Chapter 7: Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire
"Just fantastic!" Bella said. "Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!"
"Up the trees quick!" cried Gandalf, and they ran to the trees at the edge of the glade, hunting for those that had branches fairly low, or were slender enough to swarm up. They found them as quick as ever they could and up they went as high as ever they could trust the braches. Fili and Kili were at the top of a tall larch like an enormous Christmas tree. Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin were more comfortable in a huge pine with regular branches sticking out at intervals like spikes on a wheel. Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur had scrambled up into another, while Thorin and Dwalin climbed up into a tall slender fir. Gandalf, who was a good deal taller that the others, had found a tree into which they could not climb, a large pine standing at the very edge of the glade.
And Bella? The poor hobbit tried her best to find a tree she could climb, but the one she managed to climb was short, and she knew that she wasn't high enough to escape the wolves if they saw her, but it was too late now. Amongst the scramble, she caught Thorin and a few others gazing at her worriedly, and she realized that even they too knew that she was in too small of a tree. Her best hope now was that she could remain unnoticed.
At that moment the wolves trotted howling into the clearing. All of a sudden there were hundreds of eyes looking at them. The whole pack of them was yelping at the dwarves up in the trees, eyes blazing and tongues handing out. These wolves were called Wargs, and they cannot climb trees. For a time, they were safe. Luckily it was warm and not windy.
This glade in the ring of trees was evidently a meeting-place of the wolves. More and more kept coming in. They left guards at the foot of the trees. All except for Bella's because they had yet to notice the tiny shaking hobbit on the tiny tree. Many hours passed, but the Wargs still sat there, and Bella knew that they weren't going to leave any time soon.
Pulling the ring she'd found in the goblin's mountain out of her pocket, she twirled it around in her hand as a wicked idea popped into her head. As she thought about it, she realized that it might just work… or she could end up dead. After another long hour had passed and the moon was beginning to descend in the sky, she decided to put her plan into action.
Quietly (as quite as a hobbit could possibly be) she descended the tree and she forced herself to not glance at the dwarves who had seen her and were having panic attacks in their own respective trees. The Wargs were a good twenty to thirty yards away from her, so if she timed this just right… Glancing at Thorin's frightened and panicking eyes, she mouthed "I'm sorry," just in case this turned out horribly wrong.
As loudly as she could, she screamed "HELLO! OVER HERE!" At that second, every single Warg turned to look at her. Immediately their hackles were raised. "WHO WANTS SOME TASTY HOBBIT?"
Turning around, she ran as fast as she possibly could away from the clearing and into the trees. As soon as the dwarves could no longer see her, she slipped on her ring and vanished. Quietly, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that the entire pack of Wargs was chasing her. Pulling out her dagger, she began to fight. The Wargs were actually a funny sight, as they tried to figure out where she had gone, why they could smell her, and why some were dropping dead with their throats slit.
Nimbly, with the practice she had received from the others, she began to kill off as many Wargs as she could. Slashing, and stabbing she pierced the hides of many Wargs, and received a few scratches herself as the beasts pawed at the air, trying to figure out where she was. Bella was particularly satisfied when several turned tail and ran away. After slaying many, fatigue began to settle in her system from the lack of food and sleep from the past few days. Thankfully, it was at this moment she could hear many voice yelling her name and the war cries of the dwarves.
Glancing over, she spotted the dwarves and Gandalf running into the midst of the Warg pack with weapons raised and prepared to fight. Bella was shocked when she saw the look in Thorin's eyes. The king looked ravenous, rabid, angry, possessed; as if something very dear was swept away from him in one fell swoop. His eyes raked over the field, and sorrow sparked in them when there was nothing to see but Wargs. Although, perhaps a flicker of hope might have passed through his eyes when he took in the vast amount of Wargs lying dead upon the ground. Yet, despite this, the mighty dwarf joined the company in battle as they began slaying the beasts.
Bella leaned against a tree panting and trying to rest for a quick moment as she watched the dwarves skillfully kill the Wargs. Gandalf fought wonderfully aswell, using little bouts of magic to ignite a handful of them, or hacking off their heads with his sword Glamdring. Mostly her eyes watched Thorin though; protective in case she needed to move quickly. It was a good thing to, because as he was distracted with two of the monsters in front of him, he failed to notice a third stalking up behind him. Removing her ring and shoving it in her pocket, she ran out with a mighty cry and slammed her shoulder into the Warg, sending the beast and her sprawling across the forest floor in a tangle of skin and claws.
A part of her mind noticed that it had scratched her across the back, but most of her mind was focused on the fact that this thing had tried to kill Thorin, and would have more than likely succeeded without her intervention. Jumping to her feet with her sword in hand, she attacked the Warg and slashed her sword across its face, drawing blood as she made a gash under its left eye. Angry, the thing reared back and lurched at her, jaws snapping and spit flying. Dodging rather quickly, she reached up with her blade and stabbed it into the creature's shoulder.
The wound exploded with blood as Bella withdrew her sword, but the injury barely slowed the beast. It charged her again, ready to make the kill when a sword that wasn't her own stabbed it in the throat, silencing its dreadful noises. The Warg fell to the ground, still twitching as the life left its eyes. Looking at the sword, she knew who it belonged to immediately. As her eyes went up to look into Thorin's blue ones, she would have been content to stare into them forever if not for the giant talons that locked around her and the king, picking them up off of the ground and flying them into the air.
Shocked, she looked up and saw that it was a mighty eagle, and that the whole battlefield was filled with them as they scratched at the Wargs and picked up the dwarves and Gandalf. The eagle carried them high into the sky and away from the battle. The pale peaks of the mountains were coming nearer, moonlit spikes of rock sticking out of black shadows. Summer or not, it seemed very cold.
The flight ended quickly and they were placed gently down on a wide shelf of rock on the mountain-side. There was no path down on to it save by flying; and no path down off it except by jumping over a precipice. There Bella and Thorin saw all the others sitting with their backs to the mountain wall. The Lord of Eagles, a mighty creature that frightened Bella a bit, was also there talking with Gandalf.
As the wizard spoke with the Eagle, Thorin grabbed her arm gently and pulled her aside from everyone else, his eyes blazing. "You! What were you doing?" Bella suddenly felt very nervous at the tone of his voice and the anger she could sense building up inside of him, but she remained silent. "You nearly got yourself killed. Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild? That you, a hobbit and a woman, have no place amongst us?"
As each sentence was spoken, Bella could feel her heart being crushed little by little, and she looked away from Thorin. Thus, this was why she was shocked when she felt his hand gently cup her chin and tilt it so that she was facing him. "And I have never been so wrong in all my life," he said before he brought his lips down to press against hers.
It was a gentle kiss, but she loved the way he cupped her face as if she was a precious, fragile object. His lips were warm, and sent shots of electricity through her veins, which caused her heart to do flying leaps in her chest. When he pulled away, she opened her eyes and looked his icy blue ones, everything felt so wonderfully perfect. "I'm sorry I doubted you," he added, looking back at her with a silent question as to if he was fully forgiven.
"That's alright, Thorin," she murmured softly as she cupped his face this time. "I would have doubted me too." Then she pressed her lips against his, loving the feel of their bodies pressed flush up against one another. Lost in the moment, it wasn't until the dwarves started cat calling and whistling that she pulled away with a deep blush.
The day was spent around a fire as they dried off their clothes and mended each other's minor wounds and ate meat that the eagles had gathered for them. Bella loved listening to the other dwarves tease Thorin about his infatuation with her. (Oin especially since he knew from the moment Thorin had insisted to heal her wound when in fact; it was Oin who was most skilled in medicine.)
In the late afternoon when Bella was sitting against the wall with a full belly, Fili and Kili came to sit next to her with somewhat serious expressions of their faces. "Is it ok if we talk to you?" they asked, somewhat nervously.
"Of course!" she said, giving them a comforting smile which seemed to ease some of the tension from the two brothers.
The two were still kind of fidgety before Kili spoke. "I – I mean… we are glad that our uncle has finally found someone to trust his heart with, but we want to clarify some things with you."
"Dwarves mate once, and that's it," Fili said, somewhat awkwardly. "The fact that Thorin chose you, means that you are his One. Don't play with his heart… please."
Bella inhaled sharply and furrowed her eyebrows. "I return Thorin's affections just as strongly," she said, hoping they wouldn't repeat this to their uncle. "Don't take me so lightly as to think I could ever do something as vile as to mess with his affection."
The boys smiled at her fondly. "Also, he does have… slight… anger problems sometimes, as you've more than definitely seen. Just don't give up on him," Kili added.
She returned their smiles with a radiant one. "I don't intend to," she said softly as she turned to gaze fondly at Thorin, who was deep in conversation with Gandalf and the Lord of the Eagles. The brothers left her to her thoughts a few moments later, and it wasn't long before she fell asleep, dreaming of the man she had fallen in love with.