“I wonder why he doesn’t like her.” Fili turned to look at me.
“What?”
“Thorin, why do you suppose he doesn’t like Alissyanna?” I asked again.
“I think he does, in his own way. You know our uncle, he has always been a little untrusting of newcomers.” He replied plainly.
“Hey, where is she going?” Fili and I watched her leaving. I went to stand up but was stopped by Bombur. He pushed me down and shoved a bowl of rabbit soup into my hands, and one into Fili’s. We thanked him then ate a little.
“Speaking of her, did you see that last night she had scratches all over here face?”
“Yes, they weren’t there when we first met her.”
“I wonder where she got them.”
“Maybe while walking in the… hang on.”
“Yes?”
“Didn’t she say that no one goes into the Old Forest yesterday before we departed?”
“Yes.”
“Yet, she went into the Old Forest.” Fili had a point, why would she go into a forest that no one else goes into. We were silent for a little while, everyone had finished eating and many had gone to sleep. My brother and I were sitting by the fire. We heard something, Bilbo, who was next to the ponies, was the first to speak.
“What was that?” I looked at Fili, he winked and I continued on.
“Orcs.”
“Orcs?”
“Throat cutters. There’ll be hundreds of them out there. The low lands are crawling with them.” Bilbo turned and looked at us, a bit frightened.
“They strike in the wee small hours when everyone’s asleep. Quick and quiet. No screams, just lots of blood.” He turned back, looking out over the cliff. I turned back and looked at Fili so he couldn’t see me smiling.
“You think that’s funny? Do you think a night raid by orcs is a joke?” Thorin growled.
“We meant nothing by it.” I said.
“No, you didn’t. You know nothing of the world.” He strode away, looking over the side of the cliff. Balin told us the story of Azog, Uncle seemed to be very angry about the subject, so we dropped it after the story was done.
I heard the muffled sound of footsteps. Everyone looked in the direction where they came. I saw Braig first, he looked back down the path, head bowed low. Alissyanna appeared after a few minutes, she had one arm pulled close to her chest. She had a bad limp and a fresh new layer of scratches all over her face. Her hair was tied back, revealing her bare arms, which were also covered in deep cuts and long scratches. She smiled weakly and Gandalf helped her take a seat by the fire.
“What happened, child?” Balin asked, as he dabbed at a nasty cut above her brow.
“Damn horse stole my boots and threw them in the tree. When I got up there I lost my footing and promptly fell down, hitting every branch on the way.” I could tell she was lying, we all could, but we nodded, not having any other good explanation for all her injuries.
“Kili, grab my pack, I need you to sew this gash on her arm up.” I reached for his pack and found what I needed. I came over and kneeled down beside her.
“So it’s Kili.” She said looking at me, her blue eyes reflecting the stars. I nodded, smiling slightly, I couldn’t find the eye of the needle and was getting a tad bit frustrated, I sighed and tried again. She reached up and took my hands in hers. It felt like someone had just put my hands in ice. I wanted to jerk back, as an instinct, but I stopped myself. She took the needle and thread; she got it ready and tied the ends, then, with a small smile, handed it back to me. Balin helped her sit up and Braig laid down behind her, she leaned back and sighed, holding her arm out. I did the first stich; she didn’t even bat an eye. I hurriedly did the rest of them, periodically looking up at her and making sure she was alright. She had her eyes closed leaning back against her horse. I pulled her shirt sleeve down and she didn’t open her eyes.
“Asleep.” I whispered to myself. I stood and reached for my pack. I took out a spare blanket I had brought. I unfolded it and spread it out over her. The last few had gone to sleep; I was going to take first watch. I reached forward to tuck a hair behind her ear. When I did this her horse snapped at my hand. I recoiled and looked at him, he swished his tail, glared at me, ears pinned. “And the horse is a guard horse, lovely.” I said, making sure no one would see, I took an apple out that I had saved to the morning. Braig looked at it, then took it, throwing his head back and promptly hurling the apple. He looked back at me, ears still pinned. The next thing I knew he was munching on an apple from someone elses hand. I looked over and saw Alissyanna holding an apple in her hand.
“That’s the second one you’ve had today, my breakfast and dinner.” She scolded. He shook his head, and nibbled her fingers. Smiling she shoved his nose away.
“Did he get you?” She said looking at my hand.
“Yeah, it’s fine though, nothing bad.”
“Sorry, he’s a bit, over protective.”
“I think it’s funny actually; he’s like a big brother or something.” Braig tilted his ears forward.
“It comes in handy… sometimes.” We talked for a while longer before I asked what I really wanted to know.
“Alissyanna…”
“Ali, just call me Ali.”
“Ali, where did you really get all those scratches? I’ve fallen out of a few tree’s in my life, and I’ve never come out the other side with scratches as bad as yours.” She smiled and looked at the stars.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they? The stars.” I looked up, they were beautiful, the stars, they looked even more so when they were reflecting in her eyes. She grabbed my hand and pointed up. I looked at her hand, smiled then looked up at what she was pointing at. She connected a few stars with an imaginary line, showing me the constellations.
“You should get some rest, Ali, don’t want you to be tired on the trip.” She looked at me.
“Trying to get rid of me master dwarf?” She asked.
“Uh, no… I’m just…” A small smile spread over her face.
“It was just a joke, don’t worry.” She laughed a little then leaned back. “If you need anything you can wake me up.” Braig moved a little then Ali leaned back, she closed her eyes, pulling the blanket up to her chin and falling asleep. I stayed up a while longer since I was on watch.
“Kili, wake up, we’re leaving.” I opened my eyes. Then I realized what had happened. I had fallen asleep while on watch.
“Uh, sorry.” I said, taking my brothers hand. He pulled me to my feet and looked at me.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I… kinda, fell asleep on watch.”
“YOU WHAT?” Everyone looked at us. I noticed that Braig was standing near me, but no Ali. Oh no.
“Where’s Ali?”
“I haven’t seen her all morning, you fell asleep?!”
“Ali’s gone, she might be dead… I fell asleep.” I was breathing heavily.
“BRAIG!” I heard a woman yell, it was Ali. She stomped towards her horse, bare foot. I sighed and looked at Fili.
“You fell asleep?” Thorin said looking at me.
“Um, well…”
“Of course he did.” I looked at Ali. “He woke me up, I told him to.” I just stared at her. Thorin looked at me then turned away, getting on his pony.
“What were you doing?”
“Covering your ass.” She said laughing. Braig saw her, and followed her down the hill I quickly rolled my blanket up and grabbed my pack. When I got everything on the pony the last few of us were heading down the hill.
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Ok, guys, I seriously need someone to comment and tell me how this is going, I'm startin' to get a little worried, just one? Pretty Please?!
Anyways, only a few more days till The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug comes out? Is it just me or is anyone else stupidly excited for it? What do you think they are going to put in the third one??
Again, if you have any suggestions or anything you'd like to ask... feel free to let me know! Also, pass the word around about the new story yes no maybe so??
Thanks for reading my fellow Tolkien lovers!!!