echoed around the glade as she heard voices, light and airy, from the branches above her head. Any other time and she knew she would have joined in their merry song.

"O! What are you doing,

And where are you going?

Your ponies need shoeing!

The river is flowing!

O! tra-la-la-lally

here down in the valley!

"O! What are you seeking,

And where are you making?

The faggots are reeking,

The bannocks are baking!

O! tril-lil-lil-lolly

the valley is jolly,

ha! Ha!

By about this point, Eva's arm had begun to go numb as something near-stifling wrapped around her, making it difficult to breathe. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, her breaths coming in short pants.

"What is this magic?" she gasped.

Nobody heard her.

"O! Where are you going

With beards all a-wagging?

No knowing, no knowing

What brings Mister Baggins,

And Balin and Dwalin

down into the valley

in June

ha! Ha!"

"Oh, shut up, will you!" Eva cried out, unable to keep silent as her vision was slowly but surely fading on her.

The entire Company turned back to her with varying looks on their faces. Thorin, Dwalin and Gloin looked almost relieved that she had succeeded in shutting the elves up. Ori and Kili were a little crest-fallen, but didn't say a word.

"Oh no…" she whispered as she felt her legs give out from under her.

Vaguely, she heard someone call her name before the ground rushed up to meet her and her world went black.

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Song 1: O', What Are You Doing - composed by J. R. R. Tolkien

AN: Dun, dun, dun….. What did you think? Reviews are welcome, please!