Now that the holiday buzz is over, on with the story!
As you can see, we'll continue with a new title and a new summary to match the changing plotline.
I hope you guys had a lovely Christmas and that you'll enjoy this chapter! ;)
In the late afternoon of the following day, they reached the bottom of the Misty Mountains. They had neither encountered goblins, nor stone giants and Thorin hadn't mentioned the wargs to his companions. The journey across the High Pass had been stressful enough for each of them without the lurking danger of two beasts on their trace.
When they came from the pass, squeezing through one by one, Gandalf waited on the side, doing his usual headcount.
"Thorin, Dwalin, Bofur, Bifur, Dori, Nori, Ori, Balin, Bilbo, Bombur, Glóin including mule, Óin and- where are the boys?"
"CAN YOU TELL YOUR EFFING STUPID MULE TO STOP EATING MY HAIR?!"
"Ah, there they are", Gandalf nodded, eyeing Thorin who did not seem too impressed with his nephews behaviour.
"What do you want me to do, huh?", Kíli asked as the brothers and the mule appeared from the pass. "Kindly ask her to refrain from chewing on your hair?"
"It would be a start!", Fíli mumbled, fiddling with the barrette holding his headdress in shape, the reins between his teeth. The only one seemingly content was the mule.
"What way now?", Bofur asked, playfully pulling on one of Fílis braids as he passed, earning himself a slap on the fingers.
"Straight ahead Master Dwarf. Straight ahead. The worst part of the journey lies behind us", the wizard replied gleefully and everyone breathed deeply.
They travelled on, following the old path towards the Carrock by the Great River of Wilderland. Leaving the mountains behind made them cheerful and carefree and they sang as they travelled along, joked and told each other stories. Though the rocking of the mule pressed on Kílis ribs and his arm in the sling had began to annoy him, the youngster was high-spirited, occasionally waving a strand of Fílis hair in front of the mules nose to see if she would try to eat it again. Unnecessary to mention that his brother wasn't exactly happy with this.
The evening went on and by nightfall they reached a small wooded areal, covered in bushes and rocks. They already heard the river Anduin in the far distance, when Gandalf suddenly halted.
"What is it?", Thorin asked but the wizard merely shushed him, pressing his finger against his lips.
The shadows of the trees suddenly seemed to grow longer and darker, crawling across the dry grass and as they reached the hoofs of Kílis mule, the animal took a leap to the side, buckling and could hardly be restrained by Fíli. His brother bravely held on but every little step and jump made him grit his teeth.
"What's wrong with her?!", he required but Fíli merely shrugged. "I don't know. There's nothing there."
Just as Bofur and Glóin stepped up to aid the youngsters, a massive shadow leaped from the thick brushwood and bushes to the sides of the road, directly followed by a second and a third one.
"WARGS! DRAW YOUR WEAPONS!", Gandalf yelled.
The first warg, a beast of a light dirty brown, seemed to show no interest in the company however. He went straight for the mule carrying the provisions, buried it's enormous fangs in the poor animal and swept it along for a few feet until his brother was with him, ripping the mule to shreds.
The dwarves watched in horror, their weapons drawn, as the wargs began to feed on the torn corpse. Their provisions were scattered across the place, most of it broken and useless.
The bushes to their sides began to rustle violently and hadn't Fíli and Dwalin quick-witted grabbed Kíli and pulled him off his mule and to the rest of the group, he would've been swept away by another attacking beast, pulling the second mule to the ground and off into the bushes.
"No", Kíli whispered in shock, not even minding his own pain as he saw his small grey girl being dragged away, kicking and crying.
A deep growl in their backs made them flinch and as they spun around they found another warg standing atop a ledge, looking down at them with bared fangs.
It was the most horrible animal that any of them had ever seen. The warg was pitch black, one of its ears ripped and its ugly face scarred from battles and fights. A mane of thick, black fur covered its shoulders and chest and its claws dug deep into the solid rock below its paws. It was remarkably bigger than it's fellows, that still feasted on the poor mules. The wargs eyes gleamed in the dim light of the forest, a green flame burning in them and Bilbo began to believe that this beast was really possessed by an evil spirit.
Another deep growl came from the massive animal, the pitch varying as if he was actually forming words that none of them understood. None, except for Gandalf, who clasped his staff in one hand, his sword drawn in the other and began to translate.
"The goblin butcher with the oakenshield. Didn't think we'd find you that soon, scum of Durin."
Neither of the dwarves had ever heard the language of the wargs. It sent shivers down their spines and made the hair on their necks stand up, as the words were drenched with malice and a lust to kill.
"But here you are."
The warg flattened his ears, snarling as if he was grinning down at them. His kin desisted from the dead mules, now turning to the dwarves as well and soon had them circled, their teeth and mouths glistening red.
"Who sent you?!", Thorin bellowed, Orcrist gleaming in his hands.
The warg started for a second, his torn ears curiously directed at Thorin, before the most dreadful noise emerged from the animal, loud as thunder and echoing from the rocks and trees around them. The massive beast laughed at them and all the ferocity of the world lay in that sound.
Fíli held his brother tight by his side, clutching one of his swords and staring at the warg in fear. Not even the Great Goblin had been that monstrous.
"You would like to know, wouldn't you?"
The warg seemed to sneer at the King of Thorin's Halls, his eyes suddenly fixed on the two youngsters. He sniffed. At realising that the boys shared the same scent as Thorin, his green eyes widened and the sneer grew even more.
"He told us to get your head alone. Wonder how he would like it if we wiped out Durins heirs entirely."
Thorin protectively stepped in front of his nephews, not once breaking his gaze at the warg.
"Try it and I will slay you and your kind mercilessly until none of you is left in these lands!"
The warg flattened his ears again, digging its claws in the stone below.
"KILL THEM!"
All hell broke loose.
One warg went for Ori, Bofur and Nori, digging its teeth deep into Bofurs pickaxe, pulling so violently that it sent the dwarf flying.
Another sprinted towards Bilbo and Dwalin, who greeted it with an enormous swing from with his axe, cutting deep into its shoulder, only fuelling the beasts rage even more.
Bifur and Dori faced the third one, bringing down their weapons onto it but the thick fur seemed hard as steel.
The fourth turned on Gandalf, Bombur and Balin, not the least intimidated by Glamdring, the wizards famous sword. Instead it sank its fangs into the staff and began to pull fitfully.
The fifth now, the black, enormous leader of the pack leaped directly at Thorin and his nephews. A deafening clangour was heard when the wargs direful teeth dashed onto Orcrists blade and Thorin nearly lost his foothold, being shoved aside with one single move of the wolves massive head.
When it turned on the boys, it was met by a single swing of Fílis sword, ripping a deep cut into the beasts snout.
"Kíli! Get out of here!", he yelled, facing the snarling animal that didn't seem too pleased about the blood dripping from its nose.
"What?", the youngest looked puzzled. The pain in his ribs became worse by the minute, clouding his mind and making his vision blurry, since he had been ripped off the mules back so suddenly.
The beast suddenly howled as Thorin rammed Orcrist into its flank.
"Hide! Both of you!", he screamed as the warg spun around, it's jaws crashing together and only missing Thorin by a few inches.
Fíli grabbed his brother and pulled him up, dragging him along to the ledge that prominently stood amongst the trees.
"Fíli! Fíli, stop, I- I can't!", Kíli panted, clenching his jaws in pain.
"You have to! We have to get you away from here!", Fíli replied, though seeing his brother in so much pain and knowing that he was the one causing it right now, nearly tore his heart into shreds.
He pulled his younger brother closer, placing Kílis right arm around his neck and dragged him on further, past the ledge and into the brushwood.
"What about the others?", Kíli pressed through clenched teeth.
"We'll get you to a safe spot first, then we'll worry about the rest!"
A determination lay on Fílis features, that Kíli had never seen before. Little did he know, that his brother had sworn to himself to protect him and never get so close to losing him ever again, as he had down in the mountain.
They made it to the edge of the forest before Kíli collapsed. Before them was nothing but dried grassland, flecked with rocks and the occasional broom. Fíli led his brother to a narrow stone, sitting him down and leaning his back against the solid rock.
"You'll be fine, alright? We'll all be fine", he tried to calm him, gently brushing a dark strand of hair from his brothers forehead.
Meanwhile Thorin had managed to slash up the beast pretty badly. The animal was bleeding from various cuts but no wound seemed to be lethal or even painful enough to slow it down. Rather the opposite, every new cut that went through the thick fur enraged the warg even further. He violently snapped at the dwarf, trying to rip Orcrist from Thorins hands but always missing by an inch.
It wasn't until a second warg, the light brown one that had dashed through the bushes first, came to its aid that Thorin found himself in real trouble. With one beast before him and one in his back, he stood outnumbered. The warg had managed to isolate him from the rest of the company and he was alone, his sword directed at the black warg.
"You can not defeat me!", he growled and though he could not understand the words of the warg, he could tell by the glistening eyes, the bared fangs and the sheer madness in its face, that those monsters were not willing to back off.
He swung his sword again, slashing it through the terrible grimace of the beast. The warg howled with pain as the blade cut through the side of its face, blinding him on one eye. It was in that moment, that the other warg attacked, burying its teeth in Thorins leg, ripping him off his feet and dragging him away from its leader.
"Rip his head off!"
The warg licked the blood of its flews, shaking its enormous black head to get rid of the blood running down its snout. With that he sprinted off, leaving Thorin to the brown beast, that still tore at his leg, ignoring the blade flying by its head in a rage.
Sweat was running down Kílis temples and his chest felt like it was about to burst from the pain. His arm and leg throbbed badly and he barely recognized his brother, as Fíli cowered before him, worry showing on his face.
"Promise me you'll be alright", he quietly mumbled and Kíli coughed, giving a crooked smile.
"I promise", he whispered.
Fíli smiled wearily, taking a deep breath.
"We'll be safe soon. Don't worry. And just wait until we arrive at Erebor and finally see our home."
A small, honest smile tugged at Kílis lips, before his eyes suddenly grew wide in shock.
"FÌLI!", he cried as the black warg leaped from the brushwood and directly went for Thorins heir.