Elrond had just told Thorin and Gandalf about their newly acquired swords, and the exiled king was admittedly pleased with what he'd learned about his. However, something seemed off to him about the dwarves around the dinner table. None of them were acting different, but something was missing . . . no, not something, someone. Fili.
Trying to remain casual, he leaned over and said to Gandalf, "Have you seen where Fili went?"
The wizard looked at him with raised eyebrows, "No, I assumed that you knew where he was,"
"What is wrong?" Lord Elrond asked them.
"My nephew is not present," Thorin said, "Have any of your elves seen him?"
"Hmm, I do not know," he turned, beckoned a random elf over, and said in Elvish, "Eiyren, could you go search for the missing dwarf? I fear our guest is becoming worried,"
"Of course," she answered with a bow of her head. She turned and went down a corridor. Only a few moments later, she came back, this time accompanied by a male elf, and said, "My lord Elrond, the dwarf is injured, he has been taken to a healing room,"
The male elf added, "Erendith and Nelyerii are taking care of him, and they tell me he has been shot through the arm by a poisoned arrow. They believe we have caught it in time, though, and there should be no lasting effects."
"Very good, thank you for telling me," Elrond said. He turned back to Thorin, "He is in a healing ward. Apparently his arm was pierced by a poisoned arrow,"
"It was poisoned? Oin could not detect any poison when he treated it," Thorin said.
He was going to say more when the female elf, Eiyren, said, "It was a clever toxin, designed to stay relatively dormant at first, and hit hard after about an hour has passed. It can only really be detected about twenty, perhaps thirty minutes after it initially enters someone's blood stream. You're lucky we caught it when we did, had it been too much later, he may not have lived to see tomorrow,"
"Thank you," Thorin said grudgingly, "Would someone mind taking me to him?"
"Of course," Eiyren said, turning and beginning to glide back down the hallway she'd just emerged from, pausing long enough for the dwarf to get out of his seat and catch up to her.
Kili approached the section of Weathertop that Azog was currently residing in. He waited for the orc accompanying him to speak first. He knew his adoptive father liked to kill the weak ones before hearing from his favored ones. The orc said stuff about how they lost the dwarves because they were ambushed by elves, and how he'd barely escaped with his life.
Azog came very close to the orc, "Better you had . . . paid with it," he said as he killed him and tossed the body to the wargs. He now addressed Kili, "And what happened with you?"
Kili had prepared what he would say in his mind on the way there. Azog liked for him to give his explanations without excuses for anything failed. Excuses were one of the things the pale orc hated about when the inferior orcs reported back to him. "I only got in two shots before the cowards went down a passage in the rocks. Elves came and killed most of the wargs and riders. The survivors all deserted. I would have stayed to fight, but I couldn't take them alone," the dwarf said. He paused before adding, "The two shots I did manage, one was blocked but the other hit. Not in the heart, but in the arm. It was one of my poisoned arrows, so unless they got to their elf friends in less than half an hour, one of the dwarves will not be waking up tomorrow." he smirked as he said the last part.
Azog gave a small, vicious grin, "So you felled one of Thorin Oakenshield's company?"
"I believe so," Kili said, then looked down with a bit of shame, "But I can't promise that he didn't reach the elves' healers on time. At the very least, the one I hit will be weaker, even after he has healed. He will be a much easier target next time."
"I am disappointed that you couldn't kill at least one dwarf, even with a pack of wargs at your side," the way the pale orc said this told Kili that his 'father' had less pride in him than prior to the failed hunt.
"I will not fail you again, Father," Kili said, sounding determined, "I will make you proud,"
Azog said no more, instead just returning to his section of the ruins and giving orders to one of his higher ranking underlings.
Kili went to the spot he had claimed and stooped into his tent, angrily beginning to sharpen his sword and otherwise inspect and maintain his weaponry. Those accursed dwarves. They did this, it was all their fault! Because of them, his adoptive father's pride in him had diminished, and he had to get it back. As he carefully reapplied the toxins to his arrowheads, he swore he would get vengeance on the one who he had hit, if the dwarf hadn't already died of the poison.
So, I hope you all enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always, review!