The Warrior Queen. The Warrior and The King - Book II

4. The Pass of Udun

Thorin and Kaylea spent many days along the slopes of the Ash Mountains. Summer was starting to come on, the days getting warmer, the sun hot on their backs. Thorin had never been much of a tracker, but he was learning the craft from Kaylea. There were many trails leading into the mountains, she showed him how to tell the numbers that had come and gone on the paths, if they were burdened on their way out or in, how to tell the age of the tracks. She was always particularly interested in campsites, carefully going over everything when they found one. Many of the trails they found were being used, but not very regularly. Several times at night they saw bands of orcs on the paths, but were able to stay well clear of them. Kaylea was careful to choose campsites that were well hidden and they would move every few days, working their way west to the pass of Udun. The more time they spent together, the more they talked Thorin felt like he was beginning to understand how her mind worked, in fact he found he was starting to think in the same manner. When she had last been in Erebor he had been astonished by the way she always seemed several steps ahead of everyone else, her mind making connections he had not even considered. Now he was starting to do it himself, it was all about information. What you learned about one thing could lead you to think about something else very differently.

The day they approached the pass it had been raining lightly, which Kaylea said was lucky as it was more likely they would be unobserved. She had told Thorin they would not be taking the horses, it was too exposed and they would be easily spotted. They stopped in a little box canyon a few miles east where the horses would be safe. Hadrian was a trained warhorse and seemed very fond of Thorin's little mare, Hector would stay with them to stand guard. As they were readying to leave Kaylea looked up a couple times to watch flocks of birds flying overhead. Thorin followed her gaze.

"Are those spies of the enemy?" He asked her. Kaylea shook her head.

"I am not sure," she replied. "We need to be very cautious this close to the mountains."

They spent the day separating what they would take with them. Kaylea said they would need food and water for at least four days. She took both her swords, wearing one over either shoulder across her back. As she and Thorin got ready to leave in the afternoon light Hector came and stood before her, looking at her intently with his yellow eyes. Kaylea took his head in her hands and stood there for a long time, Thorin could only guess at what was passing between them. While he had always been a bit wary of the big wolf he regretted they had to leave him behind, the animal was very useful in a fight. But without the horses the road home would be much longer and more dangerous. Finally Kaylea dropped her hands and, after giving Hector a quick scratch on the chin, turned towards the pass. Thorin followed her, he looked back once to see the wolf sitting in the trail watching them walk away.

It was almost full dark and Kaylea and Thorin had just reached to trail to the pass when they heard harsh voices coming down. They quickly moved to the shadow of a grove of trees just off to the side. As they watched a dozen big orcs came down the trail and turned away from them to the west. These were not common servants of the Enemy, they were tall and well armed. Thorin was thinking they were out of danger but just then the wind shifted and the two at the back of the group caught their scent.

"Ay, what is that?" One of them said. "Smells like manflesh!" The rest of the orcs turned at the words of their companion, sniffing the air. "You are getting old, if you cannot smell a Dwarf!" Another of the orcs said, they were all turning and peering into the trees. Thorin and Kaylea looked at each other, there was nothing else to do now. They stepped forward, drawing their swords. Just as the last time they had fought together Thorin and Kaylea moved almost as one, seeming to feel instinctually where the other was going to strike and which direction to move. The last two orcs they took down seemed to be protecting a third, who was carrying a wrapped burden. When Kaylea cut his hamstrings and knocked him to the ground his package rolled away and out of it's coverings. A large glass ball. Kaylea put a foot on the orc to keep him from rising and held her sword to his throat.