Author's note: Hope everyone is having a lovely day. c:
The cave had originally been dark. However, because of the recent dealings with the orcs, they had set up torches to line the walls. The flickering flames projected shadows here and there, and Kili could feel the breeze trickling in from some unknown crevice or hole.
"These walls are old, made from dragons far older than you or I," Tauriel murmured, running her free hand along the rock walls of the tunnel while her other hand still clutched Kili's. The tunnel itself was enormous, and Kili could only imagine the kind of dragon dwelling here. It had to be the size of Smaug at least. Kili could only hope that there was only the one Tauriel had spoken of.
They didn't have to walk for very long through the winding, twisting tunnels before they reached an enormous cavern. There was a sparkling lake on the left, and the floor at the opposite end of the cavern dropped off to somewhere deep in the mountain.
"Filth. Give us the ring," a voice cut through the air, and Tauriel pulled the pair of them against the wall, releasing Kili's hand to reach for her bow, her eyes searching through the dimness of the room. The ceiling must have opened up somewhere, because light filtered through to the room, keeping them from being blinded.
Kili could hear the whistle and crack of a whip cutting through the air and then sliding across flesh. The grunt of pain that followed it was oddly familiar, and as Kili's eyes adjusted to the lack of light and landed on the source of the sources, he felt his blood grow cold and boil at precisely the same moment.
Ris, his father, was laying on the hard ground, hog tied and bleeding. Several lacerations lay across his back, and his dark beard was soaked with blood and sweat. He hadn't answered the massive orc that was interrogating him, so the orc lay more lashes upon the dwarf's back. Other than a few grunts, Ris remained strong.
"Da!" Kili shouted, his voice desperate and anguished. He growled, dodging Tauriel's touch and unsheathing his sword as he rushed towards his father and the orc. He had already lost his father once; he wasn't going to go through it again.
His father had lost consciousness, and the orc slowly turned towards Kili, leering and snarling threateningly in black speech. The whip cracked through the air, snapping loudly as it connected with Kili's shoulder, but it barely registered in the adrenaline induced haze as he rushed forward, cutting off the orc's hand before finishing him off with a quick decapitation. Kili was heaving loudly as he felt his sword slip from his fingers and he rushed over to his father, who was coughing and regaining consciousness. Kili ignored the blood that sprang from his father's lips, his denial evident in his eyes as he knelt down next to his father. "Da?" He whispered, afraid to touch him. Ris's wounded looked severe, and Kili felt like a child again, clutching onto Thorin's coat after he had delivered the news of their father's death to Dis and her children. He had looked up into the face of his crying brother and asking, "Where's Da, Fee?"
"Kili?" His father's voice was hoarse, nothing above a whisper. "Is that really you? I'm not dreamin'?" His voice cracked, and Kili started to pull his tunic over his head. He needed to cover his father's wounds, or they would get infected. He longed for some water, so that he could clean the wounds. He didn't even hear Tauriel come up behind him, and he laid his tunic across his father's back gently, guilt sprouting across his face as his father flinched.
"Son, listen to me. You need to speak…" he was interrupted by a violent round of coughing, and blood littered the dwarf's lip and hand. "with the dragons. Call them here. Tell them that you're Ris's son...give them-"
"Da. Stop speaking like this. You're going to be okay. You can talk to them yourself." Kili whispered, eyes wide.
"Boy," Ris forced himself to look up at his son sternly, and Kili quieted. "Tell them the Ring has been compromised. Promise them treasure. They will honor your words." And then Ris died. His chest grew still, and he didn't draw another breath ever again.
A wounded howl bounced off the walls of the tavern as Kili pulled his father into his arms, rocking back and forth as he sobbed. Tears stained his face, blurring his vision, and Tauriel stood above him, not sure how to handle the situation. Elves didn't die. They died in battle, but she had never seen a death on such a personal level. Her parents had died when she was much too young to grasp the concept.
Kili cried until his throat was hoarse and his head was pounding. Finally he opened his red tinged eyes, gently setting his father back on the ground and standing. His bare chest was coated in his father's blood.
"Zyabem!" Kili started shouting, his hand shaking slightly as he walked towards the edge of the cliff. "Zyabem! I wish to speak with you!"
"Kili, I would not-" Tauriel started, but her voice was shattered by the sound of roaring. It echoed off the walls, causing the pair to flinch slightly, and then two dragons shot up past them from the darkness below the cliff, circling each other before landing.
Kili took them in. Both were relatively the same size as Smaug was. One was a light blue and longer and thinner, giving it more of a serpentine look. Small whiskers ran along her snout, and her eyes were pitch black. Three claws stuck out from the corners of her wings, which acted as her front legs.
The other was a deep green, and it had four feet. His claws were enormous, and spikes ran the length of its body. Its teeth hung out of its mouth like formidable daggers. Its eyes were a pale blue to match the others scales.
"An elf and a dwarf? I have not tasted the scent of elves in quite a long time." It was blue scales that spoke, and the voice revealed her to be female. This must have been Zyabem that Tauriel had spoken about. "Not since I burnt that petty elf king a very long time ago." A rumbling chuckle slipped from the dragon's throat, and she extended her neck downwards so that she could get a closer look at the two. "I did not know prey walked so easily to their deaths." She snapped her teeth at them, and Kili held his hand up, gesturing to the body of his father.
"I have a message for you, from my father, Ris." After Kili repeated what his father told him, Zyabem shrank back, eyeing them again curiously. The emerald dragon pushed past her, scaled eyebrows clicking as he lowered them in suspicion.
"How do we know that you are not allied with the orcs?" This one was male, and Kili felt immensely more weary of him than he did Zyabem.
"We are here to speak with you of the orcs. We wish for you to switch your alliances with the orcs. They will bring you nothing but death and slavery," Tauriel said, her gaze switching between Zyabem and the other dragon.
"Slavery?" Zyabem yowled, the cavern shaking slightly in the immensity of her voice. "Kyr and I are already enslaved. If we allow you to leave here with this dwarf's precious ring, like he wishes, then we will die. Our kin will die." Zyabem flapped her wings, causing a gust of air to rush towards the pair, and it whipped across their face. She settled after a moment.
"Kin?" Kili pressed, head cocked in curiosity.
"Agandaur," Kyr howled, belting a spurge of fire from his maw as he lifted his head towards the ceiling. The cavern was momentarily bright, and Kili took the moment to appreciate the beauty of the creatures in front of him. "He stole our egg from us. Threatened to smash it or taint it with dark magic if we did not burn the North."
Kili exchanged looks with Tauriel. His mind was still grief-stricken, but Tauriel appeared to be clear headed enough for a plan, because her gaze slid away from him to look at the dragons once again. "If we were to return your kin to you, would you aid us?"
The dragons pondered in silence for a moment. Zyabem nipped at her mate's scales, and then it was Kyr, again, who spoke. "We also wish for our agreement that we've shared with Erebor to remain upheld."
"What agreement?" Kili's voice grew hard. He could not recall the dwarves' ever sharing an agreement with the dragons of the North.
"Your kin. He gave us gold from your treasure. Three times a year." Kili shook his head in denial. His father had been smuggling gold from Thror's treasure room to the dragons? Why would he do such a thing?
"Why did he do this?" He vocalized his confusion, and Zyabem brought her head down so that her eye was inches from Kili's face. "Because we agreed to keep his ring safe. A magic ring bears great power and great evil, if used in such an ill way. Your king, he had a ring yes? It poisons the mind, filling it with greed almost compared to such as a dragon. He did not wish for your king to possess it any longer, so he stole it and gave it to us for protecting."
Kili chewed on his lips in silence, his gaze never leaving the dragon's. Her words made a lot of sense. Stories of gold sickness had reached Kili's ears. Perhaps it had poisoned the Durin line far too deeply. Kili sighed, nodding in agreement. "I will bend to your will. You will continue getting treasure, and we will get your egg, back. I want this ring, though." He held out his hand, displaying much more courage through his words than he actually felt. These dragons could still easily eat them.
Zyabem watched him for a moment before turning to Kyr. "Get him his ring. You know of which I speak." Kyr immediately took off, and Tauriel stepped forward, eyebrows furrowed.
"I have heard stories of you, mighty dragon. My King, he bears the heat of your flame across his face. Why did you burn him?" Kili didn't remember ever seeing such a burn on Thranduil's face, but then again, elf's magic was quite curious.
Another rumble of laughter escaped Zyabem's maw. "He tried to steal precious jewels from me. Little white jewels that twinkled even in the absence of light." Kili stiffened, stealing a glance at Tauriel. He knew of which jewels the dragon spoke of. It was the same jewels that Thranduil longed for which was in possession of Erebor.
Kyr returned not much later, after the cavern had been cast into silence. He clutched a chest in one foot, which he set down in front of Kili. "This is one of the Ring of Powers, given to your king, Durin III. Treat it with care, or it will bite, and the poison will be relentless." Zyabem's words filled Kili's head as he opened the chest to reveal it empty, save for one ring.
The ring was simple. It had a gold band, and there was a rather large, square purple stone set in the middle. Kili slid it on his middle finger, and it fit perfectly. He didn't feel any different, so he stood and bowed his head at the dragons. "We will remain true to our word. We will get your egg back, and you will aid us against Agandaur." Zyabem and Kyr both roared simultaneously and then took flight, disappearing back below the cliffside, deeper into the mountain.
Kili sighed shakily, turning his gaze back to his father. "He belongs in the halls with the kin. However, I do not think we should carry him." His voice sounded dejected, devoid of life. He walked over to one of the torches that hang from the wall, and he laid the flame against his father's clothes after retrieving his own tunic. His father would find no use of it anymore. Tauriel came up and wrapped Kili under her arm, pressing her lips to his forehead. Several tears fell against Kili's cheek, but this time he was silent in his weeping, his new ring on his finger and his tunic pressed to his bleeding shoulder.
Author's note: Whew. Got some new ideas. I didn't really write much of Ris, so his death probably wasn't very hard on anyone (besides Kili), but it sure was a little hard to write. I've got the rest of the story planned out, for the most part. The ending is definitely set in stone, and I'm a little sad to see this story starting to head towards its end. I wanted Kili to find one of the Rings because it would grant him longer life. Being with Tauriel, that just had to happen. c; And perhaps it will give him some trouble in the future. I haven't decided. Oh, and the flashback of him when Thorin brought the news of his father's supposed death was inspired by this picture on Tumblr: image/74068616124. I hope I wrote this okay, and until next time! xox