Coincidence? →️The Hobbit fanfic

XIV

Erlanda went for the lever again but once again an orc blocked her way. She blocked its blows and then managed to cut off its head. As the orc fell, she could see that there had been another one behind it but it was now embedded by an orc blade.

She didn't have time to thank whichever dwarf threw that as another orc went to chop off her head but she quickly ducked and chopped off its head instead before running to the lever again.

She had almost reached it as a burning pain shot through her leg. "'Landa!" both Kili and Fili yelled as she tried but failed to pull down the lever and open the gate. She fell to the ground and groaned in pain as she saw that there was an arrow sticking out of her leg. 

Just at that moment, another orc came towards her and she frantically looked around for the weapon she had been using as an arrow struck the orc and made it fall to the ground. Her head shot around to the blond elf that had captured them. He loaded his bow again and shot another orc that was coming her way and then fought off orcs on his side of the river.

Erlanda quickly pushed herself up against the wall and then made her way to the lever, hanging herself on it and pulling it down with her weight. She landed on the floor again and then looked down at the river where the dwarves had pushed her barrel in their middle. She let herself fall into it feet first and yelped as the arrow broke off and moved in her wound again.

She tried to hold her weight on the uninjured leg as Bofur pulled along her barrel and they all fell down another waterfall. The Company made their way through the river as they tried to keep themselves from drowning or being killed by orcs. Erlanda looked around and saw the blond elf again who was now running next to them along with a few other elves. They were all fighting off the orcs.

An Orc landed in the water in front of Erlanda and she quickly took its weapon. As another one came too close to her, she slashed at it and threw it into the water. "Kili!" she yelled as she saw him being attacked and threw her weapon at him. The dwarf caught it swiftly and killed the orc before throwing it to Gloin so he could kill the orc that had just jumped onto his barrel.

Erlanda could then see the blond elf again who jumped onto the heads of Dwalin and Dori to shoot arrows from there. Then he jumped up and turned around mid-air only to land on their heads again. After a moment of standing on Dwalin's head with one foot (while still shooting arrows) he jumped onto  Nori's head before running off onto land again and landed o the back of an orc, gliding down a small slope while standing on its back with both feet.

He once again ran over the dwarves heads to come to the other side of the river but thankfully made a large jump over Erlanda's head who watched as Thorin threw his sword at an orc that had been sneaking onto the elf while he was fighting off another one.

The Company floated away in their barrels and Erlanda looked back to see that the elf looked at her. She gave him a confused look. Did he know her? Did that elf maybe know about her past? Her questioned stayed unanswered as they drifted even further away from him.

As they continued along the river the current got slower and slower until it was so slow that Thorin used a branch he had found as a rudder. "Anything behind us?" he asked. 

"Not that I can see," Balin replied. Bofur stuck his head out of his barred and spit out a mouthful of water, "I think we've outrun the Orcs," he said.

"Not for long," Thorin replied. "We've lost the current. Make for the shore!" the Company quickly made their way to the shore and they were all unsteady on their feet. Erlanda made her way to the middle of the rocks they had climbed onto and looked at her wound. 

"Here," Bofur said and gave her a wet cloth. She pressed it to her wound and clenched her teeth to prevent her from yelling out loud and attracting more orcs. As she saw the concerned dwarf in front of her she gave him a weak smile. "I'll survive. It's not that bad."

"Stand up," Thorin commanded as he walked past Erlanda and Bofur. "'Landa's wounded. Her leg needs treatment." one of the dwarves around her defended her. Thorin looked around. "There's an Orc pack on our trail. We keep moving."

"To where?" Balin asked.

"To the mountain." Bilbo replied, "We're so close."

"A lake lies between us and that mountain," Balin argued. "We have no way to cross it."

"So then we go around." 

Dwalin looked at the two, "The orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight." he then turned to Thorin, "We've no weapons to defend ourselves."

Thorin nodded and looked at Erlanda, Bofur, Fili, and Kili as he walked past them, "Bind her leg, quickly." he stopped next to Balin and without looking at them, he added, "You have two minutes." The dwarves quickly helped Erlanda clean her wound and bind her leg as they saw a strange man with a bow in his hand looming over Ori.

Dwalin took a branch and blocked the archer's way. The Dwarf went to attack but his branch was quickly impaled by an arrow. As the archer turned around, Kili lifted a stone to throw but it was knocked out of his hand by another arrow.

"Do it again and you're dead." the archer spoke.

Balin, who seemed to have seen something behind the man spoke up, "Excuse me, but you're from Lake-town if I'm not mistaken." The bow was promptly pointed at the elder dwarf who lifted his hands, "That barge over there...it wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?"

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