The Prophecy

The Eagles Have Come

They kept running though, to put a good distance between them and the goblin invested cave. Finally, they came to a halt when reaching a safer part of the forest. Gandalf immediately started counting the dwarves, mumbling their names as he did. Zarina hunched over, panting and holding her side. She mustered up the courage to lift the hem of her armour to see what the damage was, only to gasp in shock. In her side was a gashing wound which looked more like a deep scrape instead of a stab wound. She realized that when the goblin king fell on them, the plank underneath her splintered to pieces and pierced through her. It was bleeding a lot, which left her concerned.

Gandalf suddenly looked up, "Where's Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?"

The dwarves looked about, searching for the hobbit. Zarina immediately forgot about her injury when realizing that she forgot about Bilbo – again. A cold and unsettling feeling formed within her when thinking that maybe he was killed in the cave. How would she live with losing another person she cared for?

"Where's our hobbit?!" Gandalf asked again.

"Curse the halfling! Now he's lost!" Dwalin growled.

"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin looked at the said dwarf.

"Don't blame me!" Dori defended himself.

"Then when did you last see him?" Gandalf asked.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first cornered us." Nori answered for his brother.

Gandalf grew discontent and Zarina fell down to the ground in despair, combing her fingers through her hair as she hoped against all odds that Bilbo was alright.

"What happened exactly? Tell me!" Gandalf roared.

"I'll tell you what happened." Thorin pushed his way past the dwarves to Gandalf, his eyes dark and his tone cold, "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone."

Despite the burning pain in her side and her aching head from all the hits she took, Zarina rose to her feet with anger coursing through her veins. She stomped over to Thorin and got into his face, making him jerk his head back an inch, "Have you no heart, Thorin Oakenshield? From the very first day you treated Bilbo like dirt while he's been nothing but kind to you! I take back everything good I ever thought about you. In fact, you deserved to be eaten by goblins because you are nothing but a proud, stubborn, cruel person who has done nothing to deserve the tile of king!" a sob tore through her as all her emotions poured out, "You are no different from my stepfather."

Silence hung in the air as she turned to march away to shed her tears alone where no one would disturb her. But as she dragged herself past Thorin, she suddenly bumped into a small figure that appeared in front of her. Her eyes widened as her sobs stopped, "Bilbo?"

He smiled kindly at her, "Hello, Zarina."

Gandalf's face lit up in relief, "Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!"

Zarina didn't hesitate to crush him in a hug, truly grateful to see one of her true friends alive and well. The dwarves circled them, patting the hobbit on the shoulder and greeting him with joy, as well as drowning him with questions.

"Bilbo! We'd given you up!" Kili.

"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili.

"How, indeed." Dwalin.

Bilbo chuckled nervously, probably from all the attention he was getting and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Well, what does it matter?" Gandalf sensed his discomfort, "He's back."