A/N Thanks again for all of the love this little story had gotten from all of you amazing people commenting, favouriting, following, it means the world and then some! I promise to reply to all reviews that allow it tomorrow, sadly it's way too late tonight and I wanted to get the chapter posted no matter what. But I gotta say, it was pretty hilarious how some of you commented on what I had planned all along for this (like the special braids and terror dwarflets). You guys and gals rock!
Herding the frightened children back into the cave and emphasizing that they were to stay together, the brothers armed themselves with as many weapons as they could grab. As planned, Kili remained standing close to the cave entrance as the final line of protection with Fili moving further down to the forest. Both had a bow ready, it was hardly Fili's preferred weapon but he did train with it, if for nothing else than to spend time with his brother when they were younger. The strategy was simple, they would try and shoot as many orcs as possible until they came too close, Fili would then switch to his dual blades and do his best to hold them off while Kili would continue shooting any orcs not held up by his brother. Hopefully, it wouldn't have to come to Kili having to abandon his bow because there were only two situations when he would – no more arrows left or Fili being unable to fight the hordes.
Unwilling to think about all the ways this could go wrong most of which involved a dead brother and twelve children, Kili prepared the first arrow waiting for the orcs to come running at them. He didn't have to wait too long for the first wave to appear between the trees and two orcs fell to the ground dead before they even reached the camp border, swiftly followed by five more. By the time Kili nocked his fifth arrow, Fili had to hastily throw his bow to the side and unsheathe his swords to finish off the three orcs that had made it all the way to him while Kili shot the rest coming from the tree line. Taking a quick stock, the brothers exchanged a meaningful look as Fili picked up the bow again and prepared for the second round. So far so good.
This time, even more orcs came running at them growling and screeching and while many fell with arrows sticking out of their chests, Fili had been forced to fight almost a dozen of them before the wave was defeated. Thankfully for him, the orcs were mildly distracted by the appearance of the two young dwarves facing them, after all the visual of both warriors with flowers sloppily woven into their hair was hilarious enough to make several orcs laugh giving the brothers extra seconds for an attack. But even a distraction could only get them so far and Kili was running dangerously low on arrows as they heard the third wave approaching. Fili had none left anymore as he wanted Kili to have spares so he prepared two of his throwing axes, thankful for having packed so many different weapons for their journey.
Halfway through the third wave, Kili threw his own bow away and joined his brother in the fray, the Durins fighting back to back all the while keeping an eye on the cave entrance in case some orcs slipped by unnoticed. Desperately, they fought against the horde, Kili hacking and slashing with his sword as if possessed, Fili brandishing his blades with deadly accuracy. But they were starting to tire and no matter how good they were, there were too many orcs not to sustain at least some injuries which made it even more difficult. By the time the third wave was defeated, Kili had a gash in his side which was shallow but painful and made it difficult to swing his sword while Fili sported several cuts along his arms and one on his left cheek, none life threatening but all bleeding freely and sapping his energy away.
When they saw the fourth wave, the brothers realized they may not be able to slay all of the orcs running at them and leaning into each other for a second, they gathered all of their remaining strength; at least they would die trying and put up one hell of a fight as befitting Durin's heirs. Abandoning any sense of self preservation, the brothers threw themselves at their enemies viciously, forsaking style for butchery to get as many of the bastards as possible. They came so close, so very close but there were just one too many orcs and Kili had been forced down to the ground onto his belly, his head yanked up harshly to make him watch as his brother was stabbed in his abdomen and forced onto his knees with the pain. Kili yelled out his brother's name in panic, seeing the blade descending upon the dwarf's head to strike a killing blow in slow motion. It never came.
With a hellish roar only a horde of berserk dwarfish children could produce, the dwarflets jumped onto the remaining orcs attacking with the knives that had been left in the cave, rocks they picked up off the ground, their own nails and teeth, anything they could find. Using their number against the surprised enemy, Dori and Nori held an orc for Ori to shoot his slingshot at, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur attacking another one like wild animals, unwilling to let go until the blasted creature fell to the ground with eyes devoid of life. Oin and Gloin kicked the feet from under the third orc, beating his head with rocks until his body stopped twitching.
Dwalin and Balin ran at an orc with weapons ready and while they didn't have much knowledge about the placement of vital organs, the numerous wounds they inflicted had been enough to kill nonetheless. Bilbo served as distraction for another orc by calling his attention to himself giving Thorin an opportunity to slit the tendons in his heels and slash his throat. Kili nodded at Ori as the child shot his captors, swiftly getting off the ground ready to help his brother. He didn't have to, Bifur had made sure that his cousins helped him in rescuing the blond dwarf. Within moments, the battle was over as Kili helped finish off the remaining orcs who were now covering from the rabid dwarflets and hobbitling as if they were Smaug himself.
The formerly youngest Durin couldn't help himself and joined in the children's victory roar, the little ones had faired incredibly well in the fight. Sparing a quick look at his and Fili's saviours, Kili noted that all of them were alive and for the most part unharmed; thank Mahal since neither would have been able to live with the guilt had something happened to the children. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kili ran to his fallen brother, undressing him in a hurry to examine the stab wound. Fili was panting and his skin was covered in a sheen of sweat but he was smiling, they had won and for once the wild nature of dwarfish children had proven useful making him forgive every single dwarflet for all of their mischief. Mentally calculating the position of the wound, Kili almost collapsed in relief, nothing vital had been hit and while blood loss was still a concern, his brother should make it after all.
Sending Oin for the medical supplies and ordering Dwalin to clean the knife he had used in battle and put the tip of the blade into their camp fire, Kili put pressure onto the wound to try and lessen the bleeding. While they waited for the knife to heat up so they could use it for cauterization, he praised all of the dwarflings repeatedly for how well they had done in battle making all of their ancestors proud; their little chests puffed out with pride hampered only by the fact that Fili was obviously hurt. For all of the trouble the children would cause, none of them wanted the adults to be in any real pain or danger.
Oddly enough, it had been Thorin who offered to help Kili clean and bandage the wound after he stopped the bleeding with the white hot knife; once the stars cleared from his vision, Fili gave his uncle a grateful smile accepting the offer of truce even though he knew it probably wouldn't last forever unless he turned back soon, hurt nephew or not. Supporting his older brother, Kili had taken him back to the cave followed by their flock of dwarflings and put him down on the nest Bofur and Bombur had built under Bifur's instructions. Once Fili was down, he took one look at Kili and talked Ori and Balin through tending to his brother's wounds with ointment while he quickly bandaged his own remaining cuts.
Once they were done, every single dwarflet had to present itself for close inspection of possible injuries. The few cuts Dwalin, Bombur, Dori, Nori and Gloin had suffered were treated gently, a kiss placed on little heads of those who sniffled with the pain of having injuries cleaned; as true warriors they might have behaved but they were still small children. There was nothing the brothers could do about the bruises the rest had obtained but they weren't too bad so again, the only medicine needed were warm words of praise and the occasional cuddle which was received with almost surprising gratitude, even from Thorin himself although he wouldn't allow to be held as long as the others. Once everybody had been tended to and reassured, Kili offered to go prepare some food; after all their victory called for a feast making Fili once more surrounded with wide eyed eager children as they waited.
"Mister Fili?"
Yes Bofur?"
"Can we finish braiding your hair now?"
Fili would have laughed until tears streamed down his face and then some more if it wasn't so painful, his brother was currently hollering on the floor overtaken by a chuckling fit not too far away. Of course the only thing the dwarflings worried about after a major orcish skirmish they only survived by some sort of miracle was braiding hair. But who was he to decline such a request to those who saved his life? Plus, he couldn't really do much else to help entertain the children in his current state anyway so grinning at the little hell raisers, he nodded his head.
"But of course laddie, braid away."
The rest of the evening had been spent in a surprisingly calm and happy atmosphere with the bare minimum of troublemaking, a fact both Kili and Fili were thankful for, and exhausted with the day's events, the children fell asleep soon after the brothers started singing them a lullaby. Telling his brother to sleep first to gather as much strength as possible in case of another ambush, no matter how unlikely, Fili took first watch. He knew that he wouldn't be of much use in a battle right now so he could stay awake and observe, and although unwillingly, Kili saw the logic and lay down to rest.