An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Twenty: The Misty Mountains

Thalia’s teeth chattered as they walked along the narrow slippery mountain path as rain poured down on them making her groan as she pulled her khaki jacket with faux fur trim zip-through hood closer to her body in an attempt to stay warm.

Thalia shivered carefully moved forward, she was greatly uncomfortable about being this high from the ground; she swallowed heavily knowing that one slip could send her falling to her death.

“Be careful Thalia,” the mysterious voice whispered to her reminding her what would happen if she slipped and fell; she nodded her head as she continued forward knowing that she had to stay alert.

“Goddess it’s cold,” Thalia murmured making Thorin raise an eyebrow at her, he had noticed that she said that instead of saying Aulë like they did; he chuckled knowing that Thalia was different to the dwarf women that he knew.

However before the dwarf king could reply, Dwalin’s cry of panic made them both look up as a boulder came hurtling towards them; Thalia squeaked in surprise as someone behind her grabbed her and slammed her back into the wall making her gasp as the area was knocked out of her.

“What the hell?” Thalia demanded breathlessly as the company pressed themselves against the face of the wall; she glared at Dwalin who was behind her, her back was going to be sore later and the cold wouldn’t help.

Thalia sighed in relief as the flying boulder missed them and crashed just feet from where they had been standing moments before; she swallowed knowing that they had been lucky.

“That’s no thunderstorm, it’s a thunder battle,” Bofur shouted making Thalia blinked the pouring rain down her face, she felt Thorin pull her closer and missed the nod that he gave to Dwalin for keeping her safe.

However they all stared shocked as a dark tall shadow approached them in the distance, Thalia swallowed wondering what would happen next.

“Move Now,” the mysterious voice demanded as a stone giant appeared, she blinked knowing that they were in a lot of trouble; she glanced at Thorin, whose grip on her tightened making her curse softly knowing that they were in trouble.

“We need to move,” Thalia said making Thorin look at her, his blue eyes met with hers as he felt something stir in his stomach at the panic in her eyes; he knew that she would not say this if they didn’t need to move now.

Thalia almost sighed in relief as Thorin barked an order for everyone to start moving, she looked at him as he pulled her along knowing that they needed to keep going.

However they did not get far before another boulder crashed into the mountain side and took some of the path with it, Thalia quickly grabbed a hold of Bilbo knowing that if someone didn’t watch out for him then they would lose their hobbit to the seemingly bottomless pit below.

The ground beneath their feet started to shake making Thorin curse looking around him wondering what was going on; he knew that someone was going to be lost if they all weren’t careful.

Fíli and Kíli stared at one another in horror as the rock that they were standing on split as the stone giant that they were standing on suddenly stood up.

The stone giant stood straight up making Thalia cling to the side of the mountain as Thorin wiped his wet hair from his face and watched as Fíli disappeared with several other members of the company.

The stone giant didn’t take another step forward as it was suddenly lost its balance and fell into the side of the mountain creating a pathway for the group to clamber off.

Thorin jumped to safety as Dwalin clung to Thalia, she furrowed her brow for a second before she found herself being shoved unceremoniously into the dwarf king’s arms; she shook as everyone clambered to safety knowing that she needed to do get her act together.

The group watched in horror as the stone giant was knocked back by another causing it to stumble and crash knee first into the mountain, the rest of the company seeming crushed as it happened.

Thalia clung to Thorin as he cried out at the loss of Fíli, she knew the dwarf prince was his heir and she closed her eyes as she swallowed the lump that formed in her throat.

Thorin took a deep breath as he released Thalia and hurried forward with the remainder of his company; his heart in his throat needing to know if he had lost his nephew.

Thorin sighed in relief as he rounded the corner to find Fíli and the others all alive, he rested against the wall staring at his nephew who offered him a weak smile; Thalia smiled softly at the sight of the others knowing that it had been a close call for them all.

Fíli laughed as Kíli launched himself at his older brother and hugged him as the company converged on their lucky members; he couldn’t believe that they had managed to escape like that.

“Thalia,” the mysterious voice called making Thalia frown, it was trying to warn her about something and she didn’t know what; she usually had more to go on than just her name in warning.

Thalia looked around as she took in the sight around her before she noticed that Bilbo was missing; her blue eyes widened in horror as she looked around her.

“Where’s Bilbo?” Thalia asked making the group look at her, they stared for a bare moment before they all quickly started to search for the hobbit; Thalia ignored the curious look from Thorin, knowing that they had to find Bilbo and now.

Thalia swallowed carefully moving to the edge of the cliff and looked down, she hoped Bilbo hadn’t fallen off the cliff; she stared in horror as her worst thoughts were confirmed.

“Goddess Bilbo… take my hand,” Thalia yelped rushing forward to try and retrieve the dangling hobbit as the others hurried over to help her save Bilbo; she sighed in relief as she started to pull the hobbit to safety.

It didn’t take much of an effort to pull Bilbo onto the side, however everything after she had saved the hobbit seemed to go in slow motion as the ground beneath Thalia’s knees gave way.

Thorin surged forward and grabbed her hand as the ground suddenly dropped causing Thalia to fall; his mind racing as he realised what was happening.

“Hold on,” Thorin urged as the rest of the company moved to try and save Thalia, Bilbo stood back in horror as Thalia dangled over the edge like he had; she would have been safe if she had not saved him.

“Don’t let me fall,” Thalia pleaded as tears filled her eyes, the rain poured heavily and thunder crashed as the dwarves attempted to pull her back onto the side.

Fíli and Kíli clung to their uncle in hopes of helping him pull Thalia back to safety; they didn’t wish to lose their friend after all they had been through.

Thorin shook his head as Thalia’s hand slowly started to slip from his, there was no way that he could forgive himself if she were to fall; they needed to do something and quickly or else Thalia would be lost.

However before Thorin could get a better grip on Thalia’s hand and order someone to grab a hold of her as well; her hand slipped from his causing her to fall.

“Thalia!” Thorin cried in horror as Thalia fell into the darkness below, Balin and Dwalin held onto him in case he attempted to throw himself after her as they watched Thalia fall to her certain death.