Caught in Thorns >EDITING<

Caught in Thorns: Chapter 7

~Chapter 7~

When I break the surface the first thing I see is a barrel. The current of the river is pushing my towards it. I try to paddle away but hit the barrel head on.

"Celaireth? What are you doing here?" A hand grabs the back of my cloak and pulls me up to the side. Kili.

"Kili, I ran into the cellar and Bilbo and I fell into the river. What are you doing?" I say, coughing up water.

"Well, um, I do believe we are trying to escape." Kili says.

He helps me pull myself up a bit mor to hook the barrel under my shoulder. That's when I hear the snarls. Looking around I see Orcs running beside the river.

"Great." I growl. "Thorin we have company!" I snap pulling an arrow out of my quiver. I am so lucky the arrows and daggers stayed in place when I fell into the river.

I fire at the nearest Orc and my arrow finds a home in its throat.

"Celaireth!" Kili shouts.

I turn my head just in time to see an Orc leap at our shared barrel. I load another arrow and at that same instant an arrow goes straight through the side of the Orcs head. Looking behind us I see Legolas leading a large group of Elves over the rocks. I smile but my smile quickly changes to a frown when I hear Legolas' command.

"Close the gates!"

No! That will corner us! We will all surely end up dead then!

"Open the gates!" I shout to the guards on the flood gate.

"Close them!" Legolas' command comes again.

The gates are closed and the barrels crash against each other. That's when I see an arrow go near Legolas' head. Anger boils up from my stomach again and I draw my daggers. Leaping away from the barrel and out of the water, I stab two Orcs that are on the bank and slash at another that comes close to me.

"Celaireth, open the gate!" I hear Balin's call but I don't react.

I continue stabbing and slashing at Orcs that come near me. One leaps from a boulder to my right and tackles me.

"Celaireth!" Kili's cry echoes around my head.

The Orc tries to rip my throat out with his teeth. I stab the foul thing's shoulder multiple times with my hand that isn't holding it back. It reaches down again, and just before it's jaws can snap around my throat and arrow goes through it's head and it falls into the water.

"Celaireth, are you crazy?" Legolas snaps pulling me up.

I don't answer, instead I stab an Orc that comes from my left. Then a screech rips through the air. I whip around to see Kili on the bridge with an arrow in his knee.

"Kili!" My cry mixes with his brother's as he reaches up and opens the gate.

Kili rolls back into his barrel just as it goes under the bridge. I run to the edge of the huge waterfall and look back at Legolas.

"Yes, yes I am." I say, answering his question. Then I jump.

I hit the water with such force that all the air leaves my lunges. I thrash around trying to find the surface to get the air back when a hand grabs my cloak again. It's Fili this time.

"You've got to be the craziest Elf we've ever met." Dwalin says from a few barrels ahead.

"It has already been established that I am insane." I say. "Now, help me up."

Fili helps me get my arm over the side of him barrel. I look at Kili and I notice how pale he is.

"Kili, are you alright? I saw the arrow hit you in the knee." I say.