You woke up a few hours later, to the shouts of Bofur, raising everyone and handing out filled canteens of water.
You slowly rose, not quite fully rested, and wrapped up your bedroll, strapping it to your pony. Then you wrapped the beautiful sword Thorin gave you to your hip.
You lightly kicked Fili and Kili, who were still asleep beside you. "Wake up," you chuckled as they groaned against the sunlight, "time to get moving."
You then made your way out towards where Gandalf and Thorin stood chatting about next moves. As you approached, you realized that they were actually in the middle of a heated argument. You sighed as you got closer.
"Ah, finally," Gandalf said, gesturing to you, "someone with some sense."
You chuckled, "at it already this morning?"
Thorin growled in frustration, "the wizard here, does not seem to listen to my instructions."
Gandalf threw his arms up in equal frustration, "(Y/N), please tell Thorin here that the valley of Ilmadris is a safe place for us to learn more about this map."
You opened your mouth to speak, but Thorin interrupted, "please tell the wizard that I will not go there."
You sighed looking between them, "The elves do have-" Thorin growled over you with frustration, "a great deal of knowledge that could be useful," you finished despite Thorin's obvious anger.
"I do not-" but Thorin was interrupted by a large scream, not a dwarvish scream, more like the howl of a wolf.
You all gathered around quickly, looking for the source of the sound. "Is that a wolf?" Bilbo asked, nervously.
"No, that is not a wolf," Fili answered.
"Wargs," you whispered. You heard it again, only closer this time. Suddenly the creature burst through the tree line and jumped at you all huddled together. You jumped into the air, pulling out a small dagger and expertly slicing the throat of the Warg, landing in a heap next to it surrounded by the others.
Thorin grabbed your hand and pulled you to your feet. "A scout!" he shouted, "grab the ponies, we have to get moving."
"We can't" Ori responded, "the ponies bolted."
Thorin looked at you desperately, but it was Gandalf that spoke, "lets loose them in the rocky plains," he suggested.
Thorin looked at you and you nodded, "lead on then," he said to the wizard.
—---------
You all began running through the rocky plains, ducking behind natural barriers and moving through the countryside, avoiding the wargs and their riders.
You held a hand up, stopping everyone behind a larger rock, you pointed up. You could see the shadow of a warg rider, standing on top of the rock, searching the terrain for your company.
You slowly pulled out your bow, notching an arrow and stepping lightly out of the concealment of the ledge. You pulled back silently, knowing you had one shot to either take out the creature or the rider.
You took aim at the creature, letting your arrow fly and hit its mark. The creature and the rider came tumbling down the rock, landing by the others where you saw them quickly dispatch the rider.
But as you looked around, you realized you were now surrounded, your arrow giving away your position to the other scouts. You stood surrounding one another, the enemy bearing down on you from all directions.
"Quickly you fools!" Gandalf suddenly shouted from behind another rock, outside the enemy circle.
You nodded to Thorin to follow him, "I'll get you an opening!" you said, letting two arrows fly at the nearest Warg scout. "Run!" you shouted, pushing Thorin to lead them on.
You followed behind them, firing arrow after arrow, but not quite able to eliminate the whole force. You pulled out your sword and rushed the scouts, slicing at them relentlessly, trying to buy the others some time.
"(Y/N)!" you heard a shout from below the rocks. Thorin's head popped out, drawing your attention, "come on!"
But he had distracted you for a second too long, one of the scouts sliced at your arm with a small blade, a harsh sting running through your whole body. You winced in pain, before slicing the rider's throat.
You had created yourself enough separation to run to the rocks where the others were. You rolled inside, following the rock downward where it became a cave of sorts. You stood up and winced, grabbing your bleeding arm.
"Are you alright?" Thorin asked, grabbing your arm and looking at the wound with concern.
You winced but nodded, "I'm fine."
Thorin didn't look convinced, but he was interrupted by Dwalin, "I cannot see where the pathway leads, do we follow it?"
"Follow it, of course," Bofur responded, everyone following Dwalin through the caves.
You and Gandalf shared a knowing look as you locked eyes across the cavern. Thorin wrapped an arm around your shoulder and led you on down the pathway to where he had no idea. But you knew exactly where you were headed.