The Fifteenth Member

The Living Mountain

Attara's POV

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When we returned to the group thorin, balin, and Bilbo were gone. They must have gone to speak to Elrond I thought to myself. We continue eating for a few minutes until the missing dwarves and the hobbit returned.

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Thorin briefly explains what had happened and that we have to leave immediately. "The door can only be opened at the last light or Durin's Day!" He bellowed "we must leave now" he said urgently.

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All the dwarves began to pack up quickly and I followed suit. I found a pack Arwen must have left for me and quickly changed into something more suitable to travel in. I was wistful about leaving her, but it had to be done. I had begun to like the dwarves and I wouldn't leave them alone to face their peril, not when I knew their pain so well.

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We managed to make it out of the gates of Rivendell without being seen, which was no easy task.

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"Be on your guard, we are about to step over the edge of the wild. Balin, you know these paths; lead on." Thorin instructed, his mind obviously still on the earlier orc attack.

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"Aye" Balin responded shortly. 

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Bilbo turned back to look at Rivendell one last time. I knew how he felt, and just like him wished I could stay.

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"Master Baggins, Attara, I suggest you keep up." Thorin grunted. I sighed heavily and turned back towards the group.

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Over the days we passed through many different parts of middle earth. We traveled through woods, planes, mountain, and rivers - all with the thought of the dangers ahead weighing heavily on our minds.

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Soon we reached the Misty Mountains, and the path begun to grow perilous. It was storming, making the thin mountain path slippery. I tried to use my wings to steady myself, but the wind was much too strong.

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"Hold on!" Thorin called out. He would not see us stopped by some storm with our deadline fast approaching.

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Suddenly, a rock gave way beneath Bilbo causing him to slip. I quickly grabbed him and pulled him back to safety.

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Seeing this, Thorin called out "we must find shelter!" It seemed the severity of the situation had finally reached him.

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"Watch out!" Dwalin cried as a giant bolder crashed into the mountain overhead. My eyes widened with realization.

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"This is no thunderstorm; it's a thunder battle! Look!" Balin yelled as we turned our heads to the sky.

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A huge stone giant was before us, ripping chunks off of the mountain to throw at his opponent.

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"Well bless me, the legends are true. Giants; stone giants!" Bofur called.

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"Take cover! You'll fall!" Thorin yelled, but we had nowhere to take cover.

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"What's happening?" Kili cried, a mixture of fear and confusion in his voice.

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As the original giant threw his bolder another appeared from behind us and was hit in the head. We braced ourselves as the rock underneath us trembled from the impact. Then the rock between us began to split, separating one half of the group from the other. I watched as half our group began to move away from us, my eyes meeting kili's frantic ones as he moved away.

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"Kili! Grab my hand! Kili!" Fili called out.

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I tried with all my strength to steady the rock beneath them. My skin glowing brightly, but this was no ordinary rock. The rock was alive, the mountainside we were on a stone giant itself.

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I felt my strength begin to fade as I saw the rest of the group being crushed.

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"No! No! Kili!" Thorin cried out, pain in his voice.

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My vision began to blur and my head began to swim. A distant voice called "we're alright! We're alive!" Before my world went black.