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After a while, the small knife Magauna fought with wasn't enough. Short distance combat wasn't what she preferred. She needed a bow.

But there wasn't time to find one. The Orcs seemed to be attacking in a never ending surge. Magauna found herself spinning left and right killing them.

She managed to snatch a sword from a fallen Orcs, which was an improvement, but not much help overall. It wasn't until she turned around to a brown-haired Elf with his back to her that Magauna saw her chance to use her preferred weapon. The bow on the Elf's back wasn't being used at said moment, so Magauna quickly snatched it.

The Elf spun around just as he killed the Orcs he was battling with and stared at Magauna with wide eyes.

Magauna waved at him quickly. "Sorry, mate! Gotta borrow this for a moment!" She threw the Elf her sword, which he caught effortlessly. "Here, courtesy of your favorite Half-Elf."

Magauna smiled and gave him a quick two-finger salute before turning her back on him and heading down the edge of the crashing river, but not before snatching up a quiver of some fallen Orc's arrows.

The sound of crashing footsteps close behind her let her know the Elves were following. She knew it couldn't be the Orcs, they had no coordination whatsoever, and sounded like a stampede of oxen. These footsteps were definitely of Elves, for they were softer, light and delicate.

It wasn't long before Magauna caught up to the barrel-riding Dwarves. Most of the Orcs were just ahead of them. Magauna pulled one of the arrows from behind her back and aimed it at one of the Orcs. She successfully shot the Orc in the back of the head and it fell into the river dead.

Unfortunately, most of the Orcs were on the other side of the river, too far away from Magauna to shoot while running like she was. Her only chance at killing them would be to make it to the other side.

Fortunately, several of the Dwarves just so happened to be placed so strategically across the running river that they formed a perfect path to the other side.

With little to no hesitation, Magauna leapt from the river's edge and out across the water, limbs flailing as she cut through the air. Each of her feet landed on the head of a Dwarf (the two of which happened to be Dwalin and Bofur) and they let out grunts of frustration as they supported her weight.

Wobbily regaining her balance, Magauna pulled an arrow from her quiver and forked it between her bow, aiming for an Orc up ahead and successfully killing it. Back and forth she went, aiming between the two riverbanks, shooting the foul creatures.

Below her, Dwalin and Bofur kept gripping at her and yelling.

Finally, after causing the two Dwarves a certain degree of neck pain and thundering headache, Magauna jumped to the other members of the Company, leaping between their heads as she continued to shoot the Orcs one after another. Within a seconds, Magauna reached the other side of the river where the majority of the Orcs were, and that's when it truly became a massacre.

Stealing another sword from one of them, Magauna used both the blade and her stolen bow to kill the Orcs, each dying in a more gruesome wound than the last.The Half-Elf's moves were becoming more rageful.

Prehaps it was because of what had happened to her all those years ago, or perhaps it was because of what had happened to Kili. But Magauna found herself wishing worse than ill upon the Orcs she attempted to slaughter.

From the sidelines, Magauna's fighting seemed rather graceful and sophisticated; the sort of movements one could have been put into a trance while watching. Each swing of her sword sliced so cleanly through an Orc it was as if she was only bringing a knife through butter.

But, with her progressive aggression, Magauna stopped paying attention to the rest of what was around her. So she didn't notice an Orc come up behind her.

Thorin however, who was still in his barrel down in the river, looked up at precisely the right moment to see the Orc raise its sword above its head, ready to bring it down on Magauna. With fast thinking, Thorin took the sword he'd found and threw it at the Orc, managing to hit the creature straight through the chest therefore killing it.

Hearing the Orc's squeal of pain, Magauna spun around to see it fall to the ground with the sword still lodged in it's chest. Wide-eyed, Magauna turned back around, seeing Thorin staring at her with wide eyes of his own. Their eyes met in a way that said they were thanking each other; the Dwarves in their barrels were continuing down the river quickly with the current, too quickly for Magauna to catch up with.

So, the Half-Elf just stood in her same spot, not bothering to try and catch up with her friends when she knew she couldn't. She watched with a wary expression as the Company disappeared around another corner, and were gone.

With a shakey sigh, Magauna dropped the sword. She was now separated from the Company of Thorin Oakenshield, and she had no idea if she'd ever rejoin them.

As Magauna watched the now empty river, an Orc crept up behind her. It raised it's bow and pulled the arrow back, and then it let go.

Hearing the whip of the string, Magauna knew what it was. Shs also knew there was no time to duck. But there was no need.

A brown haired Elf - which was in fact the one Magauna had stolen her bow from - threw a dagger which intercepted the arrow flying right for Magauna's head, and it was deflected to the side. Then more Elves, including the Prince and the red-headed She-Elf from earlier, jumped from the bushes and surrounded the Orc.

The She-Elf jumped at the Orc and forced it to its knees, ready to kill it.

The Elf who saved Magauna held a hand out and spoke sternly in their language. "Tauriel! Dartho! Ú-no hono. Ho hebo cuin." (Tauriel! Wait! This one we keep alive.)

Understanding what the Elf meant, the red-headed one, apparently named Tauriel, nodded and she and a few of the other Elves began to drag the Orc back into the trees, in the direction of the palace.

The brown-haired Elf watched them leave and then turned back to Magauna, who was still standing with wide-eyed, shocked about the fact he'd saved her.

The Elf walked up to her. "I saw you fighting the Orcs, you have some skills with both sword and bow. I was impressed." He said, a trace of a smile on his face. "What's your name?"

Magauna was a bit taken aback from his compliment, but answered him. "Magauna. Magauna Litercash."

The Elf raised an eyebrow slightly. "The Half-Elf from the stories." Then he smirked. "The King told me you were in the palace, I'm sorry to say I had a hard time believing him."

Magauna chuckled slightly and looked down at the bow in her hand. "Uh, I believe this is yours. Sorry." She handed it back to the Elf. "It served me well."

The Elf shook his head. "There's no need to apologize. That bow hasn't been used by anyone but me in at least a century. It was good to see it in the hands of another skilled Elf." He switched said bow to his left hand and raised his right for Magauna to shake, which she did. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Perehdel."

Magauna nodded once. "Pleasure to meet you as well...uh..."

"Maethor. Maethor Neléd."

For a moment, Magauna though she'd miss heard the Elf, but he'd spoken clear and pointed. Magauna's smiled faulted.

Maethor.
Maethor.
Maethor.

"I remember my mother saying my father was a 'glorious warrior Elf' ... and Maethor is Elvish for the word warrior...so...putting the pieces together..."

"Maethor was your father..."

But as quick as she could, Magauna fixed her smile and masked her wariness. "Pleasure to meet you as well, Maethor Neléd."

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Author's Note

*evil cackle*
I love torturing myself with this :)

Anyway, finally updated, I just had no idea how to write this ending, eventually I settled on the classic cliffhanger.
Thank you all for 8k reads! It means a lot!

Also, I've decided I'm going to make memes about this story bc it's a
✨ coping mechanism✨

So, here's a few abt this chapter to maybe help you calm down

And here's a random one bc I really got into it lmao