Author's Note: Well, I'm back. (And yes, that was a deliberate Sam quote) I would say I'll be updating regularly for a bit, but due to some….extenuating circumstances (which I'll explain at the end of the chapter), I probably won't. So please enjoy this chapter, because it might be the last, at least for a little while.
Chapter 16-Of Burning Pine Cones and Falling Trees
Karra blinked in the sudden sunlight as the company spilled out of the goblin tunnels. Fili set her on her feet for a moment, and hissed in her ear, "Can you run now?"
Karra winced. "I guess." She stumbled forward, tripped over a rock, and nearly fell to her knees again. Picking herself up with a little gasp of pain, she grabbed Fili's arm tightly. With his hands about her waist, he helped her as best he could. They soon lagged behind a bit.
"Come on!" she heard Kili's shout from ahead of them.
"I can run on my own," gasped Karra to Fili. "I don't need so much help." Realizing how that had sounded, she spluttered, "I mean….."
"I understand." Fili loosened his helping hold on her, and she promptly stumbled. He took her arm again.
"No…" she gasped. "We'll get behind."
Fili glanced worriedly behind them. He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him. "Just come on," he said urgently. "I'm sorry, but you have to." Karra stumbled as fast as she could down the steep hill behind him, trying to ignore the little tingles of pain in her neck. She tripped several times, and Fili helped her up, and they ran on, finally managing to catch up with the company….sort of. The run down the hill had made Karra a bit dizzy. Her head pounded, and she felt like she was about to trip and fall head over heels to the bottom.
Finally, they slowed a bit. Reaching a somewhat flat spot, they gradually came to a stop. Gandalf counted them as they came past.
"Kili, that's eleven," he muttered. "Bombur, twelve…..Fili, Karra, that makes fourteen, fifteen…..where's Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?" he suddenly exclaimed.
Karra started and looked around her. Bilbo! Where was Bilbo? How could she have missed him? Everyone else was looking around desperately, too, and Dwalin exclaimed, "Curse the Halfling! Now he's lost?!"
"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin said accusingly.
"Don't blame me!" Dori exclaimed.
"Well, where did you last see him?" Gandalf asked firmly.
"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us," Nori began hesitantly.
"What happened exactly?" Gandalf nearly shouted. "Tell me!"
"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin said bitterly, stepping forward. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since he first stepped out of his door!"
I guess I'm at fault here, too, thought Karra wryly. He might as well be talking about me.
"We will not be seeing out hobbit again," Thorin continued. "He is long gone."
Karra felt a sudden surge of irritation. She knew Bilbo, and he wouldn't do a thing like that. How could Thorin so grossly misjudge him?
"You—" she began, but was interrupted by a voice.
"No. He isn't." All heads turned Bilbo's direction as he stepped out from behind a tree. Karra could have hugged him for proving what she had been about to say. Gandalf voiced her exact thoughts by exclaiming, with a broad smile,
"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!"
Bilbo stepped forward a little awkwardly, trying to act casual, patting Balin on the shoulder with a matter-of-fact nod.
"Bilbo!" exclaimed Kili with a giant grin. "We'd given you up!"
"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked disbelievingly.
"How indeed," muttered Dwalin, somewhat distrustfully. Karra took a moment to glare at him. Bilbo had just come back, for goodness sakes! Why did no one trust him? Did they feel the same way about her?
"Well," said Gandalf happily, "what does it matter? He's back!"
"It matters," said Thorin grimly. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"
"Look, I know you doubt me," Bilbo began. "And I…I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. My garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. That's why I came back, because….you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you." He paused. "And I will help you take it back if I can," he finally finished.
Karra sniffed. Something in Bilbo's words had touched her longing for her own home. What was her mom doing right now? Did she even know she was gone? And her friends? Did they miss her?
But this was her home, this world. It was her dad's home, and it would be hers. But still only half hers. She sniffled and a tear formed in her eye. Would she ever only half belong anywhere? Would anywhere truly be her home now? The tear began to run down her cheek.
Fili was at her side. He put his arm around her shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"No, I'm not," she cried. "I'm never going to be alright if I only half belong here." Suddenly she burst into tears. "I hate this place!" she sobbed. "It's full of ugly creatures, and I wish I'd never come, and I think I broke my neck…."
Fili cut her off, honest concern on his face. "What did you say?"
"I said I wish I'd never come!" she exclaimed.
Fili didn't seem insulted. How did he go through life never being insulted, Karra wondered, suddenly feeling terrible about what she had just said. "No…the last thing you said," Fili clarified.
"I said….I think I broke my neck," she sniffled. "I smashed it back against the rock wall when we fell. And now it hurts."
"Oh!" Fili looked a little startled. "I see."
"You wouldn't be walking if you'd really broken your neck," Oin cut in, and Karra was suddenly aware of the fact that everyone was staring at her. Her face reddened, and she stared at her feet, unwilling to look anyone in the face.
"I…I didn't mean it," she fumbled. "I mean, about hating this place. I'm glad I've come, really, it's just…." Her voice trailed off for a moment. "I guess I'm just tired, and with all that stuff…." She gestured back towards the goblin tunnels. "I'm sorry," she finally said simply. "I really am."
"We know, lass, we know," Balin said. "We understand." All the other dwarves nodded. "It was your first battle. We understand."
Karra had a sudden urge to throw herself into his arms and sob. Instead she sniffled, "Thanks," and looked down again, her flush growing. She shuffled back to the edge of the company, wishing everyone would stop staring at her.
The awkward moment was broken by a howl. Everyone looked up in surprise. Karra groaned.
"Not again," she grumbled.
"Out of the frying pan….." Thorin said grimly.
"….and into the fire," Gandalf replied, as if on cue. "Run!" he cried. "RUN!"
Karra's eyes widened. "Oh, no….no more running….please…." But she found herself pulled along with the company as they took off as fast as they could.
"Where are going?" Karra quavered.
"It's not a matter of where we're going," she heard Fili's voice in her ear, "but what we're running from. We're running from the wargs."
Karra didn't have the breath to make a comment about how obvious that last statement was.
Down the hill, over rocks and through trees, they ran. Karra developed a stich in her side, but when she stopped to catch her breath, she heard a howl that sounded like it came from right behind her. She jumped and almost instinctively put her hand on her sword. Clutching the hilt tightly, she stood frozen as a warg slowly approached her.
And then she panicked. With a little shriek, she took off as fast as she could from the warg that was now at her heels. She stumbled over several rocks, gasping and picking herself up as fast as she could, fleeing those snarling teeth. The warg snapped and snarled, sometimes way too close for comfort, several times almost catching the back of her shirt. She scrambled over rocks and boulders, briefly wondering how horribly far behind the rest of the company she was. She stumbled over another rock, and ran face-first into a tree. Backing up a little, she took a deep breath and prepared to flee again, only to find herself looking straight over the edge of a cliff.
Karra gave a little gasp and jumped back, only to realize that she was trapped between the edge of the cliff and a snarling warg. She had just drawn her sword desperately, looking back and forth between those teeth and the cliff and vaguely wondering which would be more desirable, when she heard Gandalf calling, "Up in the trees! All of you!"
She realized for the first time that she had actually managed to catch up with the rest of the company, but her thought was cut short by the snarl of the approaching warg. Shoving her sword back into its sheath, she scrambled up into the nearest tree as fast as she could, slipping on the bark several times, the warg snapping at her heels. She managed to grab a branch and pull herself up. The warg snapped at her again, and, gasping, she scrambled up onto a higher branch.
"Up! Up further!" she heard Balin's voice above her. He grabbed her and pulled her onto a higher branch, just as the warg leaped at her.
"Thanks," she gasped. She hugged the branch and tried to keep herself balanced as she watched the wargs and orcs approach. Sitting still for the first time in a while, it suddenly hit her how sore she was. She bit her lip as pain from the wound in her arm flooded over her. She loosened her hold on the tree trunk unconsciously, just as the tree began to shake. She heard hundreds of howls below her, and she looked down to see masses of wargs attacking the bottom of the trees. She slipped backwards, and with a gasp, caught the branch and found herself laying on it. She hugged the branch as hard as she could, realizing how quickly the tree was falling backwards.
"Jump!" Balin shouted, almost in her ear. She gritted her teeth and leaped to the next tree, wrapping her arms around the trunk, like a panda bear or something. After a couple of moments of gripping the tree trunk hard, she realized it wasn't falling. With a sigh of relief, she loosened her hold a bit and settled slowly and painfully onto the tree branch. She closed her eyes for a moment, one arm still gripping the tree trunk in order to keep her balance, and tried to catch her breath. Before she even had time to do that, she felt someone nudge her.
"Karra!" she heard Kili shout, and before she knew what was happening, a streak of fire came flying at her. Reaching out, she caught a burning pine cone, wondering briefly what she was supposed to do with it.
"Throw it!" Kili cried. "Throw it at the wargs!"
The pine cone was beginning to burn her fingers, and she was more than happy to drop it. Another came flying at her, and she tossed it as hard as she could into the crowd of wargs. With a laugh, she realized it was actually rather fun. She spun the next pine cone around several times before throwing it as hard as she could. She grinned as one of the wargs howled and jumped around as her pine cone hit it on the head and its fur caught on fire. Well, it could have been her pine cone. She liked to think her aim was that good. Grinning, she caught the next one and was just beginning to toss it when she felt a sinking sensation.
The tree was leaning.
And leaning.
And leaning more.
Karra suddenly processed what was happening. With a little cry, she grabbed the tree trunk and managed to wiggle to the other side, so she was sitting on top as the tree fell backward. She heard the startled cries of several other dwarves, but she was too focused on keeping her own balance and not looking down to see what was happening. She managed to grip a branch, which was now sticking straight up and made a nice hold, and carefully looked around her. She glanced down and regretted it. They were…well, she didn't even want to think about how high they were. After closing her eyes for a moment and getting her bearings, she opened them to see Thorin slowly getting to his feet. What are you doing? she thought for a moment. You dummy! You're going to knock our whole tree off the edge of the cliff!
Thankfully, quite thankfully, he didn't. As Karra watched, he charged forward, sword at the ready, silhouetted by the smoke and flames. She briefly noticed how utterly heroic he looked. Until the warg knocked him down.
For the first time, Karra noticed the warg, and the white orc that sat atop it. It grinned triumphantly and evilly, swinging its mount around towards the tree. Thorin slowly rose to his feet, facing down the warg and orc as they approached him again. He gave one mighty, but failed, slash at the warg's side. The orc swung its giant scepter (or whatever that thing was called). Thorin was thrown brutally to the ground as it slammed him in the face. Karra winced. Was he dead?
No. As the warg picked him up in its teeth, he managed to protest a bit, slamming his sword into the warg's head. The warg howled and threw him. He landed on a rock a couple of feet away, his head smashing against it. Karra sat up straighter and strained to see what was happening. She heard the orc speaking its horrible language, and apparently something was happening, for everyone let out a little cry. Carefully moving forward on the trunk of the precarious tree, Karra managed to see what was happening again. An orc had raised its ugly sword-thingy over what was apparently Thorin's body, and it looked like it was preparing to cut off his head.
Karra watched blankly. The idea that Thorin could be killed had never entered her head before. Regal, kingly, strong, distant Thorin….he could be defeated? Karra realized with a horrible cold feeling in the pit of her stomach that he could be defeated, and he was. And what would happen to them?
And the, out of nowhere, a little streak came flying towards the orc. Karra sat up straighter as whatever it was tackled the orc and the orc fell. Wait a minute…..was that Bilbo? Karra worked her way closer to the edge. What was happening?
Bilbo, for it was Bilbo, had apparently defeated the orc, for as Karra looked on, he stood over it for a moment, holding his sword. Karra remembered killing that first goblin with her own sword and knew exactly how he felt.
A moment later, every ounce of her wanted to scream, Bilbo, look out! The white orc, who was apparently the leader of the company of orcs, and two of his henchmen, were approaching Bilbo from behind. The next moment, he spotted them. He stood there in shock for a minute, and then, with what appeared to be the last ounce of bravery he had in him, he flipped his sword once, staring at the orcs. The pale one said something in his horrible language, and the three approached him menacingly, their intent obvious.
"Bilbo! No!" cried Karra desperately wanting someone to do something. And to her surprise, someone did. She caught her breath as three dwarves rushed forward, attacking wargs and orcs left and right.
Almost without thinking, Karra gripped her own sword and stumbled off the end of the tree trunk. With a cry, she rushed forward, slashing her sword back and forth, here and there, fighting through the mass of orcs and wargs. Quite surprisingly, she managed to shove her sword into a warg's head, and, as she yanked it out, the warg let out a howl of rage, and leaped towards her. She jumped backward, holding her sword at the ready in front of her. The warg snapped and snarled at her, but she jumped, tripped, and fell out of the way. Struggling to her feet, she desperately tried to slash forward, tried to land a fatal blow in its head, but failed. The thing leaped at her again, knocking her back down, snarling, its saliva dripping on her shirt. She gripped her sword for one final effort…..
And then the warg disappeared. For a moment, she just stared around her, wondering what had just happened. And then she noticed that the warg in question was flying above her, gripped in the claws of the biggest bird she had ever seen. In fact, it was bigger than the biggest bird she had ever seen. She just lay there for a minute, staring, her mouth open in shock. She began to notice that there were more of these….well, they looked like eagles. In fact, there were lots of them. They were attacking the orcs and wargs, catching them up in their massive claws, and throwing them off the cliff, and Karra was pretty sure they might be attacking the dwarves, too. And one was heading straight towards her.
Before she knew what was happening, she felt the great claws closing around her. And before she had time to struggle, the eagle lifted off, holding her tightly in its talons. She watched the ground fall away below her, and gulped. As the eagle flew on, she saw that it was soaring hundreds of feet above the ground. She scrunched her eyes shut and let herself go limp in the giant claws. She regretted it as sudden tingles of pain flew through her neck. She suddenly realized that the eagle wasn't supporting her neck, and that holding it up hurt, and letting it flop hurt, and she couldn't decide which hurt more. She managed to wiggle into a (somewhat) more comfortable position before the claws tightened.
They flew on for what seemed to be an eternity. Karra tried wiggling into one position, and then the other. Nothing was comfortable. The sun began to rise, and she realized that the last time she had slept had been two nights ago. More than anything, she just wanted to fall asleep. Her arm began to throb. Her neck felt very stiff. The sun was fully risen now, and still they flew on. Karra willed herself not to look down, and failed. The view and the height took her breath away. She stared down, enraptured, unable to look away. The height made her feel giddy. For a moment, she forgot her pain as she took in the view of mountains and clouds below her. There were moments when she wished she had a camera. She realized with a little laugh that there really wasn't anything she could do with a camera right now, held in the claws of an eagle as she was.
For what seemed hours, she watched the changing scenery as they flew on. After she didn't know how long, it seemed they were approaching something. As they came closer, Karra saw that it was a large pillar of sorts, of rock. They approached it, and Karra felt herself being gently set down. She collapsed onto the rock and put her head in her hands. More than anything, she just wanted sleep.
Alright, I have a confession to make. I'm 16 years old, and this whole story, in fact, all of my fanfiction stories, have been under my parents' radar. They don't know I have an account on here, actually, they don't know I'm even writing or reading fanfiction. Lately it's been bothering me way too much, and I know I have to tell them. Every time I sit down the write or post something, I feel so deceptive. I'm not going to update anymore until I tell them, and after that, I can't guarantee I'll even be continuing this story. I sincerely apologize for this, and for sort of deceiving you all, making you think everything was fine with this story, and I was perfectly honest, when I wasn't. Again, I'm really sorry, please forgive me. :(