Zaliya's Unexpected Journey

Ch 7: The Chase

Yazneg takes a deep wiff of the dwarf polluted air, "The Dwarf-scum are over there! After them!" he yells, charging toward the hidden dwarves.

Gandalf's eyes widen in horror and he cries, "Move. Run!" He shoves dwarves ahead of him, keeping a close eye on Bilbo as he runs.

As the dwarves ran from the Warg riders, Zaliya and Radagast were finishing off a few stray Orcs. When Zaliya heard the fallen Orc scream, she stiffened. Radagast looked down at her with a worried frown, "Go, save your friends. I'll be ok." Zaliya sniffed and bowed her large head; turning around, she raced after the Orcs.

Meanwhile the dwarves are surrounded, and Gandalf has disappeared. Kili looked around frantically, trying to calm his racing heart, "There's more coming!" he shouted. Thorin looked around for Zaliya, his hope slowly dying out.

Fili was just as frantic as he yelled, "We're surrounded! Where's Zaliya." As soon as he finished speaking, the dwarves heard a mighty roar. A large black tiger exploded over the rocks charging toward the company. The tiger's path was littered with Orc and Warg bodies and as it got closer, more bodies were added.

Ori nudged Thorin and whispered, "That is Zaliya isn't it?" Thorin merely smirked and shrugged.

As Zaliya beheaded the Orcs surrounding the company, Gandalf appeared from a crack in a rock, "This way you fools!"

Thorin looked over at him and nodded, "Como on, move! Quickly, all of you! Go, go, go!" As he herded everyone one in he kept a weary eye for on Orcs that sneaked past Zaliya. As he turns back to the rock, a Warg Rider charges toward him. Thorin tries to grab his sword, but it's caught on his belt. As he braces for the impact, he hears a screech of pain; he slowly looks up to see the Orc in a large tigers mouth. The beast chomps down, and Thorin grimaces at the sound of crunching bones. The tiger tosses the body aside and races back to the fight.

Gandalf counts the dwarves as they hop into the cave, and quickly beckons for Thorin to come in. Thorin looks back to see Kili still shooting Orcs down, "Kili! Run!," Thorin yells when he sees a Warg Rider bearing down on him. As Kili draws his bow and releases an arrow, Zaliya jumps in its path to take down the approaching Orc. The flying arrow buries itself deep in her side. The tiger howls in pain and quickly finishes off the Orc and Warg. She stops, breathing heavily, her back to Kili. Thorin looks on in shock as Kili reaches for Zaliya, saying sorry and asking her if she's ok.

Zaliya slowly turns around to face Kili, her teeth bared menacingly. She snarls as she slowly stalks toward the dwarf. Kili freezes in fright at the sight of the bloody teeth coming closer and closer to his head. Thorin steps forward to interfere, afraid for both of them, but a strong hand stops him. Gandalf quickly walks past him, toward the dwarf and tiger while murmuring something under his breath.

"Zaliya," Gandalf says calmly, stepping between her and Kili, "Back down my dear, he didn't mean to hurt you." As he speaks, he shoves Kili toward the cave and motions for him and Thorin to go inside. Both dwarves slowly back away as Gandalf easily handles the situation. Zaliya huffs in annoyance her eyes trained on Gandalf, but as the dwarves back into the cave she starts moving forward again.

"Zaliya!" Gandalf repeats sternly, "Don't make me do it!" The shadowy tiger ignores him and keeps walking, a snarl forming on her face. Gandalf sighs and claps his hands, the loud sound vibrates and the tiger passes out cold. The few remaining orcs had watched on in interest, eating up everything to tell to their master. Gandalf ignored them and walked back into the cave, leaving Zaliya unconscious and twitching on the ground. He swiftly jumps into the cave to met the curious gazes of dwaves. Bofur opens his mouth to speak, but Gandalf just puts up his hand, "She'll tell you herself."

"You're just going to leave her there?" Thorin asked shocked. He was answered by a loud horn, and one of the few remaining Orcs fell into the cave with them. The Orc was dead, and Thorin pried out a small arrow stuck in his neck, "Elves!"

Hoof beats thundered above the company, and a loud animal like scream pierced the air. Gandalf winced, as if in pain, when he heard it. The animal scream soon turned into a very familiar Zaliya scream. The dwarves looked at each other in horror, and Bilbo cowered in the corner, whimpering. In a matter of seconds the screaming turned to whimpers, and the hoof beats padded away, taking the whimpers with them. Thorin tried to climb out of the cave, but Gandalf yanked him back down, "She'll be fine, don't worry!" Thorin looked at the grey wizard, full of suspicion but he nodded as he told his whimpering heart to shut up.

Dwalin had looked ahead as the company murmured to each other, "I found a pathway, but I cannot see where it leads. Do we follow it or no?"

Thank you so much for your patience in waiting for an update, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments. Do you think that Thorin has fallen for Zaliya?? What do you think happened with the black tiger?? The questions the questions. Until the next chapter.