Bilbo had almost completely forgotten about himself! Noelle remembered when Bilbo came splashing into the river with them. Noelle grabbed his hands as he struggled to keep his head above water.
"Well done, Master Baggins!" Thorin said, pleased.
Bilbo only waved his hand as if to say don't mention it! Everyone used their hands to paddle themselves forward, until Thorin disappeared at the entrance.
Where did he- Noelle went facefirst down a waterfall. Unprepared, she felt water flowing through her lungs.
They flowed with the river. Coughing, Noelle was having trouble keeping her balance inside the stupid barrel, and Bilbo was also hanging onto it. Suddenly the sound of an Elven horn rang through the air. The Elves! How had they found out so quickly? It couldn't be Legolas! Noelle didn't want to believe he had betrayed them, but how else would have the Elves found out so fast?
They had almost reached a gate too. Noelle saw several Elf-warriors getting ready to close it.
"No!" Thorin cried, rushing to the gate.
Noelle had an idea. "Get back! I'll open it." The dwarves all looked confused, except Thorin.
"Go ahead," he said softly, understanding what she meant. "Get out of her way! All of you!" he commanded.
Noelle knew that she was overestimating herself, but she couldn't think of any other ideas. Using both hands, she reached out to the Force and tried to concentrate. Thorin and Balin held her barrel steady, since Bilbo had hitched onto someone else. Suddenly she heard a roar, as something splashed into the water behind her.
"Watch out!" Bofur yelled. "There's Orcs!"
The Orcs! So they had been waiting for them!
Noelle tried. She groaned and gasped, but the gate wasn't budging. It made a creaking noise, that was it. She could hear commotion and fighting behind her.
"Kili!" Fili screamed.
All of the sudden, the gate started to open. Noelle knew it wasn't her.
It was Kili! She realized. Noelle also heard him screaming in pain. He must have been injured. Everyone fell down another waterfall that Noelle was again, not prepared for. Gasping for air, she saw the Orcs following them. One of them was about to jump on Balin. Thorin pinned him to a tree with a sword from the Orcs. Then he passed another sword to one of the other dwarves who was about to get jumped.
"This kind of reminds me of Congo Rapids at Great Adventure!" Bern called.
"YOU THINK!!!!" Noelle shouted back. Bern. She smiled a little bit.
Then Noelle heard a familiar voice shouting out commands in Elvish. Legolas. What was he doing here? She made eye contact with him as he passed her on the bank. He leapt around, killing several Orcs in seconds like it was no big deal.
Just another boring day fighting the Orcs.
Noelle saw him wrestling with one. Then she saw another Orc sneak up behind him, scimitar in hand.
No! Noelle was just about to try to push it away from him with the Force when a sword went flying into the Orc's back. It was Thorin. Legolas stared at her and Thorin as they disappeared down the river.
Leave them! She heard Legolas say in Elvish to one of his men.
The Orcs were still hot on their trail, but the Company managed to get ahead. Finally the current started to slow down.
YOU ARE READING
An Unexpected Journey
FanfictionThe first in an eight part series. After training with Gandalf for seven years, Noelle Smith has finally got her first mission- to another world. However, although she has been preparing half of her life for this, things don't go exactly as planned...
