I'm back to work! This Segment is the smallest, and proof that I don't know how to Segment. Thanks so much for the two reviews! I wouldn't have posted it this soon if it wasn't for you too! Keep up the good work, high fives all around!
I had never been shot with an arrow before, and I can safely say I never want to again. I could feel the arrow inside my leg, having torn through muscles and then struck the bone and stayed put.
It was one of those moments where I hadn't thought I could ever feel this dead but still be alive, and I had a feeling it was only going to go downhill for me.
I screamed at the top of my lungs as I crumpled to the ground. It was almost as if time had slowed down.
"MALIA!" Kili yelled, fear drenched in his voice.
I could hear him, but I couldn't see him. I looked around myself in fear, and my eyes grew as another Orc was running up the stairs towards me.
I was going to die. I was going to freaking die.
The Orc suddenly stopped, a confused look spreading across its face as it slowly fell to the ground.
My eyes grew as I watched it fall, and I noticed a knife in the back of its head and Crystal ten feet behind him.
"Get up!" Crystal yelled as she ran towards me and drew her sword, attacking another Orc that came running towards us.
"I was shot in the leg, you bitch." I groaned as I glared at her as she got closer to me. She looked around, prepared to fight all the Orcs she could.
"Get knocked down." Crystal said, using her sword as a shield as an arrow flew at her.
"Get back up again." I finished, grabbing onto ledge ground beside me and pulling myself up.
I couldn't give up, not now.
The lever was only a foot away, and I winced as I put some weight on my leg and lunged at it, using my full weight to bring the lever down before falling back onto the ground.
I let out another scream as I laid on the ground.
"Go." Crystal yelled as she brought her sword down near me, chopping off the end of the arrow that was sticking out of my leg and causing me to scream again.
I groaned as she brought her sword back up and ran towards oncoming Orcs, and I slowly rolled myself around to the edge of the bridge and let myself fall down to the barrels.
I landed sprawled out between Kili and Fili's barrel, and Kili grabbed me from underneath the armpits and dragged me into his.
I had to stifle another scream as I landed in the barrel, the arrow being pushed a little farther into my leg by the barrel's side.
"Holy shit." I choked out, trying not to scream again.
"Malia." Kili said as he continued holding onto me and pressed a kiss on my forehead.
"What do you wanna bet that arrow was poisoned?" I asked as I closed my eyes.
I had never felt like this before. Who would've known that being shot with an arrow could actually hurt this much?
"Shhh, just hold on." Kili insisted as he held onto me tighter. "You're fine."
The rest of the barrel trip was mostly a blur. I wish I had been fully awake for it, considering apparently Bomber freaking kicked ass, and Legolas used everyone as stepping stones. Only I would miss out on that much action whilst actually being present.
But I only really snapped back to it once the current slowed down.
"Anything behind us?" Thorin asked.
"Not that I can see." Balin said as I finally opened my eyes and looked around.
"I think we've outrun the Orcs." Bofur added from a barrel close to us as he popped his head out of the barrel and spat water out.
"Not for long, we've lost the current." Thorin grumbled.
"Bomburs half drowned." Bofur added, and I looked past Kili to see Bombur in a barrel that was mostly filled with water.
"Make for the shore." Thorin said, pointing to the rocky shore nearby.
Kili let go of me and started paddling us to shore, and as we reached it he leapt out and turned to me, hands out to help me.
Kili dragged me out of the barrel and then bent down, one arm ready to go behind my knees and lift me up to carry.
"I can walk." I snapped, trying to push him away as I put weight on my bad leg.
Pain shot up from the wound, sending fire up my leg. If it wasn't for Kili, I would've fallen to the ground.
Kili went back to lifting me up, and carried me to a rock and set me down.
"How does it look?" I asked him as I closed my eyes. "I can't look."
"Up on your feet." Thorin said.
"Malia's wounded." Fili said from in front of me. "Her leg needs binding."
"Binding?" I nearly screeched, my eyes shooting open. "Why kind of archaic bull shit is that?"
"There is an Orc pack on our tail, we keep moving." Thorin said as he walked past us, looking down at my leg.
"To where?" Balin asked tiredly.
"To the mountain. We're so close." Bilbo said.
"A lake lies between us and that mountain." Balin said. "We have no way to cross it."
"So then we go around."
"The Orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight. We've no weapons to defend ourselves." Dwalin said.
"Bind her leg, quickly." Thorin said. "You have two minutes."
I groaned. "I don't really like the idea of a quick binding. Or any binding, actually."
In the end, Fili told me to shut it and bound my leg, which was pretty much just wrapping it with a bit of Kili's shirt.
I watched the dwarves, raising my brow as Dwalin grabbed a stick and ran towards Ori, standing in front of him defensively.
An arrow was shot at Dwalin, splintering his stick.
Kili's eyes grew as he looked behind me, and he grabbed a stone from beside me and lifted it to throw, but that was also shot at, and the rock was shot out of his hand.
"What the," I began, turning around slightly.
There was a very, very tall man behind us, his bow ready to shoot again.
"Do it again, and you're dead." He said.
My eyes stayed trained on this newcomer, confused.
"Excuse me, but you're from lake-town, if I'm not mistaken." Balin said, and I turned and watched him slowly walk up to the newcomer.
The newcomer pointed his bow at Balin, and he raised his hands in the air.
"That barge over there," Balin nodded his head towards the ship not too far away. "It wouldn't be for hire, by any chance?"
Kili carried me to the docks, even after I insisted I'd be fine. When we reached the docks, he gently put me down on the ledge and leaned on it next to me, his body so close to mine that I stayed warm.
"What makes you think I would help you?" The newcomer asked.
"Those boots have seen better days. As has that coat. No doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed." Balin said.
The newcomer nodded, grabbing a barrel and loading it onto the boat.
"How many bairns?" Balin asked.
"A boy and two girls." He replied.
"And your wife, I imagine she's a beauty." Balin said.
"Aye." The newcomer nodded, looking away. "She was."
"Oh fuu-" I started, but Fili shot me a look and I frowned, stopping.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Balin said apologetically.
"Oh come on, come on." Dwalin groaned from the back. "Enough of the niceties."
"Ucckkk." I finally finished, shaking my head at the general direction Dwalin was in.
God, these Dwarves had no tact. Honestly, same.
"What's your hurry?" The newcomer asked.
"What's it to you?" Dwalin snapped back.
"I would like to know who you are and what you are doing in these lands."
"I'm Malia." I spat out, raising my hand before anyone could introduce me. "Daughter of Rickon Reed and Mirabella Took. It's okay if you didn't know them, neither did I apparently."
Balin turned around, giving me a pointed look before turning back to the newcomer.
"We are simple merchants from the blue mountains, journeying to see our kin in the iron hills."
I gently pulled on Kili's shirt, looking at him. He moved in closer, and I whispered;
"Do the iron hills have a lot of iron in them?"
Kili smiled, nodding. "Yes."
"Good." I whispered back. "Otherwise that would be a complete let down of a name."
"Simple merchants, you say?" The newcomer raised his brow at Balin.
"We need food, supplies, weapons." Thorin said as he stepped closer to Balin.
"You know, basic traveling merchant stuff." I added sarcastically.
I mean, really. If he hadn't thought us merchants, he definitely didn't after Thorin asked for weapons.
Thorin sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them to look at the newcomer. "Can you help us?"
"I know where these barrels came from." He said as he loaded the last one on his boat.
"What of it?"
"I don't know what business you have with the elves, but I don't think it ended well." The newcomer looked at one of the barrels that had been shot with arrows. "No one enters lake-town but by leave of the master. All his wealth come from trade with the woodland realm. He would see you in irons before risking the the wrath of King Thranduil."
The Master, King Thranduil, yikes.
The newcomer untied his boat, throwing the rope at Balin.
"Offer him more." Thorin hissed at Balin.
I didn't have to see Balin's face to know he was probably fed up. His sigh was enough proof.
"I'll wager there are ways to enter that town unseen." Balin said.
"Aye. But for that you would need a smuggler." Bard said.
"For which we would pay double." Balin insisted, holding the rope hopefully.
Paying double worked, and within ten minutes we were all on board the boat and going towards lake-town.
A haze had spread over the water, and I watched from my spot on the boat's floor at the chunks of ice in the water.
Kili was behind me, letting me rest my back against his chest for warmth.
No one seemed to pay this display of affection any notice, which I was thankful for. I was freezing.
"Watch out!" Bofur yelled, and I looked to the front of the boat to see us passing through ruins.
"What are you trying to do, drown us?" Thorin asked, glaring at the newcomer, who's name we had learned was Bard.
"You can't drown me." I said looking back down to the water next to the boat beside me.
Kili chuckled, and I turned to look at him. He was staring back at me, a brow raised.
"What?" I asked. "I can hold my breath under water for two minutes." I shrugged.
Kili smiled at me, brushing the hair away from my face. I smiled at him before turning back around, and he wrapped his arms around me tightly.
The rest of the Dwarves continued bickering, but I was too tired to pay attention. My leg felt like it was on fire on the inside. I was cold, hungry, and in pain.
Yet it was oddly tranquil, sitting on the boat with Kili's warmth surrounding me.
"Come on now lads, turn out your pockets." Balin said louder from the other side of the boat.
I huffed. "Even if I had any of my money, it wouldn't be useful here. Dumb pieces of paper." I mumbled.
Kili's hand came up to my cheek, brushing the hair out of my face as he buried his head in my hair and let out a sigh.
"Just try and rest Malia. You're beginning to worry me." Kili said.
I snorted, rolling my eyes. As if I was just beginning to worry him. He'd been worried about me ever since we left Rivendell.
Kili gasped, and his arms left me before I felt him stand up behind me.
"Malia, look." Kili said as he kneeled back down, pointing to something in the distance.
"I thought I was supposed to…" My words dried out when I finally saw what he was pointing at through the fog.
It was the silhouette of Erebor. I felt butterflies in my stomach.
"Bless my beard." Gloin said. "Take it, take all of it." He said, handing his coin purse over to Balin.
Kili sat back down, pulling me closer to him and wrapping his arms back around me.
"It's funny." I said. "I've never been to Erebor… but I feel like…" I sighed.
My home in my world, it had been home, but not really. It had always felt more like rest stop. They say home is where the heart is, but seeing Erebor, that felt like home. Maybe my heart had been in Erebor. Probably not, considering I've been told you need your heart to live.
"Like I'm finally going home." I finally whispered.
Kili brought his face close to mine, holding me even closer as he kissed my temple.
"We are going home, Malia." He let out a relieved sigh. "We are."