The Fifteenth Member

To the House

Attara's POV

We quickly took off running in the direction Gandalf pointed us. As we ran through the forest and across a stream I became acutely aware of just how much I missed flying. Normally I would have simply been able to take off and be ahead of the dwarves scouting out a path. Now I was stuck on the ground struggling to keep up. 

"Come on!" Gandalf yelled as he continued to lead the way. 

There are sounds of large beasts crashing through the forest near us. It seemed that not only this creature had found us, but the orc pack had caught our scent as well. We all froze as an ear-splitting roar sliced through the air around us. 

After a moments hesitation Gandalf took off again, with the rest of us close behind. "This way, quickly!" he shouted.

"Bombur come on!" I heard Bofur yell.

As we break free of the tree line, a large house came into view. As the end of our run is in sight, the dwarves all began to run faster. I was struggling to catch my breath and began to fall behind the group, my lack of flight beginning to take its toll.

"To the house! Run!" Gandalf encouraged.

Shockingly, Bombur began to pull ahead of the group, but even as he pulled ahead I began to fall behind. It's only a little bit further  I thought to myself, but it was no use. I was not used to spending this much time on the ground, and without my wings there was no way I could keep up.

As I fell even further back, Kili looked back at me over his shoulder. He seemed to notice how badly I was struggling, and fell back to match pace with me. Behind us a massive bear - almost double the size of any I had ever seen - broke through the tree line after us. 

"Go!" I shouted at Kili "I'll be fine!" 

Instead of listening to me he grabbed my hand and began to run faster, dragging me along behind him. As we reached the closed door the dwarves were throwing themselves against it. Kili let go of my hand and quickly joined the other dwarves in attempting to open the door.

"Open the door!" Gandalf yelled.

"Quickly" Thorin continued as the giant bear drew closer.

Thorin then rushed forward and managed to push the bolt upward, unlocking the door. We all shoved inside as quickly as possible and threw ourselves against the door in attempts to close it. Just before we were able to slam it shut, the massive bear shoved its head through the  crack, its jaws snapping wildly. With one final push we managed to slam the door fully shut and lock the bolt in place. 

The group seemed to let out a collective sigh as the bolt slid into place. I looked around to make sure everyone was still in once piece and my eyes met Kili's. 

"Thank you" I breathed as our eyes met. He simply smiled in response, too tired from the run to make any snarky responses.

"What is that?" Ori asked after we regained our composure.

"That" Gandalf began "is our host"