The guards grabbed the dwarves, Bilbo and Kiera and pushed them out into the street, making sure the weapons they did have were returned to their proper places.
The guards quickly patted down all the dwarves to make sure they didn't have weapons, a guard approached Kiera, eyed her over and smirked
"No way would a lass have a weapon"
"Well im not your typical lass now, am i?" Kiera cocked one eyebrow at him as he narrowed his eyes and quickly patted her pockets. Afterwards he straightened up and grabbed her shoulder, pushing her into the line of dwarves.
And they were pushed and shoved through the town, as the people gathered around them and let them pass the dwarves heard the whispers and saw the points of fingers.
They were led through the narrow passages between the houses until it opened up in front of the grandest house Kiera had seen in this town, and even then it was slightly run down, but the sheer size of it was impressive, it must have been 3 storeys high, with plenty of windows and one or two balconies. Kiera knew this was the master's house.
The guards who were holding handfuls of the dwarves clothing pulled them out into a semi circle, facing the steps into the house, and the rest of the town also cornered them. They were now stuck.
The door was opened by two guards wielding spears to reveal the master; his hair brushed over the bald spot on the top of his head and down to his shoulders. He wore fine clothing that was stretching round the bulge of his stomach and he shrugged a bigger over coat, trimmed with fur. Next to him was a man dressed all in black, with a small hat on his head just above his unibrow, he seemed to emit a foul air around him and Kiera felt a shiver trickle down her back.
"What is the meaning of this?" The Master asked, shocked from being rudely awoken
"We caught 'em stealing weapons, Sire" the main guard stepped forward
"AH!" the Master leant forward "Enemies of the state, eh?" Kiera couldn't help but raise an eyebrow
"A desperate bunch of mercenaries, if ever there were Sire" the man next to him said, and Kiera recognised that greasy voice from earlier by the gate; Alfrid. And it made sense; with his greasy voice and looking greasy in general
"Hold your tongue!" Dwalin growled and stepped forward "You do not know to whom you speak, this is no common criminal! This is Thorin" he gestured to Thorin who stepped forward slightly "Son of Thrain, son of Thror!" his voice got louder
"We are the dwarves of Erebor; we have come to reclaim our homeland!"
The townspeople gasped and whispered at the declaration. As Thorin went through the description of how he remembered the Lake Town, Kiera glanced at Kili who was standing with his weight on one leg, the other hand pressing against his wound. Kiera wrapped her hand around his wrist and he looked at her and tried to smile reassuringly.
Thorin's voice grew louder with excitement, and it was then when Kiera truly saw him as a king, as the king he was, as he stood looking up and around at the people, as though he was taller than they were. He stood taller than anyone else, his voice booming across the silent crowd, echoing in their minds, illumination images that flashed through their imagination with his description.
The crowds cheer brought her back to the present, as Thorin turned to look up at the Master, and Kiera knew at that point, the Master would help
"DEATH!" and voice called out, as loud as Thorin's, and Bard pushed his way through the crowd "That is what you will bring upon us" Kiera glared as he finally broke through the semi-circle "Dragon fire and ruin; if you awaken the beast, it will destroy us all"
To Kiera that made sense. Had they thought of that? If the dragon isn't dead, but indeed asleep and they awaken it, what would they do? It could cinder them all! And then what? Destroy the next town along; it made sense. Kiera rubbed her forehead and pinched the bridge of her nose, Kili looked at her worriedly.
Bard had a point, yet Thorin refused to see it, and argued back. She wanted to say something but at the same time, they needed the towns help. Bard had got them this far, but now they risked prison, as they neared Durin's day.
"The blind ambition of a Mountain King, so driven by greed, he could not see beyond his own desire!" Bard yelled, and the blue-grey of Thorin's eyes turned steel.
"Now. Now. We must not, any of us, be too quick to lay blame." The Master spoke up, wagging his finger at Bard "Let us not forget, that it was Girion, Lord of Dale, your ancestor, who failed to kill the beast. Hm!" Thorin's face turned to shock as he looked at this... this fisherman! The ancestor of a Lord!
"It's true, Sire. We all know the story. Arrow after arrow, he shot. Each one missing its mark." Alfrid looked down on them both
Bard stepped closer to Thorin and said something that they couldn't catch, with the people cheering behind them all, and Thorin responded before turning to face the Master
"I speak to the Master of the men of the lake. Will you see the prophecy fulfilled? Will you share in the great wealth of our people?" Thorin looked at the hesitating Master "What say you!?"
I say unto you...welcome!" Thorin took a few steps up before turning to face Bard, now taller than him "Welcome and rise! Welcome, King under the Mountain" the crowd cheered as Thorin glared at Bard.
"Let us have a feast to celebrate this news!" The Master declared before inviting the dwarves into the warmer house, they gladly followed to got out of the cold and snow "But first, let us get you some proper clothing! Better than these rags" The double chins wobbled at his exclamation and the servants left to get everything ready
Alfrid nodded and promptly left to get some finer clothing as everyone else started to set up for the feast
"We plan on leaving tomorrow morning" Thorin and Balin went up to the Master
"Is there anything you need, oh great King?"
"Yes, we will need a boat to get me and my kin up the lake towards the mountain"
"We accept a generous payment"
"And you will receive such payment when we have reclaimed the mountain, as our journey has not been the easiest and we find ourselves out of pocket" Balin explained, the Master huffed slightly and nodded
By this time Alfrid and some others has managed to round up some clothing and they were dumped on the floor to sort through
"I'm sure you'd like to.. Freshen up before the feast?" The master said as he opened the door into the bathroom, spinning to face them "There's these and one other across the hallway, both are identical"
The room had 3 tubs with fires near each with tubs of water standing to the side, waiting to be put on the fires by the servants
"Yes, my company would be most grateful"
Because of being the only female the dwarves insisted Kiera got bathed first, so when a servant came with clothes, she grabbed hers and went to get bathed.
She thought about the last time she had bathed, which would've been in Mirkwood and was surprised at how dirty she actually was, but realized most of it was debris from the river. After her bath she twisted her hair into a braid over her shoulder and tied with a bit hem of clothing ripped from the bottom of the trousers given by Bain. She pulled the first item from the pile which turned out to be another dress; she pulled a disapproving face but pulled it on regardless, because of the feast.
It bunched slightly on the floor and was a deep purple colour, it felt quite soft and it hugged her body and flowed from her hips. She didnt have any other choice but to tug on her boots again, which were still nicely covered by her dress but managed to pick some height for herself.
She opened the door slowly and poked her head out, glad the hallway was empty and walked towards the main room, her boots made a sound as she walked, which was soon covered up by laughter from the company.
Stood at the doorway she looked at the company, Thorin, Fíli and Kíli were dressed in fine clothes given by the master, and she realized Dwalin, Balin and Bifur were missing, presumably having their baths.
"Kiera!" Kili called, coming over, the dwarves turned to look at her "you look pretty" Kili said once closer
"Lass, you look beautiful!" Bofur shouted cheerily, clearly he'd started to drink
"Thank you Bofur!" She smiled back, then looked at Kíli "and thank you, not too bad yourself"
He was dressed in... And Kiera could tell he was favouring his weight on his left leg and could see a slight grimace to his smile.
"Do you want to sit down?" She smiled at him
"No I'm okay"
"I mean, let's sit down. By the fire" she nodded her head to where Bofur and Bilbo stood to stretch out slightly before going off the bath, Bombur stood from the table he'd been sat at and joined them, and herself and Kili went and flopped into the seats.
"Is everyone ready now?" The master came in half an hour later "the feast is ready"
"Yes we are" Thorin said, walking towards the master, the rest of the company stood as he passed and followed on.
They walked through the crowds back to the masters house, where the doors stood open with two guards either side. They walked up the stairs and the smell of food hit them as they walked through the doorway.
There was a long table, enough to seat 10 down each side, covered with food down the centre; several plates of various meats, golden potatoes and carrots, crispy lettuce leaves, full gravy boats and other foods all steaming out aromas that mixed and swirled in the air and up her nose. Her stomach grumbled quiet enough not to be heard over the noise from outside and her mouth watered.
She followed Kíli to a seat, the Master took the head of the table, and insisted Thorin sat next to him, Thorin then insisted Fíli sat opposite with Balin next to him and Kili next to Thorin, after that he didn't care who sat where and Kiera was surprised when Dwalin sat next to her. She felt better when Bilbo sat opposite herself with Bofur next to him.
"Please! You must be hungry, help yourselves!" The Master gestured over the table with a chubby hand as the other brought up a glass of whiskey to his lips.
And so they did, with much more politeness then they did at Bilbos, they loaded their plates
"If you don't grab some now, Dwalin will finish the meat off in front of you" Kili whispered in her ear, loud enough for Dwalin to hear
"Lad, you're more likely to eat it. And Bombur will make sure none goes to waste"
Kiera giggled slightly and Kili grinned mischievously. The master saw this and smirked to himself
"So your quest is to regain your homeland. Why? Why now?" The Master boomed across the table
"We felt Smaug has been there long enough" Dwalin said
"Aye, he has! I wish to make this town rich again"
"And with your help I have promised you it would" Thorin nodded once at him
"And what will you do about the dragon?" The master cocked one eyebrow at him, Thorin went quiet
"Well, that depends on if he's alive or not" Kiera spoke up, the master looked at her
"You think it's not?"
"One can hope! Why worry about it if it's dead?" She shot back, earning a glare from Thorin
"But what if it is alive?"
"We will cross that bridge when we come to it"
"What?"
"It means, we will worry about what to do, if the occurrence happens" Kiera looked steadily at the Master, who had his brows raised
"Right. But I have to think of the safety of to town"
"Of course you do. But it is our decision to take the mountain back, which involves sorting the dragon out"
"Yes... Yes" The Master said and busied himself with eating, glancing at Kiera every now and then.
Seeing she had won the slight argument for now, she stabbed a potato with her fork and bit it in half, looking around the room and noticed she was the only female sat eating. The other woman milled around serving more food or drink. She put the other half of potato in her mouth and glanced across the table. The dwarves all sat together and then after that was some of the masters guard, and next to Bofur was Alfrid; staring right at Kiera.
Another man leant to his friend and whispered in his ear, both looking at Kiera. She glanced at her food, her stomach twisting slightly. She grabbed her mug and took a big sip of what turned out to be wine, which was much stronger than she expected. But swallowed it down without a fuss and then shoved more meat in her mouth.
Conversation and Jokes were being thrown around the tables, the Master had tried engaging in more conversation about the quest but Thorin remained silent. He had then tried to ask the rest of the company other questions but they also remained pretty silent, or ignored him in favour talking to other dwarves
"What i would like to know" The Master started again, a slightly slur in his voice "Is why you have a woman in your company!"
Thorin and Fili glanced to Kiera, who had looked away from Bofur to glance at the Master, who was looking expectantly at her, seemingly glad he had her attention. She busied herself with a mouthful of drink.
"Is she for... moral support?" The Master suggested, looking at Thorin who glared up at him. Kiera felt sick, she felt Dwalin tense up next to her
"No. She is my kin" Thorin said "She joined the company"
"Your kin!?" The Master exclaimed. The rest of the company, who heard, looked away, trying to disguise their shock at what Thorin had just said "Is it not dangerous for her?"
"She can hold her own" Fili spoke up, Kiera smiled at him. Underneath the table Kili squeezed her hand. The Master went silent for a moment, then stood up, a hush falling across the table
"I think a time like this call for some music!" He bellowed, cheers arose from the table, and the men started to stand and get up to celebrate.