A Ruby's Shine (Thorin Oakenshield X OC)

58. Kili

Fairfin fluttered down on a rock in the cavern, I don't even remember where he went or how he got there I was so lost in my panic. Fairfin croaked quietly, his eyes wide and feathers so ruffled he looked like a giant ball of fluff. I winced internally, realising I just subjected poor Fairfin to my all out panic attack and explosion of emotions, probably more than the little raven can handle. Yet, he only seems pissed off, raising his wings threateningly like he was waiting for an enemy to come out and attack us. I did my best to try to calm him, but my emotions are still a crazy scattered mess.

I met Thorin's eyes and noticed how he narrowed them at me before looking up at the hatch we came out of and then down the river.

"Well done, Mister Baggins. Come on, we need to move." Thorin ordered the other dwarves, meeting my eyes with a clear question in them.

Can you handle this till we are out of this situation?

I nodded slightly, even with panic threatening the edges of my vision, I am too stubborn to let it take control of me. It's just another challenge, right? Challenges are something I embrace and beat, never letting the situation, no matter what it is, getting the best of me.

I pushed my barrel away from Bofur and Thorin, dipping my hands into the frigid water and paddling to get my barrel moving, the others beginning to do so as I pushed off rocks to make mine move faster. I don't quite having the large arms and hands to properly paddle a barrel this size. I hope we hit a current soon or we are not going to get anywhere. I felt the rush of the water change, spotting the blur of white as Fairfin flew like an arrow out of the underground tunnel, the shine of morning light visible ahead.

"Hold on!" Thorin called back to us as he turned in his barrel at the front.

I took a deep breath, gripping the barrel tighter as it caught the rushing current, no longer needing me to paddle as the barrel tumbled over the edge of a mini waterfall, making me cough as water tried rushing up my nostrils as I spat it out, the sound of rushing water and dwarves calling out filling my ears before going murky as my head went under water for a moment. I gasped for air as my barrel came back up, shivering a touch at the cold chill of the water, suddenly very glad for the extra layers, though I doubt this water was doing my roughly stitched up coat and torn boots any justice.

I scrambled to hold onto the barrel as it tipped over slightly, rushing out a lot of the water that had begun to fill it before I threw my weight back, stabilising it as we all began to get caught in a very fast rushing current of the river. I coughed up more water as I looked around frantically, checking to see if all the dwarves were alright as I counted the fourteen others of the company and sighed in relief.

My eyes widened as my barrel seemed aimed for a rock, so I threw my weight to the left, taking a deep breath of air as my head went under water again, the barrel barely scraping the rocks before I threw my weight to the right, gasping for air as I blinked my eyes open, my wet eyelashes dripping at water.

And, if the heavy dang weight on the back of head has to say anything, my hair was too. I straightened my barrel as it turned in the current. This is no boat, there is very little control here and, honestly? I am absolutely panicking on the inside, memories pushing and punching at my mind like I was getting pummeled, but I knew I need my senses right now, I couldn't let myself be pulled under.

I noticed Dwalin looking back in worry as my barrel nearly ran into his and did my best to run, spotting distance shapes leaving a small entrance off the side of The Woodland Realm. My eyes widened.

"Oh no." I whispered to myself, spotting the elf raising a horn, before the horn blared loudly enough to be heard even as far away as we are. I have no doubt these elves have a gate, even for the river. I turned quickly in my barrel, wet and fraying braid smacking my face before I pushed the heavy weight of hair away, see us rounding the bend in the river, high raised ground having covered the gate until now.