"There is no greater warrior than a mother protecting her child"
- N.K. Jemisin
Big thanks to debatable-cerealkiller, Selene Tyler Smith, bums and LOVEmiSSinvisiBLE for following this story! It means a lot so thank you! Also, 1500 views! That's pretty crazy and I love all you guys, you're all so awesome!
Arenal Mereneth - I wonder too! Hopefully this will let you know why they left and as for what Thorin has to say you'll have to wait until next update!
FiliandKili'sGirl18 - You certainly can steal Fili! Or we could just clone him and everyone could have one! Don't worry though Thorin won't be needing a slap but feel free to send one to a certain someone this chapter if you deem it appropriate!
lovingthisbook - Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it and hopefully there relationship will build until there friends again, at least that's what I'm planning at the moment. Who knows what's going to happen!
Truthful but Harsh Memories
- 56 Years Ago -
"Come on! Let's go!" Sady said pulling her mother out of the door and towards her siblings that were betting on who would kill the most game on their trip.
"Right, we all ready?" Astrid asked and her three children smiled and hummed in response. Noly and Inca had been hunting previously but it was Sady's first time, and despite not being a fighter or someone capable of taking a life, she still insisted on going for a day out.
They all began the walk into the nearby woods, chatting about this and that whilst Sady squealed in excitement at the prospect of it all. She had seen her siblings training and always wished she could be like them with their weapons and amazing techniques. Her sister especially was wonderful to watch, she moved with such grace yet ferocity and was envious of her but never let herself become nasty.
Despite wishing she could fight and hunt, Sady never really got the chance as she was much more skilled at cooking and cleaning, the 'usual' things expected of a dwarf maiden; and even when she had tried she did not have the strength to wield the weapons and could tell that she would never be good enough. However she never let that get her down and instead enjoyed watching her sibling's spar in the sun, rain, snow and sometimes thunder. It was a way for the three to bond even though Sady was more on the side-lines.
"Sady hush there's a deer." Inca suddenly whispered and the younger girl immediately stopped her squeals and watched as her older sister silently eased the bow off her back and nocked an arrow to its string. Everyone watched as she pulled the bow string back and looked down the shaft of the arrow at her target, mindlessly grazing unaware of its inevitable death. At least it was having a happy and peaceful last moment.
The quiet twang of the string sent the arrow spinning towards the deer's heart and half embedded itself into the flesh of the doe's side. It let out a harsh squeak before it flopped onto its side to lie limply in the soft grass. Inca smiled at the others and received them in return, they jumped from their crouching position and jogged towards their pray.
Noly knelt down next to it and stroked along the soft brown fur before his hand trailed to the arrow, half sticking out of the flesh. He wrapped his hands around the shaft and tugged gently on it so it came out in a single pull completely undamaged but slightly blood soaked. Sady watched over his shoulder as he pulled the arrow out so swiftly that no blood blemished the pure fur around its mark and barely any sound was heard from the torn muscle and body. She had half expected it to be messy, with blood and puss oozing out of it like a blackened wart but it wasn't. The flesh was a pinkish colour like her sisters cheeks with a slight red tint, not the horror or damage she thought it would be. She was glad it wasn't what she imagined though because, despite not being afraid of blood, she wasn't sure how she would've reacted or how she should've reacted in that situation - this was just easier.
However, as Noly pulled out a small knife and was about to skin the deer at their feet a twig snapped loudly behind them. All five of them turned around in shock and Inca had already pulled the string of her bow back in preparation, but she was faced with a mirror of herself.
Nine male dwarves stood facing them with their weapons out and ready for a fight. Looking around they were all rather bulky and Sady could see them flexing their muscles to intimidate her family, she then noticed that snapping the twig must have been intentionally leading her into a mind-set of fear where nothing seemed to link together in the world of sense.
The man that had crushed the wood under his foot was stood in front of Inca his own arrow only inches from her own. Astrid's maternal instinct kicked in at that point and she moved in between the archers with her sword in hand, gently twirling it around as if limbering up.
"What's this?" The man stated almost jeeringly and he moved his bow down retracting the string but keeping the arrow locked in place. He turned to look at his companions with a wicked smirk which they returned with low evil chuckles. "Hold on a minute I know you lot."
He turned back around and pointed a hand at Astrid who stood proudly with the twins on either side and Sady hid behind the human shield her family had created; the three dwarves had their weapons at the ready. Unlike the leader of the opposing group, Inca had not lowered her bow and had it trained on each dwarves head, slowly moving it to the next dwarf, lining them up just in case it came to violence.
"You're Astrid Thopal, wife of Yurin Thopal, advisor to King Thror when he ruled under the mountain." Astrid didn't wince at his knowledge of her for he knew exactly who he was and would not fall weak to him on this occasion. "And this is your little family."
He had butterscotch blonde hair like Sady's and a thick beard that continued down his neck but did not hang off him in fancy styles like some of the dwarves behind him. Another mocking laugh came from his lips and he looked past Astrid's deep red hair to look at the younger girl stood behind the puffed chests of the other two.
"Oh so she is real." He said tauntingly looking from Sady back to Astrid, not even noticing her other children and their threatening stances. However he was not getting the reaction he wanted from Astrid, she was showing no emotion, no fear, no memories only strength and stubbornness.
"Well first of all that deer you shot down belongs to me – " He began and this was where Inca's self-control in politics and mind games failed her and she instantly interrupted.
"Says who? We shot it down fair and square!" She protested stepping forward slightly, she would've moved further had it not been for her mother's arm being pushed out as a barrier despite not looking at her.
"Says me." He simply replied and before the argument could further itself he removed his attention from the eldest daughter and back to the youngest and the mother.
"Oh you do remember me don't you Astrid?" He teased and the others chuckled at her menacingly. "You do remember us? How could you forget after all?" Noly went to ask what he meant but Astrid only hushed him.
"Well, as you know all too well, I take what is mine and what I want. And she belongs to me, so do you if I think correctly. We'd all like another go, wouldn't you say lads?" The dwarves behind him only cheered but still Astrid remained quiet and resilient to his jeering, he was trying to provoke a reaction out of her and he wouldn't get it.
Out of nowhere he got that reaction.
With a click of his fingers and an eyebrow raise four men strode forward in less than a second and grabbed the twins without giving them a chance to react. They were held on either side of Astrid and she cried out in shock along with their shouts.
"Hey get off me! Noly!" Inca shouted writhing around in the dwarves arms relentlessly looking at her brother in earnest and attempting to reach out to his own wriggling body. That was until she saw shiny steel pressed to her twin's neck and felt the cold metal on her own. This provoked another reaction in Astrid, and she began crying almost begging for them to be released.
"Stop stop! Don't hurt them, please!" She cried looking at her children, who with a hand signal could be dead in a second, blood spilling from their throats as the hostile dwarves cackled around her. She turned back to the main man all strength gone. "I'll do anything please!"
"Anything eh?" He asked earning another round of hellish chortles from the other gang members. "Well lads, how about we give her another blondie to remember me by?" They all agreed and he stepped forward, forgetting his bow on the floor so his hands were free.
As he walked towards her torturously slowly, her eyes began to glaze over and she bowed her head in shame not wanting her children to be here, not wanting them to be anywhere but safe in her arms at their home with walls to protect them from the bandits that surrounded them.
The rest went by in a blur along with a mixture of screams from the children and whimpers from the mother. Her clothing was ripped off of her piece by piece, exposing more and more skin until the man gave up on the games and tore her trousers off in one sharp pull. Then bending her over in front of him whilst she cried and more screams filled the woods he defiled her, taking away every inch of dignity she had gained since the last time they had encountered, since the last time he did the same act to her.
After a short time of watching the horrifying act of her mother being raped and abused, Inca's fear had turned into a fiery rage – and her fire could not be put out by a tsunami if it spat and crackled. She forgot completely about the risks and the knife pressing against her pulse along with the arms holding her own behind her.
She lashed out intensely her foot landing in her personal captors groin whilst her teeth bit harshly into his hand. The man retracted his grip in pain releasing the knife from his clutches immediately waiting to be caught by Inca. In her fit of outrage she grabbed the dagger and spun around slashing the man's throat and then stabbing the second dwarf in the chest multiple times. At the shock of violence appearing to the right of the clearing, Noly took his own chance to do the same to the two dwarves holding him.
Inca grabbed her weapons along with her brother and a fight scene began. Because of the ambush style attack half of the gang members had not been prepared to battle and where instead watching their leader take the poor woman, waiting for their own turn and enjoying it immensely. Therefore most of them were dead or twitching on the floor within a matter of seconds. At the sudden battle the blonde leader pulled out and grabbed Astrid by the neck holding her out in front of him with a dagger trained on her stomach. The rest of the dwarves were lying dead, arrows and sword wounds covering their bodies along with a coating of blood.
The woods fell silent other than a small whimper escaping their mother's lips as the knife point was pushed further into her skin causing blood to drip out of the small puncture forming.
"Surrender or she dies!" He called and Inca and Noly turned to face them with anger which quickly faded at the depth of the situation and decision. They instantly dropped their weapons to the floor to save their mother. They were trying to protect her and had to choose which way was the kindest towards her and the best way to keep her safe.
"No! Don't! Run!" Astrid tried to call but her attempts were in vain because suddenly the dagger was raised away from her and swung back into her torso with immense force.
Breath left her mouth and lungs in a shaky gasp and the man cackled behind her as she began to fall limper in his arms. But his laugh didn't last long as Sady had picked up a sword from the floor and had dug it as far into his back as she could. The blonde man fell to the ground but Inca's attention didn't stay on his wriggling form.
Astrid too fell to her knees and instantly her three children were by her side in her final moment were she was clawing on to say as much as she could to the stars of her own life before she waited them in the afterlife.
Inca's gentle hands cradled her mother's head whilst she tried to stay awake. Everything was swimming ever so slowly into focus, pale blue of the sky dominating Astrid's entire vision. The ground was hard, but she felt warm – yet, not uncomfortably so – though it was difficult for her to perceive anything much at all. She felt all so… fuzzy.
The urgent sound of her own name caught her attention, the face of her auburn-haired princess appearing before her eyes whilst another similar face and a blonde version sat further away, watching with tears in their eyes and streaks of salty water running down their cheeks. Fear – no, panic – clouded Inca's eyes, though none of it was for her own self, despite her battered appearance, dirt and blood caking on her skin from the scuffle.
"Inca?" she whispered, wincing as a sharp stab of red pain raced through her middle.
Inca jumped at her voice, immediately going on with trying to soothe her mother, promising that "you'll be okay" and "I swear you'll make it out alive". In all honesty, the words were so very comforting to Astrid, but, even in her haze of confusion and pain, she could glean an idea of what had happened – and of what was to come. The world was sluggishly turning dimmer, the air just a slight bit colder. It was no far stretch to imagine the bright incarnadine which pooled around her prone form, staining the grounds of the mini battlefield.
"Hush," Astrid breathed carefully, compensating for the agony of her wound, hoping all the while that her soft voice had not been lost to the gentle wind in the woods. Inca ceased in her rambling, gray-blue eyes wide and shining, shimmering, with unshed tears. "You worry too much, amralime. The end is come. I am glad for it to have been with you three. The lights of my life, you make me so proud. And I'm happy I spent my last moments protecting you"
But she only shook her head vehemently, already mussed auburn hair flying about her features, now twisted in grief. "No, it should not have ended this way. We should have protected you. I should have."
But the world had already blurred to gray for Astrid. The time had come. "I love you all. I love my three babies"
"No. No. Don't. Please. Please, don't do this." The world faded, darker and darker. "Stay awake, just stay awake. Don't – don't go. Don't leave. Please…don't leave."
Nothing.
And suddenly clear once more.
Astrid watched from the outside, her auburn princess hugging close her own mortal remains along with her twin brother and younger sister – all too young too have seen such atrocities - her head shaking vehemently as she whispered pleas. "Come – come back. Come back to us. Please. I love you. We all love you. Just…come back. Don't – don't you dare be gone. Please. Please…"
And she wanted nothing more than to do just that, live out that life with her children that she had created. But she could naught but watch and wish a final, silent farewell as the winds carried her to the lands beyond.
Goodbye, my loves.
Errr... Sorry about that and possible feels I may have caused you. So yeah... shit went down all those years ago. Let me know what you think and feel free to send bitch slaps or feels? Love you all x
