Sorry this chapter is so late, I have exams coming up and i'm trying to revise aswell as write. Please be patient with my updates :)

CHAPTER NINE

Leaving

Farren felt that she had disobeyed Gandalf; that she had lost his trust as she returned to her temporary chamber that night, hoping for a little sleep before what was to occur in the morning.

When the four of them had finally found their way back from reading the Moon Runes, Thorin had pulled her aside, his head barely reaching her collar and explained what they were planning to do at dawn,

"And all have agreed?" she asked quietly, nervously, "Even the Hobbit?"

"We are only waiting for you to accept," his words surprised her and she stooped slightly, her eyes in line with his,

"We – as excluding you I am assuming," she replied bluntly, "It rather obvious that you do not want me accompanying you,"

"Yes however, the Hobbit needs your protection," Thorin snapped and turned to leave, "We meet in the dining hall when the larks start to call,"

Dawn then, you poetic twit, she thought, watching his fur covered cape whirl around a corner and she heard his loud footsteps thump up some stairs, where she assumed he and his Company were sleeping.

Farren didn't even remember agreeing to coming with Thorin as she lay back on top of the silk sheets, fully clothed and her hair knotted from tossing and turning. He just told her the instructions and demanded her presence, only for Bilbo's protection however. And this made her feel useless, unwanted by even the Dwarf king. She exhaled in anger, sitting up and unlacing her boots, throwing them by the door and probably waking those who slept peacefully, unlike her. She needed the sleep, to be at her wits for she was going to enter territory that she had never trekked through, forests that she had yet to explore, and enemies she had yet to make.

The sheets felt like water as she burrowed beneath them, curling up and forcing her eyes closed; her brain yawning but alive with excitement.

Farren stomped on that excitement until it was only a flickering flame of hope, now only seeing blackness instead of the pink of her eyelids…

And she was awake again, her ears picking up faint movement from below her. It was time. Firstly because she could see the sun peeking over the mountains that framed the breath taking view outside her window, and secondly because only a dwarf would take such little care of how loudly he was walking.

She rubbed sleep from her eyes and straightened out of clothes, not bothering to brush her hair and tied her green cloak over her shoulders. Staring out across Rivendell for what she assumed was the last time, Farren fastened her sword to her waist, and disappeared silently from the room, as though she were a shadow passing through a wall.

"No, you cannot bring your horse," Balin told Farren firmly when she arrived in the dining hall and she opened her mouth to retort,

"I do not even remember asking about the subject," she snapped, "Abe will be perfectly fine here,"

"Let's go," Thorin's grumbling voice poked her in the back, ushering her forward, "You go first seeing as you have been everywhere in Middle-Earth, you can show us the way,"

"No I cannot," she side stepped him and folded her arms like a child, "I have yet to venture over the Misty Mountains, my knowledge of them are as good as yours,"

"What do you mean by that? You're a Wanderer, it's your duty to know everywhere, every tree and every mountain," Thorin seethed, his face turning a dangerous shade of red,

"I do not have a duty and if I did, it would not be serving yours," Farren shot, "I go where I please, I do what I please and I certainly do not have to know every tree! There are several thousand species that I have not even heard of,"

Thorin brought their faces close together, his hand fisting her cloak and his eyes raging with fire,

"If I could tie you to a pillar and leave without you, I would," he whispered severely, "But you are here for Bilbo and I do not want you leaving his side, understand?"

Farren wished she could slap him thrice around the cheek and spit in his face, but her hands were glued to her side and she was unable to move. All she could do was simply nod with a curled lip,

"Move on," Thorin announced loudly and the Company set off, the Hobbit and the Wanderer trailing behind with a sullen face.

They trekked for days, stopping when needed, gathering food when they sent Farren off to hunt. But she always had to bring Bilbo with her, remembering Thorin's almost-threat and the Hobbit was not as quick and agile as she was so when they returned to the temporary camp beneath a ledge or in a cave, the Company ate what little they could. Mostly the entire hunt, leaving Farren to gnaw on the bones and swallow the bitter fat whole, though she found it amusing that most of the energy was found in an animal's fat.

However, it had been three days since the Company had been able to eat a full roe buck or bear, simply snacking off the apples and stale bread that they had all packed in case of times like this. And obviously, Farren was hungry but she was used to going long periods without food and found no time to complain, for she was continuously stopping to help Bilbo to not slip off the edge of the particularly steep and ragged cliff face that they were scaling.

And it was raining.

No, it's not raining; Farren thought angrily to herself, flicking a piece of wet hair out of her eye, it's a storm.

The surface beneath her foot suddenly crumbled and she grabbed the first thing she could to stop herself from falling. It just so happened to be Fili's hair and he cried out as she struggled to get a good grip with her other hand on the face of the cliff. Though his cry was drowned out by the sound of deafening thunder that shot across the sky above them,

"Hold on!" she faintly heard Thorin bellow at her and she couldn't help but wish he was saying it out of concern, but that was highly unlikely, "We have to find shelter,"

Her ears heard a crack; her hands felt something shaking the cliff and her eyes looked up, the rain causing her to blink rapidly,

"Get back!" she shrieked, forcing Bilbo flat against the cliff as several enormous boulders narrowly missed the Company, hurtling down into the chasm below with gut wrenching crashes.

"This is no thunderstorm!" Balin shouted through the hail, "This is a thunder battle; look!"

Farren fought the urge to scream, her eyes widening in shock and excitement. There, right before her face, a gigantic figure of stone was peeling itself from the side of the mountain and advancing to where they were all stood, shaking against the wind.

"Well bless me," she heard Bofur gasp from beside her, "The legends are true then. Giants; Stone Giants,"

The giant rips a boulder the size of its head from the mountain and hurled it towards them; seemingly hitting something far above them and the ground shook violently. And then they were moving, well, half of the Company were.

The ground between Kili and Fili had split and they were drifting away from the face of the mountain. Farren heard Kili call out desperately for his brother, she saw Bilbo frightened face and his hand struggling to hold her arm, and then everything disappeared altogether. All she felt was the wind scratching at her face and the rocks piercing her skin, the rain seeking its way into the cuts; her ears were deafened by the roar of the Stone Giants, of rock and rock clashing together with great forces; her hands being ripped to shreds as she tried to grasp anything to keep her from falling.

Bilbo shrieked out her name and she felt someone slap her face several times, her eyes regaining focus and she saw the mountain speeding towards her, towards them. Farren curled herself around the Hobbit to protect him from any kind of collision and her ears burst as her back smashed into something hard and wet, the breath being blown out of her chest in a scream. And then she felt as though she were floating.