"That is disgusting," Thraya muttered. "Absolutely repulsive. You should be right at home, Kee."
"Hey!" Kili protested.
Fili chuckled. "That was a good one, Ray. Your wit is getting sharper, and I will take full credit."
"No, it's all me," Kili insisted. "And besides. Why do you only ever pick on me?" he demanded.
Fili slung his arm around Thraya's shoulders. "Face it. I'm her favorite."
Thraya rolled her eyes and ducked out of his grasp. "I don't play favorites. I hate both of you equally. And Kili," she stage-whispered. "I only give you crap cuz you can handle it. Fili would break down crying."
Fili glowered as the two of them laughed loudly.
"See what I mean?" she said, pointing to his face.
"I resent that," Fili said, taking a deep breath to compose himself.
"Children," Thorin called, motioning them to follow him into the cave.
Thraya gave one of Fili's braids a little tug before following her father.
Kili gave Fili a mischievous smirk. "Ladies first," he said with a little bow.
Fili rolled his eyes and shoved Kili towards the mouth of the cave.
Ignoring the stench, Thraya looked around, flashing from impressed to disgusted as she noticed the collection of treasures and then that of human limbs.
"I take it back," Thraya muttered. "Even Kili isn't that repulsive."
Kili smirked. "Fili, on the other hand..."
Thraya rolled her eyes.
"Oh, look at these!" she exclaimed, drawing their attention to a collection of weapons, piled in the corner. "This is fancy," she said, lifting a dull miniature knife with an emerald encrusted handle. "But probably too small to be useful."
Fili shrugged. "I think it could be a decent hairpin, but probably nothing more than that."
"And who has a use for this fancy of a hairpin? Some snobbish elven princess?" Thraya tossed the pin back on the pile.
"Perfect for you, then," Kili said.
She fixed him with a glare sharper than her sword. "I am not snobby, nor a princess, and I barely qualify as an elf."
Thorin chuckled. "Mizimith, you are much too practical. Perhaps these would suit you better?" he handed her a pair of long knives with carved ivory handles. Simple, yet pretty.
"Perfect!" she laughed. "And one of my blades got stuck in that toll's hand when they turned to stone." She pulled one of them out of the double-scabbard. The silver blade was honed to a deadly edge. She followed her father and Gandalf where they found a pair of elaborate swords.
"These swords were not made by any troll," Thorin remarked, examining a cobweb-covered hilt.
Gandalf picked up the other. "Nor were they made by any smith among men. These were forged in Gondolin. By the High Elves of the First Age."
Thorin's face contorted in disgust at the mention of elves and he was about to put the sword back when Gandalf stopped him.
"You could not wish for a finer blade," the wizard said sternly. Reluctantly, Thorin unsheathed the blade a bit, begrudgingly impressed by the workmanship.
Thraya gave it an admiring look. "Those high elves back then were probably much wiser and better than the Woodland pixies we have to deal with these days. I'm glad I was raised by someone with intelligence."
Thorin chuckled. "You flatter me, nathith. Let's get out of this foul place."
She strapped the scabbard to her back and exited the stifling cave. She took a deep breath of clean air before being set immediately back on edge by her father's voice.
"Something's coming!" he announced, pulling her close. For all his talk about wanting her along on the journey and being confident in her ability to defend herself, he went into over-protective mode at the slightest sign of danger.
The undergrowth rustled urgently when suddenly a group of...were those bunnies? A group of bunnies erupted from the bushes, pulling behind them a small frazzled looking man on a sleigh. Huh. A rabbit-drawn sleigh. Well, that's new.
"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" the little man exclaimed.
"Radagast!" Gandalf exclaimed. "It's Radagast the Brown! What on earth are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you," the crazy looking old man said, pulling Gandalf off.
"He's got something on the side of his face," Thraya observed in disgust. "Is he aware?"
"Probably," Kili chuckled. "Seeing as he has the perpetrators nesting in his hair."
Thraya wrinkled her nose. "And I thought it didn't get worse than a troll hoard."
"Well, you're in for a shock," Fili chuckled. "Little dainty elf princess out for her first venture in the real world? I hope you have a strong stomach."
Thraya glared at him. "Call me an elf princess one more time and you'll see just how dainty my battle style is in person. Adad's heir or not, I will show no mercy."
"Thraya!" Kili protested. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh yes, I would."
"And make me shoulder the responsibility of heir?" he demanded. "You couldn't be that cruel!"
Thraya couldn't help but laugh. "Don't test me."
Their banter was cut suddenly by a deep howl. Thraya's ears pricked up.
"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked frantically. "Are there...are there wolves out there?"
"That sounded a bit too..." Thraya tried to pinpoint it. It was different from a wolf for sure, but she wasn't sure how.
"Wolves?" Bofur said to Bilbo. "No, that is not a wolf."
A growl resounded much too close by. Thraya whirled with her bow suddenly in hand to see a warg on the rocky outcropping. She notched an arrow and released it, cursing her lack of skills. She had a close enough shot to bring down the beast, but it was far from perfect. She whirled to see another warg dead at Thorin's feet. He was pulling his blade out.
"Warg scouts!" he growled. "Which means an orc pack is not far behind!"
"Orc pack?" Bilbo demanded.
Gandalf whirled on Thorin. "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" he snarled.
"No one," Thorin answered immediately.
"Who did you tell?!"
"No one, I swear!" Thorin roared back. "What in Durin's name is going on?"
"You are being hunted," Gandalf said grimly.
"We have to get out of here!" Dwalin growled.
"We can't!" Ori's voice came as he ran towards the group. "We have no ponies! They bolted!"
"I'll draw them off," the eccentric little brown wizard offered.
"These are Gundabad wargs," Gandalf warned. "They will outrun you!"
"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits," Radagast countered. "I'd like to see them try."
The mischief in his voice made Thraya want to laugh, but the impending threat of warg riders rather dampened her humor. Gandalf conceded to Radagast's plan and led the dwarves along a different route while the brown wizard went riding around, loudly taunting the orcs. Gandalf led them in a vague direction across the plains, frequently dodging for cover behind boulders or other natural landmarks.
"Stay together," he directed harshly.
"Thraya, stay with Fili and Kili," Thorin ordered. "Let's move!"
Kili caught up to her and wrapped his arm under her shoulders. "Can you run?"
She pushed him away. "Yes. I was momentarily winded, but I'm fine now,"
Fili was running along her other side. "Pardon my idiot of a brother," he whispered. "But Kili has a hero complex and has decided you are the damsel in distress to his inner knight in shining armor."
"Where are you leading us?" Thorin demanded, only receiving a vague look from the wizard.
They were about to move from their cover to the next when Thraya heard a snuffling sound above them. Thorin nodded to Kili who quietly drew an arrow with a grim expression on his face. Thraya followed his motions, but Fili grabbed her hand and shook his head. Kili quickly ran out of their cover, took aim, and fired, bringing the warg down. It fell, taking it's rider down with it, but unfortunately, the two creatures took a lot of killing and were very loud.
Thraya heard an orc growling what sounded like an order. The elven hearing came in handy every now and then.
"They've heard us," she warned. Almost on cue, the warg howls drew nearer and they could see the demonic foes approaching.
"Move! Run!" Gandalf shouted, herding them along. Fili's hand was on Thraya's back, unnecessarily hurrying her along. "This way! Quickly!"
"There's more coming!" Kili pointed out.
"Kili!" Thorin shouted. "Shoot them!"
Thraya broke away from the group and took her position back-to-back with Kili.
"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded, letting an arrow fly into the nearest orc's head.
"Helping!" Thraya shouted back, taking out a warg that toppled over, knocking another down with it. "Their heads are big enough targets."
"Where's Gandalf?" Fili yelled.
"He's abandoned us!" Dwalin shouted back.
The orcs approached in a ring, surrounding the group.
"Hold your ground!" Thorin commanded. The orcs were almost on top of them when Gandalf's voice resounded through the air.
"This way, you fools!"
Thraya was too busy with her bow to look and see where the wizard had appeared.
"Come on, move!" Thorin ordered. "Quickly! All of you! Go, go, go!"
Kili's arrow impaled an orc's forehead. Instantaneously, Thraya's took down the warg.
"Thraya! Kili!" Thorin shouted. "Run!"
"Go!" Kili shouted at Thraya, releasing another arrow.
"Don't be ridiculous," she growled. "I'm not leaving you. Come on!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him after her. Reluctantly, he turned from the battle and followed.
They reached the cave entrance and Kili jumped down. Thorin motioned for Thraya to follow, but before she could, she heard a faint whistle approaching and shoved her father out of the arrow's path. She tumbled down the tunnel after Thorin. He caught her and steadied her on her feet.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his deep voice concerned.
"Absolutely fine. But you almost were dead."
He hugged her tightly. "Thank you, nathith."
"Look out!" Kili called, pointing back up the rock slope. Thorin yanked Thraya out of the way with him before the orc corpse came tumbling down.
"Lovely," Thraya murmured to Fili.
Thorin stepped forward and pulled an arrow out of the orc's throat. One look at the tip told him all he needed and he threw it on the ground with a disgusted scowl.
"Elves," he spat with as much disdain, disgust, hatred, and a bunch of other nasty emotions as was dwarvenly possibly.
"This day just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Thraya groaned to Kili.