Daughter of The Darkness

Chapter 22

There was a large rock which stood tall in the middle of a beautiful valley. The eagles glided around it and the one carrying Thorin placed him gently on the hard rock. Also the one carrying Gandalf dropped him off on the rock.

Gandalf ran up to Thorin, falling at his side. He placed his hand over his face.

The rest of the Company gathered round Gandalf. Bilbo however stood back, he thought Gandalf might need some air. Elfreda placed her hand on the hobbits shoulder and tried to pull a smile.

Thorin's eyes opened.
"The halfing." he muttered. Gandalf chuckled and nodded his head. Kili and Dwalin helped Thorin up. After he was stood, he shook their hands away and staggered up to Bilbo, Elfreda moving slowly out the way and her breathing getting heavier.

"Did I not say you would be a burden? That you would not survive a week in the wild!" huffed Thorin. Bilbo lowered his head in shame but Thorin put his hand on his shoulder.
"I could not have been more wrong!"

Bilbo looked at Thorin and smiled.
"No I doubted myself. I'm not a hero or a warrior and I'm not a burglar!" he chuckled. Gandalf laughed too knowing the point of not being a burglar was pointed at him. Everyone looked around as the eagles flew off into the sun.

Elfreda fell to the floor, the pain from her ribs forcing her to curl up in a ball. Ori turned around just as she fell on the floor.
"Gandalf!" he yelped. The rest of the company also turned and saw her rocking like a baby on the ground. Ori knelt by her side
"What do we do?" he asked. Gandalf also knelt down by her side, he put his hand on the bleeding wound. Elfreda's breathing was harsh and short.
Gandalf closed his eyes and spoke very quickly in an unknown language.

Suddenly, Elfreda stopped breathing, her head went limp.
"No," whispered Gandalf. He knelt there in silence.

Thorin walked up to the limp body and lowered his head. Then he turned away and walked up to Balin who was also hanging his head. All of them stood there, tension filling the air.

"Don't you dare put yourself under that strain again, Gandalf. The spell could of killed you" muttered Elfreda. She staggered to her feet as the company stood wide eyed at her in disbelief. Elfreda took a step forward but tripped.

Once again, the two brothers, Fili and Kili caught her. They helped her stand and get her footing right.
"Please don't leave us again," Fili said to her.
"I do not plan to!" she chuckled then winced the effects of her wound still evident by the bruise forming on her side.

Gandalf put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with deep eyes. This let her know that he was fine. She nudged him with her elbow.

Everyone stopped and looked out to the horizon. It was flat apart from a single peak that rose high into the sky. Erebor. The company smiled, they could see their target. They all laughed and slapped each other on the back.

Then a small bird fluttered past them. It was a thrush. The bird flew off towards the horizon not noticing the band of travellers underneath it.

They company left in the few moments that passed, walking down the side of the mountain their spirits high after seeing the mountain.

Elfreda beamed the whole way down. She had joined the company not officially but they were more than happy to let her to tag along. She knew her chest would take some time to heal but the worst of it was over thanks to Gandalf who had saved her life.

Now was the time to get things moving. The journey still had far to go.

Hey guys! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone. I mean over 1000 reads already is amazing I can't believe it. I'm not going to be posting in a while as I'm off on holiday.

See you all later!

Parallelamy