Author's note : This fanfic was first written in French under the title Chausse-trape.
Once again thank you to TITVAN for her proofreading and translation work.
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- Kili !
Giggling, the little boy stood up behind the huge stump near which he had been crouching, and dashed off at full speed, despite having small legs.
In a few strides, Thorïn caught up with the kid who escaped him, however – hearing his uncle's footsteps behind him, he kept himself out of reach by slipping, like a fox cub, under the low branches of a thick copse.
- Kili, I'm warning you ! It's going to end in tears !
While Thorïn was bending and pushing aside the boughs covered with snow, the little boy gushed out on the other side of the thicket and fled in the shrubbery, still laughing.
- By Durïn ! Kili, I'm not joking ! Come here at once !
Kili did not bother to obey, so his uncle rushed after him, swearing under his breath. He almost walked past him without seeing him because the naughty boy had nestled in the hole left by a fallen tree, under the curtain formed by its tangled roots, which was rendered even more invisible by the delicately scalloped snow which had built up there. Unfortunately for him, he was betrayed by his footprints on the thin immaculate blanket. This time, Kili did not leave his hiding place quickly enough before his uncle grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of it himself.
- Come here, little imp ! Thorïn said curtly. Is this how you obey me ?!
Suddenly worried, the kid noticed his uncle's frowned eyebrows, his severe eyes and his scolding voice and he had to face the facts : his uncle was really angry. He immediately put on a look of martyr on his face, raising towards Thorïn his big brown eyes in a most irresistible expression which was supposed to soften the one for whom it was intended.
It seemed however that this time Thorïn was not inclined to allow himself to be moved. So, he pinched his nephew's ear between his thumb and forefinger, instead, and lightly pulled it several times.
- Ouch ! Ouch ! the child yelped, his face deformed as if he was going to cry.
In fact, it did not hurt at all and his pink ear was hardly redder than usual. But as every child, he preferred to shout in a preventive way : it is a trick which has already proven its worth and the adults almost always go along with it.
Thorïn indeed let go of his ear. But he firmly seized his little hand in his big one and set off again in long quick strides toward the place where they had left Dwalïn and Fili. Obliged to scamper along in order to keep pace with his uncle, Kili considered for a moment to let himself fall on purpose, once again just to soften his uncle and to be comforted by him. But he knew instinctively that it would not work this time, and that all he would get from it would probably be a slap. His small brains began to work at full speed. Thorïn seemed really annoyed, if not angry, and that implied a less than pleasant journey home. All the more so as his mother would also scold him, if she was ever informed about this. He probably had pushed the tantrum a bit too far, but on the other hand, it was not so often that they were allowed to leave their caves, Fili and him. Especially him.
That day, Thorïn and Dwalïn had decided to go hunting. It was next to nothing ; they would not go very far and they would be back in a few hours. Of course, none of them could guess that they would remember this little hunting trip for a long time !
Fili and his younger brother had stamped, argued and begged to be taken, and their mother, as well as both warriors, had accepted. Everything had been so fascinating in little Kili's eyes ; the first snow was still quite fresh and so full of promising enjoyment, that when it had been time to return home he had become insufferable. He had protested, grumbled and whined to the point that even Fili had eventually become infuriated. Kili should have understood this before it was too late, but he was stubborn, as every dwarf, even at the age of six, and he had refused to pay attention to it. Pretending to have an urgent need, he had succeeded in making them stop.
- Be quick, Thorïn had said, the sky looks threatening and I'd like to be back home before it starts to snow again.
Yeah, whatever ! As soon as he was out of sight, a few steps away from the path, the scamp had cleared off, well decided to prolong the recreation as long as possible. When Thorïn, irritated to have called to him multiple times in vain, had gone out in search of him and then pursued him, it had become a game.
Well, let's say that, for Kili at least it was a game.
He had not realized how much his uncle, whose patience certainly was not his strong point, was already infuriated by his whining. Oops ! To push Thorïn to his limit was definitely not a good idea.
Kili was only six years old but he was not foolish. He outrageously took advantage of his position of youngest son, the one who was always easily forgiven, more than his eldest ; he outrageously took advantage of his brother's affection, the brother who was always ready to stand up for him. However, he could feel that that day he had stepped over the line. So he was thinking hard to find a way to forestall the situation when, without warning, the world tumbled upside down.
Not wanting to take again all the detours which Kili had previously forced him to make, Thorïn had taken the shortest route. His nephew and him were crossing a part of the undergrowth full of sinkholes ; these ground hollows are like more or less deep and vast basins which are very often caused by a collapsing of the ground. The ground here was unstable, probably as hollow as a Swiss cheese.
The adult and the child, the first one dragging the second, wisely walked around the dips and started to step down a gentle slope. The snow which had fallen during the night formed a white virgin blanket where no prints were visible except, here and there, some very light bird tracks.
Unfortunately, under all this fresh snow there was an open crevasse, treacherously "covered" with a fragile carpet of tangled roots which had thrown their slender bridges across the emptiness, thus forming a kind of aerial vault. The dead leaves and other plant remains, weighing next to nothing, had settled over it. In some areas, there was even a little bit of dirt, and the snow rendered everything uniform.
Nobody, unless they knew by heart every inch of the ground, could have guessed that this was a trap. Thorïn stepped into it without suspecting the danger.
Suddenly, there was a terrible crack. Kili had time to see the snow and the dead leaves which hid the soil being sucked up by the opening ground in front of his eyes, and then all support gave out under his feet and he felt himself falling into the empty space.
By reflex, Thorïn seized with his left hand one of the roots which had just broken under his weight. There was a first jolt. During a few seconds, the root appeared to untangle, it lengthened and unfolded ; in fact, it even looked like it was going to completely come loose. Then, there was a second jolt and their fall stopped.
Thorïn swung for one moment, swirling over the void, his right hand still clutching that of small Kili who was screaming in terror. If Thorïn had been alone, it would have been easy for him to haul himself up the length of this unhoped-for support – the edge of the crevasse was less than three feet above them. But in order to get there, he needed both his hands.
He did not have time to think about it anyway, because the root abruptly gave way.
Nine feet lower, Thorïn's feet hit the ground... The ground ? No. A projection, a breathtakingly steep slope. He lost his balance and had the reflex to throw himself forward, so much that he hurtled down towards the bottom of the crevasse, without releasing the child. Of course, his feet were stretched out in front of him but he was flat on his stomach, instead of falling backwards and smashing his skull before being swallowed by the emptiness.
Kili continued to scream. Thorïn, with his single free hand, was desperately trying to hold onto something in order to slow down their slip… in vain. Suddenly, the worst occurred : the void, the real one, opened under them and they sank, in free-fall, into the darkness. They bounced against a new projection, higgledy-piggledy rolled in the dark, bumped into a new overhang and fell again. Instinctively, Thorïn had brought the child against his breast, shielding him with his folded arms, and had literally wrapped himself around him so as to spare him most of the impact and use his body as a rampart. They slid on a new very inclined plane ; it seemed to last for an eternity, then they roughly hit a wall and their fall, their slide finally stopped.
During a few moments, the silence was disturbed only by the noise of the broken roots and other plant remains which, from a wall to another, continued to fall on them. Far, very, very far in the depths, the greatly muffled roaring sound of a torrent could be heard. Slowly, Thorïn carefully stretched, still holding his nephew against him.
- Kili, are you injured ?
No answer.
By feel, in the dark, he searched for the child's face, then quickly checked his whole body for possible wounds.
- Kili ?
A strangled sound answered him. Shocked, the kid could not speak.
- It's ok, Kili. Everything's fine. Don't be afraid.
He did not seem hurt – not physically, at least.
- Don't move.
They were plunged into total darkness. Nevertheless, they could not be that far from the surface, but the walls of the crevasse were very irregular – fortunately, in a way, for they doubtlessly were still alive thanks to this – and, forming some projections here and there, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other one, separated them from the daylight, which moreover could penetrate only meagrely through the pierced vegetable vault.
Still feeling, Thorïn explored their immediate surroundings. First observation : it was impossible to climb back up.
He cautiously stood up, put a hand on the wall and risked a few side steps, carefully feeling the ground with his foot. A terrified squeal rose in the dark behind him :
- Thorïn !
He heard the child move and get up, panic-stricken at the idea to be alone in this dark and unknown place.
- Kili, don't move ! Stay where you are.
A hesitation. A barely audible sniffing.
- Where are you ?
- Very close to you. I'm "looking" for a way to climb back up.
- You don't leave me, right ?
- By Durïn, who do you take me for ?!
He did not go very far anyway, because his foot quickly encountered the emptiness.
"Exploring" the place where they were took him a relatively short time, although to feel blindly, slowly and cautiously so as not to risk a new fall, could only be done slowly.
They could undoubtedly consider themselves very lucky – they apparently were on some sort of landing of about three or four meters long, springing from the wall and hanging over the abyss. Everywhere around them there was the void, the absolute nothingness.
They were alive, to be sure, almost unhurt (except some bruises, grazes and non-serious contusions), but they were trapped.
OOoOO
Maybe less than a mile from there, Dwalïn was waiting in the saddle, young Fili sitting behind him.
Dwalïn looked at the sky which was becoming threatening and cursed under his breath.
- This young imp would deserve a good spanking ! he grumbled.
Fili sighed and did not answer. It was really true that today his younger brother had managed to bore his patience, however big it may be for him. Yet, he could not refrain from always wanting to stand up for Kili. But there was no use to argue with Dwalïn, especially when he was in a bad mood. Better to let him grumble to his heart's content, Fili knew that he would calm down all the more rapidly.
Still, the young prince promised himself that, when he was alone with Kili, he would tell him what he thought of his conduct. He knew that a reprimand from him would have a great effect on the little one.
The boy, who had an acute sense of hearing, suddenly sat up straight, his eyebrows frowned :
- Mister Dwalïn ! Have you heard that ?
- Heard ? No, nothing, what ?
- I think I heard shouting… roaring even.
Dwalïn listened carefully.
- I don't hear anything, son, he said after a while.
Fili, too, questioned the silence.
- No, there's nothing anymore. Though I could have sworn I heard a shout. It sounded like Kili.
- Are you sure ?
- Well, no but...
- Thorïn ! the warrior called at the top of his lungs. Thorïn !
Only the silence answered him.
- I don't have a good feeling about this, Dwalïn muttered.
Just in case, he seized one of his axes then, with a pressure of his heels, still holding Thorïn's pony by the reins, he put his mount in motion.
- It's strange that we hear nothing more ; when Thorïn stopped calling the little one, I thought that he had found him, but why aren't they coming back ? Are you sure you've heard shouting ?
- No, Fili repeated, I'm not sure.
- THORIN ! Dwalïn yelled, causing the birds to fly away from the trees around.
- KILI ! Fili called with his childish voice.
Silence.
- Damned... Dwalïn swore under his breath.