Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit. It belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson and Company.
The Treasure of Dale
Fili moved a bit ahead of the others, intent on scanning the terrain. His breath caught in his throat as he thought he saw something move in the shadows ahead. He crept forward keeping his eyes trained on the area. "Arne? Soren? It's Fili. Are you there?" He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a whimper. "Boys?"
The others seemed to recognize the change in his voice and turned to look. Fili hurried forward. "They're here!" he yelled as he realized Soren was injured and Arne was clinging to his baby brother. "I've found them!" A rock pinned the youngest down by his right leg. Soren's face tear-streaked and covered in dirt. His blonde hair was covered in grit and grime. Arne clung to his little brother's hand, his blue eyes wide with fear. Fili reached their sides and knelt just as a distinct rumble filled the air. The dwarf prince threw himself over the small boys to protect them as debris rained down over them in a suffocating cloud.
Chapter 7
Fili groaned as a sharp pain sliced through his shoulder and upper arm. Dust clogged his nose and throat, and he struggled to take in a deep breath. Something pressed repeatedly against his ribcage, but Fili found himself unable to move. The debris on his back was too heavy and his body was too stunned to make the effort.
"Prince Fili, please, me and Soren cannot breathe. You must move. Prince Fili!" Coughing soon followed the begging.
The words drifted into Fili's consciousness. Sigrid's boys. He had thrown himself over them to protect them from falling debris.
"Prince Fili, you're squashing us!" The desperate push against his ribcage was back.
With a moan, Fili tried to roll to his right, but a blinding pain shot through his arm and shoulder, and he found he was unable to use that arm at all. He grunted and tried again, choking on the dust, and still was unable to move. "Boys," he rasped, his throat scratchy from the dust, "are you both okay?"
It was Arne who answered, his little voice rusty. "Prince Fili, I can't wake up my brother." The last word ended on a sob.
Fili knew that fear. He'd felt it every time Kili had been hurt. "Okay, let me move and we will see if we can help him." Using his good arm, Fili finally managed to roll off of the boys. He leaned back against a large rock and attempted to catch his breath. The dark pressed in on them, the only sound the shifting of debris and their harsh breathing.
"Arne," Fili called out as he reached out a hand and found the child.
"Yes, Prince Fili?" the boy choked out.
"Where is your brother?" Fili allowed the small boy to guide his hand to the unconscious child beside him. The dwarf prince ran his hand up the boy's leg to his torso and then his head, his hand coming in contact with something warm and sticky. Blood. He grimaced and continued his exploration. It wasn't good. From what he could tell, the child's leg was still pinned.
"Okay, Arne," he grunted as he shifted to sit next to Sigrid's youngest. "Your brother's leg is still caught beneath the rock and I believe he has a wound on his head."
"Will he be okay?" Arne's voice was closer now, almost at Fili's elbow.
"I hope so. Your Papa was on the other side of that wall. I'm sure he will have us out of here as quickly as possible." What Fili didn't say was that he hoped Bard wasn't injured in the cave-in as well.
Fili started when Arne clambered into his lap, but he hugged the frightened little boy close. "My brother was ahead of us in the tunnel," Fili murmured. "He may even come back to help us if he heard the falling rock."
Arne sniffled. "I'm sorry we came down here, Prince Fili. Me and Soren wanted to be miners like the dwarves."
Fili ran a shaky hand through the boy's brown hair. "And perhaps you will learn how to be miners someday, but it will be when you are old enough. Mining is too dangerous for little boys, Arne."
"I know," the child whimpered. "Please, Prince Fili, we need to help my brother."
The desperation in the child's voice tugged at Fili's heart. "Aye, and we will," he assured Arne. "Little brothers certainly are a big responsibility." He felt Arne nod against him. "They get into all sorts of trouble."
"Soren gets in trouble a lot," Arne murmured.
"So did Kili when we were younger," Fili replied. "In fact, he still gets into a lot trouble even now." The dwarf prince continued to stroke the child's hair as he spoke. "Once, Kili was shot in the leg with a poison arrow. He got very, very sick."
"Did he almost die?" Arne sniffled, wiping his nose on his dusty sleeve.
"Yes," Fili almost whispered, "but Tauriel saved him." He hugged the boy close. "We will help your brother, Arne. I know with your father gone now you feel a big responsibility for your brother."
Arne shifted in his arms to get more comfortable and then reached down and took Soren's limp hand in his own. "Do you miss your ma?" he asked quietly. "Me and Soren miss Da."
Tears sprung to Fili's eyes. "I miss her very much," he told the child. "It is hard to say goodbye to someone we love."
"Da used to let us ride in front of him on his horse and he would chase us around the table and pretend to be a wolf. I want him to come back, but Ma says he can't."
"Your Ma is correct, Arne," Fili sighed, "but your da will be waiting for you one day. When you reach the Halls, he will hug you tightly as my Mother and my Father will hug me."
"Your da died, too," Arne stated sadly.
"Aye, when I was a little older than you," Fili replied. "Kili never knew our da." A noise in the tunnel ahead of them made both Fili and Arne tense.
"Fili?" Kili's worried voice rang out. Lantern light spilled around the curve in the tunnel.
"I'm here, brother, but we need help. Soren is injured." Fili still held Arne tightly against him. "See, my brother came for us." The boy didn't let go of his brother's hand and pressed closer to Fili.
Kili was soon kneeling by his brother and the small boys, holding the lantern high so that he could check on Soren. Blood trickled from a cut on the child's temple. His leg was wedged beneath the edge of a rock. It couldn't be shifted until other rocks were moved from above it.
"All right, then," Kili grunted, pushing to his feet and sitting the lantern on a nearby rock. "Fili, Arne, move over to the side so I can start shifting these rocks."
"No," Fili protested flatly, "I'm sitting by Soren so I can shield him from falling rocks."
"I'm not leaving my brother!" Arne stated defiantly.
Kili's eyes met those of his big brother. "He sounds just like you, Fee," he grinned.
Fili nodded and then tugged on Arne. "Stay in my lap, then," he told the boy, pulling him against his solid chest to offer him what protection he could.
"Prince Fili?" the little boy asked, watching as Kili began to move rocks with the brute strength of a determined dwarf.
"You can just call me Fili, Arne."
"Ma won't like that," the little boy sighed, looking balefully up at the dwarf prince.
"I think that it would be okay for a brave little boy who's been trapped in a tunnel with me to call me by my given name. We are special friends now."
Arne managed a shaky grin. "We are?"
"Certainly," Fili responded as he gave the child a slight hug.
"Can Soren call you Fili as well?" the child queried.
"Yes, Arne," Fili promised kindly.
"He'll like that," the little boy sighed.
The rocks above them shifted and Fili draped his body over Soren's as well as he could to protect the child from falling debris.
"I think I'm making some headway," Kili grunted. "I can hear sounds from the other side."
Relief flowed through Fili. Soren still hadn't awakened, and he knew that the longer the child stayed unconscious, the more dire the prognosis.
Suddenly, the voices grew louder and then Bard was climbing through the hole they'd made. "Arne, Soren?"
"Papa!" Arne shrieked, clambering out of Fili's lap. "Soren's hurt, Papa! He's caught under the rock and he won't wake up."
Bard scooped his eldest grandson into his arms and moved forward toward the small form trapped beneath the rock. Dropping to his knees beside Fili, he stroked Soren's blonde hair with a shaking hand. "Soren, it's Papa. Open your eyes for me."
The child remained still. Fili swallowed hard. Would Sigrid's youngest die down here in the mines?
Things seemed to get a bit confusing after that. A flurry of dwarves was soon surrounding them. The rocks were moved and little Soren was placed on a stretcher and carried quickly down the tunnel under Oin's watchful eye. Bard followed with Arne clasped tightly to him.
Kili helped his brother to his feet. "That shoulder is dislocated, Fee," he murmured.
"I figured as much," the elder dwarf prince grunted painfully. He hobbled along at his younger brother's side supported by Kili's arm. "Please, before I'm treated I need to check on Soren. I need to know that he is all right."
"You get looked at by a healer and I will check on him for you," Kili insisted, his dark eyes daring his brother to disagree.
Fili sighed. "If you promise to come back immediately with news."
"I swear it, brother," Kili told him as he helped his brother to the healers' chambers.
To Be Continued…
Happy Palm Sunday! "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" Mark 11:9
