Guess who's back after a 10 year hiatus, that's write me and this fic. I apologize for being gone so long and if anyone is still around to read this I appreciate you more than words can express. I promised I would finish this story and I will, better late than never.
Cheyenne did not sleep well at all, partially because her body was sore from the running, partially because she could hear Beorn outside, and partially because dwarves snored VERY loudly. It was around daybreak when she heard the sound of wood cracking outside, I guess he's chopping wood. She looked around to see that everyone was still asleep except for Gandalf who was propped up in the corner puffing on his wipe. She got up slowly, taking care not to wake up Fili or Kili and made her way quietly over to Gandalf.
"Good morning" he said cheerfully, looking down his pipe at her.
"Morning" she mumbled, hearing the sound of cracking food again from outside. She motioned her head in the direction of the door "should we be worried about him?"
Gandalf gave her a look that was a mixture of jesting and quizzacle "don't you already know the answer to that?"
Cheyenne bit her lip slightly "yes well, I know what the answer would be everything followed the story the way it should." She paused "but things are changing from the version I know, so anything is possible."
"Now you know how the rest of us feel"
She paused, I guess I do, for all the scary things she knew were going to happen, something about knowing it was going to happen gave her some comfort, with the possibility of things changing, that is what was making her uneasy. Before long the rest of the company had awoken and Gandalf wasted no time telling them the plan to introduce themselves to Beorn. That went about as well as Cheyenne remembered it from the film, she was very happy that Beorn had decided not to kill them on the spot like she feared he might. Before she knew it they were back inside the house, sitting at the table as Beorn poured them milk into large mugs.
She had been zoning out slightly, trying to fight the feeling of sleep that was trying to overtake her, the warm and cozy aura of the house wasn't helping. She felt an elbow in her rib, which caused her to jump slightly, "you awake" Fili asked her chuckling.
Cheyenne rubbed her slide slightly, "I'm good just thinking."
"About me?" he grinned slightly, his voice low, obviously trying not to draw attention from the rest of the company.
She rolled her eyes "no master dwarf" she offered "I was thinking about what we are facing next."
Fili looked slightly disappointed, his mouth curving down almost disappearing under this facial hair. "Well you don't have to think about it for very much longer." Cheyenne turned to look at him as he continued "Beorn has offered to let us use his ponies, we are heading out now."
They made their way in silence till they reached the edge of the forest of Mirkwood. Cheyenne was trying to hide her increasing panic as they dismounted their ponies and Gandalf bid them farewell promising to meet up again with them soon. She knew what lay before them, spiders, and also elves but spiders were her main concern. The more she thought about it the more we realized that she would rather face a dragon head on than deal with these spiders. She supposed she had pushed the thought of them out of her mind until this point but her nerves were starting to show, spiders were probably her biggest fear in any world.
"You okay?" Kili asked, placing a hand on her shoulder and causing her to jump. "Sorry" he apologized "I didn't mean to startle you, you just seem uneasy, and when you seem uneasy it usually means something bad is going to happen."
Cheyenne hummed, she needed to make a mental note to get better about that, she didn't want to give too much away. She followed the company into the woods, the crunch of leaves the only sound around. As much as she tried to stay focused she began to get a fuzzy feeling in her head like when she drank too much. She had been watching her feet to make sure she stayed on the path but when she looked up that's when it hit her. Her head felt like it was spinning and she was having trouble focusing her eyes, let alone keep her balance. She stumbled back and bumped into someone causing them both to topple over. She tried to see who it was but all she could make out was streaks of blonde. She was trying too hard to keep her thoughts together, she knew she needed to but with every breath she took she felt more drunk and tired. She could hear Bilbo saying something ahead of her but she couldn't make out what it was. She was still on the ground, having given up on any attempt to stand up. She leaned her head back, using all of her strength to keep her eyes open, she could just barely see something large and dark coming down directly toward her. Her eyes were too heavy for her, for consciousness fading, the last thing she managed to think before passing out was fucking spiders.
There was a cool breeze on her face and she could hear frantic voices that sounded like they were getting louder and coming into more focus. She could also hear a ripping sound, her senses were just starting to come back when she opened her eyes to see Fili's face. "Are you okay?" his voice was hoarse and frantic, all Cheyenne could do was mumble and try to gain her composure. As soon as he managed to free her it's like a veil being lifted and she was now fully aware of what was happening.
There was chaos everywhere webs, spiders, and dwarves running around in all directions. Cheyenne was still a bit disoriented, she looked at Fili, "thanks, we need to get out of here."
"You don't have to tell me twice" he slashed a spider that was coming at him from behind.
Cheyenne gripped her knife the feeling of bile rising in her throat, this was literally her worst nightmare. Fili stepped off to the side to kill more spiders and Cheyenne was trying to figure out what to do. Before she had much time to think, a spider came barrelling toward her. She was frozen in fear, she pressed her back against a nearby tree and let out a blood-curdling scream of terror. Just as the spider was about to lunge at her, a sword came slicing it in half. Fili stood above her looking down with concern "spiders" she choked out and was on the verge of crying.
Fili put an arm around her lifting her up and keeping her close, normally this would have made her blush but right now she was trying not to lose it. He seemed to understand what was going on, "just stay close to me, I'll protect you."
In a matter of minutes they had killed so many spiders Cheyenne had lost count, but they were still being overrun. Worse than that Kili had been separated from the company, they ran yelling his name when a spider shot down in front of them. Cheyenne swallowed hard and felt a hand tighten on her shoulder. She knew it was Fili but she didn't have the courage to look at him. Just then they heard a rustling in the trees above them, thank the gods it's the elves she let out a relieved sigh. This didn't go unnoticed by Fili who was surely surprised at why she was acting relieved. Before they knew it they were surrounded by elves who were pointing their arrows at them and yelling. The dwarves were trying to form ranks but it was no use.
Cheyenne looked over at Thorin who was glaring at a particular elf who had an arrow only inches from his face. "Don't think I won't kill you dwarf, it would be my pleasure" Legolas said roughly. Cheyenne was definitely having a fix of emotions in that moment, she was trying not to gape at him. She had always loved Legolas, he had been her first crush as a child, and now here he was feet from her.
There was a cry behind them "KILI" Fili yelled, for once Cheyenne was not worried she could hear the sounds of spiders dying and knew who was to blame. She kept her eyes forward focused on Legolas, she wasn't sure why but something felt different, like something was about to change. He made eye contact with her before yelling in Sindarin for the rest of the elves to search them for weapons. The elves were very thorough and she didn't even pretend like she could hide her knife from them. When one walked up to her she merely held it out willingly to the disgust of the dwarves.
She noticed Legolas was holding Thorin's sword, he said a few words before pointing it at him. "A thief and a liar" Legolas spat, he turned to the other elves before yelling in Sindarin "kill them."
Oh fuck, "WAIT" Cheyenne yelled, everyone stopped moving, elf and dwarf a like. She knew why, she had just spoken Sindarin, she had taken a class on it in college and she guessed now was as good a time as any to practice. She could hear the dwarves mumbling as she moved through the crowd to face Legolas.
"Who are you?" he asked, looking her up and down, "you are not a dwarf or hobbit, yet you are too short to be an elf or human."
"I'm a human-" she offered timidly.
"How is it that you can speak our language, it is a language only known to the woodland elves" his eyes narrowed as he spoke to her.
"I-I can explain but" she looked around, "maybe it's better if I explain somewhere more private." She sighed making eye contact with Fili, a look of betrayal in his eyes, "take me back to your king and take them as prisoners." She hated this but she knew if she didn't leave something to the imagination there would be no chance of the elves letting the dwarves live.
Legolas considered her for a moment before speaking "fine."