An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Thirty: Exhaustion

The company slowly made their way down Carrock, the late morning sun shone down on them as they moved slowly; the group was exhausted and wanted to get down as fast as possible so that they could set up camp.

“How are you feeling?” Cornelia asked softly stopping next to Thalia, she eyed her cousin concerned as they continued to move slowly down; her brown eyes locked on the bloody make-shift bandage that Thalia had wrapped around her left arm.

Thalia nodded her head as she gritted her teeth, her arm felt like it was burning and it wasn’t a good sign; she breathed through her nose as she realised that she couldn’t go on like this.

However Thalia didn’t have a choice, they were half way down Carrock and no one would be able to help her until they reached the bottom.

“You’ll tell me if it gets too much,” Cornelia asked spotting Gandalf looking at them, she knew the wizard had also noticed that Thalia was slowing down; it was clear that her injury would continue to do so until it was treated properly.

Thalia nodded her head as Fíli and Kíli hurried passed them, she smiled softly knowing that there was nothing that wouldn’t amuse the two brothers; Thalia looked at them knowing that she missed being that care-free.

Suddenly the path under Kíli’s feet gave way making his cry out, everything seemed to go in slow motion as the dwarf prince plummeted down.

Thorin and Fíli watched in horror as Kíli fell backwards, his arms flailed about as he fell and his eyes widened as the world suddenly seemed to speed up again.

Just as Kíli accepted his fate that this was how he was going to die, Thalia grabbed a hold of his hand and stopped him from falling; Cornelia’s arms wrapped her waist to stop the blonde falling off the cliff as well.

Thalia hissed in pain as Kíli grabbed a tight hold of her left arm, she knew that he didn’t know she was hurt and she hoped he wouldn’t notice the blood that was now making its way on to his skin.

“Quickly pull him back up,” Thorin thundered moving to help Cornelia and Thalia, he couldn’t believe that Thalia had risked her life like that again.

The dwarf king’s heart beat wildly in his chest as they quickly pulled Kíli back to the passage way, he glared at his nephew as Thalia swallowed and pressed herself into the wall out of the way.

“You saved my life,” Kíli whispered in awe staring at Thalia, he couldn’t believe that she had done that for him; he swallowed as he looked at his uncle knowing that Thorin wasn’t going to be happy with him.

Thalia felt Cornelia move next to her, she knew that the dark haired woman would be concerned about the damage that she had just caused herself.

“It was nothing,” Thalia said carefully getting to her feet, she had to make things look like they were okay; her arm hurt even more now and it was going to take its toll on her as she travelled down Carrock.

***

“Thalia,” Fíli and Kíli cried out as Thalia dropped down onto her knees, she panted shaking head as she realised that she couldn’t go on anywhere; her vision swam as the dwarves gathered around her concerned.

Thorin watched at Cornelia tried to get a response out of her cousin, his stomach clenched as he realised that there was something going on.

“We’ll stop for a rest,” the dwarf king ordered moving forward, he hated that he hadn’t noticed that anything was wrong with Thalia; he looked at Balin who was moving to check on Thalia.

Gandalf opened his mouth to protect knowing that they couldn’t stop on the small pathway and it would be better if they kept moving before they were trapped climbing down Carrock in the dark.

“She can’t go on Gandalf… not in this condition plus I need to look at Kíli’s arm,” Balin said nodding at the younger dwarf prince that had dried blood on his arm; they didn’t need anyone getting an infection right now.

Kíli looked confused as he wondered what the older dwarf was talking about, he felt fine and he knew that he hadn’t been hurt in anyway; he would have said something if he had.

“I’m not hurt,” Kíli said pulling up his sleeve, he frowned at the dried blood, he couldn’t understand where it came from but he knew that it wasn’t from him.

Cornelia’s eyes snapped to Kíli, it wouldn’t take a lot for them to figure out where the blood had come from; she frowned knowing they were going to over react when the found out it was Thalia’s.

“It wasn’t there before… before I fell and Thalia caught me,” Kíli said turning to look at Thalia concerned, he couldn’t believe that no one noticed that she had been hurt.

Thorin looked at his nephew for a moment before he turned his attention to Thalia, he didn’t like what he was hearing and he wished that he had noticed it sooner; he hated to think that she was suffering and he hadn’t been able to see.

“I didn’t want anyone to worry,” Thalia whispered closing her eyes, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to go any further; she felt exhausted and she knew it was from over using her powers.

Thalia made a small noise of pain as Balin moved to check her arm, she bit her lip as he slowly moved up her sleeve to reveal the claw mark that the white warg had left on her.

“Why didn’t she heal herself like she did Thorin?” Bofur asked watching Balin reveal the injury that Thalia was carrying; he didn’t understand how she hadn’t healed herself when she had healed Thorin.

Cornelia watched her cousin knowing that the stunt that Thalia had pulled earlier that day, there was no way that Thalia could do anything right now; she had exhausted herself and now was dealing with the consequences.

“She can’t… she used up the last of her energy healing Thorin then saving Kíli,” Cornelia said making the dwarves look at her, none of them really trusted her but they knew that for some reason Thalia did.

Cornelia looked at Thalia, she didn’t know why her cousin had risked her own life in such a way but she didn’t think she’d ever be able to do that for anyone.

Thorin stared speechlessly realising that Thalia had risked her life for him in more than one way, he couldn’t believe that she had refused to heal herself instead using her ability to heal him.

“How bad is it?” Thorin asked moving towards Thalia, he could see now how exhausted she looked; he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t noticed before.

Balin frowned checking over the wound before signalling for Oin to have a look, he could tell that it wasn’t good; he shook his head as he moved to stand beside his friend.

“I don’t think she’ll be going anywhere soon,” Balin admitted as he looked at Thalia, the blonde needed to rest and he could tell that she wouldn’t be able to travel on until she had recovered.

Thorin sighed nodding his head, he didn’t know what they were going to do but he knew that he owed Thalia for what he had done for her.

“We’ll rest here then until Thalia can move,” Thorin said knowing that this was the least he could do after all she had done for him; Thalia had saved his life and defended him against Azog, he could wait a while longer for her to rest.