An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Escaping and Healing

The white warg snarled launching itself at Thalia, she barely moving out of the way as it attempted to kill her; she hissed in pain as its sharp in her arm as the claws of the warg caught her.

Thalia gritted her teeth as she glared at the beast, she felt exhausted and she knew that this wasn’t over yet; she pushed herself carefully to her feet knowing that while Azog would flee like a coward to fight another day now that he was injured the wargs were another story.

The white warg turned to attack Thalia again before an eagle picked it up off of the ground with his giant claws and threw it from the cliff; the beast howled as it fell as it joined others that had been thrown into the river below.

“Thalia you okay?” Bilbo asked hurrying over to Thalia, she nodded her head as she took a deep breath and looked at her left arm that was now coated in her own blood; she knew that she would have to have it treated but right now she had to remained focus.

The eagles quickly started to collect the dwarves so that they could take them away from the flames and the orcs that how hovered at a distance; they collected each member of the company from the tree first before they started to fly away.

“Thalia… we got to go,” Cornelia shouted as an eagle collected Fíli and Kíli then flew away, she knew that Thalia was going to be stubborn; if she hadn’t liked being up a tree then she wasn’t going to react well to flying.

Thalia furrowed her brow as an eagle collected Bilbo and took off, she grumbled for a moment wondering why they had to fly; the last thing she wanted to do was be in the area.

“Just take deep breathes,” Cornelia instructed spotting an eagle sneaking up behind her cousin, Thalia wasn’t going to like this at all.

Thalia squealed in surprised as the eagle wrapped his claws around her and lifted her into the area; she clung to the giant birds leg as she realised what was happening.

Thalia glanced behind her as Cornelia was also collected, she knew that they had to do this but it didn’t mean she liked it.

“Please don’t drop me,” Thalia whimpered closing her eyes, she clung tighter to the leg that she was being carried on; she tried to take deep breathes knowing that it would be over soon.

Thalia doubted that the eagles would take them far, just far enough for them to be safe from the orcs that were hunting them.

“Thorin,” Fíli shouted making Thalia open her eyes, she quickly looked over at the still unconscious dwarf king; she swallowed hoping that he was okay.

Thalia closed her eyes and whispered a prayer, she knew that there was little she could do even now and she hoped he would be okay until they landed.

***

“Thank the goddess,” Thalia whispered as the eagle set her down, she dropped to her knees and rested her head against the floor for a bare moment before Gandalf rushed past her towards Thorin.

Thalia snapped up as she watched the wizard check him over, she knew that if anyone would be able to help him it would be Gandalf; she watched as he whispered some sort of spell to help Thorin.

“Will he be okay?” Ori asked standing beside his brothers, he watched hoping the wizard would be able to do something to save their king.

Thalia swallowed watching Gandalf, an idea forming in her mind as she pushed herself to her feet; she doubted the wizard would be able to heal him completely.

“Gandalf will he be alright?” Bilbo asked stepping forward, there was no movement from Thorin and as the seconds past it became clear that there was something wrong.

The wizard shook his head annoyed that his magic wasn’t working, he frowned as he tried to think of something else that he could do to save the dwarf king.

“Bilbo can I have your flask?” Thalia asked making the hobbit look at her, he nodded his head as he moved to collect it for her while Cornelia watched her for a moment curious about what her cousin was going to do.

Thalia took it from the hobbit before she headed over to Thorin, she rolled her eyes as the curious look that Gandalf gave her as she moved past him and moved to check the wound.

Oin and Bofur moved to help the blonde as she checked over Thorin’s injuries, they knew that there was only so much that she could do and they wanted to help her in any way possible.

“Now I can’t fix broken bones but I can heal the stomach wound,” Thalia said carefully manipulating the water out of the flask, she ignored the gasps of wonder from behind her; she bit her lip as she waved the water carefully over Thorin’s injury and focused on it.

Bofur gasped in surprise as he watched Thalia place her hands carefully over the injury, the wound slowly started to heal itself as the blonde focused on what was going on.

“How are you doing that?” Oin whispered in amazement, he had never seen anything like it in his life knowing that Thalia was doing something special to heal their king; he watched curiously as Thalia pulled her hands back as Thorin gasped for breath.

There was a collective sigh of relief as Thalia moved away, she knew that it would only raise questions about her own injury; she had already used up to much of her powers, she had drained herself completely.

Thorin ran a hand down his stomach and frowned wondering how it had been healed, he looked at Bofur and Oin for answers but they just shook their heads.

“Where is the hobbit?” Thorin demanded making Thalia stop and look back at him, she didn’t know why he wanted to speak with Bilbo but she hoped that he wouldn’t shout at him again.

“You protected Thalia when I couldn’t and you helped protect me. Forgive me for doubting you,” Thorin said making Thalia swallow, she had been so sure that he had been out cold when that had happened; it made her wonder what else he might have heard.

Bilbo blinked pleasantly surprised that the dwarf king had apologised, he glanced at Thalia who seemed just as surprised as he did that Thorin had been aware of that.

“No, it's fine. I would have doubted me too,” Bilbo said with a small smile, he nodded at Thorin as if to say that all was forgiven as Cornelia moved over to Thalia; the blonde was still hurt and it was clear that it would take a while for her to heal herself after what she had done.

Thalia shook her head at her cousin, she knew what the other demi-god wanted and she doubted that it would help; the blonde looked over at Dori who gasped in wonder.

“Is that what I think it is?” Dori whispered making everyone turn around to see what he was looking at, there standing in the distance was the Lonely Mountain in all its glory.

Thorin moved forward as he stared at his former home in the distance, he couldn’t believe that he was this close to it; it looked so very far away and they still had a long journey ahead of them.

“I think the worst is over,” Bilbo said with a smile on his face, he looked at the sight before them knowing that he was going to help the dwarves reach their home no matter what.

“Don’t count on it,” Cornelia said making Thalia nod her head, the two demi-gods had a feeling that this was just the beginning; they had a long road ahead of them and they were still being hunted.