That's Another Story For Later

Reckless

An orc leapt onto Dwalin's barrel, who headbutted it, stealing the axe. A low hanging tree branch stretched across the river, and orcs walked across it, trying to decapitate us. "Cut the log!" As Thorin floated below, he cut it. I took out my twin throwing axes. Bofur slashed at it, then Dwalin, and I gave a small slash. It broke, and the orcs fell into the river, swept away with the current. I replaced the smaller weapons with more suitable ones

"Bombur!" Dwalin shouted, throwing his axe to the dwarf. He cut down an orc that leapt onto his barrel. The orc was holding a spear, which pinned itself to a tree. The end of the other side caught onto Bombur's barrel, and it went over the river, rolling away on the riverbank. He knocked down several orcs, until it finally stopped. Orcs surrounded the dwarf. I shot a couple, and then Bombur kicked out the bottom. His arms, holding axes, stuck out the side straight. He started spinning rapidly with the axes extended, cutting down the orcs around him.

He tossed one of the axes to Dwalin, and jumped back into an empty barrel. The others helped him in back in. I looked back to see Legolas and Tauriel shooting the others. As orcs fell into the river, I collected their arrows. Legolas jumped down onto Dwalin's and Dori's head, and continued shooting orcs. He balanced on Dwalin's head as the other separates from a rock. I watched, with his leg gracefully up, as he shot two with one arrow.

Using our heads as stepping stones, he jumped onto the riverbank, sliding down the stairs on an orc, and killed three in rapid succession. He continued stepping on our heads, reaching the opposite bank. He kicked one adversary in the face, and finished off two more quickly. Two more crept behind him. I shot at one using Tauriel's arrows, and Thorin threw his sword. He looked at us, two different facets of understanding passing through our eye contact.

He stopped his pursuing, and watched as we floated. No more orcs followed us, it seemed they were all dead. I heaved a sigh of relief, and tried to steer my barrel toward Kili. The river quickly began to slow down, and we paddled along with our hands. "Anything behind us?" Thorin asked.

"Not that I can see." I answered.

"I think we've outrun the orcs." Bofur continued.

"Not for long; we're lost the current." Thorin said.

"Bofur is half drown, and so is Dia." Dwalin interjected. Thorin seemed to debate his options.

"Make for shore! Come on, let's go!" We paddled to the riverbank. Somehow that little Hobbit had hung on to the barrels without getting shot. Somehow that little Hobbit had hung on all this way. We clambered out onto a slab of rock jutting into the river. I laid there for a moment, coughing up water. It was disgusting the first time, and even more so now. Wet strands of hair clung to my face, and I felt nasty with that river water on me.

"Come on!" Dwalin said, heaving me up with one hand. He moved to help Ori up. I coughed, and spit out more water. My eyes darted around, looking for Kili. I saw him, and he fell onto his knees, his face contorting in pain. I ran over, and knelt next to him. He pulled out a piece of cloth, and tried touching the wound. He groaned in pain, his eyes clenching shut. Bofur had appeared besides us, and was looking at him with concern.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." He glared. My eyes saddened. I knew it wasn't nothing. I looked and saw the arrow in his thigh still.

"On your feet." Thorin commanded. Fili came over to his brother, examining the wound.

"Kili's wounded. His leg needs binding." Fili looked to his uncle.

"There's an orc pack on our tail; we keep moving." Thorin shot back.

"To where?" I demanded angrily. He didn't seem to realize his nephew was wounded, and he wanted just to coninue. I huffed, looking back at Kili's leg. It was still bleeding, and I saw the arrow inside.

"To the mountain; we're so close." Bilbo said. His hair clung to his forehead, and he looked so uncomfortable.

"A lake lies between us and that mountain. We have no way to cross it." Balin said, proving a point.

"So then we go around." Bilbo said. I scoffed, and turned to Kili again. I held his hand, trying to relieve him of the pain. He squeezed it tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"The orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight. We have no weapons to defend ourselves, except Dia. And she can't be the one to defend us. She'll die, and I won't have that." As much as I wanted to deny that, Dwalin was right.

"Bind his leg, quickly. You have two minutes." Thorin ordered in a low voice. Oin had come near, looking at it.

"I'll do it." I growled, feeling strangely overprotective. I faced the wound. "The arrowhead's in an awful spot." I mumbled. I looked into Kili's pained eyes. "Listen. I'm going to have to pull this out slowly, so I don't tear muscle. Do you understand? Don't move your leg or you might damage something. Fili, hold his leg." I demanded. I saw my hands shaking. I clenched them once, and steeled myself.

I reached in, managing to grab the arrowhead between my forefinger and thumb. My hand was quickly growing slick with his blood. He groaned through gritted teeth, and Fili held his leg down as it spasmed. "I know. I know. It's alright." I said in a shaky voice. I started pulling the arrow out slowly, when my hand slipped. I cursed, caught it again, and kept going, until I felt resistance. "No. It's caught in muscle." I mumbled. I paused for three seconds, before pulling harder, and it came free of the muscle. Another cry came from Kili. I hummed a small tune, trying to calm our nerves down.

Finally, I pulled it out, and the arrow looked smaller than I had imagined. I used the water from my boot to wash off the blood from his leg. Like the river was any cleaner. I wrapped the wound snugly, and saw it starting to seep through quickly. "By Mahal." I grumbled. I looked down at my hands and saw it covered in blood. I walked down to the river to wash it off, as Ori was emptying his boot. A shadow passed over the river, and I turned around. A silhouette of a man was there, aiming an arrow at Ori and I. I wouldn't be able to defend myself in time.

The others jumped up, and Dwalin leapt in front of us, holding a branch. I unstrapped my bow, nocking an arrow in those couple moments of distraction. Dwalin started to charge, but the man shot the arrow, embedding itself down the middle of the branch. I put my arrow back, taking the one from the branch, and nocking that one. I watched as Kili raised a rock, but the bowman shot that out of his hand. I grabbed that one, again trading it out.

I ran in front of Kili. "Do it again, and you're dead." The man threatened lowly. I raised my own. I narrowed my eyes, no shake in my weapons.

"Try and hurt anyone in this company again, and you're dead with your own arrow." The arrow pointed itself at me. I stared at it, fear starting to quake.

"Take your shot, and you'll be dead as well." He threatened. We kept our arrows pointed at each other's hearts.

"Iridian." I heard Kili softly call. I didn't waver, my bow pointed at his chest. If he was going to hurt anyone here, I was going to end him. Never mind if it ended me. I'd die like my mother. Protecting those I cared about. That was probably an insanely reckless thought, but I didn't care. 

The truth made people reckless.

*Hey guys! Quick translation: Holo en-annon means close the gate. Again, please like, comment, share and read! Thanks guys! Ciao!*