Red (The Hobbit Fan Fiction)

15. "I'm Not Leaving Them."

15. “I’m Not Leaving Them.”

The weather didn’t seem to want to cooperate with us. For a while, it had been, up until tonight of all nights. Mother Nature decided to show us her strength by unleashing a storm in our path as we trekked carefully along a path on a mountain. The sheets of rain made it almost impossible to see what was ahead. The rain had been light earlier on, but once night settled in, it picked up harshly. The rain hadn’t ceased.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, the sky was almost black. We were inching along the path single file, the only way we could. On occasion, a flicker of lightning would brighten up the sky. This wasn’t cheery weather.

We kept at least one hand gliding along the wall beside us, the pathway was narrow. One misstep and you could fall for forever. Nobody wanted to risk it. This was the second time I was genuinely afraid of heights—the first had been when crossing the bridge to Rivendell.

Climbing trees in the Shire was one thing, traveling along a narrow path in bad weather on a mountain was another.

Wind attacked us, making everything even more biting than it already was. Bilbo and I had never seen such conditions. In the Shire, storms were never this awful. I was never one for bad weather. It seemed like Mother Nature was testing me to see if I was willing to break down and want to head back to Rivendell.

“Hold on!” I heard Thorin roar above the rain. Naturally, the moment the command left his lips, Bilbo temporarily lost his balance. I grabbed him, having an iron grip despite my soaked state. The others helped me steady him.

“We must find shelter!” I demanded.

“Look out!” cried a Dwarf.

Tremors rocked the ground at our feet. We all craned our necks up to see rock collide with rock wall above us. The collision made the rocks explode and showers us with pieces. I got knocked into by a decent sized one the size of my head.

“This is no thunderstorm,” Balin said over the thunder, wind, and rain, “it’s a thunder-battle! Look!”

I blanched as I realized what Balin saw through the darkness. At first, I almost didn’t believe it, but somehow I could. I mean, Trolls, Wargs, and Wizards existed, so why not toss in a Stone-Giant?

The creature was a massive silhouette, sticking out like a sore thumb in the storm. I swallowed, my heart raced.

“Well, bless me,” Bofur exclaimed. “The legends are true! Giants! Stone-Giants!”

The Stone-Giant we saw tossed a boulder the size of the creature’s head. I expected it to crush all of us; we were easy targets after all. Instead, we all watched in awe—me in terror—as the boulder flew past us, only to hit another Stone-Giant, who was peeking around our mountain’s corner. I squeaked in fright.

I couldn’t hear what was being said over the weather, all I heard was incomprehensible shouting. I was suddenly forced back, my back pressed against the wall. It was a good thing too, because in the next second, another shower of rocks came at us. Some of our way was knocked off, making it even narrower than before.  

A loud grumbling noise invaded our ears. At first, I thought it was thunder, but then I soon saw commotion up ahead. I didn’t understand what was going on, or why I was suddenly jerked away with Thorin, Kili, and a few others. It wasn’t until I saw the rock break apart behind me that I understood.

We were on no mountain; we had found ourselves on the knees of a Stone-Giant. As if two weren’t enough to see, there was now a third in the equation. I paled, watching with huge eyes as Bilbo and the remaining Dwarves were separated from us. I noticed Kili was separated from his brother.