Having no desire to brave the stench of the troll hoard, Bilbo patiently waited outside the cave with the rest of the company. I emerged out into the sunlight and found my way over to the quiet hobbit. "Bilbo!" I called.
As he turned, a smile lit up his features. "Ah, successful on your treasure hunt?" he asked.
"Quite. Found some weapons in rather fine condition." I nocked an arrow to test the bowstring's strength. "Barely used. Its previous owner must not have appreciated its value. Clearly the trolls didn't see its usefulness either."
"Even they would've thought it silly to hold a weapon similar to a twig in their eyes."
"True." Remembering the small sword, I flipped it in my hand once before holding it out. "I also found this. It's about your size."
Bilbo stared at the weapon like someone laced it with poison. "I can't take this."
"It's an elvish blade which means it'll glow blue when orcs or goblins get close."
"How can you tell?"
I shrugged. "Seen a few swords in my life, been around the forge. Let's just say I know an elf's handiwork when I see one. So here. Take it."
His eyes remained on the blade. "I have never used a sword in my life, Rose. I don't even think I can properly carry one, or...kill...with it." His face paled.
"Well, this one's particularly light. More suitable than one of our weapons." I held it by the sheath and offered the hilt to him.
He tentatively wrapped his right hand around the grip, giving a defeated sigh.
Sensing his uneasiness, I knelt and placed a hand over his. "You should understand something about this blade: you don't have to kill with it. It can just be to protect yourself, or others. That's how you treat weapons."
Bilbo gazed into my eyes, absorbing my words and processing them. Though he looked ready to hand the weapon back, I wouldn't take it no matter how desperately he insisted. Because in the unlikely event that I lost sight of him, my worst fear would be Bilbo unable to defend himself.
Thorin's voice cut through our conversation. "Something's coming!"
Everyone suddenly burst into action.
"Stay together! Hurry now, arm yourselves!" Gandalf shouted.
Now I too heard the sound of something large crashing through the undergrowth-heading straight towards us!
Bilbo tried to continue our conversation. "Rose—"
"Sorry, Bilbo. Not now," I apologized before drawing my new sword and running to join the others.
Everyone huddled together, weapons at the ready.
Out of the trees, a loud cry was heard, followed by a group of oversized rabbits pulling a sled. A wizard dressed in brown robes stopped the rabbits with a snap of the reins, screaming: "Thieves! Fire! MURDER!!"
Recognizing the man—who had clearly taken one too many mushrooms for breakfast—I lowered my sword. "Radagast?"
Stumbling off his sleigh, Radagast hobbled over to me with a smile. "Rose! It's so good to see you. How are you, my dear?" He quickly pulled me into a hug.
My eyebrows knit together when I sensed the fear in his voice and his movements. I awkwardly pat his back in a comforting manner. "I-I'm doing fine. Are you?"
Now trembling from a clear case of anxiety, he shook his head.
"Ah, it's Radagast the Brown!" Gandalf greeted, gesturing for the others to lower their weapons.
"What on earth are you doing here?" I asked, pulling out of the embrace.
Radagast glanced over at the other wizard. "Looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."
"Yes?" Gandalf asked, now a bit wary.
Radagast opened his mouth to speak, but shut it.
He opened it again, and closed it again.
The shaggy wizard clearly forgot what he needed to say. "Oh! I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was...it was right there on the tip of my tongue."
Radagast then curled up his tongue, looking surprised. "Oh, it's not a thought at all. It's a silly old..." When the wizard stuck his tongue out, a stick insect appeared on it. Gandalf pulled it straight out of Radagast's mouth. "...stick insect."
Gandalf dropped the little bug on my hand.
"It's sick," I said upon closer inspection.
Radagast quickly nodded his head, leaving me and Gandalf very concerned.
Gandalf, Radagast, and I stepped away from the company to discuss our business in private. The grey-robed wizard and I smoked our pipes, listening to Radagast's claims.
"The Greenwood is sick, very sick," Radagast said. "A darkness has fallen over it, and nothing grows anymore. At least nothing good."
"Nothing good?" I asked.
"The air is foul with decay, but worse are the webs."
"Webs? What do you mean?" Gandalf muttered.
"Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Spawn of Ungoliant, or I'm not a wizard. I followed their trail, and found that they came from Dol Guldur."
"Dol Guldur?" A look of worry glued itself to Gandalf's face. "But the old fortress is abandoned?"
Radagast shook his head. "No, Gandalf, it is not.
"A dark power dwells there, such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. And then I saw him. From out of the darkness, a Necromancer." He zoned out.
Then, after a few moments, the brown wizard spooked himself back into reality. "Sorry."
I approached him, wiping off the mouthpiece of my pipe. "Try a little Old Toby," I said. "It helps settle the nerves."
Radagast breathed in the smoke.
"And out."
With eyes crossed and a blissful look on his face, Radagast blew the smoke out of his nose and ears, remaining in a trance for a few seconds.
"Good."
Then suddenly, the wizard changed the subject. "Is that a new ring, my dear?"
My body froze. "N-no. I've always had this." With a fake grin, I showed my gold-sapphire band.
"Not that one. The ring on your other hand." He grabbed my left hand and held it up, admiring the emerald setting. "It's exquisite."
I quickly retracted my hand and lied. "I'm surprised you didn't notice it last time."
"Well, my mind is a bit foggy. When was the last time we met? About fifty-"
My hand shot out to cover his mouth. "Don't mention anything about my age, Radagast," I hissed.
"What? Why not?"
I nodded back to the company of dwarves still within earshot.
When Radagast didn't quite understand, Gandalf rolled his eyes. "She's a human, in their eyes."
"Oh, that's gonna end well," Radagast frowned.
"I don't care how it ends. I'm not," giving Gandalf a stern look, "telling them."
The brown wizard nodded his head. "Well, you can still tell me where you got the ring from, right?"
Once again very nervous, I covered the emerald ring from Radagast's—and Gandalf's—view and quickly changed the subject. "Perhaps when it's a better time. But we're getting off-topic."
"Oh, right, right. My bad."
"Now," Gandalf chuffed, "a Necromancer? Are you sure of that?"
Radagast pulled out a cloth-wrapped package and handed it to Gandalf. He untied the ropes to take a look, and closed the parcel before I even got a chance to see. "That is not from the world of the living."
My wide eyes stared at the parcel. What...is it?
Suddenly, a howl was heard, sounding far too close for comfort.
"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked as I rejoined them. "Are there wolves out there?"
"That is no wolf," I calmly stated, drawing the hobbit behind me as my eyes searched the trees.
There was a snarl from above. Suddenly, a warg—a giant cousin of the wolf—leapt into the clearing and knocked down one of the dwarves. Thorin swung his sword at the beast, hitting it cleanly in the neck.
There was another roar from behind him.
I fired an arrow, felling a second warg before it got anywhere near the dwarf.
"Warg scouts!" Thorin cursed, yanking his blade free of the carcass. "Which means an orc pack is not far behind!"
"Orc pack?!" Bilbo worried.
Gandalf marched over to Thorin. "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?"
"No one," Thorin replied firmly.
"Who did you tell?!" the wizard repeated.
"No one, I swear!" he vowed, sounding just as anxious as everyone else.
Sensing no lie in his voice, I jumped in between them. "He speaks the truth, Gandalf!"
Gandalf's head swiveled from side to side, scanning our surroundings.
"What in Durin's name is going on?" asked Thorin.
"You are being hunted," replied Gandalf.
"Then we have to get out of here!" Dwalin said.
Ori and Dori appeared from the trees. "We can't!" Ori called, bursting through the trees with his two brothers. "We have no ponies. They bolted!"
Everyone started bickering about what to do.
Great. And I spent good money on that horse, too.
A hand wrapped around my wrist, anchoring me in place. I turned and found Thorin glaring at me, his eyes cold and burning. "Thorin, what—"
"Did you betray our quest?" he hissed.
"What?!" I said, shocked and confused.
His grip tightened painfully on my arm. "Answer me! Did you, or did you not?!"
I shook my head wildly. "What the hell do you think you're playing at?!"
He clearly didn't believe me, not letting up on the pressure on my arm. "Did you tell anyone where we were traveling?! You're the only outside of our kin who knew!"
"You're insane!" The more his grip tightened, the more my anger started to rise. "You think I just ran my mouth? I didn't even know about the quest until I got to Bilbo's home!"
"Thorin! Release her!" Gandalf suddenly barked, glaring daggers at the dwarf.
Keeping his thunderous gaze drilled on me, Thorin slowly released his grip.
I pushed at his arm to force him backward. "It's nice to be trusted."
"I would die before I trusted you."
"Enough!" Ignoring the pain in my chest, I faced the two wizards. "We need to get away from the hunters, but we can't outrun them on foot. Our only hope is to fight. I can do that if you lead everyone to safety, Gandalf."
"And you think you can just fight them all off by yourself?!" Gandalf asked incredulously.
I held his firm gaze. "If I have to, then so be it. It's what I signed up for."
"No!" Radagast quickly yelped. "There'll be no fighting. I'll draw them off!"
"You fool, these are Gundabad Wargs!" Gandalf looked back at his colleague. "They will outrun you!"
"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits." Radagast's face lit up with confidence. "I'd like to see them try."
Shrugging, I shot Gandalf a look. "He's got a point. It's this, or I'm fighting."
Gandalf seemed convinced enough to respond with, "There'll be no fighting."
⛰
On his rabbit sleigh, Radagast shot out of the forest. He was quickly followed by the howls of wargs that had sounded terrifyingly close to us.
I watched from behind a rock. When it was clear, I waved at Gandalf.
"Come on!" Gandalf shouted to the others.
Leaving the trees, we darted out onto the open plains, taking care to keep close to the rocks for cover. Packs bounced as we ran. I stayed close to the back, forcing stragglers like Bombur and Bilbo to keep running, both of whom struggled for breath.
In the distance, Radagast could be seen being chased by the wargs.
We pulled to a stop behind a large rock as the orcs rode past a little ahead of us.
Gandalf turned to us all. "Stay together!"
"Move!" Thorin barked to the dwarves when the coast was clear again.
We ran again for a few minutes, but it seemed that somehow no matter which direction we went in we came across the orcs again. Ahead of me, I saw Thorin grabbing Ori and pulling him back by the collar of his jacket after he almost ran past the protective cover.
As we ran, Radagast drove his sleigh beneath an overhanging projection of rock to try injuring the orc riders, and repeated the maneuver several times.
We repeated a snaking pattern of travel, hiding behind every rock to avoid being seen, almost like trying to avoid the sun. Gandalf would frequently stop us, have us keep going, turn us to the left or right, and everything imaginable. It got to a point where I could no longer predict where Gandalf was leading us.
Thorin asked me about it. "Where is he leading us?"
I couldn't answer. "Gandalf?" I hoped for something reasonable.
The wizard didn't reply, only gave me a slight frown, as though his plan fell into the last resort category.
"You wouldn't dare!" He ignored me.
"Dare to what?" Thorin asked.
I almost answered, but then I remembered our squabble earlier. "Oh, so now you're willing to hear what I have to say? Sod off already!" I hurried after the company, adamant to avoid his grunts and curses.
At one point, we all had to pause behind an outcropping of rock. A scout and his warg jumped on top of the outcropping, searching for us. Thorin gestured to Kili, who quietly notched an arrow to his bow.
The young dwarf looked at me with desperate eyes.
"Right behind you," I said and readied an arrow.
Kili stepped out and fired, hitting the warg's neck.
I planted my arrow in its forehead.
The creature fell over, throwing its rider. Dwalin and Bifur quickly finished him off.
However, the sounds of the fighting, screaming, and roaring carried quite far through the valley. I didn't realize it until too late. When the barks and howls of the orc pack started to get closer, we realized we had only one option left to survive.
"Move!" Gandalf shouted. "RUN!!!"
Our company sprinted across the plains, hoping to gain as much ground as possible.
Wargs quickly circled around and appeared far in front of us. "There they are!" Gloin announced.
"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf barked, leading us in a new direction.
We quickly came to a halt after spotting wargs in the distance. "There's more coming!" Fili shouted.
"We're surrounded!" someone else called.
Now there was nowhere to run. Our only hope was to fight. "Shoot them down!" Thorin said.
Kili and I shot arrow after arrow at the pack. They were too fast and too far away to get an accurate shot, so they easily avoided the projectiles.
"Where is Gandalf?" Balin asked.
I panicked and looked about, and sure enough Gandalf wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"He's abandoned us!" Dwalin replied.
"No way!" I snarled. However, I could see clearly that Gandalf had disappeared.
By that point, the orc pack had completely surrounded us, and slowly closed in. "Hold your ground!" Thorin yelled, pulling out his new sword.
Everyone armed themselves.
Before we got too ahead of ourselves, a gruff voice shouted, "This way, you fools!"
Gandalf appeared beside a large rock, waving for us to follow before disappearing.
"Come on!" Thorin called, racing over to the crack in the rock. "Quickly! Get in, all of you!"
One by one, the dwarves jumped down, sliding into a cave.
"Is this what I think it is?"
"Hey, woman, quit babbling—" Thorin spun around and thrust his sword into a warg that got too close, "—and go!"
An orc charged its mount straight at us. I shot it down. "Only after everyone else!"
A warg suddenly charged at a distracted Kili. It didn't expect my sword to sink into its huge mouth. "Get going, Kili!" I growled, pulling him backward by his jacket collar. He raced back to the hidden cave.
Rejoining the others, I caught a short glimpse of an orc aiming an arrow at the only dwarf that hadn't jumped into the cave. That fool should've jumped by now!! No time to stop the arrow, I closed my eyes and jumped forward, my arms outstretched. No way in hell was I about to let any member of the company get injured, not even—
My world lit up in flames of painful agony.
Thorin and I tumbled down into the cave. Each time my left shoulder hit anything, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.
Then my face met the cold stone floor.
All strength had been sapped from my body, leaving me crawling like a toddler learning how to walk. Weak and limp. Sweat on my brow dripped onto the ground. I clenched my teeth to prevent any sounds from being let out, and slowly inclined my head to inspect the damage.
The orc's arrow had impaled my arm and gone straight through. Both ends of the wooden shaft had snapped off at some point during the fall. It felt like someone tried to rip my arm from its socket.
As I struggled to grasp reality, dwarves surrounded me on all sides.
"We have to help her!" one shouted.
"Bind the wound!" another said.
"That arrow is poisoned; we need herbs!"
The panic sure didn't help my state.
"NO!!" I barked. Bilbo helped me return to my feet. "We can't...remain here."
"In case you didn't notice, your arm has been impaled!" Bilbo reminded.
With worried dwarves circling me, I clenched my teeth and ripped the arrow shaft out of my arm. The excruciating pain made me want to vomit, but I couldn't show that. I pushed out more words as I tried to ignore the burning of my arm. "I can manage...until it's safe..."
Just hopefully safe was soon...
"At least let me bind it!" Bofur insisted.
Nodding, I knelt to let him tightly wrap a cloth around my arm and stop the bleeding. Glancing up past the dwarf's floppy hat, Thorin had turned away from my gaze, and not by dumb luck; he made sure I didn't see his eyes.
Suddenly, we all heard a horn in the distance.
Screams of orcs and their wargs quickly followed, plus the sound of hooves pounding the ground.
An orc fell down into the cave, landing at my feet.
In my horrid rage, I slammed my boot against its ugly chest, feeling satisfied with the sound of crunching bones and exploding organs.
Thorin plucked out an arrow from the orc's head and examined it. "Elves!" he grumbled.
I swallowed hard.
Dwalin stepped off to the end of the cave, the faint light making his face glow. "I cannot see where the pathway leads!" he called back to us. "Do we follow it or no?"
"Follow it, of course!" Bofur snapped, worrying about my current condition. He looked to me before following behind Dwalin, as did the others.
"I think that would be wise," Gandalf muttered.
I gave him a frown, knowing exactly where the path would end.
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Bilbo gently asked.
Pushing off his shoulder to stand upright, with a wobble, I nodded my head. "Yeah. Just be prepared to catch me if I fall."
We followed the path for what felt like a long, painful eternity. It was quite narrow, a long and twisted crack between two tall cliffs. At times, the dwarves had a bit of difficulty getting through some of the tighter spots. Gandalf, Bilbo, and I fit more easily, albeit I was careful not to let anything hit my arm; I could barely manage the feeling of my flesh sizzling in a hot pit of fire as it was.
Bilbo looked around at the stone walls with a suspicious gaze in his eyes.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Where are we?" Bilbo muttered.
My eyes widened in surprise. "You can feel it?"
"Yes. It feels like, well, like magic."
I nodded. "That's exactly what it is, a very powerful magic."
He gave me a suspicious look. "Do you...know where we are?"
Before I could answer, Dwalin yelled, "There's light ahead!"