Devotion (Thorin/OC)

Chapter two : The Pit

"Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood"

The haunting chant never failed to rally my anger and fear.

Who's blood?

Anyones blood.

Then the bear saw me. I shifted my weight so I could leap out of the way incase he charged. The beast snarled at me, his ebony claws scraping the ground. His dark eyes were fixed on me, and mine on him. I tuned out the orcs and started to follow the bears movements. We circled each other, eyes never leaving the others.

The bear stopped a moment, and then he charged.

His roar silenced the orcs, and almost made my ears pop. I was stunned for a second, until I saw his charging towards me. At the last second, I leapt out of the way, allowing the bear to slam into the wall. My body begged me to shift, but I restrained myself.

'Not yet.'

The bear shook his great head and turned back to me. He growled in annoyance, and we started circling once more. He took a few swipes at me, leaving claw marks on my stomach and thigh. But that was all. This time, the bear gave no warning. He rose up on his back legs, and roared once more.

'Times up'

I shouted in anger back at him, and threw myself forwards. The painful action of shifting was ignored as adrenalin pumped through my body. My hands and feet became huge paws, and dirty black fur started to cover my body. My bones shifted and snapped, creating a crescendo of loud pops and sickening snaps.

When I slammed into the bear, I was in my wolf form. I was only slightly smaller then the bear itself, so my weight brought us both down. We both scrabbled up in seconds and were snarling and snapping our teeth at one another instantly.

The fight had begun...

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My breathing was heavy and ragged, as was my opponents. We were both covered in wounds, and blood stained my fur a deep red. Neither of us would last much longer. We had been fighting for what felt like hours, but my sense of time wasn't trust worthy these days.

We circled each other, blood dripping from our jaws and wounds. No one had ever lasted this long against me. I was impressed; my opponent seemed to have the same thoughts. I let out a menacing growl, but I moved slower as my limbs were tired and sluggish. I began to build up my energy, whilst looking for faults in the large bear. He was tired too, and his paws kept dragging on the stone floor. The orcs kept screaming and shouting for blood, but I had long since blocked them out.

The bear swiped at me, catching my shoulder and leaving bleeding claw marks. In payment, I lunged forward and sank my teeth into his side. The bear howled in pain and started bucking and thrashing around. He found his mark and started clawing at me. I snarled as blood started pouring from my side, letting go of the bear. The orcs cheered as blood splattered the floor.

'Thats it, I've had enough'

It was time to end this. With out a second more to think, I threw myself forward and onto the bears back. The orcs began to roar as I began clawing and biting at the bears neck. He bear roared and threw back its head, and stood on his back legs. We rocked backwards, then I was slammed into a hard rock wall. I yelped and let go, sliding to the floor. The bear staggered away, before falling to the ground like me. We lay there, whimpering, though it sounded more like laughing, and trying to stand. The pain finally became too much, and I shifted back.

The bear followed suit, and soon a naked muscled man lay in a pool of his own blood a few feet away from me. This skin changer had earned my respect, something I rarely gave. I looked up and met the bear-mans dark eyes. A tired smirk reached my lips as I dipped my head to him, a gesture he returned.

The roar of outrage from the orcs dew my attention as Azog stood and slammed his fists down on his 'throne's arm rests. A deep snarl came from me and my companion, as we bared our teeth.

"Fight!" Azog roared, but I stood and looked him in the eye, well aware of my naked state.

"No" I snarled back.

Big mistake...