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

Howls echoed off the surrounding mountain peaks, and the pale orc grinned.

Finally, he thought with a triumphant smirk as he fingered his large mace. They found the scent.

His silvery white warg answered with a howl of her own, and the group began to run down the icy slope towards where his scouts had gone two hours before. Their pawed feet moved swiftly over the ice, slowing and digging their claws in when necessary to avoid losing traction. The fur of his mount fairly flew in waves as they made haste, none wishing to lose the scent yet again.

They had been searching for the trail of the dwarves for four days now, since one of the many scouts he had sent from Weathertop had caught the scent just outside of the thrice cursed elvish valley. It had been fortunate they had, given that they had already widely encircled the valley four times after the dwarves had disappeared, and it was only for the final return trip that the scent had been picked up again.

He had been extremely surprised the dwarves apparently remained in the valley for longer than one night, given the animosity between them and elves. Unfortunately, that assumption had led him and his pack in circles as they could not locate the scent that they were certain was out there somewhere, and the dwarves had seemed to vanish into thin air. They had finally picked up the scent four days ago, just outside of Rivendell.

Unfortunately, once they got to the stream outside of the elvish valley, they had lost the scent once more. The usually shallow river was swollen with floodwaters, several half submerged trees standing near the "middle" of the swift flowing waters. They had had to go several leagues downstream before they found a suitable spot to cross, and even then several of the smaller wargs had nearly drowned. Several leagues later, they had finally found the old remains of a campfire, only to lose their trail for a third time once they reached snowcapped peaks, the freshly fallen snow hiding any tracks or traces of scent.

The large orc was getting very short tempered and impatient with his scouts with each unsuccessful return, several of them becoming feed for the wargs in his frustration. But now, as he neared his scouts, he began to feel the thrill of the hunt once more.

For before them, clear as day, was a large patch of disturbed snow-far too large to have been an animal or any natural occurrence. And leading away from the disturbance was a fairly clear broken through trail, the distinct tread of dwarf boots intermingling in the small space as the path headed east.

"They have taken the mountain pass," the pale orc spoke in the Black Speech. "We shall pass through the goblin tunnels and cut them off at the eastern door. You—" he gestured toward one of his lieutenants. "Will inform the goblin king to anticipate guests. And tell him that he may do what he wishes with the others, but the head of Thorin Oakenshield is mine." The lieutenant nodded his head, and the pack began to follow the trail, adrenaline surging through their veins as they ran eastward.

Soon the head of the dwarf king will be mine, and my revenge will be complete.

XXX

The company continued on that afternoon, making their way down the path and finally leaving the ever snowy peak behind.

To both Bilbo and Cirashala's relief, the temperature steadily warmed as they descended down. They encountered thick fog for about an hour or so, and each dwarf, hobbit, and human grabbed the shoulder of the person in front of them to avoid becoming separated. They weaved through the mists until they finally broke through on the underside, the gray mists becoming drizzling clouds overhead.

Fili kept glancing back at his brother, a concerned expression on his face. Kili still hung toward the back of the group, eyes watching the ground as he walked. It seemed so unlike the two to be separated, especially if something seemed to be amiss. It wasn't unusual for Kili to walk behind Thorin when he wasn't with Fili, but this time he wasn't near either of his close kin.

Brow furrowing with concern, Fili looked toward Bofur. Signing quickly in Igleshmek, he began to work his way back toward his brother, the miner taking his place alongside Cirashala as requested.

XXX

Kili glanced up as Fili fell in step beside him. The two walked alongside for a while, the silence finally broken by Fili when the others had moved ahead just a bit.

"Brother, what is wrong?" Fili asked the dark haired dwarf, worry in his eyes. Kili averted his eyes.

"Nothing," he replied, and Fili noticed the younger move away from him slightly. He frowned.

"It is not like you to avoid me. Have I done something to offend you?" he asked. The hurt and confusion was evident in his tone, and Kili sighed. He didn't know exactly why he was upset with his brother. Seeing him that morning with his arm wrapped around Cirashala's sleeping form had sparked an unusual feeling within him-something he had never felt before. It was not a pleasant feeling at all, and had almost been forgotten in the wake of Nori's prank. But now, when actually faced with the question, he found that he didn't know how to answer.

How can I tell him why I am upset when I do not even know? The young dwarf thought to himself.

"Yes….no….I don't know," he replied, causing Fili's expression to become even more bewildered.

"Y-you don't know if you are angry with me?" the blonde dwarf asked, and Kili sighed in frustration, gritting his teeth. It didn't help that he still hadn't figured out a way to apologize to Cirashala for touching her face the night before. His mind was a whirl of confusing thoughts, and he kicked a small rock in his frustration. The blonde dwarf sighed.

"Whenever you are ready to talk to me, I will listen," he replied, a note of defeat in his tone. "And I am sorry for whatever it is I have done." He adjusted his shoulder strap, before moving ahead of his brother in line. Kili watched him go, noticing the defeated slump of his shoulders. It was so subtle that, had Fili not been his brother, he likely wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"I'm sorry, brother," Kili whispered, too low for anyone to hear. I-I don't know what is wrong with me.

XXX

The company stopped to make camp in a clearing at the base of the mountain they had just traversed. It had taken far less time to climb down the mountain as it had to climb up, due to the valley they were in still being considerably higher in elevation to the foothills they had ascended six days prior. As they set up camp, Fili found himself glancing quite often toward his brother as he laid out his bedroll.

He always talks to me, Fili thought in confusion, feeling hurt. What have I done?

He thought back to the night before, and couldn't think of anything he had done to make his brother feel any animosity toward him. A sudden realization hit him as he glanced up at the fluttering grey cloak ahead of him, noticing Cirashala settle down by the fire to help Bombur cut up some carrots for supper.

It is because I nearly killed her this morning, Fili thought. He glanced back, noticing how his brother glanced toward Cirashala as well, before flushing slightly and looking back at the ground. His brow furrowed even further.

What was that?

XXX

"Fili," Thorin said, walking towards the young dwarf. Fili looked up from where he was laying out his bedroll. Thorin glanced at the young woman and his other nephew, before returning his gaze to his eldest nephew.

"Take your brother and the girl and go and see if you can find some fresh meat for supper," Thorin instructed. "I do not want us using up our limited provisions when fresh meat may be near." Fili nodded, watching as Thorin turned to discuss watch rotation with Dwalin.

The blonde rose from his position, and approached Kili. The younger dwarf looked up from sharpening his dagger as his elder brother approached. Fili sighed, sensing the invisible wall Kili had built up around himself. He only ever used that wall to keep others from getting too close to him, and had never used it with Fili before. The elder cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Thorin wants us to try and find some fresh meat for supper," Fili said in a matter-of-fact tone, trying to not betray the hurt he felt at the unspoken rejection. Kili nodded, sheathing his dagger. He grabbed his bow and stood without a word, walking past his brother. He began to head out of camp, and Fili put his hand on his shoulder.

"Thorin said to bring Cirashala with us," he said quietly, and jumped a bit as Kili whipped his head around, eyes narrowed.

"No," he said simply. Fili sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Why not?" he replied, "You're the one who decided we should train her, and this is good training for a bow." Kili sighed, glancing toward her with trepidation. Fili followed his gaze, before returning it to his brother.

"Brother, I do not know what is bothering you," Fili said quietly. "I know you are nervous around girls, but an order is an order, and she needs to learn how to wield her bow properly." Kili nodded reluctantly, and watched as Fili moved toward the young woman and told her what Thorin had said.

XXX

The three made their way out of camp as quietly as possible. The two archers had their arrows nocked and at the ready, though their bows were not drawn.

Cirashala kept a close eye on Kili in the evening light, trying her best to copy his stance and grip on his bow. Kili seemed to not notice her staring at his hands at all, his eyes constantly scanning the trees for any signs of wildlife. She soon found her gaze scanning the trees as well, being sure to keep her eyes and ears open so as to not get separated from her companions.

Fili walked behind the two, noticing how Cirashala would look at Kili's hands, and then adjust her hands accordingly. He didn't know whether she knew it was a training exercise or not, but he was pleased to note that she was treating it as such. She seemed like she wanted to learn how to use her weapons, and was making every effort to emulate his brother.

Unlike a certain burglar of ours, Fili thought with a slight smirk, remembering their "training session" in Rivendell.

He kept scanning the trees behind him, his hands ready to grab the hilt of his twin falchions. He did not have the range his brother did, arrows having a far greater range than throwing knives, however he would protect the two archers with his life should something less savory make an appearance.

XXX

Kili had to admit, she was surprisingly good at being quiet as she moved through the brush. She was even quieter than the dwarves, who had been trained how to hunt. He saw her emulate him out of the corner of his eye, and noticed the way she stepped lightly, rolling her foot from heel to toe as she stepped down softly. She also seemed to be quite flexible, and stayed low as she moved along the ground.

His keen eyes caught a slight flutter of movement in the bushes about twenty yards up ahead, and he motioned for the two people behind him to get low and off to the side. Fili crouched behind his brother as Kili moved behind a tree. Cirashala moved behind the tree next to theirs. He saw her glance at him out of the corner of his eye. He glanced at her, then back where he saw the bushes rustle, nodding slightly. Her eyes followed his, and he saw her grip tighten on her arrow.

The rustling continued. Fili's hands drifted toward the hilt of his throwing daggers, and they waited in baited breath for their quarry to come into sight.

XXX

An unearthly screech pierced the night air, and Thorin's head whipped around, eyes wide and face pale as he realized the familiar screech came from the direction his nephews and Cirashala had gone fifteen minutes prior.

"Orcs!" he shouted. "Du bekar! Du bekar! To the left!"

The company wasted no time in charging off through the underbrush, following the distant sound of clashing steel with their own weapons drawn. They could hear the yells of the two young dwarves up ahead, the sound intermingling with orc howls.

Please let us not be too late, Thorin thought to himself. Please let them be all right.

XXX

The eyes of the three hunters widened as the dark figure of an orc came through the brush, crude sword drawn, and Kili wasted no time in shooting it. Fili's hands immediately left the hilt of his throwing knives and drew his falchions in less than a second, jumping up.

The screech of the orc as the arrow hit sounded through the trees, and before they knew it several more came charging through the bush. Kili heard Cirashala's sharp intake of breath, and glanced to see her staring at the oncoming orcs with wide eyes.

"Cirashala, shoot them!" he cried, letting loose another arrow. It broke her out of her daze, and she let loose the arrow she had nocked, hitting an oncoming orc in the shoulder. She quickly nocked another one, though by the time she had drawn it and fired, hitting another orc in the lower stomach, Kili had already fired three arrows, taking orcs down with them.

"Draw your sword!" Fili cried out to her as the orcs descended upon them, less than 5 yards away. She immediately dropped her bow and drew her sword, eyes wide with fright as a large orc charged her. Just as she managed to get the sword unsheathed, the orc slashed his crude sword down. She hadn't had time to block it, and jumped to the side as the orc sword barely missed her.

The orc swung towards the right as he turned, and she jumped back again. He brought his sword back to the left in a slashing motion, and she managed to block it, bringing her own sword up toward the right as quickly as she could, slashing the foul creature's head off. An arrow whipped past her ear, and she instinctively jumped into the tree, seeing the orc fall right where she had been standing half a second prior, a yellow arrow sticking out of its head. Her stomach churned at the black blood on her tunic, but she fought it.

Her eyes briefly met Kili's, who blocked a blow with his bow, and swung it around to hit the orc in the side of its head, stunning it. He dropped his bow as well, drawing his sword and parrying the orc's blow, before thrusting it into the orc's torso.

"Behind you!" he cried, before turning and slashing an orc shoulder to hip.

She swung around, seeing another orc charge her, and stopped the blow with an overhead block. The orc pushed into it, causing her to fall to her knees. The orc sneered at her as her arms trembled, before its expression changed. Her eyes widened as she saw the black tip of a sword protrude through its torso, and the pressure lifted as the orc's sword fell from its grasp, a strong arm around its neck.

Fili kicked the orc off his sword, and looked at the girl on her knees.

"Get up!" he cried, turning to parry another blow. She stood, shaking a bit as she turned and faced another raised sword. The orc slashed at her quickly, and she sustained a slight cut on her arm as she stumbled over a tree root, losing the grip on her sword. The orc looked down at her menacingly as he raised his sword, and she frantically grappled for hers. The sword came down quickly, and she cried out as she kicked upward as hard as she could.

Please don't let this be the end, she thought frantically as her foot made contact.

XXX

The orc howled with pain as her foot made contact with his groin, stumbling for a second. She managed to grip her sword, and turned just in time to see sparks as the orc's blade was stopped by a sword less than a foot away from her face.

Kili swung out of the block, stepping in front of her and allowing her to rise back to her feet. She was now between the two brothers, swords raised as orcs surrounded them. The two young heirs backed up slowly, eyes darting around at the dozen orcs surrounding them as they tried not to show their fear. Cirashala went to move in front of them, but Kili's left hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her behind them, her back to a pair of two trees growing closely together.

"Stay behind us," he hissed, eyes never leaving the orcs. Cirashala's eyes widened.

"But, I sw—" she began quietly, only to be cut off by Fili.

"Do what he says," Fili hissed. "And don't speak!" The orcs closed in on them, triumphant sneers on their faces, before a loud roar had all pairs of eyes darting toward the sound.

XXX

The company burst through the bushes, roaring battle cries, and the orcs immediately charged them.

Thorin roared as he sliced through the torso of an orc, Dwalin's axe beheading the one next to it. Bofur shouted as his mattock slammed into the head of an orc aiming his sword towards Bombur, and the rotund dwarf nodded his thanks as he swung his ladle into the face of another.

The rest of the company quickly dispatched the remaining orcs, and Thorin turned his head towards his nephews, eyes quickly scanning them for injury. Finding no apparent wounds, he sighed in relief. He scanned the surrounding forest, before turning toward the company.

"We need to find a more protected place to camp for the night," he said. "And we will have double watches tonight." The various dwarves nodded, and Thorin approached his youngest nephew.

XXX

Cirashala was shaking. She had already seen orcs on the plain, however she had gotten injured and unconscious before the real battle had begun. Tears threatened to spill, but she blinked them back. A wave of nausea hit her as the stench of orc blood filled her nostrils, and she crawled toward the side of the trees and vomited.

She was unprepared for the hand that rested on her shoulder, and jumped slightly. Looking up as she wiped her mouth, her frightened blue eyes met Kili's dark ones. The young dwarf swallowed nervously, and averted his eyes.

"It's all right," he whispered. "The first time is always hard." She blinked in confusion, noticing that Fili had stepped away and was speaking to Dwalin. Her gaze returned to Kili.

"I-I already saw orcs on the plain, remember?" she whispered back. "I killed the warg, didn't I?" He nodded.

"Aye, but it happened so fast, and you were unconscious within minutes," he replied, glancing at her. His eyes trailed down toward her arm, where the blood from the shallow cut was seeping through her sleeve. Her eyes followed his, and she swallowed to keep the bile from rising in her throat. She quickly clamped her hand down on it.

"It's nothing," she whispered, shutting her eyes. She opened them as she felt his hand on hers, moving it off her cut.

"Orc wounds are never nothing," he replied softly. He glanced at her, before looking at the cut, cheeks flushing slightly.

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered suddenly, cheeks burning. "F-for last night, I…I-I shouldn't have….I didn't mean….I-I am sorry, so sorry, I…." His eyes scrunched closed, swallowing nervously. She could feel his hands trembling on her arm, and heard his breathing quicken. She thought back to the night prior, how he had wiped her tears away, and could visibly see the shame on his face in the late dusk.

"It's all right," she whispered, putting her hand on his arm. He nearly jumped out of his skin, and looked at her with surprise.

"It's not nothing," he protested, remorse in his features. "I-I viol—" he was cut off as Thorin's heavy footsteps approached, and looked up at his uncle, praying that he hadn't heard the conversation.

XXX

Thorin had noticed how Cirashala had thrown up. He also noticed how his nephew had crouched beside her, and his brows furrowed.

"Kili," he said as he stopped in front of him. "Are you or your brother injured?" The young dwarf shook his head.

"No, but Cir—" he began, but Cirashala cut him off as Thorin frowned.

"It's nothing, just a scratch," she replied quickly, looking at the ground. Thorin stared at her hard.

"And I suppose the reason why you only have a scratch is because my nephews had to protect you," he said, turning his piercing gaze on Kili. Cirashala's shoulders slumped.

"I-I tried," she replied, and Kili held up his hand.

"We did protect her some," he admitted, receiving a glare from his uncle. "But, she shot two orcs before they even reached us, and beheaded another one."

"Thorin, the orcs surprised us," Fili added, approaching his uncle. "We thought that it was an animal in the bush until the orc came out. She has obviously not received much training, but she's still alive. And she didn't do too badly, all things considered." He glanced at her with a slight look of approval, before turning back to his uncle.

"She tried to copy Kili's actions with his bow, and she moved extremely quietly through the brush. Even though we didn't tell her anything about training, she treated it as such," he finished, and Cirashala looked between the two with a bewildered look.

"T-that was training?" she asked, confusion in her tone, and the brothers shared a slightly sheepish glance.

"Well, the orc attack wasn't part of it," Kili said, earning an eye roll from his brother and a raised eyebrow from Thorin. "But aye, it was good practice. Too bad we didn't find any decent meat." He finished the last part of his sentence by kicking a dead orc.

Thorin sighed heavily. The two heirs looked at him much the same way they had done after a training session, when he would let them know what they did well and what they needed to work on. He sighed again, before looking at Cirashala.

"Get Oin to bandage up your wound," he said gruffly, before moving toward the group. The two heirs glanced at her, nodding their heads in approval, before the trio rejoined the group as well. As they walked back toward their campsite, senses on alert and weapons still drawn, Fili leaned in.

"Not bad for your first day of training, but there is a lot you need to work on," he said quietly, and Kili nodded. She almost didn't hear the younger brother's quiet words as they returned to their campsite, the others already gathering their things.

"Not bad for a beginner though. Not bad at all."

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A response to guest reviewer Ri-chan- I honestly don't mind talking like crazy via pm- actually made a few friends on here ;D But it's purely up to you, so if you want some spoilers, or even to discuss already "published" stuff, you can pm me. I don't mind :D I am a stay at home mom, so I don't always get the opportunity for "adult interaction", mostly just 4 year old conversations and 1 year old trying to decipher conversations-she's speaking full (but short) sentences and such at 17 months old, but you have to listen closely to catch it. So, it's nice to be able to email people back and forth who have similar interests and a love of Tolkien-same reason why I like TORn. I am glad you like the excitement and thrill in the story. Would you care to expand on that? Meaning what parts of excitement are you talking about? I didn't think my last few chapters were "exciting" per se, since they didn't have a lot of action, but I know there are different kinds of excitement. One of the reasons I love getting reviews is it gives me the opportunity to ask readers what I am doing well and what I need to work on. It helps me become a better writer, but if I don't understand what excitement or thrill, then it's hard to figure out what a reader means sometimes :D

Thanks to all who review, favorite, and follow- I love getting them! And I get a huge grin on my face when there are new ones! It makes me so happy that my readers are liking things, and it makes me happy as a writer when I am told I need to work on something, because then I know of ways I can improve!

BIG APOLOGIES FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER! I had computer issues, but they are fixed now :D Yay! Hard to work on stuff when your computer power cord and power port both decide to be stinkers! So a slightly longer chapter to make up for it!

You guys are awesome! :D