IMAGINE: Bumping into the Company of Dwarves While Out Hunting

IMAGINE: Bumping into the Company While Hunting!

You press your back against the thick wood of an oak tree, arrow notched in your bow. The wind blows through your messy hair and your dirty clothes. You've been sleeping in the wild for over four weeks now, ever since orcs raided your village, leaving you as the only survivor, and the rough terrain of Middle Earth is starting to take its toll. You're now out hunting, as this is the only way for you to get food. You hear a twig snap under something and smile. It's probably a deer, perfect for your food that evening.

Gotcha, you think, and leap out, letting your arrow fly.

"What the...?!" A man's voice yells, and you gasp as you see your arrow fly between the legs of what you thought was a deer.

"Oh, Mordor!! I'm so sorry!" You cry, realising the poor person in your way was not in fact a deer, or an orc, but a blond dwarf with a braided beard and two axes. The dwarf looks at you, then slowly raises his axes. You quickly notch another of your hand-crafted arrows.

"Who are you?" The dwarf demands, suspicion evident in his young voice. You notice that he has startling blue eyes.

"I-I'm called Y/N." You say, worrying now about what is going to happen to you.

"Why are you here?!" He asks.

As he speaks, you notice that on his armour-clad hip sits a small leather pouch with a noticeable amount of what you can only guess is gold inside. The dwarf adjusts his position slightly and a sparkling coin peeks through the top, near were the drawstrings are pulled tight shut. It would only take a sword a few seconds, if that, to cut it off.

That amount of money could keep me going for a week. You think. I could get some nicer food from Bree and possibly even a night in a bar's backroom. Anything's better than spending more time out here. Mordor, I might even be able to get a change of clothes! You make up your mind on what to do right then. You're a skilled fighter. The dwarf shouldn't be too difficult to take out on his own. All you need to do is get him in a position where you can cut off the pouch, then you can leave him be without his cash.

"Why are you here?!" The dwarf repeats, sounding slightly frustrated. Then, quite suddenly, everything happens at once.

"Fee, I found some dry firewood over here at last. Why Gandalf can't magic a fire out of nothing, I don't know..." A new voice calls out, and a brunette dwarf with a bow not unlike yours jogs in the clearing, stopping quickly when he views the scene and freezing, while you lunge forward, throwing your bow on to your back and drawing your elvish sword (you'd found it in a troll cave) all in one movement.

The blond jumps back in surprise, accidentally crashing into a tree and, in his haste to get back to fight you, drop one of his axes onto the forest floor. You dive towards him, swinging your sword at his remaining axe, successfully disarming him with the unanticipated move.

That's right. You think. Girls can fight just like you, dwarf. You push him to the floor and sit on his chest as you start to cut of the leather bag with the gold inside, and momentarily forgetting about the other dwarf. In the time that you were fighting the fair-haired dwarf, the brunette had recovered from his shock and drawn his bow, all unknown to you.

"Yes!" You mutter as you manage to cut off the drawstrings of the pouch, revealing as much money, if not more, as you thought there would be inside. Ignoring the grunts of the blond's protests, you slip it inside your pockets and go to get up.

"Stop." A voice commands. You jump in surprise and look up to find an arrow aimed at your face. "Get. Off. My. Brother."

You try to move away, grabbing for your sword, but you hear the twang of a bow's string being pulled back and drop it again.