Skin Changer : A Hobbit FanFiction (Discontinued)

Heartfelt Pain

Thorin sputtered as water entered his mouth. While uncomfortable, escaping in barrels no one would miss was genius thinking on the Hobbit's part. He only wished...

Approaching light disturbed his thoughts, and he couldn't help but smile as an open floodgate came into view. Soon, they'd be free.

He refused to dwell on the fact that they had neither weapons nor armor until a later date.

Just as his barrel was about to pass beneath the stone bridge and out into the river proper, a horn sounded in the palace, and the gate closed. An automatic mechanism.

Vocalizing angrily, he shook the iron bars, water sloshing into the barrel to soak his feet. Cries of dismay sounded behind him, and he turned in time to see several armed elves marching toward them, spears in hand.

Had Ilma failed?

Suddenly, one of the elves jerked back violently, collapsing onto the stones with a black arrow in his chest.

Thorin scowled as he recognized the arrow's make. "Orcs." Turning to the rest of the Company, he quickly claimed their attention. "We need to open the gate! Quickly!"

He was trapped against the bars, and he watched with tense apprehension as Kili climbed out of his barrel, reaching for the lever that would open the floodgate. Out of the corner of his eye, Thorin saw a flash of white, and he tried to follow it.

Could it be?

Kili's cry of pain wrenched his focus back to the problem at hand.

"Uncle!" Fili said desperately, expression panicked. "He's been shot!"

Thorin didn't have much time to think about that before the gate opened behind him and he was falling down a steep waterfall. The river closed in above his head, and he gasped, swallowing water. He coughed and sputtered as the barrel propelled him back to the surface, pulling hair from his face.

The orcs were following along the shore, avidly pursued by elves. Black arrows and crude blades flew toward the Company, but the dwarves had a difficult time dodging as the rapids drew them insistently beneath the waves.

Thorin kept his gaze trained on the riverbank, straining to find some sign, a glimpse of-

There!

Ilma ran beside the elf who'd imprisoned the dwarves, dressed in proper armor. There was a blade in her hand, and she beheaded an orc as Thorin watched. Their eyes met as the corpse fell into the river, and a smile split her face. Relief flooded through Thorin, and he smiled back.

She followed them as closely as she was able, pausing only to cut down orcs woth bows trained on the Company. The dwarves cheered as she leapt over other fights, smiling all the while. She came to an overhang, and made to jump into the river.

An arm reached out and pulled her back by the waist. An orc placed a blade to her neck, and a fierce pain gripped Thorin's heart. The orc was felled by an elf Thorin could only assume was her brother. Neither of them noticed the hilking orc approaching from behind.

Body moving on its own, Thorin threw the sword he'd salvaged before it fell in the river, killing the orc before it could land a blow. As her brother turned to look at it in shock, Ilma met Thorin's gaze, the sadness in her eyes following him as the river carried him away.