I do not own any of the characters or the Hobbit (just the AU storyline and my OC) those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reull Tolkien, and without his genius, this and many other fan fics would not be in existence.

Please review! I love getting them-they keep me encouraged! J

The wargs approached the dwarves, and they readied themselves. Kili kept shooting, resolving to shoot until either Thorin tells him to stop or he runs out of arrows. Wargs and orcs alike fall with his yellow fletched arrows imbedded in their bodies.

"Where's Gandalf?" Dori cried. Kili glanced quickly around as he reached for another arrow before sending it into the chest of an approaching orc. He did not see Gandalf, and apparently no one else did either.
"He's abandoned us!" Dwalin said angrily, gripping his two axes. The dwarves, though discouraged, were determined to fight until the last one alive drew their last breath.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin ordered, raising his new sword high.

Fili looked at the girl, who seemed, again, to be unsurprised, much to his bewilderment. She held her jaw with a set determination, clear focus in her narrowed eyes as she watched the orc pack approach, gripping the two rocks in her hand tightly. She reminded him of a cat, silently watching its prey with its body coiled and ready to spring, hair fluttering slightly in the breeze behind her. He also noticed that, while she was still wavering and favoring her feet, she still kept them firmly planted and had her right foot slightly behind the left one with her left side turned slightly toward the approaching pack. She curled her wrist a little as she fingered the rock, and he recognized the stance of someone about to throw. Since he threw knives and small axes, he was indeed very familiar with that stance.

Glancing at his brother, who was still keeping the pack at bay with his arrows, he backed up slightly until he was next to her, and sheathed one of his falchions. He reached into his bracer and pulled out one of his knives, before reaching the hilt out to her, still keeping one eye on the approaching pack. She looked at him in surprise before glancing down at the knife.

"Take it," he said, eyes still trained on their enemy. She looked down at the rocks in her hand before glancing up at him and shaking her head. Confused, he looked at her.

"Take it," he repeated, "you will be able to protect yourself better and do more damage with a knife than you would throwing rocks at them." She looked at him again, before dropping one of the rocks and taking the knife in her left hand. He noticed she still kept the rock in her right, and that confused him a bit, considering her stance showed a right handed thrower.

If she is right handed, why is she holding the knife in her left? He wondered. He shrugged, knowing there were more important matters at hand than contemplating the dominant hand of another, and moved back up next to his brother.

A warg off to the side suddenly became bold and ran itself straight into Thorin's sword, who saw it coming. The commotion had Kili look behind him for a moment, and a warg noticing the archer's distraction began to move in unknown to said archer.

"Kili!" Fili hollered, and Kili whipped his head around and reached for an arrow. But the arrow didn't stop the warg and orc pair first, for out of nowhere a rock came sailing between both their heads at a rather impressive speed and hit the orc atop the warg dead in the face, knocking him off his steed. The warg received an arrow in its eye, and the orc stumbled up, clearly a little disoriented, only for Kili's arrow to imbed in its skull at the same time as a second rock hit the orc, this time in the chest.

Both brothers turned in surprise, though Fili hissed at Kili to pay attention and the younger immediately turned his head back around and continued shooting. Fili looked at the girl, who now held the dagger in her right hand, the two rocks nowhere to be seen. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, realizing that his question about why she had kept the rocks had now been answered.

She has a really strong arm, and very good aim, he thought, surprised. No wonder she had insisted on keeping the rocks- she at least can throw them well and far, where she may not know how to throw a knife at all.

Fili was not the only one who had seen her throws. Bilbo, being a hobbit and generally very good at throwing stones himself (hence his pride at being skilled with conkers), had his mouth gaping open slightly. Hobbits are known to be very good with throwing stones, and, though their small stature is a disadvantage, some can also wield bows with deadly accuracy.

If she was a bit shorter and had hairy feet, one would think she was a hobbit, he thought. That was an impressive throw.

But neither of the two observers could ponder it for long. The pack was closing in, and the dwarves were backing closer and closer to each other, with Kili the furthest out, still shooting.

Suddenly, Gandalf appeared seemingly out of a rock, startling the company a bit.

"This way, you fools!" he cried, as he began to duck back into the safety of the now visible passage.

"Go! All of you!" Thorin ordered, standing next to the tunnel as Bilbo and the dwarves began one by one to slide down the rock into the passage. Cirashala backed up to the tunnel, but did not get in just yet. She remembered the first time her presence threatened the timeline, so to speak, when she had to fight Kili to put her down so he could shoot that first warg and orc that had alerted the others to their presence like he was supposed to. And, unless the moviemakers were wrong, she did not recall him getting distracted while shooting the orcs just now either.

She got nervous realizing that, if she was changing the outcome of events on the quest already, she now did not know what the consequences of their actions would be. That was both a blessing and a curse, because now she did not know if things would go ill or not because of her. But it was also a blessing, because she could honestly say that she did not know what would happen in the future now, if the dwarves ever catch on that she had known their entire story from the beginning.

She kept her knife raised as the dwarves passed her, getting in the passage. A few glanced at her, questions in their eyes, wondering why she was not going in. Bofur tried to haul her in, but she wrenched her arm from him and gave him her "mom" glare, and he immediately released her, giving her a strange look before jumping in. Thorin glared at her.

"Jump in girl," he growled, moving to push her in himself, before hearing a growling on his other side. He turned and swung his sword, slicing the neck of the warg. Turning back around, he cursed under his breath as Cirashala had moved even further away from the hole toward the two remaining out of the passage.

"Kili!" Thorin shouted, realizing his nephew was still at his original spot, continuing to shoot the orcs and wargs. He had just shot an orc through the forehead before he looked over his shoulder.

"Run!" Thorin shouted. Kili turned and began to run toward the passage, bow and arrow still in hand. Fili ran as well, reaching the passage opening before Kili, who was being closely chased by a warg with a rider. And then things began to happen really fast and really slowly at the same time.

Kili tripped on what appeared to be a rabbit hole and hit the ground with a loud thud, his bow and the arrow flying out before him just out of reach. Fili and Thorin simultaneously shouted, "Kili!" as the warg saw its opportunity and sprinted toward the fallen dwarf. Kili turned over as quickly as he could, fumbling for his sword hilt as he scrambled backwards on the ground, eyes wide with fear. Thorin and Fili had already begun to race toward him, realizing that they would likely be too late. The warg bared its teeth as it lunged toward Kili's throat, who had just barely gotten his hand to the hilt of his sword.

"NO!" Thorin and Fili shouted, voices raised in a battle cry as they raced toward their fallen kin. Kili's face turned white as he too realized that he would not be able to draw his sword in time. Suddenly there was a loud cry that was far too high pitched for any dwarf man, and a flash of white appeared in front of him.

Fili and Thorin had been so focused on Kili that they had completely missed the fact that Cirashala had been watching Kili intently, ready to sprint the second something went amiss. She took off running as fast as she possibly could the second the dwarf began to fall. She had rounded slightly, not racing directly toward him, for she had not known if she could jump high enough over him to get between him and the warg and knew that she must get between them no matter what.

For all the hardiness of dwarves, even if their kin was in danger, most of them were no sprinters, and she had always been fast, running the 40 meter dash in just under 7 seconds eight years prior in her weight training class back in high school. She was hampered by her injuries, but her determination to not be the cause of anyone's death far outweighed it.

Somehow she managed to beat Thorin and Fili. If it was some external force at work, or her sheer stubbornness and determination, or the fact that she had intentionally been just a little closer, or if it was because neither Thorin nor Fili had expected Kili to trip, she did not know. But however it had happened, she had arrived before either of them.

The warg had just jumped when she had gotten in front of Kili, and its teeth sank right into her side as she fell on top of the startled young dwarf she was protecting. White hot pain seared through her body, worse even than the pain she had experienced in her long labors before she received her epidurals. It hurt so badly that she couldn't even cry out, and her body immediately reacted to the pain by vomiting. She puked right in the wargs face, which could be considered lucky in hindsight, because at this point all that remained in her stomach was straight acid, and the warg howled as it came in contact with its eye, jerking its head and the prey in its jaws. In one last act of desperation, she reached up her right hand and plunged the knife in the warg's eye.

The warg's jolt as it suddenly died caused its head to jerk to the side and its jaws to release, flinging her onto the ground a few feet from the stunned dwarf. The orc that had been thrown off as well with the warg's last breath jumped up and charged them with his sword raised. Fili and Thorin had reached Kili, who had finally managed to stand up and draw his sword. Thorin yelled as he sliced off the head of the orc, before the three dwarves surrounded the seriously injured girl, who was writhing in agony on the ground, blood staining her white clothing red. Cirashala saw black in her vision, and turned her head to vomit again because of the pain. She merely dry heaved this time, her stomach truly empty now, causing the pain in her abdomen and back to worsen, before she mercifully slipped into unconsciousness.

XXX

Thorin and Fili had stopped dead in their tracks for half a second when Cirashala had jumped in front of Kili, too stunned to move. Thorin quickly snapped out of it and pushed Fili along, and they both yelled war cries as they approached the scene, weapons drawn. They reached them just as Kili had stood up, and while Thorin dispatched the orc rider, Fili and Kili had surrounded the girl. They snarled at the orcs and wargs that now completely surrounded them, closing in on their prey with teeth bared and bloodlust in their eyes.

When he had realized that it was Cirashala who had jumped in front of the warg, taking the bite that had been meant for his neck, Kili had frozen, mouth hanging open and completely stunned beyond belief. He managed to pull his sword out, but for the brief seconds she was on top of him, he was pinned and could not get up. As soon as the warg threw her though, he scrambled up and immediately stood between her and the advancing wargs. He had no idea why she had done that, or how she had managed to beat his brother and uncle to it.

She must have known. Somehow, she must have known, he thought, more than a little frightened at how she just seemed to know what was going to happen before it did. However, he was immensely thankful for it now, because he had no doubt he would have been killed if she had not done what she did. And, by Mahal above, he was not going to let these wargs get anywhere near her or his family. He risked a quick glance down at her, and was very worried at how much blood the now unconscious girl was losing.

The three of them heard the rest of the dwarves attempting to climb back out of the hole they had just fallen in, cursing violently at the steep slope that was not allowing their feet purchase, when suddenly a sharp, clear horn rang out over the valley.

The wargs, orcs, and three dwarves' heads all turned toward where the sound had come from as a group of armored elves on horseback appeared over the crest of the hill. The three dwarves kept their vigil over the fallen girl, watching the elves with little disguised suspicion and, in Thorin's case, disgust. The elves were making quick work of the orcs and wargs, spears and arrows flying from their skilled hands. Kili set his sword beside him on the ground where he could reach it quickly and, while his brother and uncle stood ready to defend them, knelt by the injured girl. He was less concerned about the elves as he was about making sure the young maiden did not die.

Her undershirt or whatever it was had begun turning red far too quickly for his comfort, and he pressed his hands to her wounds, trying to stem the flow of blood. He looked at her ashen face, and quickly reached up to brush the muddy hair away from it and off her shirt so the mud didn't get into her wounds. Her pale face was still streaked with mud and now blood, and was quickly turning the same shade as her clothes had been previously. He began to put as much pressure as he dared on her wounds, trying to stop the bleeding but at the same time trying to make sure she could still breathe. Unfortunately, Oin was the healer amongst them, and had his medical kit with him and thus all the healing herbs and bandages were out of reach at the moment.

The elves had killed most of the wargs, with Thorin and Fili also killing some of them. The remaining wargs and orcs fled into the distance. Thorin and Fili held up their weapons as they stood on either side of Kili and Cirashala, and narrowed their eyes as the elves changed course and began to encircle the four of them. The elves had arrows on their strings, but did not make to fire. Thorin glared at them with all the hatred he held for their race showing plainly on his face. Fili did not glare at them in the same way, however, the look he had on his face told volumes to those who could see it.

You take one step closer to my kin, and I will not hesitate to kill you.

One tall elf, with long dark brown hair and a circlet on his head, dismounted and approached the dwarves. His grey eyes beheld thousands of years of wisdom, and though he had weapons drawn against him, the look on his face was not unfriendly. But as soon as he saw the injured girl, the expression on his face immediately changed to one of deep concern. He moved toward her, only to be met with Thorin's sword pointed at his chest. He stopped, and raised his hands as he looked at the dwarf king.

"Come any closer to our companion, and you will meet your death," Thorin warned in a low but steely tone. The elves immediately drew their weapons to their full length and pointed them straight at Thorin, but the dark haired elf immediately barked a command in Sindarin.

"Daro!" he ordered, looking around at his companions. The elves looked at him in confusion. Their eyes continuing to regard Thorin with suspicion, and they kept their arrows at the ready, but their bows were lowered. Thorin glared at them before returning his gaze to the elf who seemed to be their leader.

The dark haired elf returned his gaze and looked him directly in the eye.

"Your companion is badly injured," he said in Westron, "she needs a healer right away."

"We have our own healer amongst us," Thorin retorted, "he will tend to her. We do not need any help from elves." He said the last word with undisguised disdain, and the elves cast him dirty looks and began whispering to each other in Sindarin, but one look from their leader silenced them. He looked back at Thorin.

"She cannot wait for your healer to return. She is losing blood very quickly and could bleed to death," he said, getting more frustrated. Thorin merely glared at him, his eyes saying he knew this perfectly well.

"If your men would simply move, we could rejoin our companions and she could receive healing," he growled back, glaring up at the elf. The elf sucked in a breath, seemingly to remain calm, though his grey eyes were now sparking dangerously.

"If you were to join your companions, the road you take will take you far too long to reach a place where you could safely heal the girl," he answered, voice still seemingly calm but edged with steel, "We can get her to a safe place where we could heal her in far less than half the time it would take you on foot."

"I will not allow you to take her one step away from here!" Thorin all but yelled at the elf, who was visibly angry now as well. Kili looked from one to the other, hands still pressed against her wounds, though he could feel the blood seeping through his fingers. He was not sure what to do now. He and Fili shared a glance, wondering what was going to happen, and more than a little frightened at being heavily outnumbered and at a very clear disadvantage. They had never met elves before, though they had heard plenty about them throughout their lives, and none of it good, considering it had come from other dwarves who shared their uncle's extreme distaste for them. They looked at their uncle worriedly.

Suddenly Gandalf appeared. He had managed to finally get out of the hole, amidst the vehement protests of the dwarves below, who had still been unable to get themselves out. All they knew from the sounds and the orc falling in the hole with an arrow imbedded in its throat was that elves had joined the fray and that their King and two young Princes were out there, fighting alone while they could not even get out of the miserable hole to aid them. Bilbo and a few others were also concerned about the girl, who was also still out there, not knowing how she had fared in the skirmish.

Finally, after Gandalf had managed to escape the hole, Ori spoke up over the arguing and cursing dwarves. He suggested they climb upon each other's shoulders and help each other out, the last ones getting pulled out by the ones already out. The arguing ceased once the quarrelling dwarves had realized that it just might work, and the dwarves began to execute the plan.

XXX

Gandalf seemingly had arrived in the nick of time to prevent some very unwise blows from happening.

"Enough!" he shouted, pushing through the horses to stand between the elf lord and Thorin. He pushed past Thorin and knelt by Cirashala, brow furrowed in concern, then beckoned the elf lord over. Thorin glared at Gandalf and moved to step between the elf lord and the girl again, earning a massive glare from Gandalf.

"Lord Elrond is one of the best healers in all of Middle-earth! Let him pass!" he shouted, "Your bickering may have cost this foolish girl her life!" Thorin glared at him, but not wishing to anger the wizard further, moved aside.

Lord Elrond knelt by the girl, holding his hand over her forehead and checking her pulse at her temples. His brow furrowed in concern, and he spoke some elvish healing words. Kili had stood up, allowing Gandalf and Lord Elrond to be on either side of the girl, but his stricken gaze did not leave her. He knew full well her injuries were his fault. If he had not been so clumsy, she would not have been bitten or thrown by the warg. And the guilt of that was eating away at him. Fili put his hand on his brother's shoulder reassuringly, and was met with red cheeks and brown eyes that had begun to get misty. Fili could tell his younger brother was dangerously close to tears, though he tried valiantly to hold them back and appear brave, and squeezed his shoulder. Kili knew what Fili was telling him.

It's alright, little brother. It wasn't your fault. She is going to be fine.

He shook his head slightly at his elder brother, and Fili met his gaze with concern, before they both returned their gaze to the unconscious girl.

Lord Elrond had retrieved a bag of bandages from one of the elves' saddle bags and had hastily wrapped her abdomen with them to try and stem the flow of blood. The bandages were quickly turning red as well, though they did slow the bleeding. Suddenly the elves heard several dwarfs cry out to the left of them, and everyone turned toward the direction the noise came from.

The dwarves had finally gotten themselves out of the hole, and once they saw elves surrounding their missing kin they had immediately led forth with a battle cry. But Gandalf, the second he had heard their cry, raced to stand between the elves and the angry dwarves.

"Stop!" he shouted, "The elves are not going to harm any of you! The girl was badly hurt, and the elves are trying to save her life! If you value yours, you will drop your weapons at once!"

The dwarves stopped short in confusion, glaring at the elves, but at a nod from Thorin, they lowered their weapons. At Lord Elrond's command, the elves who had raised their weapons at the sound of the battle cry lowered theirs as well. Gandalf told the elves who blocked the dwarves from their kin to let them pass, and the dwarves gathered around Thorin and his nephews and the injured girl, standing back far enough that the healer could work. Oin grabbed his bag, and at Gandalf's permission, went to assist Lord Elrond at wrapping a second layer of bandages over the first one.

Balin had glanced at the blood pattern he saw and instantly recognized the injury as a warg bite. He took one look at Kili's stricken but uninjured face and his brother comforting him, as well as Thorin standing protectively observing the elf with the girl, and got a fairly good idea of what had happened. Somehow, after Thorin had cried out to Kili and he and Fili had run away from the passage, the girl had managed to defend the youngest heir, earning a nasty warg bite for her troubles. He also saw the black blood on her right hand, and had seen Fili give her his knife, which was now imbedded in the eye of a warg. Since Fili still had his other knife in his bracer, Balin fitted the pieces of the puzzle together. He shook his head, eyes showing concern as well. He could not figure out how she had gotten to Kili before the two people among them who loved him the most did, but however she did it, he was grateful to her. He had helped Thorin and his sister Dis raise the two boys after their father fell in battle, and loved those boys like his own. And if this girl had taken such a grievous injury defending Kili, then he would be forever indebted to her. He had no doubt as he looked at his friend that Thorin was feeling indebted and guilty as well.

XXX

Lord Elrond stood up, and whistled. The horse he had dismounted from made its way over to its master. He spoke in hushed conversation with Gandalf in Sindarin, their words sounding grim. Kili knelt again by the girl, and, not knowing what else to do, took her hand and held it, looking at her face and swallowing hard. Fili walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder again, hoping the strength he drew from his brother would be enough to keep his tears at bay.

Gandalf and Lord Elrond finished their harried conversation, then Lord Elrond approached them and made to pick up the girl. Thorin immediately stalked over to him and stood in between Cirashala and Lord Elrond again. He gritted his teeth, as though the words he spoke pained him.

"We," he cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. Then he continued.

"Thank you for aiding our companion. But we will not allow you to take her away," he said, a determined set to his jaw. He looked up at the elf, as though challenging him to question his decision.

"This is only temporary to try and stop the bleeding before she loses any more blood. The girl needs to be taken to a house of healing where her wounds can be properly cleaned and treated," Lord Elrond insisted, "Our valley has a proper place for her to be taken care of."

Thorin widened his stance and crossed his arms in front of himself, glaring up at the elf.
"We can treat her on our own from here," he growled, "I will not allow you to take this girl into any elvish valley."

Gandalf glared at him.

"Curse the stubbornness of dwarves! She must be taken to the hidden valley or she will very likely die, Thorin Oakenshield!" he spat, completely fed up with the dwarf king at this point.

Kili looked from one to the other as the trio again started arguing. Not knowing what possessed him to do so, he looked at his brother, then very gently picked up the girl, and, to everyone's surprise, pushed right between Thorin and Gandalf.

All arguing ceased as several pairs of eyes turned toward the young dwarf. Swallowing hard, Kili glanced at his uncle, before looking the elf straight in the eye.

"Where is your valley?" he asked quietly, earning many surprised gasps and wide eyed stares among both the astonished dwarves and elves. Thorin glared at him. Fili looked at him with his mouth hanging wide open, as if he could not believe his ears. Kili shrunk a little at Thorin's gaze, knowing his uncle will be furious with him, but desperate to get Cirashala the healing she needed. And if Gandalf, being a wizard, thought the only way for her to survive was to go to the elven valley, so be it.

Gandalf placed a hand on the young dwarf's shoulder, smiling encouragingly at him.

"It is right through that passage I led you to," the wizard replied, earning a death glare from Thorin as he realized the wizard had planned to lead them to Rivendell this entire time.

"Yes, master dwarf, that passage leads to our valley, however our horses enter the valley by another path, and it will be much faster if she were to ride with me on my horse. It is imperative that we get her to the valley as soon as possible," Lord Elrond replied to the young dwarf, "we have wasted much time in debate already." He finished, looking pointedly at Thorin.

"I will not allow her to be taken to the valley without a dwarf with her," Thorin answered, still glaring at Kili, "She is under our protection and I do not trust anyone besides us to take her anywhere." The elf was about to retort, and Gandalf looked like he was about to crack Thorin over the head with his staff, when Kili spoke up.

"Then I will go with her," he said, then, cheeks reddening in embarrassment, he added, "But someone will have to shorten the stirrups for me." Thorin looked like he was about to either blow up or faint, possibly both. But Kili kept his gaze leveled at Lord Elrond, until the elf nodded. He turned and walked over to his horse, shortening the stirrups in a matter of seconds, then led his horse over to the young dwarf.

"I will ride with one of my men, and you may use my horse," he said. Gandalf took Cirashala out of Kili's arms while Kili struggled to mount the very tall beast. Fili jumped in before the elves could further embarrass Kili by lifting him onto the horse in front of everyone, and knelt with his hands intertwined. Kili shot him a grateful smile before placing his foot in his brother's hands and mounting the horse. Then he reached out, and Gandalf handed him Cirashala. He sat her sideways on the horse in front of him, his right arm around the middle of her back while holding the reins in his left to keep her from falling off. He nudged his shoulder so her head wasn't falling backward but rested in the crook of his neck before looking at the elf for direction. He could not bring himself to look at his uncle for fear of the condemnation in his gaze, nor would he dare look at the ground, for horses were much higher than ponies, and he feared that if he dwelled on how far he was above the ground with such a large animal beneath him he would end up falling off.

Gandalf finally seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Lord Elrond whispered to the horse Kili was mounted on, before mounting himself behind a golden haired elf, who also bore a circlet on his head, and gave what Kili supposed was the order to move out in Sindarin, and the column of riders began to ride towards the northwest.

"Your kin and I will take the path and meet you in Rivendell," Gandalf said, patting the horse's neck. Kili nodded, then spurred his horse on to follow the elves. Thankfully the horse he was riding knew that its rider was slightly inexperienced and so made sure to follow the host on its own without bouncing up and down too much, as his master had told him to make the ride home swift but gentle.

Kili glanced at the ashen girl in his arms. He silently prayed to Eru that they would not be too late.