Rider (A Kili/ Hobbit novel)

Chapter 28: Waking Up

Pan's Point of View:

I don't feel right. Everything seems too bright, despite the fact that I have yet to open my eyes.  I don't want to open my eyes.  It's going to hurt.

There's a silence surrounding me, one so strong I begin to wonder if I could feel it.  The brightness slowly becomes a small problem in comparison with the silence.  The lack of noise is pressing; I feel like I can't breathe.  I need something, anything, to make a sound. I can't take the inability to use two of my senses, so my eyes open.

I squint at first. I can tell the room is very dark, but my eyes still take a long period of time to adjust. When they do, I see that I am very much alone.  That's not what is bothering me though, not exactly. It's something else; a sense of dread rooted deep within me.

Then I realize what the silence is; an absence.  I can't feel Kinjal at all.  It's like a part of me is completely missing or torn away.  This is different than having a wall up that prevents me from communicating with there; it's like there's just nothing left there but a gaping, bloodied hole where another consciousness should have been.  

The realization is physically painful; I would rather have taken a knife to the stomach than this horrid feeling of emptiness. I can't feel her at all, and it makes me sick. She's disappeared and it makes me feel confused, like I've lost my sense of direction.

I leap down from the stone I had been lying upon.  Something must have happened to Kinjal. Why else would I not be able to feel her presence in my mind?  I have to find her.

As I am searching for the exit, I realize I am no longer in the cave. I have somehow made it back to Erebor, and it looks as though I have been placed in the burial chamber.  I should have noticed that sooner, but there were so many other things that drew my attention first.

"What is going on?" I mutter, placing my head in my hands. Everything feels so wrong. None of this makes any sense to me; do they all think I've died? I cannot think of another reason to place me in here. 

It doesn't matter, at least not yet. The most important thing is making sure all of the others are alright. I try to keep my mind solely focused on that goal amid my other racing thoughts.  

I dash into the hallway, taking each turn at random.  I don't slow, though my breathing becomes more and more ragged the farther I travel.  None of the hallways seem familiar to me yet, and there seems to be no one else to ask for directions.  I had no idea where I was to begin with, and each new turn leads me deeper and deeper into this labrynth of passageways. I am most likely only making myself more lost within the mountain.

The darkness in these passageways reminds me of another mountain, one I had been beneath under very different circumstances. The darkness of the cave where I fought Gothmog.

"No." I think to myself. "That is not where you are, not anymore. You are safe; you killed him." But is Kinjal? And the others?

I try to quell the rising panic within me, focusing solely in pouring energy into my run.

By the time I see another dwarf, I have run past the point of tiredness. Perhaps I had been going for hours, or perhaps only minutes.  I have no way to tell, and my weakened state makes it hard to guess based on exertion.  I stumble to a halt in front of the solitary dwarf, panting as I speak.

"Can you help me please? I haven't a clue where I am." I say, my voice pleading.  The floor has begun to look like an extremely appealing place to take a nap, but I resist the strong urge. Finding Kinjal is the most important thing right now.

The dwarf just stares. And stares. He looks at me like I have turned purple, or grown horns on top of my head.  There is a fear in his eyes that unnerves me more than I allow to show.

"Are you alright?" I ask him hesitantly.

I'm not sure what I was expecting him to say, but I most definitely was not expecting him to bolt like there was a Balrog on his tail. I half turn to look behind myself, thinking whatever he is running from must be behind me, but there is no one else anywhere near in the hallway.

"Hey wait!" I yell, beginning to run after him. "I'm not going to hurt you! Please"

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Hello my lovely Intrepids! Please don't forget to comment and vote if you liked this chapter!

Also, I have posted the first chapter of my newest novel, Prodigy 9.  If you could go check it out and give me feedback, that would be awesome!

-El

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