Beside the Undying Fire

Chapter 5

Dawn rolled in and the group quickly awoke.

"Let's move on." Thorin prompted, turning and beginning to walk.

Farin and Barin complained a bit but Thorin shook it off as his determination took over.

Now, now it would truly begin. We, or rather, I, had to cross the Misty Mountains with the group while maintaining my distance. If I get caught by something, I'm on my own.

I kneeled and peered around the tree. Fallen twigs cracked under my weight.

We had no choice, we had to take the nearest pass to the Ettenmoors. And I didn't know there was a pass. Maybe there wasn't, I couldn't hear their full conversations. Perhaps we were just headed over the mountains.

So we walked.

There was a path, luckily. But not a very warn-in path. I couldn't consider that a good thing.

Although it was steep in some areas, it was a good start. Another not-so-great thing was that it was open, not many trees, mostly rocks, not big enough for me to use as a cover. I had no choice but to let the group get as far away as possible without loosing them from my sight.

So I let the group get a good ways away.

It was a warm day, the sun became hidden at the odd time, but you couldn't really see it over the tall mountains to start with. The breeze wasn't cool, but it wasn't completely warm. I could see Barin and Farin stumbling and pushing each other. Dwalin giving them a disappointed nod as he walked past holding his axe.

The path spiralled and turned for hours. The company remained fairly quiet, other than the occasional thud from a punch that one of the brothers doled out to the other. Even Dwalin spoke once or twice, mainly threatening Farin and Barin to keep their mouths firmly closed.

Thorin remained silent. Perhaps analyzing what was to come, or what could come.

We came to what I thought was the peak, not the exact one on the mountain top, but the one where the path would begin to descend from that point on.

It was a shorter journey than I expected. But maybe that was just me. My anticipation. I was not scared, just worried, for Thorin and the group. I had no problem going into battle. Nor have I ever. My fate meant less than a Troll's left toe to me. Although, this was not the case for Thorin and the group.

The group got over that mountain within a few hours. But we had more to go.

My body ached, but my will and determination overpowered it. I couldn't let Thorin do this on his own. He could surely handle himself, but I want to be there. I had to break his trust. It hurt me every minute, but the thought of living without him, what would I, no what would Erebor do? Erebor needs him, unlike it's ever needed anything else. Erebor just knew he was this honourable, willing person, and would do anything to keep his safety.

The path was long and tedious. It was for a good cause. I knew it was.

I couldn't hide when Thorin or Dwalin looked back. They hadn't done it a lot, but enough to leave grass stains on my knees and a few wounds upon my hands.

It was getting more grey than before, plants, trees, life in general, looked dead. Worn out to a point where the burden they carried was forcing them to their end. Life was slowly decreasing as we moved forward. The side of the path became harder to walk on, with every step I took, dead twigs crunched under my feet, and my ankles ached from twists from stepping on jagged edges and rocks from the mountain, attracting the attention of the group, forcing me to hide repeatedly.

"We have but a few more hours until sundown," Barin remarked.

"Ensure you keep up." Thorin insisted, continuing on.

And we did.