Author's Note: Ummm….yeah. I have nothing to say about this chapter. But since I'm a bit OCD, I have to put an author's note at the beginning….since I did on all the others….and I must keep up the pattern…anyway. There. I said something. :D

Chapter 8

"Whew….thanks." Karra stood up and shook herself off. "They really tied that bag way too tight."

"Are you alright?" asked Fili.

"Well, besides being a little sore, yeah, I'm fine." Karra glanced around at the still, silent trolls. "What just happened, anyway?"

"Gandalf just turned the trolls to stone. As you can probably see." Karra was almost relieved to see his grin. Things were back to normal. Normal! Whatever normal was in this world.

"No, as a matter of fact, I didn't see it," she shot back. "Because I had two dwarves on top of me. It was kind of smothering."

Fili raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize that I was trying to keep you from being eaten by the trolls."

Karra flushed. "Oh, I didn't mean like that. Really, thanks for that. But then they had to drop Bombur on top of me. That kind of hurt, you know."

"It hurt you? I was on top!"

"Oh….yeah, sorry." Karra shook her head. "Really, thanks. I think he would have just dropped me in his mouth without even thinking." She stopped short as the realization of what she was saying hit her. "Ummm…." she said awkwardly. "You….yeah….you saved me."

"What else could I do? I couldn't let you get eaten."

Karra sighed. A sudden weariness flooded over her. "I've never been in….anything like that before. And I had no idea what to do with the dagger thing you gave me."

Fili looked at her in surprise. "You didn't?"

"No. I was just kind of wildly swinging it wherever I could. You're lucky I didn't accidentally cut someone's head off."

Fili shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder who you are," he said thoughtfully. "You journeyed from a far-away land without ever using a weapon. How is that possible?"

"I….I'm not sure. I guess….I guess I'm just lucky?"

But Karra was spared from having to explain more when Gloin walked over and tapped Fili on the shoulder. "There's a cave nearby," he said. "And where a troll cave is, there's bound to be treasure."

"A troll cave?" Karra exclaimed, ignoring the treasure part. "Well that sounds nice. Nice and dirty and nasty." All the same, she followed Fili and Gloin as they followed after the others in the search for the inevitable cave.

The large yawning opening was not easy to miss. As they entered it, Karra found that it smelled worse than anything they had encountered yet. In fact, it smelled worse than the trolls' stew, and that hadn't smelled good at all, to say the least. Karra nearly gagged, as did some of the others.

"Ew…it smells gross in here," she muttered.

"What's that horrible stench?" exclaimed Nori.

"It's a troll hoard," Gandalf explained.

"Well, I guessed that!" Karra exclaimed. "Boy, everyone here always states the obvious." Gandalf shot a look in her direction and continued,

"Be careful what you touch."

"What, do trolls poison things or something?" Karra asked. She didn't receive an answer. She was soon (somewhat) distracted from the smell by the piles of interesting objects that the trolls had apparently stolen. Besides piles of gold, there were other things. She noticed a small necklace that looked somewhat familiar and leaned down to pick it up. Examining it carefully, she realized that it was almost exactly like a necklace her mom used to have. Hmm, strange. Must be some sort of coincidence. Dusting it off, she fastened it around her neck, slipping it under her shirt with the key, and made a mental note to ask someone about it. As she headed back towards the opening, ready to get out of the bad-smelling place, she tripped over something and was sent nearly sprawling to the ground.

Picking herself up, she looked to see what had tripped her. Digging around in the pile of gold coins with her foot, she noticed what looked to be a sword sheath. A little excitedly, though she wasn't sure why, she dropped to her knees again and began to dig around in the gold, attempting to unearth the short sword. She pulled it out and stared at it. It was pretty much encased in spider webs and dirt, and kind of gross looking until she pulled it out of the sheath.

She caught her breath and ran her fingers along the flat of the blade. The cool metal gleamed with its own light, it seemed. There was a design of leaves curling up the blade, and on the sheath, too, she realized as she wiped it off.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

The moment was interrupted by Thorin's voice calling for them to leave. Karra reluctantly slipped the sword back into its sheath, and, still carrying it, followed the others out of the cave. The fresh air reminded her once again of how stinky it had been in there.

Karra immediately searched out Fili. Pulling the sword out of its sheath, she showed it to him. "Look what I found," she said excitedly.

Fili stared at it. "That is a superior blade," he said thoughtfully. "You found it in the troll hoard?"

Karra nodded. "Yes. It….it might be a good idea for me to know how to use it."

Fili's reply was cut short by a shout of "Something's coming!"

"Stay together!" called Gandalf. "Hurry now! Arm yourselves!"

"Exactly what I was saying," hissed Karra to Fili, shoving the sword back into the sheath as she followed the group of dwarves who were now running. There was a crashing in the underbrush as whoever, or whatever, it was, approached.

"Well, they're certainly not trying to be sneaky," Karra muttered. Realizing she should probably have her sword at the ready, she pulled it out and held it clumsily in front of her.

She heard a voice shouting something about fire and murder! And presently, the shouter came into view. A ragged old man on a sleigh pulled by….Karra peeked around several of the dwarves and stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to see better. Were those rabbits? If they were, they were certainly the largest ones she had ever seen.

"Who in Middle-Earth is that?" Karra said. "Who….who has a sleigh pulled by….rabbits?"

Fili put a finger to his lips. "I wouldn't draw attention to us."

"Radagast!" Gandalf cried as the sled pulled to a stop, the driver panting and looking around, his eyes wild.

"He seems rather exited," Karra whispered.

"Stop stating the obvious." This time Fili smiled. Karra giggled.

"Whatever. What are they talking about?"

"Oh, just give me a minute," Radagast the bunny man was saying. "Oh….I had a thought…and then I lost it. It was right there. On the tip of my tongue!" Karra stifled another giggle as he stuck out his tongue and stared at it with crossed eyes. Whoever this was, he was certainly very odd!

"Oh, it's not a thought at all!" he exclaimed. "It's just a silly old…stick insect!" Gandalf reached out and pulled a stick bug off his tongue. Karra made a face at Fili.

"Well, that was gross."

After that, Gandalf and the odd bunny person headed off somewhere to talk about something. What they were talking about, Karra never found out, for a couple of moments later, she heard a howl.

"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked nervously. "Are…are there wolves out there?"

Bofur stepped forward and stared in the direction of the howl. "Wolves?" he said. "No, that is not a wolf." There was no teasing or trying to scare here. He was worried, plain and simple.

Suddenly there was a crash in the underbrush. All head swiveled towards the giant warg that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. With a snarl, the horrible thing leaped down on the company. Karra tried to jump out of its way. She was too late. Fangs snarled in her face as the warg knocked her down, blowing its odious breath down her neck. She nearly gagged, at the same time trying to crawl out of the way. Suddenly it rolled onto its side; Karra looked up to see Thorin yanking his sword out of the warg's side. Gasping, Karra tried to get back to her feet. There was another snarl and another warg fell down on top of the company, pierced by Kili's arrow. Thorin quickly finished it off.

"Warg scouts!" he exclaimed, pulling his now-bloodied sword out of the warg's heart. "Which means an orc-pack is not far behind!"

"Orc-pack," Bilbo said nervously.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" cried Gandalf, stepping forward and giving Thorin a probing look.

"No one," Thorin replied, though with what Karra thought was a glance in her direction. She flushed, realizing that she wasn't kin.

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf practically shouted.

"No one, I swear!" Thorin cried. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"We're being hunted," Gandalf explained.

"We have to get out of here," Dwalin said urgently. Karra was a bit too nervous to make a 'stating the obvious' comment.

"We can't!" exclaimed Ori, appearing at the top of the crag. "We have no ponies! They bolted!"

"I'll draw them off!" Radagast offered determinedly. Why, Karra had nearly forgotten about Radagast!

"These are Gundabad wargs!" cried Gandalf; and he actually seemed concerned for Radagast's safety. "They will outrun you."

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits," replied Radagast even more determinedly. "I'd like to see them try."

And with that, he was off. "Wow, those bunnies sure can run!" exclaimed Karra as the sledge flew off through the trees. Gandalf summoned the company with a 'come on!' and took off running, out of the forest. Once out in the field, they stopped rather suddenly and crouched behind a rock. Karra felt an involuntary shudder run thought her as she watched the wargs run by, chasing after the wizard, who seemed to be having way too much fun. Those warg things were ugly!

"Stay together," Gandalf ordered, leading them out from behind the rock. They ran around and over more rocks until Karra was sure that she was going to slip on one and break her ankle. Gandalf gathered them together again behind a rock, motioning them to keep going. "Come on, quick!" They ran and ran, sneaking behind large rocks and around large rocks.

They finally stopped for a moment, huddling behind a rock again. Karra leaned back against the large stone, catching her breath. Why did she have to be so unfit? She was going to be a complete tired sweaty mess by the end of this. Whatever the end of this turned out to be. She swiped her hand across her forehead and pushed her thick hair behind her shoulder, wondering once again why she hadn't had the sense to pull her hair back last night.

They heard a growl above them, and Karra realized with horror that there was a warg, and possibly an orc, standing on the rock they were hiding behind. She clutched the hilt of her short sword, which she had somehow managed to keep a hold on, and wondered what she would do if it came to a confrontation. Probably get herself killed.

Without warning, Kili suddenly stepped out and readied and arrow. With a twang of the bow string, the warg and orc came tumbling down on top of them. A couple of the dwarves finished them off quickly. Transfixed by how horrible it was, Karra hardly noticed what else was happening around them. She suddenly heard a great howling, and felt herself being pulled along. Grabbing her arm, Fili hissed in her ear, "Come on!"

And then they were running again. Karra tripped over a rock and sprawled to the ground, only to be pulled rather roughly to her feet, and pretty much yanked along with the company. She grabbed her sword again at the last moment, and kept a firm hold on it, wishing she had a belt or something to stick it in. Her head pounded and she was pretty sure her boots were slipping off. And rocks were everywhere. If she twisted her ankle…..! Suddenly the whole company came to a stop again. There seemed to be orcs and wargs on all sides. Karra, without even thinking, began to pull her sword out.

"There's more coming!" Kili shouted, pulling out his bow. Readying an arrow, he let it loose and an orc fell.

"We're surrounded!" Fili cried, both of his swords at the ready. Karra clutched the hilt of her own, as if to defend herself, though she knew she couldn't. Through shooting wargs and their riders, Kili suddenly exclaimed,

"Where's Gandalf?"

"He's abandoned us!" cried Dwalin. The warg and its orc rider approached. The dwarves formed a circle of sorts. Karra noticed that she was in the middle. Then she noticed that Fili was near her, his swords at the ready. He glanced her direction. She realized that he was ready to defend her to the last. This was the fourth time that day that he had saved her, or was trying to. Must remember to thank him for this…again….

"This way, you fools!" Gandalf suddenly shouted, popping up from behind a rock. Before Karra had time to be startled, she found herself being pulled along again. Suddenly they were sliding down into a cave.

They all just stood there for a moment. They heard the growls of orcs outside the cave entrance. They were coming closer. And then….

A horn sounded, and there were shouts and growls outside the entrance. Karra strained to see what was happening. Suddenly something came tumbling down into the cave—right in front of them.

When she realized it was an orc, Karra's stomach began to churn. And she had thought they were ugly from farther away! She backed away and turned around to keep from staring at the horrible thing.

"I didn't really want to see that," she muttered. But she turned around just in time to see Thorin examining an arrow he had pulled out of the corpse.

"Elves," he said spitefully, dropping it with disgust on the ground.

"Elves?" Karra asked confusedly. "You mean….little Santa's helper pixie things?" The dwarf standing beside her gave her a strange look. No one else responded. One of the dwarves seemed to notice something, and the others turned the direction he was looking. A path led into the rock.

"I cannot see where this pathway leads," Dwalin observed. "Do we follow it or no?"

"Follow it of course!" said Bofur eagerly.

"I think that would be wise," Gandalf said.

Karra followed the others a bit apprehensively. Of course, they were heading away from the orcs, and that was very good, but where were they going? What if they were walking into a trap or something?

As the followed the narrow path, Karra felt weariness flooding over her. She realized that she hadn't slept at all last night and had spent nearly the whole morning running. Her feet were sore, and, in fact, every bit of her body was sore. It didn't help that the tunnel kept growing narrower until they had to squeeze through it. She also got a nasty bruise on her arm from stumbling over her own feet and tripping into the wall. She slid to the ground with a gasp, and was just attempting to pick herself up when Fili appeared at her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Alright?" she snapped. "Of course not! I just spent the whole night trying not to get eaten and the whole morning running. Of course I'm not alright! Do you think…" her voice suddenly trailed off. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I'm crabby."

He nodded. "I know," he said. "You're tired."

Karra couldn't even find it in her to make an 'obvious' comment. Instead her shoulders slumped and she put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry," she said again. Fili gently helped her to her feet. Karra noticed once again that he had his arm about her waist. "Thanks," she mumbled.

They walked on for a little while longer in silence. Karra tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. She found herself limping and she was pretty sure she had gotten blisters on her heels. She began to walk slower and slower until, just as she thought she could go on no longer, the rounded a bend and came out of the tunnel.

Karra stared in wonder and surprise at the scene before her. Before them lay a beautiful valley. Houses rose out of the cliffs, and waterfalls fell amongst them with the sound of tinkling water. Sunlight touched everything with an afternoon glow, making the scene even more awe-inspiring.

"The valley of Imladris," Gandalf said. "In the common tongue it's known by another name."

"Rivendell," Bilbo said softly.

Well….another one of those movie sequences. How'd I do? Was it interesting?! :P