Bilbo let out a deep breath when they finally arrived back at the camp. Gandalf, having brought the dawn with him after "looking behind", had left to have another "look forward". Bilbo desperately wanted to speak to the wizard soon, but…
.
Thorin looked murderous. Like, actually ready to kill someone.
.
They had spent most of the night running around after trolls instead of sleeping, and half the night ready to be eaten, so he was bound to be upset, but…
This was bad. Worse than bad.
Bilbo went to step forward, but Balin caught his arm. "This isn't for you laddie."
"But Balin…"
"Not now, Bilbo," Balin spoke over him, one eye on his King. "I know, I approve, I agree, but right now I need you and Nori to stand back and keep out of the way. Especially if Thorin thinks you were involved."
Bilbo let himself be grabbed by Nori and hustled to the back of the group. It was only once they were still again that he realised Balin had played him – played on his own fears that Thorin would blame him!
But Nori put one hand over Bilbo's mouth as soon as it opened. "Not a sound, Bilbo!" he hissed.
Bilbo was tempted to bite back. Literally.
"I am on your side, Bilbo!" Nori hissed in his ear. The rest of the Company was murmuring in front of them. Thorin must have been speaking. "My father… my father was trapped in slavery for nearly 10 years, and I know! I get it! He taught me that slavery is wrong and that we need to fight it. And I taught it to Dori and Ori. But here, just like back home, I have no say! I'm a nobody and no one cares what I think! I have to save my voice for the right time and place, speaking my thoughts here and there until someone with enough influence is willing to listen. When that happens, I will gladly stand behind them. Until then… Until that day you and I both have to sit back here, watch and wait."
"Nothing you could say would change his mind now, anyway." Bombur's soft voice came out of nowhere. "Not when his possessions are threatened."
"The boys?" Bilbo asked hopefully.
"The ponies," Bombur scoffed.
"Shouldn't you be over with the group?" Nori asked Bombur. "Don't want Thorin to notice you missing."
"I seriously doubt he's paying attention to anything but what's right under his nose at this point."
Bilbo tried to take advantage of their conversation to move closer, but Nori didn't let go.
"Bilbo," he muttered, "I still can't let you go."
"I have to see it, Nori!"
Nori turned his eyes down to the hobbit. "Do you? Really?"
Bilbo swallowed, but nodded. "I need to know."
The two dwarves exchanged glances.
"Alright Bilbo, but I reserve the right to pull you out whenever I see the need."
Bilbo nodded again, hurried. Nori practically frogmarched him to the back of the crowd, and Bilbo pulled sideways so he could see through a gap in the group.
.
Thorin was circling.
.
Fili and Kili were on their knees on the ground, faces down and hands fidgeting on their knees. Bilbo wondered if they were fighting the urge to cover the backs of their heads every time they felt Thorin go behind them.
Thorin was muttering something in dwarf-speak, and obviously it meant something important to see the faces on the other dwarves. Dwalin looked ready to main someone again – Balin had taken his axes away as a precaution. Bofur and Bifur were next to Dori and Ori. Ori was trying to look away but his brother wouldn't let him. Oin and Gloin were passive, as always, but Bilbo could have sworn he saw something, some emotion in their eyes. But it was well hidden.
Thorin moved over to his belongings and picked up a large, oaken branch.
.
Everyone froze.
.
Thorin was yelling in his native tongue, swinging the branch like a club so it hissed past the boys' heads. It whirled inches past Fili's moustache, then thumped into his shoulder. He pulled back a groan. Kili flinched and the branch flew over and collected him in the opposite shoulder.
Thorin strode past them, obviously meaning to hit them from behind, when Oin stepped forward.
"My King," he said calmly, "Of course I will follow your orders, and I will do my best, but I cannot guarantee your boys' physical capabilities if you beat them with a club. They will not be able to ride tomorrow, or perform any of their duties."
Bilbo should have guessed that the healer would be the first dwarf to actually say something to their King – but then, he had never spoken up before, so why now?
Thorin still looked furious, but nodded slowly.
"You speak the truth, Oin," he said, and dropped the club.
Only to take out his belt, hold the buckle in his hand and flick it forward onto Kili's back.
"See, even now I am looking out for you," he taunted in Westron, "Leaving you as whole as possible."
He turned the same treatment on Fili.
"I'm sure you still want to look out for your brother, don't you FIli? How much shall I just give you tonight?"
Bilbo flinched at every strike, blows that seemed to randomly flit between the two brothers. Fili held his reactions in and barely made a noise, but Kili moaned in agony every time he was able to catch a breath.
Then Thorin switched the belt around and started using the buckle.
Fili started crying in a language Bilbo couldn't understand, and Kili switched to match him. Bilbo gagged.
Then suddenly Fili seemed to crumple into a ball on the ground – more so than before. Kili launched himself across his brother's body and screeched.
.
"No please! Please no more, Uncle!"
.
The air was roaring past Bilbo's ears. He distantly felt himself trying to free himself from Nori's grasp, but the dwarf obviously had experience holding on to someone because he wrestled him back to the edge of camp and forced him down on a log between him and Bombur.
Someone, probably the larger dwarf, was rubbing his back and trying to talk to him.
He didn't understand anything they were saying – the only word that was ringing through his head was "Uncle".
.
Uncle!
.
And then all he could see was the blood, and any words in his head had mushed into incomprehensible slurs, and….
Then the pounding between his ears stopped.
Bilbo looked back up.
Thorin had stepped back, panting slightly.
Kili was curled over on his legs, twitching.
Fili wasn't moving.
Blood was sprinkled on the ground.
Thorin tilted his head back purposefully. Controlled.
The big oak branch was raised up one last time.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And Thorin dropped like a stone.
.
.
.
"I have to say," Bofur said, shattering the stillness. "That took you far longer than I thought it would."
And Dwalin, still holding the branch, gave them his full, toothy grin.