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THE Company arrived at an old, abandoned farmhouse that is in ruins by the time nightfall crept up on them. The was was beginning to sink in the sky, leaving it a mix of oranges, yellows and pinks; colours Ygritte adored.
"We'll camp here for the night," Thorin announced.
Ygritte jumped down from Evie's back and gently patted her white coat. Once she reached Evie's nose, the horse nudged her hand, making Ygritte smiled. Evie loved when her coat was stroked all the way to her nose, for some reason.
"Fili, Kili, look after the ponies," Thorin ordered. "Make sure you stay with them."
Kili was suddenly standing before Ygritte, his handsome face wearing a flirtatious smile that made Ygritte smirk. He reached forward and grasped Evie's reins with a wink, his fingers purposely brushing against Ygritte's, which only amused her even more. "I'll take her for you."
"Thank you, Kili," she said with a light nod of her head before she brushed past him and toward her father, whom stood glancing around at the area.
As she passed by the dark haired dwarf, she could hear Fili utter to his brother, "That was very smooth, brother." It made her smirk.
"A farmer and his family used to live here," Gandalf said.
"Oin, Gloin," Thorin called.
"Aye?"
"Get a fire going," he ordered.
"Right you are," nodded Gloin, who began to move about and build a fire.
"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley," Gandalf suggested.
"I have told you already," Thorin scowled, "I will not go near that place."
"Why not?" Gandalf questioned with a raised brow. His eyes rested solely on Thorin Oakinshield. "The elves could help us. We could get food, rest, advice."
All very good points, Ygritte thought.
"I do not need their advice." The bitterness laced within Thorin's voice made Ygritte roll her eyes yet again. He was a hot-heated, grudge-holding, arrogant dwarf, that is for sure.
"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us," Gandalf said.
Thorin stared at Gandalf with an incredulous expression on his face. "Help? A dragon attacks Erebor, what help came from the Elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls, the Elves looked on and did nothing. You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather and betrayed my father."
"You are neither of them. I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past."
"I did not know that they were yours to keep," Thorin snarled with a dagger-like glare toward the elder wizard. Ygritte wanted nothing more than to send the dwarf to the grass with a bleeding nose or a broken jaw.
