Raven: An Unexpected Adventure

Six

Raven

Buckland, by the Old Forest

Mid-September 2958

Raven glared at the dwarf seated across the fire from her and he glared right back. Neither spoke, not since they'd entered into this strange impasse, all they did was glare at each other. Silently, Raven cursed him from booted foot to bald head, but outwardly she refused to let any of her emotions show. It might have gone on for longer, but Raven's stomach growled and dwarf finally cursed out loud. Since he had picked her up earlier in the day from the side of the road he'd been trying desperately to get her to talk to him. After thoroughly grilling him, she still refused and neither his suggestions of peace, bribes, or threats could get her to speak.

"You'll do neither of us any good sitting and glaring until you starve yourself to death." the dwarf grumbled as he finally got to his feet. He tossed something at her, and reflex caused Raven to catch it. He nodded appreciatively as she snagged the chunk of bread from the air. "Are you going to stop glaring and scheming to run long enough for me to make us some real supper or are we going to keep sitting here?" Raven would never admit that her shoulders drooped, no matter what stories might be told in the future.

The dwarf took her silence as agreement and stood, heading for the ram tied to the tree. She had tried to run before, that hadn't encouraged him to trust her. She'd been frightened though. He had introduced himself, but she didn't know if she should trust him, and he'd turned them around, going back towards the Shire rather than after Bilba. When he had caught her, she'd finally caved, desperate to get Bilba help rather than to let her get farther away. The dwarf had sent his dwarrow, half a dozen of them, in the direction that Raven had been going. They were to track her, and he said that he'd take her home. Raven didn't approve of going home. She wanted to go after Bilba, the dwarf just didn't believe that she was capable. Raven would prove him wrong, though, she was determined to.

As the dwarf walked, he rubbed absent-mindedly at his jaw, and Raven felt a little guilty knowing that she was the cause of his discomfort. "I'm sorry." she mumbled before she had a chance to think about it. The dwarf paused and glanced back at her.

"For what?" he growled and Raven motioned to her own jaw. The dwarf dropped his hand, almost as though he hadn't realized he had been prodding at the injury.

"Its nothing." he assured her gruffly.

"Uh-huh." Raven replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes; barely.

"Took me by surprise is all. You're sure you haven't had any training?" he looked back around at her and Raven shrugged. It had been a good hit, when he'd grabbed her earlier after her first escape attempt, she'd hit him hard in the jaw, he'd let go of her and she'd run again, but he recovered fast to her disappointment and hadn't dropped his guard around her again.

"I can hunt." he raised a scruffy eyebrow at her in obvious skepticism. "You know, use a knife and a sling and Ma was teaching me to use a bow too."

"Your amad never knew how to use a bow, could barely even use that letter opener." the dwarf gestured to where Raven wore Sting on her belt. Raven had admitted that Bilba was her mother, the dwarf already seemed to know, but Raven had been reluctant at first to make the actual confession. When she finally had, he'd had the nerve to chuckle at her and reply that he knew and his dwarrow were off to rescue their queen. Raven hadn't responded to that. She didn't know what to say.

"But you could train me, couldn't you?" Raven asked in a would-be innocent tone, unable to help her curiosity. She had always wanted to learn how to fight, and if she was going to be stuck with this dwarrow then the prospect of learning to fight wasn't horrendous. The dwarf glared at her before giving a curt nod.