Wargs on the prowl (Thorin Company and Elentari)

The damned orcs were coming out of nowhere! They were chasing him and his band of warriors and they were all mounted on fearsome wargs while their ponies had been eaten a couple of nights before. So they were running through the fields, trying to fire arrows at the riders of the wargs before they got too close to them.
 
But the fact was that they were losing ground and they all knew it.
 
They were running out of options and it was looking like they were going to have to push for some kind of famous last stand type deal. It was not going to be pretty that was for damned sure and something told Thorin that these damned warg riders were just scouts... they were too lightly armoured.
 
Gritting his teeth, Thorin prayed that Elentari would be able to feel his need and rescue them because right now they were lost without her.

Elentari swept up her staff and clambered into her leather armour as fast as she was able, she could feel the distress coming from Thorin and his company. He was calling for her help and she would come to answer his request as she had promised him. Wanting to get there as fast as possible, she did not take a mount, merely deciding to use her magic to appear there, no time could be wasted in her efforts to help the Dwarves.

Closing her eyes she jabbed her staff in the air, ripping a hole in the air which black shadows leaked out of, gritting her teeth she jumped into the hole she had created, hearing it pop closed behind her, almost as soon as she had clambered into the hole, Elentari was ripping another one and clambering out again. The darkness between places was so dense, even she disliked lingering in that realm.

Immediately she regretted the decision not to bring a mount.

Warg riders were the problem here and she should have brought a horse, to be on the same level as them if not higher.

Gritting her teeth, she jumped off the rock behind where the Dwarves were clustered and onto the back of the Warg that was pinning them to the corner, knocking the rider off. Swiftly she drew her staff and slammed it against the Orc's skull, a flash of darkness burst from it and there was naught left of the skull but a mush upon the floor. Quickly Elentari spun, bringing the crystal of her staff down onto the back of the warg, releasing another flash of darkness which created an echoing crack as the back of the beast broke rendering it useless.

"Come! Now!" she cried to the company "We make for those rocks and the hidden passage there-in, do not stop no matter what might occur. GO!" Elentari commanded growling as she drew her sword to cull the other oncoming  warg rider.

Gripping his axe tightly, Thorin swung it just in time to cut a warg rider in half as he tried to charge him. Before the dangerous mount could attack he raised his axe and cut the creature's head clean off. It was times like these he truly loved his axe. No other weapon was able to do such damage so easily. And it was messy, something that was making even these blood thirsty orcs have second thoughts about charging at him or his dwarves.

The rest of the company was hiding behind a rock that was giving them the best amount of cover and were busy attempting to take the damned creatures out with arrows. He growled a little bit and threw a smaller axe, a throwing axe. It hit a warg in the head, causing it to tumble over repeatedly, crushing the orc underneath it's body weight.

When Elentari arrive his eyes widened to see her appearing out of thin air. She could transport herself across distances with shadow magic? What else hadn't she told them about her magical abilities? What more had she neglected to mention to him? He gritted his teeth slightly as he slammed his axe down, putting the injured orc out of his misery,

"Do as she says!" he roared to his dwarves, his command getting the instant reaction that her's did not. He nodded to her as he began to withdraw back to the hidden passage as the others all filed in, "Come on Elentari! Get back to the passage with us!"

Making it to the passage way, he paused for a moment before making his way through it,

"Come on Elentari!" he shouted for her to follow before frowning, "Where does this even lead to?"

Elentari slashed the approaching warg across the face with her sword, blinding one of it's eyes as she did so, causing it to roar and veer upwards in pain, knocking the rider from it's back as it did so. The rider, while the warg was occupied charged at her and she took it on without any problems, beheading the Orc as easily as she would slice through butter as the adrenaline surged through her veins.

The warg, now up and growling at her for not only half blinding it, but killing it's master, loped towards her its teeth bared in a snarl as it pounced into the air, aiming for her head with it's large monsterous jaws. Swiftly Elentari sprinted, and slid underneath the springing warg, her sword lifted behind her head so it gutted the beast as it moved.

Seeing that all the dwarves had made it to the passage she dashed after them, the gap was small enough that the wargs could not follow but the Orcs upon them easily could if they desired. Although, she was sure that they had all fled upon seeing her appearance, and how deftly she culled two of their comrades.

"It is a secret passageway to the Valley of Rivendell." she stated as she sprinted through the rough passageway in the rock "And before you say anything, your only other option was death by warg so do not complain Thorin."

Every now and then she looked back down the passage way, taking out a throwing knife from her thigh holdster she through it back at the lone Orc that had decided to follow them down the passage, felling it as the knife sliced through most of its neck, Elentari turned her attention back to where she was going, her burning black eyes narrowing as she kept a watch on the dwarves, wizard and hobbit ahead.

"Keep going straight ahead, do not stop until you can see the city in front of you!" she called out to the dwarves at the very front.

Thorin was very glad for Elentari's help even if part of him was a little bit annoyed that she hadn't told him things that could have made this entire quest so much easier potentially. But that was something to be argued about in the near future. And there would be a little bit of an argument about it that was for damned sure. Thorin didn't like that his allies were keeping secrets from him. Especially when he had laid bare all of his secrets to Elentari.

When she joined them in the passage way he was relieved that she was going to be able to join them and not hold them off or anything. That meant that the other end of the passage was well guarded and the only place that he knew of around here that was well guarded was... He ground to a halt in mid-sprint as she told him where the passageway went to,

"You expect me to go crawling on my hands and knees to ELVES?" he hissed, spitting out the word as if the very touch of it on his tongue offended him greatly, "I would rather have taken an honourable death than this!"

He scowled when the rest of the Company ganged up on him and forced his hand. If he left of his own he was as good as dead. Gritting his teeth, he followed the last of the passage and after a little while they emerged in the valley of Rivendell... complete with Elvish city. Thorin narrowed his eyes and spat at the ground,

"Marvellous." he growled angrily, "Can this day get any better I wonder?"

Elentari as she came to the edge of the passage sighed softly and tried her very hardest not to rage at Thorin immediately, although the anger was never the less present, she knew that Gandalf could feel it too and that was why he was desperately trying to get them all to go closer to the Home of Rivendell so that the hospitality of the Elves might distract them from the oncoming argument.

Honestly, she had never met someone so ungrateful in all of her life. Did he know what she had risked by teleporting to help him? By coming to help him in the first place she could have died! But no, because she had lead him to the Elves and neglected to tell him all the forms of magic she could do she was in the bloody dog house?

"Then go back." Elentari hissed "Go back down the passageway to the wargs and Orcs that wait. It is madness Thorin and this is the thanks I get for saving all your lives, what a pitiful excuse for a thank you this is. Ranting at me because the means of escape we had was not to your liking."

Gritting her teeth the grip on her staff tightened and Elentari leant against the wall of the passageway, looking from dwarf to dwarf, there were mumbled thank yous and the hobbit, Bilbo said it outright with a small bow, improving her mood slightly. As soon as Thorin opened his mouth again however, Elentari thrust her sword into the ground in anger.

"Would you have preferred I had not had come?" she asked, her eyes flashing with anger "Because next time I will not come and let us see how far you get without my aid."

Turning, she began to walk towards the house of Rivendell, not caring if Thorin followed or not, damn insufferable proud dwarf.

Thorin was a proud dwarf and right now Elentari had taken advantage of his trust and his feelings for her to not only take him to an elvish city but to not give him information that could have made his quest so much safer and easier. And elves... ELVES! The most disgusting of traitors and the only race he couldn't stand more than Orcs! She knew this. She knew how much he hated the Elves. How much he had lost due to their weakness and their betrayal! She knew and yet still she had him come here. Still she had him come crawling to them for shelter!

When she suggested that he go back to the wargs and the orcs he narrowed his eyes in disgust in the direction of the elvish guards,

"Fine." he declared firmly as he drew his axe and began to march back towards the passage, "At least the wargs and orcs are truthful in their intentions. There's not betrayal in an enemy who only wishes to see you dead."

Before he got very far though an oppressive weight settled on his shoulders, almost pinning him to his knees. He turned in time to see Gandalf glaring at him. The very air around the older wizard was becoming darker and heavier. The other dwarves, Bilbo and the elvish guards were all sinking to their knees under the weight. He was sure even Elentari was feeling it. Gandalf glared straight into Thorin's eyes,

"Thorin, son of Thrain!" he thundered, his voice deep and echoing throughout the valley, "You will do away with your stubborn dwarf pride and you will join your company inside Riverdell. You will do this now or you will die before you reach your goal!"

Gritting his teeth, Thorin noticed that the oppressive atmosphere was instantly gone. He put his axe away on his back with a scowl but began to follow the rest of his company into the elvish city. He growled at the elvish guard who tried to take his axe from him and the dwarves were allowed to keep their weapons,

"I would have preferred it if you would have just helped me kill them instead of dragging me to the steps of the people who betrayed my homeland and my ancestors and left my people in ruin." he told her firmly, "I would have preferred anything to being dropped into this den of traitorous snakes."

Betrayal? Betrayal?!

The very word made her teeth set on edge. Thorin was saying that she had betrayed him because she had lead him here? That she was now an enemy of him? Allowing her gaze which was molten with fire and passion cool, Elentari turned to face Thorin with an expression that was utterly blank, her anger was beyond words, as was her hurt at his reaction to her saving him.

Did he not know what she risked by coming here herself? No. He did not, because she had not elected to tell him so he did not bare her weight on his shoulders as well as his own, but that apparently made her worse than any other enemy he had faced. If that was how his mind worked she was sure that this quest would fail, his prejudice would blind him.

"If that is what you truly think, then I shall accept what you say." she stated quietly "Next time I shall leave you to die when the only other option is Elvish help, although, you should ask your quarry if they agree with this decision before you make yourself so concrete in your speech."

Gandalf, quite unbeknownst to Elentari had come along side of her and placed his hand on her shoulder, she tried to resist the urge to brush it off, but Gandalf could tell how much she was raging, how much she was hurt. Such a simple gesture, threatened to break through the walls she had just set up to keep her emotions in check.

"Calm yourself Ari, calm. He will see sense in the end. I thank you for your assistance this day, and I in turn will aid you, as his presence is undoubtedly here in Rivendell today." he stated, soothingly.

The confirmation that Saruman was indeed here made her teeth set on edge and her grip on her staff tighter but still she said nothing, her gaze still hard and cold as she saw the Elves gathering ahead to welcome them.

Thorin could see that she was raging just as much as he was about this whole thing. But he could also see that she had taken the comment about betrayal to mean her as well as the elves. That was an incorrect assumption on her part; he knew what she did, she did out of desire to help. She had not ever betrayed him. But the elves had done so. The elves were the allies who had sat back and fucking watched and thousands of dwarves were burnt in dragonfire and their entire culture was destroyed by them having to scatter to the winds,

"Do not misunderstand me Elentari... I appreciate your rescue very much. You have never betrayed me, you have never hurt me and you have never done anything but look out for my best interests." he told her quietly before pointing at the nearest elf, "But THEY did. They betrayed me and my people. They watched as our cities burned to the ground and they watched as our children were burnt alive! I thank you for saving my life... all of our lives... but I cannot thank you for leading me here."

There it was out in the open. He was grateful, incredibly so, for her rescue of him and his company. Thorin was already planning to make her something to show just how much he appreciated what she had done for them. And that was a massive gift in the dwarven culture. He bowed to both Elentari and Gandalf,

"Thank you for your aid in our endeavour." he told them both before taking a deep breath and moving into the city properly with the rest of the company, "How long do you think we should stay here?"

Elentari, upon hearing that Thorin was attempting to apologise to her for the behaviour she had been subject to, turned and looked at him. Her heart was still cloaked after what he had said and did to her, because she didn't believe she deserved to be treated that way, she had done nothing but help the dwarves, she had put her own self at risk. What did she get for it? A load of attitude and anger, instead of gratitude.

"How has any of what you said to me communicated gratitude? All you have said is how much you hate the fact I have brought you here, never once has a word of thank you left your lips, nor have you apologised for your actions." she stated, simply, her voice was not cold but neither was it happy, as if she was keeping a neutral ground.

Shaking her head she cast her gaze to the floor and her gaze returned to it's cold state that it was before, he was so unwilling to accept he was wrong! These were not even the elves that had wronged him and yet here he was carrying his prejudice with him, and burdening the hearts of those he walked with also with his hate.

Gandalf could see it in Elentari's eyes, she was so close to either erupting in anger or breaking out in tears. She was scared to be here but had conquered that fear to help her friends, her closest friends in himself and Thorin, yet Thorin had treated her like she was one of the very Elves conspiring against him. He knew she would not want him to comfort her in front of the others but, seeing his friend in such distress made him reach his arm across her back to hug her to him by her shoulder.

It was then that Elentari couldn't stop herself any longer and hidden by the veil of her black hair her eyes filled with tears, what would become of her, now she had revealed herself here?

"Stay for as long as you wish, you are safe, my part in this is over." she stated quietly, breaking free of Gandalf's hold as she strode forwards, being welcomed without question by the Elves, who took one look at her state and frowned at the Dwarves and Gandalf.