My Own Star In The Sky

Chapter 21: Bard the Bowman

Dakota's POV:

We floated through the water. We reached to exit of the long cave. I saw a waterfall and so did Thorin. "Hold on!" He shouted and grabbed the edge of the barrel with one hand and my waist with the other. We fell down the waterfall and landed in the water. We went down the rest of the river and it was absolutely crazy. The barrel went from side to side and we hit a few rocks. In the distance I heard an elf horn. We had almost reached a small gate but the horn was a sort of alarm and the guards saw us coming. There was a possible chance to still escape because we were going quite fast. One of the guards pulled a lever and the gate started closing. Just before we reached it the gate closed. Thorin and I tried to open it by force but nothing worked. A dead elf fell into the water behind us. "Watch out, orcs!" Bofur yelled and Thorin looked at me in panic. I jumped out of the barrel and walked on the other barrels to get to the ground. Dozens of orcs were fighting a couple of elves and they wouldn't survive. I drew my twin dagger and slit a throat of an orc. I could hear Thorin shouting for me to come back.

I saw Kili jumping out as well but he was unarmed. An orc charged towards him but Kili grabbed its head and smashed it into a wall. Dwalin threw an orc-blade towards him and he killed another orc. I killed two more orcs and tried to get to Kili to protect him but there were too many orcs. I saw Kili running towards the lever and just before he could pull it he got shot in his leg by a tall and big orc. Kili fell down in pain. I twisted an orcs neck and stuck my dagger in another one's head. An orc appeared and was looking at Kili but then got shot. I turned around and saw Tauriel. Out of the bushes more elves appeared including Legolas. They fought the orcs and I joined them while trying to get to Kili. He somehow stood up and pulled the lever. I heard the gate open but Kili fell to the ground again in more pain than before. I finally reached him and pushed him over the edge into a barrel.

All the barrels floated down the river and I saw Thorin looking at me but I stayed where I was. I killed a few more orcs and then leaped over the edge of the big stone wall followed by Legolas and Tauriel. I shot any orc that came to close to killing one of my friends and so did the elves that followed me.

Legolas jumped off a log and onto the heads of the dwarves and shot an orc. He leaped from head to head reaching the other side and he killed some more orcs. An orc stood behind him and raised his axe but Thorin threw a blade and killed the creature. Legolas stopped and looked at the company and I stood next to him. When Thorin's eyes met mine I couldn't resist and jumped off the cliff and into the water. I reached the surface and swam towards the others who were going way faster than me. I clutched on the nearest barrel. It was Fili who was in the barrel. "Kota!" Ha said surprised. I smiled at him. The orcs were still following us but eventually they couldn't keep up with us and there was no possibility to follow us along the shore.

"Anything behind us?" Thorin asked from ahead of the barrels. "Not that I can see." Balin answered. "I think we've run out the orcs!" Bofur stated. "Not for long! We've lost the current!" Thorin replied. "Make for the shore!" He commanded. Fili was paddling with his arms and I helped him. We reached the shore and I helped Fili out of his barrel. Fili, Bofur and I stood around Kili. He said that he'd be fine but I saw he was lying. "On your feet." Thorin said to us all. "Kili's wounded. His leg needs binding." Fili said to his uncle. "There's an orc pack on our tail. We keep moving." Thorin said. "To where?" Balin asked. "To the mountain. We're so close." Bilbo answered. "A lake lies between us and that mountain. We have no way to cross it." Balin argued. "So, than we go around." Bilbo said as if it was an obvious solution. "Then the orcs will run us down." Dwalin stated. "We have no weapons to defend ourselves." He added. "Bind his leg, quickly." Thorin said to Fili and me. "You have two minutes." He added.