Raging Fire

Chapter 11 'Cold! Cold! I'm freezing!'

"Hold my breath? What do you mean?" Bofur asked again. Bilbo pulled the lever, sending the barrels with their content rolling towards the edge. "This is going to be fun." Altáriël said, forgetting about her sadness for a moment."

As they fell into the river Bilbo had forgotten about himself. The woodland elves were coming closer. The hobbit walked back and the floor toppled over, Bilbo fell into the river and quickly grabbed a hold of Enelya's barrel. She still wasn't completely awake, and her hungover headache only made it worse. "Bilbo! I want you to steer Enelya, she's not gonna survive if she keeps slamming against rocks!" Altáriël shouted. She was concerned for her friend, but couldn't possibly help her herself. The company had to use their arms to make sure they wouldn't crash against some rocks, and the effort she had to make made her stretch her back. The wound the goblin king had given her had almost healed, but the skin was still a bit soar. She cried out in pain when she pushed herself away from a rock. The dwarves looked at her, concern evident on their faces. "Hold on!" Thorin yelled, there was a waterfall ahead. Bilbo grasped Enelya's arm and clammed his other hand on the barrel. They almost toppled over, but they made it. Altáriël sighed in relief before going down the waterfall herself. The elven guards were running alongside the river. Legolas was amongst them. as much as he wanted his two elven friends to get away safely, he couldn't let the dwarves and the hobbit go. "Holo in-annon!" [Shut the gate!] He yelled. He had made his decision, as soon as the company would get stuck by the gate he would help the girls out of their barrels, and let them go on. "NO!" Thorin yelled. He saw the elves close the gate he wanted to escape through. Suddenly one of the guards was shot in his back with a black arrow. Orcs. They were killing the elves, who were so surprised they were easily murdered. "Have I learnt you nothing!" Altáriël called, she went ashore, and grabbed arrows and a bow from the already dead elves. She began to shoot the orcs, making her way towards the lever that would open the gate. On her way she quickly threw a sword for Ori to catch and protect the company from the attacking orcs. She was almost at her target, but Kíli was already there. A big arrow flew through the air, hitting its mark in Kíli's leg. The company yelled his name. And for a moment Altáriël paused. Before running over and helping the wounded dwarf back into his barrel, she forgot all about the conversation he had with Tauriel, focusing only on saving Kíli. She pulled the lever and jumped over the watch post into her former barrel. She continued to shoot the orcs, with help from the other elves. Tauriel was there too, and looked at Altáriël, she regretted hating her so much, seeing that the things the brunette did were only to help her friends. And she continued to shoot.
Enelya finally was awake enough to realise they were in danger, all signs of the hangover suddenly gone, she saw Bilbo barely hanging on to her barrel, afraid for his life. She got out of her barrel, standing on its sides and helped Bilbo get in. She knew that they would be lost without their burglar. Legolas was shooting orcs, using the heads of the dwarves as his ground. Enelya began to do the same. She stole one of her former friend's blades and slashed at the orcs. The dwarves were complaining about the techniques of the elves, but continued to fight. When she reached an empty barrel she jumped in, throwing the blade to Bofur.
As soon as they reached a part where the river calmed down, the company paddled along using their hands. Altáriël felt weaker than ever before, the escape had cost her a lot of energy, but she ignored it and went through. "Anything behind us?" Thorin suddenly asked. Altáriël looked around and saw nothing, she hoped that they would rest soon. "Nothing I can see." Balin answered. Bofur continued, checking once more. "I think we've outrun the orcs." "Not for long; we've lost the current." Their leader said. Dwalin pointed out that Bofur was half drowned and Thorin ordered for them to come ashore. Being the ever gentleman, Fíli helped Enelya out of one of the barrels. She thanked him and looked away, a small blush creeping on her face. She knew that her best friend's wound couldn't possibly have completely healed and was worried about her, but she didn't go to her, knowing Altáriël wouldn't accept her help now. "Come on!" Dwalin encouraged the last of the dwarves to set foot on land. Directly after Altáriël felt the ground she sat down. Kíli came to sit next to her. he wanted to ask why she had ignored him this morning, but the arrow wound began to sting. Altáriël noticed his pain, and bend over him to take a look at the source of it. "Are you alright Kíli? Do I need to bind it for you, I am no expert in healing stuff, but I can try it for you?" It looked bad, worse than a normal wound made by any arrow. "I'm fine, it's nothing." Kíli spoke confused, he had not expected the woman to forget about the small conflict so easily. She wanted to call Enelya to take a look, but as soon as she opened her mouth, Thorin spoke. "On your feet." Altáriël didn't agree with him wanting to go. "Kíli's wounded. His leg needs binding." She argued. Thorin looked bothered by her comment, it wasn't often that she spoke against his commands. And he talked again. "There's an orc pack on our tail; we keep moving." "To where?" Balin asked. Atláriël felt in her pockets, she swore she still had some sort of bandage left from one of her former wounds. It wouldn't be the best thing to bind ones leg with, but the river had washed it clean for the most part. "Bind his leg, quickly. You have two minutes Altáriël." The final decision came from the leader. The brunette looked at Enelya to help, but she was deep in her thoughts, staring at something in the distant. The rest of the dwarves noticed her stare as well, and followed her gaze to see a man standing there, pointing his loaded bow towards Ori. The dwarves began to search for something to stop the attacker. But each time they got something, the mystery man shot it out of their hands. Balin tried another approach, he walked towards the man with his arms raised and spoke; "Excuse me, but, uh, you're from Laketown, if I'm not mistaken? That barge over there, it wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?" Altáriël focused her attention again on Kíli, now the threat was gone. She finished binding his leg and looked up to him to see if he was satisfied with her care. "Is this better?" She questioned. He nodded his head yes. Allowing Altáriël to speak again. "I'm truly sorry about my rude behaviour this morning. I haven't slept very well last night, can I make it up to you?" She continued while Kíli stared into her eyes. The dwarf thought for a moment, trying to guess her intentions. He noticed the way her eyes had begun to shine again, something that seemed to have disappeared after the goblin city. He noticed the way a small smile played at her lips as she watched him stare, but right now he couldn't care. He felt something around her he had never felt before, the urge to kiss her hadn't appeared since their little moment in the trees, but now it had returned. But what about Tauriel? He liked her as well. Not as much as Altáriël, but would his uncle approve of them together? His nephew and beloved adopted daughter, in a relationship? All of these thoughts flashed through his mind in a few seconds, and he decided not to kiss her, yet. "You don't have to make anything up to me, Altáriël." And as he watched her rise and walk over to the others he whispered; "The only thing you could do to make it better is to say you feel the same"
In the time the two had talked, Balin had bargained with the mystery mean, who's name appeared to be Bard. They boarded Bard's barge. Altáriël still felt the cut the horrible goblin gave her and sat against the boat. The others were digging up money from their pockets to pay the bowman. Altáriël didn't have money anymore, the last three coins she had already given. "There's, um, just a problem: we're ten coins short." Balin said, Enelya found another coin in the depths of her pockets and threw it on the pile of coins. When the dwarves rose of from the places they were sitting to look at the Lonely Mountain, she remained seated. She did not feel the same excitement to reclaim the kingdom as she did when she joined the quest in Rivendell. She had understood that if they could indeed survive the dragonfire and get back the mountain she and Altáriël would part their ways. Altáriël would stay with the dwarves, with Kíli, once the two found out about the feelings for each other of course. Enelya knew she wouldn't be able to live with the dwarves, she would never feel truly accepted by the other race. So she had started a new plan. She would start now with adjusting to a life without the constant jokes from Altáriël. Ori suddenly spoke to her, he and the rest of the company were hidden in the barrels! She hadn't noticed the sudden movements of her companions and stood up to find an empty barrel to hide in as well.
The barge stopped and Bard hopped of the boat. Altátiël was looking through a hole in her barrel, trying to see what the man was doing. The others had the same idea apparently because Dwalin asked what she was thinking. "Shh, what's he doing?" Altáriël watched Bard closely; "He's talking to someone... And he's.. pointing right at us!" She answered. Bilbo continued; "Now they're shaking hands." "What?" Thorin asked indignant. "That villain! He's selling us out." Dwalin said, about to hop out of the barrel to do something about the traitor.
Suddenly the barrels were filled with fish. Enelya's face scrunched up, she hated fish. The smell of it was enough to almost make her puke. She squeezed her nose shut with her thumb and index finger, but it didn't help much. The barge started moving again. Enelya hoped the journey would be short, she longed for fresh, warm clothes. Her hopes almost came true when she felt her barrel being lifted towards the edge of the boat. She nearly stood up to shake the fish off of her, when her barrel was toppled over, a fish fell back into the water and she looked up, a strange man was trying to dump the fish back in the lake! The blonde tried to make herself smaller, disappearing further into her hiding place. The man suddenly stopped and walked away. Bard must've saved them from some political business, the girl thought. They travelled on towards Bard's house. This ride was a bit shorter and this time her barrel fell over all the way. She crawled out of the fish and stood up. Looking around to see where the company had ended up now. Bard slipped the dock keeper a coin; "You didn't see them, they were never here. The fish you can have for free." He told the confused and shocked man, who simply nodded. Bard looked at Thorin, a plan forming in his head to get the rest of them in.
Minutes later the company was swimming through the ice cold water of the lake as Bard had instructed them. they knew what house they had to go to luckily. Altáriël loved swimming, but not in this cold. They were explained by the bowman that they had to enter his house through the toilet, because his house was being watched. Altáriël had instantly made a joke about it, but now they were carrying out the man's plan the dwarves weren't laughing anymore. She let the others get through the hole first. When she was the last one in the water she swum up towards the light. She silently prayed that she wouldn't get anything in her face or hair that would be floating around. She climbed out of the toilet as fast as she could, shivering as the cold air hit her wet body. "Cold, cold! I'm freezing!" She said while shivering. Her clothes clung to her body, showing of her curves. She noticed some of the dwarves checking her out, but she didn't care, she was looking at a particular dwarf herself.

    I do not own the Hobbit, I only own my own two characters Enelya and Altáriël. If you see any mistakes please tell me. Also if you have any tips for me, I'd be happy to hear it.