Lost

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"

The Orc warg riders let out excited, bizarre cries as they charged toward the Company.

The tall, lean Gundabad wargs raced across the rolling, barren hills at incredible speed.

In no time at all, they had closed a considerable distance.

"Faster! Faster!"

Gandalf shouted over his shoulder as he ran.

There was still a long way to go before they reached the Stone Forest. If the Orcs caught up, the consequences would be disastrous.

"Faster! Pick up the pace!"

As the Orc army rapidly drew closer, Thorin Oakenshield joined in, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Times like this showed the differences in everyone's speed and stamina.

They had just fought fiercely in the forest not long ago.

And right after that, they had run at full speed for nearly an hour.

Although none of the Company had fallen behind, the differences in their strength and stamina were becoming quite clear.

At the front of the group were Gandalf and Morgan.

It was understandable that Morgan was fast. He was young, and the system had strengthened him before; his Level 2 agility was no joke.

But when it came to stamina, Morgan might have been among the Company's best, but he wasn't the best of them all.

Thorin Oakenshield and the dwarf Dwalin were the two most formidable warriors among the dwarves. They might not have been as fast as Morgan, but their stamina was certainly no worse than his.

Of course, if Morgan kept strengthening his constitution, surpassing the two of them would be a simple matter.

Morgan's speed made sense.

But Gandalf looked old enough to be anyone's grandfather, with a head of white hair and a long white beard, and yet he ran so fast. What was more, he seemed almost completely unruffled as he sprinted along.

The others couldn't quite understand it.

But when they considered a wizard's abilities, it didn't seem so strange.

Right behind Gandalf and Morgan were the two dwarf brothers, Kili and Fili, along with Bilbo and the other younger members.

The rest of the Company were more or less on a par with one another.

Bombur, the largest of the dwarves, and Bofur, who was usually full of cheeky remarks, were bringing up the rear.

Thorin Oakenshield seemed to be lagging behind as well.

But the way he looked so at ease, and kept urging the other dwarves on, made it clear that he was doing it on purpose.

"Faster! Faster!"

With a huge pack of savage, hideous Orcs right behind them, the Company was running with every ounce of strength they had.

One by one, their faces turned red and they panted for breath.

But in the end, they couldn't outrun the wargs.

As the Company drew closer and closer to the vast Stone Forest, just about to reach it,

the leading Orc scout riders finally caught up.

Thorin Oakenshield glanced back at the warg riders closing in fast, almost upon them, his face tense with urgency. He could only shout, "Morgan! Kili!"

Morgan was already reaching for the quiver on his back as he heard Thorin Oakenshield's voice.

In a single turn, he drew two arrows and nocked them on his longbow.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The arrows shot toward the riders behind them.

The next moment,

one arrow struck the ugly head of the Orc at the very front, the one making the loudest cries.

The other hit the head of the savage warg beneath the Orc who'd been struck.

In an instant, the leading warg and its rider toppled to the ground.

The wargs close behind them immediately tumbled into a heap.

Just then, Kili's arrows arrived too.

He shot down an Orc scout riding a warg who had managed to dodge in time, sending him crashing to the ground.

Morgan and Kili's arrows held them up for a moment.

The Orc warg riders, who had nearly caught up, fell behind again.

That delay

finally gave the Company the chance to race into the vast Stone Forest ahead.

There were all kinds of stones, large and small, whole and broken—round, square, triangular, even misshapen ones. Every size and shape imaginable was there.

Gandalf rushed into the Stone Forest without a word, making no sign of slowing down or stopping.

The Company had no choice but to keep sprinting after him.

"Quick!"

"Faster!"

At the back of the group, Thorin Oakenshield kept glancing behind them, urging everyone to move faster.

Entering the Stone Forest would only slow the Orcs down for a while.

It didn't mean they were safe.

Thorin Oakenshield had no idea what Gandalf's plan was, or how they were going to escape the Orcs this time.

That made him uncomfortable. He was used to having almost everything under control.

But judging by Gandalf's actions so far,

he trusted Gandalf. He had no choice but to trust him.

"Quick!"

"This way!"

Gandalf deftly led them from the front, constantly guiding them this way and that through the Stone Forest.

The Stone Forest was huge and sprawling. With Gandalf leading them, the Company wound this way and that.

The Orcs behind them fell even a little behind, and they could no longer see the Company.

They could only follow the direction of the chase by relying on the wargs' keen noses to pick up their scent, and on the sounds they heard.

With the Orcs out of sight, the Company's sense of urgency eased a little.

But Gandalf kept leading them in twists and turns through the Stone Forest.

The others still thought Gandalf was guiding them in an effort to shake off the Orcs behind them.

But Morgan alone suspected that Gandalf might have gotten lost.

He had noticed that every time Gandalf turned, he carefully studied the stones around them.

Morgan knew Gandalf must be trying to find his bearings.

But when Gandalf began frowning repeatedly, his old face creasing and worry flashing in his eyes,

Morgan realized that he really was lost.

Gandalf was good at keeping up appearances, though. Apart from Morgan, who was running beside him and watching him closely, none of the dwarves noticed anything wrong.

Fortunately, the Orcs slowed down noticeably after entering the Stone Forest.

The forest was vast enough, and Gandalf led them this way and that. For a while, the Orcs simply couldn't catch up.

But the Orcs had wargs. If Gandalf couldn't find a way out soon, it was only a matter of time before they were caught.

Morgan knew what Gandalf was trying to do.

But there was no way he could explain it.

Besides, this vast Stone Forest was nothing like the sparse rocky hills in the story he remembered.

Morgan couldn't help, and there was nothing he could do.

The Company continued circling through the Stone Forest behind Gandalf.

The wargs howled ever closer behind them.

Maybe they had taken the right path, maybe the Company had been lucky, or perhaps it was fate.

As they came around another bend, Gandalf finally spotted a small rocky hill made of three boulders several meters high.

His eyes lit up. He immediately hurried forward and quickly scanned the area on both sides.

At last, he was sure this was the place he'd been looking for.

"Quick!"

"This way!"

Gandalf pointed to a narrow gap between the boulders. It wasn't large, but it opened into a deep, dark cave.

Morgan didn't go in right away. He held his longbow at the ready, an arrow nocked, and stood beside Gandalf in a defensive stance.

The dwarves trusted Gandalf. Without a moment's hesitation, they slipped into the cave one after another.

When Kili followed Thorin Oakenshield into the cave,

Morgan was just about to go in

when a deafening thunder of hooves suddenly sounded outside.

The Orcs didn't ride horses.

Morgan realized what it meant and was about to call out, but Gandalf shoved him from behind. "Get in!"

A moment later, Morgan slipped into the dim cave.