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Chapter 19: Stone Giants!

My fingers scrambled, trying to get a good hold even as the pelting rain made it harder and harder for me to hold on. To even see. Wind whipped around us, making it hard to draw in a solid breath of air.

"TORI!" I heard someone roar but it was there and gone like a neigh from a horse as it careened past you.

Stone giants. They were supposed to be myth alone - something to stop the children from wandering too far from the mountain's safety. And here I was, clutching to its side like a babe to its mother. We should have found shelter long before we wandered into their lands - right when the rain had started to press down on us a bit too hard. Instead, we had pressed on, trapping ourselves in some horrific game of the titans that made up this mountain.

"Grab the hobbit," I heaved, all the breath rushing out of me on a gasp as the giant beneath us jerked, dust and dirt spraying the small line of us that had been unluckily caught in the midst of its battle. We had been split cleanly down the middle early on, the other group able to scurry back into the safety of a rock formation that was sentient. I was at the very edge, my eyes trying adamantly to avoid the perilous drop below as Nori pressed closer to me, trying desperately to keep a hold on the back of my clothing and the ledge as well. I lacked the steadiness that a full-blooded dwarf possessed - a trait that I know shared with the pale-faced hobbit on the other side of my brother.

"Tori - you're barely-" Nori's huffed, barely able to catch his breath, one arm thrown half-hazardly around me to keep my smaller frame pressed to the cramped ledge we were currently holding on for dear life to.

"I'm a dwarf, Valar's beard!" I snapped, whipping around to glare in my brother's general direction. I couldn't see anything over the soggy mess of my hair, the strands sticking to my face in wet clumps. "He barely kept himself on a blasted horse - now GRAB HIM!"

Too late.

A flash of lightning lit our perch in alarming detail, making the horrified lines of each of our faces seem harsher, more in focus. Wind and thunder deafened me, the giant swaying, his whole body falling forward as his opponent got a good hit. The rock face rushed towards us and I felt my heart leapt, the hobbits' feet slipping, his body swaying forward.

My hands fumbled in the hobbit's slick coat, the polished buttons so neatly stitched into the front popping off beneath my desperate hands. Nori's hands fumbled with my vest, for a moment before we were all flying.

"Oh dear-" I heard Bilbo gasp, moments before we were careening through the air, our bodies tangled in some sort of half-mad struggle to find purchase on any given surface. I didn't know up from down, my body from the rock. The whole world was breaking - my ears ringing with so much noise that it all became static.

I couldn't see.

I couldn't hear.

Blindly, I threw my hands out, hoping against hope that I would catch on something - Pain lanced through my arms, my fingertips ripping open as my hands finally found some sort of ledge. Arms tightened around my abdomen with enough force for all the breath to leave me in a harsh gasp. We lurched to a stop so quickly that my head spun, my whole body throbbing with the halt.

Vahal. Amadel. Khajimel. Lukhudel. Mizimelûh.

I thanked all the Gods and Goddesses once over. And then again, my breath sawing from me in sickening gasps. I had barely grabbed onto the ledge - my tears mingled with the crashing rain, the effect of coming so close to being crushed to death by battling stone giants enough to make me go light-headed.

Fire burned up my arms, the skin of my palms opening up once more as I grunted and groaned, struggling to lift both myself and the trembling hobbit clinging to my waist onto the ledge.

I could feel the master hobbit whispering something against my back, his lips moving in frantic little gasps, his whole body soaked and trembling.

"WHERE'S TORI?!" I heard Fili roar and my heart leaped, more tears spilling from me as I tried to focus on the task at hand. Blood dripped onto my face, making me wince as I readjusted my grip a final time and started to pull myself up high enough that I could see over the ledge.

My abs tightened against every movement, my whole body shivering as I muscled my way higher.

"The blasted girl - Dori -"

"You were supposed to keep ahold of her, you pile of hot orc shit!"

"I did - you think I would risk her-"

"HERE!" I gasped, hands scrambling on the smooth ledge, barely a shoulder above the edge. I didn't have a clue how we survived - the huddle of dwarves a few feet away. My teeth chattered against the sudden realization. Dori and Nori both looked close to tears - Ori was openly sobbing, looking like a small, scared child at the edge of the group. I winced, grip beginning to cramp up as the hobbit's weight at my waist grew heavier and heavier.

Wretched, bloody awful rain -

My hands scrambled, dirt flying in every direction as we slid backward, nearly toppling off the side again. A million roaring voices accompanied my own, the hobbit's shivering growing harsher and harsher against me. My whole body vibrated with it, my teeth chattered with it.

Please not like this, I prayed. Not this way.

"TORI!" Hands closed around mine - sure and strong and peeking over the ledge was the most stunning shade of stormy blue eyes I had ever seen. His eyes nearly glowed in the downpour, lighting the night and cutting through me as his teeth flashed in a growl. He snarled something indistinct, his eyes flashing to where the hobbit was curled around my waist, clutching at me like a babe. In Khuzdul, he snarled at me: "Is this why you lost your footing? For the hobbit?"

There was such open scorn in his voice that I flinched, my mouth opening and closing. Of course. The hobbit was our weakest in the group - the one who needed the most care out of any of us. We had a right to him - a duty to see him to the mountain.

"Blasted all," Someone roared and I gasped as hands closed around my collar, heaving both myself and the hobbit up and over the ledge. Hard rock bit into my side, the ground spinning dully beneath me as I tried to get my bearings.

Auburn hair looking like a bird's nest, my brother's long crooked nose took up most of my vision as he knelt beside me, turning me over like a fish fresh from the pond. "Ye stupid, headstrong dwarf!"

Something warm and firm brushed against my back, dragging from the base of my spine to the nape of my neck in strong strokes. I couldn't help the way I leaned into the touch, my whole body aching to be comforted.

"I thought I lost you," Fili whispered, painfully quiet. "You daft, beautiful girl."

I didn't have the breath to respond, my sides heaving as I tried to catch my breath. I was so tired. So drained. I shut my eyes against the sensory overload of having so many people pressed around me, each one murmuring something different. I didn't have the energy to look for the hobbit, barely able to do more than lay in a heap beside him and my brothers.

"I thought we lost our burglar," Bofur panted from somewhere behind me, relief lightening the dark words.

Thorin's voice cut through the storm, dark and humorless and I couldn't help but open my eyes, responding to the chill in his voice.

"He's been lost," Thorin snarled. "Ever since he left him. He should never have come. He has no place among us." Those frigid winter eyes cut to me, rage darkening their gray to an ominous obsidian. "And you - the next time you decide to take a fall off the side of a mountain-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Nori's roared words made everyone jolted, the silence that followed so deafening that it seemed even the rain had quieted it's wake. Ori scuttled closer to me, pressing my hands open and closed in testing consideration.

Above me, Fili had moved, his whole body sheltering me as he crouched, glaring up at his uncle. My breath stuttered at the sight, the downpour lightening as his broad back shielded me, the strands of his hair dripping lightly onto my face. His body was big enough that I felt small beneath him, his hands spreading out in the dirt in front of me, arms like pillars leveled around me - my own house against the rain.

My heart quickened as my attention snapped back up, watching Dori and Nori shouldered past the other dwarves, pushing Dwalin out of the way with such force that the hulking dwarf nearly went careening off the side of the mountain. Red brightened their faces, the rain and wind pelting against my brothers harshly enough to slick back their hair.

"She grabbed for the hobbit when everyone else was trying to save themselves," Nori growled lowly, face inches from Thorin's, who had gone painfully blank. "Thinking about this wretched quest - your wretched quest."

It was a clear, horrible line between my family and the king. I gulped, breath sawing from my lunges as I watched, unable to look away from the whole ghastly thing. Thorin didn't look away from Nori's angry glare, his jaw tightening for a moment. He could send us away right there. It would be a stupid move - four of his members at once. But it could be done.

"Dwalin," Thorin whispered, stepping back, his face meticulously blank. The king's eyes never strayed to me, his gate sure as he turned, searching along the rock face to find a nearby cave for us to rest in.

Splatters of rain rolled down my face, the sudden quiet somehow more intense in the aftermath. Up ahead, my brothers were talking softly, their heads bent toward each other in quiet, fierce conversation. What had just happened wasn't good. In any way. Whatever our relationship with Thorin, he was still our king. Common dwarves don't speak to leaders like that - not if they wanted to keep their positions. Ori started to wrap my fingers, rubbing a thin salve along the broken and bloody skin. His eyes were far off, the rain mixing with his earlier tears. I felt my heart constrict at the sight.

"You won't do that again." All amusement, all playfulness had seeped away from Fili. He seemed so much bigger with me curled beneath him like this, his head turned down. His eyes were sharp in the dim light, his hair creating a shelter between us and the rest of the world. My heart leaped at the harsh lines of his face, the way his brows furrowed as he stared down at me. "Promise me you won't do that again."

It took me a moment to catch up to him and even then I couldn't entirely be sure that I understood. Save someone in the party? Risk myself? Both of these were things that I could see myself doing in the next hour on this quest. I would have done it for my brothers. I would have done it for the princes and our king. And I would do it again for the hobbit.

"I can't promise that," I whispered and I saw Fili's eyes flash a dangerous silver, his whole body tensing.

"For the hobbit?" he hissed in khuzdul and I blinked up at him, shivering as he leaned a bit closer, his face mere centimeters from mine. "You would jump to your death for someone that you met only months before-"

"Yes," I breathed and he blinked, his brows furrowing, face flashing with pain. I tried to find words - tried to articulate the things that I wanted him to understand. My eyes searched his, trying desperately to force him to understand with just a glance. He shook his head, face twisted. "We need to protect those that can't protect themselves." His face clouded, fingers clenching into fists in the dirt. "As a prince, you need to understand this."

Silver swirled with the enchanting blue of his irises, his teeth flashing in agitation. His whole body tensed around me, his head bowing forward. His lips pressed against my temple, his next words soft enough for only me to hear. "My princess."

The words hit me with enough force to make me dizzy - the very thought of me being anywhere near royal blooded laughable.

"They found a cave."

Fili leveled himself away, glancing warily up at my auburn-haired brother. A few feet away, Dori was talking with Bilbur, his eyes straying to the darkened curve of the mountain with tired anxiety.

I groaned as Fili's strong hands shifted me into a sitting position, the new bandages around my fingers tight and constricting. My mouth thinned at the darkened entrance that Nori had gestured to, anxiety shivering along my gut. My eyes met his. "You know that caves like that aren't empty."

"Our king doesn't particularly want to hear my thoughts at the moment," Nori murmured, glancing blandly behind me at Fili whose hands tightened protectively at my waist as he hoisted me up.

I glanced back at my prince, trying not to let my heart flutter too much as he stared back at me in quiet concentration. There was an intoxication in being taken so seriously. I could kiss him for it right here. Instead, I settled for lowering my best, trying to explain. "Goblins keep caverns like this as their strongholds," I whispered. His head bent closer, his eyes attentive. "They enjoy keeping to packs."

His voice was low, considering when he replied. "What did you do when you came across places like this?"

I gulped, glancing back at my brother's grim face. "We… we didn't place ourselves in a position where we had to stay in caverns like this. We would sooner stay on the ledge outside than inside."

As if to mock the very suggestion, a roll of thunder and crack of lightning shook the mountainside, the downpour picking up with a vengeance. Fili's eyes met mine in bleak acknowledgment. "I'll talk with my uncle."


No fire. No warm food. No dry clothing.

I shivered, my whole body shaking with the effort to keep myself warm. Beside me, Kili's eyes widened, looking at me with mounting concern. Ori looked just as miserable, his hands wringing out his own jacket and my vest to the best of his abilities. Across the cavern, Nori and Dori, and Fili were talking quietly with Thorin. From my vantage point, it looked to be going about as well as a porcupine in a bird's nest.

"The lass looks one second away from freezin'," I heard Gloin murmur and I shut my eyes, trying my best to curl farther into myself.

I had always been too small for my own good. Because of my slight frame, it was always easier for me to get cold and the rain had made it ten times worse. I knew why we couldn't build a fire but blast it all, I just wanted something warm.

"Tori, take my blanket," Kili whispered for the second time. I batted feebly at the cloth he was trying to shove at me. "You look like you're about to start your own fire with all your shivering. Take the damn thing."

"I won't," I chattered back, closing my eyes. It was hard to stay awake even with the shivering. I was exhausted, my clothes a miserable soaked heap clinging to my skin. The best bet would be to strip and hope that the air would dry them but in a place like this doing that was asking for trouble. I would survive the night. A miserable night would be nothing compared to being caught completely naked by a goblin pack.

Soft murmuring voice drifted closer before hands grasped my waist, making me gasp as they moved me until I was placed securely against a strong chest, legs spread on either side of me. I blinked up at Fili's tight expression, his hands moving along my arms and back as he tried to warm me up. The conversation hadn't gone well then.

Warm. He was very warm. I shivered into his chest, pressing my aching face to the fur of his collar as some of the numbing cold thawed away from my skin. My shivering grew less and less, the warmth from him slowly seeping into me.

"You know we need to talk with you," Nori murmured but his words seemed so far away. Fili's fingers slowly massaged up my spine, pressing into the tangled mess of the hair at my nape. My whole body buzzed, mind going light with the comforting tug of his fingers pressing through my hair. "About this."

"Would it be alright if we talked later - when she's awake?" I felt the words vibrate along my side, the lull of a familiar voice intoxicating me closer to sleep.

Dori's voice chimed in now. "Of course. Later."

I shut my eyes, sighing into the strong column of his throat, thinking, for the first time that I would like to stay here, even soaked through and hungry from too little food. I would do anything to stay in his arms like this.


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