A Heart of Gold

Chapter 15

As Helga fell from the cliff, she smiled at the feeling of the wind on her face, the fast beat of her heart from the uncertainty of the outcome of her fall. It was just like old times with her dragon, and how she missed him. They used to do this trick where she'd free fall along with her dragon, and he'll always be fast enough to catch him.

But this was different.

Helga knew that there will be no dragon to catch her, this time, and that she'll and up as a splatter of blood, innards, and bone shards on the ground. But what Helga did not expect was something catching her. She did not expect to land on something soft, and she felt herself being carried upwards. For once, she thought that this was her dragon incarnate, but no. Her dragon did not have soft... feathers? Helga opened her eyes, and saw that she was on top of, what appears to be, an eagle. She held on to it, and looked around to see a few more eagles soaring along with the one she was riding on, the Company, Amren, and Alvor on their backs. She looked ahead, and saw the rising sun, and Helga never felt like herself before. For a while, she forgot all of her troubles; she forgot about Alvor hating her, about Thorin kicking her out of the Company -not to mention that he was unconscious in the talons of an eagle, and how she had to kill a dragon. She closed her eyes again, taking in the feeling of the strong wind on her face -so strong, that she thought that she was deafer than Oin. She held onto the eagle, and slowly raised her hand, feeling the warm rays of the sun softly caressing her skin.

Helga felt so relaxed and so carefree that she did notice that the moment she closed her eyes, she found it hard to open them again, and felt herself detaching from consciousness.

To the Company, however, Helga did not lose consciousness in the peaceful way that it seemed. At first, they saw Helga raising her hand, before she slumped at the back of the eagle, falling off of it. Luckily, the eagle was fast enough to swoop down and catch her.

"Helga!" Kili shouted, reaching out and almost falling, however Amren, who was behind the young prince, caught him.

"She must have felt the weight of her wounds." He said, letting go of Kili once he felt that the young prince was balanced.

"But she will be alright... right?" Fili asked, who was with Kili. Amren sighed and looked down.

"I do not know... Healing for us is different," He said. "There is something about us, Dragon Riders, that gives us the ability to live longer, to heal faster. However, fast healing for us has a consequence." Amren explained.

"What will happen to her?" Kili asked.

"It is best that we talk about it once we've landed. The others, especially your healer, needs to know about this. For now, the best that we could do is pray that she and your leader can make it through." He said, head down as they approached Carrock. Amren would have been at awe at the bear-shaped rock formation, if Helga was not dying at the moment. The eagles gently placed Thorin down on top of Carrock, while the Company hurriedly went to check on their king. Gandalf was the first to run to Thorin to check on him.

"Thorin!" Gandalf exclaimed, however Thorin was not responding. Soon enough, the whole Company was watching while Gandalf places his hand on Thorin's face and whispers a faint spell. Thorin's eyes suddenly fluttered opened as he gasps for air.

"The Halfling?" He said, his voice weak and ragged.

"It's all right. Bilbo is here. He's quiet safe." Gandalf said, as Dwalin and Kili helped Thorin stand up. He shrugged them off as soon as he got up and he marched towards Bilbo.

"You! What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed!" Thorin exclaimed as Bilbo shrunk. "Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?" At this point, Bilbo looks frightened and hurt from what Thorin had said, but became confused at what took place next. "I've never been so wrong in all my life!" Then, Thorin embraced Bilbo as he smiled. The rest of the Company cheered at this, and a rather surprised Bilbo hugged Thorin back. Thorin pulled away from the hug and squeezed Bilbo's shoulder.