Disclaimer: I own none of Tolkien's works

Hello hello beautiful people! A tiny little bit of fluff in this chapter (well, you've waited long enough for it), but mostly a whole lot of running.

And to Galactic Cannibalism with your kind words and frankly awesome username (I'm a bit of an astronomy buff myself) I'm afraid that's for me to know and you to find out, though rest assured I'll make sure we all get a happy ending out of it :)

Also quick question, but has anyone else had trouble with the Manage Stories function today? I've been trying to upload this chapter since 3 this afternoon (UK time), so its been about 8 hours since the problems started. Very strange.

A Tale of Dragonfire

Kali waits with Bilbo and a few others at the mouth of the foul cavern, having flat out refused the invitation to go in (though in truth said invitation was Fili and Kili's and offered only to torment her), and presses a handful of pine needles wrapped in a swatch of cloth to her nostrils, though it does little to help. The smell is so strong this close to the pit that she can taste it in the back of her mouth.

Kili had orginally gone down into the rancid dark hole with the few who braved it but despite his mockery had emerged, barely seconds later, empty of hand and pale of face. Fili had faired slightly, but not much, better than his brother, managing a few minutes down there before fighting his way back into the light and relative fresh air, clutching in his hands an old dwarven short blade and a quiver of arrows which he thrusts at Kali, who takes them with some confusion.

"Here" he growls. "That ridiculous longbow will do you no good in a tight spot. Or without arrows for that matter" she almost makes a rude comment but holds back, noticing how badly that awful place had effected him, not only the smell (which I do not care to even ask you to imagine) but the bones and rotting carcasses piled in mass where ever there was space. Wordlessly she hands him the pine scented bag and he holds it to his face gratefully.

"I'm going to pack up camp" she declares, loud enough for all to hear. "Come with me" quieter and kinder these words are said, and she leads Fili back towards the old farmhouse "it will take more than one pair of hands to pack everything away quickly, and the rest will want to leave this place soon" she looks back at the cave entrance where the others wait and shudders "I know I do"

The pair walk the distance between the two in such silence that, when they arrive back at the camp, only the most timid of scavengers have fled at their approach and a single, brave fox still remains, picking at the leftovers from the dwarves' meal of the night before (their bowls had been left, in some cases, still half full where they had sat and as the smell of dwarf had faded with the night the beasts had been unable to resist the tempting scent of food).

The fox, a young female barely out of adolescence, looks up, muscles bunched and ready to flee, as Fili reaches for a stone from the ground to toss at her. Kali places a restraining hand on his shoulder "Why, princeling?" She mutters, trying to keep her teeth covered so as to not threaten the nervous creature "in this inhospitable land, full of trolls and Mahal only knows what else, this meal could be her last. Do you truly consider it within your rights to deny her it?" Slowly she sits and gestures for him to join her. After a while, the creature goes back to her meal, though she keeps one eye fixed on where they sit.

"Why do you feel such compassion towards a scavenger, friend?" Asks the prince once a few moments have passed in silence, but he finds himself unwilling to spook her also and whispers his question. Kali does not respond to him straight away, preferring instead to watch and think.

When she does answer it is so quiet and slow (as though she were picking her words carefully from a script before her) he barely hears and has to lean closer. "Not scavenger, Fili, opportunist. And I suppose because... because she is not so different from us as you think. The stories my father told of the time after Erebor's loss, of a great people reduced to blacksmiths and coal miners, scavenging amongst the kingdoms of men for a scrap of gold here, a coin or so there, and yet always hanging on, on the very edge of life. Our people were the same as her." There is a great seriousness on her face for a while, and they both watch the fox finish the last of the food in silence before, licking her chops appreciatively, she turns tail and flees into the grassland beyond.

At the creature departure Kali's seriousness evaporates and her usual, carefree nature returns. "Besides, o my dismissive and hasty prince, she was quite a wonder to behold was she not? Anything beautiful that can thrive in the wild deserves to keep doing so, even if that is only my opinion" These words surprise Fili, and he finds himself looking at her in a new light, as though he had never seen her before.

He realises in that moment that she does not seek a home at the end of this quest in the same way he does, whether she believes that to be her motive or not. Perhaps, he muses, she would spend a short time, whether it be weeks, months or years, in the Kingdom of the Lonely Mountain, but eventually she would find her way back to the wilderness. She thrives in the damp forests and quiet hills, and deserves to keep doing so. There is no place for her in a busy city. He realises also that he finds her beautiful.

True, she has no beard and her bloodline is almost certainly unpure (prehaps you know that in the old, dark days - when the world was just beginning - these happenings were more common than not, though perhaps you don't. It is thought, for example, that the line of Isildur shares a common ancestor with that of Lord Elrond. It is only dwarves of the strictest royal bloodlines, such as Thorin and the two princes, who can trace their lineage back, untainted, to the original Seven Fathers of Dwarves) but beautiful for sure, in a rugged, unpolished way that Fili had never thought he would appreciate in a woman. Most of the dwarf-maidens he knows are styled and sleek like cut gems, whereas she is more like the Arkenstone, perfect from the moment it was pulled from the earth. He smiles at her, with warmth not shown before "I find myself inclined to agree with you, Kali"

She nods approvingly at his comment and hesitates as though considering her next words. But whatever she wanted to say must remain unsaid, for through the trees behind them the great racket of many dwarves comes and soon they are surrounded by them, who look from the seated pair to the camp. "What's this?" Says Bofur with humour in his tone "Neither of you have lifted a finger. Did you come back here to sit pretty on the grass while we work?" The other dwarves laugh too and Kali slaps him gently on the arm.

"Hush, Bofur. The young prince and I were nature watching" she smiles with softness he had not seen from her before now. "And we learnt a great deal about the nature of foxes"

"Foxes did she say?" Asks Dwalin of Fili "Nasty scavengers, what on Earth could you have learnt of value from them?"

Fili answers him with a smile and "they're not so bad, friend" before they all get to work clearing away the mess of the night before. In the distance he believes he sees the grass rustling and, for the first time in his life, wishes the little opportunist luck.

Many hands made light work of the packing and after a quick breakfast of dried meat from Kali's pack and slightly stale bread they set off again, by noon finding themselves in the company of one of the strangest men Middle-Earth has to offer.

Dressed all in muddy tones and followed by the smell of the droppings of many different animals, Radagast the Brown is a sight to behold, and his words carry dark weight and great cause for worry, even if Kali and the others don't fully understand their meaning.

"A dark power dwells in Dol Guldor, such as I have never felt before." The company with him shudders at the thought of something that could scare the man so "It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf, from out the darkness a necromancer has come." The brown wizard freezes, eyes squeezed shut, as though lost relieving the terror he had experienced. When he comes round a few seconds later he whispers an apology. Their wizard, the grey, offers his friend his pipe before willing him to continue.

"A necromancer. You are sure?" Radagast shows him the contents of a tightly packaged bundle he carries beneath his robe.

"That is not from the world of the living" the forest - wizard answers solemnly. And though they cannot guess what he has seen, as it is blocked from their sight by the other's body, the company see clearly the colour drain from Gandalf's face.

However this new horror cannot be given the time nor attention it merits, for, as if on cue, a howl erupts from behind them, sending their ponies racing for safety. Cursing the flighty nature of the creatures Kali chases hers, managing to snatch the pack she normally carries on her back from the loop on the saddle she had hung it from when the group first encountered Radagast. A little way behind her the others let out cries of shock and she spins, managing somehow to ready her bow and let loose an arrow which skims over the head of the scouting Warg, barely scratching it, before the rest of the dwarves finish it off.

Cursing again, but herself now (as much for losing an arrow as for missing her target, for you will remember how much she coverts each one) she draws her hunting knife from her belt and makes her way back towards the group as another appears and is cut down by one of Kili's arrows. She briefly considers using the short sword Fili gave her, but a novice with a blade is more danger to themself than their enemy and at least with her knife she has some experience, though she would prefer not to have to get close enough to use it. "Don't get a big head, little prince" she mutters to him "on this singular occasion short bow beats long" he smirks and she knows she will never hear the end of it.

A heated dispute between Gandalf and Thorin confirms the worst, the company is being hunted by an Orc pack from the Gundabads, and their best hope now is to run and hide like mice from a cat.

Thankfully, the brown wizard promises the aid of himself and his rabbit drawn sled in drawing the Orc pack away from their path, and so, shouldering what little they have that the ponies did not escape with, there is nothing left for them to do but flee.

When first they set off Kali is near the middle of the group, running alongside Bilbo, Dori, Bifur and Ori, with Gandalf, Thorin, Bofur, Fili and Kili in front of her and the rest behind but quickly finds herself trailing near the back, only just ahead of Bombur with even he catching her quickly.

Though she is faster than any of them the pack she carries tangles with her quiver, throwing her off stride and smacking her painfully in the back with each step, her arrows catch in her hair, loosing it from its bun and, once free, it wraps itself around her longbow, adding to the mix the pain of chunks of hair being ripped from her scalp as the arm holding the bow flails in an attempt to maintain her balance.

For what seems like an age they run without direction or purpose, and the Orcs bear down on them, herding them relentlessly until the others stand, huddled together, near an outcrop of rocks. Kali is no more fifteen or twenty feet away, with a team of three Warg mounted monstrosities chasing her down, but still confident that she can make it to the others in time. But, she realises a moment too late and with horror on her face, the strap of her pack (which she carried only on one shoulder, not having had time to adjust her quiver to accommodate both on her back) has snapped and lies now in the opposite direction of safety.

She looks from the dwarves, most of whom are disappearing behind the rocks while Thorin yells for her and Fili, who still fights the Orcs as they draw closer, to come. She bites the inside of her cheek hard, trying to judge the distance between the two points. Finally, decision made, she drops her bow and knife and sprints back towards the Wargs as fast as her aching legs will allow. She can still hear Thorin screaming his frustrations and curses at her but she is close now, only a few strides away. But the hunters draw ever closer and her certainty begins to waver.

She collects the bag in one quick sweeping motion and, staring down the snout of the closest Warg, turns and sprints back. Behind her she hears a crash and turns her head briefly to see that the beast has fallen, courtesy of one of Kili's arrows. She raises her hand to him in thanks as he too disappears behind the rocks.

She collects her bow and knife from where she abandoned them and, with a fresh burst of speed, closes the distance between her and Thorin. The dwarf-king grabs her shoulder, all but tossing her down the hidden crevice at the base of the rock, following after her with anger in his eyes. The fall knocks the wind from her lungs and the bundles from her pack, one of which Thorin picks up as the others help her to her feet.

He sniffs it and throws it back down with distain. "Herbs?" There is thinly veiled rage in his voice "you endangered your life, and mine, for a bag of spices? Are you so spoiled that underseasoned meals are a travesty for you?" Kali tries her best to keep the insult from her voice as she wheezes her answer.

"My lord, these are medical supplies" she manages and, though he has turned away from her as the sound of hoof beats and hunting horns fill the air above and an Orc corpse tumbles through the opening, impaled with an elvish arrow, she is fairly sure he heard.

After a while the sounds above die away. Fili helps her collect her herbs from where they have scattered across the cave floor, muttering all the time about how foolish her actions were to which she sharply replies, for all to hear, "No more foolish than crossing into the Wilds with no medicine at all" and, although his does not grumbling cease, she hears no more complaints from him or any other for that matter.

With meagre wits and meagre possessions gathered the troop continue along the only path they can, through the cave and towards the breeze.