The Dragon Girl

Chapter 4

I scanned the forest's horizon in my lion form since it was one of the favorites among the dwarf princes. My highly sensitive nose picked up several scents, may they be from the dwarves themselves or from the forest underbrush. There was one scent that I could not quite pick up that was bothering me. It smelled of that of a man, but also of several different species of fauna that overwhelmed me at first sniff. Suddenly, a sled driven by around twelve rabbits rushed by me in a blur. Before I could comprehend what had just happened, the man on the sled screamed at the company, "Beasts! Fire! Murder!" My head tilted to the side in confusion but Gandalf recognized who it was, "Radagast the Brown... What are you doing here?" When Radagast was stuttering for an answer, I made myself appear from the underbrush. I must of approached too quickly, as Radagast almost squealed out of fear, "What is THAT Gandalf?" I sneered slightly and growled, "I can hear what you say Radagast the Brown." I took a paw-step forward in almost pure rage, but two particular dwarven princes held me back, "Calm down Wisteria." Kili murmured. I snorted and morphed back into my elven form, "As you wish." Radagast gulped as I watched his every movement and he walked to Gandalf's private counsel. Kili shook his head as both Gandalf and Radagast disappeared from my eye sight, "What is it with you and wizards?" I clenched my jaw as I sat down next to him and Fili, "I've never trusted them." Fili smirked slightly, "And yet you travel with one at that?" I rolled my eyes, "I happen to only trust Gandalf to a certain extent. We both have a mutual respect for one another." Before Kili or Fili could say anything more, a sharp pain stuck through my head. I clutched it with both my hands and let out a gasp in pain. I heard the muffled voices of the dwarves rushing to my aid, but my vision clouded and scenes flashed before my eyes.

*Kili's P.O.V*

I couldn't help but feel helpless as Wisteria rocked back and forth on the ground in pain. "What's wrong with 'er?" I heard Uncle mumble. Bofur shook his head as he checked for her pulse, "Everything is normal physically. Whatever this is is mental, and possibly magic." At the sound of the word "magic", both Uncle and Balin stood up and rushed over. Wisteria kept muttering under her breath about some "dark magic" and something called "the Necromancer". It wasn't until both Gandalf and Radagast came back that she snapped out of it. Wisteria's eyes were full of fear and confusion, "What was that? What happened?" Several of us shook our heads, which didn't seem to help Wisteria's case at all. She attempted to stand up, but almost fell to the ground if I didn't grab her first. Before any of us could ask if she was alright, Wisteria swatted us away, "I'm fine. It was just..." It was then that we heard the roar of a Orc scout's horn.

*Wisteria's P.O.V*

I had just returned to my senses as I heard the distinct sound of an Orc scout's horn. Bilbo stirred nearby, "Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?" Bofur shook his hand as he gripped onto his axe, "Wolves? No, that is not a wolf." I was the first one to spot the Gundabag warg looming over the company, "Warg!" I screeched as I morphed into my wolf form, meeting the warg midair in a clash of teeth and claws. Thorin's axe dug into the creature and nearly missing my head as Kili shot down the other that had snuck behind the soon-to-be King. My jaws released themselves from the warg's neck as Thorin groaned, "Warg scouts! That means an Orc pack is not far behind." Bilbo' eyes widened as he turned to me, "Orc pack?" I nodded in a wolf-like way. "Who did you tell about your quest, other than your kin?" Gandalf asked as he stepped forwards. "No one." Thorin said slightly muted. "Who did you tell?" Gandalf's voice increased in volume. "No one I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?" Thorin yelled back. Gandalf sighed, "You are being hunted." Dwalin murmured, "We have to get out of here." Nori appeared from up the hill, "We can't! We have no ponies, they bolted!" Radagast nodded, "I'll draw them off." Gandalf turned to his fellow wizard, "These are Gundabag wargs, they will outrun you." "These are Rhosgobel rabbits, I'd like to see them try." Radagast smirked back. I nodded, "Then you will have me as well." Kili turned to face me, "Wisteria no! It's too dangerous!" I gave the dwarf prince a wolf smile, "As the wizard said, I would like to see them try. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has outrun me in my wolf form Kili." Gandalf nodded, "Be safe Wisteria." I nodded as I positioned myself with the rabbits, "You too Gandalf." It was then that Radagast and I were off, as soon as the wargs let out syncopated war howls. I answered the call, which made about five of them sprint after me.

Radagast was about five paw steps ahead of me as wargs almost bit at my heels. It was then that the sled-riding wizard yelled, "Come and get me!" Not that they won't come chase you anyways Radagast, I muttered to myself as I leaped on and off several boulders that littered the meadow. I saw Gandalf peek around one of these said boulders as I lead two wargs away from where they were, "Come on." I heard Gandalf say to the company as he led them around us. The plan was easy to execute, run, distract the wargs, and then run some more. I was beginning to notice though after a while that the orcs knew we were up to something. It was that I realized that when I nearly knocked into Ori as I chased after a rouge warg or two. I sent him an apologetic look, and he acknowledged it as I zoomed by. This particular orc's warg then seemed to pick up on the company's scent as they hid underneath a boulder. Before any of them could react, I pounced on top of the Orc, which allowed for Kili to shoot the warg I between the eyes. I tried to make quick work of the Orc but it took me a solid minute to snap its neck to silence it. It wasn't until I heard the warg's howls that I knew they were coming after us. "Move! Run!" Gandalf yelled and we were on the run again, this time with me running by Fili and Kili's side. "There they are!" Dwalin yelled. Gandalf steered us to the right, "This way, quickly!" It was then that we found ourselves cornered between the wargs and a very peculiar boulder. "There are too many of them!" Fili yelled in Thorin's direction. It was then that I decided to make full use of myself by morphing back into my elf-form, with all of my weapons in hand, and began to shoot down wargs and orcs alike with my bow. Kili joined after my first arrow made its mark. "Where's Gandalf?" One of the dwarfs yelled. "He's abandoned us!" Dwalin groaned. Ori kept shooting little rocks at one warg via slingshot, but it wasn't doing much damage as he stepped back in the ranks in fear. "Hold your ground!" Thorin ordered as he unsheathed his sword, oddly enough of elven making. Behind me, I heard Gandalf yell, "This way you fools!" Then, one by one, the company slid into the underground passageway Gandalf had found. I, being the last one, looked to see when Fili and Kili got out of danger. "Wisteria hurry!" Gandalf yelled as more wargs cornered me. I smiled as I shrunk to the size of a mouse, startling the orcs and wargs alike, and slid into the cave. As I landed, I fell straight onto Kili's shoulder pad, him not noticing that I was there. "Where's Wisteria?" I heard several of the company ask Gandalf. I squeaked out softly, "I'm here." Kili didn't jump in freight like I had thought he would, but had eyes full of concern, "Are you okay?" I nodded in my mouse-form, only to slide off him and morph back into my normal form clutching to my side which had started to bleed out. Kili caught me as I fell, but only just, and saw the tooth of a warg sticking out of my side. I pulled it out with ease, but I knew by the faces of both of the dwarven princes that I wasn't getting out of this easily. "What happened?" Kili questioned as Dwalin went further along the path. I smiled faintly, "O-One of the w-wargs got me as I was shrinking as a mouse. I guess the tooth shrunk and grew with me." I leaned into Kili's shoulder as Dwalin yelled, "I can't see where the pathway leads! Should we follow it?"
"Follow it of course!" Bofur yelled back and the company journeyed forwards once more with Gandalf, Fili, Kili, and I in the rear. I leaned against both of the dwarf princes as they exchanged looks of concern mainly for me. Gandalf nodded, "Following it would be wise." I smirked slightly, "Indeed." We had only made it a few steps until my wound fully healed on its own. Kili's eyebrows raised, "How did you do that?" I smiled as we made our way towards the line of the company, "Being part lizard really helps in the healing department."

It wasn't long until my eyes set sight on the most beautiful sight that I had seen in the past few weeks...

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A/N:
And then I left you with a cliffhanger! Don't worry, a new chapter will be out soon, hopefully in a day or two. I made this one extra long for your guy's reading pleasure. I'll see you guys in the next chapter!