We had been trekking over the Misty Mountains for what seemed like an age when the second rainstorm hit. Only this time, it was much worse. It had all began when we were packing up camp one morning. We had all stowed our cloaks safely in our packs, put out the fire, and we began picking our way up the steep mountain path to the pleasant sound of a cool morning breeze and an amazing (albeit slightly overcast) view of the ravine below. Bilbo had been too terrified for the past few weeks to notice that there was a tiny white river snaking along the very bottom of the ravine a thousand worlds below. Peering out into the void, I wondered if some birds would make an appearance today like they had a few days before. On second thought... I mused, peering up at the sky, they probably won't. We're probably going up too high for them to fly.
We had been walking for nearly three hours when Balin pointed out the low inky black clouds racing towards us like an oncoming army. We quickly knelt down in the middle of a narrow mountain path and opened our bags. By the time we had gotten our cloaks out, we were already being drenched. My incredibly light and airy dress that had been dancing with every gust of wind was now sticking to me like a soggy second skin. I quickly retrieved my cloak and fastened it around my shoulders. From under my hood, I could just barely see my poor brother's look of disappointment and terror once he realized that he had stuffed his borrowed cloak into the bottom of his pack. He huffed and quickly shut his pack. Thorin stood and began walking down the path as he called to The Company, "A little rain will not stop us! We go on!"
We had been trudging along slippery mountain tracks all day and no one was quite sure if it was day or night anymore. Regardless of what time of day or night it was, the rain was pelting down in relentless torrents. I gripped the slippery mountainside and clambered up the path, keeping my brother behind me. I could just barely spy Thorin at the front of the line, his hair sticking to his head and neck. He spoke again, but this time he had to shout to be heard over the wind.
"HOLD ON!" I was just about to shout back a reply when I heard an ominous crack just behind me and my brother's shrieks as he began a long descent down the side of the mountain. Thankfully his shrieks were cut short as someone, presumably Dwalin, caught him. Thorin shouted back at The Company once again. "WE MUST FIND SHELTER!" no kidding, Thorin.
"LOOK OUT!" Dwalin's cry was as sudden as the deafening crunch of rock on rock as we hurled ourselves towards the cliff wall. Bits of rock ranging in size from small rabbit to a hobbit's front door were hurled into the ravine below. Balin seemed to have spotted something in the distance because he stepped away from the wall and pointed into the darkness and rain.
"THIS IS NO THUNDERSTORM! IT'S A THUNDER BATTLE! LOOK!" sure enough, there was a roughly human shaped creature of stone moving about across the ravine with a hunk of stone in his hands. I turned to see Bofur put his hand up to his eyes and squinted through the rain.
"Well, bless me! BELLA, THE LEGENDS ARE TRUE!"
"GIANTS! STONE GIANTS!" my mouth dropped open in amazement as the rock that the giant had thrown sailed past the mountain and crashed into another giant. The entire mountain trembled.
"TAKE COVER! YOU'LL FALL!" Thorin threw himself back against the mountainside and we all followed suit. More rocks poured down into the ravine, but no rock had been thrown into the mountainside. Then the answer came. The mountain shuddered and a crack began forming between Fili, who was directly in front of me, and Kili just ahead of him.
"FILI! GRAB MY HAND!"
"KILI!" as Kili and the front half of the line began drifting away, Bilbo and I looked up. There was the face of another giant! We had been walking on the knees of a giant the whole day!
The giant whose knees we had been walking on was headbutted violently and it fell backwards. It quickly threw a punch towards its attacker, who dodged it and landed a solid hit on our giant. With a deep roar, the third giant hurled what must have once been the top of a mountain at the second giant, knocking its head clean off. That same head smashed to bits on the cliff wall just above our heads. We then swung through the air as the giant moved. The next thing I knew, my face was coming ever closer to being intimately acquainted with a mountainside. I looked at my brother who was plastered against the cliff side with his eyes as wide as dinner plates.
We were luckily just dumped on the path in an unceremonious heap. I could hear Thorin shouting mine and Kili's names. Strange, but I was thankful to see that he was still alive as he came rushing along the path. I wriggled in between the dwarves to get to my brother who threw his arms around me. As we hugged, I began to feel the rock cracking underneath my feet so I shoved Bilbo backwards. Bilbo was just about to scold me for not properly hugging him, but the rock crumbled beneath me and I just managed to catch the rain-slicked ledge.
"Where's Belladonna?" Bofur questioned worriedly.
"Where's Auntie?" Kili sounded panicked. The rest of The Company rushed to the side and they all began shouting when they saw me. Or at least I could hear them doing so. I was a tad bit too preoccupied with not dying to fully notice them.
Ori lunged to pull me up, but I just slipped farther down the cliff and I managed to just barely grasp another slippery handhold.
"Grab my hand!" Bofur shouted. I could just feel the tips of my fingers beginning to give way as Thorin swung down beside me and boosted me up. The Company helped me steady myself as Dwalin pulled him up.
"Why did you do that, Auntie?" Fili asked.
"I thought I'd lose a brother and a burglar if I didn't." Thorin scowled.
"Your brother has been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us. Now, we must find shelter." Luckily for us, there was a large cave just a little ways up the path. We all filed in and I moved to stand by Thorin.
"It looks safe enough, Thorin." he handed me a lantern and lit it.
"Search to the back; caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied." I nodded and did as he asked.
"Nothing's back here as far as I can tell." I handed back the lantern. Gloin plopped a pile of wood down in the middle of the cave floor.
"Right then, I believe a fire is in order."
"No. No fires, not in this place. Get some sleep. We'll start at firstlight. Bofur, take the first watch. Gehyith, come here." Thorin beckoned to were he was laying. He patted the spot next to him.
"Sleep here. I wouldn't want you catching a cold." I nodded thankfully and curled up in a little ball with my head on Thorin's stomach. From there I had a perfect view of Fili and Kili waggling their eyebrows suggestively. With a giggle, I picked up a loose pebble from the cave floor and threw it at them.
I hadn't been asleep for long when a rustling awoke me. I quickly snapped open my eyes, expecting to see everyone packing up to move on, but I instead saw my brother attempting to sneak out of the exit. Bofur had also apparently noticed as he and I both hopped up and rushed to stop him at the exit.
"Where on this good green earth are you going?" I whisper yelled.
"Back to Rivendell."
"No, no, you can't turn back now, you're part of The Company!" I began tearing up.
"Yeah, you're one of us now."
"No. She is. But am I? Thorin said I should never have come, and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins, I don't know what I wasthinking. I should have never ranout my door."
"You're homesick. I understand, Bilbo."
"No, Bella, you don't. You've never really loved The Shire. None of you understand! you're dwarves! Bella, this is what you've always wanted. And you... You're used to this life, to living on the road, neversettling in one place, not belonging anywhere." I raised my eyebrows and punched him in the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Bofur! I'm sure he didn't mean-"
"No, he's right. We don't belong anywhere. I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do." he put his hand on Bilbo's shoulder. I hugged my brother.
"If I die, I'll come back and haunt you." he chuckled nervously.
"What's that?" Bofur nodded at Bilbo's sheathed sword. It was glowing bright blue.
The ground began making oddly mechanical noises as all the dwarves were startled out of sleep. I ran back to Thorin and latched onto him just as the sandy floor gave way and we all tumbled down a stony shaft.
YOU ARE READING
The Shire's Deadly Flower
Fanfiction"He looked rugged and dangerous. He looked like a king." The sister of Bilbo Baggins has been raised to be a high society hobbit woman all her life. However, she has been learning of the outside world just as long. She is particularly interested in...
