Shifter (Hobbit/Eragon)

Chapter Ten

Kili and I wander through the small tunnels of the tombs, the smell of damp stone filling my nose. The dragon egg has been pushed into Kili's bag and he holds a torch to show the way, keeping his free arm held against the bag to assure it stays protected. I brush my fingers over the faint mark forming in the palm of my hand as it burns through my bloodstream, through my veins. The unusual symbol seems to be burning into more than just my skin, but, as strange as it sounds; it feels like it's burning into my very soul.

Kili yells for his lost brother again and again, "Fili! Brother!" Each time he yells his voice becomes more strained and the pain becomes obvious, I imagine he doesn't part with his brother very often.

I touch his arm gently, attempting to reassure him if I can, "Kili, there's no use tiring yourself. We'll find him, I promise." Kili stands still for a moment, his face is turned away from me and is hidden by his hair so I have no idea how he took it, but his chest is thumping. I can hear his heartbeat as he breathes heavily.

I place my hand on his shoulder, seconds later I hear distant footsteps on the stone hallways. I quickly turn to try and work out where they're coming from, my eyes searching for any far of a sign of movement.

"Pandora? What is it?" I hold my hand up to Kili asking him to keep quiet, not bothering to turn to him and I start to walk down one of the many hallways. The sound of footsteps gets louder, I quickly realize that's not only one pair of footsteps, but at least ten, and they're coming closer.

"Kili, there's someone coming." Kili looks down the tunnel, "Is it Fili?" I shake my head, "I don't know, there's more than one."

We wait there, staring into the dark tunnel waiting for any sign of life, it almost feels like hours pass. Finally, a figure runs into the light, and screams out and runs past us, not giving us enough time to process him.

"Run!" Fili yells as he runs past us, not stopping or looking back at us. I look back to where he came from for a brief second to see almost a hundred goblins running down the dark hall, weapons raised and screaming. Kili must have done the same as we both turn and run as fast as we can as we scream and stumble away from the horde.

We run and turn through countless halls, up and down countless staircases, even jumped over the odd fallen bridge before Fili declares that he knows a way out.

"This way!" He leads us up a long and winding staircase which finally opens up into a large room, lined with giant pillars around the edge, holding the ceiling above our heads. "I found this room just before the goblins ambushed me; I saw a light over there. Look!" Fili points to the far corner of the room and just as he said, I see a spot of daylight coming from behind a pillar. The stairs behind us echo with the sound of the screams coming from the horde of goblins following us, as soon as we hear them we run with all our might towards the light. I push my short dwarven legs further forward and try not to focus on the footsteps behind me. As we near the light, we see the gap is just too high for us to climb too, I can sense the panic in both Kili and Fili as they try to look for a way up. I hold my breath, running just behind the two dwarves as my skin starts to boil over, burning up as it darkens, twists and turns. My bones stretch and break as quick as a blink and my pale skin is now dark thick fur. My four legs make me twice the height of the two dwarves and my muscles bigger than any bear they've ever seen. I speed past the both of them, heading for the crumbled gap. "My god, she's a bear!" Fili yells as I near the light.

I arrive at the crumbled wall and jump back on my hind legs, I stretch my body out and my front paws reach the small gap in the stone.  I make myself sturdy and I turn my head to the two dwarves who were quickly approaching me and let out a  loud, thundering roar. "We need to climb up!" Kili yells at his brother as they near me. Fili reaches me first, he grabs a handful of my fur to assist him up,  my bear skin being too thick for it to bother me. He climbs onto my shoulders and jumps to safety, scrambling onto the top of the rocks. Kili leaps at me, climbing up my back, his hands are more gentle and he climbs quicker, pulling himself up alongside his brother. 

I look over my shoulder as I head the screams of the goblins getting closer, they're too close now for me to attempt to climb the wall in my current form. I get down from the wall, placing all four legs on the ground. "What is she doing?" Kili mumbles to his brother. I face the goblins and stand tall, trying to make myself look intimidating. I know it's pointless, goblins won't be scared of me, but it's worth a try. I brace myself and let out a loud, ear-shattering roar before I push my paws off the ground and charge towards the large group of the small goblins. 

I hurtle into the horde, knocking half a dozen goblins down. I swipe my left leg and knock down another dozen, leaving only a dozen left on their feet. I run straight for them, knocking a few over as I keep running toward the end of the big hall we came from. I hear the dwarves call for me as I run away from them, I don't go to turn back. With one swift movement, I lift off the ground, using my fresh eagle wings to push me against gravity. I circle round and fly over the goblins, towards the exit. I fly straight out the exit, over Kili and Fili's head, and circle round to land behind them. Both dwarves look at me with slightly ajar mouths as I stand up back on my legs. I cross my arms over my chest, "Please don't stare." I say while I look at my feet. Both dwarves quickly look anywhere else they can, Kili whistles and Fili clears his throat as they both start to feel awkward. I take some rags from Fili's bag and dress myself before asking how much further we needed to travel. "Not far now, it's only a day travel East. We can make it by dawn." I nod as Fili says this and we make our way towards Hobbiton. 

Authors Note: 

It's been almost three years since I last updated this, which is insane. I'm sorry, for those of you who were enjoying this. I do plan on coming back and releasing more, as I do still have a lot planned for this. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's not huge but I've been working on it for a while. Please spread the love <3 

Bev.