The Fifteenth Member

The Troll Cave

Attara's POV

¤

I stood up as Gandalf approached the group and began to cut the dwarves free. I took in a sharp breath as pain flaired through my side when I moved.

¤

Lovely I thought to myself this is gonna suck for awhile. Although fairies do heal more quickly than most races, broken bones took a while to heal and I suspected my ribs were cracked.

¤

I was pulled from my thoughts by a hand landing on my shoulder. "Are you ok?" A voice asked. I spun around quickly knocking the hand off in the process. I squealed quietly as I spun, taken by surprise.

¤

A very surprised looking kili stood in front of me, a slight smile playing on his lips. My face flushed red as I realized how foolish I must have looked. "I'm fine" I muttered, lowering my head so my hair would hide my flushing face.

¤

"Did I scare you?" Kili asked chuckling a bit. Fili wandered over to join the conversation, it seemed he had seen the while exchange.

¤

"So you can attempt to fight off three trolls by yourself, but my little brother scares you?" Fili asked, his eyes sparkling and a smirk playing on his lips. A tone of hhumour hung heavily over his words.

¤

I looked back into their eyes defiantly. "He took my by surprise is all" I said crossing my arms. "I'm not scared of any dwarf" I retorted before walking off to the rest of the group.

¤

I reached the other dwarves in time to hear Thorin ask Gandlaf where he had gone.

¤

"To look ahead" he responded simply.

¤

Thorin then began to examine the stone figures of the trolls. "Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?" He questioned.

¤

"Oh, not for an age, not since a darker power ruled these lands." Gandalf responded with a far off look in his eyes. "They could not have traveled in daylight" he pointed out.

¤

"There must be a cave nearby" Thorin anounced to the group. As we headed off in search of the cave most of the dwarves came up to me.

¤

"Thanks for saving us lass" oin and gloin said

¤

"I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up" ori added in.

¤

The rest of the dwarves chorused their thanks while Thorin remained silent. I raised my eyebrows at this but considering his stubborness I was not surprised. We found the cave rather quickly, and while the rest of the dwarves went inside to plunder Thorin pulled me aside.

¤

"What were you thinking taking on three trolls at once?" He asked in a hushed angry tone.

¤

"Would you rather I just left you all to be eaten?" I shot back in an equally angry but slightly louder voice.

¤

"You could have been hurt" he said pausing momentarily "worse than you were" he added. I realized I had been holding my side without noticing. I quickly moved my hand away.

¤

"Sorry I didn't let a troll eat you!" I responded angrily "you would have been a huge help reclaiming erebor from the belly of a troll!" I shouted back ignoring the pain flaring in my side as I breathed more heavily.

¤

Fili and Kili then emerged from the cave, closely followed by the rest of the dwarves and the hobbit. Their expressions ranged from concerned, to irritated, to amused as they came to see us argue.

¤

Kili's face in perticular held a look of concern. "Uncle I-" he started but was cut off.

¤

A rustling sound came from the bushes around us. Here we go again