(A/N- start)

i hope you liked the back-to-back updates. My job is, understandably, taking up most of my time, so after this chapter I will post one or so a week. I wish I could do more, but I need to eat too.

I don't own The Hobbit or Prototype. If I did, I would be so damn rich...

Enjoy!

(A/N- end)

Ch 4 - The Lance

John, or Eris, waited at the far end of the lake, sitting on his steed. Well, sitting on himself. Controlling two bodies was not difficult- especially since he was communicating via electromagnetic resonance between the two bodies. He was in both bodies, and directing everything.

Still, it meant he was slightly slower, with his consciousness split between the two points of view. He was only ten times faster than a human in reaction time, rather than the usual eighteen times, but it made him feel more human.

Or asari. John rolled all twenty eyes between his two bodies, and picked up a few seeds from a passing bush using Oculus's fur. A scoop of dirt, and now he was ready to begin working.

Time to give these people some better healthcare- via viruses.

Hair-thin tendrils reached out from between his armored fingers to begin modifying the seeds, even as his body began forming more and more detailed tissues for his Asari form.

By the time dawn came around, the only presence BlackLight had in this body was in the nervous system, and a few other useful places. She would be safe to touch.

Eris was really an asari now- although Oculus was still completely made of the virus.

Playing with too many handicaps was not any fun- life did not need to be set on hard mode. Not yet anyway...

Bard returned to an ill household, worried about where he had been. His discussion with Eris had gone on for long enough to delay him, and Astrid, his wife, had gotten a little worse over the last few days. Not she didn't seem too bad- the coughing was not as painful now, and the fever seemed to have alleviated a little, but as she lay in bed, her coughs sounded more wet.

Sigrid and Tilda, his daughters, were asleep, but his son Bain was still awake.

As he put a kettle of water on the fire to boil, Bard walked over to his wife and gently grasped her hand over the covers.

"I. knew. you. would. come." She had to take a breath between each word. "I. want. to. say. goodbye."

"No!" Bard looked into the exhausted eyes of his wife, and hugged her. "I found someone- someone who might be able to help. Can you wait until after you meet them?"

Deep blue eyes blinked slowly. "Bard. I. love. you. but. I. am. so. tired."

"Just a little longer!" The teakettle was steaming now, and Bard grasped at it like a lifeline. "Here- I can make some more willowbark tea. Or some other tea."

Slowly, with great effort, Astrid raised her hand to caress his cheek. "Captain. My captain. I will. Linger. For. A while..." She coughed a few times, thick slime coming up with every hacking convulsion.

Bain came over, carrying a pile of handkerchiefs. "I washed and dried these mum- here."

Bard smiled and took the kerchiefs. "Thanks Bain. Are Sigrid and Tilda alright?"

"Sigrid is coughing, and Tilda is beginning to run a fever." Bain stated. Everything about him showed exhaustion and fear. "I gave them some of the tea- it seemed to help."

"Good." Astrid reached out with her unoccupied hand, and feebly grasped for her son. Bain quickly sat by the bed and helped her as his mother tried to hug him. "You. Have. Done. Well. Bain." She gasped, and took a deep, watery breath. "I love you."

Bain made to stand up, but as Bard tried to follow Astrid gently squeezed, and he leaned back against the headboard.

"Please. don't. leave."

Bard never felt so helpless. His wife was dying, and he couldn't do anything. That stranger might. "Bain, how long is it until sunrise?"

His son looked out the window. "Maybe a couple hours. You were late tonight, da."

Bard nodded, his mind whirling. "Right. Get over to the woodcarvers-"

"Bill's place?"

"The very same. Tell him the Captain is calling in a favor, and we need a cart. I know he had been repairing a cart yesterday. Get it to the market in-road. I will get your mum there by the time you have it- go!"

Bain shit out of the house, his footsteps silent- exactly as Bard had taught him.

Bard never looked away from Astrid, who, while coughing quietly, watched him with a gleam in her eye. "My. Captain... You. Have. A. Plan?"

"Astrid, my Raven, I was late returning tonight because I met someone while retrieving barrels from the culvert." Bard could not help but feel a tiny flicker of hope in his chest. "She is not human, but is a healer, who rides a great beast of darkness and silence. She wants to enter the town, to see the Wind-Lance, and I agreed to do so- if she would heal you."

Astrid looked unconvinced. "You. Trust. Her?"

"It is worth trying to." Bard rubbed the back of her hand- she was almost skin and bones at this point. The fever had lasted weeks, and the cough had lasted more than a month. "If she is wrong, you will be able to see Laketown from the outside before..."

She smiled, and when she spoke next, it was in a whisper. "Then take me wherever you wish, my captain." At least she didn't need to breathe between every word. "I will wait."

"Good. I will wake Sigrid and Tilda- we need to go. Now."

Getting into Laketown was difficult at the best of times- you needed a passport to enter with cargo. Said passport contained a manifest of the cargo, proof of permission to enter with designated cargo (signed by the master's deputy, one Alfrid Lickspittle), and a payment to enter of five silver pennies.

That was if you were not willing to pay the 'assessment fee', twenty silver pennies (or one gold one), a fee leveraged on everyone who entered without a passport.

Per person.

Leaving Laketown was easier- all you needed was to pay the fee at the gate. A modest five silver pennies, and a pre-signed passport would be provided. Per person, naturally.

For every delivery Bard made, he managed to save three silver pennies. One was spent for food every day for his family, and one was placed into a jar for clothes and other necessities.

The third was placed into his coin pouch- hidden in such a way that it would be nigh-impossible for any thief or searching party to find unless they knew exactly where it was. In a easily-missed crevice on one of the beams in the center room, he had managed to save fifty-six silver pennies, and now... Now he had enough for one trip with everyone out and back- maybe enough to reach Rohan if they went up past the Forest River... No, down the River Running to the Old Forest Road, then off the river Anduin until they reach the Argonath. A three week journey, if Eris fulfilled her part of the bargain, and he could stock up on supplies after showing the blue woman the master's tower.

He took the other jar as well- no sense leaving money around unguarded. Another thirty-two coins would be useful.

Bard looked back towards the cart he and Bain were pulling. Astrid and his daughters were curled up in the back, all the blankets their house had covering them as they tried to keep out the cold. They had to stop, however, as they had reached the gate- which was closed.

Bard and Bain gently placed the harness each respective one was pulling as a thin, aged voice cried out from the gatehouse. "Halt! Stand for inspection!"

Exactly who Bard had not expected. Nighttime visitors to the city were often 'detained at the master's pleasure, and he had never heard of someone leaving before dawn... But the gatekeeper was not who he would have first guessed. "William Billson? Is that you?"

"Captain Bard?" The light in the gatekeeper's station brightened as an old man, with a great deal more grey in his beard than Bard, walked out of the gatehouse. His one eye flickered over them, before focusing on the man he had trained. "What are you leaving so late for? And why have I not seen you in many a long year? In such rags too- I thought you to keep better care of your gear than that!"

Bard clasped arms with his old mentor. "Teacher William, I am glad to see you again, but I am in a hurry. My wife and daughters are sick, and I must leave to meet a healer."

William the teacher-turned-gate-guard straightened. "Of course. Do you know the price?"

"Five silver for each of us- that makes twenty-five for us to leave." Bard handed over the money. "I may be entering with an extra person on the way back in, and she has a steed."

"A horsewoman, eh?" William answered absently. "Is she auditioning for a job with the Archers?"

"Not quite..." Bard winced as William's eye fixed in him in the middle of a stamp. "I was released from my oath to serve as captain of the Laketown Archers three years ago."

The old man huffed. "Such stupidity. In my day, the master would never have let a warrior of your talents go. Then again..." He tapped his chin in consideration. "I was 'encouraged' to join the master's watch, so I can see it." He handed the papers to Bard, and clapped his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

Bard's legs nearly buckled. William was not a weak man in his old age.

"That is the way of things of late." He grumbled. "The master chooses who may do what, when, and how. It is his lake after all."

"William, I promise I will come back- but we need to leave. Now."

William waved a scarred hand, retreated back into his gatehouse. "Go ahead."

And, after a minute or so, the portcullis rose.

Dawn was breaking as Bard and Bain finally reached the end of the bridge to shore. Well, calling it a bridge wasn't exactly fair- it was more akin to a length of barges, where each was connected to the others in such a way that it could flex and bend, but did not sink.

Eris was waiting, leaning against Oculus as the many-eyed beast snoozed in one of the long shadows cast by Laketown, wearing her dark helm. When Bard was close enough, she spoke. "So... My patient is in the cart, then?"

"Please mistress healer." Bain preempted his father. "My mother and sisters are really sick-"

Eris raised a hand. "I agreed already. Healing in exchange for getting me into and out of the town. Now..." She stood up, and walked towards the cart. "Bard- can you make a fire?"

"Why?"

"Being warm will make the patient more comfortable, and I want to be able to boil water just in case I need to /sterilize/any instruments... Oh wait, that word doesn't exist in this language. Um... Clean thoroughly? Yes, that fits." She looked into the cart, and frowned at the pile of blankets. "Now... You didn't bring any equipment, did you?"

"Lady Eris, I though you would have everything you need." Bard questioned. Healers often brought everything they needed- if they did at all.

"First, I need to see the patient." She reached into the bundles, and pulled out Astrid, who stifled a cough as Eris looked at the thin bundle in her arms.

"This is the healer?" Astrid whispered. "She looks like a warrior than a healer."

"Looks like /pneumonia/. Do you feel something odd sloshing when you breathe?" Eris pulled out a small flower from a hidden pouch (Bard immediately wondered how he had missed it), and held it up to his wife's lips.

"Yes..." Astrid said slowly, looking cross eyed at the flower that was being held right in her face.

"Great. Well, I have some berries that will help with that." Eris placed Astrid back in the cart as she clicked her tongue.

Every eye on Oculus's body snapped open at once, making Bard wince while his son yelped and scrabbled away. The large predator yawned, before silently padding over to Eris, who began rummaging in a pack on one of his horns with one of her arms as she kept holding the flower in front of Astrid's face.

Bard was mentally kicking himself- how did he miss the fact that there were saddlebags on the Silence's horns?

The flower began to change color, each petal turning a different hue as Eris pulled out a small leather bag. After looking at the flower illuminated by the slowly rising sun, she counted out several small, white dried berries.

She handed several to Astrid. "Ok, take two of these today, then the rest one day at a time. DO NOT CHEW THEM. I recommend you take it now, as you should feel some result by tomorrow. Now..." She rummaged, and pulled out another two bags. After counting out a few other dried berries, she handed a purple one to Astrid, who promptly swallowed it. "That is... To help deal with all the liquid, and prevent coughing. You won't feel as thirsty, but your lips may crack a lot. This one." Eris held up a blue berry. "Is a general... Kill-all."

Bard was suddenly by his wife's side. "Kill-all?"

"It will help kill all the... Bad bugs she has built up over the years. You all have a great deal of sicknesses, and I cannot build on a shaky foundation." Eris dropped the berry into Astrid's hand, and did the odd little thing that folded back her helmet.

Bain gasped, as did Astrid.

Eris patted Astrid's shoulder. "You... What's your name?"

"Astrid." Came the weak reply.

"Nice to meet you Astrid, I'm Eris. Astrid has at least four chronic infections... Old infections?" Eris pinched the bridge of her nose. "This language is so unwieldy. At least four old infections. In my language that little berry there holds materials that kill off most of the ills you are dealing with on a day-to-day basis. All of you- that means you other two in the cart, are all dealing with old diseases that are keeping you from healing all the way."

"But I'm not sick!" Bard protested.

"You are- you are just so used to it that you don't feel them anymore." Eris snorted. "Back when I was a child, my mother and grandmother would tell me stories of how their ancestors were killed off by those who thought them witches for outliving everyone around them for multiple generations. It was because they were clean- free of old illnesses and with no little bugs that bite."

She looked out to the lake, then frowned. "Speaking of being clean, how do you deal with... How do I put this... Where do you crap?"

"What?" Bain asked, somewhat dazed at seeing a person with blue skin.

"Where do you clean yourselves? Evacuate yourselves?" Eris made vague gestures, and Astrid was the first to get it.

"We have a seat over the lake water." She popped the blue berry into her mouth, and swallowed before taking a deep breath to talk. "And we clean using the lake water."

"Please tell me you at least boil it first?" Eris visibly sagged as Bard shook his head. "Well, you better start trying to do so, because no matter what I do this will be difficult to deal with." She perked up. "Indeed- I will give you something that may help improve the state of this town... But I should probably check the other two within the cart."

Sigrid and Tilda were both observed (and frozen stiff almost by seeing the blue healer), but were given other berries. Sigrid was given the same berries as her mother, while Tilda was given the blue berry and a bright green one.

"Now, you should feel better inside one half an hour." Eris said as Tilda swallowed the berry. "It will push down the fever. If it is having trouble, I will give you some bright yellow berries- take only one of each, no sooner than six hours apart, alternating. Only take them together if the fever will not go down... Oh, and your live may be hurt if you take too many, so as soon as the fever goes away and does not come back, stop taking them."

"Why would our livers be hurt?" Tilda asked.

"There is a really long answer for that, and I don't think most of the words exist in this language." Eris thought for a second. "The short answer is that your liver breaks down harmful things that your body makes while trying to make useful things. This process is happening all the time, but if you drink too much alcohol, or take too many green berries at once, your liver cannot do its job, and dies. Then you die- horribly." At the cheerful proclamation, Eris pulled out several small bags, and filled them with berries from the original bags.

Then she pulled out a charcoal piece, marking each one with a different symbol before handing them to Astrid and the girls.

"Take the berries as I have stated... Or you may not heal very well." She turned to Bard and Bain. "Now... You two..." She thrust out a hand, and two dried blue berries were sitting on the black glove. "Take these."

They did so- and both coughed as they did.

Eris began putting the bags back in their places. "Now, my part of the job is done- will you show me the WindLance?" She held up an even smaller bag, this one with four seeds in it. "I will give you the seeds of the berries that I gave you if we can get your family back home quickly. This will not be pleasant."

With Eris's help (actually, more laughter than help), they managed to get Oculus to pull the cart (he acted like he thought it was a toy at first) back to Laketown.

The gate guards were surprised to see a tall, armored woman, and were particularly wary around Oculus, but let them through all the same.

After putting Astrid and the girls back home, safe under the watchful eye of Bain while the berries that Eris fed them did their work, Bard, Eris, and Oculus walked into the middle of the trading square- a large, empty platform of wood between several stalls. It was quiet, as it was still early morning, and only a few people had business at dawn.

Still, the ascending sun provided more than enough light to the see the Wind-Lance, perched on the top of the Master's tower, and Bard pointed it out to the helmeted healer.

She did not approve.

"The most advanced device you know of is a... Ballista?" Eris deadpanned. "Truely? What did you shoot out of it?"

"Black arrows, each as long as an elf, made to pierce the scales of dragons- or anything else." Bard deadpanned. Please don't ask about the story please don't ask about the story please don't-

"There's probably a story behind that, isn't there."

Valar damn it! "Yes." Bard reluctantly admitted.

"So... Any dragons left?"

Bard's jaw dropped. She wasn't going to ask about the story? He rallied quickly. "Yes... There is one I know of."

She sighed, and when she turned around, Eris looked dejected. "Fine... /Stuck on a planet of primitives./" She muttered.

Bard didn't understand whatever she just said, but it didn't sound positive. "Smaug the terrible sleeps within the Lonely Mountain."

Eris stared at him before tapping a pattern on Oculus's horn as she leaned against the beast. "Bard, you know that I have no clue where I actually am. Your landmarks and places of importance are unknown to me. So when you mention 'the Lonely Mountain', I have no clue what you are speaking of."

"Smaug lives within that mountain." Bard pointed at the looming mountain, seen through a gap between two buildings.

Eris looked at the mountain looming over the town. "... Interesting. What happened to that town?" She pointed at the ruins of Dale.

"Smaug happened." Bard said sadly. "The King under the mountain, Thrór, had amassed a hoard of gold so vast that the richest of the rich came to see it, and dream of one day owning such wealth. The great wyrm Smaug heard of the hoard, and came down from the north to take it for his own. Dale had their own Wind-Lance, but Smaug had beaten such weapons before. Gidion, the Lord of Dale, spent all but one black arrow fruitlessly upon his hide, and so Dale burned for three days."

Eris was now looking at the Lance. "... Huh."

"The survivors of Dale fled to Laketown when Smaug attacked, two hundred years ago, and since then nothing has grown upon on the burned land." This story was known to all in Laketown, and he was now reciting it in reflex. "Tens of thousands of dwarves fled the mountain, and Smaug could be heard gloating for days."

"Truely, nothing would grow?" She sounded interested now.

"The soil was turned to glass." Bard could not speak louder, for fear others would hear. "... There is also a prophecy-"

Eris whirled around, and grabbed him by the shoulders. "No! Stop!"

Bard could not believe her strength. "What? What?!" She had lifted him clear off the ground, and her fingers were digging into his flesh.

"Do not talk to me of prophecy, or fate, or destiny!" She hissed. "I want no part in any predefined narrative for the amusement of anyone else!" She abruptly placed him back on the ground, and turned back to look at the Wind-Lance. "Would you say that blue skin is a little... Noticeable?"

Bard was nonplussed. "Um... Yes?"

"Great." Eris removed her helmet, now with a face that would not be out of place in Laketown- save the oddly colored eyes. Emerald and almost glowing purple really stood out... Although the shoulder-length black hair made her more unremarkable. "I think this would fit in with the people here. What do you think?"

"..." Bard had no responses to that.

"Good." She began sashaying along the dock, her Silence trailing behind her in the shadows. "Now... Your payment." A tiny bag flew into Bard's face. "Plant each seed in soil, and keep them inside. Near the fire, and with soil constantly wet. It will grow quickly, and bloom within a week. Brush the same-colored flowers with a small amount of hair to make them sprout berries. DO NOT EAT ANY BERRIES OF MIXED COLORS. For every cluster of four there will be a seed in one- plant them if you wish. The illness flowers will change color depending on which pills are needed for which illness, but do not eat their seeds unless you wish for a most painful death. Goodbye." With a single graceful movement, she mounted Oculus, and together dashed towards the tower. Guards, sleepy in the early morning, yelped as the large black creature leapt onto the building, and scurried up the side in a single, serpentine movement. A few moments were spent perching at the top, before the creature slithered back down and vanished into a crack between two houses.

"What an odd woman..." Bard muttered as he looked at the small, cinched leather pouch. It had the promised seeds in it- he could feel their odd forms beneath his fingers, but no stitches upon it.

Something so small, and yet, it made him almost drop the pouch. It felt wrong, to have a leather pouch with no real signs of make, but he had seen more odd things in his life.

Not many more odd than the lady Eris or her mount though.

End Ch 4

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