All I've ever known

46

Mivera gasped and groggily opened her eyes. She laid on the edge of a rocky stream with the water gently flowing around her ankles. Mivera tried to move but let out a painful cry and looked down at her stomach. The arrow was just deep enough to stick into her skin, but thankfully it was at an angle that didn't penetrate her organs. She paused a moment before gripping the feathered end of the arrow. Mivera gritted her teeth and yanked it out, quickly casting it into the stream.
She to bit her tongue to keep from screaming. The puncture wound was red around the edges, but around that the skin was turning a slight purple shade. She pulled he eyes away and looked around her. There was debris everywhere, bits of arrows, axes, clothing. Wait, clothing! Mivera scooted carefully over to an elongated piece of scrap cloth. She mustered up her strength and sat up halfway straight. She wrapped the cloth around her abdomen firmly before shakily getting up. She pressed a hand to her stomach and grimaced. Mivera ignored the pain and followed the steady flow of the stream.
She made it a few yards when she heard heavy clunking footsteps. She squinted her eyes up ahead to see a large cluster of bodies climbing into a boat. Mivera took a few more steps forward and tilted her head, the men were strangely short for men. She saw a little figure, possibly a child, run up last behind a man with white hair. Mivera stepped forward more and nearly fell over with surprise, it was Balin and Bilbo! As she looked even closer she saw that the men were all her beloved friends, and Thorin. When she saw Thorin standing at the top of the small ramp she nearly cried with happiness.
Mivera opened her mouth to speak but only a crackling raspy croak crawled past her lips. She cringed from the pain in her stomach and ran, or more like rapidly shuffled, towards the boat. She kept croaking and gasping, trying to get their attention, but to her horror the boat began to drift off. She went faster and tripped on a rock, her face hitting the hard wet rocks and getting water up her nose. Mivera didn't let this faze her and she half crawled half scurried to the boat. She reached out as a last resort and was grateful her grasp found a rim on the boat. Mivera held on tightly as the boat began to sail out into the wide open lake.
Meanwhile up above, Thorin was watching his company fight over the pay for the man, or Bard as Bilbo had told him. Balin sighed,"It's not enough." Thorin gave a half hearted smirk,"Gloin, all of it." Balin sent him a curious look,"Why do you think Gloin has more?" Thorin ignored Gloins babbling and turned to Balin,"An old trick Mivera taught me. You can tell someone is lying when they won't look you in the eye and the keep rambling. Balin laughed,"Well he sure is rambling, that aside, I'm glad to see you're keeping Mivera with you laddie." Thorin stayed silent and looked out in front of them to see the Lonely Mountain, only much closer. Gloin plopped down his money bag and everyone's faces cracked into grins, except Thorin. He stared at the Lonely Mountain, now seeming more lonely by the second.

The boat suddenly jerked side to side and the whole company yelled back to Bard,"Oi! Are you trying to kill us?" The man gave a small laugh,"I was born and bred on these waters dwarf, if I wanted to kill you I would not do it here." Mivera, down in her uncomfortable state, heard that comment and smirked. The jerking off boat made her torso ram into the side of the boat. It caused her unbearable pain, but she couldn't make a sound. Mivera was freezing, she felt every bone in her body become so frozen she felt as though if enough pressure were put on them they would shatter. She sighed and peered as far as she could around the boat and saw they were nearing a gate. Her instincts kicked in and she inhaled as deeply as she could before pulling her head under water.