An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Fifteen: Ouch That Hurt

“Uncle! Thalia’s been shot,” Kíli cried as Thalia glared at the offending arrow that was now stuck through her shoulder; she hissed in pain feeling Fíli quickly check her shoulder knowing that she was going to be in a lot of trouble.

Thalia blinked moving to keep herself calm, she was injured and if she did anything drastic such as pulling the arrow from her shoulder then she’d bleed to death rather quickly.

Thorin was suddenly by Thalia’s side making her shake her head as she took a deep breath, she steadied herself as the dwarf king gave her shoulder a quick check knowing that they didn’t have time to stop and treat it.

Kíli quickly whirled around and fired a shot at the approaching warg, they were closing in and with Thalia suddenly injured it left them with a problem.

“We cannot remain here,” Gandalf said attempting to urge the dwarves to move forward, he ignored the glare that Thalia shot at him as she gritted her teeth as a sharp pain shot through her shoulder; she needed treating and soon.

Thorin was also glaring at the wizard who he held personally responsible for her sudden injury; he didn’t know what Gandalf was doing but it had resulted in Thalia being hurt.

“Will you be okay?” Ori asked as he looked at Thalia with big concerned eyes, she nodded as she forced a smile knowing that she couldn’t slow down the company now.

Bilbo also watched her concerned as other members of the company prepared their weapons. Gandalf frowned knowing that they wouldn’t all survive a fight like this and they needed to get moving; he quickly hurried away making Thalia roll her eyes.

“He’s really starting to annoy me,” Thalia muttered making Balin nod his head, his war worn eyes looked over at Thorin knowing that the wizard was going to get someone killed if he continued on this way; he had brought Thalia into this quest and now didn’t seem to care what her fate would be.

“I’m okay… we need to move,” Thalia said glancing behind her at the circling wargs and orcs, she swallowed hoping that the next run wouldn’t be as far; she didn’t want to jar her shoulder too much.

Thorin frowned as he pulled out his new sword, orcrist, knowing that she was right but the wizard had left them behind and with her injury she would be easily picked off by the orcs and he couldn’t let that happen.

“Come quickly,” Gandalf called suddenly appearing from one of the rock formations making Thalia look at Thorin, she knew that the wizard was leading them towards something and she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to end well when they reached their destination.

The dwarf king huffed annoyed at the wizard wondering what he was playing at, he nodded at Balin to take Thalia with him as the company started to move towards the opening where Gandalf was waiting for them.

“I’m okay,” Thalia said as the quickly reached the opening, the blonde bit back a groan as she noticed the small drop and she cursed softly knowing that going down was going to hurt her shoulder.

Balin nudged Thalia forward making her glare at him as several of the dwarves hurried down the drop, she wasn’t in a rush to hurt herself even more and she knew that sooner or later she would have to go.

Thorin glared at Thalia as she told Balin to go ahead, he didn’t know what she was playing at, he didn’t want her getting even more hurt than she already was; she was his responsibility and he didn’t want her hurt again.

Soon it was only Kíli left in the field holding off the wargs as the rest of the company got to safety, he glanced behind him as Thorin called him back to the group as everyone but Thalia ducked into the hole that Gandalf had found.

“Go Thalia,” Thorin ordered when he looked at Thalia, she shook her head focusing on the wargs knowing that the chances of them getting away unharmed from this weren’t good; she was already injured and she didn’t want that to happen to Kíli.

Thorin muttered under his breath of the stubbornness of women, he didn’t know why she was refusing to get herself to safety when she was clearly not going to be any help while she was injured.

Suddenly an orc took a shot at Kíli as the dwarf prince hurried towards the cavern that the company was hiding; he glanced behind him as the arrow soured through the air towards him, his eyes widening as it grew closer before it suddenly stopped in mid-air.

Thorin stared shocked as Kíli approached him, he had never seen anything like that before and he wasn’t sure what to make of it; the sudden panting from behind him made the dwarf king turn to look at Thalia.

Thalia had her good arm out stretched and her blue eyes focused in concentration as if this was difficult, she opened her eyes as she carefully lowered her hand allowing the arrow that had been aimed at Kíli to drop to the ground as the sound of horses approaching caught her attention.

Kíli grabbed a hold of Thalia and pulled her into the cavern were the others were hiding as Thorin followed after them once he was sure that everyone from the company was safe.

Thalia nodded at Kíli with a small smile as she pulled away from him allowing him to go to his brother. 

The sounds of battle overhead reached the company as they listened closely as they waited to see what would happen now; Gandalf stood off to the back with his eyes watching the entrance of the cavern wondering what had happened outside.

Thalia took a deep breath leaning against the far wall, her shoulder hissed in protest knowing that she had used her powers when she shouldn’t; she watched the company wondering what would happen now.

“We need to get moving,” Gandalf said suddenly making Thorin look at him, he snorted as he glared at the wizard who didn’t seem to care that their witch had been injured.

The dwarf king’s blue eyes sort out Thalia concerned for her, he wanted to check out her injury before they went anywhere.

“Balin check Thalia’s injury… we’ll rest here for a moment,” Thorin ordered concerned looking at Thalia concerned, the colour had drained from her face and she didn’t look well; it worried him that this had happened to her.

Balin nodded his head, he hurried over to the witch to check her over while Gandalf moved to protest; he knew that they needed to move now before more trouble found them.

“I must insist,” Gandalf said approaching Thorin, he didn’t want to waste time when he was sure that treating Thalia could wait until they reached a safer place; he had plans for the company and they needed to stick to them.

“And I must insist that we wait,” Thorin snapped furious that the wizard had such lack of concern for the witch that he had dragged into their world; she was his responsibility and he was going to make sure that she survived this quest as best as possible.

The two men glared at one another before a thud caught their attention as Balin cursed aloud making Thorin look behind him.

His heart raced as he moved forward through the concerned group of dwarves towards the now unconscious form of Thalia who was looking even worse than she had done before.

Thorin didn’t know what it was but he was slowly becoming attached to Thalia and her presence.