Hello all! My Italian assessment is over and done with, yay! Now to catch up on all the other homework that I put off because of it :/
I don't have much to say this chapter (you can cheer now) so shout outs for reviews go to: GregsMadHatter, InezSophia, fixusi, leggomygreggo2, Shreeg, Syblime, jaymzNshed, tygrislily, FanOfRandomThings and T.A.R.D.I. . . Special thanks to fixusi for such a long review, you really summed up a lot of my thoughts in that! I am pleased to say that my nice side and my evil side have finally struck up a compromise. What that entails, you will have to wait and see ;)
Enjoy the chapter!
They did not leave the next day, nor the day after, despite the Elvenking's impatience to be off as soon as possible. Apparently it took more than one day for a kingdom of hungover elves to prepare for a war-ready departure. Legolas had woken at midday on the day after the feast with a pounding headache, but he had nevertheless relayed to his father his concerns about taking a whole army up to Erebor. Needless to say, Thranduil hadn't listened to a word, commanding the Prince back to his chambers to sleep off the lasting effects of the alcohol.
Kili grew more and more restless with every passing hour that they were not preparing to leave for the Mountain. Since he had very few possessions of his own to pack, he insisted on dragging Fili with him down to where the horses were kept and assisting the elves there with preparing the many horses that would be carrying supplies and Elven warriors to the foot of the mountain. This went on for three days, during which neither Fili nor Kili spoke much but preferred to communicate with silent glances. Their minds dwelt on the same worries, and despite their decision to ignore the possibility of the worst case scenario, it felt as though to voice their thoughts out loud would be to make them all the more real.
On the morning of the fourth day after the feast of starlight, at the crack of dawn, a host of elves and horses, not to mention two dwarves, assembled along the riverbank. As well as weapon-clad warriors, there were many healers, cooks and craftsmen walking alongside horses laden with food and timber and other essential supplies, for the previous evening a messenger had arrived from Lake Town with a plea for help, and the Elvenking had agreed immediately, for the men of Esgaroth had long been their friends.
Fili and Kili rode behind Golradir and Gildor respectively, since the Elven brothers had been the first to offer their services. Legolas was required out of duty to ride at the front with his father, and Tauriel was not on horseback since the horses were in high demand for carrying provisions to Esgaroth and so could be spared for none but the guard. She didn't mind this, but walked alongside the many carts and wagons that were bringing supplies to the people of the devastated town.
The advanced party - that is, all who set out at dawn, since many had stayed behind to load up yet more carts with provisions for the people of Lake Town - reached the far shores of the lake by mid-afternoon and were met with a pitiful sight. Upturned boats and large sheets of canvas propped up with sticks made for makeshift tents, and in every nook and cranny huddled parents comforting crying children, family members mourning lost relatives, and far too many orphans, who clung to each other for support and wept into each other's shoulders. In the middle of the temporary town stood a large closed off pavilion, the only actual tent in the whole campsite, which had a long queue stretching out from the doorway. This was where the elves made for, hoping to meet someone who was in charge. Those who had been riding quickly dismounted from their horses, and Fili and Kili suddenly found themselves lost in a sea of gangly limbs.
Suddenly, Fili felt an arm on his shoulder, pulling him roughly out from the large group of elves, and he quickly grasped Kili's hand so that they wouldn't be separated. Once they were in the open and could see around, they saw that they were close to the large tent and that they had been pulled away by a tall but young son of men. He narrowed his eyes beneath his mop of dark hair.
"Who are you? You didn't come through with the other dwarves," he said accusingly.
"You met the others?" Kili exclaimed, but Fili hushed him with a look.
"We were held up in Mirkwood, but now we travel to rejoin our kin," Fili answered the human teenager's question neutrally.
"Who are you?" Kili asked bluntly, ignoring the glare Fili shot him.
"I am Bain, son of Bard," replied Bain, with a hint of pride in his voice, "my father killed the dragon,"
Glancing behind him, Fili saw the tall figure of Thranduil speaking to an almost equally tall man with uncanny resemblance to the boy in front of him.
"Is that your father there?" he asked, though it was pretty obvious.
Bain nodded, "he has been appointed temporary leader of the people, since the Master fled,"
"So what do you want with us?" Kili frowned, aware that there were people from Laketown peering at them curiously as they passed, and some even looked fearful.
"You are dwarves travelling with a host of armed elves. That's suspicious to anyone," Bain deadpanned.
Fili and Kili shared a glance, then Fili spoke up. "It was necessary under our circumstances,"
Bain didn't look convinced. "I've met dwarves. You lot don't trust anyone but your own kin, and yet you're here trusting elves of all people?"
"Not all of them," corrected Fili, "but a few have earned our trust, and the others won't harm us,"
"And the Elvenking? Everyone knows he doesn't trust dwarves," said Bain.
"He has been our host for three weeks, and I sincerely hope we have gained his trust," Fili looked at Kili, who nodded in agreement.
"It took a bit of convincing for him to approve our stay," the younger brother added.
Finally, Bain looked somewhat more satisfied, and regarded the pair of dwarves for a moment before nodding to himself as if coming to a conclusion he had suspected all along.
"Da said you'd all be camping nearby then setting off in the morning,"
Fili nodded in confirmation, as he had heard a similar version of the plan from Rúthen.
"In that case I might as well show you around," Bain grinned, and he began to lead the dwarves through the camp with a springy, youthful step. After checking that their presence would not be missed - Thranduil was still deep in conversation with Bard and the other elves were listening intently or talking among themselves but not going anywhere - Fili and Kili followed him.
"What are your names?" Bain asked as they passed the other side of the large tent, which he informed them was being used as a healing bay.
"Fili and Kili, at your service," said Fili quickly, "sorry, we should have introduced ourselves before,"
"No matter," Bain shrugged, "are you brothers, then?"
"Aye," Fili and Kili said simultaneously.
"And you're Thorin Oakenshield's nephews?"
"How do you know that?" Kili exclaimed with a frown.
"They stayed in my house when they came through Lake Town," Bain replied, "and when they left they needed to leave someone behind but they couldn't decide who - they had a massive argument before I stepped in and volunteered to pass on the message. Since I'd overheard the whole conversation anyway, they agreed. I just wanted to check that you were the right dwarves first,"
"What was the message?" asked Kili eagerly.
"It doesn't really apply any more, since you're travelling with elves," Bain shrugged, "it was to go and get ponies and supplies from the Master and go to the Mountain as soon as possible,"
"I thought you said the Master fled?" Fili observed.
"He did," replied Bain, "he was selfish and greedy and only cared for saving his own skin. But he did help your kin after Thorin marched right into the town square and declared himself King Under the Mountain,"
Kili rolled his eyes, "of course Uncle did that," but he also shared a worried glance with Fili. Their uncle wouldn't have revealed himself to the men unless it was desperate - or he was desperate.
The tour lasted for about half an hour, in which time Bain introduced Fili and Kili to his two sisters, Sigrid and Tilda, and also earned some more than suspicious looks from random passers-by which prompted him to warn the dwarves about the people's view - and his father's - on the cause of the dragon's destruction. He said that it would be better if they didn't draw attention to themselves, since most of the town blamed Thorin Oakenshield for awakening the dragon and were not feeling very amicable towards dwarven folk right now.
The light began to fade early, since it was all but winter now, and Fili and Kili were obliged to rejoin the elves in order to make camp for the night, but they bade goodbye to Bain and his sisters, and Bain promised to speak well of them to his father so that Bard might be less wary towards dwarves in future. The carts and wagons of supplies began to slowly arrive from Mirkwood as they opened out tents and pavilions, and the whole process of setting up camp was brought to almost a standstill since nearly every elf was suddenly needed to fairly distribute tents and blankets and food among the survivors of Lake Town.
Fili and Kili had no idea what was going on around them as the darkness grew and elves began to turn in for the night, since the elves mostly spoke Sindarin among themselves so there was no chance of overhearing an instruction on where to sleep. There seemed to be no pattern as to which tents elves entered, and soon the two dwarves found themselves alone outside, wandering aimlessly among the tents and wondering what to do. They hadn't seen Tauriel or Legolas or any of the guards or cooks they recognised, so hadn't a clue where to go.
Just as Fili was wishing that someone - anyone - would show their face outside a tent so they could ask them what to do, his prayer was answered. Unfortunately, it was Amras. The elf tensed when he saw them, and both dwarves froze instantly. The air was suddenly thick and hostile.
"Uh...hello, Amras," began Fili, while Kili shifted uneasily beside him and Amras stared between them. He hadn't forgotten the archery competition, where Kili had come out on top, nor the sword fighting incident when Fili had beaten him fair and square.
"We were wondering..." Kili began, looking to Fili for confirmation that he was saying the right thing, "if you could tell us where we're meant to be right now. No one has told us where we can sleep,"
Amras narrowed his eyes, and didn't seem about to answer, but then he jerked a finger towards the large tent next to the one he was in front of, saying, "Rúthen's in there. Ask him,"
He did not wait for Fili and Kili's awkward thanks but disappeared straight back into the tent he had come from, leaving the dwarves alone once again. The air itself seemed to sigh with relief.
Rúthen was indeed in the tent next door, along with about half the guard, laying out bedrolls and preparing for sleep. He was surprised to see Fili and Kili, as he had assumed their accommodation had been arranged, but as that wasn't the case, he offered for them to spend the night in the tent with the guard.
"Two more bodies won't make any difference," he smiled, "if you don't mind being a bit cramped,"
Kili was about to agree wholeheartedly, but Fili put out a hand to stop him.
"We snore," he informed the head of guard, "loudly,"
"And we here have all slept with much worse noise in the background," Rúthen raised his eyebrows good-naturedly, "so if we can sleep with the howls of wargs we can sleep with your snores,"
And so it was that Fili and Kili slept with the guard that night, crammed into a corner together and muffling their snores in their bedrolls so as to disturb the guard as little as possible. They had a surprisingly good night's sleep after spending so long on comfy Elven mattresses, and in the morning they were bright and breezy and ready for another day of travelling. As they assisted with the re-packing of all the provisions and tents and weapons that would be taken North to the mountain, they also discovered that the weapons of all their companions (that had been taken off them when they first arrived at the Mirkwood Palace) were being transported surreptitiously to the mountain spread out across several trusted members of the guard.
"We shouldn't have taken them in the first place," admitted Rúthen when Fili asked, "and if you say Lord Elrond permitted it then I don't see why we shouldn't,"
Another piece of less welcome news reached them a short time later, and that was that a large number of warriors from Lake Town were to be joining the elves in the hope of claiming some of the mountain's wealth, under the command of Bain's father Bard. Unlike the elves, these men made no attempt to hide their disdain for Fili and Kili, and so the pair of dwarves heard no short supply of insults and accusations as they prepared to leave that morning. Remembering what Bain told them, they stayed away from men as much as they could for the rest of the journey.
Over the course of the next four days they rode by day and set up camp by night, and Kili observed that it seemed as if the mountain was growing out of the ground rather than they who were getting closer. It was faster progress than they had made from Mirkwood to the shores of the lake, since they were now all on horseback; Tauriel rode behind Nienna, and many others were sharing horses, but more horses could also be spared after they had left their previous burdens behind at the camp by the lake.
On the morning of the fifth day they were ready to approach the mountain. It had gone from being an anomaly on the horizon to occupying half the sky, and it sent shivers up the dwarves' spines. They were so close to home. They would have ridden at full speed to reach it as soon as possible had they been allowed, but the Elvenking and Bard had other ideas. Legolas guided his horse over to where most of the guard were grouped to relay this news to them.
"We will approach the mountain at dusk and set up camp among the ruins of Dale," he announced, "Bard will go and speak to Thorin in the morning to ask for a share of the treasure -"
"They're alive?" broke in Kili, barely able to contain his excitement. At this, Fili sat up straighter on the horse behind Golradir.
Legolas grinned, answering, "the scouts who went ahead report to have seen dwarves on the main gate, and your uncle is among them. The bad news is they seem to be barricading themselves in, as if they expect war,"
Fili scoffed, "and well they might, a host of armed elves and men is heading their way,"
"Careful what you're saying," Legolas raised an eyebrow, "don't think I haven't seen all the dwarvish weapons this lot are carrying," he gestured to the guards around, many of whom smirked and shifted their loads on their backs. Rúthen, who was carrying Dwalin's axe slung next to his own quiver of arrows, chuckled slightly and nodded in agreement.
"It is certainly not a foolish move to fortify the entrance," remarked Tauriel, "there are most likely orcs still about in these lands, and more may come down from the Grey Mountains when they hear of the Dragon's death,"
"You're right," agreed Kili immediately, "if they're defending a kingdom with eleven dwarves and a hobbit then they've got to be prepared,"
"A hobbit?" questioned Rúthen curiously, and Kili looked sheepish, having forgotten that most of the elves had no idea about Bilbo's existence.
"Long story," said Fili quickly, "maybe some other day,"
"Maybe," said Legolas quietly, "but there may not be many more days,"
He didn't have to elaborate for everyone to know what he meant; the time would soon come when Fili and Kili would leave them for good. The only question was when. There was a short silence.
"Who is going with Bard?" asked Fili suddenly, bringing them abruptly back to the previous, unfinished topic.
"Just a few of his men to act as bodyguards. No elves," replied Legolas, "I don't like it, but Bard was being persistent and also pointed out that he is on better terms with the King Under the Mountain than my father is, which I couldn't argue with,"
"What of Fili and Kili?" asked Gildor before either dwarf could ask the same question.
"That is entirely up to them," replied Legolas, turning to the dwarves in question, "my father has declared that you may leave whenever you choose to, and he holds no restrictions. If I'm honest, I think he wanted to disassociate himself from you because of what all the Lake Men are saying,"
"What are the lake men saying? That we brought on the dragon?" Fili demanded.
"That, and other things besides. Anything from 'you've stolen their gold' to 'travelling with dwarves brings bad luck'," said Legolas with a note of sympathy in his voice, "I don't want to see you go, but if you want my advice I'd say it would probably be better for you to leave sooner rather than later,"
"We're going to help you get your gold first," put in Kili firmly, "let us go with Bard and we'll persuade Uncle Thorin,"
"I do not need to 'let you', you are free to go where you want," Legolas reminded him, "go with Bard if you think that is best. If you do, I might come along myself if father lets me, just to make sure he doesn't turn on you or anything. I don't trust Bard, even if he did kill a dragon,"
Fili smiled, "we would be grateful for that. Not that I don't trust Bard - as far as I know he is honourable and good - but I think it might help if my uncle sees that you're not as hostile and unfriendly as you seem. After all, the last time he saw you was when you were locking us all up,"
"Then I will do my best to persuade father," Legolas promised.
They rested by the River Running until mid afternoon that day, when Thranduil's clear order came across the water to remount and set off again. When the ruins of Dale were finally upon them it was almost dark, and there was just enough time to set up camp before the stars came out and the night closed in. Fili and Kili both slept restlessly. They had rejoiced at the news of the company's survival, but once the relief had worn off they were left with an uneasy feeling in their stomachs, and many of their dreams were edged with an ominous dark shadow. The dragon was dead, but both had a strong feeling that the worst wasn't over yet by a long way.