She lingered over his body for minutes that seemed like hours, but with each passing second the pain she felt only increased, she was clutching his inert hand in her own. If she didn't know that dwarven bones were built to endure many hardships, she would have been afraid of breaking his fingers with the force she was hanging on to them. Her own blood pumping through her veins almost felt like he twitched under her touch. Her heart broke once more when she glanced at him with tear-filled eyes and saw no change in the stillness of his face, the path of the single that left his eye started to freeze in the cold winds that cut harshly through the stone walls. But then she felt the sensation again in her right hand and his glove-clad fingers curled around hers as a moan escaped his mouth with a splatter of blood. She wondered briefly why was fate so cruel to her, giving her hope that he might survive this, which given the circumstances, was quite unlikely.
He was blinking rapidly, trying to take in his surroundings; clearly, he was scouting for possible threats, not like he could do anything in his current state if there were enemies still crawling around Ravenhill. His heartbeat slowed when he realized that no one was coming for him this time, and pain took over his adrenaline induced excitement. He couldn't breathe properly, only small puffs of air could enter him, one at a time, the goblin's blade must have made very close, if not direct contact with his lungs. In his mind he replayed most of the events that led to that filthy beast stabbing him, he remembered how Fíli fell into his doom and how anger took over his whole being after seeing his brother's fall. Then he remembered her; how fiercely she was trying to protect his life and how she failed to do so this time. The fact that he was lying on the snow covered ground was not her fault, not in the slightest, he acted on his raw emotions, couldn't help it, and it got him into trouble. He hoped that she was okay, he hoped that the battle was over and she was already on her way back to relative safety of the wood-elves's kingdom with hundreds of others of her kin who would protect her even if she would say that she can do fine on her own.
That was when it registered that his hand involuntarily clenched around something, something soft and delicate. Kíli winced as he tried to lift his head to look at the thing he was holding onto. He felt a slight push on his forehead as another soft thing kept his head in place and prevented him from moving further.
"Don't move, I'm going to get you help, I promise, meleth nîn," she was whispering although she wasn't sure why and also couldn't keep her voice from trembling, but it was still the most beautiful sound to his ears.
She didn't know how exactly would she get him help, but now she was desperately holding on to the thought of him surviving. She would have to get him down to the ruins of Dale, where the elves made camp, and find a healer who was willing to aid a dwarf. The elvenking and his son had long since left the hill, even though she was sure they wouldn't have been much of help in this matter. She tried to lift his body carefully but the pain in his chest was overwhelming, even with the slightest of movement he groaned and slowly started to drift into unconsciousness as her hands curled around him and he left the ground. She's strong but his almost lifeless body is a heavy burden on the icy steps of Ravenhill. Elves usually move gracefully with their feet barely touching the ground, but now the sight of her stumbling on the hill, trying gravely not to fall, was anything but graceful. Holding him and keep his chest wound untouched was quite the struggle, he already lost a great deal of blood and she felt it dripping down her hands.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the little hobbit leaning over someone's stretched out figure, she couldn't afford to stop and help them, despite that being her fist instinct, slight guilt lingered in her but that quickly disappeared when she heard Kíli's agonizing moans as he drifted in and out of consciousness in her arms. The dwarf was her number one priority, but she made a mental note to send somebody to the aid of the Halfling and whoever he was tending.
"Stay with me, Kíli. Don't close your eyes, just hang on for a little while," she was trying to keep him awake with her words but forming coherent sentences wasn't the easiest task when all she wanted to was letting the tears fall. "You'll live to see a thousand fire moons."
She eventually made it to the ruins of Dale where hundreds of men and elves were running around the tents, some with wounds, some helping the wounded. She screamed for help but as she previously thought so, her kin was reluctant to help a dwarf when so many of their own were in need of medical attention. She found a young maid who seemed less busy than her fellow healers, she tried to pretend that she didn't notice them when she saw that Tauriel was holding a dwarf, she failed to get away before they were by her side and asking for help. Tauriel partly wished she was still a captain of the elven guard, she could've used her prestige to convince the healer to try to save Kíli's life. She knew that word travels fast between elves and she didn't know if the healer was aware of the fact that the Elf-king himself had banished her from Mirkwood, which would further worsen their situation. But the healer, who she presumed to be younger than her, saw the desperation in her eyes and gestured towards a bigger tent where several beddings were set up, nearly all of them occupied by grunting and groaning elves. The other healers hadn't even notice that a dwarf was now lying in their medical quarters as they were engaged, each with their own patients.
The blonde haired healer opened up Kíli's robe and Tauriel swore she saw her cringing at the sight of his wound, almost perfectly in the middle of his hairy chest. She then got up from where he was lying and for a moment Tauriel thought she would leave them because he couldn't be saved, but she was back a few seconds later with various plants and potions she couldn't name.
"I must say, I am not very optimistic about his conditions, this wound is very severe, I am sure you can tell that by yourself, but I promise I will do everything to save this dwarf. I see he is important to you." She suddenly said, Tauriel didn't know how to react at first, mostly because of the first part but her remark at the end also made it difficult to form an appropriate response.
"Thank you."