Walking In Starlight

21

The river has calmed down, and the dwarves paddle along in their barrels with their hands, Ryneela leans against her barrel, bow still in her hand and arrows strapped to her back, one of the dwarves pulling her barrel along,

"Anything behind us?" Thorin asked

"Not that I can see" Balin replied, looking behind them

"I think we’ve outrun the orcs" Bofur said, looking behind as well

"Not for long, we’ve lost the current." Thorin said

"Bofur is half drown" Dwalin said

"Make for the shore!" Thorin ordered "come on, let’s go!"

The dwarves, Bilbo and Ryneela paddle to the riverbank, climb out onto a slab of rock jutting out a bit into the river,

"Come on!" Dwalin said

When Ryneela is on the rocks, she falls to her knees in pain from the arrow wound in her thigh, it has been bound with cloth, but blood is seeping through, a small cry emitting from her, Bofur looks at her in concern, hurrying over to her along with Kili and Fili,

"I’m fine, it’s nothing" Ryneela said

"On your feet" Thorin ordered

"Ryneela's wounded" Kili said "her leg needs binding"

"There’s an Orc pack on our tail" Thorin said "we keep moving"

"To where?" Balin asked

"To the mountain, we’re so close" Bilbo replied

"A lake lies between us and that mountain" Balin said "we have no way to cross it"

"So then we go around" he replied

"The orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight" Dwalin said "we have no weapons to defend ourselves"

". . . Bind her leg, quickly" Thorin said "you have two minutes"

While they bind Ryneela's leg, some of the dwarves sit down and Ori kneels by the river to empty his boot of water, another small cry emitting from the woman,

"Can you not heal yourself?" Kili asked in concern

"There's a catch to our power" Ryneela replied, her breathing slightly heavy "we can heal others; people and animals. But we cannot heal ourselves. One of my brothers must do it" another cry escaping her as Balin unexpectedly tightened a rag on her leg

Unbeknownst to them, a man sneaks up over the pile of rocks and aims an arrow at Ori. As the dwarves realize a man is there, they jump up, and Dwalin, holding a branch, leaps in front of Ori, raising the branch and begins to charge the man, but the man shoots his arrow and it embeds itself right in the middle of the branch, between Dwalin’s hands. Kili raises a rock to throw, but the man shoots the rock out of his hand too,

"Do it again, and you’re dead" the man said

"On the contrary" Ryneela said

The man hadn't noticed Ryneela until she had spoken, arrow drawn in her bow, which causes his eyes to widen slightly at the sight of it. Balin, who is standing near the edge of the group, sees a barge floating in the river behind the man,

"Excuse me, but, uh, you’re from Laketown, if I’m not mistaken?" Balin said, slowly approaching the man with his hands raised in the air "that barge over there, it wouldn’t be available for hire, by any chance?"

The man lowers his bow, which causes Ryneela to slowly do the same, watching as he climbs aboard his barge as the dwarves approach,

"What makes you think I will help you?" The man asked