A Heart of Gold

Chapter 4

The next day, Helga woke up to someone shaking her and the sounds of metal clanking and water splashing on rock. She shot up, holding her breath and looking around to see the company already starting to pack up and load their bags on their respective ponies, some of them already mounted on it. She looked to her left and saw Bofur kneeling beside her pack. She started to feel a faint ache creeping up to the side of her temple.

"Come on, lass, we're leaving." He told her, handing her a slice of bread before rising and continue helping pin packing. It suddenly came to her as she ate the slice that the company would've left her, if Bofur did not wake her up. As she shoved the last bit of bread in her mouth, she started rolling up her sleeping bag and clipping it on top of her bag. By then, the company have already mounted their ponies.

"Let's go!" She heard Thorin speak from the front. The company started moving and she saw Bofur look back at her with a sorry glance. She grumbled as she saddled her bag on Shadowmere, and let out a sigh through her nose.

"Prick..." She muttered as she mounted Shadowmere and kicked his side, spurring him to move. She whipped her reins, motioning her horse to go faster. When she caught up, he didn't even make a motion that he knew that she was there. She was starting to have enough of this treatment. What exactly were they trying to tell her? First they imply that a woman is delicate, and now, they're leaving her behind? Even the Hobbit is on the Company's good side and she wasn't? The more she thought about it, the more riled up she became. She was having none of this anymore.

As soon as they stopped for water, she dismounted her horse and marched over to the stream, where Thorin was washing his face.

"What the hell is your problem?" She said, stopping in front of Thorin, who at first, pretended not to hear her. Then he slowly stood up and turned, raising an eyebrow to her.

"Are you talking to me?" He asked, smirking. The nerve of that pompous asshole!

"Yes, I am talking to you! What the hell is your problem? I know the you don't want me in this company, but if you want me to leave, then telling me would've been better, rather than leaving me behind!" She exclaimed, yet he was still smirking. He just shook his head and opened his canteen, ready to take a drink from it.

"Well, it was not just me. The rest of the company also left you. We need every member of our company rising early, Lady Helga. We do not need members who are accustomed to having long luxurious sleeps. I am afraid we cannot afford that." Helga looked at him in disbelief. Does he actually believed that she was like that? She took the canteen in which he was drinking from and threw it on the ground.

"You listen to me, Oakenshield," She spat. "I am not one of those pampered idiots you claim me to be. I would rather die than turn into one of them. Yes, I woke up late today, so what? It won't happen again. It's not my first time on the open road, nor will it be my last, and I have probably seen worse things in life than you. So do not ever, ever, assume that I am one of those spoiled brats because you know nothing about me." She said, itching to grab his collar if not for the whole company watching and Gandalf taking a step towards them. However, she was quite content to see that she had managed to wipe out the smirk off of Thorin's face. He looked around and saw the whole company watching their exchange.

"Get ready to move out," Thorin told them and they had started packing. He turned to Helga, his eyes growing dark. "Speak to me like that again, and I will make sure that this time, we will be leaving you behind for good." He picked up his canteen and walked back to his pony. Helga huffed out a frustrated breath and kicked a nearby tree.

And as if things couldn't get any better, it started raining as they travelled. She sat on her horse, soaked and the chill reaching her bones and her hand was gripped tightly.