Hilary felt as though she was ripping the skin off of her eyes as she forced them open. She lifted her hand to her face and wiped the dried crust out of her eyes. Her mouth was dry so she smacked her lips a few times with her tongue to add moisture to them. Flexing her hand she ran her fingers along the ground, feeling the tickling feeling of something.

She probably should know what it was, but she couldn't recall.

Everything was blurry and muffled. When her eyes were crust free she looked around. Her surroundings were unclear, everything was blurry.

There were tall shadows surrounding her but she couldn't make out what they were. To her left she noticed a dim orange/red glow and heat was radiating off of it; that she knew to be a fire.

What was on fire?

Someone must have started it.

Soon everything was getting back into focus. She was in a forest which was dark enough; she probably wouldn't have been able to see at all if it wasn't for the dimming light of the fire. She glanced around and saw that she wasn't alone. There were fourteen figures sleeping beside the fire. Using her thumb and index finger she massaged the lids of her closed eyes when she noticed that her vision was going fuzzy again.

A hand came to rest on her shoulder

"Ah you're awake! Praise the powers" A shaky voice cried behind her. She jumped but then grabbed her stomach in pain. Her memory flashed as she recalled the sharp sting on her abdomen caused by rustic metal.

"Oh I say are you alright?" the shaky voice asked concerned. The owner of the voice came around and bent down to her level. He was an old man with a white beard trailing down his chest. He obviously saw the fear in her eyes and took a step back "It's alright young one I am not going to hurt you, nor are any of these men" he added after he saw her eyes shift nervously towards the other dwarves "we found you in the forest across from our campsite and we brought you back to heal you"

Hilary stared at the old man, her silence making him sift uncomfortably "Ah I am being rude forgive my manners, Balin at your service" he nodded politely extending his hand out for her

Balin waited for her to reply, seeing her throat move up and down he knew she was struggling to speak "Hilary" she eventually croaked out, although she kept her hand on her stomach refusing to shake his. She rubbed her throat at the slight burn it caused

"Ah Hilary" he tilted his head "beautiful name, I have never heard of a name like that before; tell me where do you hail from?"

"Em England, London"

Balin's eyes narrowed "I do not believe that I have heard of this England London" he peered at her from beneath his bushy eyebrows

Hilary shook her head "Where am I?"

"I believe we are south of Bree by now" he answered

"Bree?"

"My dear girl you are lost" he chuckled "Bree is west of the Shire"

This only caused her to furrow her eyebrows together in confusion, all of this seemed so foreign. Yes, everything was so strange. The only other thing bugging her was, why was she here? She didn't know but she didn't want to be here, that she knew.

The sound of leaves crunching from the other side of the camp pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I see she is awake"

"Yes Thorin and she seems well but a little shaky" Balin answered the dwarf king. Hilary looked up and saw a younger man looking down at her. He also had a beard not as impressive as Balin's but shorter and black. His blue eyes were looking her up and down making her uncomfortable.

"So does the whore have a name?" he asked. Hilary flinched at the word and looked up to stare at him.

"Aye sir her name is Hilary from England London, that's all I found out" Balin answered

Thorin scoffed "She is lying there are no cities called England London here and what kind of name is Hilary? I have never heard such a name" Hilary didn't know why this man was being so rude first he called her a whore then a liar and now he was insulting her name. He knelt down to her level and grabbed hold of her shoulders, she let out a painful gasp "Now tell me where you are really from and don't lie"

Hilary could feel tears stream down her cheek from the pain in her shoulders and stomach and also the mans threats.

"You're hurting me stop!" she cried while choking on her tears. Thorin softened his grip on her put did not let her go. Her cries of pain woke the rest of the dwarves up.

Gandalf came over to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder..

"She is telling the truth Thorin she is not from here. She is not from this world even"

"What do you mean wizard?" Thorin inquired, confused about the sudden information.

"She is from a different time. She is born of man, she is harmless and you have no right to treat her like a beggar on the streets!"

"How do you know of this?"

Gandalf let out a heavy exhale

"Because master dwarf, I am the one who brought her here" Gandalf admitted. The dwarves stared at him in silence. Hilary moved her head to face him

"What?" she whispered. He nodded sadly. Despite the pain she was in she forced her way out of his grip and stood up with some help from Balin. She turned

"You brought me here!" she croaked. Hilary began putting two and two together when she thought back to the nameless parcel "The necklace in the mail, was that from you?" Gandalf nodded again. The dwarves around her were watching her with interest. She pulled hard on the chain around her neck "If I break it, will it send me home!" she yelled finally. Gandalf's eyes widened and he jumped up
"No you are connected to it, if you break if you will die"

Hilary bit her lip and stomped the ground trying to hold back tears but was failing at it

"Great, bloody great!" The dwarves around her murmured to each other about how a young lady shouldn't swear like that.

"Miss Hilary please calm down, youre wound will start to hu-" Balin said

"How the hell can I!" she yelled at him, he jumped back in shock.

"Look, I'm sorry but you must understand that this is terrifying for me. I am taken far from my home and I got stabbed but some creature riding a giant wolf"

"Wait, how would you describe the creatures that were riding on the animal" Thorin asked anxiously.

Hilary shrugged "Moldy, beady eyes, in need of dental care"

The dwarves muttered to each other.

"That was an Orc pack, we are being hunted" Bofur cried. Thorin glared at the confused girl

"And you are probably bringing them to us!"

"What?!" she protested "What would they want with me?"

"You are from another world, they probably want to capture you so they can find out a way to enter your world and reek havoc" Balin answered

"Well that's not my fault now is it?" Hilary said glancing at Gandalf

"Pack up everything, show no trace of us being here. We will ride at dawn" Thorin ordered. The dwarves began running around the campsite cleaning up everything.

"Where are we going?" Hilary questioned. Thorin turned around to face the young woman

"We are moving forward but you are staying here. You have brought us enough trouble as it is. Wasting our medical supplies and a good nights sleep"

"You can't just leave me here; I don't know where I am and especially if those things that you mentioned are after me I surely won't make it through the night" Thorin lent in closer to the girl

"That's not my problem now is it?" he said coldly

"Well it is certainly my problem Thorin" Gandalf said walking over to them with his staff "I brought her here and I will take full responsibility for her"

Thorin looked up at Gandalf and then back to the blue eyed beauty "Fine but if she does anything to bring us misfortune on your head be it" he finished and walked off.

Gandalf walked over to Hilary and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She quickly brushed it off and turned to look at him

"Why did you bring me here?" she questioned

"That question will be answered soon enough my dear" he answered. He took the necklace out of her hand and with a rub of his fingers on the broken chain it was fixed.

"How did you do that?" she asked looking at the fixed chain.

He chuckled and patted her hair "I can do more than fix a broken chain you know"

"So I can see"

Gandalf ignored her comment "But for now keep this close to you" he said putting the necklace around her neck.

He smiled and walked away. Hilary was left there watching the men hustle and bustle around each other to get everything packed before dawn. As she watched she noticed that these men were not as tall as Gandalf and that only most of them reached his elbows while others were only waist height. She did notice a man who seemed smaller than the rest of them, his size seemed to be equivalent to a five year old. He was being pushed around because no one could see he was there.

A tap on her shoulder brought her back to reality. She turned and saw a man that seemed to be around her age though he was the same height as her.

"Kili at you service" he introduced himself and bowed picking up her hand and kissing her knuckles.

"Hilary" she responded pulling her hand away uncomfortably

"I noticed your clothes are not suitable for the journey so I brought you the smallest clothing I have and a belt to tighten them" he said pushing the bundle of clothes into her hands "You can change behind the boulder over there, I will make sure no one bothers you" he said with a sly smile. Hilary smiled back and began to walk to the boulder

"Thanks you" she said simply and walked over to the boulder

She went behind the boulder and changed into the clothes Kili gave her. They were loose at first until she tightened the belt. She walked out to join the others but they were giving her odd and disapproving looks.

"You will be riding with me" Kili said leading her over to his pony. He hoisted himself up over the saddle and held out his hand for her to grab. She hesitantly grabbed it and was immediately pulled up onto the saddle

"We're off" Thorin said tapping his horse's side with his foot to get it to move. The rest followed him over the hills