when Persephone finally lifted her head, she saw that they were crossing a bridge.
"Cut the ropes!" she heard THorin yell.
Suddenly, Dwalin lurched and Persephone fell from his back.
"Seph!" She heard several voices cry.
The girl quickly reached out and Kili's hand gripped hers, holding her up. As they swung back a second time, Sepha groaned from the pain in her body and morphed into a wolf. Kili's eyes widened but he was surprised at how much lighter Sepha was in her wolf form.
Gripping onto Kili's hand with her paw, she leapt up and landed on the bridge with the other dwarves. She stumbled but Fili and Kili's arms were at once wrapped around her bushy neck and Kili buried his face in her neck.
"Come on Sepha. Don't die on us now," he whispered.
Sepha sighed and nuzzled his face with her damp nose, "Come on..."
With that, she slowly rose to her feet, wincing at the pain but putting on a brave face, "Climb on."
"you're too weak," Fili protested.
Sepha rolled her violet eyes and fake bared her teeth, "if we want to catch up to the others, we need to hurry."
The two young dwarves wanted to protest but the idea of riding on the back of a giant wolf got the better of them and they climbed on. Fili knew that Sepha whined at the weight but she kept her noble head high and took off.
Kili's fingers curled into her fur and held on while FIli held onto his shoulders.
As they came surging towards the others, the goblin king jumped up and knocked Gandalf over. Kili noticed that the hair on Sepha's back stood up erect and her muscles tensed in anger.
"Jump," she whispered.
the two jumped off her back, landing on either side of Thorin was Sepha took a running leap and slammed her large wolf body into the goblin king. She stared into his horrid eyes for a second before grinning and baring her teeth, she morphed to a human and drove her sword deep into his chest.
Suddenly, the weight of the king's dead body began to destroy the platform and soon they were falling far and fast. Sepha grabbed onto Ori who was about to fall and they tumbled onto the ground while the others got stuck beneath the platform.
"Well that could have been worse," Bofur remarked just before the king's body slammed on top of them.
Sepha cringed as she heard the dwarves groan and mutter curses under their breath. She carefully began to help the dwarves out when kili's shocked voice rang out.
"GANDALF!"
They turned to see a host of goblins running towards them.
"There's too many, we can't fight them," Dwalin said, helping Nori up.
"only one thing will save us," Gandalf said. "Daylight. RUN!"
when they finally stopped outside the goblin caves Gandalf counted heads while Sepha leant against a tree for support.
"Where's Bilbo?" Gandalf asked. "Where is our hobbit?"
Sepha looked around while the dwarves began to bicker about who had seen him.
"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us," Nori said.
"What happened exactly?" Gandalf insisted. "Tell me!"
"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin snapped. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He's thought nothing of his soft bed and his warm hearth since he first stepped out of his door. We wont be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone."
Sepha's green eyes flared in fury. She caught sight of Fili meet her gaze and shake his head, telling her to not object but Sepha had just about enough.
Pushing herself away from the tree, she ignored the pain in her body and grabbed her sword.
"Sepha what are you doing?" Kili asked.
the girl ignored him and began to limp back the way they had come. She was about five feet away when a strong hand gripped her wrist gently. She spun around to see Thorin standing there, a soft look in his eyes.
"Where are you going?"
"What do you care?" she spat, "You care for no one but your own kin. And barely them!"
Thorin frowned, "What are you talking about? If you go back there you'll be killed?"
"Then it will obviously be an improvement in this world," Sepha remarked sarcastically, "I would think you would agree that it would be for everyone's benefit if there was one less elf in the world."
she turned and began to walk off but Thorin gripped her wrist. she wrenched her hand away from his grip and brought the back of her hand across his cheek, remarking his cheek exactly where she had struck him two days prior. Thorin's head snapped back but it didn't hurt as much as what she said next.
"I told you to not touch me!" she hissed. "You obviously have no care as to what happens to a helpless hobbit, so I will. I don't care if I'm killed, at least my life wont be complicated anymore and I wont feel like I'm upsetting other people with my presence!"
"Sepha," Fili and Kili pleaded. "Please don't go."
Sepha smiled at them but shook her head, "IT's best if I do."
she gave Thorin a glare and turning on her heel, stormed off. Thorin stood there, staring at where Sepha had been standing not five minutes ago. She was really gone.... when suddenly... Bilbo came tearing through the woods.
"Sorry.... I got held up..."
"Bilbo Baggins!" Gandalf remarked. "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life."
"Bilbo! We'd given you up!" Kili cried.
"how on earth did you get past the goblins?"
"How indeed?" Dwalin inquired, curious.
Bilbo grinned innocently and just chuckled.
"Well what does it matter?" Gandalf asked. "he's back."
"it matters," Thorin replied. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"
"Look I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you're right I often think of Baggend. I miss my books and my armchair and my garden. See that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back because... you don't have one... a home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."
There was a long silence before Ori broke it.
"But Sepha went looking for you.... where is she?"
"Sepha left?" Bilbo asked, horrified. "But she was hurt!"
Before anyone could say anything else, a loud howl split the air.
"out of the frying pan," Thorin muttered.
"And into the fire," Gandalf finished.
As the others began to run, Dwalin noticed that Thorin was standing still, looking at where Sepha had run off, "What have I done?"
Dwalin gripped the prince's shoulder, "Nothing you cannot fix. We must run laddie."
Why is it that we are always getting cornered?" Bilbo complained as he gripped the trunk of the tree.
They were stuck at the top of a tree, staring down at the orcs beneath them. Suddenly, a huge white warg stepped forward and atop him, the pale orc. Thorin pushed a branch aside and stared in horror.
"AZOG!"
Azog sniffed the air and petted his warg, "Do you smell it? the scent of fear. I remember your grandfather reeked of it. THorin son of Thrain."
"it cannot be," Thorin whispered, feeling his throat clench.
Azog lifted his mace and pointed at THorin, "That one is mine.... kill the re..."
he never finished for a whole warg was thrown straight at him, causing the white warg and the pale orc to stumble back. Two orcs were torn from their wargs and thrown at least twenty feet away. the wargs all growled and crowded around Azog to protect him.
Just when the dwarves had no idea what was happening, several arrow shot from nowhere and struck three wargs down at the same time.
"SHOW YOURSELF!" Azog growled.
The petite, slender figure rose from her hiding position behind a rock and slowly approached Azog.
"Sepha," THorin heard Kili whisper above him.
The girl's hood was down, her brown hair billowing behind her. She had pulled her torn jacket back on, covering her bleeding back. Her side was bleeding, covering the side of her pant and dripping onto the ground. In one hand she held her bow that Kili had given her, three arrows loaded on it already.
"Well look who it is!" Azog taunted. "Persephone Anatello. It has been a long time! The last time I saw you, you were just a little girl screaming your brother's name."
Persephone's body tensed which didn't help the bleeding but THorin knew her face was twisted in anger. "you murdered my brother," she spat in black speech. "You killed THror. I will not let you touch anyone else!"
Azog chuckled loudly, "You cannot protect everyone in the world stupid quarterbreed!"
Sepha smiled knowingly, "Maybe not. But I can most certainly protect the ones I love."
"Well this is a sad day for you then," Azog taunted, circling Sepha on his warg, "Because all of those dwarves, the wizard and that handling... they're all going to die."
Sepha smiled and instead, she spoke in perfect Kuzdul, "Not while I have breath in my body they wont.'
With that she fired the three arrows, taking out three more orcs with them. She then threw her bow onto her back and drew her two swords. Azog charged at her and she brought them above her head, leaving a decent gash in the beast's belly.
Just when the dwarves were about to cheer, the tree began to tip till it was dangling over the side of the cliff! Fili pulled Kili back up who barely had a grip on the tree.
"Sepha," they both muttered.
All the dwarves turned to look at the girl who was crouching in a fighting stance. When the warg came charging at her again, two wargs went at her from both sides, reaching her first. While she drove her sword into one, the other one grabbed her around the waist and bit down hard.
THorin felt tears prick his eyes at the sound of her painful scream that split the air. Azog then chuckled as he glared down at the girl. The warg threw her against a tree and Thorin was sure he heard a snap. The girl fell to the ground, slowly pushing herself up. she was bleeding far to much and her face pale with pain.
"What makes you think that anyone would love you?" Azog taunted. "Your brother didn't love you. That's why he allowed himself to die. No one will ever love you."
Sepha lifted her head and forced a brave look on her face, "It's the ones who love you the most who hurt you. not because they don't love you... but because they love you so much that it hurts." she said in Kuzdul. "My brother didn't die because he wanted to. He died because I wasn't fast enough to save him. People may not love me now... or never... but I will always love them."
With that, her eyes flitted towards the dwarves and for a split second, green met blue before Azog's warg bit into her body again and she passed out from the pain. THorin had had enough and standing up, he drew out Orcrist.
"Thorin no," Dwalin warned but he ignored him.
Charging across the field, he lifted his sword and pulled out his oaken shield. Azog's warg looked at him and threw Sepha against a nearby tree. Thorin bit his lip when he heard another crunch, but went charging at Azog.
Before he knew it, the warg had bitten him and he cried in pain. he was thrown across the clearing and his blacked out just before he saw Bilbo jump at Azog.
The last thing he remembered was seeing red when Sepha's body was bitten... whipped... prodded by goblins... thrown against a tree... her last words....