✓ | Forget-Me-Not ~ Fili FanFiction / Hobbit FanFiction / Fili FF

「 Chapter 5 」

The light of the rising sun was far from finding its way through the treetops when Ilèyn woke up.
It had been a very restless night, the screaming of the orcs had been heard up to this point and the dwarf had been startled out of her sleep again and again. Still, she and Carrot weren't bothered by the presence of any of these hideous creatures. Carrot had remained quiet all night, to Ilèyn's relief. She really couldn't need an exhausted pony.
Asleep, she was wedged between the thick, large roots of the trees. Well, if that could be called sleep. Ilèyn did not feel particularly rested. She began to work her way out of her night camp. Her back and neck ached.
"Never again." she groaned as she propped herself up. She rubbed the back of her neck and checked for Carrot. She really didn't wanted to stay here much longer, as she certainly wasn't that lucky and would sooner or later be spotted by the orcs when they started scouting the area. If that happened, her hearth from tonight wouldn't go undiscovered.
"Hey my friend..." she mumbled sleepily and calmly stroked Carrot over the nostrils. She untied him from the branch to which she had tied the long rope that was attached to Carrot's harness the previous evening.
She didn't have to search for much, after all, she hadn't been able to set up a whole camp in the forest.
Now it was probably too dangerous to continue travelling on the road. A long ride off the beaten track was now ahead of Ilèyn. She could only hope to find the trail of the dwarfs somewhere. If this didn't happen, she would've come all the way in vain and would've put herself in unnecessary danger.
Ilèyn rode through forests, over meadows and pastures, while she kept thinking about how likely it would be that she should be right in her assumption.
Inwardly she was cursing herself again. How could one follow any guesswork so short-sightedly? And if she couldn't find the dwarves on her way east, where should she start looking again?

The sun was already setting, it was late afternoon. Ilèyn had still seen nothing of two dwarves or a wizard, much less a hobbit. Rocks rose to her left, and a forest in front of her. The dwarf rode along a green meadow, but as a precaution she stayed at the edge of the forest. It was useless. She would have to turn around and look for other clues and clues in order to somehow get the bounty. Ilèyn got off Carrot's back and leaned against one of the trees. She watched the pony eat some of the lush green grass. A little further on, Ilèyn made out a crumbling house. Those people who had lived there probably moved out more involuntarily.
She would have to spend the night here before she could start walking back. After all, there didn't seem to be any orcs here. She had pondered these creatures for a long time. Why would orcs leave for the Weathertop? Why were they so numerous? What was their goal? Or who?
The dwarf took a deep, exasperated breath. She's just been thinking way too much lately. Why couldn't she just kill this dwarf and get the bounty? What was the problem?
She knew what the problem was. She knew very well. But she didn't want to admit it to herself.

A deep and hearty laugh tore her from her thoughts. Ilèyn sat up immediately, pulled Carrot from the meadow and into the shelter of the trees.
She scratched his ears slowly and reassuringly so that he wouldn't utter a sound.
The pony only made this whole hiding more difficult. Ilèyn had to resist a loud sigh. She peered through the branches and through the undergrowth into the meadow in front of her. A group of mounted hikers appeared, led by a serious-looking man with a black beard. A man dressed entirely in gray with a pointed hat stood out from the group; he towered a few heads above them.
One moment.
Ilèyn narrowed her eyes and watched the group. They weren't wanderers or traders. They were dwarfs. And the great man was none other than this wizard, Gandalf.
Ilèyn's gaze fell on her leader again.
"Thorin Oakenshield." she muttered. Her prey was in front of her eyes. To Ilèyn's regret, he was in the company of a wizard. And not to forget... How many were there? Twelve dwarfs? Ilèyn counted twice. Indeed, twelve more dwarfs. And that excessively overwhelmed figure there was Bilbo Baggins, the dwarf recognized that immediately.
So this rascal of wizard had really been able to persuade a hobbit to go on what he called "an adventure". Well and good, but who were all these others? Ilèyn got angry, slowly her plan vanished more and more into thin air. By now she was sure, however, that these dwarves were planning something far bigger than a simple adventure.
She watched the group set up camp, some were preparing a fireplace. Again and again her gaze flicked back and forth between the dwarfs, one more different than the other and so mixed that they looked more like a carnival club and not like warriors in the service of a dwarf king. Latter she just discovered him talking to the wizard in the ruins of the little house. The pointed hat man talked and talked while Oakenschild looked angrier and angrier. All of a sudden the wizard whirled around and hurried away, leaving primarily the hobbit questioning while the dwarves continued to go about their business. Ilèyn spotted two young dwarfs leading everyone's ponies into the forest. She was forced to move a little further away from the group in order not to be discovered, and lost some of her field of vision.
It wouldn't work that way, she had to think about something. She didn't wanted to go deeper into the forest because she was afraid she would miss if the troop left again. So she crept along the edge of the forest with Carrot and moved further and further away from the dwarfs until she found a sheltered place where she could leave her pony and wait until dark. The dwarves didn't seemed as if they were going to leave again very soon, so Ilèyn saw her chance to strike in the night. She would quietly behead the king and quickly run away. For some it would be impossible, but Ilèyn was already well versed in such matters.
She tied Carrot to a hanging branch, looked for some grass and plants in the forest, which she piled up in front of the pony. In any case, her companion didn't had to starve.