THE CELESTIAL AND THE COMPANY *A Hobbit fanfic*

Chapter 17; An old friend's debt

*Author's note*

Alrighty guys, here we go with the introduction to our beloved bargeman Bard himself.

Now as a brief history b/t Hela and Bard as you'll see in the story but I'll give you a bit more info. She met Bard when he came into Manhood. From there she helped train him to fight with a sword and help improve his archery skills. She also helped set up him and his wife and would check in on them every now and then, there she also got to know Bard's 3 children and became their godmother, esp. after Bard's wife passed away when Tilda was still a babe.

Their relationship is PURELY PLATONIC, they are dear friends to each other (kinda think of Clint and Natasha). There's respect for the other but they won't hesitate to lecture the other when things get out of hand (as you'll soon see).

Alright now enough of my rambling, enjoy this next chapter my dears :)

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The current slowed down and the river was finally calm. I was leaning against Fili's barrel looking around to see if anymore orcs were coming from behind us.

"Anything behind us?" Thorin asked.

"Not that I can see." Balin replied. I looked up exhaustedly at my company to see that we were now all back together, some of their barrels half drowned due to the rapids. Bofur came out from his barrel spitting out water as he said.

"I think we've outrun the orcs."

"Not for long we've lost the current." Thorin said.

"Bombur's half drowned." Dwalin said.

"Make for the shore!" Thorin called out as we saw a shore of rocks and boulders just a foot away from us. We all swam towards it, I released Fili's barrel and swam thew rest of the way on my own before crawling up the rocks.

My body drained and exhausted and my head still pounding. One particular pound to the head made me groan and collapse onto my stomach holding my scarred left eye. Bofur came up to me and just looked at me sympathetically.

"I'm fine Bofur it's nothing."

"Nothing? Hela you almost drowned under the rapids! And that orc hit your head so hard against that stone, you've scarred your eye up!" Kili exclaimed worriedly. I looked to my left to see the brothers looking at me with both fear and anger. I slowly rose up but my legs felt like jelly as I collapsed again.

This time however Fili, Kili and Bofur managed to hold me up before I could bellyflop onto the rocks again. They adjusted me so that I was sitting normally, Fili and Kili supporting my weight on their chests just as Thorin said.

"On your feet."

"Hela's hurt! She may have a concussion." Fili told his uncle.

"There's an orc pack on our tail. We keep moving." Thorin replied back immediately after Fili's statement about my condition.

"To where?" asked Balin.

"To the Mountain we're so close." Bilbo responded.

"A lake lies between us and that mountain. We have no way to cross it." Balin retorted. That's true, without a boat or any water-like transportation they'll never reach the mountain in time.

"So then we go around." Bilbo suggested but Dwalin argued.

"The orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight. We've no weapons to defend ourselves."

"Bind her head quickly. You have two minutes." Thorin said. I sighed heavily as I let out a hiss as another spike of pain attacked me. Oin then came up to me and held my chin up and asked me.