A sharp knock on the door was what woke up Liesel before the sun. The young girl forced herself out of her bed, grabbed a spare blanket, and wrapped it around herself, walking to answer the continuously knocking door.
"Okay, okay, someone has to be dying, or-." She swung the door open and came face to face with Thorin Okenshield. Of course, the girl let out a small gasp when she was met with a brooding face.
Silence fell between the two for what was perhaps a few seconds, before Thorin spoke first. "Gather all of your belongings and meet at the entrance; I do not wish for you to take long." He grumbled, and turned to leave.
Liesel attempted to stifle a yawn before speaking again. "But why this early?"
Nobody would think a few words could stop a king in his tracks, but those words did. Thorin turned his head around to look right in her eyes after stopping. "We do not need these elves' help, they will do nothing bit slow us down. You will gather all of your troubles, and pack them away, and we will leave. Unless, that seems to be difficult for you." And with that, the Dwarf King turned and left the girl in a frozen stance; helpless even.
She soon shook his voice out of her head; there was no one that she would let him pull her down after all this way. Liesel let out a sigh, and only needed to pack her old clothes, and a few extra toiletries. She hesitantly pushed her door open, and tiptoed her way down the halls, before finally arriving at the entrance.
"Where`s Gandalf?" She asked Kili, who was standing right next to her.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I don`t know. I think Uncle said something about him having a discussion with the elves; I don`t know why we`re leaving without him, though."
An amusing idea popped into the girl`s head. "Well, I guess I`ll have to protect everyone, now."
The younger dwarf smirked. "Oh really, and how`s a tiny thing like you going to do that?"
"Like this-!" She reached down in her dress for her sword; she grabbed onto nothing but her dress fabric. Her eyes grew wide as she followed them down to her hip.
Kili pursed his lips. "Ohh, that`s not good Little Princess. You forgot your sword during battle and-." He draws his finger against his neck.
"I-I must have left it in my room; I`ll go back and fetch it." She spoke, before running as fast as her legs could carry her.
In her rush, the girl couldn't help but pull the door open quite loudly, alerting the other figure in the bedroom. Liesel let out a gasp when the other person turned sharply to her.
"You`re leaving?" It had been so dark, the voice belonging to Arwen was the only thing Liesel could recognize of her. Yet, the girl didn't respond, and only turned her head to the floor, and began searching for her weapon.
"Are you sure you know what you`re doing?" The elf maiden asked again, clutching the halfling`s sword behind her back.
Liesel stopped shuffling around the room. She finally looked up at her "Why else would I be on this journey of I did not know the risks?"
"I still believe you don`t." Arwen said.
"Why on earth are you trying to keep me here?"
She shook her head. "It is not in my place to decide whether you decide you stay or not. I am just suggesting you think before acting."
The young girl simply stared at Arwen. "Give it to me now."
She tilted her head in fake confusion. "Give you what, Miss Liesel?"
"My blade, you have it behind your back."
Arwen slightly nods her head, and pulls her arms in front of her with the sword in her hands, but not handing it to the little girl. "Do you know the risks you`ll put your life in, if you choose to continue on this quest?"
"I have already come close to death multiple times."
"Have you?"
Liesel trembled as she controlled herself not to lash out. "I have already made my decision, I am leaving."
Arwen shook her head slightly, but held the sword out to the hobbit. Liesl stepped forward, and took her blade in her hands, and stabbed it into her dress.
"But, if you are continuing, I am sure you need more appropriate attire." Arwen spoke.
The girl looked back up at her in slight confusion. "What do you mean?"
A slight smile pulled onto the elf maiden`s lips. "I have seen in your bag, you do not have much. Look into the wardrobe."
Still staring at her, Liesel stepped towards the closet, and hesitantly pulled the doors open. Not many dresses were hanging, but there were still quite a few.
As the little girl stared almost aweing at the clothes, Arwen continued to speak. "From your past gowns, they have been shown to be quite casual. My guidance is that you take a few, but not several. You need to pack light, but not weightless."
Liesel turned around, and gave her the greatest of smiles. "Thank you, I never would`ve known if-."
"It is my pleasure, little one. I only ask to always be on guard of yourself, and possibly those around you."
Liesel nodded. "I promise."
"Do not promise, vow."
She nodded again, with the slightest of smiles. "I vow to keep myself and others safe."
Arwen smiled back at her. "Another is to clean and rebandage your wound." She moved away from the hobbit, and picked a roll of bandages up from the vanity. "I assume you will remember?"
The halfling nodded, and took the roll. "Yes, miss."
She smiled. "Go, reveal your destiny."
"Thank you, I wish you luck with that man you call Aragorn."
The elf maiden smiled back at her, and moved closer, kissing her forehead. "May we meet again, Liesel Hayward."
And with that, the young hobbit girl rushed out of the small palace, and back to the entrance where they came upon Rivendell the day before. Alas, not one dwarf nor hobbit was there, waiting for her.
It was just after the sun rose when Ori was the last to arrive in the Company.
"We move out." Thorin spoke to get all`s attention, and started leading the Company out the front.
"Where`s the child burglar?" Fili`s voice asked his uncle.
Kili turned to his brother. "She told me that she forgot her sword, so she ran to her room to get it, then come back."
"I also spoke to the child before; she seemed hesitant." The dwarf king spoke again, causing all heads to turn. "I do not believe she will be continuing with us. We move along." Most of the dwarrows moved instantly, a few of them did stay back in confusion, but otherwise moved on pretty quickly. All who remained in the back was Mr. Baggins himself.
Here he had just been pitying himself of making the ultimate sacrifice to not leave the little girl all by herself, and not taking comfort in Rivendell, but to stay by her side and endure the hardships on the journey. Yet, there was Liesel Hayward, refusing to leave the city. He could stay, if she was staying, then what wouldn't give him the right to-?
"Mr. Boggins, are you alright?" Fili`s voice broke the hobbit out of his rant.
"O-oh? Y-yes, I am indeed alright, thank you for asking." He responded, plastering a smile on when he finished.
The dwarf returned the smile. "Well that`s a relief. I do believe you should keep up, and not get lost in that silly little mind of yours."
The hobbit furrowed his eyes in confusion. "S-silly mind? How far are they up there?"
The dwarf pointed to the side of the mountain. "I believe the should be at the entrance of that mountain."
Saying no more, the hobbit picked his feet up, and rushed himself with his walking stick, leaving the young dwarf to chuckle and catch up to him.
"Be on your guard; we're about to step over the edge of the Wild. Balin, you know these paths; lead on." Thorin called to his friend.
"Aye." Balin responded.
One last time, Bilbo turns over his shoulder to look at the picture of Rivendell. It would be the last thing he would see and describe only as beautiful. He stared at it, longing to go back.
"Master Baggins, I suggest you keep up." Thorin noticed the hobbit`s frozen state. Bilbo turned around and shared a glance with Thorin, before slightly nodding, and continuing on.
"Wait, wait! Wait for me!" A familiar, child-like voice made heads turn as all eyes saw Little Liesel Hayward sprinting up the slope to them.
"Well I`ll be, it looks like the child didn't want to give up." Bofur said to himself as the little halfling soon collapsed against the rough wall to catch her breath.
She laughed while breathing heavily. "H-how dare you leave me!"
"It is not our responsibility that you could not help yourself in time before we left. It is almost a miracle that you arrived in time." Thorin grumbled.
Liesel`s smile fell as her head was still against the rock wall, and he breathing slowly continued normally. The two stared at each other in frozen time, then Thorin turned back. "As I have said before: Move along."
The dwarrows did, some patting the girl on the back for returning, and others just shouting back to her: "You surprised me, lassie!"
Many days passed as the company hiked over ranges, treaded through plains, and climbed mountains. Many songs were sung, most being old, dwarven carols, but a song both hobbits knew would be chanted once in a while. Games were also most popular to pass the time; from a spying game, to riddles.
"An eye in a blue face saw an eye in the green face. 'That eye is like to this eye' said the first eye, 'But in low place, not in high place.'" Liesel smiled as she skipped through a field they were traveling through.
"That doesn't make any bloody sense!" Bofur cursed.
"Of course it does, you just need the right mind to solve it." Kili bragged.
"Alright then, what is your answer?" She asked.
"It`s obvious, isn't it? A hobbit lass with blue eyes looked into a dwarf`s green eyes." He smirked.
Liesel wore the grin longer than he did. "Not even close, good sir." Many of the dwarves, those not even participating in the game, let out hardy laughs.
Bilbo shook his head. "The sun on daises."
She smiled. "Correct."
Bilbo began his riddle. "What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?"
Before any dwarf could answer, Liesel Hayward spoke. "The mountains, good gracious a child could have figured that out."
He looked back at her. "Then please enlighten me with a mind-boggling riddle, if you please." Many of the company 'oo`d' at the small quarrel.
Liesel breathed in. "It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, kills laughter."
That was perhaps one of the rare moments where tiny Liesel silenced Bilbo. The wheels in his mind were certainly turning as the company of Thorin Okenshield continued on.
"Give up?" She asked.
He sighed. "How about one of the lot of you go?" He asked, turning around to the other dwarves walking with them.
"Oh I don`t know laddie, this does seem to be a bit of a tricky one." Balin chuckled.
"Besides, it was so kind of you to help us on the puzzle about age itself." Fili teased the poor hobbit.
"If I couldn't aid you on that riddle, then do not blame me for it." The hobbit shot back.
The little girl caught up to him, walking by his side. "Do you have an answer?"
He looked up, and sighed deeply. "No, I believe I do not."
She smirked. "Darkness, Mr. Bilbo." He stopped looking at the clouds, and furrowed his eyes, then turned to her in confusion.
Liesel chuckled. "Darkness is what rests behind the stars, and brings fear instead of happiness when it`s not wanted."
"Oh that`s clever, that`s really clever." She heard Ori say with sincerity.
When night fell quicker than anyone could have imagined, a storm hit the mountains. The path they were traversing was so narrow an acrobat would have a challenge walking across it.
"Hold on!" Thorin shouted behind him, from the lead of course.
As the two hobbits sandwiched in the middle continue to walk, Bilbo slipped on a rock, nearly falling off the ledge! He let of a shriek as he prepared for his doom, but Dwalin grabbed onto him, pulling him to safety.
"We must find shelter!" The king shouted again.
"Look out!" Dwalin shouted right beside the two halflings.
They all looked up to see a massive boulder hurtling through the air! It hit the mountainside above them, causing rocks to fall all around them as they clung themselves to the wall.
Balin pulled himself away, and walked closer to see. "This is no thunderstorm; it's a thunder battle!" A stone giant pulled up from a nearby mountain; it ripped off a massive boulder from the top of the other mountain. "Look!"
Liesel and Bilbo gaped at the enormous creatures; they must have seen everything now, and it had only been a week!
"Well bless me, the legends are true." Bofur walked forward in awe. "Giants; Stone Giants!"
As soon as he was finished, the opposite giant launched his piece of the mountain at the giant next to the mountain the company was on; it hit him square in the head. "Take cover: you'll fall!" Thorin shouted.
The dwarves yelled at each other to brace and hold on, and the rocks beneath their feet begin to give way from all the vibrations and from the impact of the falling rocks. Dwalin grabbed the two next to him (Bilbo and Ori) and pulled them tighter to the wall. Bilbo, copying Dwalin, grabbed Liesl`s shoulder and pushed her back to the mountain with no hesitance. Bofur stepped in front of her when another mini boulder fell from above, almost hitting the ground the two were standing on.
"What`s happening?" Kili asked as he felt the ground shift violently.
"Kili! Grab my hand! Ki-!" Fili begged his brother before they were split apart, quite literally.
Looking above, Liesel saw what and why there was a sudden split in the path. "Look!" She tugged on the dwarf`s shoulder in front of her, and pointed to what was up above; another stone giant.
As the two stone giants fought with their stone fists, the dwarves hold on tight as they are flung around. The knee of the stone giant they occupied crashed into another mountain. Thorin rushed his group off the knee quicker than a deer running away from a hunter.
A third stone giant appears, and Liesel Hayward did the only thing she wanted to do, ever since she laid eyes on the giants; she screamed as if she was being murdered. Even her own shriek seemed to surprise herself, but she kept crying as the third threw a boulder at the head of one of the first two.
The one that was struck fell, and its head hitting the space above the first group of Thorin`s! The company fought to keep their balance, and for an unknown reason, Bilbo wrapped his arms around Liesel as if to attempt to shield her from any debris. But she barely noticed as the other group of dwarves passed by her one moment, then being crushed into the mountain the next.
It all happened like a blur to the poor hobbit. They were alive, and then... gone. She began to hyperventilate, and clung herself to the wall, though the battle was over.
"No! No! Kili!" Thorin`s voice echoed in her ears, as most of the dwarves ran to the damage.
Finally snapping out of the shock and terror, Bilbo noticed his arms still around the beyond scared child. He could not tell whether he was trembling, or if she was. Still, he tried his best to calm her.
"Liesel, Liesel, shh, it`s alright, you`re fine, you`re-." He told her as she gripped his arms, and she still sobbed, much to her dismay.
"We`re alive, they`re alive!" Came Balin`s voice.
The girl perked her head up, and tore herself from Bilbo in an instant and rushed to the survived dwarves.
She turned the corner, and saw the plethora attempting to stand up. Her smile was inevitable as she instantly helped Kili to his feet.
"Oh, how admirable for the Little Princess to-." He teased, before he was met with a punch like a kitten`s paw to his shoulder.
"How dare you- all of you-!" She turned and laughed at the company, but all her screaming strained her. "scare me like that. I really thought I would lose any of you."
He smiled and ruffled through her hair. "Well it`s nice to see you don`t want to get rid of me, yet."
She smiled, but rolled her eyes and pushed his hand off. "Don`t get your hopes up."
The rest of the company laughed in wonder of how they lost nobody; all expect for Bofur. "Where's Bilbo? Where's the Hobbit?"
All snapped to attention, and turned their heads right to left, desperately searching for their burglar. But, as for Ori, he looked down. "There!" He pointed to poor Mr. Baggins hanging onto the cliff for dear life!
"Get him!" Dwalin shouts, and the youngest was one jump ahead of him.
Liesel carefully but quickly crawled her way to Bilbo, and reached and clutched his hand with no hesitation. "I got you!" She tried to shout over the storm still going on. The girl took her second hand off the ground she was supporting herself, to take his other hand, but she was soon falling headfirst into the abys!
She gasped and let out a little shriek before she felt many arms grasping her feet, and pulling her back up. In the shock of everything happening, Bilbo`s hand slipped out of hers and he fell a few more feet before grabbing another support.
The dwarves let go of her once she`s on stable ground, and rushed back over to Bilbo, all reaching out to try to pull him up unsuccessfully. Suddenly, the dwarf king Thorin swung down on the cliff next to Bilbo and boosted him up, where the others pulled him to safety. Dwalin tried to lift Thorin back up too, but Thorin lost his grip and begins falling too! However, Dwalin, with much effort, was able to pull him back up.
Panting, he looks over to Bilbo and Liesel, both cowering. "I thought we'd lost our burglars."
Thorin looks at the two shaking halflings. "They`ve been lost ever since they left home. They should never have come, he has no place amongst us, and the girl is but a vulnerable child." He turns his head back around to see a huge crack in the mountain; a cave.
"Dwalin!" He commands the dwarf, and they both head into the cave to explore.
Liesel and Bilbo shared a glance, as if saying: "Is it true?". They both turned away from each other then, and the girl rested her head against the wall, waiting for the tears to fall again; but none do, only her shaking breath was heard.
Heyyyyyyyyy, so, if you noticed a few of the riddles, that is your little goody from the books for this chapter! Anyway, I am so-so sorry for not updating in a while, I just came back from San Francisco with my family, and saw one of the most amazing shows in the world! Again, I will also apologize for not giving you a heads up. Thank you to all who`s favorited, followed, reviewed, and even just viewed this fic; I feel as if I`m not saying it enough.