Braerka continued towards the lights and was taken aback when they suddenly vanished. The company's calls had long since died and she was alone in the penetrating dark of Mirkwood. A once great, peaceful and welcoming place drained of its beauty and life, now a desolate breeding ground for the dark spawn of ungoliant.
The darkness blurred and a small figure ran past her. She turned trying to follow it but the dark was so absolute she lost whoever it was.
An image of her earlier dreams flashed across her mind. Then another and another. It was as if her subconscious was trying to fill the nothingness around her with something, anything it could. The images were relentless, they continuously changed, going in a never ending loop. They pained her and brought back the guilt she had felt not a day earlier. It was her fault they were dying. It was her fault all of this was happening.
A soft jolt pulled her back into reality. Her vision blurred and once again she was able to see. In front of her she saw Oin, old as he was, wrestling in a manner with Gloin. The fiery hot-tempered redhead spat reels of khuzdul at his elder.
"Fool!" spat Balin from her side, "Now we're lost!"
'Lost?' Braerka thought. It didn't seem possible to her that they could be lost, seconds ago they had been on the road, she had merely step forward to stop Gloin.
She then struggled to recall what happened after. There was an emptiness and dark hazy shadow that loomed in her mind. Had she been envisioning those images on the move? Seeing while conscious was scary enough, but practically blacking out and not being aware of what she was doing, it terrified her.
She ignored the others as they prattled on electing who was to blame for this mishap. She had her own problems, this 'ability', or whatever it was, was developing too quickly for her liking. The next thing she feared was losing herself to it altogether. A deep and overwhelming fear took hold of her and she forced the thoughts as far away as they would go.
"Where in the hell is that light coming from?" Gloin spat standing shielding his eyes from the new brightness that his eyes were so unused to.
Braerka turned surprised to see he was not just seeing things. The darkness that inhabited the wood was gone, or rather lessened by an ethereal glow behind her. There was none other than Kili standing straight, sword drawn and ears sharp, the Soul Reaver shining bright like a torch around his neck.
He caught her eyes and smiled at her. She returned it most sincerely loving the way the light lit him. It seemed the Reaver was good for more than just keeping you warm and healing your wounds. But why? Why all a sudden manifest these abilities now?
From the corner of her eye she saw Thorin close in on him, a hint of anger barely there but irritation clearly evident.
"Take that thing off!" He shouted at his nephew, not giving him a second to comply and snatching it off himself. The chain snapped at his brute force and Kili jolted forward.
Thorin cast it to the ground, its light fading as it went ever further away from Kili. 'Perhaps it's something only he can do?' She wondered, opening her mind to the possibility that it wasn't just hers.
Thorin marched back and forth fuming and struggling to repress his anger. He was in charge and because of Gloin's weakness they were now lost, far from the road with no sense of direction.
She could feel his anger from the distance she stood, it was as if it was also her anger. It was a peculiar sensation which was far too normal.
Sensing he was about to burst she nimbly retrieved the Reaver and, while slipping it into her pocket, moved toward him.
YOU ARE READING
A Place to Belong
AdventureBraerka was a daring young girl, who survived the wrath of Smaug and was adopted by Thorin Oakenshield. Now almost two centuries later as a trained assassin, and somehow still young, she has been tasked with ending his life. But will she? As she get...
