Chapter Sixteen

Flight

"What a fine predicament we've found ourselves in, gentle-dwarves." Bo muttered under her breath. Fíli had taken a hold of the back of her leather coat and hauled her up after him into the trees. Nori soon had her in his arms and he rested her next to him on the branch. The wolf-like creatures below her howled in amusement and snapped at the branches closest to the ground.

"What do we do?" Ori called from a tree over. "We can't fight from up here!"

"And it's not like they're about to leave," Dwalin growled.

"Steady!" Thorin commanded. "Keep away from them as best you can."

"Oh, sound advice, that!" Bo shouted back over the barking. "Think we should invite them to tea when they've settled?"

"Not now, burglar!"

The howling grew closer and the snap of teeth threatened to take feet. Bo curled her legs up onto the branch as much as she could and Nori tightened his arm along her waist. Suddenly, the tree shook and an undignified squawk escaped from her and Bombur. Her hands flew to Nori's vest and the dwarf shouted.

"Damn, they're trying to knock us out!" Nori reached up and pulled himself to a stand. He dragged Bo up and then startled her by looping his arm under her bum and lifting her higher into the tree. "Bifur! Delivery!"

The axe-ridden dwarf muttered something in Khuzdul and took Bo. The hobbit gripped onto the branch unsteadily. "A little warning would be nice, Nori!"

"Oh, warning, mistress!"

"Ass!"

The tree rocked again and Bo promptly snapped her mouth shut and her eyes refused to open. There was harsh laughter from below and Bo peeked to see that the wargs had now been joined by a pack of Orcs and goblins. Bo cursed, "The sunlight was the only thing keeping them at bay."

"We have to get out of here." Fíli howled to Thorin. "Uncle!"

"Here!" Gandalf called from above. The dwarves looked up and Ori's hands were filled with glowing pinecones. "Throw them!"

Ori tossed his to Kíli and caught another one from Gandalf. Soon the others hand their hands full and pinecones flung hastily toward the pack of wargs. The creatures howled angrily and the Goblins sputtered with fright at the light. Some Orcs managed to catch a few cones and throw them back.

"This isn't helping!" Bo screamed as the tree rocked under her arms. "We'll burn to death!"

"Then we'll take them with us!" Dwalin shouted merrily. "Death to the dogs!"

The dry forest around them burst into flame and the fingers of fire quickened through the underbrush. The wargs and their riders were pushed back as fur was singed and paws were scorched. Arrows started to fly through the branches and one nearly scored a hit on Bifur's shoulder and her face.

The tree gave a violent lunge and then, with upsetting sluggishness, it tipped. Bo whimpered, but Bifur gave her no chance to go frozen with fear. His hand caught her elbow and he shoved her out into the open air. The wind was knocked out of her lungs as she collided with another set of branches.

"Damn dwarves, manhandling whoever they please." Bo griped. She reached up and climbed up the tree, but she had no chance to find footing. This tree was about to topple over, too. The roots snapped from below and the trunk groaned painfully.

"No, no, no!" Dori yelled as the second tree fell and nearly dislodged him from his place. Ori below him slipped and was caught by Balin to keep the young dwarf from the jaws that surged upward to try and catch him.

"Last tree, lads!" Bofur shouted. "Make it count!" The wargs pulsed around them, their powerful jaws sawing their teeth into the bark and wood of the tree. The goblins fired more arrows into the branches and the Company dodged while the Orcs howled their laughter behind all the chaos.

"Bastards." Glóin hissed. "They're just waiting until the goblins have done their work before they kill everything in sight."

"I don't think sharin' is in their vocabulary, Master Glóin!" Bofur managed to produce more pinecones for Gandalf and sent them soaring further to the backline, startling the wargs that waited in the shadows.

"Someone think of something!" Cried Nori. "We don't have much longer before –" A sickening crack rattled the tree. Instantly, every hand available flashed out to take a grip, some upon the trunk and branches, others to the dwarf next to them.

Fíli's mighty grip all but choked Bo as he forced her against the trunk of the tree for safety. Several splinters had jabbed into her face and neck, but now was not the time to complain. She could see around Fíli's arm and what had alarmed him so.

What stood at the back of the pack, a giant mace in hand was the White Orc of Balin's story. Her eyes grew wide with fear and she looked up to where Thorin was precariously seated above her. Bo twisted a hand into Fíli's coat and hissed, "Don't allow Thorin off this tree!"

"I'm not about to jump to my death, burglar." The Dwarf-king growled from above, shifting.

"Liar," Bo returned with a fierce glare at his underside, "You were just thinking it!"

"I –" But whatever words he thought to slap her with were swallowed as the tree that held them all creaked and then fractured violently like a twig from under foot. Bo's mangled scream was muffled by Fíli's body as he clutched at the trunk of the tree with her body between it and him.

"Hold on!" Fíli warned, but he was jarred from place as the tree crashed to the ground. Bo's hand snaked out and seized his outstretched arm before he fell too far. She grunted with pain as her shoulder protested, but it was ignored and the young prince was pulled up to latch onto another branch.

Bo could hear Dori and Ori scream somewhere behind her, calling for help. The bark under her arms popped off as she desperately tried to find purchase before she fell to her death down the mountain's cliff. A crunch spooked her from her flailing and she looked up to see Thorin's fur covered boot walk past her.

"Don't!" She hissed as she tried to reach his ankle. The tips of her fingers missed him by a narrow touch. Before she could say otherwise, the idiot king took off down the length of the tree at a run, straight for his enemy. Dwalin gave an outcry, demanding that Thorin stop.

"I swear if that demon doesn't kill him," Bo snarled into her arms as she heaved up onto the trunk of the tree, "Then I'll skin him myself!" Her feet slipped on the narrow path of the trunk, but she kept as steady as she could in the path of Thorin. The dwarf had already made it to the Orc and had been bashed to one side.

A second one dismounted and had raised its wicked blade over Thorin's prone body.

If anyone is killing the stupid bastard, Bo thought as she screamed and ran forward, it's going to be me! Her tiny body collided with the foul smelling orc and they both crashed to the ground. An audible 'click' rang in her ears and the long-forgotten muscle memory of her sword practice sparked back into her limbs.

The blade of her elvish sword flew down and speared through the Orc's throat. Like a hammer, she slammed the blade down a second time and the orc's head rolled off with a thud. Her hands and knees were splattered with thick, blackish blood and she stumbled up onto her feet.

The White Orc and its white warg neared her, teeth bared on both faces. She held her glowing blade with an abled arm and stared at the beast, her legs numb and her knees shaking under her clothing. The Orc snarled at her, "Interfering maggot!"

"Only in your corpse, demon." She growled. The white warg lunged forward and she swung tightly and close, her blade chipped at an incisor and rattled in her grip. She stumbled back on her quaking knees and fell beside Thorin. The warg circled and shook out its mouth.

"Mistress…" Thorin choked, his eyes fluttering.

"Shut your fat face," She couldn't look at him, mangled as he was, "we're going to discuss your childish antics later, young man." She stood and could not hear the chuckle that bubbled up pathetically from his chest. He was unconscious by the time the warg brought its piercing eyes back to her.

Not that it mattered, because Dwalin's axe slammed right into its nose. From there, the battle erupted into chaos. The rest of the dwarves (or those that could) had stumbled out from the tree with their weapons at the ready. The wargs snarled and howled with snapping jaws and clashing teeth. Bo turned and almost crouched by Thorin when there was a click of teeth just to her right.

There was no hesitation when she brought her blade around and ripped through the beast's nose. She glared up at the orc-rider and brandished her weapon. There was a moment of stillness and the beast extended its neck for a bite. She shifted to one side, nearly fell over a rock, and brought her blade down in an arc to carve into the long, furred neck.

The rider followed its beast as the animal tripped and the rider pitched forward. Bo stabbed the end of her sword upwards and into the orc's ribs and pushed down as he fell to dislodge her blade. Her arms were coated in the same blood and she could feel dashes of it on her face.

A gust of wind twisted around her and blurred her vision. Bo stumbled away and blinked at the flame and dirt in her eyes. Something swooped by her overhead and there was a pained yelp from the wargs that surrounded her. The dwarves clamored to each other and Bo raised her head to find the source of the ruckus.

It was giant birds. Giant eagles.

Her mouth dropped open and she spun on her hip as another of the colossal birds dove toward her. She snatched the hilt of her blade just as the bird caught her in its talons. A meek squeak tumbled out of her throat and then it was followed by a scream as she was released.

Damn bloody bird!

She fell only for a few seconds, but it was enough to have her swallowing down her vomit as she collided onto the back of another bird below the cliff. She clung to the feathers that flew up into her face and tucked into the space between the shoulders of the birds' wings. Her whole body shook from head to toe and her spine ached as it continued.

It was a while more before she looked up. It was still night time and the other dwarves had been collected from the fire. She shifted along the spine of the bird and counted the heads. She couldn't find Thorin and Fíli's shout for him unnerved her. She followed his line of sight and could spy an arm dangling from the talons of the bird just at the front of the flock.

Thorin. She swallowed, he better not be dead.

They soared through the clouds and over the reminder of the Misty Mountains for the last few hours of the night. Bo felt her limbs go numb from the cold and she settled into a huddled ball of shaking muscles in the warm feathers of the bird. She could hear the creature coo at her from time to time, but all she managed to do was run her hand over its back to acknowledge it.

Dawn rose and the land under them turned green and lush, wide and jagged with less intimidating mountain peaks, but just as dangerous as the others, no doubt. The birds dove down into a valley and swung around in circles, one by one depositing their charges upon a spike of hill that jutted out from the land.

Bo's bird landed and gently pitched forward, forcing her to roll down its shoulders and onto the rock with a thud. Her body ached from toes to ears and she took a moment to lie there and shudder. The eagle blinked at her with a giant eye, its head tilted one was to better see her. The head shifted and soon a beak gave her a tender poke along her side.

"I'm alright, Master Eagle." Bo was breathless, either from the ride or the fright that had finally caught up with her. She rubbed at her throat and rested a trembling hand on the tip of the creature's beak. "Thank you for the assistance. I shall make sure my companions never forget it."

A click of its beak and the creature flew off with a gust of wind that choked her. She continued to lie along the cold rock, the morning sun not yet strong enough to warm the stone. Bo shut her eyes for only a moment and relished in the feel of all her limbs attached, despite the burning tingles that echoed through her nerves.

Speaking of nerves, she nearly growled. That damn dwarf had a lot to explain, if you asked her. His stupid, selfish, idiotic moment of skewed heroism nearly got him killed and would have abandoned the company without a leader. If it was one thing she learned from the Rangers, it was that you saved your mean before you saved yourself.

"Where is she?" Thorin thundered from lower on their rock. Bo blinked and glanced over to see the thundercloud that was the Dwarf-King storming toward her. Oh no you don't, Bo's heart raced in her ears and she could feel a twitch start in her eye, you don't get to pin this one on me, you great ass.

She stood as Thorin finally neared her, but he cut her off as her mouth opened, "What did you think you were doing?" He growled, his figure towering just above her forehead. "Did I not say you were a burden? That you did not belong?"

"You can shove off, you pig-headed Highness!" Bo clicked her teeth. "What did you think you were doing? Flying off the handle just as you please! You could have gotten yourself killed," Bo stepped forward and shoved both hands into the dwarf's massive shoulders, "you could have been maimed," another shove and this time his furthest foot skidded backwards slightly, "you would have left us all to flounder without you, you great," a punch to his shoulder this time, "stupid," that grin on his face was infuriating, "exasperating oaf!"

Her arms were trapped against his chest as he leaned over and hugged her. Bo's breath was strangled in her throat and her words dried out on her tongue. The center of his core radiated heat like a furnace and it bled into her frigid skin. She shuddered for a different reason and gently, mindlessly, she brought her arms out from their confinement and wrapped them around his girth as much as she could.

"Thorin?" She whispered nervously into his shoulder. She could still smell the fire and smoke in the fabric of his coat and a shiver of fright went up her spine. The dwarf king had probably lost his mind, she figured, as that would be the only reason he would touch her. Lost his mind, damned creature.

"I have never been more wrong in my life," Thorin rumbled into her hair, his hug tightening for a moment more. He pulled away and Bo shuddered as the cold morning air rushed in around her. The dwarf grinned at her and she felt her sunburnt cheeks flare. "Thank you, Mistress, for your bravery."

Bo rallied her senses and glared at him, "Y-yes, well. Next time you decide to get yourself killed, come to me, you owe me for all the stupid poppycock you put me through. And stop grinning!" The Company around them rolled with a low thunder of chuckles and laughter and it took everything in her not to sniff and turn up her nose. She adjusted her leathers and clothes and tightened the strip that held her sword in place.

Óin roughed his way through the crowd to her. Bo blinked when the dwarf huffed at her and then took her chin in his grip. Suddenly, a rag dipped in something dark brown was slapped onto her temple and with a violent sting; she was reminded of her injuries. Bo hissed and bared her teeth momentarily.

"Hold still, beastie." Óin clucked, grip sturdy. "Who knows what else you've got broken and bruised? How far did you fall in the mountain?"

"I don't know. I hit a waterfall or a river at some point. I was just jostled by rocks – ow!" Óin had left her to hold the rag to her head and his hands had moved to her ribs. He poked at something just under her last one and the resulting ramble of pain that shot up through her lungs had her skittering away.

"Oh, no, beast. Stay still!" Óin commanded. Bo scrunched up, but Nori shadowed in behind her and held her lightly from under her arms. It was just enough that movement was uncomfortable and Óin nodded his head and tested her ribs.

"How badly is she injuried?" Thorin asked over Óin's shoulder. The healer shook his head.

"I cannot tell, I would have to get under her armors to be sure, and I can't rightly do that with all of you gawking, now can I?" The old dwarf Óin snarked. Thorin pursed his lips and shot Bo a look, but all she could give him was a shrug of her shoulders. Nori chuckled from behind her.

A flutter of birds passed overhead and drew everyone's attention. There hadn't been any animals while they escaped from the caves, but it was a relief now to see a few in the area. Bo grinned, "Thrushes! Normal sized birds, thank Yavanna's grace."

Thorin's face split into another broad grin, "And look, the Lonely Mountain is that much closer." Indeed, the solitary mountain peak stood among the wide landscape like a beacon and Bo wiggled as Nori's hold on her relaxed. She slipped away and stumbled a bit. Thorin took her by the shoulder and Bo silently promised to smother the dwarf-king's face in a bag if he continued to smile at her like he did.

"I'll take it as a sign, wouldn't you, Mistress?"

She was definitely going to need a bag, and soon.