Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings Imagines

Dwalin ~ Yours 2

We were making camp for the night, about a day out from Misty Mountain path. I stood up high on a rock, watching the darkening clouds overhead.

"Hopefully they pass over by tomorrow." I mused outloud to myself. "Don't really want to be following that path in the rain."

"We've traveled through worse lass."

I spun to face Dwalin, who, taking time to judge my reaction, slowly held up a bowl of food.

I took it. "Thanks. Clearly you haven't taken that path in a while, it's no easy journey, even dry. Taking in the rain, well, could very well end on someone's death."

"We can handle it Keli." He said, watching me as I turned back to face the clouds. "Rain or not."

I rolled my eyes, glad he couldn't see. "Don't say I didn't warn you because I will say I told you so."

Sure enough, I was right.

Not about someone dying of course, but of the path being a lot more dangerous.

I cursed the stupidity of our leader and those that allowed him to continue, which, yes, included Dwalin. Not only were we traveling the path in the rain, we were also taking it at night.

And it damn near came close to getting one of us killed.

I thought that the noise and rain had been enough, the path crumbling under our feet as we walked, but as the stone giants came out, well, I had a few choice words to say.

Somehow, I had wound up next to Dwalin, who kept a tight hold on me as we discovered we were on one of the creatures legs. We were one of the unfortunate ones.

Stuck on the creatures leg as it battled, we watched the other half of the company make it to safety, then we had to simply worry about ourselves.

The mountain wall rushed to us and I don't think a single one of us wasn't screaming. My mind blanked as I shut out what was about to happen, barely even registering as two arms wrapped me.

The impact hurt less than I thought it would, expecting rocks but not getting them, the noise around us deafening.

There was a lot of movement and I finally opened my eyes.

Everyone was fighting to their feet and for a moment I couldn't see Dwalin.

It was then I registered the arms around me.

I looked down to find Dwalin beneath me, his face pale.

He had cushioned my fall.

I frowned in concern. "Are you alright?"

He blinks up at me and nods.

"Where's the hobbit?"

We both looked around at the panic that was setting over the rest of company as several of them shouted and tried to reach over the edge.

Without thinking, I joined them on the edge, Dwalin scrambling up beside me.

Bilbo was hanging on, but barely. As the others reached for him, he dropped a bit more and we all knew that he would not be able to hold on.

I saw Thorin move forward but I knew that I could not allow him to go over, so i went over instead.

There were many shouts as I went over, grabbing Bilbo and hauling him up for the others to reach.

That was when my own hand slipped.

For a split second, I regretted everything.

Then I jerked to a halt, not even having heard the shout above me as Dwalin had thrown himself forward to catch my hand, the others having grabbed his belt to stop him falling too.

He pulled me up and several other hands grabbed me to help.

I sat on the edge, breathing hard.

"What were you thinking?" Dwalin growled angrily. "You could've fallen, you could've-" He stopped as he saw the others watching, shut his mouth tightly and stormed off.

Balin helped me to my feet. "Don't mind him lass, he just doesn't know how to express himself properly."

I stared at Balin. "What's that supposed to mean?"

But he just smiles and moves away, leaving me even more confused about the whole thing.

In the small cave we found, Dwalin avoided me and me him, deciding I was not ready and now was not the time to confront him.

The goblin tunnels proved a test, and yet, once again, Dwalin and I worked in unison.

That was after almost losing my head.

The others had tried to hide me, after all, goblins had a strong hatred of dwarves and the one, most vilest way, they could get to us, was by killing the women, but I was quickly spotted and dragged forward.

Despite the choice words I said to the Goblin King, I was terrified, more terrified than I had even been on the cliff.

I wouldn't have thought that I could stare death in the face twice in one day.

Luckily, Gandalf got us out in time and we fled through the tunnels, goblins shrieking around us as we killed more than our fair share.

I collided with Dwalin when the Goblin King stopped us, his arm catching me before I over balanced and then standing protectively in front of me, his knuckles white as he gripped his axe.

Gandalf handles the king but unfortunate for us, his weight took down the bridge we were on.

We were lucky it didn't kill any of us.

I was lucky, getting out before the King fell on the others, many curses being thrown out. If it had been any other time, it would have been very funny. Stumbling forward, I managed to get Dwalin's hand, who was trapped under a significant weight from the goblin, and pulled. It took three of us to get him out and he rested on my shoulder for a moment.

"Thanks lass." He muttered.

"No problem, but I hope you can still run."

We had little chance to settle down after we escaped the tunnels, Azog and his orcs running us almost off the edge of a cliff.

I clung to that tree for dear life.

Again, were luckily saved, the eagles coming down and saving all our lives.

Even once again in relative safety, we did not stop, knowing that Azog would still not be far behind.

Reaching Beorn's and being chased down in his bear form was the last straw for me.

Exhausted, I made a disgusted noise as Gandalf told us who the bear was and stormed off, earning several concerned looks.

I marched to the furthest spot I could find and collapsed down, tugging my boots off my aching feet and hurling them furiously at the nearest wall before sinking down, pulling my hood over my head and allowing myself to sleep.