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

Cirashala stumbled through the wood with her head down, face burning in embarrassment. She didn't even really pay attention to where she was going, only that she knew she must get away-far away.

You idiot! She thought to herself as she ran. Why didn't you look to make sure everyone was at camp?! He could have found YOU instead of the other way around!

A large, cold drop hit her face, and she hastily brushed it away. More fell, the frequency increasing, until within a few minutes the rain had turned into a deluge. Eyes blinded, she suddenly found herself tripping over a stone, landing on her stomach with a loud grunt in the midst of tall grasses and wildflowers.

Looking up, her eyes widened. She was in the meadow beyond the copse of trees their camp was in, with little recollection of how she had gotten there. She scooted on her hands and knees, and looked behind her, just making out the line of trees in the distance, about a hundred yards from where she was at.

The darkness enveloped her as the full moon slipped behind the dark clouds, and she cursed under her breath, feeling very much alone and incredibly foolish for not having paid attention to her surroundings.

Well, shit, she thought to herself, shuddering as the wind began to pick up. The pelting rain drenched her through her cloak, and she pulled it around her. Feeling her sword bump against her leg, she glanced down, before hesitantly drawing it only an inch out of the sheath. The edges glimmered in the darkness, not fully glowing, but definitely not dark either.

Her eyes widened, and she looked around quickly, almost not daring to breathe.

No…

XXX

Kili crouched in the freezing cold water, listening intently as his wide eyes darted around. He had heard her footsteps fade a few minutes ago, but not until he was absolutely convinced she was no longer nearby did he dare to venture out of the water.

Clambering quickly to the bank where he had left his spare clothing, he dried off and began to tug it on quickly, shivering as the cold wind blew on his wet form. He kept glancing around fearfully, but she did not return. The rain began to fall, and within minutes he was soaking wet again. Thankfully, he had already gotten his coat on by the time it started, so he wasn't too awfully wet, all things considered.

He took a deep breath, before following the path she took back to camp.

However, he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen when he returned.

XXX

Oin and Bifur's watch had finally ended, and as they stood up to wake Thorin and Dwalin, the rain began. Within seconds, the entire company was awake, darting to and fro in an attempt to get their packs and bedrolls under the slight open ended "cave" where the two great boulders came together before they got thoroughly wet.

Amidst the bustle, Thorin noticed that Fili was packing up both his own and his brother's things, and looked around for sign of his youngest nephew. Approaching Fili, he had to raise his voice to be heard over the now howling wind.

"Fili, where is your brother?" he shouted, ducking as a loose tree branch blew off of the tree his nephew was currently under. Fili looked up at his uncle, worry barely concealed in his blue eyes.

"He said he needed to visit a tree," he shouted back. Thorin cursed under his breath.

"When?" the dwarf king asked, and Fili looked into the wood, before back at his uncle.

"I don't know," he admitted, cursing inwardly. "I must have fallen back asleep." The young heir donned his twin swords and began to go into the woods in the direction Kili had gone, when his uncle's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked back, but just when Thorin opened his mouth to speak, Bilbo's voice cried out.

"Miss Cirashala?" the hobbit cried as he saw her bedroll still empty. "Where are you?" Thorin looked around the camp quickly, before letting out an explosive curse.

"Mahalu-me turg!"

XXX

Kili had gotten just close enough to camp to hear Bilbo's cry, and matched his uncle's curse under his breath.

Where in Durin's name did she go? He thought to himself as he glanced back in the direction of the inlet where he had bathed. She ran north…

Backing up from camp until he was out of earshot, he turned and ran back toward the inlet, before turning and running in the direction she had come. Once he found her, his uncle would have no need to lecture her- Kili was going to yell at her himself for being so stupid as to wander off in the middle of a storm.

He would worry about the bathing incident later.

XXX

Cirashala's eyes darted around her as she crawled through the grass toward where she thought she had seen the copse their camp was in. She kept her hood up, and her body low, stopping after a few minutes to check her sword. The blue was increasing, but still faint, and she quickened her speed.

She cursed that her limbs ached so much and were so tired from her training earlier, let alone doing more walking up and down mountains in the past 8 days than she had done in the past 8 years. Her fear did not aid in keeping her arms from shaking, and she dearly hoped that her request for a grey cloak from the elves would diminish her visibility like it had done for the fellowship.

She looked up, blinking the rain out of her eyes, but in the darkness she could not make out more than about twenty feet ahead of her. A bright light suddenly laced through the sky, illuminating her path, but her mind in that moment was not on her position in relation to the dark line of trees ahead. Rather, she felt an unbidden scream rip from her throat just before the crash of thunder sounded throughout the valley.

She curled up, her body shaking as her mind remembering all too well that first flash of lightning on the ground in front of her-the one that brought her to middle-earth in the first place. She couldn't move, frozen as her body became paralyzed with overwhelming fear.

She didn't hear the footsteps that sounded above the wind, until a clawed hand grabbed her shoulder.

XXX

Kili had reached the tree line, finding no sign of Cirashala. He had just begun to turn to go back into the trees, thinking that she couldn't have possibly run beyond them, when a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a faint scream. His head whipped around as the thunder crashed through the night, the next bolt illuminating the large meadow before him.

Seeing a dark form about fifty yards out, the young dwarf broke into a run, drawing his bow, his speed increasing as he realized the dark form was followed by two others several yards behind it.

XXX

Cirashala cried out as the orc yanked her around, swinging her fist and hitting it in the face as she kicked her leg out. She let out a strangled cry as the orc's nose crunched under her fist, pain lacing through her fingers. The orc growled, sneering at her as he grabbed her wrist with one hand and her throat with the other. She could feel the pressure increase as he leaned in, not enough to completely block air, but enough that she began to see black spots. She gasped for air as the orc pinned her to the ground and her sword to her side. Her left hand came up to try and pry his grimy hands off, but to no avail, and the orc laughed at her attempt to free herself.

She quickly reached behind her, her brain somehow acknowledging that she couldn't reach her sword, and grabbed an arrow. Yanking it out, she thrust it upward into the unsuspecting orc's throat, pushing with all her might as she brought her knee up into his groin. The orc released her tunic, gurgling as he clawed at the arrow protruding from his throat, and mustering as much strength as she could, she pushed against him in an attempt to get the brute off of her so she could draw her sword. Unfortunately the weight of the orc proved to be too much for her tired limbs, and she couldn't push him off.

Lightning flashed against the sky, and she heard the thud of the arrow as it imbedded in the orc's skull, causing the now dead creature to fall on her, nearly crushing her with its body. A rush of air left her, and as she tried to push against it again, a dark shape slid down in the grass beside her.

XXX

Glancing quickly to the north, Kili loosed two more arrows, before setting his bow down and pushing the dead orc off of the young woman. Concerned eyes looked down at her, his hand quickly grasping her throat in an attempt to find a pulse. What he didn't expect was her to cry out and swing her fist at him, and he just barely managed to catch her left hand before it made contact with his face.

Moving his hand off her throat immediately, he brought his left3`e up to protect that side of his face, while looking down at her gasping form. Frightened blue eyes opened to meet dark brown, and Kili breathed a silent sigh of relief. Another loud crack sounded, causing Cirashala's eyes to squeeze shut and the young dwarf to look up at the turbulent sky.

Without a word, he hauled her to her feet. Grasping her hand tightly, he took off at a run toward the trees, looking back frequently to make sure they weren't being followed. She stumbled after him, muscles protesting the movements. The only way she was able to even come close to keeping up with him was the adrenaline pounding through her veins, and she had no doubt as soon as they reached safety she would collapse.

XXX

They reached the tree line with no pursuers, and as soon as Kili deemed it was safe, he turned and, grabbing her arms, slammed her up against a tree. His face was mere inches from hers, and there was a thunderous expression on his face.

"What in the name of Mahal were you thinking?!" he growled, his voice still barely audible above the roaring wind as he restrained himself from shaking her on the spot. "You could have gotten yourself killed! Didn't we tell you not to wander off on your own?!" Cirashala visibly trembled under his piercing gaze, thinking of all things that he bore an uncanny resemblance to Thorin at the moment.

She coughed suddenly, a dry, raspy cough, and reached for her bruised throat as she winced.

"I-I'm sorry," she rasped out. Kili saw the dark marks forming on her throat and the fear in her eyes, and his expression softened. He released her arms, and stepped back, turning away slightly as he ducked his head. Her legs trembled violently, and she had to grasp the tree for a few moments. It took her a great deal of effort to keep from collapsing on the spot. The young dwarf's shoulders slumped.

"It is I who should apologize," he said so quietly she could barely hear him above the wind. "I did not mean to frighten you. I just….don't want you to get hurt." He swallowed heavily, before looking in the direction of the camp.

"We need to get back," he said, and she nodded.

"Tell…others…orcs," she rasped out, grasping her neck in pain again, and he nodded in agreement.

XXX

They headed back in the direction of camp, but had walked for no longer than two minutes when Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, and Fili ran into them. The youngest of the four ran immediately toward his brother, enveloping the startled Kili into a large hug.

"Where in Durin's name were you?" he asked, but before Kili could answer a furious Thorin strode towards them. The young prince's eyes grew large at the thunderous expression on Thorin's face as the dwarf king looked between him and the young woman.

"Thorin, I—" he began, but his uncle cut him off, grabbing his arm with a growl as he yanked him away from the group, still staying in sight but out of earshot in the howling wind.

"What do you think you are doing?" Thorin hissed as he stopped, grasping his nephew's forearm so hard his knuckles turned white. "Do you think that I am blind, that I have not noticed your growing friendship with the girl? You would dare to disgrace the line of Durin by sneaking off into the trees with a human woman, and a widow at that?" The way he said friendship made the blood drain from Kili's face and his eyes grow wide, knowing full well what his uncle was thinking.

"B-but I…I didn—" Thorin's glare cut him off as he pushed the young heir into a tree, instantly making Kili regret having done so to Cirashala a few moments prior. If he had looked half as furious as Thorin did, he could understand why she had been so afraid.

"Don't lie to me, boy!" he yelled, and Kili's eyes widened as he looked back in the direction the orcs had come from.

"Thorin, keep your voice down!" Kili said, earning a stunned look from Thorin, before that look gave way to anger.

"You dare to disrespect your elder?" he growled, the warning very clear in his voice. Kili trembled, but knew that he must inform his uncle of the danger lurking nearby.

"Orcs," he replied. "S-she was attacked, about fifty yards past the tree line. I shot and killed three, but there may be more." Thorin's expression changed, before his eyes narrowed as he looked through the trees in the direction they had come from.

"Did they see you come this way?" Thorin asked, looking back at his heir, his eyes hard.

"I do not think so," Kili replied, "Thorin-I swear, on Mahal himself, that I did not do what you think. I had heard Bilbo say that she wasn't in camp on my way back, and had seen her moving northward through the trees, and merely followed her to bring her back to camp. I saw the orcs attacking someone, and when I reached her, she was under an orc with her arrow in its throat and her neck was bruised, and there were two others about ten yards behind. I swear I am telling you the truth."

His nephew's eyes looked straight into his, and Thorin could tell that, while there was fear, there was no lie. He could feel the young dwarf trembling under his grasp, and see the same expression he beheld in Rivendell when Kili had feared his reaction to asking aid from the elves. He sighed heavily, releasing the young dwarf's arm.

"Thorin," Dwalin said, approaching the two, and Thorin could see beyond him that Balin was looking at Cirashala's darkening neck while Fili looked out in the direction they had come from, hands ready to move towards the hilts of his swords. The dwarf king turned toward his companion.

"Cirashala was apparently strangled by an orc, about 75 yards north of here," Dwalin said. "She stabbed the orc with one of her arrows, but it had already pinned her. She said the next thing she knew, Kili was there, firing off two more arrows before they ran back to the safety of the trees." Thorin nodded.

"He told me the same," Thorin stated, nodding towards his youngest nephew. "We need to move out and find better, more defensible shelter. This valley has not seen the last of orcs, I believe, and from what Balin has said, there is no other shelter until we head up the high pass. Gather the others-we move as quickly as possible."

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Ok, I know I promised some of my readers that this would be the stone giants/Goblintown beginning, but then as I was writing this it occurred to me that it would be putting far too many action sequences into one chapter. So GT next chapter :) And I swear the muses have minds of their own…..half the stuff I have been writing lately just ends up coming out as I sit and type. I hope it isn't shabby-since I had to go through 8 days after Rivendell in order to get to GT, and given that neither Tolkien nor PJ have described this time in their journey, I was forced to figure out my own story….so I apologize, but I do hope everyone enjoyed it!

Thanks for reviewing, favoriting, and following! You guys make me a very happy author :D