Erebor's Guardian

Chapter 18

"No, he isn't." Bilbo appeared behind us slightly out of breath and the tightness of my chest subsided knowing he was safe.

"Bilbo!" Kili grinned from ear to ear. "They've given you up!"

"How did you get past the goblins?" Fili tilted his head slightly like a confused dog.

"How indeed?" Dwalin's tone was unsatisfied as he leaned on his ax.

Bilbo just gave a cheeky grin as he placed his fingers in the pockets of his waistcoat and played off the question with an innocent chuckle.

"What does it matter?" Gandalf's voice echoed slightly over the company as he tried to defend his burglar. "He's back."

"It matters," Thorin cut the wizard off dismissing his attempt to save Bilbo. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"

My toes curled in my boots at the nervousness that took over the whole group. If Thorin wanted Bilbo gone he was just about to get his wish. Instead of backing down and cowering away from the grumpy dwarf, Bilbo gave Thorin a look that quite said 'Are you fucking kidding me?' as the hobbit turned to the dwarf chest slightly puffed out. Bilbo had hit his limit with Thorin. "I know you doubt me. You always have and you're right. I do often think of Bag End. I miss my books, my armchair, and my garden. See that's where I belong. That's home. I came back because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you, but I will help you take it back. If I can."

For once Thorin's eyes dropped low from the hobbit's small round face in respect to Bilbo. But there was also a bit of pride in Thorin's blue eyes. Pride that the burglar finally stood up for himself and fully committed himself to Thorin and his people's mission. Deep down I could see the flicker of trust in Thorin that the warrior king trusted his new companion. But it was not only Thorin who had a new respect for Bilbo but the entire company was moved by this hobbit's words in his understanding of their suffering throughout Middle Earth and he warmed their hearts. Bilbo looked at the company not just as acquaintances but as his close dear friends.

A howl echoed from the mountain side in a deep hunger tone and we all drew our weapons ready for a fight. Jenna and Kylie flanked my sides ready for what lurked near the top of the mountain ridge.

"Out of the frying pan." Thorin said.

"And into the fire. Run. Run!" Gandalf yelled.

The company barreled down the mountain slope with the sounds of wargs chasing us. Soon our luck had run short as we came to the end of a cliff side with lone pines and a sheer drop on the other side.

"Everyone up into the trees! Climb!" Gandalf ordered. "Bilbo climb!"

The company began ascending into the tree tops in their own way. Fili and Kili hoisted Kylie and Jenna up into their own tree, Bombur was clinging to a surprisingly strong branch and I hung low from a branch waiting as Bilbo ran towards me. I grabbed the hobbit by the shoulders and did the world's strongest crunch, my abs protesting as I pulled the burglar up towards Thorin. Thorin grabbed Bilbo, setting him next to him in a safe place as I barely missed the jaws of a warg snapping at my face. I climbed two branches higher to avoid the wargs launching up towards me. The pack gathered around the base of each tree waiting for one of us to fall like begging dogs at the dinner table.

"What I wouldn't give for a bow right now." I mumbled to myself observing how the wargs just waited like sitting ducks waiting to be picked off. My frustration ate at me and I dug my nails into the bark of the tree, earning some wood particles under my nails. A flash of white caught my eye further back than the pack of waiting wargs. I glanced over to see a large white warg standing on a rock ledge snarling at the others like an alpha to his pack. Astride the warg was a mangled pale orc with claws for one hand and a mace in the other. From Balin's story of the battle of Moria this orc matched Azog's description. "Thorin..." My voice cracked as my eyes remained locked on the blue eyes of the orc.

Thorin's hand pushed down a bushy tree branch from his view. "Azog? It cannot be..."

Azong sniffed at the thin air and grinning like a Cheshire cat. The orc spoke in a deep unknown language as he smirked at Thorin. Azog raised his mace at Thorin and gave an order to his wargs shouting across the mountains. The wargs went into a frenzy trying to climb the trees snapping at our feet leaving claw marks down the trunks as the wargs fell back down to the ground. Their attacks shook the trees like the wind from a hurricane shaking us back and forth. I clung to the tree for dear life smacking into the trunk a few times from the recoil.

My heart raced in my chest beating against my ribs like a panicked caged bird. Tears welled in my eyes as fear overwhelmed my senses. There were only three ways this situation was going to end. One, we would fall down from the tree and be torn to shreds. Two, we would fall off the cliff side to our deaths. Finally, third we could jump down and fight the wargs, but a pack of orcs waited by Azog.

Suddenly, a large snap from the base of our tree echoed around us as the pine began to topple over from the weight landing in the tree behind it. Just moments before the tree hit the ground we all leaped from our fallen tree into the next one with Fili and Kili. Jenna and Kylie caught my arms hoisting me back into the tree. Then their tree cracked under the weight of the last pine and began to fall causing the next pine to go as well. We leapt from pine to pine like desperate squirrels running in the treetops. The pines fell like dominos until we were left in one lone weak tree on the very edge of the cliffside and Gandalf was perched at the top like an angel in a Christmas tree. I snagged the lowest branch and my grip started to slip. Dwalin reached down and pulled me up by my chest armor, slightly choking me until I laid out on the branch somewhat safe.

A warg spotted me and launched up the tree snapping his jaws at my face. I pulled my face away from its jaws inhaling the foul breath it breathed into my nose, but my forearm was not so lucky. The warg fell back down its teeth catching my bracer and pulled me out of the tree. I fell on my back, the wind forced from my lungs and my head smacked back into the ground hard. I fought to stay awake but in a split second I blacked out against my will.