Riding swiftly, they picked up the two men sent to investigate and left quickly.

"What was that?" Kili asked the men. They ignored him and rode up towards the front to Calium.

Kili looked towards Thorin, "Do you know what that was?" He asked.

"No." Thorin replied and looked toward the noise.

Suddenly, an arrow came out of nowhere and hit one of the men in the chest. A second arrow followed soon after also hitting its mark in another man's chest.

"Put down your weapons!" Commanded a voice.

Calium shouted an order to his men. They unsheathed swords and pulled out shields. Calium shouted back towards the voice, "Come out and maybe we can discuss this peacefully. You just shot two of my men, I don't feel very inclined to just surrender." He searched through the trees, trying to locate the threat. Kili noticed that that Kítra looked pale, and that she was listening intently.

The voice snorted. "I don't think so." An arrow flew. This time it missed hitting Calium, but hit his sword. "That was a warning. Put down the sword!" The voice commanded again.

Instead of heeding the warning, Calium raised his shield, "You try to conquer a battle, but you fight it the cowardly way! Come out and fight us with bravery, fool!" He shouted in answer. Just then, two arrows came in rapid succession, one hitting Calium in the right knee, and the other hitting another man in the shoulder.

"I will say it again. Drop. Your. Weapons." The voice commanded.

Calium, in shock fell from his horse and laid on the ground. He scowled before yanking out he arrows, "Find them and kill them!" He shouted to his men. They rushed into the woods, shields up towards their enemies. The men keeping track of the prisoners grabbed Calium and instantly started riding away, their horses in a gallop quickly getting out of range.

Kili struggled against his bonds. When they wouldn't come off, he leaned to one side and fell off the horse. He landed with a heavy thud and immediately stood up. The dwarf looked around and saw two men walking towards him, smirking at him.
"You really think you have a chance?" One of the men asked smugly. Kili ignored him and struggled desperately to free himself.

As they were riding away, Fili searched the faces for his brother. Just as he located him, Kili toppled off his horse. Fili immediately did the same and ran over to him. The men grinned cruelly and surrounded them, swords out. Another horse rode nearer, Calium held the reigns and held a sword to the neck of its rider. Thorin. Fili gasped. Calium smiled, "Get back on the horses now. Or I will kill your friend." He commanded.

Fili huffed and allowed the men to tightly tie him to his horse. Suddenly, the voice that had called out earlier shouted in front of them, "Let them go and I will let you live." An arrow followed the statement, hitting the horse carrying Kítra. The horse fell, throwing Kítra off. The young dwarf girl stood up and sprinted towards the voice. Calium snarled, realizing he was surrounded. He nodded to his men, who dropped their weapons.

Kili walked over to Calium and kicked the man's dropped weapon away from him. He proceeded to do the same for the other men. When Kili had finished, he walked over to Fili and Thorin and looked towards the voice. A dwarf, with dark, shoulder length hair and stubble, stepped out of the bushes. His bow was drawn and pointed towards Calium. Kítra was standing next to him. "Kítra," he handed her a small dagger, "free the three dwarves and tie up the new prisoners."

Kítra hurried to obey. When that was taken care of, the dark haired dwarf addressed Thorin, Fili, and Kili. "You will follow me back to the Iron Hills." He ordered before placing his bow on his back. Several dwarven warriors stepped out of the shadows and pointed their weapons at the new prisoners. Then, the group began walking back to the Iron Hills.

Calium was not happy. This was a major set back in his plan. Although, the three dwarves were delighted to be back on the road towards their initial destination.

The party traveled quietly for some time, just the sound of horse hooves and the wind echoing through the trees and hills. Suddenly, the wind died down and a faint swoosh moved through the trees. Calium smiled. The dark brown haired dwarf, Cêlnir, frowned, drew his bow, and ordered them to a faster pace, still alert. Kili noticed the dwarf's discomfort and unsheathed his sword, which the dwarf had returned to him. The sound faded and a man approached the group, coming from the dense area of the forest. He was quite youthful with brown hair and a small scar across his left jaw. He appeared to be unarmed. This human walked closer slowly and glanced at Calium before turning his attention to Cêlnir, "Hello there...I see you have some extra luggage with you..." He motioned towards Calium and his men, "I am part of a patrol in the area and would like to know who you are and why you have prisoners." He stated.

"Who are you to demand an answer from us?" Questioned the dwarf.

"My name is Larson and as I already said, I am part of a patrol here in these woods who keep out unruly or bad men. Please answer the question." The man, Larson, answered patiently.

Kili looked skeptically at the man. "How can we trust you?"

"I will answer your question if you answer one of my questions. Is that agreeable?" Cêlnir was still suspicious if this was a trap. He glanced around to make sure that he didn't see something.

The man nodded slowly, "I suppose so...ask away."

"Why are you, a human, on Dwarven land?" Cêlnir looked skeptical.

The man looked confused, "This isn't dwarven land...the Iron Hills territory doesn't start until at least ten more miles..."

"Whatever. Ask one of your stupid questions, 'cause we need to be on our way." He snapped. Quickly, Cêlnir glanced at the prisoners to make sure they were still there.

"Woah, calm down." The man raised his hands up to pacify the dwarf. "I just want to know why you have prisoners with you and what you plan to do with them."

Kili spoke up, "Where are you from?" He asked.

The man sighed, "I already answered one of your questions. It's his turn for an answer." He pointed to Cêlnir.

"You asked two questions. I will only answer one." Cêlnir said stubbornly.

"Fine, then just answer the first one." He shook his head in disbelief.

"We were saving fellow dwarves from being captives." Cêlnir said in an exasperated tone. "Now. Can we be on our way? We really need to get these prisoners to the Iron Hills, and if you say we cannot be on our way," Cêlnir sheathed his sword, drew his bow, and nocked an arrow to it,"I will have to kill you." With that he drew the bow and aimed it at the man.

Larson frowned, "Now that's not very nice to say...and I was just about to let you go, but now I can't. So shoot me if you want, but then you're all dead." Suddenly, he smiled, "I am not alone." Cêlnir kicked himself for being so stupid. He glance around to make sure that Larson wasn't bluffing. Larson just laughed at Cêlnir's futile attempts at finding his backup. "You can look all you want, dwarf, but you won't see anyone. My men are experts at camouflage. So...put down your weapons and untie the prisoners."

Cêlnir threw down his bow and arrows and unbuckled his belt. He unsheathed his sword before dropping the belt and charged at Larson.

Larson scowled and pulled out a small hidden dagger. He held it near his face, ready for Cêlnir. The Dwarven warriors behind Fili, Kili, and Thorin, charged Larson. Larson noticed the Warriors charging him and his face turned slightly white. He shook it off and tightened his grip on the dagger. Kili glanced around, trying to see if Larson actually had back up. No one appeared and Larson started to back away. The dwarves kept charging at Larson. A young dwarf warrior charged. As he was faster than the other dwarves, he reached Larson first and crossed blades with him. Larson held him back for a sort while, but with only a small blade, he was quickly disarmed. In one swift flick of the dwarves own sword, Larson's knife flew from his hand. For a split second, he looked shocked at the dwarf before turning around and disappearing into the tree line.

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