Chapter 1
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The Elven Gate
As they neared the gate, he was suddenly filled with apprehension. The Elven Gate was not so much a gate, but rather an arch comprised of the twisted limbs of sickly looking trees. Though he would not voice his doubts out loud about their current route, if there was a way around the diseased looking forest, he would gladly take it.
Funny, he thought. A mere few months ago he would not have hesitated to enter the forest. Though being hunted by a pack of orcs did make one a little less reckless.
He smiled.
His mother would be proud.
As he dismounted his pony and retrieved his things, he heard Bilbo voice his thoughts.
"This forest feels…sick. As though a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?"
Kili held his breath.
"Not unless we go two hundred miles North or twice that distance South," answered the wizard.
Swallowing his fears ,they entered Mirkwood, without Gandalf the Grey (he always seemed to be running off at the most inconvenient of times).
But who knew? Perhaps Kili's greatest adventure yet lay within the woodland realm's borders.
He didn't know how right he was.
Tauriel
Her spirits were high despite the imminent threat of spiders. Tauriel and Legolas decided to take twice as many members of the guard with them that morning than what they usually would for patrolling the borders of Mirkwood. On a normal day, two members would be paired together and sent to patrol a portion of the border, but today was not a normal day.
Today they were hunting spiders.
She would have much rather preferred being allowed beyond the confines of her forest and destroying them at their source, but the guard was only permitted to destroy the nests which were within the perimeter of their home.
They cleared the area of nests but a week prior, and yet it had to be done again.
The spiders were growing bolder.
The guard of woodland elves stayed off of the ground, for the spiders were easier to spot from within the leafy canopy , and the foul creatures were known within the kingdom for their stealth. An ambush from above on the captain, her prince, and her guard would not be appreciated.
Legolas came to a sudden halt in front of her, and she had to grip the trunk of a tree to keep her momentum from sending both her and the price out of the tree and toppling to the ground.
"Legolas, what is it?"
"Listen. Do you not hear it?"
Yes, now she did. Legolas had always had superior hearing to herself (though only just), a fact which he never let her forget, much to her chagrin.
" There is a commotion in the East. Though the accents are unfamiliar to me."
"Yes, they would be. For not even I, have seen or heard such creators in more than two centuries."
His expression seemed far away, his eyes gazing into the past.
Tauriel waited for an explanation.
The blonde elf looked at her then, his usually beautiful features having being tainted by disgust.
"Dwarves."
Kili
At first he thought Gandalf was being overly dramatic ( the wizard did have a bit of a dramatic flair about him, didn't he?) ,when he spoke of the forest not being the greenwood of old andthe very air being heavy with illusion. The youngest of the Durin's had never heard of a forest intentionally leading one astray, the thought was absurd.
But oh, how very wrong he was.
In the beginning it had been merely confusing, but he trusted Thorin and Dwalin to keep them all on the right track.
But then the air became…suffocating.
It seemed as though the more that he gulped into his lungs, the less of it there seemed to be.
Oin began to complain that he needed air, that his head was swimming,(you and me both) but Thorin merely told them to press on.
When Nori stopped however , Kili's worst fear since entering the Woodland Realm was confirmed in four short words :
"We've lost the path."
That's when everything began to go gravely wrong.
Forwards became backwards, up became down, and try as hard as they might, they could not find the path.
Kili remained close to his brother, though given the current circumstances, that was a feat on its own.
That's when the spiders arrived.
Though they didn't so much arrive, as ambush.
They made embarrassingly quick work of the company.
However, the spiders had not anticipated the dwarves secret weapon: Master Burglar Boggins.
Yet again, Kili was immensely grateful for the little hobbit, though he was not as grateful for the fall back to earth. But, it was a glaringly better option when being compared to being an obscenely large spider's dinner.
Having not yet fully recovered from having the wind knocked out of him, Kili along with his brother and Bofur, quickly ...erm …dismantled a six legged beast which had decided that poor Bombur was the softest target.
There seemed to be a never ending stream of the vile creatures. For every one Kili killed, two more took its place in the fight.
While the others slashed, he expertly wielded his bow. In this way , he could deal with the spiders before they became an imminent threat.
He suddenly heard his brother call out to him. He spun around instantly, but not before taking down a particularly nasty-looking over grown insect who currently held Balin's attention.
He slid under a spider and towards his brother's general direction, but before he could congratulate himself on his suave move, two pairs of arms which felt as though they were made of stone slammed into his chest and wrapped around him like a gruesome prison.
Though his enemy may have been physically stronger and larger, Kili was much faster and smarter. He quickly spun around and thrust himself out of the beast's arms by dropping to the ground. He rolled out of the fall and unsheathed his sword in one swift motion, before finally ending the horrid being.
Almost instantly, however, another took it's place.
Screaming in frustration, Kili set to work.
His body had begun to ache and fatigue was beginning to set in, and to make matters worse, the other dwarves were out of sight.
The beast had finally gotten the persistent prince onto the ground, his weapons out of reach.
Though his body fought valiantly, he heard a small voice in the back of his mind telling him that this was the end.
He refused to believe that voice.
And that was when she arrived.
Kili had managed to get himself into a sitting position, when all at once the spider released its grip on the dwarf. Their was an arrow lodged in its skull.
The rattled prince spun around, wanting to see who had killed his foe, and if perhaps he may be next on the list.
Though when he met the eyes of the elven warrior, he knew in an instant that those were the eyes of someone who would not harm him, and he returned the sentiment.
The moment was ruined by spiders coming up behind both of them, breaking the sudden bond between the dwarf and elf.
" Quick! Throw me a dagger!" Kili yelled at the elleth.
"Quick!" he shouted louder this time, the beast almost upon him.
" If you think I'm giving you a weapon dwarf," she said, almost having finished off her own foe, " You're mistaken."
And with that final statement , she sent one of her daggers into the throat of the creature which had its mouth open and teethed bared, ready to end its prey once and for all.
The vile creature was dead even before her own opponent had hit the ground.
Both panting, their eyes met again. This time, he could look at her properly. And if he hadn't just witnessed first hand how lethal she was, he may have stared at the gorgeous maiden longer than was strictly necessary.
He stared anyway.
Tauriel
" You wouldn't consider just letting me go, would you?"
She stared incredulously at the dwarf whose life she had just saved.
" Actually, no. I wouldn't," she replied with a straight face.
He seemed to be genuinely disappointed, and she felt an unexpected pang of guilt.
"Come on," she said softer than before, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, " I need to escort you back to the others."
"If I must," Kili said, sighing for dramatic effect.
What a strange little creature. She thought to herself.
Though not that little. She found herself thinking, now that she could fully look at him. Standing next to her, the top of his head came up to her jaw.
Together they made their way back to the clearing. She did not restrain him, they simply walked beside one another.
For a reason she could not explain, she somehow trusted the dwarven prince to not make an attempt at escape.
This day was turning out to be stranger than expected.
Ori
Thank goodness the elves arrived just in the nick of time, he didn't think that the company would still consist of thirteen dwarves and a hobbit if they hadn't arrived when they did.
And he doubly doubted whether or not Kili would have made it, if the crimson haired elf wasn't there to intervene. Though Ori knew that technically she was the enemy, he felt immense gratitude towards her.
Ori looked around him and sighed.
Like most things since the beginning of their journey, they seemed to have been spared just in time to be placed in another predicament.
But he would take elves over spiders any day.
The obscenely tall (well, in the dwarves opinion) beings began to search the company.
A blonde elf with a sour face accused Thorin of being a liar and a thief, before insulting Gloin's family. A dark haired elf looked half incredulous and half annoyed as he pulled yet another blade from one of Fili's inside pockets.
Ori stood on the outskirts of the group, silently taking in the situation.
The she-elf closest to him reacted to the order which was barked at the woodland elves and made her way over to him.
She was not as intimidating as the others ( though intimidating nonetheless), mostly because she appeared to be younger than the rest.
Now,Ori hadn't seen a great many elves ,but all of whom he encountered did by no means appear to be old. But this particular elleth did have a certain air of youth about her.
Her hair also appeared to be less elaborately done, having only been pulled into a high ponytail with a few long strands framing her face and curling slightly where they ended at her waist.
Ori gulped regardless as she came to stand in front of him.
Wordlessly, she extracted all of his knives and swords. Ori didn't say a word. At least, not until she reached into his breast pocket and removed his journal.
" Please don't take it," he said before he could stop himself, innocent eyes pleading.
" What is it, exactly?" she asked, turning the book over in hands.
" Nothing of value but to me. It's a journal, you see. But I also use it for my drawings…" he finished lamely. He felt silly. What would the others think of him if they knew he was pleading with the enemy for a few pieces of parchment bound by leather?
She silently flipped through the book, lips slightly pursed.
Without a word, she closed the book and slipped it back into his coat pocket.
" Do not let me regret it ,dwarf." She said, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, her brown eyes warm.
" Tha- thank you, milady.." his good manners not allowing him to act otherwise.
She placed a hand on his back and joined the precession of elven warriors and dwarven prisoners into the halls of Mirkwood.
A/N: Welcome one and all to my brand new story! Thank you for taking the time to read it. I hope you enjoyed the first installment as much as what I enjoyed writing it.
I'm usually not one for author's notes, and especially not long ones, but before we get into the story, I'd like to explain my plans (briefly).
This first chapter was more of an introduction than anything else. The real story begins from the next chapter. * rings hands together excitedly*
This is a Kiliel story, although other characters will be making appearance as well (though it will usually just add some comic relief, extra bits to the story or (most likely) to get an outsiders view point of the protagonists' relationship.
And lastly (though this is the most important point) I have very ambitious ideas for this story. I know where this is going. I have decided for this to be part of a three- part story. This one will end where BOFTA ends…HOWEVER , there shall be two follow up stories. One in which the line of Durin ends, and one in which they survive (yay!). I will be providing an alternative ending, an option I wish Peter Jackson and Tolkien had given us *sobs*
I love feedback, and constructive criticism is always appreciated.
I apologise for this incredibly long note, but I promise that there will not be another one for some time.
Lots of love,
ArtOfWords