Predator or Prey | The Hobbit

NINETEEN

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Predator or Prey

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

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"Anything behind us?" Thorin asked, using the large stick he found to push his barrel while everyone else used their hands.

"Not that I can see." Balin answered. He was in the back, keeping watch along with Selene and Bilbo who still shared a barrel.

Bofur popped up from inside his barrel and spit out a stream of water, "I think we've outrun the orcs."

"Not for long. We've lost the current." replied Thorin.

"Bombur's half drowned." Dwalin pointed out and all eyes went on the fat dwarf who laid stomach first on his barrel.

"Make for the shore!" Thorin told the others.

Dwalin nodded and began to paddle towards it. "Aye."

Everyone else followed their king's command and pushed themselves to shore.

Dwalin and Dori were the first ones to get out of their barrels. They waited for everyone else to reach them, before helping them out of their barrels.

"Come on, you big lump!" Bofur huffed, assisting Dori with getting Bombur out. He was stuck.

When Selene arrived at the shore, Thorin was the one who helped her and Bilbo. The hobbit declined his help, easily jumping out of the barrel and onto the rock. He slipped, but quickly got back up.

"Come," Thorin held out his arms for Selene, who grabbed onto his strong shoulders and wriggled out of the barrel she was in. Thorin placed his hands on her hips so she wouldn't fall. Once she kicked the barrel away, she was able to stand in the water in front of the handsome dwarf and thanked him. "Are you alright?" he asked, scanning her face.

She nodded shyly. She didn't like the way he was looking at her. It her made feel weird. "Yes. Are you?"

He grunted in response and pointed out how her marks and cuts were healing. In which, she replied the same thing she told Bilbo when he first pointed it out too. He let her walk up onto shore first, so if she slipped, he would be right there to catch her.

Kíli groaned in pain out loud, clutching his thigh and dropped onto the rocks. Selene did not let this go unnoticed, so she hurried over to his side. She could see dark blood oozing out of a deep wound.

Bofur joined her side, watching the young lad with a frown. Kíli noticed their presence and tried to brush them off.

"I'm fine. It's nothing." he said.

Selene glared at him. "Nothing? You're losing a lot of blood, Kíli. And it's nothing?" She examined his wound some more and came up with a decision on how to help him. She was going to have him drink some of her blood. As mad as it sounded, it was the only way it could help him. Her blood could heal him and the large gash on his thigh. But, since he was shot by an orc's arrow, she knew that there was a chance the arrow could have been laced with poison. That was how the orcs were.