The barrels continued down the rapid river and eventually the orcs had fallen behind. As they got further down the river the water had calmed down and their means of speed had ended. The dwarves began to paddle the rest of the way towards an area with chunks of rocks, above the river. " Anything behind us?" Thorin shouted, to the few dwarves that wer furthest behind.

" Not that I can see." Balin informed. The dwarves continued to paddle to shore. Bofur, poked his head out of his barrel, spitting out a mouthful of water looking around and noticed they were the only ones in the area.

" I thnk we've outrun the orcs."

" Not for long. We've lost the current." Thorin stated, as he and Freya neared the rocks with the others.

" Bombur's half drowned." Dwalin shouted from behind them.

" Make for the shore!" The prince ordered. They paddled faster and started empting themselves out of the barrels and climbing onto the rocks. Thorin climbed out of the barrel first and helped the woman out of it. Freya looked around for her cousin. The woman could feel her heart racing when she didn't see Bilbo among the floating barrels filled with dwarves, that were still waiting to climb onto the rocks and she feared he might of drowned.

" Freya?"

The hobbit turned around, and relief spread on her face to see Bilbo standing behind her. She ran over to him and hugged him. " Bilbo. I thought something might have happened to you." Freya admitted, letting Bilbo go.

" Your not going to get rid of me that easily little cousin. " Bilbo chuckled. The two of them laughed. Kili had fallen on the rocks, clutching his leg that had recieved an arrow earlier when they were stuck at the guardpost. Freya looked to her side to see the young dwarf in pain and she walked over to him with concern. Kili looked up when he suddenly saw her standing in front of him.

" I'm fine. It's nothing." Kili muttered. She didn't believe it for one second. She was soon joined by Fili who saw the distress his younger brother was in and ripped off a piece of clothing to stop the bleeding.

" On your feet." Thorin urged, walking passed his two nephews and the woman.

" Kili's wounded. His leg needs binding." Fili insisted, not moving until his brother was fine.

" There's an orc pack on our tail. We keep moving." Thorin pressed. Freya looking at the leader oddly. He didn't show any concern for his young nephew that had been hurt badly.

" To where?" Balin questioned, walking over with Bilbo by his side to Thorin and Freya.

" To the mountain. We're so close." Bilbo stated, not realizing it was a little more complicated then that.

" A Lake lies between us and that Mountain." Freya pointed out. "We have no way to cross it." the woman insisted, pointing to the body of water that laid before them. The barrels wouldn't do them any good. The orcs would surely catch up to them, and kill them before they even made it to Lake-Town.

" So, then we go around." Bilbo insisted, looking at his cousin and Balin.

" The orcs will run us down, as sure as day light." Dwalin stated. " We've no weapons to defend ourselves." The dwarf added, looking to his king, wanting to know what he thought was best for them. Thorin walked a few paces until he was in the middle of the company.

" Bind his leg, quickly. You all have two minutes."

The two hobbit's were talking with Thorin and Balin, while the other dwarves, emptied the water that filled their boots, unaware that they were no longer along. Ori was the first to suddenly feel the presence of somebody else, and he slowly looked up from what he was doing, making the others notice the youngest dwarf's hesitation and they all looked to see a tall figure standing on top of the rocks, with a bow an arrow aimed at them.

Dwalin jumped in front of Ori, wielding a stick as his weapon, when the stranger released the arrow, embedding only partly through the stick, surprising the dwarf. Kili stood up to throw a rock at him, only for the human to be just as fast and shoot a second arrow, hitting the rock, knocking it into the water. He pulled out another arrow, aiming it at the defenseless dwarves.

" Do it again. And you're dead." The man spoke. Each of the company looked at this man with different expressions. Some were angry, flustered, even a little frightened. Freya and Bilbo stood beside the prince, not taking their eyes off this new challenge that now was in front of them.

" Excuse me. But, um, you're from Lake-Town, if I'm not mistaken." Balin spoke up, making the man turn his arrow on him. The dwarf approached slowly with his hands up, showing he was weaponless. " That barge over there...It wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?"

The man slowly lowered his weapon, wondering why dwarves were in these parts. The dwarves had moved all the barrels over to the dock. where the bargeman began loading them up.

" What makes you think I would help you?" The man questioned, while loading the last few barrels.

" Those boots have seen better days." Balin pointed out, taking note of the wear and tare on them. The man glanced at his footwear, knowing it to be true. " As has that coat. Uh, no doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed." He added, with a chuckle. " How many bairns?"

" A boy and two girls."

" And your wife, I imagine she's a beauty." The dwarf stated, with a grin, only to have the man sigh and turn to them with sadness.

" Aye. She was." Balin was no longer grinning. He felt terrible for opening up old pain, this man had buried deep down.

" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--" Balin began, trying to apologize when his brother had finally had enough of this heartfelt conversation.

" Oh, come on, come on. Enough of the niceties." Dwalin grumbled, getting impatient, making the man glance up at the dwarf that had interrupted the other dwarf.

" What's your hurry?" The bargeman snarled, no longer feeling friendly.

" What's it to you?" Dwalin snapped back. Freya, narrowed her eyes at the fearless warrior. This man might be their only chance to escape from the orc pack that would reach them soon and Dwalin wasn't helping them one bit with his rudeness towards this man.

" I would like to know who you are, and what you are doing in these lands." The bargeman demanded, walking across his barge over to where Balin was standing.

" We are simple merchants from the Blue Mountains. Journeying to see out kin in the Iron Hills." Balin stated, smiling to the man, only to receive a suspicious look if this was indeed their true destination. The bargeman glanced up, looking at the other dwarves, until he caught sight of the two smaller folk that looked nothing like dwarves and wondered what they were doing with these dwarves and what they were.

" Simple merchants, you say?"

" We need food...Supplies, weapons. Can you help us?" Thorin suddenly spoke up, Having been quiet until now.Hoping the older dwarf, would be able to convince this man to allow them to come on with him., but felt he had to step in when the man started getting suspicious of their travels.

The man started scrapping at one of the barrels with his fingers at the damages that had been done to it and many of the others and knew exactly what caused it. " I know where these barrels came from."

" What of it?" Thorin growled.

" I don't know what business you had with the elves. But I don't think it ended well. " The bargeman stated, beginning to untie the ropes that held the barge at the dock. The older dwarf struggled to find the right words to convince this man to let them on, before he disappeared. " No one enters Lake-Town, but by leave of the Master. All his wealth comes from trade with the Woodland Realm. He would see you in irons before risking the wrath of King Thranduil. " he pressed, tossing the rope at Balin.

Balin looked at Thorin. " Offer him more." Thorin whispered. The man noticed their tension and carried his weapon to the front of the boat.

" I'll wager there are ways to enter that town unseen." Freya called out, making the man look in her direction as well as the others. She knew these dwarves had a flair for betting on things and she saw it as their only option left to try.

" Aye. But for that. You would need a smuggler." The bargeman stated, when he turned to his side to find the white bearded dwarf at his side.

" For which we would pay double." Balin urged. The man continued to eyed them all suspiciously, but decided to not press any further and he knew he could use the money and he allowed them to join him on his barge and they began floating down the lake.