The Wind Fell Silent

8. Out of the Frying Pan...

"Take cover you fools!" Thorin roared as more stone came crashing down upon us. There was then a sickening jolt, and I clung the tighter to Kili as the stone beneath our feet began to shift. A crack suddenly formed separating Fili and much of the company (including Bilbo and Ori) from the rest of us. "What is happening?" I heard Kili ask, but I had not an answer.

"Kili!! Grab my hand" Fili yelled as the divide grew in width. The brothers reached for each other's outstretched hand, but it was too late. The stone that we stood on shook more, and started to move. That is when I realized, we were standing on a stone giant. It stood, as we stood cowering on each of its knees. I clung for dear life to the nearest thing I could find... Kili. My stomach started to do summersaults as yet another giant head butted the one that we stood on, and "our" giant fell back. The knee that I was on smashed besides, what I hoped was real, inanimate stone, and we clambered onto it. I was grateful to be standing on firm, stable ground, but was not relieved, for some of my friends were still on the giant, who now had just been decapitated. We watched, breathless, as our companions smashed into the mountainside. The giant fell back and we saw no sign of our friends on its knee.

"NO FILI!" Thorin yowled into the air with bone chilling sorrow. I turned to see Kili's face drain of all color and felt him start to shiver against me, I knew that his trembling had nothing to do with the cold weather. We ran along the ledge, panicked, trying to see what had befallen the rest of the company. When we reached them, there are no words to describe the relief we felt to find that they were all safe and unharmed, if a little shaken. "We're alright!" I heard Balin say as I struggled to help Bombur to his feet, "We're alive."

But a few seconds later I heard Bofur yell, "Where is Bilbo, where is the hobbit!?" I turned to see Bilbo hanging from the ledge, his eyes wide in terror. Ori and Bofur jumped at him, trying to pull him to safety, but in their haste, they broke Bilbo's grip and he fell further before catching himself. "Bilbo!" I yelled with the company as we crowded around and tried to reach for him. However he had fallen just out of our range, and none could reach him. The halfling's strength was failing when something unexpected happened.

Thorin jumped down to Bilbo. With one arm he held the ledge, and with the other he hoisted the hobbit up and to safety. But when Bilbo was up, Thorin too fell, he would have died if not for his ever-loyal friend Dwalin.

Once Thorin was up, we exhaled the breath that we had all been holding.

"I thought we had lost our burglar" Dwalin said.

"He has been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us." Thorin spat, we all were silent as Thorin and Dwalin went in search of shelter. Bilbo looked dangerously close to tears, and I pitied the hobbit. I placed my hand on his shoulder comfortingly, but he took no notice, and instead looked down at his feet, his face full of shame.

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The cave that we finally took shelter in was far from comfortable, but we cared not for it was a shelter from the beating rain. We were pretty cramped in the small cave, and Thorin would not allow us to start a fire, not that I blamed him, there was something unsettling about the hollow. I nevertheless would have rather enjoyed a nice fire to warm my numb limbs, I was sopping wet, as was everyone else.

The company talked more than usual as they ate their measly rations. The poor shelter seemed to put them in relatively high spirits (which if you had been traveling with us for the past week, is not saying much). I chose to forgo the meagre conversation, sitting at the very back of the cave, as far away from the howling wind as possible. As I have already said, I was freezing, and I started to shiver despite the fact that I now had reprieve from the elements. I grabbed the extra clothes that lay in my pack, only to find that they too were soaked through. So I did the only thing I could do and sat there, on the sandy cave floor and thought sadly about the comforts of Rivendell.