for all the gold || hobbit {completed}

chapter twelve - downriver

"Kili!"

The shout left my throat before I could even help myself. He had been hit. He had gone down. I kept my eyes upwards, willed for the familiar dark head to reappear. Where had the arrow hit? Was it fatal? Was he dead?

Before I could find an answer, an orc grabbed a handful of my hair and began to pull me backwards against my barrel. Crying out in pain, I swung my fist around, catching the orc on the face and only causing him to tighten his grip.

"Let go of me!" I shouted, and spun around, punching the orc's nose again harder. His grip lessened and he fell backwards into the water with a great splash. Breathless, wincing still, I looked up to the other river bank. I could only watch, horrified, as orc after orc swarmed over the elves' defences. Yet there was some hope though, surprisingly in the form of our former captors. The she-elf that had been talking to Kili in his cell was launching arrow after arrow, taking down any orc that came into her path. The pale-haired elf from before too was fighting amongst the fray. For elves, they didn't fight too badly.

But I didn't have much time to admire their fighting styles. Another hand was clawing for my throat. I spun around again only for a sudden lurch to send me almost reeling backwards from the barrel and the orcs around it to lose their grip.

The gates. They were opening. I looked back up to the lever only to see Kili, weakened and with an arrow protruding from his leg, clutching it before he fell back again.

"Kili!" Fili cried out, panicked. Our barrels were already beginning to move forward.

But there was no reason to fear. The injured dwarf managed to roll himself from the bridge and land, awkwardly but alive, into his barrel.

"Idiot," I said, shaking my head, though I clapped him on the back nonetheless as our barrels began to move out from under the bridge. He had freed us, even to the point of having his leg shot.

But our troubles were far from over.

Before we made it more than a few feet from the gate, our barrels were pulled down a sharp waterfall, dragging us along with them. Coughing and spluttering, we emerged from the water, only to fall down another waterfall and then another.

Struggling to keep my eyes open and my mouth clear of water, I lost track of the other barrels; my only concern being the water and the barrel's resistance to it. Only as an arrow embedded itself into the side of the barrel did I realise we were still being pursued. Turning my head, I caught the sight of orc figures running after us on the river banks with elves behind them.

I could only hold the view for a second before, once more, I was plunged into white spray. Gasping for breath, my hands caught something solid and warm. Only as the spray eased and the river slowed could I see whose arm I was clinging to.

"Ori," I gasped, mostly relieved to see that it wasn't an orc, but also that the young dwarf was still in one piece. He managed a weak wet smile, before the river turned again and his arm slipped from my grip.

The orcs were gaining some ground on us. Another arrow narrowly missed my arm, hitting the side of my barrel barely an inch from where it had just been. Up ahead, an orc had even leapt at Balin, only to end up impaled to an over-hanging tree trunk by Oakenshield. Our leader caught the beast's sword, which he threw back to Dwalin, to Nori, who then threw it to Fili, just a barrel ahead of me. He took his chance, swung, and brought an orc on the side crashing down into the river and almost on top of me.

This did not stop them from attacking further. As we were swept around another bend, one managed to jump out and land behind me on my barrel, blade raised. The barrel jolted- the river dipped again- and the orc lost his balance. He regained it, but only by wrapping his arm around my shoulders and leaving his skin exposed to my teeth.