And...we're back in deep waters.
Chapter 36
"I am the biggest fool I know," I groaned, slamming the hut door behind me.
"You've met Selwin out there, so I doubt it," mumbled one of the fishers.
I didn't reply. I didn't know this man, I didn't like him very much, and I had no reason to talk to him.
I bit the inside of my cheek in anger. I was in shock. Not traumatic shock, just shock at my own stupidity. I was outside the reach of Lake Town, in a rickety shack on a rickety pier, back in captivity with no way out. Not only that, but I was there willingly. I was there of my own volition. I had walked off the barge of my own accord. I could phrase it fifty different ways, but the fact would still stand.
I was once more separated from the company and this time it was completely avoidable. If I had objected, I might still be on the barge to Lake Town.
"Fili is never gonna let me forget this," I moaned, sinking to the floor next to the now closed door.
I immediately scooted sideways away from the door. It wasn't built very well and the draft of cold air coming through it was making my wet clothes feel frozen solid.
"Who's that now?" asked one of the men.
"None of your concern," I said, arms tightening around my backpack.
"I'd be careful talking like that. You don't want to go making enemies before crossing the toll gate," said the first fisherman.
"I'll do as I please, and it pleases me to keep my private business to myself," I said, still fuming.
"So your father then?" asked the second man.
"You call your father by his first name?" I shot back.
The man scoffed.
"Brother," said the first man.
"I'm not interested in this conversation," I said.
I was satisfied when there was no further answer.
There was a creaking noise from outside.
"Ho there, boat coming in!" called a voice from outside. It was a man's voice, young and strong, not belonging to either of the guards. It must have been a returning fisher.
"Halt! Pull in and be recognized!" shouted Selwin.
"Willingly Selwin, but you know me well, so I don't see the point," replied the younger voice.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I stood up. I slipped my backpack on and peered out the "window," which was little more than a square hole in the wall. I could see a small boat pulling up to the pier. When it had come to a complete halt, I was surprised to see a guard in full uniform hop off.
"Albriech!" Aldon greeted him.
"Father," Albriech said in a less enthusiastic voice.
"Patrol was clear today?" Aldon asked.
"Always is," Albriech replied. I thought I saw him shrug his shoulders.
"Good,good. Anything to declare?" Aldon asked.
"I'm thirsty, and would like to go someplace I can get something besides water," Albriech said, and I surmised that he wanted to leave.
"We have a pot of broth inside if you're partial," Selwin offered.
"Alright then," Albreich replied after a long pause.
The three of them turned and began to walk towards the shack. I looked around, not sure if it was a good idea for three more people to enter the tiny excuse for a building. I resumed my former position, standing right next to the door. It opened and the three guards entered, Selwin saying something about the broth and the other two not paying much attention.
I saw my chance as the door began to swing shut behind Albriech, and without thinking, I slipped outside. Without looking behind me, I ran down the rickety pier and jumped the short distance between the dock and Albriech's little patrol boat. There wasn't much in the boat save for an ore and a pile of fishing nets. I looked only for the rope that tied it to the dock but found none. It took a second for me to realize that the boat was drifting.
"Oh Mahal," I said, realizing that the young guard hadn't tied up his boat.
I heard a shout from the shack and instinctively fell to the deck.
"Smaug take me now, I didn't tie up my boat!"
I heard the slamming of the door, running footsteps on the dock, and then lay motionless as a pair of boots hit the deck in front of me.
"Sorry father, I'm drifting. I'll see you tonight!" called Albriech.
"Very well then," replied Aldon's voice.
"You. Stay down if you value your freedom," he said.
I obeyed.
The boat swayed beneath me, small thunking noises accompanying the lapping of waves against the hull. As Albriech moved to steer the boat, I was able to catch a sidelong glance at him. I had been right in assuming that he was young. He couldn't have been much older than I was and had tidy black hair and bottle green eyes. His face was clean shaven and his uniform pressed.
He was not what I had come to expect from the film images of Lake Town's men, and
It was several tense minutes before he spoke again.
"The mist is heavy today, you won't be seen if you sit up now," he said.
"Why would you do that? You owe me nothing," I said.
"I didn't do it for you," he replied.
"Oh? Then this is an act of rebellion against your father," I guessed.
"Is it so obvious?" he asked.
"That you despise him? Yes," I said.
"Let all the world know if they please, but no. I came in from behind the outpost. I saw what happened from a distance and Bard didn't seem to like that you were taken from his barge," Albriech said.
"You're returning me?" I asked skeptically.
"If that's how you see it."
"Is Bard so well admired that people like you would disobey the master's guards for him?" I asked.
"I am one of the master's guards, but no. The people like him, but not enough to disobey the hand that feeds them, however poorly the master does that job," he said.
"You're not making any sense," I said bluntly.
"I'm not spineless like my fa-like so many of the people in this town. I can't see why Bard would want you to enter Lake Town, but he must have had a good reason, so I'm taking you back. Now get under those nets. Percy won't search the boat, but I don't want you seen," he said.
I didn't trust him.
All the same, he puzzled me. He didn't like the town, he hated his father, but he trusted Bard? There was a peice of this puzzle missing and I wanted to find it. Not nearly as badly as I wanted to get back to Fili and the others, but I was curious.
Tauriel ran, keeping an easy pace with Legolas, no longer needing to track the orc pack. Her feet seemed to pound the earth beneath her boots, but to any man or beast, it would have made no more noise than a drop of rain on a windy day. Tauriel's muscles began to ache after a couple of hours, but all the same, she continued.
The pain distracted her from her fear that Kili could not be saved or that it was already too late, but it could not stop the memories.
She heard his voice in her head, laughing and telling her about places she only dreamed about. She could recall so much of their night-long conversation, and it played through her mind. She saw the falls of Rivendell in each glimpse of the lake. The Misty Mountains in each stone, and the verdant hills of the shire in each flash of her own green clothing.
Tauriel had never actually seen any of these places, but Kili had described them so vividly to her that she could picture herself in each of them.
Focus. You aren't in Rivendell. You're nowhere near the Misty Mountains. Forget the Shire. She told herself.
But it was not possible to forget those places.
Not when she might already have lost her only link to them.
"Stop. We'll rest here a while," Legolas said, and they slowed to a halt.
"I want to keep going," Tauriel said.
"Tauriel, if we do not stop, you'll be too tired to fight when we reach Lake Town," Legolas said.
"Five minutes, then. No more," Tauriel asserted, and Legolas nodded his head.
"Tauriel," Legolas said, looking into her eyes. "You did the right thing," he said.
She nodded but turned away from him almost immediately. For the moments she had looked into his piercing blue eyes, all she had found was a wish for them to be darker, more comforting.
Kili would have left the realm if it had been one of his comrades injured, she knew it. Legolas, on the other hand, had tried to hold her back.
Tauriel sat on the bank and looked out over the lake.
I wish he were here. He'd understand, I know he would, She thought.
"You knew him for less than a day," she whispered to herself, but even her own logic could not dissuade her from the knowledge that he had understood her almost immediately.
She sighed and began to mindlessly pluck bits of a weed from the bank beside her.
Her thoughts were clouded, and never before had they been so. She could not bare it.
"It has been five minutes," said Legolas's voice.
"We'll be on our way then," she said.
"If you wish," Legolas said.
She stood, and they took off running. As she ran, Tauriel tried to brush the remainder of the weeds from her hands, but they left behind a sticky residue. She took one whiff of her hand and realized what it had been. She nearly missed hitting a tree, her concentration had been so lax.
"Athelas," she whispered.
It was valuable. Valaina always wanted more of it.
Tauriel recalled her saying that it could heal all but the darkest magic and the worst injuries. Unfortunately, Kili's injury was both of those things.
It was then that Tauriel remembered the rest of the conversation between Mirima and Valaina that had escaped her earlier that day. Mirima had said that athelas was necessary to heal morgul wounds, but that the one time she had seen Lord Elrond do this, he had chanted words.
Athelas and a chant...if only Mirima had told her the words.
"It's been nearly three weeks, why have we not found them yet?" Dis asked in frustration as she dropped another log on their small fire.
"We know we're on the right track," Findrir replied.
"Yes, we found one of Freya's inscribed beads, and we see remains of their fires, but what good is it? We knew they were on this road before we picked up their trail," Dis countered, her mood no better.
"We know one thing for certain. They are still alive and still moving. We could have far worse problems than a determined child," Findrir said.
"Yes, like a child determined not to be found by her parents," Dis shot back.
"How's this. We'll take one hour of sleep each, then we'll move on," Findrir suggested.
"Alright. You first, I'm much too stressed to sleep now," Dis ordered.
Findrir crossed the small mountain ledge on which they made camp, and embraced her.
"Thank you, love," he said.
She said nothing, but took his hand and led him to the rock wall of the ledge, where they both sat down to begin their wait.
It wasn't long before Findrir felt Dis' breathing grow slow and even. He shook his head and smiled. She was too stubborn to admit that she had been dead tired, and now she was asleep in his arms. Findrir would have been content to remain in that way forever… had his precious child not been out there somewhere, away from his protection. Had all three of his children not been lost to him.
Though it has been many years since the event, I have never been able to find out what caused the avalanche that awoke Dis half an hour later, all I know of the event is what I have been told.
The earth shook and a sound like thunder wrent the air of the mountains.
"What is that? That isn't an-"
"Avalanche," Findrir said, confirming his wife's worst fears.
"We need to go, now. Don't bother dousing the fire," he said.
In seconds, the two had saddled their pair of rams and were off, riding as fast as they dared down the treacherous mountainside trail. Above them, they could hear rocks falling and the sound that Dis had earlier mistaken for thunder only got louder. Dis' only consolation was that she could not see the great force hurtling towards them.
"Make for the tunnel!" Findrir called from behind her.
"Do I have a choice?" Dis called, as she spotted the place, some ways ahead, where the mountain was cut away.
On either side, they were separated from the mountain by deep crevices, the trail turning to a stone bridge that stretched precariously to the base of the next peak. There, was the tunnel that Findrir spoke of. As they hurtled towards it, Dis could see that it was of poor make, rough-hewn and small.
"We aren't going to fit! We're going to have to abandon the goats!" Dis called over her shoulder.
"Ready when you are!" Findrir shouted back.
The tunnel approached, getting closer and closer every second. Dis realized the flaw in her plan a moment too late.
"Now!" Dis yelled, and she slipped off her goat, flattening herself against the tunnel opening, missing the horns of Findrir's goat as it charged past her. In the quickest of actions, Findrir slid off of his own steed, letting it hurtle past them into the tunnel. Dis felt Findrir take her hand, and it was a moment before she kicked her brain into action and ran up the tunnel sped along by Findrir's hand and the thunder of falling snow and ice in her ears.
The dim light in the tunnel decreased to almost nothing, a silence took her senses, and Dis stopped in her tracks. Findrir let her hand fall and turned to face back the way they had come.
"We're trapped," Dis said.
"Yes. The snow's blocked the entire tunnel. The draft stopped," Findrir said.
"Is there any other way to get back to Ered Luin?" Dis asked, being less familiar with the mountain roads than her husband.
"Without goats? None that wouldn't take our lives in the effort," Findrir said.
"So then what choice are we left with? I can only see one," Dis said.
"What is that? Do we take the southern road out of the mountains and loop back around?" he asked.
"It would take such a long time," Dis said.
"Fine. What was your idea?" Findrir asked, crossing his arms. He was unsure what else there was left to do.
"We find Freya and Gimli...Then we find the boys," Dis said.
"Find the boys? But we don't know where they are," Findrir said, brow creasing in frustration.
"So we join Dain. I'm sure that's where Freya and Gimli were going. Why not follow their plan?" Dis asked, a mother's hope filling her eyes.
"I...Why not?" Findrir said.
"You think?" Dis asked.
Findrir nodded, and Dis smiled for the first time in days.
They had been in the tunnel for nearly an hour before they could see the other end. The shadow of night had not yet lifted, and the light outside of the tunnel was barely brighter than that within, but it was enough for the two dwarves to see their way by.
To tell the truth, Findrir was also beginning to feel quite claustrophobic. He had just breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the tunnel's end when he felt Dis grab his elbow from behind.
"Did you hear that?" She whispered.
"Hear what?" Findrir asked.
"Shhh," Dis hissed.
Then he heard it. A scuffling from outside the tunnel. Findrir turned to his wife and thought he saw her mouth the word "trap."
He nodded, and stepped back, drawing a broadsword from a sheath across his back.
"Stay behind me," he said, glancing back towards the tunnel exit.
"I'm covered," Dis replied, and he turned to look at her. He was surprised to see the outline of a pair of elegant daggers, one in each of her hands.
"How-"
Let's just go," Dis said, and they broke into a run, darting out of the tunnel and into the clearing that greeted them. The two dwarves surveyed the dimly lit clearing around them but found nothing. Nothing. Then, the scuffling again.
"Fin," Dis whispered, and he nodded, understanding. He turned right, and she left. They split up, circling clearing quickly and blocking the path of the two figures that had tried to ambush their exit.
"It's about time," Findrir said, returning his sword to its sheath.
Dis sighed, sheathed her daggers, and then bolted forward to embrace her daughter.
"We were worried! What on earth possessed you to go and run away like that? If you two knew how much trouble you're going to be in," Dis said, never finishing her sentence. She pushed Freya away, holding her at arm's length, and brushing a lock of hair away from her face.
"You aren't hurt, are you?" she asked.
"No, ammâd," Freya said.
"Good, well, in that case, you are in an extreme amount of trouble young lady. On another note, you never attack someone until you know that they're actually a danger to you! You could have injured one of us...or worse, we could have killed you," Dis said, addressing her remarks to both young dwarves.
"Also, you two are much too loud. Ambushes require stealth and tact. Freya, you have no tact. Gimli...have you thought about accounting as a career?" Findrir asked.
"Ay, I have," Gimli grumped. He had thought about it. Thought, and decided never to follow in his father's footsteps.
"You're taking this uncommonly well," Gimli said, suspicion growing both in his tone and in his mind.
"Just tell us our punishment, get it over with, but know this: I am not going back to Ered Luin," Freya said, crossing her arms.
Findrir glared at her.
"You'll go where we say you will. Not only are you underage, but we are your parents," Findrir reprimanded her.
"Oh, I don't believe you addâd. Running after Gimli and I because we're so young and helpless. Worrying over us until you found us. Remind me. How many years younger that Kili am I?" Freya asked, disdainfully.
"Let your addâd finish," Dis said.
"Five. Just five years and I don't see either of you running off to get him or Fili back," Freya practically shouted, ignoring her mother's request.
"Freya, listen," Findrir said.
"I don't want to liste-"
"We're continuing on," Findrir said, speaking over her.
"What?"
"We've decided to continue on. We aren't going back to Ered Luin. Not without your brothers, anyway. You two are coming to the Iron hills with us, where we'll wait for news," Dis said.
"I...really?" Freya asked.
"Well, and Gimli's father of course," Dis added.
"Thorin?" Freya asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Now you're just being difficult," Findrir chastised her.
"Yes, and as soon as we figure out a punishment for you," Dis began.
"Alright, yes ammâ, I'm not sorry but I accept the punishment due to my actions," Freya said.
"Well then, we'll start with first watch. I'm tired and would like to get a few hours shut-eye," Findrir said.
Freya sighed but accepted. Some minutes later a small fire was kindled, and all but one of the little company were asleep.
"Stop moving," Albriech said through clenched teeth.
He was overreacting. I had moved my arm the most minuscule of amounts. I was sure he had only noticed the twitch because he was looking for it.
"Sorry," I grumbled from my place beneath the pile of thick fishing nets.
"Don't speak again. We're about to reach the tollgate."
At these words, I froze. Nevermind my damp clothing, nevermind the itchy nets irritating every inch of exposed skin on my body, nevermind my need to tuck my hair behind one ear. If I moved, I would be caught.
The interaction between Percy and Albriech was brief, and it wasn't long before the young guard had returned to the boat with his newly stamped papers in hand. The tollman bid him farewell and the boat began to move again. I thanked the stars that I hadn't been caught, and thanked everything else that the deck against which my face was pressed wasn't full of splinters.
I lay there for what seemed like an eternity while Albriech steered his way through the twisting streets of Laketown. I regretted not being able to see through the nets, but eventually, Albriech told me that I could sit up and push off the nets.
"Don't stand," he said. "You can't be identified as anything but human unless they see your full height."
I agreed to this and sat up to survey my surroundings, pushing the nets away from me. I was greeted by the sight of a town unlike any I had seen before. A shanty town of mismatched shops and homes, waterlogged and subdued in color. I took a deep breath in through the nose and immediately regretted it. The entire place smelled of fish, and it made me want to vomit. Of course, had I done so, it wouldn't have made much of a mess. I hadn't had a full meal since Beorn's, and the scrap of bread I'd had in Mirkwood barely counted as food.
"That place ahead is the Master's house. The grandest building in this town, but it still holds nothing to Dale's worst ruins.
"You've been to Dale?" I asked.
All I got in return was a slow nod.
"You're right, it's an eyesore. I can't think of a single elf who would want to stay in a place like that," I said, I could have given more opinion on the subject, but decided that it would be folly to insult the guard.
"What makes you think an elf would stay in Laketown?" Albriech asked.
"I thought that the main source of income to this town was trade with the woodland realm," I said. "There must be ambassadors," I said.
"That's laughable. There hasn't been an elf in Laketown for over half a decade," Albriech said. Nothing in his tone suggested amusement.
"Why? I mean this place smells bad, but not that bad," I said.
"The elven King expressly forbade it," Albriech shrugged.
"And he did this because…" I prompted.
Albriech stared at me for a moment, as if unsure whether or not to answer.
"When I was nine, an elf living in Laketown made a decision that could have cost her her life. It was a decision that she would never have made while living in the Woodland Realm. Thranduil hoped that by spiriting her away, back to his halls, he would be able to heal her before death took her. We are certain she died. With the state of sickness she was in, she couldn't have made it far. Since then, not one elf has been seen in Laketown. It was quite a tragic scandal," said Albriech.
"This is a small town. I'm willing to bet that even the smallest disturbance could qualify as a scandal," I guessed.
"I wish I could say that was true. Only, nothing ever happens here," Albriech said, looking around at the scraggly town.
"Give it a day or two," I said under my breath. Yes, give it a day or two indeed. Then we'll all be wishing it were as dull as ever a town had been.
A clever escape plan, what could possibly go wrong?
In regards to Freya, I do not envy her. She got what she wanted, but she might just be grounded for life.
Oh, Tauriel, for someone with elf's eyes, you don't see what's in front of you very well. Any guesses on how long it'll take her to get the message?