((A/N: so this just came to me today... it's gonna be a bit of a rush job, I may come back and revise it at some point. Who knows lol))
The ringing of steel through the rainy forest is a welcome sound to Fili after weeks of travel. It's been almost a month since he last put hammer to steel, longer since he has drawn a sword in battle. He knows without looking that his brother is just as twitchy as he is, bereft of the things that have been key in their lives. A battle cry, thin and reedy, reaches them as steel sings again. The brothers run toward it, blood singing with the promise of battle.
~/~/~/
The impact of her stolen sword on the tree jars her bones, but she doesn't let it stop her. The pain is miniscule to the ones in her heart and across her back. The next swing is wild and the impact makes her hand go numb, fingers she can't feel dropping the sword onto the turf. She drops to her knees beside it, her face stinging where Papa hit her, her back screaming in pain where he beat her. She cradles her tingling hand to her chest and tries to bite back a sob when she hears crashing in the brush behind her. She on her feet, sword in her hands, teeth bared. Papa is coming, Papa's gonna kill you sings the evil voice in the back of her head, the one that says she deserves it when Papa takes off his belt. "No," she thinks with a ferocity that rarely makes it to her voice, "Now I fight!"
~/~/~/
The brothers charge into the clearing, weapons already drawn. They hope for a small orc pack, maybe some goblins, something to shake off the stupor and rust of travel. Instead they find a woman, wild-eyed and teeth bared, a rusted sword in her hands. The sight alone is enough to make them stop. She is scrawny, barely as tall as Kili. Her hair is plastered to her head by rain, so darkened by water it's hard to tell the color. A blackening bruise spread across her cheekbone, swelling her eye enough it looks like she's squinting. Her eyes widen in surprise at the two dwarfs, but narrow quickly as she charges them, that pathetic battle cry escaping her bloodied mouth.
~/~/~/
She attacks Kili first, he was closer to her, but he blocks her swing with ease. Her sword is an affront to their dwarvish sensibilities, the metal bent and rusted. It glances off Kili's sword and the wild woman tries again, lunging at the darker dwarf. Kili blocks this attack easily too. It's becoming glaringly obvious that the woman has no training. Fili catches his brother's eyes as he dodges another swing. Fili nods and circles around behind the woman while Kili keeps her attention on him. The sight of the woman's back gives him pause, stripes of what looks like blood marring the fabric of her shirt. He needs to lean back to avoid the woman's blade, which cuts a few whiskers as it comes within a hare's breath of his throat. His brother jumps the woman before she has a chance to swing again. Her sword flies out of her hands as she hits the ground, Kili on top of her.
~/~/~/
Her screams of pain and anger are muffled by the grass, the darker dwarf having firmly planted his ass on her back. Her mind gives way to panic and she tries to buck him off, barely moving him as her arms buckle beneath her. When she finally collapses to the grass she hears murmuring above her and the weight lifts. She shoots off the ground on all fours and all but brains herself on a branch as she climbs the tree she had been hacking at. She perches on a branch and peers down at them. The dwarves look up at her.
"I'm not going back," she tells them. She hates the way her voice sounds, hoarse and too low for a woman. Everyone tells her so.
The dwarves look at each other; she can see confusion in the set of their shoulders. "Back where?" the dark one, the one who sat on her, calls up. She can see her sword, lying forlornly in the grass behind him. The lighter dwarf sees her looking and walks over to it, picking it up the way one might pick up anonymous stained underwear.
"No! That's mine!"
~/~/~/
Fili sees the woman look at her sword, knows she's thinking of how to get it and escape. He picks it up, the feel of poorly worked metal grating his senses.
"No! That's mine!"
He decides he likes her voice; it's husky and makes him wonder what it would sound like without the note of panic in it. It makes him wonder what it would sound like saying his name in pleasure. He shakes his head to rid it of the thought. Very few women want a dwarf in their bed, even fewer want two. He and Kili had decided early on that there would only be one woman for them, brothers with the same heart. He looked at the blade in his hand more closely. The edge is chipped in several places, the grip is frayed and falling apart with age. He tests the balance, finding it sorely lacking. He can tell that the blade is ready to snap, he's surprised it hadn't broken when it first hit Kili's sword.
"Why do you want it? We could make you a better one." He calls up to the woman.
"He's mine!" She shouts back, "Leave him alone."
Him? Fili looks at the blade again. She must've named the twisted blade at some point. "If you want it, you'll have to come down. Our necks are getting stiff looking up at you!" Kili yells to her. Fili glances at his brother, who shoots him a grin. He shakes his head, smiling to himself. Perched on a branch almost ten feet above their heads, the woman is calculating if she has a chance. Fili can see it in the way she hugs the tree trunk, in the way her head jerks and eyes dart. "We won't hurt you," his brother calls up, hands outstretched to show he's weaponless.
~/~/~/
The dark dwarf calls reassurances to her, but she barely hears them. She's focused on Nightmare, the sad old blade held carelessly by the light dwarf. She hugs the trunk tighter, feeling the bark bite into her skin, feeling tears well in her eyes. She's been out in the rain since before dawn this morning and now she's still the chill of it is beginning to creep into her bones. All she wants is Nightmare so she can run and find a safe dry place to hide, if any can be found. She doesn't trust these dwarves, experience has taught her nothing on two legs can be trusted, but she wants Nightmare back. She wants to feel the fraying grip in her palms so she doesn't feel so weak. So defenseless. She wants it more than she wants the dubious safety of her tree. She clambers down, keeping the trunk between her and the dwarves. When her bare feet hit the grass she sways, blood rushing through her head, making her feel drunk as black spots dance across her vision. She tries to remember the last time she ate. Yesterday maybe? She peers around the tree and tries to get her body to obey her for a little while longer. Her lips and tongue feel uncoordinated as she mumbles, "Give."
She'd meant to say more, but the words wouldn't come. The light dwarf starts forward as darkness overtakes her.
~/~/~/
Fili barely manages to catch the woman as she falls, and he has to drop the sword to do it. He lowers her to the grass, looking over his shoulder at Kili. His brother shrugs and looks up at the sky. "We've got to make camp anyway, it's getting dark." Fili nods and silently hefts the woman over his shoulder, surprised by how little she weighs. "You get to carry the sword. I don't want to touch it again," he grins at his brother. "Thanks for that. Can't we just leave it? Anyone with sense would've sold it for scrap metal before considering using it," Kili complains, picking it up. Fili waits until his brother is back at his side before saying, "Sure, you can tell the little warg-pup that you left her sword behind." His brother grimaces and Fili laughs as they walk away.
Forty minutes later the dead weight on his shoulder has worn him down and he declares a rest, setting the woman on the ground. The brothers hustle about making camp, building a makeshift lean-to out of branches and blankets. Kili looses the coin toss and heads back out into the rain to find their dinner, leaving Fili to build a fire and watch over the wild woman. She's still passed out, her head resting on a deep green sweater that Kili found when he'd picked up her sword. He covers her with an extra blanket out of kindness before heading out to collect wood that looks dryer than the rest. After furkling through brush for a few minutes he'd collected a nice armful of dry-ish brush and started a small fire. Pleased with himself, he leaned back on his heels, only to feel rusted steel against his throat.
~/~/~/
She woke warmer than she remembered being. She flexed her fingers and cracked her eyes, glancing furtively at her surroundings. Above her was a hasty roof, blankets and branches woven together in such a way that no rain got through. What little she could she out of her left eye confirmed a wall constructed the same way. Nightmare leaned against a tree that formed a corner of the shoddy lean-to by her feet. She lunged, grabbing him, sliding him next to her under the blanket that had warmed her. A branch cracked near by and she pulled the blanket back up, slitting her eyes to watch the light dwarf saunter back into the shelter humming an unfamiliar tune under his breath. She waited while he made a small fire then seized her chance. Nightmare was at his throat before he'd registered her movement.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The calm in his voice infuriated her. She focused on still her trembling hands, determined not to show her fear and weakness to the stranger. Her eyes flickered, looking for the other dwarf, but she didn't see him. "You'll be missing out on whatever Kili brings back," the dwarf continued, "He's a fair good shot, and he's better at me than hunting. I'd wager he'll bring back a nice plump rabbit or a partridge." Her mouth watered at the thought of food. Darkness danced at the corners of her vision and she moaned, dropping Nightmare as she fell back on the blanket.
"You all right?" The dwarf has turned, is looking at her. There is laughter in his eyes, but she gets the feeling that he finds almost everything funny. Concern draws his brows close together. He's handsome, even with the frown marring his features. If she were different, more bold, maybe a little bit drunk, she'd lean forward and kiss him. But she not and she shakes her head to clear it of such thoughts. He mistakes the movement as an answer to his question, and before she can react he's got his palm against her forehead. She pulls away as soon as it registers that he's touching her. "You aren't feverish," he tells her. She knows that, because she's had fevers and they never made her this cold. The too-big shirt she's wearing is old and ragged, a hand-me-down from her brother like everything she owns. Even Nightmare was once her brother's sword, before he got really good with a blade and went away to Gondor. She pulls the blanket around her and shivers. "Sit closer to the fire," the dwarf says. She obeys, only because she's so cold and the fire is so warm. Her back aches, a scab or two has probably broken open. She'll try and take care of it later. As if he's reading her thoughts the dwarf says, "Earlier, it looked like you had blood on your back. Are you injured?"
She feels her eyes widen and shakes her head. "Ok." She can tell he doesn't believe her, but she's grateful he doesn't press the issue. Rain patters on the leaves outside and on the branches overhead and she closes her eyes and relaxes in the luxury of being almost warm and mostly dry. She can feel the dwarf's eyes on her. "I'm Fili, by the way."
She cracks an eye at him. "Mara." She limits her words so he won't hear her ugly, mannish voice. He favors her with a smile and she wonders what it would be like to kiss him. "My brother, Kili, will be back soon. Now, about this sword…" His voice trails off as he lays it across his lap. He still touches it like it pains him.
~/~/~/
Fili lays the ugly sword across his lap. The woman, Mara, watches the sword like she expects him to do something fiendish with it. Like break it, which he could. He can see a crack already running through it. "Mine." Again the husky voice makes him think of bedding her, and again he dismisses the idea. "So you've said. However, the blade's starting to crack and it looks like it's about to shatter." Mara looks like she's about to cry. "Kili and I can remake it for you at the next town we're in. Most forges like having dwarves about." Panic in her eyes, and he looses himself for a minute when he realizes her eyes are pale lavender. He's never seen such eyes. "So the next town is where you're running from. So we'll skip it and head to the next one." Relief makes her shoulders sag, but her eyes are sharper than any blade.
~/~/~/
She tries to force her voice higher, so she sounds like a woman when she says, "What do you want from me?" The result isn't pleasant, but she doesn't sound like a man. The dwarf just stares at her for a minute before dissolving into laughter. She glares at him. She lets her voice drop back. "What?" It takes Fili a minute to compose himself. "Why were you talking like that?" he asks her between chortles. She won't meet his eyes. "Didn't want you to think I was a man."
"What?"
She glares at him. "People always say I sound like a man. They always laugh!"
~/~/~/
"I like how your voice sounds." It's out of his mouth before he can stop it and Mara looks like he just slapped her in the face with the flat of her own sword. He shrugs, grateful to hear Kili's approaching steps. He looks out into the rain as Mara asks again "What do you want from me?"
She doesn't say it in that horrid high-pitched screech again, thankfully. He glances at her, a woman too short to be human or elf, to tall to be a hobbit, to slender to be a dwarf and wonders what she's running from. "We want nothing other than to give you a blade that won't shatter." Kili is the one who says it, tactlessly graceful as he enters into the conversation. Two rabbits dangle from his fist, already skinned and gutted. Fili spits them and sets them over the fire to cook. As he does he introduces Mara and Kili. Soon they're arguing about how to cook the rabbits, while Mara leans carefully against a tree and watches them.
"No, they're not done yet," Fili says, slapping at his brother's hands.
"You're only saying that because they're not charcoal!"
"No, I'm saying that because they're still raw."
"You think everything not burnt to a crisp is raw."
"No, I…" A quiet chuckle broke the argument. The two dwarves looked at the corner, where Mara was studiously not looking at them.
"Look! You're burning them!"
"Kili, if you touch those rabbits before they're done I swear I'll…"
Another soft chuckle. Mara looked suspiciously like she was fighting back a smile. The two stared at her until she broke, laughing quietly at their bickering. Fili's heart skipped a beat. The smile transformed her face into the sun, brilliant and beautiful. Looking at his brother, Kili knew Fili was taken. Maybe…
Mara was holding her sides now, her laughter infectious. Soon the brothers were laughing along with her, stopping only when the sizzle of dripping fat reached them. Kili turned the rabbits so they wouldn't burn.
"Still not done," Mara offered, a lopsided grin on her face. Her hair was drying now, a cloud of deep rich brown that shone red in the firelight. He watched as she reached up to pull it back, watch as she winced. "You really should let one of us look at your back. If there're any open wounds, it would be better to treat them before they get infected." The grin disappeared and Fili kicked himself, sure he'd made her retreat back inside herself again. Kili came to the rescue, handing out rabbit haunches. Mara's was gone before either of the brother's was half done with theirs, and the hungry way she looked at their portions reminded them of eating with Bombur. Kili handed her the rest of one rabbit and she retreated into her corner to eat like a starving animal. It wasn't until the rabbits were devoured and the carcasses tossed far into the woods that Mara spoke.
"Why are you being nice to me?"
The brothers looked at her.
"You've offered help several times, but you've asked for nothing. Why?"
The brothers looked at each other and shrugged.
"Seemed like the right thing to do," Kili said, watching her with dark eyes.
"No one's ever done you a favor before?" Fili asked.
Something flashed in those beautiful lavender eyes. "This is a favor for me," Mara snapped, dropping the blanket and showing them the bloodied back of her shirt. She peeled the hem of it up, stopping halfway up her back when it hurt too much to lift her arms, but the brothers saw enough to make them hiss in sympathy.
The skin of her back was torn and bruised, and the skin that was clear of injury was mostly scarred. Blood oozed from several places where the scabs had cracked open.
~/~/~/
Mara tensed as she heard the dwarves suck in their breath. She knew her back wasn't pretty, nothing that mangled and scarred could ever be pretty. She still didn't know why she trusted them enough to have them at her back, why she was speaking to them, why she was still here. But she did, and now she was showing them one of her closely kept secrets. She heard movement behind her, felt herself being gently pushed down onto a blanket. She would have struggled if it had been anyone else, but she trusted these two dwarf brothers so much it confused her. Her shirt was pulled up farther, until she had to lift up and allow it completely off. The strip of cloth she uses to bind her breasts saved some of her skin from the belt, but the rest…
She hears them murmuring above her, but she doesn't want to know what they're saying. She pushes her face into her sweater and lets it soak up the tears she can't stop from leaking out. She tries to cover her head with her arms, to hide further and block out their words, but it hurts too much and more tears leak out. Coolness touches her back, soothing the fire of her wounds. She groans in relief, her shoulders releasing tension she hadn't known was there.
~/~/~/
Fili tried not to let his rage show, but his fingers still shook slightly as he applied the salve. He knew without looking that his brother's eyes had darkened with the same fury he felt. They are silent as they slowly coat Mara's back with the healing ointment Gandalf had given them some years ago. The silence is broken only by the rain, the crackling of the fire, and Mara's sighs. The sighs make it hard for him to concentrate, his brain supplying other situations in which she could be making those sighs. His fingers stroke her broken skin and he sees her pupils dilate as she looks up at him… No.
Fili looks over at his brother, dark head bent and brow furrowed in more concentration than is necessary to apply ointment, and Fili knows Kili's having the same problem. When his brother looks up at him Fili mouths ours and Kili nods.
~/~/~/
When Mara wakes it is not quite dawn and she is warm and dry and she feels safer than she has ever felt before in her life. No nightmares had plagued her sleep like they usually did. She'd fallen asleep while the brothers were tending her back, which barely hurts anymore. She opens her eyes to see the sleeping face of Kili. Startled, Mara squeaks and scoots back, straight into Filli. The brothers had curled around her in their sleep, sharing their warmth throughout the night. Mara wondered at the sense of peace and safety she felt around the brothers, whom she hadn't even known for a full day. A warm bubbly sensation sang through her blood. She felt happy. She smiled slightly to herself, and curled back up between the dwarves. She lets her eyes slid shut and sleep takes her again.
((A/N: Well, there's the first chapter. I'm not really sure where the hell this is going, but hey! Let's see where this ride goes. The next chapter should be up tomorrow or the day after. Let me know what you think of it so far!))