"We leave at dawn" Dwalin announced as soon as we came back. "There's a secret road not guarded we are supposed to take that and make our to the front. Apparently the elves won't let us leave if they found out. Gandalf's message"
We spent most of the night preparing for the move. We barely took a couple of hours of sleep were on our road by sunrise. Gandalf was supposed to join us later. We were forced to walk with bags full of our belongings on our backs.
The first few days went without anything out of ordinary happening. It got colder as we reached the mountains.
"God I'm so tired." I said to Fili sitting next to the brothers" but I love the weather" I said smiling and massaging my calves. The walk doesn't bother the dwarves, they are hard built for such situations but me on the other hand felt that may be I've done all the walk for my entire life in past week.
"Hey Oin, the lass needs a sip of your special blend, the poor thing is half dead of walking" Kili called out. Oin brought a green looking liquid in a small mug it stank and was so bitter that I kept gagging. The princes were having the time of their lives cheering and laughing as soon as I gagged.
The boys went to get something from Bofur and I saw Thorin signaling me to an empty space right next to him. I went and sat next to him.
"You feeling ok?" he's placed his hand on my forehead trying to check if I had a fever.
"I'm fine, honestly. Just a little tired nothing big." I said smiling. " You know you need to stop fussing over me so much, I've told you before that I'm not as fragile as you think I am. And you worrying about me so much all the time distracts you from your own safety.,"
He looks at me, there's a different emotion and expression in his eyes that I can't really put my finger on
"I can't do that." He whispers, " I don't know why is it so hard for you to accept how much I love you. For me there is going to be no other.... Everr. That's how we are built emotionally. I can't afford to lose you Ibinê. I've never felt this deeply ever in my life, I don't even recognise half the emotions you bring out in me. It's either you or it's no one. I've experienced 'no one' and the feeling of this" he says pointing his finger to me and himself, " is something I'm not willing to let go. So I'm sorry I can't stop fussing over you, it's not in my control."
I stayed quiet, his words had opened the box of butterflies in my stomach, the brutally honest confession had knocked all the words out of my mind. He places his thumb under my lip "Let go" a whispering growl and my teeth release the lip. I feel him sigh and shift and a bubbling laugh leaves my throat, he shakes his head smiling.
The next day we started early again, the sky was covered with dark grey clouds promising a pour soon. As expected by late evening the storm came with all the fury, the thunder was deafening and the wind whipped the water in our eyes and faces. Thorin had his hand on my wrist so hard that it felt that he might end up breaking it. "Soft please" I screamed trying to send my voice over the sound of the wind pointing towards my wrist. His hold loosened slighlty.
With a sudden boom a rock hit on the mountain above us and shattered. Thorin pushed me between himself and the mountain. It was such a weird storm with rocks flying all over the place.
"It's not a thunder storm it's a thunder battle." I heard Balin fear shaking his voice.
"Take cover you fools" Thorin shouted back as he shielded me with himself again. Suddenly the ground started shaking and we realised that the mountain split in two. Half of the company were on the other side away from us. That's when we realize that we are not on a mountain but a stone giant.
There are rocks flying, shards hitting all around us. The giant we stand on falls and both the sides come crashing towards each other. The dwarves on the other side have enough wits to jump over to our side again. A rush of relief passes through my body when I see that they are all alright. Thorin leads us a little farther until there's a cave. We decide to take shelter there but not until every nook and corner of the cave is searched and cleared by the dwarves.
My forehead is bleeding and my arm is scraped. Despite Thorin's best efforts I did manage to get hurt. He looks at my forehead worry creasing his brow. He calls Oin.
"Oh for God sake Thorin this is just a scratch. You can't make him check every single time I scrape a knee"
He looked at me anger setting his face, "Quiet!!"
He doesn't say anything else until Oin has gone bandaging my forehead and cleaning my arm.
"Stay close" he whispers and then begins giving out instructions.