Rhavaniel could tell that dawn was approaching. Kili was still asleep, but would be awake soon. She had prepared more of last night's fare for breakfast, but the food was running low again. She decided to look outside, for more roots and berries.
The sunrise was beautiful. She hopped up onto the boulders of the cascade with a mug of tea and honey to better enjoy it. Her peaceful morning was disturbed by the sight of circling scavenger birds to the south. The birds were a giant arrow in the sky pointing to the Orc carnage of yesterday. The fight had been far too close to the Dwarf house for comfort.
Rhavaniel ran inside and jotted a note to Kili. She took up her sword and bow and headed out to investigate. Instead of following their footsteps from yesterday, she followed the underground river. It was a rougher path, but straighter and faster since she did not have an injured Kili with her.
She noticed how fragile the ground over the river was in some places. There must have been wells, or Man-made entries to pump water for irrigation. The land was overgrown, but looked like it had once been organized in cultivated sections.
Suddenly, she felt the ground yield beneath her and creak. A wooden bridge had been built over an opening in the underground river. She would have to be more careful - even her modest weight might be enough to crash through some sections.
She continued her hike towards the birds until she spotted it - a Warg apparently eating the remain of the Orcs she and Kili had fought.
'That must be the Warg that Kili saw.' she realized, 'Not sentimental about eating its master.'
Rhavaniel had been low in the grass, but she saw the Warg tense, and stare in her direction. It had spotted her. Not her, exactly, but it had spotted grass not moving in the breeze that should have been moving. In a flash, the Warg disappeared from her sight. Rhavaniel froze, unable to tell where it had gone. How could something that large disappear? It must be behind the rocky outcropping, but she had the dreaded sense of something creeping closer.
She looked around, but could see nothing out of place. She could not smell it, either, it was downwind of her. She tried to remain calm, but it was hard to do. One would think it would be easier to spot things on open ground than the forest, but it was not so. She had no sense of how things hid here, or what were normal sounds, the way she did in the forest. She could not run up, always the safest direction for Elves.
Plagued with uncertainty and doubt, she broke cover and ran. It was a terrible choice. The Warg broke cover and ran after her. She could hear it behind her. She had no place to hide, and though she knew she was faster, she had no idea how long a Warg could run. If she ran back to the house under the hill with only one exit, they could be pinned down indefinitely with no food.
She had once slim chance. Rhavaniel ran for the rotting bridge. She jumped over it and stopped, turned, and drew her sword. The Warg caught up to her. It slid to a halt on top of the bridge, and crashed through with a yelp. It tried to drag itself up by its front feet, but the aged wood disintegrated and splintered. The river was very narrow in this portion, and the water was moving fast.
Rhavaniel cautiously approached. She looked into the Warg's eyes. There was no plea in them, only rage. She smashed the last bit of wood with her sword, and the Warg fell through completely, to be swept away in the rushing water.
Rhavaniel returned to the house in the hills, badly shaken but unhurt. She would have to go out again, and do something about the Orc corpses, but she needed to calm herself first.