Hummingbird Heartbeat

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Leaving Rivendell was easier than it should have been. Once everyone was gathered, Maranda placed a finger to her lips and pressed the palms of her hands together. A soft, silver light gathered around them and she touched Fili's forehead. He disappeared. Everyone jumped and cried out in shock. She hushed them and quickly touched everyone's foreheads, each disappearing one by one until she got around to Thorin. She was grinning.

"Now shut up," she whispered. She touched him lightly and a cold feeling came over him. He blinked and his company stood before him, surrounded by sparkling silver clouds. Maranda alone looked normal and she touched her temple quickly, joining them in stardust.

"Let's move," Thorin said quickly and they all started out. They were invisible, not silent, so they had to slow down after a minute of loud clanking, but soon they were out of the house and making their way up the hidden path. Maranda was ecstatic, buzzing over the chasm separating the ground from the path and humming all the while. They got to the exit just as dawn lit up the valley. Bilbo stopped to look back, lost in the beauty.

"Keep up Master Baggins," Thorin snapped and glared. Maranda landed next to him and linked arms with the little man.

"We'll see it again," she said and jerked suddenly. "Oh yeah, definitely," she said ruefully and Bilbo smiled at her.

"I don't die," he said and she grinned at him. "Best get going. The road goes ever ever on."

"And right back to where it started from," she finished with a nod and took off. They crossed the fields they had run across not four days earlier and soon Maranda released the spell by touching their faces again. She stopped by Thorin, walking next to him for a moment, lost in thought. Thorin quite liked having her next to him. She was looking up at the sky with searching eyes. She blinked and her eyes flashed gold and then went back to normal. She blinked in shock and looked around in surprise.

"What?" Thorin asked, gripping his sword.

"Nothing eminent," she mumbled and wrinkled her nose. "I'll be back, keep going to the Mountains," she said and bent her knees slightly, launching herself into the sky.

"Where's she going!" Kili asked running up to Thorin.

"Didn't say," Thorin rumbled.

"But you miss her," Kili teased and Thorin cuffed his nephew in the back of his head. Maranda had just had a flash of Sight, something she was used to, but it was disturbing and she hadn't expected it. She hovered among the clouds and looked around. She had seen swords flashing in sunlight, the faces of Men snarling and blood. Blood on the grass, a hand she knew was Fili's twitching an inch away from his sword. She looked around and saw...

"No," she breathed. There was a small camp of black tents not a league away from her friends, tucked behind a hill and a giant rock. She flew over, dropping into a low dive so she could glide the last couple yards and quickly jumped up the rock, wings spread wide to catch the air. Then she listened, her powerful ears picking up the voices of the bandits below.

"Shut up, Rosco. I already gave you a fourth of the winnings. Not that you did any work."

"I watched the horses! Your pinto is mad!"

"I said, shut up!"

"Both of you get a grip. We need to rest up before tonight. We have a long way to go."

"Yeah...those rangers in the north won't know what hit them!"

"Black Assassins like ourselves are strong and fast. No way they can get rid of us."