The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey Edition (IN EDITING)

15. ... And Into The Fire

To Aria, it came as a surprise to why they were not actually dead yet, because they should be despite everything that had happened.

The dwarves path out of the giant cave, the home of the goblins were rough and rocky but they managed to get out eventually, sprinting out into the blazing sunlight. Due to the fact that the company of dwarves and one Elf had been trapped inside of that cave for quite some time made the sun dazzle them and they instantly covered their eyes with their palms as they continued running over the yellow grass that later on steeped down into a forest that kept going downwards. The dwarves had a feeling that it wouldn’t be any easier for them to hide in the forest, but they kept running, never stopping, never catching their breath. They ran as quickly as they possible could, not even bothering to look back on their fellow companions to see if everyone was keeping up. Not even Thorin bothered to do this. With their weapons in their hands and their equipment thrown onto their backs, they zigzagged around the large trees that made up the forest. Even now and then there were a few large rocks that the dwarves had to jump down from to continue running through the forest and eventually the dwarves had ran far enough to disappear from the shadows of the cave and the shadows of the trees to instead be met by the setting sun that sipped through the tree’s leaves. It lit up the dwarves’ sweaty faces and the blue sky, although telling them that the world would turn dark soon.

Gandalf were starting to slow down, looking all around him to his relief find that all of the dwarves had followed with him through the forest, although he instinctively started counting them.

“…five, six, seven, eight…” the wizard pointed towards the visible dwarves he had seen flying down the steep forest floor going downwards. He witnessed how the company were starting to slowly slow down their running pace, throwing hands to their chest to finally realize how hard their hearts were pounding and how sore their throats had become, not realizing this because of all the adrenaline. The tall man with the grey hat stopped abruptly next to a tree, looking up into the forest to see a few other dwarves running towards him, heading down. “Bifur, Bofur – that’s ten.” The wizard sighed in relief from the large number that almost came to an end. Two figures came heading down through the forest as well – one with light blond hair and blue eyes and a coat that looked alike Thorin’s and a dark-haired figure with a bow strapped to his back. “Fili, Kili!” Gandalf exclaimed, once again relieved. “That makes twelve. And Bombur, that makes thirteen.”

Bombur’s heavy weight came strolling down the mountain, sweat running down his forehead. Thorin jumped over a large rock to land heavily on the ground, joining up with the rest of his company while Aria’s feather-light footsteps were the first one there. They found each other, joining up next to each other’s sides, close. Although, something wasn’t right. Anxiously Gandalf was starting to twirl all around, looking all around himself and out over the forest ground with a concerned wrinkle planted in-between his bushy eyebrows. “Where’s Bilbo? Where’s our Hobbit?” he asked, eventually yelling the words out because he demanded to know. He felt the fury rise because these dwarves couldn’t even look after a small Hobbit. The dwarves started to turn around as well, looking behind each other amongst the company as if the little Hobbit would suddenly appear with a frightened expression on his face, but of course that didn’t happen. Fili and Kili threw each other anxious looks, mouths wide open as well as their eyes as they shifted around to look behind each other’s backs, pacing the ground of the forest like lost puppies but there was no Hobbit to be found.

“Cast the Halfling! Now he’s lost!” Dwalin growled.

“I thought he was with Dori!” Balin pointed out.

“Don’t blame me!” Dori flinched at the accusation. The dwarves continued to babble amongst themselves about what could possibly have happened to the little Hobbit.