The company walked away from the beautiful Valley of Imladris. They followed the path past the mountains adjacent to a deep valley. Thorin led the company across the path. "Be on your guard." He said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "We're about to step over the edge of the wild. Balin, you know these paths, lead on."
Bilbo Baggins turned around and looked at Rivendell, sighing. He would have loved to spend more time with the elves and learn about their ways of living. At the same time Fili, Gloin, Ori and Oin passed him and Thorin stopped walking. "Master Baggins, I suggest you keep up."
After a few hours of walking, the company passes through a forest with pine trees. They didn't walk in a line anymore, now they walked in one group, still with Thorin an Balin in the front. Fili and Kili walked in the back of the group. They jumped as Gandalf suddenly appeared in front of them. "Hello lads, I am sorry, did I startle you?"
Kili nodded. "Kind of, yes."
"How did you-" Fili was interrupted by a sudden sound in the depth of the forest. Kili frowned and looked in the direction of the sound. Gandalf widened his eyes, he knew exactly what made that sound and was frightened. The company started asking questions.
"What was that?" "What do we do?" "Are we going to die?" Of course, the last question came from Ori. His eyes were as wide as they could be and Ori moved closely to his big brother. Everyone panicked - even Fili, who always remained calm - except for Kili. However, this went by unnoticed and the company waited for Thorin's command.
"We move away from the sound." He growled and led all of his companions to the opposite direction, at least, he thought he did. Kili stayed behind looking towards the sound. He was considering his options; he too knew what creatures made that sound and he knew his family would not get out alive. Eventually, there was only one option.
-:-
Exhaustion. That word was floating around in his head for as long as he could remember. The company had been running for at least fifteen minutes without any breaks. Suddenly a new word entered. Brother. He looked around and stopped running. Gandalf turned around. "Is there something wrong Fili?"
Fili narrowed his eyes and searched through the company but he still could not find Kili. "Kili's gone, I think he went after the sound."
Thorin cursed under his breath. "That reckless dwarf." He spat. "Can he not do anything else than seeking danger?"
"We have to go after him!" Fili yelled desperately.
"No! We cannot risk all of our lives to save Kili from his recklessness. We move on."
Fili did not want to leave Kili behind, not after he had just apologized to him. He turned around and wanted to run back, but a hand on his chest stopped him from going. Gandalf looked down at him with an apologetic frown. "You cannot save him now, Fili, he is lost."
"But he is my brother! He is strong!"
Gandalf put a hand on Fili's shoulder. "I know, Fili, it is hard to accept the loss of your family, but there is no way Kili will survive those creatures. If you go after him, you will not survive either. Stay here and be safe."
"No, Kili will not die while I'm alive! I will go after him!"
Gandalf sighed. "Then I'm coming with you."
-:-
Fili and Gandalf did not have to walk long, for they could easily follow the shaking ground. It was hard for Fili to keep his balance and he actually fell twice on their way. When they arrived at the battle scene they found Kili, still alive. The last thing they did not expect was that he stacked all of his weapons on a pile in the bushes and he stood there unarmed, ready to fight three… "What are those, Gandalf?"
"Balrogs." He replied. "Demons from the ancient world. Those who even I cannot fight. I am sorry lad, but Kili is not going to survive."
Fili gasped and hoped for his brother to be strong.
One of the balrogs slashed its fiery whip at Kili, but he dodged, making the whip slash at the air right in front of him, inches away from the top of his nose. The second time Kili moved to the ground, just low enough for the whip to slash above him. When the balrog moved to retrieve his whip, Kili grabbed it and swung along, ending on the neck of the balrog. Although it was quite a stupid move, for Kili now had some burns on his hand, it still made Fili open his mouth in awe, he most certainly did not know Kili was able to do that. After that Kili revealed a shining blood-red blade with green liquid settled on the top, possibly poison or any sort of venom, from his left boot. After sticking the blade inside the balrogs back on the place of its heart, he revealed the same blade from his right boot and stuck that inside the top of his head, making it fall to the ground. Kili quickly retrieved his blades and used the same tactic to kill the other two balrogs. When he had slid down the last balrog, he made his way to Fili and Gandalf, already knowing they were hiding in the bushes.
Fili looked at Kili with his mouth still wide open, for he had not had an opportunity to close it. Gandalf decided to break the silence. "Kili, how on Middle Earth did you do that?"
Kili's eyes moved from Gandalf, to Fili, back to Gandalf, and he took some time to consider whether or not he should tell them, eventually he just did. "I do believe you have heard of Khilar?"
Gandalf looked confused, but then he understood what Kili meant. "Are you…?" Kili simply smiled, that was enough for Gandalf.
Fili still had his mouth open and Kili snickered at him. "Your mouth's open Fee."
Fili came back to reality and stuttered "I was…-You did…-What?" Kili's snickering changed to bursting laughter. Finally Fili knew what he wanted to say. "I did not know you could do that."
"There is a lot you do not know." With that Kili turned around and walked in the direction of the company.
And another fight scene! A bit more detailed I hope, but still not perfect for my opinion...
The whole 'Khilar' thing will be explained next chapter, if not, the one after that.
The next update might take a while, because I have tests to learn, projects to finish and books to read and I have not even started on the projects. PROCASTINATION FTW!
Thank you for all your reviews, I am so glad a lot of you like it!
Please let me know what you think!
PS. When is the best time to update, I have the most e-mails of updates at midnight, but when is the best for you? I literally have no idea when, so please help me out :) (Any time when I am awake is fine)