тнє нєαℓєя[тнσяιи σαкєиѕнιєℓ∂]

Chapter Eighteen - This is Not The End

It was a restless flight through the night for the entire company as two of their members were literally hanging on by a thread. Kili had the young woman clutched in his arms, his hand covering her extreme wound that Azog had inflicted himself and in seconds it was covered in red. Her breath was so faint that it was hard to tell if she was even still with them.

The sun began to rise in the sky. If it was under different circumstances the company might actually enjoy the many mountains and valleys of forest and waterfalls they had passed over but with everything that had just happened the group could only think about their leader and the female healer and hoped they were not too far gone to be saved. Thorin had not moved since he was attacked by Azog and Fili and Kili both called out to him in distress.Wondering if their uncle was okay.

The long, tense flight soon ended as the eagles began to circle around a giant rock. The eagle carrying Thorin was the first to be placed down, still not moving. The eagle the wizard was on, was the next to land and he ran over to Thorin immediately as the other eagles began to drop off the rest of the company. Bilbo came up behind Gandalf just as he whispered some kind of incantation and the dwarf's eyes slowly fluttered open. Thorin looked around, in his moment of confusion, taking a minute to remember all that happened. He saw his men all gathered around him and then it came to him, the last thing he remembered for completely losing all senses was the hobbit launching himself at the orc that was about to behead him and he wasn't sure if had heard the woman scream or if it was just all in his mind. " The halfing?" Thorin ask hoarsely.

"It's alright. Bilbo is here. He's quiet safe." Gandalf assured as he stood back up to his full height. Bilbo came into view with a look of relief to see the dwarf was alright. Dwalin and Gloin were at their leaders side and helped him up. Thorin however, shoved them off and approached the hobbit.

"You! What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed!" Thorin harshly snapped, causing the hobbit looked down in shame, scared to even look into the dwarf's eyes as he said this cruel things, wishing now more then ever his aunt was here to defend him. " Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?" The company stood their in silence not understand where this was coming from. Bilbo had risked his life for him and proved more then once that he was willing to follow him until they reclaimed their homeland. What the leader did next surprised the others. " I have never been so wrong in my life." The dwarf walked over and embraced the hobbit in a appreciative hug and the company cheered in relief.

"Oin!" Kili shouted, as he and his brother carefully remove the healer off the back of the eagle. The company had fallen silent as they all looked in the brothers direction. Thorin looked at the horrifying sight of her neck, realizing the scream he had heard wasn't an hallucination at all and he couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for the predicament the young woman was now in. He saw the jagged edges of where Azog had taken a chunk out of her and he felt the hobbit brush passed him and fell to the ground beside his aunt, holding her hand begging her not to leave him. Oin asked Fili to find something that they could use to wrap around Maura's neck to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately during their brief time in Goblin town the king had taken all their supplies and food when they were captured.

Thorin swallowed the lump in his throat before coming over to the others and demanding how this could have happened. He learned that she had taken off after the hobbit had been pinned on the ground by the orc. Thorin couldn't seem to comprehend how one could just run straight for the danger with nothing to protect oneself. Did she really mean what she said during their last argument before all chaos broke out. Was this her way of being free of him? The medic had ordered everyone to give him space and most of them had scattered around the rock, waiting to know of their companion's final fate. Bilbo, Fili, Kili, Gandalf and Thorin were the only ones to stay at in the vicinity to assist Oin if need.