Return to Me (Kili)

Chapter Eleven: And Into the Fire

"Out of the frying pan..." Thorin said behind her.

"...and into the fire! Run! RUN!" Gandalf shouted. The Company moved down the mountain as fast as they could. Priscilla managed to avoid tripping, which surprised her, but she was too terrified to care. By now, she was doubting she would get out of this... adventure alive. They made it to a small clearing, with tall pine trees and boulders scattered around.

It was nighttime now, the day having passed while they were under the mountains. A Warg leaped at her with snapping jaws and she ducked behind a rock, feeling the hot breath of the creature just above her head. Dwalin ran past and smashed its head in before it could try for her again, and she let out a shaky breath.

The outcropping they had come to gave them no way out, except down a cliff. The Company dispatched Wargs and Orcs as they ran to the dead end, and Priscilla found herself almost hyperventilating. There was no way out. She was going to die.

"Up into the trees, all of you! Come on, climb!" She vaguely heard Gandalf cry from a little ways away. She couldn't force her limbs to do anything. She was frozen in a panic.

Kili ran past her on his way, grabbing her and nearly yanking her to the closest tree. She snapped out of her daze, realized what was happening, then clambered up the tree, taking his hand when necessary, but for the most part, her childish talent of exploring had stuck and she made it up the tree nimble and safe.

The Wargs circled around, jumping at the branches and snarling at them from the ground. One Warg pulled himself high enough on the rough bark to make it to the first branch, and Bifur kicked it back down again.

They were doomed. They had done nothing but prolong their deaths.

Priscilla nearly fell out of the tree, this time, but Kili caught her arm and held her steady, watching her with concerned eyes.

She was going to die.

Thorin, off in another tree, gaped at the largest Warg striding up to them. Astride him sat a pale Orc, with scars over his body and a hook on one hand instead of a hand. He snarled something in Orcish, and with a shout, he commanded the other Wargs to attack again.

The tree she was in shook violently as three or four of the massive beasts hurtled themselves at the tree, and eventually it toppled over onto the next tree. She was dragged onto that tree, and then the next, and the next, until the entire Company had made their way off of the toppling trees and onto the last one on the very edge of the cliff.

She sat there, clinging to a branch, watching the Wargs below them. Someone tapped her shoulder, and when she turned, Ori placed a flaming pinecone into her hands. She accepted it and turned back to watch, sat for a second, then realized what had just happened. Shrieking, she tossed the pinecone down into the mass of Wargs, who were retreating from similar pinecones being thrown by the whole Company. The pretty fires were spreading all around, and she became mesmerized in watching the flames fly through the air.

Kili's hand was still on her other arm, keeping her in the tree and steady. She turned to him, smiled bleakly, then turned back to the valley nonchalantly. Kili watched her for a moment, then turned to someone on his opposite side, saying something about her being in shock.

Whatever it was, she didn't pay too much mind. They were going to die anyway, right?

"Well, what do we do?" Nori said behind her.

"Does she realize?" Bofur asked.

"I don't think so." Kili said.

"Maybe if you scared her." Nori suggested.