A Heart of Gold

Chapter 12

Thorin and the Company walked the narrow pathway at the side of the mountains with small, careful steps, knowing that one wrong step will lead to your imminent death; just like what their hobbit had demonstrated just a while ago. If it not for Dwalin, they would be another member short.

And it they were not even halfway through the quest, yet.

"Watch out!" Dwalin exclaimed, and they looked up to see a massive boulder being thrown towards them. They ducked and the huge boulder shattered into pieces. You could imagine their surprise when they looked up to see another giant emerge from the opposite mountain.

"Well bless me, the legends are true. Giants; Stone Giants!" Bofur exclaimed, holding his hat on his head as he looked up in awe.

"Take cover! You'll fall!" Thorin shouted over the rage of the thunder. They all exclaimed when another stone giant emerged from behind the company, and hits the first stone giant on the head. The Company yelled as they held on to something or someone. Then, the ground beneath them started to shake, and they barely managed to stand up as more rocks continued to fall over their heads as the company was split into two.

"Ki!" Fili shouted in distress as he reached for the hand of his brother, the two of them got separated. Then, a third giant appears, throwing a boulder to the giant where the other half of the Company were on. It fell and Thorin watched in horror as he saw the giant hit the mountain, crushing half of the Company.

"No! No! Kili!" He shouted as he rushed to where they were . He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that they were all fine and their limbs were still intact.

"Where's Bilbo? Where's the Hobbit?!" Bofur asked, looking around, and Ori pointed at fingers gripping the edge of the cliff, his fingertips slipping. He and Bofur made a dive to reach for Bilbo, and caught him, only to find him slipping from his grasps again. Thorin swung from the edge of the cliff and lifted Bilbo to safety, almost

"I thought we'd lost our burglar." Dwalin said, and Thorin sent Bilbo a glare."

"He's been lost, ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us." He said, turning to look for cave openings.

"Is there no shelter to this never-ending storm?!" Bofur exclaimed, dramatically banging his head on the stone wall, only to find that it wasn't actually a stone wall, but a large piece of cloth covering the opening. That move, of course, had him falling face first inside a cave.

"What?!" Thorin exclaimed. He held the cloth and was confused about it being there as the Company entered the cave.

"Thorin!" He heard Dwalin exclaim from the inside of the cave, and saw that the Company was gathered around a part of the cave. He went inside, and made through the Company to find a familiar travelling pack, armor, and sword.

"Helga," He muttered, kneeling to take her belongings in his hands... Why is it left here? "She must have been here." Thorin brilliantly deduced.

"Thorin, look," He heard Balin say. He turned to see the old dwarf holding the cloth, which was actually a cloak, that was hung on the opening of the cave. "It's Helga's."

"Search the place! Take that coat off! Look for traces of Helga. Bofur, you take first watch." Thorin ordered, and everybody set to look for more clues as to where the brow eyed dragon rider went. But alas, by the time the Company had settled down to rest, they found nothing.

Thorin, who stayed awake, was lying on his side, Helga's belongings on his side and her cloak on his hand. He sighed and thought about the owner of this cloak, and how she might be hurt or in danger because of his harsh words that drove her away. But they had been travelling for almost two days, now, and she should be past the Misty Mountains right now... Probably near Carrock already, and this is what worried him.