Her Name Was Zoe

Chapter 3

        Once we were in the cave I started searching for things I could defend myself with. It's not easy to find anything when it's all covered by piles of gold and jewels. After search for awhile I decided to give up. There wasn't anything useful to me. Gandalf gave Bilbo a cool sword and Thorin also got a sword. Both were of Elvish make.
        

        Thorin came up to me just as we were leaving and handed me a big dwarven sword, and I nearly fell because of the weight of it.
        

        "Why are you giving me this? Don't you need it or something?," I asked him.
        

        "I used to need it but not anymore. I found myself a new sword. I'm giving it to you because nobody else wants it and you need something to defend yourself with," he replied then walked away to the front of the group.

        I walked with Bofur, Bifur, and Bombur for some time before we had to stop again. I asked them what there lives were like in the Blue Mountains before they decided to come on the journey to Erebor. For the most part their lives were pretty normal. I didn't understand a thing Bifur was talking about but at least I made an effort to try and listen. When I actually think about how an Orc did this to him, and that he used to be able to communicate normally and not have an axe in his head, it makes me furious and makes me want to smash a few Orc skulls. Ya feel? 

        We were soon stopped by Gandalf's friend and fellow wizard Radaghast. He was a bit weird but hes rather nice and has good intentions. I guess he is what some would call a hermit. He was telling Gandalf something about spiders in Dol Goldur and an evil is growing blah blah blah. My mind sort of drifted off while they were talking. I snapped back into reality when a terribly loud howl was heard and a wolf-like creature appeared. I'm guessing it was a warg and they quickly killed it.

"Run!," they yelled. I started sprinting through the woods, jumping over logs, dodging rocks, ducking under branches. I felt like a mother f*cking parkour ninja queen. I was'nt really paying attention to where I was going. I stopped and looked around finally realizing that I had lost the group! I was about to go back and look to find them, but I heard another loud howl and I sprinted the hell out of there again. I went alongthe side of the mountain looking for a hole or cave I could hide in until the wargs were gone. I eventually found a hole that was just big enough for me to fit in. I pulled a rock towards me to cover the entrance just enough for me to get air to breath but also so if the wargs came they wouldn't be able to see me.

        I sat there for what felt like hours until I heard noises coming from outside. They didn't sound like the group. I could hear growling so it had to be the wargs, but they weren't alone. I could hear talking in a language I couldn't understand. 'Orcs,' I thought. The voices soon faded away and I decided to wait for awhile before I got out of the hole to make sure they weren't coming back. It was hard to push the rock out of the way and crawl out because the hole was my height and the entrance was small and at the top. I had to use all my strength to get out of there. And I do not have a lot of strength.

        I walked until I got to the opening of the forest. All I could see were plains and a few big boulders.

"They went to Rivendell," I said to myself, "So to get there they followed Gandalf, but I don't have a Gandalf. What was Gandalf following to find the secret entrance?," I looked around again trying to remember, "The stones!," I shouted. I started to follow the trail of white stones. The sky was growing darker as night approached and I was becoming worried that I wouldn't find the entrance in time. 

"I wish I was at home! I'm not used to being alone in the wilderness where a bunch of Orcs and wargs can attack and kill you at any given moment! I always thought I could survive in Middle Earth, but now that I'm here I'm not so sure that I can...," I say to myself. As the sun was about to set and I was about to give up I find the stones by the entrance.

"Yes! I can't believe I actually found it!," I cheered and then laughed to myself. I went into the path that was very narrow and I couldn't see the end of it, but I wasn't worried because I knew where it led to. When I got to the opening of the valley I stopped and stared in awe. It was truly a sight to see. Following the path down was a bit scary mostly because there were no railings and if I tripped I would probably fall over the edge and die.  As I approached the entrance an elf man greeted me.

"Hello, and welcome to Rivendell. What is your name and why are you here?,".

"I'm Zoe. I was with a group of dwarves with a hobbit and a wizard. I lost them when we were getting chased by wargs and orcs on our way here. I just came back to join them again," I replied honestly. The elf nodded and motioned me to follow him. He brought me to Bilbo, who was just exploring Rivendell, and he was suprised and actually happy to see me. The elf left and Bilbo told me that him and the rest of the group thought I was dead and how glad he is to see that my head was not chopped off by an Orc. He also told me that the dwarves were bathing and that they had already eaten dinner. I walked around and talked with him a bit more until he decided to go back to the rest area. I walked around a bit more for awhile, until I sat down by a waterfall and looked at the stars and the moon. It was so beautiful and I'm so lucky to have experienced it.

"It is a lovely sky," said a voice from behind me and I jumped a little bit. It was Thorin.

"Yeah, that's why I came over here,"

"How did you escape the Orcs and then find your way back to us?," Thorin asks changing the subject.

"I ran for awhile until I found a hole and hid there for awhile until the Orcs were gone then I remembered to follow the stones to the secret entrance here. And now I'm back still in one piece," I explain.

"Well you should go back to the resting area everyone is already asleep," he says and waits for me to get up and walk with him. I don't want to make him mad so I just go along with it. Everyone was asleep when we got there and it's kind of funny because it feels like it's only 9:30 pm. Thorin hands me a blanket that the elves provided and I find a place to sleep. Thorin decides that it's okay to sleep very closely next to me. This will just not do. like to sleep alone. I need space! I move over a little bit and he does the same. I sigh and try to go to sleep as comfortably as I can.