Hope and Memory[Thorin Oakenshield Love Story]

[Chapter Thirty]

The barrels continued down the rapid river and eventually the orcs had fallen behind. As they got further down the river the water had calmed down and their means of speed had ended. The dwarves began to paddle the rest of the way towards an area with chunks of rocks, above the river. " Anything behind us?" Thorin shouted, to the few dwarves that wer furthest behind.

" Not that I can see." Balin informed. The dwarves continued to paddle to shore. Bofur, poked his head out of his barrel, spitting out a mouthful of water looking around and noticed they were the only ones in the area.

" I thnk we've outrun the orcs."

" Not for long. We've lost the current." Thorin stated, as he and Freya neared the rocks with the others.

" Bombur's half drowned." Dwalin shouted from behind them.

" Make for the shore!" The prince ordered. They paddled faster and started empting themselves out of the barrels and climbing onto the rocks. Thorin climbed out of the barrel first and helped the woman out of it. Freya looked around for her cousin. The woman could feel her heart racing when she didn't see Bilbo among the floating barrels filled with dwarves, that were still waiting to climb onto the rocks and she feared he might of drowned.

" Freya?"

The hobbit turned around, and relief spread on her face to see Bilbo standing behind her. She ran over to him and hugged him. " Bilbo. I thought something might have happened to you." Freya admitted, letting Bilbo go.

" Your not going to get rid of me that easily little cousin. " Bilbo chuckled. The two of them laughed. Kili had fallen on the rocks, clutching his leg that had recieved an arrow earlier when they were stuck at the guardpost. Freya looked to her side to see the young dwarf in pain and she walked over to him with concern. Kili looked up when he suddenly saw her standing in front of him.

" I'm fine. It's nothing." Kili muttered. She didn't believe it for one second. She was soon joined by Fili who saw the distress his younger brother was in and ripped off a piece of clothing to stop the bleeding.

" On your feet." Thorin urged, walking passed his two nephews and the woman.

" Kili's wounded. His leg needs binding." Fili insisted, not moving until his brother was fine.

" There's an orc pack on our tail. We keep moving." Thorin pressed. Freya looking at the leader oddly. He didn't show any concern for his young nephew that had been hurt badly.

" To where?" Balin questioned, walking over with Bilbo by his side to Thorin and Freya.

" To the mountain. We're so close." Bilbo stated, not realizing it was a little more complicated then that.

" A Lake lies between us and that Mountain." Freya pointed out. "We have no way to cross it." the woman insisted, pointing to the body of water that laid before them. The barrels wouldn't do them any good. The orcs would surely catch up to them, and kill them before they even made it to Lake-Town.

" So, then we go around." Bilbo insisted, looking at his cousin and Balin.

" The orcs will run us down, as sure as day light." Dwalin stated. " We've no weapons to defend ourselves." The dwarf added, looking to his king, wanting to know what he thought was best for them. Thorin walked a few paces until he was in the middle of the company.

" Bind his leg, quickly. You all have two minutes."

The two hobbit's were talking with Thorin and Balin, while the other dwarves, emptied the water that filled their boots, unaware that they were no longer along. Ori was the first to suddenly feel the presence of somebody else, and he slowly looked up from what he was doing, making the others notice the youngest dwarf's hesitation and they all looked to see a tall figure standing on top of the rocks, with a bow an arrow aimed at them.