Blackfoot

Chapter 13

At Beorn's, Thorin took his pipe out of his mouth, staring at the tree line bordering Beorn's home. He got to his feet, watching carefully. He had refused to move, now that they were in relative safety, he had to wait.

Dwalin and Fili were watching him.

"Is everything alright Uncle?" Fili looked nervous, having not seen the distant look in his eyes before.

Thorin doesn't answer, instead he starts to run. The two call after him, but when he doesn't answer, they follow, casting a worried look at each other.

He runs into the trees looking around, she was here, he knew it.

A growling groan got his attention and he moved towards it. Selene was there, leaning heavily back against a tree, her eyes jammed shut from the pain as she gasped for air and clutched tightly at her leg.

"Selene!" Thorin slid down next to her, his hands brushing her hair from her face.

Her eyes open but barely, enough to focus on him. "Hullo..."

He frowns and feels her temperature, she was burning up, and then her pulse, which was very fast. "Selene...we need to get you healed."

She just mumbled something, barely holding onto consciousness as Dwalin and Fili caught up.

Dwalin stops, looking down at her very weak form. "Mahal have mercy, she is alive. Thorin-"

"Help me get her up." Thorin orders looking worried, moving one of her arms around his shoulder.

Dwalin bends down and grabs her other arm, having to pull the staff out of her hand first, and the two dwarves start to carry her.

"Fili, run ahead and tell Gandalf." Thorin says quickly and Fili doesn't need telling twice. "Selene, you need to stay awake."

His response was another mumble which made his expression turn grim. The whole way back he kept talking to her, occasionally getting a nonsensical worded response, but most of the time it was mumbling.

Gandalf greeted them, with a very worried looking Company behind them, and Beorn frowning as they approached.

"You failed to mention that the one you were waiting for was a skin changer, Gandalf." He grumbled.

"Yes well..." Gandalf cast him a look. "I felt it better not to mention it, but I did not expect her to arrive in this condition."

Thorin and Dwalin arrived with her between them, looking worried.

"She's barely conscious Gandalf." Thorin said. "And very weak."

"Get her inside." Beorn said, looking her up and down for moment. "We can treat her in there."

They carry her inside and Beorn leads them to a simple room with a burning hearth and a large bed, which they carefully place her on.

"Looks like her leg is broken." Gandalf says and very carefully touches the splint.

Selene bolts up with a cry, Dwalin and Thorin grabbing her to hold her still, and her eyes snap open, clearer than what they had been, as she lets a string of curses.

"Don't bloody touch it!" She snapped. "Gods dammit it feels like a damned hot sword cutting through my leg!" She breathed heavily and groaned.

"Because it's broken." Gandalf said calmly, watching her.

"I hadn't noticed. It's not the worst of it though." Her eyes were drooping again. "I can hardly think straight...how did I end up here?"

"We found you in the forest." Thorin says, his hand still on her arm, looking worried.