More Than Gold - Thorin Oakenshield

A Familiar Place

"What happened to her?" Bilbo asked, looking at the two wizards. "Gandalf, what happened to her?!" he said, this time more urgently. The Hobbit was worried for his friend, she had been one of the most kind to him on this journey, and now something happened to her.

"She was attacked by evil." Radagast said. Thorin looked at Tala's frozen body before looking at Gandalf.

"Is there no way to reverse it?" he asked. Gandalf met his eyes, and was slightly surprised to see the worry in them. "Is there no way?" he asked again.

"There is a way." Gandalf nodded. He looked to Radagast and the other wizard nodded. Together, they began to chant a spell in a language none of the dwarves had ever heard of.

Slowly, color returned to Tala's face, and her fingers twitched. The two wizards kept chanting and when they were done, Tala's silent scream made it's way out as she thrashing on the ground once more. "Good heavens." Radagast gasped.

"Tala, Tala Areovia, you are alright now!" Gandalf said loudly. Tala stopped screaming, but in place of her screams, she began to choke on something. Her hair blazed a brilliant white, her skin glowing as her body fought off the last traces of darkness.

When she opened her mouth, more of the black mist came out. She coughed and took a shaky breath. "Mori tul. The dark one has returned." she whispered. She looked up at everyone's concerned faces and offered them a weary smile.

"Are you alright?" Thorin asked, being the first one to speak. Tala gave him a curious look, as he'd never been concerned about her before. Although, she had never been attacked with such power and darkness before.

"I'm fine." she nodded. Thorin helped her up, and she gave him a thankful nod. Suddenly, there was a loud howl from the distance.

"What was that?" Bilbo asked. "A-are there wolves in this forest?"

"Wolves?" Bofur asked, stepping in front of him. "No, that is not a wolf." Tala turned when she heard a growl coming from behind Bilbo. She took out the small stick from her back and ran her hand over it, the bow and arrows appeared and she was quick to knock on.

She fired just as a warg came into view, hitting it between the eyes and killing it instantly. She whipped around as another came, and both she and Kili shot it. "Warg scouts." Thorin said as he pulled his blade from the dead warg. "Which means an Orc pack is not far behind."

"Orc pack?" Bilbo asked.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf asked Thorin.

"No one." Thorin responded.

"Who did you tell?!" Gandalf asked more urgently.

"No one, I swear!" Thorin said, taking a step towards the wizard. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted." Gandalf replied.

"We have to get out of here." Dwalin said as he looked around.

"We can't." Ori said, running over after looking for the ponies. "We have no ponies, they bolted." Tala sighed, knowing that Fanolass would be the first to run, to lead the others away because she didn't want any of her children to suffer.

"I'll draw them off." Radagast said confidently.

"These are Gundabad wargs, they will out run you." Gandalf said in dismissal.

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits." Radagast said, causing Gandalf's eyebrows to raise. "I'd like to see them try." the quirky wizard smirked. Radagast bursted out of the forest, making noise and getting the wargs to chase after him. Gandalf lead the company behind a large boulder, waiting for Radagast to get the wargs far away. "Come and get me!"