Dwalin wasn't sure how he felt about having this strange wizard draw off the orcs. Sure enough, however, Gandalf seemed to have nothing but faith in the other wizard. This seemed to be enough for the other dwarves, and as no one else had any sort of realistic plan, the safety of the group was left in the possibly capable hands of the brown wizard.
Radagast mounted his sled, and in just seconds he was off, pulled by rabbits (Rabbits! Of all things, Dwalin thought, but kept to himself, rabbits!) at what was actually a very surprising speed. The dwarves rushed to gather everything they left about, not caring at the moment which items belonged to whom. According to Gandalf, they had approximately three minutes to start running, as Radagast needed a bit of a head start, but not so much as to leave the dwarves behind completely. After all, the orcs would catch on soon enough.
Just as Gandalf began to usher the dwarves out of the clearing and into the woods of bright greens, Dwalin caught a glimpse of Ori, looking terribly scared at the idea of an orc attack. Young, simple Ori, reflected Dwalin. The scribe whose heart you could practically hear break as you pushed him away, you big, stupid idiot. Behind the fear and the panic and the anxiety in that poor boy is a confidence only you know, Dwalin. You've seen it, on more than one occasion, as he met your eye across the table at Bag End, when he shared the stories and books he treasured, and most definitely in that moment right before he pressed his soft lips to your rough ones. That moment before he left all his feelings in the open, and you denied him, and yourself, a happiness neither of you had ever known before this suicide mission of a journey. Dwalin willed the voice in his head to stop, telling himself he didn't feel anything for the young dwarf, that he couldn't feel anything for him. Not now, not as they were to claim Erebor, not with the likelihood of one or both of them dying in the process. A slap on his back brought Dwalin back to reality and out his own mind.
"It'll do you no good staying in that head of yours," Bofur said from behind, looking up at him from under that silly hat. Dwalin immediately recognized the words as ones he'd said to Bofur earlier in the journey. "You might want to stop staring at him and just talk to the boy," the shorter dwarf offered, a large smile appearing on his face. Dwalin acted as if he knew not what the dwarf was talking about, hoping he would go away. He didn't. "Aye, now isn't the moment, I suppose. Not with orcs around and all. Or maybe that would make it a good time to confess your love. You know, before it's too la-" Bofur's words were cut short as Nori, Ori's older brother tugged on his scarf and dragged him away, leaving Bofur in a little coughing fit.
"Ready yourselves!" Gandalf commanded, as the group stood at the edge of the woods. "Go, go!" And the dwarves, the hobbit, and the grey wizard were off.
It was a wild chase. The company could hardly see where the brown wizard had gone, as he was so far away he looked more like a speck, an ant, being chased by equally small creatures. However, the amount of orcs and wargs, no matter how tiny they appeared from this distance, was enough to strike a hint of fear into even Dwalin. It brought back memories, to another battle against the foul creatures, and just like then, they were not as prepared as they would like.
The landscape ahead of them was rather open, unfortunately, but sprinkled with large formations of rocks. As the group, lead initially by Thorin, charged forward, they would hide out of sight of the orcs behind these rocks, stopping to catch their breaths and scout the area for more hidden pathways. Gandalf seemed intent on leading the group a particular way, but no one seemed to mind. Everyone, except for Thorin (of course) was more than happy just to find a way out of danger.
Ori, however, seemed very likely to just put himself further in it. The boy was terrified, and the fear he felt was taking over the rest of him it appeared. Just as a large string of wargs carrying orcs rode by, Thorin stopped, barely out of their sight, but Ori's little legs carried him closer to the pack of beasts. Had the dwarf king not had such quick reflexes, and had not pulled him back with a shout of "Ori, no", the young one would have been warg food, for sure. I can't let that happen, not to him especially, the voice inside Dwalin's mind spoke up, immediately following a gasp and a jolt of paralyzing fear rushed through Dwalin's veins.
The group was soon able to run off again, finding a moment of apparent peace behind a grouping of rocks. It was all an illusion, though, as they all quickly realized they were not alone. Instead, a warg and its orc rider had leapt atop the rocks behind the company, sniffing them out. Dwalin fought back the urge to run and hug his little Ori, but soon saw that Dori was pressing the scribe against a flat edge of the rock, keeping him away from any immediate danger. He'll keep him from you, as well, Dwalin, you old fool. But it was a good thing Dori had been protecting Ori, as Kili shot an arrow through the shoulder of the black warg, with another few hitting various areas on both orc and warg. None of these shots had killed the creatures, and both tumbled to the ground, letting out shrieks of pain, alerting the other enemies to the company's location. Dwalin hurried to send his hammer to the orc's head in a crushing blow, and another to the warg to silence it.
More howls were heard from the distance, and despite not being able to see the pack of wargs, everyone knew they were on their way. Gandalf shouted for them all to run, and they followed the simple instructions as best as they could. Their efforts did not go rewarded, especially not with safety, as the wargs and orc riders caught up to them soon enough. The company found themselves surrounded, although Gandalf seemed to have disappeared, Dwalin noticed. That is, Gandalf had really only disappeared behind another group of rocks, as he soon popped his head up in an exclamation of "This way, you fools." The dwarves and Bilbo, again, took no time to follow the command, their distrust in the wizard clouded by the hope that Gandalf knew of safety they dwarves did not. A minute or so passed before the company found Thorin, the last of them, sliding down into the thin and narrow passageway. Above them, a horn could be heard, and the sounds of arrows piercing the air and passing through the thick skins of the orcs soon followed. Seeing an orc slide down into their hiding spot, although he was already dead, with an arrow protruding out from his neck was not a happy sight. Especially not as Thorin pulled the metal arrow from the corpse, examining it and its Elvish make.
"Elves," he spat, clearly not pleased with the events that had just passed. He tossed the arrow to the ground with a swift glance in Gandalf's direction. Dwalin saw the hatred in his king's eyes, and a gut feeling with him rose to his attention. Dwalin knew where the wizard had been leading them. The discovery of this passage was no mistake. But Dwalin refused to say anything, instead he scouted ahead, looking further down the tunnel the group found itself in.
"I cannot see where the pathway leads," Dwalin bellowed, "do we follow it or not?" Really, Dwalin already knew the answer. After all, he was really asking 'do we follow this path Gandalf had lead us to, obviously with purpose, or do we go back out and risk facing more orcs?' It was Bofur who answered, pushing his way through the group to come up behind Dwalin.
"Follow it of course!" he shouted, staying close behind the old warrior. The rest of the group soon took to the idea, letting Dwalin lead through narrow tunnel ways, trying to find a way out. Bright sunlight streamed in through cracks above them, but the rocks jutting out from the passageway's walls did not allow for any of the dwarves to ever feel the sun on their skin, or really benefit from extra light. It didn't take as long as Dwalin suspected it might to navigate the way out, but he did think it odd when the first sound he heard beyond the footsteps of the company or the groans of tiredness and frustration from Bombur was falling water. Another few seconds of time passed before he saw the slight waterfall, and also the exit to the tunnels. With just one look outside of the tunnel, Dwalin knew exactly why Gandalf had lead them here.
Rivendell.
Even though he knew Thorin was not happy being in the home of the elves, Dwalin could hardly be more pleased. As the group stood at the entrance to Rivendell, Dwalin knew it meant safety. It meant a he could find, or make if necessary, a moment to speak to Ori.
That moment came sooner than he thought, though, as just after Thorin whispered a few words to him that Dwalin hadn't even been listening to, Ori came over and smiled his warm smile at him. He's smiling at you, Dwalin. Do something. Say something.
"Hey," Dwalin whispered to the boy, mentally slapping himself. Already making a fool of yourself. Good job, fool. But Ori did not seem to mind. The young dwarf sighed in relief, all the tension in his body leaving, spreading his arms for an embrace. Disregarding the part of himself that said this was not a good idea, Dwalin opened his own arms, the faintest hint of an unfamiliar happiness and warmth crossing his features, allowing Ori to collapse into him.
"Hey yourself," he breathed in response. Dwalin pressed his lips to the forehead of the younger, smaller dwarf. Ori looked up at him, eyes wide and smile wider, "I thought you didn't want me, not after you pushed me away before the trolls."
"I didn't," Dwalin said, lamely, not letting Ori out of his embrace. "Or, that's what I'd been telling myself. But I saw you, you know. I was scared, like the old fool I am. I was scared of hurting you." Ori opened his mouth to argue, but Dwalin didn't let him talk. "I'm not good for you. I'm rough, and mean, and dangerous. But I saw you, I did. You fought off the trolls as hard as the rest of us. You shot that one in the eye! You're not what I thought you were, young one. You're so much more." Dwalin whispered his last words, letting them ghost across Ori's skin as the scribe moved impossibly closer to him.
"After those orcs, and with the dragon still to come, I don't think you're as dangerous as you believe." Dwalin wanted to disagree, he really did, but there wasn't a chance to, as he felt a pair of warm and welcoming lips against his own.
This time around, instead of pushing the dwarf away, he kissed back.