Rider (A Kili/ Hobbit novel)

Chapter 19: The Lake

The redness of a fighting haze dominates my vision as we draw ever nearer to the familiar valley, and I notice the orcs look up and cry out to one another, pointing to the darkening skies.

I smile wickedly with nothing but revenge on my mind. This time, they will be the ones unprepared. This time, their people will be the ones slaughtered.

I will make them pay for everything that they have done to my kind, to my family-

"So not let anger cloud your judgement little one. We must be forgiving, or we risk becoming like them."

"After all they have done to us, you want to just forgive them?" I spit out vehemently. "They are monsters!"

"And what will killing them do? it will not bring back those that have departed from this land, nor will it give you peace of mind. You must be at peace, Pandora. You must accept the past, or we cannot hope to face the future."

"How can I just forget something like that?" I say sadly, my voice losing much of its anger. "They kill so many, ruin so much."

"I would never tell you to forget; our burning kingdom will always be a terrible thing. It will stay with our people and be told with sorrow to our ancestors. What I ask is that you to put it behind you in the past, where it belongs. We must focus on now, for many lives depend on it."

All of the rage slowly drains from my body, leaving nothing but determination in its place. What Kinjal says makes perfect sense, I was just too blinded by my own anger to see it. "I understand, and I am sorry for what I said, Kinjal. You are right, as always. My mind must be clear of this child-like need for revenge, or I will be unfocused. Thank you for showing me my fault." I nod my head in respect for my wise friend.

"Do not be so harsh with yourself, Pan. Your are still very young. I have been alive thousands of years waiting for you, my Rider, to be born."

I smile inwardly, remembering the day I had gone out in search of my dragon years ago. "I remember leaving our kingdom for the far North well. I almost died trying to find you, staying out in the cold for so long without shelter."

"You were much smaller then; you could barely climb onto my back. You are no less reckless now than when I first met you, though."

"It is not as if you have ever tried to stop me," I say lightheartedly at the memory as it plays in the back of my mind, but then sober as I think about the strain about to be put on our unbreakable bond. "And sometimes doing something reckless is necessary."

I do not have to say it aloud for Kinjal to know I am referring to our desperate flight for our homeland in the hopes of eluding the Balrogs.

"Yes, sometimes reckless is good." Kinjal agrees, bobbing her head slightly.

We fly in silence for a time, though it is a tense one. I feel like a coiled spring, just waiting for all of the tension inside of me to be released at once. In moments the other Riders and I will begin a fight for our lives, one that I am unsure I will make it out of.

But a leader cannot show fear to their followers, so I raise my voice in a fierce battle cry, and Kinjal tucks in her wings tightly and plummets towards the ground, dodging the poison-tipped arrows the orcs shoot up at us.

***

Time seems to become nonexistant as Kinjal expertly weaves her way close to the ground, the tips of her bronze wings just barely brushing the earth. I trust her completely as she dodges the hoards of orcs shooting at us two, having complete faith she will not falter.