Chapter 10

"What do you smell?" said the same raspy voice from above my head.

I heard uneven footsteps approaching the edge. Then a loud snorting noise that nearly made me throw up in my mouth.

"Dwarf flesh." came an equally horrid voice.

I was done for. I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing that they had caught my scent. I felt my hands begin to grow sweaty and I had to readjust my hold on the rock. I heard the voice from above my head and froze, one arm still hovering in the air.

"I've got a better sniffer than I thought." the orc said.

Both creatures laughed a horrid laugh. It sounded more like a choking cat than a sound of mirth.

"Them dwarves are clear across the rift and I can smell 'em from here." came the same voice.

I breathed an inward sigh of relief as I heard the footsteps of the wargs retreat from the ledge.

That was too close.

I decided then that I knew all that I needed from the films. It was time to return to camp. I began the slow descent of the cliff face. In other circumstances I would have felt disappointed, but my heart was pounding in my ears and my entire body was shivering. Not out of cold, but from the sheer terror of what had occurred just moments earlier.

The journey down the rock face occupied at least twice the time of the ascent. And so, by the time that my shoes touched the firm ground, I had been away from camp for nearly two hours.

I crossed the ledge in much the same fashion, and at much the same speed as I had made my way down the cliff. I was just beginning to calm down when I heard footsteps.

I was momentarily flustered before realizing that the footsteps were coming from the direction my own camp. Even with this in mind, I drew my dagger.

A figure was now becoming apparent through the night's shadow and mist. His stature and gait were those of a dwarf. I breathed a sigh of relief before realizing just how bad this looked. I had been gone for longer than I intended. To be caught now in this rift, far away from the safety of the camp? It was only then that I realized the utter stupidity of my actions. Even if I had gathered information from the orc camp I couldn't have told Thorin. He wasn't supposed to discover the orc pack following us until the day after our encounter with the trolls!

I kicked a rock in my frustration and was only slightly gratified to feel no protest from my ankle.

Now the dwarf was so close to me that I could tell who it was. I was both relieved and angry to see Fili. I hadn't quite forgiven him for the book incident earlier that day, but I was still shaken from the events of the night and it was good to see a familiar face.

I heard the sound of steel drawn, and then a quiet voice. "Aria, is that you?"

I nodded my head, suddenly ashamed of what I had done. Realizing that he couldn't see me in the mist and the dark, I nodded again and spoke.

"Yes, it's me," I whispered.

"Good. What were you thinking?" he demanded.

I shrugged.

"Aria?" he asked.

I was amazed at how much anger such a quiet voice could hold. Anger, and fear? But what was he afraid of? He didn't know how close we were to the orcs.

When I gave no answer, he placed a hand on each of my shoulders. "Look at me. Why are you out here?" he asked slowly. The anger began to fade from his voice, but the fear remained.

"I, um, I couldn't sleep so I came for a walk." I lied through my teeth. And I was surprised by the wave of guilt that followed.

He crossed his arms. He didn't buy that story for one second.

"You can't just wander off in the middle of the night like that. I wouldn't have found you at all if Thorin hadn't got up for second watch and realized you were gone."

"Thorin knows?" I asked before thinking better of it.

Fili didn't say anything for a moment, but then he sighed and said, "he doesn't trust you Aria."

"Why are you telling me this? Is it because you think you can trust me?" I blurted.

"I didn't at first, but lately…" he trailed off.

I needed to get something straight. I couldn't stand deceiving him or any of the others more than I had to, so I told him something.

"You shouldn't trust me. I wouldn't dream of doing anything to hurt or betray a member of this company, but there are things I can't tell any of you. It isn't my choice but I just don't want to get anyone hurt." a tear slipped down my cheek. That was all I could say. That was all the explanation that he would ever get.

"Whose choice is it then?" Fili asked.

I sniffed and smiled sadly. "I can't," I said.

"I don't know that matters. Thorin thinks that you are a spy who blackmailed him into bringing you on this venture. You have to say something to him," Fili whispered urgently.

"I am no spy," I stated emphatically.

I decided that I only wished to go back to camp, so I started to walk past Fili. I was halted in my tracks.

"Wait," he said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You were finished talking?"

"I said I wasn't a spy and I meant it," I told him.

"And I told you that Thorin thought you blackmailed him." said Fili.

I smiled sheepishly into the night and walked past him.

Fili seemed to be wrapping his head around what I had implied.

"Hold on. Does that mean that you...did you?"

"Quite probably," I chuckled.

"You blackmailed Thorin?" Fili stammered.

"Well, that depends on how you loo-" I defended myself

"You blackmailed Thorin didn't you." It was not a question.

"Maybe?" I shrugged.

"You astound me. No one blackmails Thorin Oakenshield." Fili laughed.

"Me, apparently," I said. "Besides, I only implied that if he left me in Hobbiton I would have trouble not spreading the word of his secret quest," I said.

I saw Fili, who was now walking side by side with me shake his head. When he spoke again, the tone of his voice had become somewhat somber, and I knew that joking was, for the moment, set aside.

"Before he sent me to look for you Thorin took me aside. He means to leave you at the nearest sign of civilization. He told me that I was to keep a close eye on you, and should you slip away again, I was to follow you. Aria you have to tell me where you went. That's twice now that you've disappeared from camp and not been seen for hours."

I took a deep breath in and sighed. " Well as for the first time, I can be completely honest with you. Do you recall the place of our camp on that day?"

"Yes. Near that lazy river wasn't it?" Fili asked.

"That's the one. I, well, I went to wash my hair. I'd never been so long without a bath in my life," I trailed off.

I was thankful for the darkness because, for some reason unknown to me, I had begun to blush. I could feel the heat in my cheeks, and I had to roll my eyes at my own incapabilities. I should have told someone where I was going before I left.

"Oh, if that's all then why not just tell Thorin?" Fili asked. He sounded relieved, which could only mean that he had hoped me to be truthful, but until now he hadn't believed me entirely.

"No! I certainly don't need to tell Him what I have or haven't been doing with my hair of all things. And you're not going to tell him either!" I hissed.

"You're not going to change your mind about this." It wasn't a question.

"No," I said, crossing my arms.

Goodness, I was more stubborn than I remembered.

"You're in over your head on this. You know that, don't you?" he asked.

I nodded. "I know," I said.

And I did know. I had acted foolishly and rashly and now Thorin distrusted me enough to detail Fili to watch me. I was in way over my head this time.

As we reached the campsite and I slid back into my bedroll, Fili's words echoed through my head. He means to leave you at the nearest sign of civilization. That would be Rivendell. My journey would end at Rivendell. Any slim chance that I had of saving Fili, Kili, and Thorin was to slip between my fingers.

I would have given up all determination and hope, had it not been for the timely intervention of the third dream.

I was once more thrust into the sunny forest with the overwhelming sensation of truth all around me.

The draft horse reared once more, kicking its front feet out towards Philip. Its rider, who I could now see was a girl of some twelve or thirteen years, slid off of the horse coming to rest nimbly on her feet. She ran to stand in front of Philip and reached for the horse's muzzle.

She began to speak to it, calming it with honeyed words in a tone that was both strong and soothing. I understood what she said, but that I quickly realized that her words were elvish. As the horse began to settle down, she was able to reach up to stroke its muzzle.

I moved closer to them and was able to better make the girl out. She was shorter than Philip, but she held herself as if she were ten feet tall. Her hair was wavy and raven in color. She had pulled it into a half up that reminded me of the way Kili wore his hair (minus the bangs). She had the same bright blue eyes as both of the other children. For the first time, I wondered if they could be related.

The horse was now calmed, and the girl turned to glare at Philip.

"You scared him!" she said.

"It's good to see you too Ella," he said sarcastically.

The girl, Ella, softened. "I'm sorry. I missed you to Philip. Where's Kahladwhen? It's quite unlike my sister to miss out on a chance to break the rules." she mused.

"Who? Oh, Kahli's up there somewhere. And we didn't break any rules coming out here." Philip said indignantly.

"Oh, so you have permission to be this far away from the mountain. On foot, and unaccompanied. Things must have changed a great deal. And here was I thinking I had only stayed away three months."

The mountain? We must be near the lonely mountain. These children must be dwarves of Erebor! Sure the two girls had a delicate look about them, but their height convinced me.

Kahli chose that moment to come swinging down through the branches to alight on the ground.

"You moron Philip! I told you it was her." Kahli laughed.

"Moron? What does that word mean? Is it elvish?" Philip asked in confusion.

I couldn't help but laugh at this. I laughed because the word "moron" was definitely one not used in middle earth.

Kahli just shrugged. "I heard your mama say it once and it sounded insulting."

Then, she seemed to notice her sister and gave her a tight bear hug.

"I missed you, Ella!"

"And I missed you Kahladwhen." Ella said.

Kahli drew back.

"Kahladwhen? Since when do you use my full name?" Kahli asked suspiciously.

"Since I learned it's meaning. You were named for a beautiful light," said Ella.

Kahli rolled her eyes before saying "oh that's all. I'm relieved, for a moment there I thought the woodland sprites must have addled your brains!"

"They're elves, and I was studying healing and history with them. They haven't done anything to my brain," said Ella.

"I wish that my father could have convinced them only to take you for one month of the year. Three really is too many," said Philip.

I followed as the three dwarves walked towards the sounds of civilization, with Ella in the middle leading her horse by its bridle. It occurred to me then that Ella was the only dwarf I had seen ride a full sized horse.

"I don't like it much either but it is my duty to help in what way I can. Studying with the elves creates a tie with them. I think that good will come of it in the end." said Ella.

Ella seemed well beyond her years in knowledge. I was intrigued to learn more about her. As I followed them, I heard them talk. Kahli was reprimanded for getting into so much trouble while her older sister was away, but all three laughed and congratulated the redhead on her schemes.

"You scared him with that dagger. If you hadn't had it out, he wouldn't have reared. I nearly fell off." I heard Ella chiding Philip.

I felt the forest darkening around me and I assumed I was awakening. Instead of opening my eyes at camp, the scene around me lightened to reveal the three dwarves again. Only the scene had vastly changed. They strolled through the brightly colored bustling streets of a city.

Dale, I realized.

Philip and Ella ate small brightly colored cakes while Kahli sucked sugary frosting from her fingers. The horse walked obediently behind Ella, and they were literally dwarfed in comparison to the great black beast. They ambled their way down to the gates of the city, where Philip helped the girls onto the horse before begrudgingly accepting Kahli's hand and climbing on himself.

I was beginning to wonder why I was seeing this. The sense that I knew the three of them was only irritating me. And the sense that what I was watching was real? That terrified me. I soon found out just why I was watching.

I seemed to watch from afar as the horse galloped out the city gate. I could see the rugged beauty of the landscapes. Young forests and little fields of crop sprung up every which way I looked. It was breathtaking.

And through it all rode the three dwarves. The horse veered to the side and began to gallop up a tightly twisting mountainside path. I heard, as if through a tunnel, Philip's voice.

"Why aren't we going straight home? You know I don't like it up here!"

"I've been stuck in a forest for three months. I'm getting the full view!" Ella yelled over the wind.

I followed the path with my eyes and a feeling of dread filled me. The watch tower at Ravenhill was not the ruin that I had seen in the films but it was unmistakable. I watched as the horse reach the top of the path. They slipped off his back one by one, and my view changed.

I was now standing on firm ground as I watched as Ella secured the horse's bridle to a post.

"Stay here Stormbringer, we will return soon," she whispered to the horse.

The name Stormbringer became him well. He tossed his head in annoyance at being left behind but obeyed Ella.

I was starting to feel more at ease in this place when it happened. I could see the intact watchtower before my eyes. I could see the three dwarves crossing the bridge over the ice lake.

Then I could see something else.

Like a ghost falling over Ravenhill the buildings deteriorated to ruin, and the bridge disappeared. The three dwarves didn't seem to notice. They walked towards the watchtower, conversing easily. Oblivious.

"Fili, take your brother. Scout out the towers. Keep low and out of sight. If you see something, report back, do not engage. Do you understand?" said Thorin.

I snapped my head around to see them. Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili, all dressed out in battle regalia.

"We have company. Goblin mercenaries. No more than a hundred." yelled Dwalin.

"We'll take care of them. Go. Go." Thorin ordered.

My head spun. Why was I seeing this? What was happening?

"No! Don't go! Fili, Kili wait!" I yelled, but my protests fell upon deaf ears. I was but a spectator in this dream. Fated to see but never to touch the lives of those within.

My vision changed once again. I was with Philip, Ella, and Kahli atop the tower. They still didn't notice the ruins around them. Philip looked slightly nauseous and stood back from the edge.

"You've seen the view, can we be done with this place now?" he said quietly.

Ella nodded, and throwing a last wistful look at the great valley, she linked arms with her sister and the three of them made for the stairs.

It was only when Ella threw a teasing grin at Philip that I realized who she reminded me of. The half up hair, the grin, the quiver of arrows slung over her back. Her younger sisters recklessness and fiery hair. A dwarf sent to study with elves. Two girls who, if they were taller, could be mistaken for elves themselves.

Of course!

I had stalled there for too long and the trio had slipped down the stairs. By the time I caught up to them, they had stopped in a corridor.

"I think I left my dagger upstairs." Philip was saying.

Kahli mad to run back up the stairs but Philip stopped her.

"Stay here, go back to the lower levels. I've got it!" he said, and then the girls turned and headed down the corridor.

Hang on, this was too familiar. It was nearly the same thing that Fili had said when… and he was gone just like that. Up the stairs and out of my sight. Dread threatened to eat me whole from within. I didn't think it could get any worse.

Two familiar figures joined me in the corridor.

Fili and Kili heard a gong sound from ahead and just as Kahli had done, Kili tried to rush forward. And just as with Philip, Fili stopped him in his tracks.

"Stay here, search the lower levels. I've got this," said Fili, and his brother obeyed.

I knew what was going to happen, so I reached out to touch his arm. To stop him in his tracks. My fingers felt nothing but air and Fili went forward.

My vision changed once more and I stood with Thorin, Dwalin, and Bilbo as light pulsed from the tower bove.

As Azog spit terrible words from his mouth. I could see Fili, still struggling as he was lifted from the ground, and stabbed. Then he fell to earth.

I think I screamed, but what words I do not know. I rushed down from the ledge and across the ice. I saw Kili dart from his hiding place in the lower hall and run, enraged, up the stairs. As I neared the edge of the frozen lake, I heard words echo around me. The same poem that I had heard whilst I fell.

My child,

You know what is to come,

So careful how you use your tongue,

Lest you should leave the company

And deaths occur that should not be.

This was no dream. This had been set to me by the same force that brought me to middle earth.

I don't know what I expected to see when I reached the foot of the tower, but it was certainly not what I found. Fili lay upon the ground, dead. And by his side lay Phillip, two pairs of startling blue eyes gazed unseeing to the sky.

"And deaths occur that should not be," I whispered.

Now that I saw them together, the resemblance was too strong. Fili's son. Of course. In that instant, I understood the dream. If Fili died, Philip would never see life.

Four lives, not just three, rested upon my shoulders. Wait, no, six.

Kahli and Ella!

Kili!

I ran to the stairs, bounding up them without heed to my surroundings. I rushed through the watchtower, hoping to find them, somehow to stop them. To save them.

I heard the distressed cry of a woman followed closely by the scream of an orc. Tauriel had pushed herself from the cliff with Bolg in toe.

I was too late.

I stumbled upon the place where they lay. Kili was dead. I couldn't stand it. He wasn't gone. Neither of them could be gone. I saw movement! I turned to find out what it had been. There upon the snow and blood spattered earth, Ella sat cradling Kahli's body. Tears streaming silently from her eyes even as blood seeped through her own tunic.

I watched as the light slowly left her.

The watchtower fell silent.

I rode through the rain silently with my hood down. I had not the strength to pull it over my hair, and what good would it do now? I had awoken in pure silence early that morning. I lay shocked and awake for what felt like hours before the rest of the company got up. I had packed quickly and saddled my own pony.

I wasn't hungry, indeed, my stomach was still churning and hollow, so I skipped breakfast. I had only one clear thought. If those children died along with Fili and Kili, then I didn't know how much longer I would last. I could not bear the weight of their deaths on my shoulders. I was NOT staying at Rivendell, no matter what Thorin decided when he got there. I found myself sneaking glances at Fili and Kili throughout the morning. Part of me still saw them, dead, the smiles gone from their eyes. I had to keep reasuring myself that my two friends were still there.

Still alive.

And then, just after lunch, the rain had begun. No one was in high spirits, and even though we found cover on a forest road, the rain was still heavy.

I thought about the dream for hours on end. Going over everything that had happened in my mind. There was but one thing that still confused me. Philip's dagger. Or rather, my dagger. I unsheathed it and stared at it. It was a thing of beauty and delicacy. But also a weapon of some fragile strength. I had never seen anything remotely like it in my life.

"I'd meant to ask you about that," said Fili. He had been riding by my side (per Thorin's orders) for the entire morning, but he hadn't spoken until now.

"What do you want to know?" I said. I was surprised at the fatigue in my voice.

"How did you come by it?" he asked.

"Found it, at Bag End," I mumbled.

"And why have you been staring at it for the past ten minutes?"

"It's been ten already?" I asked.

"At least," was his frank reply.

I decided to tell him part of the truth because, as usual, part of the truth was all I could say.

"I dreamed it belonged to a boy of some fourteen or fifteen years and I can't figure out how he got it," I said absentmindedly. For even as I spoke I could still not comprehend the problem.

"I see," said Fili. He was looking at me as if he questioned my health.

"It was only a dream you know. You seem to be the owner of that dagger at present and that is all you have to worry about," he concluded as if he had solved all my problems.

"You don't understand. It was so different from any other dream I have had. This one had such a sense of reality about it. I am sure it was true," I said. It felt good to tell someone, even if I couldn't say everything.

Fili tried to reason with me. "If it was so realistic, then what was his name?"

The irony of the moment hit me. Fili was unknowingly asking me for the name of his own son. He obviously thought I would have no answer for him.

"His name was Philip," I said.

"Philip? I don't think I've heard that name before now. It's quite odd," Fili considered.

I laughed. "No more odd than your name. I had never heard a person called Fili in my life until I met you."

"And you know people by the name of Philip?" he asked incredulously.

"A few," I shrugged.

"Well if you say it is a good name than I trust you. I'll take your word for it," he said.

As we rode, we fell into easy conversation. I told him some of the dream, excluding Dale, Ravenhill, and Ella's studies with elves. He thought it incredibly amusing that Philip had gotten Kahli to climb the tree in the way that he did.

When I told him why Philip had remained on the ground, I learned that Fili shared my fear of heights, and for some reason took great pleasure in this.

He greatly desired to meet the dwarf that would ride a fully grown horse and we agreed that should either of us ever meet a midnight black draft horse, we should give it a name such as Stormbringer.

We broke off the conversation to listen to a story that Gandalf was telling.

"Do you know what he's talking about?" was the last thing Fili asked me.

"Yes, Radagast the brown, he's another wizard. Now hush I'm trying to listen." I said. But there was no malice in my voice, and I was glad that we were talking again.

I listened to Gandalf's story about Radagast who was, in actuality, Gandalf's cousin. I found it engaging but I was soon drawn back into thoughts about the vision. For that was what I had decided to call it. Dreams were fanciful, but this? This was real.

My thoughts took a far different and far more puzzling route than they had earlier that day. I thought of how funny it would be to tell Kili that I already knew what his children looked like. I imagined a happy future where the battle was won, and Kili and Tauriel (for who else could be the mother?)would settle down, and the two girls would be born.

I imagined myself giving him such a shock by guessing the names of each of his daughters. I wandered through thoughts of Kili being a father and was thoroughly gratified with these thoughts until they took an unexpected turn.

Fili.

Fili was Philip's father and would, if he survived the battle, marry. Fili would marry and he and his wife would have Philip.

Some day there would be a girl, a proper dwarven girl, who would make him laugh and talk.

And fall in love.

I didn't like her very much. I completely forgot that neither Fili or I had met such a girl.

By the time we made camp (in the least muddy part of the forest we could find) I had decided that I wholly disliked her.

It didn't occur to me until late that night while I was drifting off to sleep, that I might be jealous of this girl. I dismissed the thought as ridiculous and turned over in an attempt to find a more comfortable spot on the ground.

But the thought kept returning unbidden to my mind, and when sleep finally took me, some part of it lodged itself in my consciousness and refused to leave.