Ya'aburnee

Into the Fire

It was less than a moment before howls were heard from the mountain high above them, and all turned in terror. "Out of the frying pan..." Thorin muttered.

"And into the fire." Gandalf finished for him. "Run. Run!" She was beginning to think that was his favorite word.

They took off down the hill again, jumping over boulders and logs, the sun sinking behind the mountains as the howling behind them grew louder and closer.

The path they took, however, seemed to be the wrong one, reaching the edge of a cliff, nowhere else to run. "Up into the trees," Gandalf commanded, and Liv quickly swung into the branches above her, offering a hand down to Fili, and then Kili, pulling both into the tree behind her. "All of you! Come on, climb! Bilbo, climb!"

"They're coming!" Thorin shouted from the ground, and Liv reached down, hoisting him up as well. "Your hands?" He looked confused as he noticed the gashes were gone.

"Gandalf," She explained, before her eyes fell to the ground, noticing one companion who had not made it into the trees. "Bilbo is still on the ground!" She shouted, and Bofur quickly scampered down the tree to hoist Bilbo up, and just in the nick of time, the Wargs stalking around the trunks of the trees.

They were effectively going nowhere. From the shadows, a white warg strode forth, Azog on his back. She took in a deep breath. He was much, much larger than she had expected. Her blood ran cold. She knew in the end that she would have to be the only thing standing between Thorin and death, and her confidence wavered. She couldn't do this...

But she saw Fili and Kili above her in the Tree, and Thorin a few branches lower, and she steeled her face. She would have to. Or die trying.

Thorin suddenly turned, pushing branches out of his line of sight. "Azog..." He murmured disbelievingly.

The vile creature smiled, leaning forwards, speaking to his mount and his men in black speech. He then directed his words at Thorin, but she was unsure whether the dwarf understood the words or not. The only words she understood were his name, and the name of his father.

"It cannot be..." Thorin's voice was full of grief.

The white orc spoke in black speech again, pointing his weapon towards Thorin, and the rest of the orcs and wargs sprung forwards, Wargs beginning to claw at the trees, snapping at the ankles of those close to the ground.

Thorin nearly lost his balance, but regained it, climbing further up the tree away from the snapping jaws. "Hold on," He said to her and his nephews.

The first tree began to topple, and like dominoes they fell, jumping from tree to tree like lemurs until at last they reached the last tree on the embankment, all thirteen dwarves, hobbit, human, and wizard.

She made the mistake of looking down, gulping as she looked up and away, eyes glazing in fear. 

Suddenly, from above them, a fireball flew down, creating an arc of fire in the pine boughs below, wargs jumping back in fear from the fire. Like any animal, it terrified them. "Fili!" Gandalf dropped a flaming pinecone to Fili, and one to Balin, everyone else grabbing pinecones and lighting them from already lit ones, playing hot-potato with the burning cones before throwing them down as projectiles to the vile wolves below.

The fire soon spread, holding the wolves at bay, and the dwarves cheered. But the fire had licked at the base of their tree as well, and its roots began to loosen, tree falling till it was parallel to the ground, barely hanging on. Olivia slipped, hanging by her stomach over a branch, not far from Fili and Kili, who were hanging on by only their hands. Through her stone-cold fear, she reached down, trying to give them a boost, but was having a hard time reaching. Kili had gotten up a bit, but still had to wrap both arms around his branch to keep from falling, dangling out over the ground thousands of feet below.