𝗙!𝗢𝗖 𝘅 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗳
Maristela Greyhame is the daughter of Gandalf the Grey and upon his request, she joins the company of thirteen Dwarves and a young Bilbo Baggins in their quest to reclaim Erebor. As a guiding star and a f...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
⊱ ──── {⋆ 🌌 ⋆} ──── ⊰
THE RIVER HAD CALMED DOWN AND THE COMPANY PADDLED ALONG in their barrels with their hands though the brothers had been pulling Maristela's along. "Anything behind us?" Thorin asked the others. "Not that I can see," Balin answered him after glancing off behind them. "I think we've outrun the Orcs," Bofur added with a tinge of hope. "Not for long; we've lost the current," Thorin informed them, "Make for the shore! Come on, let's go!" The Dwarves, Maristela, and Bilbo paddle to the riverbank; they climb out onto a slab of rock jutting out a bit into the river.
"Come one!" Dwalin ordered them as they climbed out of the barrels and pulled them up onto the riverbank. When Maristela is on the rocks, she falls to her knees in pain from the arrow wound in her thigh; it has been bound with cloth, but blood is seeping through. Bofur notices quickly and sends her a concerned look but she waved him off, "It's fine, it's nothing." But Bofur wasn't convinced, neither were Fíli and Kíli who moved towards her straight away. "On your feet," Thorin ordered, he was looking around anxiously and on high alert knowing the Orcs weren't too far behind. "Mari's wounded. Her leg needs binding," Fíli argued, he wouldn't leave without binding it.
"There's an Orc pack on our tail; we keep moving," Thorin pointed out to them, he sent Maristela a sympathetic look knowing that she had taken Kíli's place to get to the lever, if it wasn't for her, it would have been his nephew instead. "To where?" Balin asked their King. "To the mountain; we're so close," Bilbo spoke up, they knew he was right, it was only a day or so away from them. "A lake lies between us and that mountain. We have no way to cross it," Balin reminded them with a pointed look, his eyes flitting over to Maristela who was trying to stand up with little succession.
"So then we go around," Bilbo suggested before Maristela's pained groan caught his attention, he turned to the Elleth and winced seeing the pained expression she held. "The Orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight. We have no weapons to defend ourselves," Dwalin replied to Bilbo's suggestion, they knew he was right especially with Maristela's injury. "Bind her leg, quickly. You have two minutes," Thorin told the brothers, Fíli rushed to help Maristela with her wound, he gritted his teeth seeing the black veins surrounding the wound. "I'm okay, Fi. I'll be fine," Maristela assured him, he lifted his head to look at her, she could see the worry in his gaze.
Maristela cupped his cheek, a gentle smile on her face, "Trust me. Everything will be okay." Fíli tried to believe her words but he saw the pale tone of her skin, the way she winced when Kíli tightened the binding due to his brother's attention on Maristela's words. "How are you so sure?" Fíli asked her as Kíli moved towards Thorin to explain to state of her wound. "Because I'm surrounded by my family, how wouldn't I be okay?" Maristela told him before lowering her hand from his cheek, Fíli immediately missing the warmth of her hand against his cheek; though his worries hadn't faded yet.
Ori kneels by the river to empty his boot of water, unbeknownst to them, a man sneaks up over the pile of rocks and aims an arrow at Ori. As the Dwarves realise a man is there, they jump up, and Dwalin, holding a branch, leaps in front of Ori. He raises the branch and begins to charge the man, but the man shoots his arrow and it embeds itself right in the middle of the branch, between Dwalin's hands. Kíli raises a rock to throw but the man shoots the rock out of his hand too. "Do it again, and you're dead," The man warned, his voice gaining Maristela's attention from where she was shielded by Fíli and Bofur.
