Chapter Ten

Tauriel stood at the edge of the tower she had taken as her own space and looked toward Erebor. She could see them crossing the valley toward Dale, Kili and Fili, Bofur and Dwalin pulling some kind of cart behind the horned mountain goats that they rode.

She watched them approach, her hair blowing in the cold breeze. She hoped that the dark clouds lingering on the horizon were not a poor omen for the day.

She turned away from the edge and stepped over to her chest of supplies. She had enlisted a pair of townsmen to help carry it up to the tower upon her return from Erebor the previous night, and now she opened it to retrieve her sword.

She was taking all of her weapons with her. She was privately terrified at the thought of drawing a weapon against her own people, but she had promised Thorin that she would keep Fili and Kili safe, and she planned to do that.

Moments later she jogged down the tower steps and began winding her way through the narrow town streets. She paused only when she spotted a familiar young face. "Bain," she said. "Where is your father?"

"He went to the old marketplace, to begin seeing about repairs."

"I need you to find him for me, ask him to meet me at the main gates. Tell him it is important."

"What—" Bain responded, but Tauriel was already moving off, eager to intercept the dwarves before anyone realized what they were carrying with them. She trusted Bard, but she did not know any of the other townspeople well enough to know if they would try to take some of the gold for their own.

"It will be safer this way," Dwalin was arguing when she reached them just outside the gates.

"Just the three of us," Kili countered. "That is the deal we made with Thorin."

"Wood elves are dangerous, Kili. You need more than one set of eyes looking out for you."

"They will have two," Tauriel said, stopping beside Kili. "Each other's and mine. I have lived in those forests, with those dangerous wood elves, for more than six hundred years. I can tell you that the larger the group, the slower they move through the forest. The faster we do this, the safer we will all be."

Before Dwalin could line up another argument, Bard came through the gates.

They all turned their attention to him. Dwalin stepped forward, the dwarves' appointed spokesman. There was pride in his stance, a pride that came from long years of struggling for his rightful place, and from fighting beside his kin.

"We dwarves of Erebor are honorable men," he began. "Thorin is an honorable man, and he would be here himself were he not still recovering from his battle wounds."

"The last I saw him," Bard said, "he declared his desire for war. There was no compromise in him."

"Dragon sickness was a danger from the first moment we stepped inside the mountain. It was a powerful lure, not easy to resist." Dwalin glanced over at Fili and Kili. "That Thorin was strong enough to fight it, that he overcame it in the midst of battle when the need was dire, and led his people to victory shows his strength, his courage. And here today he shows his honor."

He stepped over to the cart and pulled away the rough woolen blankets that had disguised two large chests. "You helped us when we were in need," Dwalin said. "Your people have suffered greatly since then. We hope that this can begin to make amends in some small way."

Bard opened the lid of the first chest and saw that it was filled to the brim with gold. He breathed deep. In the back of his mind he had been waiting for the moment when Thranduil returned here with his army, looking for his cooperation in a new battle against the dwarves. But this, now…was it the beginning of peace?

"Dwarves are known to be great craftsmen," Bofur said when Bard closed the chest. "We would offer our help where we can, rebuilding this town."

Bard nodded to himself, glanced up at Tauriel. She was caught between two worlds, he knew. Caught between her own people who had rejected her, and between this dwarf she loved and his people. In a way he was in the same position, his people strategically placed between two traditional enemies. The Master was gone, and somebody had to lead his people. And whether he liked it or not, whether he had planned it or not, his people now held him in a position of leadership.

"There can be no rebuilding without first having peace," he said. "I believe it is safe to say that those are the things we all want. Peace, rebuilding. I accept your offering on behalf of my people."

Dwalin grasped the hand Bard held out and shook it. When Bofur stepped up to shake Bard's hand in turn, Tauriel and Kili shared a satisfied look. Peace, they both thought. A chance.

"And Thranduil?" Bard asked, looking over at Tauriel. "Will we have peace from Mirkwood?"

"Thranduil will have what he wants," Tauriel said, glancing at Fili, who carried the chest of gems in a worn satchel on his back. Nobody looking at him would guess that what he held was so precious, which was exactly their aim. "We are leaving for Mirkwood now, and if all goes well, these lands will have peace by the time the sun sets again."

Bard nodded slowly, looking off into the distance, toward the ruins of Lake-town, and Mirkwood beyond. "May luck be with you on your journey," he said. "May luck be with us all."

"It was not our fault," Kili said with certainty as they rowed away from the shore and began to cross the water toward the charred ruins of Lake-town. "How were we to know there were trolls there? And that they could be so quiet as to steal our ponies out from under our noses?"

"You said you found a troll hoard," Tauriel said. "The name speaks for itself."

"There was no sign trolls had been there recently," Fili said. "We believed it to be long abandoned and forgotten."

"Clearly it was not."

Kili turned and looked at her, trying for an indignant expression. "You find it funny that we were captured and almost eaten by trolls?"

She schooled her face into placid lines. "I am trying to picture it, that is all."

"You are laughing," Kili complained. "You think we cannot see it, but we can."

She only smiled at him. "Did you get your ponies back uneaten?"

Kili huffed out a breath and tried to look upset, but when Tauriel glanced at Fili, he was shaking his head with a smile on his lips. "You have to admit, brother, it was a strange situation. And we got out of it with neither ourselves nor our ponies eaten."

"I admit nothing," Kili insisted, but he turned away quickly, and Tauriel caught a hint of a smile on his face.

The light mood they had been striving for quieted as they rowed even with the wreckage, the cold wind whipping up off the water only adding to the desolation of the landscape. None of them could forget the terror of rowing through the waterways as the town burned down around them. They could not forget the cries of the townspeople as they were overcome, or the fear that they themselves may not escape the fires.

They were somber as they rowed around the edges of the wreckage toward the open water that would lead them to Mirkwood's shores.

"Do you think they will rebuild this place?" Kili asked. "Not just Dale, but Lake-town as well?"

"The entire town is destroyed," Tauriel said. "It would take vast resources to rebuild both places."

"Will they resume trade with Mirkwood?" Fili wondered.

"Thranduil had no quarrel with the men of the lake," Tauriel said. "Although resuming trade as it was would require more time and effort now, given that Dale is a good distance farther away than Esgaroth." She sighed, her eyes scanning the wreckage as they passed. "I imagine they will resume trade when they can, whatever the difficulties. They will need the resources Thranduil can provide."

It was with relief that they passed around the edge of the ruined town. Seeing it in the light of day only strengthened Fili and Kili's resolve to set things right. And that started with traveling into the wilds of Mirkwood to give Thranduil his precious gems.

Kili looked up at Tauriel, but she was looking ahead, her face stoic, her shoulders stiff. Most would look at her and think her cold, unfeeling. But he was coming to know her well enough to know that behind that quiet exterior was a storm. There was so much inside her. Love, fear. Loss. Hope. And a terrifying courage and selflessness. If she was wrong, if there was nobody left amongst her people who she could trust, then there would be no peace for them at the end of the day. Thranduil would have the gems, and perhaps he would leave Erebor alone, but the three of them would not leave Mirkwood.

He could see it all too easily, being taken before Thranduil as trespassers. They would be back in their former cells, and Tauriel…she would either share a cell next to them, in her former home, or Thranduil could simply order her killed for betraying his orders and defying her banishment. Kili was not sure which was the crueler option.

Tauriel knew all of this, he thought. And still she risked it, for his kin, for the men of Dale. For him. He vowed to himself that when they were done with this, when they had peace and the winter passed and the rebuilding had begun, he would take her somewhere far away. He would take her to a forest where it was wild and green and she could run and climb and be free.

The picture he created in his head brought a touch of a smile to his face.

But the smile did not last for long.

Tauriel was watchful as they rowed ashore. They left the boat in a small cove, where hopefully it would remain hidden until they returned. She remembered something Legolas had said when they rode for Gundabad days ago. He had told her that Thranduil had doubled the number of guards watching Mirkwood's borders, and that could bode ill for them if they were not careful.

"Keep your eyes sharp and be cautious," she warned them. "I do not know how many amongst the guard are still my allies."

"How could Thranduil fault us when we are here to give him what he wants?" Fili wondered. "Why would he not let us leave when he sees that we are here to give him the gems he so desires?"

"The two of you escaped his dungeons, and I no longer have a right to be here at all. Thranduil is a man of unpredictable moods," she said. "He could decide to be generous and let us leave, but it is more likely that he would take the gems and leave us in the dungeons to rot. We will be much safer if we give the gems to someone I can trust. Someone who will take them to Thranduil and let us leave without a fight."

"And is there such an elf?" Kili asked. "After all that has happened, can you trust any of them?"

"We need to find a man called Feren," Tauriel said. "I believe he is Thranduil's new captain." She looked at Kili. "The carved chest I have in Dale? Feren brought that to me, without Thranduil's knowledge. And that is after he saw me draw a bow against my king."

Both dwarves froze.

"Wait. What?" Fili stuttered.

Kili stared at her, his eyes wide with incomprehension. "You drew your bow against Thranduil? When? I thought you carried this one because your own was lost in battle."

"It was…in a way." She sighed, not wanting to relive that scene in Dale, when she had been only a few breaths away from losing her life to Thranduil's blade. "It was in Dale, in the midst of the battle. Legolas and I had only just returned from Gundabad to warn everyone of Bolg's oncoming army, and Gandalf the Grey told us you had gone to Ravenhill. The same direction Bolg's army was marching toward."

She turned slightly away from them, the terror of those moments echoing in her mind. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. It was over, she reminded herself. The Orc armies were defeated, and the dwarves lived. "Thranduil does not like to concern himself with troubles outside his own borders," she continued. "He had already lost many men fighting Azog's forces in the valley. When I found him in Dale, he was preparing to take what was left of his guard back to Mirkwood. I stood in his path. We…the two of you, Thorin…we could not have fought the Orcs on our own. Everyone would have been slaughtered. All would have been lost. And I could no longer stomach living in a world where we pretended that what happened outside Mirkwood's borders did not matter. So I stood in his path and would not let him walk away. I drew my bow against him, and he shattered it with a swing of his sword. That is how I lost my bow."

Fili and Kili were utterly silent for long moments. They knew of course that she had defied Thranduil to help them, but neither had suspected just how far she had gone. How much she had risked.

"Feren was there that day," Tauriel said to break the silence. "He was with Thranduil, and he witnessed everything. And still he brought the chest to Dale. That is why I believe he will take the gems to Thranduil and let us leave."

She took them into the forest, keeping as close to the edge of the tree line as she could. It would take longer this way, but her intent was to circle around as close as she could get to the gates at the Forest River, where the dwarves had made their escape in the empty barrels. Once they reached it they would have a straight path back down the banks of the river, and easy tree cover nearby should they need to retreat quickly.

She spotted guards here and there, but nobody she was sure of, so she stayed quiet, kept Fili and Kili out of their sight, and kept moving.

Snow began falling lightly and they took to rockier ground to keep from leaving obvious footprints. Worry wound its way into Tauriel's mind, an instinct that told her their luck was not going to hold. She sensed elves nearby, more than just a solitary guard or two. She signaled Fili and Kili and ducked back behind the cover of a few trees and some heavier brush.

"What is it?" Kili whispered.

"Elves nearby. A number of them. Give me the satchel. I want to hide it until I know we can trust them."

Fili and Kili shared a quick glance. Fili slid the satchel from his shoulders and handed it to her. She slung it over her shoulder. "Stay down, stay quiet," she warned. "Do not let them see you."

"Where are you going?" Kili asked in a whisper.

"To hide this where they will not find it. The gems will be our promise of safe passage." She turned and ran without another word, her footsteps light and soundless. She was quickly swallowed up by the trees and disappeared from sight.

Fili and Kili looked at each other, hunkering down behind the cover of the brush and fighting a shiver. Mirkwood had brought them nothing but danger so far. They were not facing an Orc attack this time, but the elves could pose just as much danger.

Soundless seconds ticked by into minutes, and they began to think that Tauriel had been mistaken. They were both convinced that the only reason they had been so easily captured before was that they were suffering from the effects of the spell the lay upon the forest. But today they had come from a different direction, with Tauriel as their guide, and no such spell had taken hold. Kili wondered if Tauriel had perhaps been overly cautious due to fear of returning to her former homeland.

Only seconds later he realized that she had been right after all.

Restless, he rose to his feet and turned, only to find an arrow inches from his face. He took a step back, looked up to see a dark-haired elf with his bow drawn back, arrow poised to fly. Kili gripped his bow tighter, but did not have room to draw an arrow of his own. "Fili," he murmured.

Fili rose, and the brothers stood side by side as a half-dozen elves aimed their arrows. Kili glared, while in his mind he thought, where is Tauriel? Fili quietly drew one of his many hidden daggers, as if he could fight off the elves on his own.

"This is interesting," one of the elves said. "Two of King Thranduil's former prisoners, returned to reclaim their former cells."

"We have no intention of going back there with you," Kili said defiantly, thinking only to buy time, to draw out the confrontation until Tauriel returned.

The elf raised an eyebrow. "Do you think the two of you can fight us? You will go where we tell you."

Fili glanced to his right as the elves moved to fence them in against the heavy brush. There was nowhere to run, no easy way out. He gripped his dagger tight.

"I wonder what Thorin Oakenshield would pay for your release," the dark-haired elf said. "That is, if Thranduil sees fit to ransom you. I will personally recommend that he let you rot in repayment for all the damage you have caused." The elf took a menacing step forward and aimed an arrow directly at Kili's heart.

"Thranduil will decide what is to be done with you. Now move, if you do not wish to bleed."

Before anyone could so much as take another breath, there was a swift rush of air, and the arrow the elf had aimed at Kili snapped in two. Heads whipped up as Tauriel dropped down from a tree above them, rolled once, and came to her feet between elves and dwarves with her bow drawn and ready.

"Farn!" Tauriel ordered. She held her bow steady, her face calm and cold as stone. "Lower your weapons."

"You? You would dare come back here?"

"We came here for one reason only. For peace between elves and dwarves. Nobody wants another battle. Today, we can have peace. Where is Feren? He is your captain now, is he not? Bring Feren here now, and there will be peace in these lands."

"We no longer take orders from you. We are taking these dwarves to Thranduil. He will decide what to do with them. We will give you one chance to walk away, which is more than you deserve. Take it now, or you will join your friends." A pair of elves stepped forward.

Tauriel adjusted her bow a fraction, feeling Kili and Fili tense beside her, their own weapons at the ready. "If you take one step closer, Thranduil will never get what he wants."

"You have nothing to give him."

Tauriel inclined her head. Clearly the man in front of her was not one of her remaining allies. She glanced at the other elves in the small clearing they stood in. She could not take them all on, not without risk to Kili and Fili, and beyond that she had no desire to fight her own kin. So she would use another tactic instead.

"I have the White Gems of Lasgalen."

Every elf nearby, both seen and unseen, froze at her words. Tauriel kept her eyes steady on the man in front of her. "The gems are a peace offering to Thranduil from Thorin Oakenshield," she continued. "Bring Feren here, and I will hand them over. The three of us will leave this forest unharmed, and Thranduil will have what he was ready to go to war for."

"You are lying."

Tauriel shook her head. "Why would I come back here and lie? The dwarves of Erebor and the men of Dale only want peace to rebuild their lives. I have no other reason to risk coming back here when I am not welcome. We only want peace."

"These lands belong to Thranduil. He decides who comes and goes. You had your chance. Now you will explain yourself to him, and see if he shows you mercy."

"I have explored every bit of this land for hundreds of years. You may take me to Thranduil, and he may send out an army of elves to search, but you will never find the gems on your own. And I will not give up their location without a guarantee of safe passage. Ask yourself now what will curry more favor with Thranduil. Dragging me before his throne, or taking him the gems."

"I know what happened in Dale. I know what you said and did to your own king. You betrayed us all, and for what? A dwarf? Thranduil would never agree to let you walk away from here."

You saw him in Dale, Tauriel thought, but you did not see him on Ravenhill. She did not wish to face Thranduil again, but she did not think his actions could be so easily predicted.

They stood at a standstill, bows aimed at each other, with tension and threat in every breath, when a murmur began. Tauriel flicked her gaze upward when the words reached her ears.

Hîr nín… Hîr nín, we thought you had gone…"

And when he stepped into view, Tauriel's eyes widened in shock, and her bow jerked in her hands.

"Legolas."