Zoor Se Dovahruth
Twelve
-Dilos Fahdon-
Lethal Friends
Keeva had fallen asleep quite soundly before the rest of her company that night, in the seemingly deserted cave. Though the uneasiness in her stomach felt quite heavy, the wound on her head was keeping her thoughts clouded. She would have urged Thorin to move on otherwise from the cave, had she known that she would have ended up where she was.
"Miss Keeva's awake-"
One of her companions had whispered under their breath, which confused her greatly. Keeva slowly allowed her vision to focus, the darkness of the cave becoming more warm and rich in color from the many torches that now surrounded them. What in Talos…?
Keeva flinched when she found many, if not hundreds of knobby, short, and seemingly Falmer-ish looking creatures around her. Their beady eyes were focused on a point further up ahead of the group, listening dutifully to a rather glutinous sounding individual. Keeva sat up, holding her throbbing head and hissed in pain when one of the Falmer-ish creatures grabbed for one of the braids in her hair, pulling her head back so that it could look into her eyes.
"This one just woke," it hissed to another one of its comrades. Keeva whimpered from the further pain that was plaguing her. She even reached behind her to pull the creature's fist from out of her hair so to ease the pain he was causing her. Fortunately one of her companions had noted her discomfort; Bombur nudged the creature out of her space with his own girth and took hold of the Bosmer before the creature could grab at her again.
"Thank you," she whispered, holding her head again as the pain began to subside but a throbbing feeling taking place instead, "Hold tight, Miss. We're in a bit of a pickle."
"A pickle?" Keeva asked not quite understanding. But before Bombur could explain any further, Fili squeezed in, taking Keeva by the waist and insisting she remain quite. "Do not say anything to them."
Keeva eyed the golden dwarf before examining the fortress of ugly creatures. Yes, they were very Falmer-ish to her. Keeva could keenly remember the stories her mother would tell her about the once normal Mer folk.
"The Falmer were not always the hideous, pale-skinned demons that reside in ancient Dwemer ruins, Welkynd. They were once member of an even more ancient and powerful race known as Snow Elves, beings of grace with wisdom beyond that of even the High and Wood Elves that now perforate Tamriel's woodlands," Keeva's mother had told her when lying the little girl in bed.
Petting down Keeva's fiery locks and giving her a soft smile before telling the sad fate of the Snow Elves, "The Snow Elves were a race of Mer who inhabited Skyrim long before the Nords. They were a wealthy and prosperous society that lived alongside the Dwemer. But like most living, thinking, beings, the Snow Elves viewed the humans, the mortals, as a lesser species. They feared the growing population of Nords and plotted the genocide of the race known as the Night of Tears.
"There was one man they missed though, his name was Ysgramor and he survived and returned to the original Nord Homeland of Atmora to raise an army known as the Five Hundred Companions. It was this army that returned to Skyrim and took revenge on the Snow Elves, bringing upon them a new war. The Elves were broken and scattered following numerous losses to Ysgramor and the Companions. They took to Solstheim for safe harbor, led by an Elf only known as the Snow Prince, who in which led them in their final stand against the Nordic people. They seemed to come out victorious.
"The last fight against the Nords was the Battle of Moesring. It was here that the Snow Prince was slain by a child by the name of Finna, who in her grief after the death of her mother, had stabbed him. With the death of the Snow Prince, the elves' hope was shattered. With the elves finally broken once and for all, the Nords then mounted a genocidal campaign and killed Snow Elves by the thousands. The Snow Elves retreated underground where they sought refuge with the Dwemer.
"The Dwemer agreed to grant them refuge, but with a high price. The Snow Elves were forced to eat toxic plants in order to survive underground. The toxins destroyed their sight, this loss was passed down through their children and their children's children. The Dwemer then forced the blind Snow Elves into slavery. Over time the Snow Elves began to devolve into twisted, blinded creatures, becoming the degenerate race now known as the Falmer. They acted as slaves to the Dwemer, and over time, their history was lost as the race became more and more primal."
Keeva could remember the fear she'd felt for the Snow Elves but she also felt for her Nordic kin as well, never knowing how to feel because of her conflict with who she was as a person. She was both Mer and Man. Bosmer and Nord. She felt a sense of pride for both of her kin yet she also felt unsure whether she should like one more than the other.
But things had changed the minute she remembered the first time she confronted a Falmer creature herself. She then remembered feeling no remorse for who they had become as a race. They had done it to themselves. They had also tried to kill her kin as well. She was a Nord too and with that deeply embedded into her mind she had notched an arrow in her bow and taken out the Falmer scum just as it had been ready to come at her with its savage blade.
"Dwarves, Your Malevolence."
"Dwarves?" the hideously large creature on the ruddy throne spoke with some surprise. His minions continued to speak, explaining what Keeva had missed in her unconsciousness, "We found them on the front porch."
"Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice!"
As the great and ugly beast had ordered their party searched, the thousands of Falmer-ish creatures were poking and prodding their bodies, taking out weapons and whatever else they could get their hands on. Keeva cried out as the creature plucked her mother's ebony bow from her back and another took her father's ebony sword. Fili noted her discomfort with some worry, but he could do nothing to make it better, for he was just in as much trouble as she was. All he could do was console her with a squeeze of his hand and an insisted gaze that told her everything was going to be fine.
"What are you doing in these parts? Speak!"
Keeva had remembered what Fili had told her, not to say a word. So as her companions had also chosen to remain silent, so did she.
When the leader of this ragtag group of Falmer realized they weren't going to speak he frowned, "Well then, if they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker! Start with the youngest!"
Keeva's eyes grew in fright as many hands began to pull at her clothes and hair. Fili was fighting off as many as he could but the Falmer had already managed to bring her to the front of their group. Keeva peered back at her companions in fear.
"Wait."
Keeva's heart, that had been pounding in her chest, began to slow at the sound of her leader's low and calmed tambour. Something within her managed to pull itself back together, knowing full well that Thorin would do something to save her.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain."
The way the ugly beast had spoken was an insult to her leader. She knew quiet well if she'd ever spoken that way to Thorin she would not have had a tongue. But the ugly creature meant even more shame to Thorin by bending low, most exaggeratedly, as if Thorin's status as royalty was a joke.
"Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody, really. I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak, an old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc astride a White Warg."
Keeva watched as Thorin's eyes looked up with some surprise and disbelief. What or who this creature was talking about, Keeva was not sure. But with that one look on Thorin's face, she knew it couldn't have been good.
"Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."
After Thorin spoke the familiar name, Keeva swallowed thickly remembering the story Balin had told their company on one of the first nights they had left the Shire. She remembered the fear she'd felt as she'd seen the images flashing through her mind. The blood, the dead, and the many more to die. If what this creature was saying was true and that Azog was still alive, they were in some serious danger.
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" A guttural laugh came forth from the ugly creature, sending thunderous chills down her spine. He then turned to one of his smaller minions, perched in a basket, "Send word to the Pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize."
The tiny little creature scribbled down something very fast on a little slate and cackled as he pulled a lever, causing his basket to start sliding down a system of ropes and pulleys into the darkness of the massive cavern.
By then the huge double chinned creature turned back to their group, his sights returned to Thorin but then peered over to Keeva after realizing he'd forgotten about starting with the youngest out of their group. "And what do we have here? An elf? But it's too small to be an elf? What are you?"
Keeva pushed back against her restrainers but they pushed her forward just as hard, "This one smells different, your Malevolence."
"Aye, but let it speak," the creature bellowed with some curiosity, "What are you little flower?"
Keeva did not say a word, just as Fili had asked her too. She feared if they knew any more about her, terrible ideas would be concocted and she didn't want to put her friends into any jeopardy. "Silence like your companions, eh? Well don't you worry your pretty little tongue. We'll have it right out of you first then."
As the giant creature told her this, a crowd of his minions began to bring in two large contraptions and he began to sing and chant with excitement. Keeva's heart began to pound inside her chest again as she looked back at Thorin for help. But his eyes were dark, brooding and he was of no help in such a state. When her blue eyes drew past her leader and to his nephew instead she felt some sort of ease in her fear as the golden haired dwarf gave her the smallest of smiles that he could muster up.
"Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered; from racks you'll be hung. You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin-town."
A shrill sound came from in front of Keeva as her eyes turned back around and found one of the smaller creatures throwing Thorin's sword back into the pile of weapons. The other creatures around her begin to howl in fear and begin to retreat from the sight of it. Keeva was released, only for a few moments to fall to her knees in exhaustion.
"I know that sword! It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks," the huge leader of the Falmer-ish creatures. He scaled back up on the throne in fear and pointed at the sword accusingly. But before Keeva and her friends even had a moments peace, the creatures around them started whipping them with ropes, leaping onto their backs, biting and slashing.
"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!"
The creatures pulling on Keeva's fiery hair were in for a surprise as she watched a few other creatures pin Thorin down and another pull out a knife to behead Thorin. Keeva reason it was a good a time as any to use her curse to its advantage.
Taking a deep breath from the pit of her stomach, Keeva filled her heart with rage, pain and whatever else her Dovahkiin friend had told her to think off, and allowed the air to burst forth from her lungs and aimed at the creatures about ready to kill Thorin.
"Zun Haal Viik!" the weapons within the creature's hand suddenly flew from his hands and he turned his gazed towards Keeva just in time for her last breath, "Yol Toor Shul!"
Fire erupted from Keeva's shout and took out the four creatures that were harming Thorin, burning and flinging them from the landing, their fates taken up by the dark abyss from below them. The Falmer like creatures stared back at her in amazement, fear, and uncertainty. But Keeva was breathing heavily, exhausted from the use of the Thu'ums and her companions were not helping her in anyway by staring just as baffled as the creatures she was trying to save them from.
Keeva felt her actions a waste when the creatures began to come at her. But suddenly there was a massive explosion of light. The sounds around them went mute as a shockwave ripped through the area, flinging goblins in the air and destroying the torturing machines that had finally made it to the throne. Everyone was knocked down, even the giant ugly creature. Keeva took that moment to crawl over to her weapons and release them from the pile of the others. Her mother and father's only possessions now back into her loving care. As the light began to snuff away, in the background, the tall pointy hat of a familiar friend walked up. Gandalf, holding his staff and sword, was ready for battle. The Falmer like creatures and the company slowly look up as they recover from another surprise as they too find Gandalf standing there.
"Take up arms. Fight. Fight!"
As the dwarves get up to take their weapons, Keeva began notching arrows and releasing them upon the enemy left and right so that her companions could have time to recover. Fili wasted no time and joined Keeva in the melee, taking out one enemy after the other.
Before Keeva knew it, and most of their enemy lying in piles of dead bodies, Fili was dragging Keeva down a long series of wooden suspended passageways of this mountain fortress. Keeva could not be any more lost with a structure than she felt then, and that was saying quite a lot. Keeva usually was not one to lost sight of her surroundings. But this place was beyond measurable understanding. But she followed Fili where ever he went, used her bows and arrows like she was told too, and defend her life as well as her companions to the best of her abilities.
It seemed like they were just about to escape for good, all they had to do was cross the bridge. But from beneath the bridge, the great and giant ugly leader of the Falmer creatures broke through the surface, blocking their escape. "You thought you could escape me?"
The monster swung his mace twice at Gandalf, causing the wizard to stumble back and almost fall. But Nori and Dwalin catch him beforehand. "What are you going to do now, wizard?"
Gandalf leapt forward, striking the creature in the eye with his staff. The giant dropped his mace and clutched at his face in pain, howling and moaning. Gandalf then stepped forward and sliced the creatures belly causing him to fall to his knees, now clutching his belly to keep his innards within him.
Looking up expectantly, the creatures nodded firmly, "That'll do it."
Gandalf never had to speak a word; all he had to do was swing his sword once more to slice the creature's neck, causing him to fall down dead. The only misfortune in result of his weight was the sudden shaking of the bridge before it broke from its holds and began to slide down the cavern.
Keeva had screamed before in her life, but not like this. She felt for the first time in her small twenty-five years of existence that she did not know how this would end. And when Fili reached over and held her to his chest rather than hold onto the bridge for his own life, Keeva felt her heart fly up into her throat and she held onto the one thing she thought she could love in her dying moments.
But in some miraculous try at fate, the bridge began to slow at the walls of the cavern started closing in. By the time the bridge reached the base of the cavern, the structure was broken, shattered and barely able to hold together. Thus burying them all in the rubble of a once seemingly sound structure.
Fili sighed with some relief as he looked over at his younger brother, who was not too far from him, just far enough to reach.
"Well, that could have been worse," Bofur announced light-heartedly. Fili smiled and peered down at the girl in his arms. She hadn't moved and hadn't made a peep since they'd landed. "Keeva?"
There was a small moment of her whispering and Fili listened closely as he tried to pull them from the rubble. She sounded a little flustered, if not frustrated as she muttered something in another language, "Nall Talos, unt wah krii zey…"
"What's that, Keeva?" Fili asked with a knowing smile. The half-breed peered up from the locks of hair blocking her view and she huffed. "My foot is stuck."
Fili laughed, "I'm quite positive that's not what you had said before."
Keeva's eyes shot up to Fili's face only to confirm her frustrations. He chuckled just a bit longer while trying to release her foot from underneath the debris, carefully taking her by the hand and waist to make sure she wouldn't fall out and land on her face. As the rest of the company extracted themselves from the rubble, Kili happened to look up the cavern to spot the thousands of creatures running down after them. "Gandalf!"
"There's too many! We can't fight them," Dwalin insisted, helping to pull the remaining dwarves from the bridge.
Keeva bit her bottom lip with worry as she continued to wait for Gandalf's orders, not even realizing that Fili had her in his hold still and had yet on planning to let go.
"Only one thing will save us. Daylight! Come on! Here, on your feet!" As Gandalf helped Oin up, the few that had already managed to free themselves began down the long and dark halls of the mountain. Keeva swallowed hard as she forced herself to walk into the passages that reminded her so darkly of the Oblivion portals in her nightmares. But she was quickly reminded that Fili was right behind her and even the rest of her company would be there for her if something would happen. Quickly they made their way into the dark, running and never looking back.
…
When they broke through the mountain's entrance, the light of the setting sun just making its way through the line of the trees. Keeva could feel her lungs fill with the natural air of the forest, leaving behind the musty and stale air of the Falmer caverns. The young Halfling would have stopped to enjoy the view had it not been for her companions running past her and further into the forest. Fili and Kili had even managed to scoop her up by her elbows and continued to run down the hill of the mountain to keep up with the others.
Gandalf paused to count the number of their company, allowing the dwarves and Keeva to collect their breaths, "Five, six, seven, eight… Bifur, Bofur… that's ten… Fili, Kili, Keeva… that's thirteen… and Bombur – that makes fourteen. Where's Bilbo? Where is out Hobbit?"
As Gandalf and the others were searching all around them for their lost companion, Keeva noted the soft scent of cotton, pipeweed, and mint, which she'd grown to understand as the smell that clung to Bilbo. With a soft smile she knew he wasn't too far.
"I'll tell you what happened. Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing out Hobbit again. He is long gone."
Thorin's little speech disappointed Keeva greatly. And she would have gone to the Hobbit's defense had he not popped out of his hiding place, "No, he isn't."
Keeva watched her little furry footed friend step out from behind the tree near her and the Durin Princes. Keeva was trying to figure out how Bilbo was able to hide himself so well, Keeva had keen eyes remember, and Bilbo was able to even baffle her mind with this skill. Before Bilbo moved any closer into the center of their company to confront their leader, she watched as her friend played with something in his waist coast pocket. Strange…
"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Gandalf cheered with a broad smile upon his lips.
"Bilbo, we'd given you up!" Kili spouted with surprise.
"Aye, how on earth did you get past the Goblins?!" Fili asked with a strange look upon his face. Keeva's head tilted to the side, Goblins?
"How, indeed," Dwalin stated stepping forward as if also questioning the sight of the Hobbit before them.
There was an awkward silence as Bilbo stood there thinking but gave a nervous laugh as he put his hands on his hips, his fingers twiddling with the thing in his pocket. Keeva frowned, not feeling particularly comfortable with the face that Bilbo was acting this way. Even Gandalf seemed to take note of his behavior. "Well, what does it matter? He's back!"
"It matters! I want to know: why did you come back?" Thorin asked, causing Keeva to roll her eyes. He couldn't let it go. Why was Thorin not as accepting of Bilbo as he had been with her? She didn't like the way Thorin was treating someone who was just as much in the same boat as everyone else in this group.
"Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that's where I belong," Bilbo began. He was being honest and Keeva could apprechiate that. "That's home. And that's why I came back, cause you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."
Keeva could feel something pull at her heart. It was an odd feeling, one she felt when she would ever think of her parents and the memories she shared with them back home in Skyrim. Keeva couldn't help but smile now, as did Gandalf, happy that Bilbo had changed so much – for the better.
Thorin then turned from their Hobbit companion and onto her. A strange look in his eyes as he moved towards her. Fili and Kili moved a bit closer, Fili placing a firm hand on her lower back to keep her steady. It was only then did she realize she was just a little woozy, her legs feeling like jelly and her heart rate only now starting to slow down.
But Thorin stepped into her sights, his eyes dark and brooding, a storm in their wake. "You- it is you that saved my neck today."
Keeva swallowed, her eyebrows reaching up into her forehead with surprise. What was he getting at? Of course she would have saved his life. Did he not think she would? It took a lot of energy out of her to conjour up that magick. He was even lucky she was able to produce a second Thu'um!
The eyes of the other dwarves were on her as well, also curious as to what had actually happened. "What did you do to those Goblins? What sorcery was that?"
"It was not sorcery," Keeva flatly told him, almost offended. Folding her arms over her chest, she shuffled her feet as she nervously looked to the ground to escape the attention that was on her. "That was my Thu'um. That is Dragon Tongue. The magicka I plan to use against Smaug."
Collective amounts of murmurs started around the group, some of it eager and happy, others nervous and confused. But all was good after Thorin smiled down upon her, placing his hands on her arms, his thumbs rubbing the fabric of her tunic with affection as his forehead touched hers, "I owe you so much for that. For my life, thank you, azug ulgan."
Keeva's eyes peering up into Thorin's after he'd placed a kiss on her hairline. He then smiled and pulled her into a hug, thanking her once more. Keeva's heart felt warmth melt away the ice that had been growing ever since Thorin had been treating Bilbo so cruelly. She knew he was only trying to protect what was his. She understood why he did the things he did. Though she didn't think them right, she couldn't help but miss this sort of affection from the one person who had brought her into the company with a reason and understanding no one else possessed.
Deep in the recesses of her mind, a disgruntled hum from a grey and black scaled creature made his presence known, if only in the subconscious of her mind. Keeva's senses were alert and she felt the letters on her arm burn as a howl of a Warg pierced the twilight sky.
…
Glossary
Zun Haal Viik – "Weapon, Hand, Defeat" This Shout defies steel, as you rip the weapon from an opponent's grasp.
Yol Toor Shul – "Fire, Inferno, Sun" Inhale air, exhale flame, and behold the Thu'um as inferno.
Nall Talos, unt wah krii zey – in Dragon tongue means 'By Talos, they're trying to kill me.'
azug ulgan – In Khuzdul means 'Dragon God'
A/N: This chapter was fun to write but I'll admit I was lazy at finishing it. I had originally wanted to post this the day the trailer of The Battle of the Five Armies had been released but that didn't happen. But here it is anyway.
I had wanted to focus on Keeva finally giving into her dragon magic, saving Thorin's life and her understanding with Thorin's treatment of Bilbo even though she still doesn't think it was right. Though I think she does realize Bilbo has to prove himself, we all know he does. The story with the Snow Elves is lore within the Elder Scrolls universe. It wasn't too hard to understand in my perspective, since I've played the games like it was Heroin, but I definitely dumbed it down a lot for you as the reader so that you could understand a little bit of where Keeva is coming from and how she views these creatures compared to the Goblins. So I hope that worked out as planned.
Anyway, the next chapter will be the last of the Unexpected Journey film and then well mossy on into the Desolation of Smaug. Again, I promised a particular Dovah will appear and I won't back out on that promise. Trust me, when he shows up, shits about to get really messy. But I had to separate these last two chapters because they were getting a bit lengthy. Onto the next.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit or Elder Scrolls. Any character that is not familiar is of my own creation.
