This is going to be a Bard x Fili / Fili x Kili x Bard fic in time. So be ready for some smutyness!
Bard wandered through the icy plains, still reddened with the blood of all those who's lives had been ended short.
This was the second day for the aftermath of the battle, yet they were still trying to clean up the corpses and search for possible survivors.
From what he had heard from the Dwarves of Erebor, Thorin Oakenshield had been found fatally injured and close to death. The small Hobbit that had been accompanying the dwarves had been cradling the dwarf in his arms trying to put pressure on a wound sustained to the king's abdomen.
The young dwarf Kili, the one who he had watched suffer in agony upon his dinner table before he had left to take care of Smaug, was found in poor shape as well.
In fact if it hadn't been for the two Elf Kings stumbling across him beside the unconscious elf maiden, Tauriel he would have been lost already.
King Thranduil of course had been immediate of turning a blind eye to the wounded prince, but the King of Rivendell it seems always has the opposite opinion when it comes to the Mirkwood king.
Thankfully Lord Elrond, was able to do some sort of freaky elf healing thing that they seem to do, and stopped him from bleeding out. Elrond still didn't expect the young archer to make it through the night due to the severity of the wounds.
Both he, and his uncle the King Under The Mountain himself were still in critical condition and had yet to awaken for more than ten minutes at a time, since they had arrived.
As for the other prince, his fate was yet unknown. Several of the dwarves went out searching for the golden haired dwarf but failed to find neither him nor a corpse if he were indeed dead.
Everyone had a feeling that they knew what happened to the young dwarf, Fili he believed had been his name, and a majority of the dwarves were already trying to accept it.
According to the one with the funny hat, they were hoping to find him by the time the moon rose tonight because they have yet to start rebuilding and there are plenty other's who need attention, so the search would likely be called off.
Bard remembered seeing the tears that had welled up in the happy go lucky man's eyes as he forced the words from his mouth.
Clearly the young prince was either a very loved companion, or something more than that to Bofur.
His thoughts were ended there as he took a glance at what he had come across near some of these collapsed ruins, his bow was instantly in his hands an arrow already loaded.
It looked like the remains of a recently put out orc camp, it had been hidden by all the broken pillars and debris, taking a look at the ground he studied the footprints from those giant beasts from Gundabad the scum rode upon.
'Definitely Warg prints, fresh too. They must have just retreated.'
That wasn't surprising, since they'd been finding small groups of wounded orcs fleeing from hiding spots ever since the battle ended.
Apparently even they too were capable of being smart when it came to knowing when they were not capable of a fight.
The bowman turned abruptly to the left bow aimed upon hearing a small noise from a ruined building. It was a very faint noise, and he figured most would dismiss it but it was a noise none the less.
Cautiously taking a step closer, he stepped inside the ruins, intending to glance about the room only to find himself looking down upon discovering that the floor had collapsed.
He glanced down the twelve-foot drop and frowned when he saw the faint puff of white from someone's breath, this is also what attracted his attention to blood trails, a discarded knife, and the back end of an arrow that had been snapped in half.
"Hello?" Bard called hesitantly.
A small rasp resounded in his ears, and the abrupt clatter of wood hitting stone was his reply.
The other end of the snapped arrow, minus the tip, rolled into his line of sight after it had been dropped, the middle of it stained with blood he noted.
"He... …. e... ….. re... ..." A series of coughs and loud gasping followed the weak plea.
So much trouble just to speak, the man knew that this person had been there for some time.
Keeping his bow in his hand he jumped down the hole, wincing a tad when he realized that this collapsed floor was a bigger drop than he had expected, causing his ankles to tingle just a little bit as they scolded him for the strain.
Now looking around the room, he turned around to where he had seen the signs of a person and what he saw made his heart clench with both relief and horror.
The golden haired dwarf, Fili the one who had been missing.
Sure enough there he sat propped up against the stone wall, his amour was strewn about next to him and he'd taken off his tunic leaving his trembling form vulnerable to the freezing cold.
He tossed his glance back down to the discarded hunting knife before walking over to pick it up, there seemed to be char marks upon the very top of the hilt.
The prince had an ugly, nasty burn on his left side and it wasn't until he noticed the small pile of wood from broken window panes and the ash from a long put out fire that he pieced together that the young dwarf had cauterized some serious wounds himself.
'How on earth did could he do that himself without revealing his location to that orc pack that was just here...?' he couldn't help but run the thought through his mind as he looked back to the body of the snapped arrow from before.
Frowning as a thought came to his mind, he silently walked over to retrieve it before Inspecting the wooden shaft.
Bard had already noted that there was plenty of blood covering the middle of it, however now that he had it in hand and had a better look at the wood, he could see several small notches appearing to be bite marks amongst the wooden shaft as well.
'Smart...' Bard mused, he was honestly a tad bit impressed.
The man of Laketown turned back around to focus his attention on the injured dwarf prince who hadn't said a word, he couldn't help but furrow his brow as he observed his behavior further.
He was holding a hand over the center of his neck, almost protectively from what he could see, both dried and fresh blood seeped beneath it staining his shaking fingers red.
The uneasy silence of the dwarf made him nervous, so he finally spoke.
"Master Fili. Many think you dead, we should get you back to Erebor, can you walk?" he inquired taking a step forward.
The young dwarf seemed to shield his injury more so as he approached him and finally Bard could see why.
He'd taken an arrow to the throat.
I hope you guys like this one! It's my second Hobbit fic that's on-going with Battle Scars!
Emily