Red (The Hobbit Fan Fiction)

19. Wishes and Promises

19. Wishes and Promises

            I didn’t remember falling unconscious, it had happened so suddenly. The last thing I remembered was escaping Azog and his Orc pack on Eagles. I remembered fire; I remembered the Dwarves and everyone fighting the Wargs and Orcs. I remembered pain.

            In fact, I still felt pain.

            I heard someone muttering incoherent things nearby, their voice low. I focused harder. They sounded really close, like they were practically right next to me…

            Oh. How could I have forgotten that Bilbo had stuck by my side since pulling me away from battle? How could I have forgotten that, if it hadn’t been for Fili and Kili defending me, Bilbo probably wouldn’t have gotten me out of that mess? That was who the voice belonged to, I now realized.

            “Just hold on,” I heard him mumble. “We’ll be landing soon. Gandalf will heal you, I know he will. You have to stay alive, Lily. Please.”

            I smiled grimly as I opened my eyes. “You really think I would leave you?”

            A shaky but relieved breath escaped his lips. “I thought you were still out cold.” My eyes focused on his face, though my eyelids felt very heavy.

            My brown eyes snapped to the sky. The sunrise had to be happening, the sky was different colors. There was some light casting itself onto Bilbo’s face, making his eyes a lighter brown than they normally were.

            “Everybody got out all right?” I croaked, wanting to push myself out of his arms.

            “That I can see, yes. And don’t move so much, you’re hurt.” To emphasize his point, he held me closer to his chest. I could hear his heart panicking under me. I knew it was from fear, but we were in no danger. Though, I did know why his heart was racing.

            He was worried about me.

            “What about Thorin?” I cleared my throat. “Is he…?”

            “We don’t know.” I flinched as my body throbbed. “What hurts?”

            “My leg and my arm. My whole body just wants to relax.”

            “I think we all crave that.” He tried to laugh.

            I peered down at my body to see the damage. My arm was covered in red, the sleeve shredded. My pant leg looked to be identical to my arm, shredded and bit. They both looked like bloody messes. How much blood did I lose while on this flight? I looked to the Eagle’s brown feathers, seeing faint traces of red.

            I made one hell of a mess.

            My body slumped, I felt so exhausted even though I had just been out for hours. Nearby, I heard other Eagles’ wings flap, carrying Dwarves and Gandalf around us. The gentle breeze tousled our hair; it felt oddly soothing for me.

            “I tried to stop it, the bleeding,” Bilbo said, breaking the silence. I stole a brief look at one of his hands, it was stained red too. “But I didn’t know what to do. There isn’t much to use since we’re on an Eagle. There are too many open wounds; it was hard to stop anything.” He squeezed his eyes shut briefly. “But I’m not too worried; we’ll probably land somewhere safe soon.”