Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, the rest belong to either Bethesda or Tolkien.
A/N: Here's the chapter I promised yesterday. Hope you enjoy it.
Big thanks to raziel44 for following :)
Review Response(s):
AnimeA55Kicker: Love triangle? Between who, may I ask?
Kamen Rider Tigon: I'm glad you're enjoying it, and thanks for your continued support. It means a lot. As for the Elder Scrolls, I own Oblivion and Skyrim, but didn't get far with Oblivion. Probably because I started playing it after playing Skyrim. I, personally, started with Elder Scrolls V (Skyrim) and that's perhaps what made Oblivion seem a little lacking to me. Skyrim is probably the game I play most, which is a sign for how good I think it is. Honestly, though, it's up to you.
Chapter 21:
Ira swore under her breath when Bard informed them they'd have to get in the barrels. There were guards... well, guarding... the entrance to Laketown. Amicitia, Ira and Alduin could get away with staying in sight, but the dwarves and Bilbo had to hide. And to hide them, they were covered in fish.
Ira wasn't looking forward to the complaints she would be hearing once they were dry and... clean. Or at least, as clean as dwarves ever can be. Bard had informed the others to remain silent unless spoken to directly, so as not to draw too much attention. They drew closer to the gate.
"Halt!" The gatekeeper called to them. "Goods inspection. Papers, please. Oh, it's you, Bard."
Bard brought his boat up to the gatekeeper's office, and the gatekeeper stepped out to see him. "Hullo, Percy." Bard said cheerfully.
"Anything to declare?" Percy asked.
"Nothing, but that I am cold and tired, and ready for home." Bard replied with a nonchalant shrug. He handed the gatekeeper some papers.
"You and me both." Percy said. Then he saw Ira, Amicitia and Alduin and bowed. "My ladies, my lord." Amicitia simply smiled, while Ira and Alduin kept their faces as blank as a fresh sheet of paper, giving nothing away.
As the gatekeeper took the papers and went into his office to stamp them, Bard looked around warily. Amicitia gently squeezed his shoulder reassuringly and winked when he glanced at her.
"Here we are. All in order." Percy held out Bard's papers, but another man suddenly stepped out of the shadows and grabbed the papers.
"Not so fast." He sneered. The man read Bard's papers, then looked at his load. "Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland Realm. Only, they're not empty, are they, Bard?" The man tossed Bard's papers to the wind and approached him, with some of Laketown's soldiers behind him. "If I recall correctly, you're licensed as a bargeman, not a fisherman." He glanced at the group behind him. "Or a ferryman." As he said this, he picked up one of the fish from a barrel and held it up to Bard. He didn't see Bombur's eyes looking up from the gap where the fish had been, thank Talos, but Ira did and held her breath. She prayed he wouldn't be seen.
"That's none of your business." Bard replied harshly.
"Wrong. It's the Master's business, which makes it my business."
Bard sighed, exasperated. "Oh come on, Alfrid, have a heart. People need to eat!"
"These fish are illegal." Alfrid snapped back. He threw the fish he was holding into the water, then commanded the soldiers. "Empty the barrels over the side."
The soldiers begin tipping the barrels over and letting the fish fall into the canal. "Folk in this town are struggling." Bard said easily. "Times are hard. Food is scarce."
Alfrid sneered. "That's not my problem."
"And when the people hear the Master is dumping fish back in the lake, when the rioting starts, will it be your problem then?"
Bard and Alfrid stared at each other intently for a few seconds, then finally Alfrid raised his hand to the soldiers. "Stop." Once the soldiers were back off the barge, Alfrid turned to Bard. "Ever the people's champion, eh, Bard? Protector of the common folk? You might have their favour now, bargeman, but it won't last." Alfrid stalked away.
"Raise the gate!" Percy shout-ordered.
A large portcullis blocking the channel was raised, and Bard began to pole his barge through. As he passed, Alfrid turned around and shouted to him. "The Master has his eye on you; you'd do well to remember. We know where you live."
Bard shouted back, his voice even. "It's a small town, Alfrid; everyone knows where everyone lives."
Ira grinned at him. "You'd do well where I come from with skills like those."
Bard frowned. "What skills? I was just talking to him."
"Exactly. The art of speech is just as much a skill as archery or healing."
...
Bard eventually docked his barge and he and the others got off. A few men lifted the barrels off the barge, before leaving to do their other work. After looking around, Bard knocked over one of the barrels, and Bofur fell out along with a pile of fish. Bard continued knocking over barrels, and Ira soon helped. Amicitia seemed too repulsed to move, and Alduin just didn't care enough to be bothered. Bard reached for Dwalin's barrel, but Dwalin poked his head up through the fish.
"Get your hands off me." He growled.
"Technically, Dwalin, my friend, he never touched you," Ira said as she kicked over another barrel, and Kili slid out.
The remaining dwarves and Bilbo struggled out of their barrels, looking greasy and slimy from the fish. The dock keeper looked on in shock. Bard approached him and slipped him a coin. "You didn't see them; they were never here," he whispered. "The fish you can have for nothing." Bard then turned to lead the company away. "Follow me."
As they strode through Laketown, a young lad ran up to Bard. "Da! Our house, it's being watched." Bard looked at Thorin and Ira instantly knew he'd just come up with a plan. And that, once again, they probably wouldn't like it.
...
Bard, Alduin, Ira, Amicitia and his son strode along the wooden walkways back to the bargeman's house. Just before Bard entered his home, he tossed an apple to one of the fisherman in the water below.
"You can tell the Master that I'm done for the day." He called down.
Inside the house, Bard's daughters greeted their father. "Da! Where have you been?" The youngest cried.
"Father, there you are! I was worried."
Both daughters ran to their father, and they hugged while Ira just watched, lips threatening to twitch into a smile. Bard then handed his bag to Sigrid. "Here's something to eat." He looked to his son. "Bain, get them in."
"I'll help," Ira said, not wanting to just stand around uselessly.
As Bard went to stand before a window, Bain and Ira went down some steps to the lower floor of the house, which was open to the canal. After looking around, Bain knocked on the wall near the toilet three times. Dwalin's head appeared through the toilet, which was also open to the water below.
Ira was almost in fits of laughter at the deep scowl on his face. Dwalin glared. "If you speak of this to anyone, I'll rip your arms off."
She grinned. "I'd like to see you try."
Dwalin raised the seat and began to pull himself out of the toilet. Bain reached out to help him, but Dwalin slapped his hand away. "Get off."
"Up there." Bain pointed up the stairs, and Dwalin went up, grumbling. Bilbo poked his head up through the toilet next, looking flabbergasted, and Bain helped him out. The rest of the dwarves soon followed and headed upstairs.
The eldest daughter looked shocked. "Da... why are there dwarves climbing out of our toilet?"
"Will they bring us luck?" The younger girl asked. Ira's smile faded a little, because, if anything, they would only be getting misfortune.
...
The dwarves and Bilbo were wrapped in blankets, and their wet things had been laid in front of the fire to dry. Some of them shivered, but Ira didn't think it was too bad. Then again, she was used to the cold, and she at least had some spare clothes. As soon as she had a free moment, she had replaced the annoying dress with a white tunic and simple brown breeches, along with her Thieves' Guild Boots.
"It may not be the best, but it'll keep you warm." Bard said when he saw their grumpy looks.
Ira walked towards a window and looked up at what appeared to be a giant crossbow. Thorin was suddenly at her side, eyes wide. "A dwarfish wind-lance," he breathed.
Bilbo suddenly popped up as well, a steaming mug of tea clutched between his red fingers. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"He has," Balin said, making Ira gaze at him curiously. "The last time we saw such a weapon, a city was on fire. It was the day the dragon came. The day that Smaug destroyed Dale. Girion, the lord of the city, rallied his bowman to fire upon the beast. But a dragon's hide is tough, tougher than the strongest armour. Only a black arrow, fired from a wind-lance, could have pierced the dragon's hide, and few of those arrows were ever made. His store was running low when Girion made his last stand."
Thorin sighed, a wistful note to the sound. "Had the aim of men been true that day, much would have been different."
"You speak as if you were there." Ira looked back to see Bard there, wearing a soft frown.
"All dwarves know the tale." Thorin bit out.
"Then you would know that Girion hit the dragon," Bain said. "He loosened a scale under the left wing. One more shot and he would have killed the beast."
Dwalin chuckled. "That's a fairy story, lad. Nothing more."
Thorin strode purposefully towards Bard. "We need to speak to the Master of the town."
"You are unlikely to get what you want," Bard warned. "The Master very rarely meets with anyone. He'd rather sit in his home drinking whiskey for the rest of his life."
"Regardless," Ira said, "this is urgent." She turned to their leader. "Thorin, if this doesn't work-"
"It must work. We need their help." Thorin looked imploringly at the bargeman.
Bard sighed. "I'll see what I can do. I suggest you remain inside; there are eyes on this house. If you must leave, wait until nightfall." He quickly ducked out of the house.
Thorin sighed. "Tomorrow begins the last days of autumn."
Balin nodded in agreement. "Durin's Day falls morn after next. We must reach the mountain before then."
"And if we do not?" Kili asked. "If we fail to find the hidden door before that time?"
"Then this quest has been for nothing."
Ira sighed heavily and faced the white-haired dwarf. "If what you say about the dragon is true, he may be unlike anything I have faced before." She announced grimly. "That does not mean I am backing out, but I should warn you it may not go as I thought and hoped it would. I have to see what I am up against before I can fight him."
"You have a better chance of anyone of killing the beast," said Balin. "We would be unwise to deny you what you need."
"Thank you." Ira smiled to him. "I'll be outside if you need me."
...
Somehow, Ira ended up on top of Bard's house's roof. She had wandered around for a while, bought a few things when something caught her eye, but eventually ended up back where she'd started. Not wanting to have to deal with the stubbornness and raucousness of the dwarves, she had sat herself on the roof and sat down, staring mindlessly up at the stars.
"Care for some company?"
Ira looked down and smiled as she saw Amicitia walking awkwardly (she was trying not to fall off the roof) towards her. "Sure," she said softly.
Amicitia sat herself beside her sister and, for a moment, was quiet. "I think," she said at last, "there's something we're missing."
"What do you mean?"
Amicitia sighed. "Can you not feel it? My wolf is restless, and frightened."
"I can feel it," Ira replied. "But it's probably just because we're nearing Erebor, and Smaug."
Amicitia shook her head. "No, I think there's something more. It's been growing gradually ever since the goblin tunnels."
Ira pondered for a moment. "Bilbo," she suddenly whispered.
Amicitia started. "What?"
"Did you hear him talking to Gandalf before we entered Mirkwood? He said he'd found something in there." Ira sent her sister a pointed look. "He was going to tell him about it, but something made Bilbo falter. I think he found something, and doesn't know whether or not to tell us about it."
"And you think something Bilbo found can set our wolves so on edge?" Amicitia asked.
Ira shrugged. "I don't know. This is just me theorising, but what if he did pick up something, and he doesn't quite know what it is?"
Amicitia nodded. "Perhaps you're right. I'll go talk to him. Want to join me?"
Ira shook her head. "No, I'll stay out here for a bit longer."
"Suit yourself. Don't stay out too late, though."
"Yes, mother," Ira said, grinning.
Rolling her eyes, Amicitia lightly slapped Ira's shoulder. "I'm serious. Nights are dangerous."
"You think I don't know that?" Ira inquired. "I'll be fine."
"Alright. Goodbye." Amicitia hopped off the roof, leaving Ira to her thoughts.
After a few more minutes, Ira, too, jumped off the roof. Once again, she found herself wandering around, before she came across the house of the Master. A wicked thought made it's way into her head. "Time to deliver a message," she whispered to herself.
Alright, there's the update. I hope you liked it, and thanks for all your comments and stuff. :) Xxx