a/n: Thank you and welcome to the new story favoriters and/or followers: habblez and Ancient-0-Warrior
The next few days were very much like the previous ones on the mountain. The only difference in them was the weather. It continually grew a little more cold each day. Until they found snow. And then it began to rain.
Holly put on another shirt and another pair of trousers each day. She felt she would soon be too big to move, like a little kid stuffed into a snow suit. Her pack on the pony would soon be void of clothes.
The trail up was narrow and treacherous. Holly was glad she was behind Fili on the pony and not on her own. She had changed to dwarrow-size and clung to his back. She figured being smaller was easier for Fili and the pony. Huddling under the back of Fili's oiled leather cloak as they had earlier in their travels, she clung to him. You wouldn't find Fili complaining, however. He loved every moment of Holly clinging to him for warmth and comfort. Especially now that she was small.
No one spoke very much. There was no food to be hunted or gathered. And they ate from the stores the elves had given them. It would last a few more days, but Bombur complained.
"Fili, what are you doing?" Holly asked as she sat on the bed they would share. A few of the dwarves had practiced their fighting skills for a while. But the terrain was too rocky to do much but slip. It was almost dark and there was nothing to do besides sleep, but it was too early, and no one really wanted to chance any more weapon's practice. To top off Holly's boredom, Fili was being secretive.
He'd gotten a roll of fine leather cording from one of the other dwarves. And he had been making something from it. But he wouldn't tell her what. Every time they stopped, Fili had taken the thing out of his pack and worked on it. Tying tiny knots in the leather cords until it looked like a net.
"When I'm done, I'll tell you," he said and smiled up at her. She'd asked him each time he sat down with it. She hoped he would finish it soon as she was eager to see what the final creation would be.
"Maybe tonight?" she asked as she pulled his blanket up around his shoulders. It had started to snow again and Holly was shivering, though Fili showed no signs of being cold. Neither did the other dwarves, but Bilbo was huddled under his blanket.
"Maybe," Fili said and held the thing up and frowned. He put it back down and continued working.
Holly sighed. "You seem very determined," she said and moved closer to him to watch. The thing he was making had a net pouch made of the fine leather cording all tied of knots at one end. And an intricate braid to finish off the top of the netting, which Fili was working on.
"I am," he said. "Give me your stone."
"Huh?" she asked and blinked at him, surprised at his words, so lost in thought was she. She'd been thinking about his wonderfully skilled hands. About how they worked with the fine cording, that he'd had any feeling in his fingers at all it was so cold out.
"Your stone, I need to borrow it," he said and looked up at her. "I'll give it back, promise." He smiled at her, one corner of his mouth turning up. He could tell she was hesitant to give up the stone, even for a second. He couldn't blame her for not wanting anyone to touch probably the only thing she had of her father. He wiggled his fingers.
Holly shook her head and pulled her backpack to her and rummaged through it with one hand until it closed on the elongated egg shape of the stone. She withdrew it and handed it to Fili.
She watched as he slipped it into the leather netting. It didn't fit all the way in, but the intricate braid came around just under the point. Fili closed it up, joining the two ends with another intricate knot and loop closure.
"What are you doing?" she asked softly over his shoulder. He looked back at her and smiled.
"Making a holder for you," he said and grinned. "So you can carry it with you. On you."
"Oh, that's genius!" she said and kissed his cheek.
Fili blushed. "I just have to braid the strap and it will be finished," he said.
"Okay, I'll be quiet now," she said and watched as he searched her face a moment, then he nodded and went back to the project.
There were more leather cords than Holly could count. They kept moving in Fili's deft fingers. He separated them into bunches carefully. And began braiding them in thick flat braids until they were long enough. Then he joined them to the opposite side of the braiding edge.
"Okay, all done," he said and held it up.
Holly sat and admired it as Fili held it up for her to see. She bit her lip. "Oh, I... don't know what to say," she said softly. "It's... beautiful." She looked at him. "It really is." It really was a work of art. Fili's fingers had been made to do braidwork and tie intricate knots.
"It was nothing," he said and shrugged.
"It is something," she countered. "It took you three days."
"But not all day," he said and chuckled.
She turned the piece over and over in her hands, admiring the work. "I'll cherish it forever," she said. Fili's face split into a grin, but the grin was soon stamped out by Holly's lips on his. He moaned into the sudden kiss, her fingers on his cheek.
She pressed him back onto their bed and continued to kiss him. In between kisses she said 'thank you' each time their lips parted. Fili chuckled.
"You're the best..." she frowned, searching for a word. "Boyfriend... a girl could ask for." But that didn't seem like the right word. Her eyes never left his face as she memorized him in that moment. Him flat on his back looking up at her. He leaned up to capture her lips for a final kiss.
"Betrothed," Fili said as he came back down from the kiss.
"Betrothed?" she asked, eyes wide. Fili nodded. "Truly?"
Fili smiled. "Yes, truly," he said. "If you will have me, that is."
Holly felt her face flush. A grin spread over her mouth. She nodded. "Yes, I will have you Fili," she said and lowered herself to him. She felt like crying. All this time, for all her life, she never thought anything like that would ever happen.
"Don't cry, Love," he whispered against her lips. "You're supposed to be happy."
"I am happy," she said, her chin wobbled. Fili kissed it. Holly buried her face in his neck and sighed deeply as she composed herself.
Fili hadn't realized it would ever be so easy. He'd always thought asking for finalization of their courtship had to be something big and grand. A long decision with a lot of careful consideration that had to be made.
He'd heard of other courting couples courting for months and years. And then they would deliberate a lot, terms to be met. A lot of back and forth, a lot of hesitation. And then there were couples that had a whirlwind courtship. Fili felt like neither of those had happened. It was neither fast nor slow. But maybe by some people's thinking it would be fast. But being with Holly both day and night without ceasing for these last weeks rather accelerated things a bit.
He sighed. "Now, I think, we should go to bed," he said and Holly nodded and let him up. He cleared off the bed. "I'm sure Uncle will drag us all up at the crack of dawn."
"Again," Holly said and sighed. Fili chuckled.
Holly tucked her new stone pouch back in her bag and pushed the bag up near her small pillow. She yawned.
"And you're tired," Fili said.
"Aye," she said and nodded as she lay down and pulled her blanket up. Fili soon joined her. They grew to not care if they got looks from the others as they shared a bed. But they had not coupled since Rivendell, to their credit and dismay. Fili could feel Holly wanting him almost constantly. But there was no place they could go off together, and coupling amidst the sleeping dwarves wasn't something they'd like to chance. Especially since there was always at least one person on guard duty.
They woke to a cold drizzle. Bombur passed around the dried meat and a few pieces of fruit. But there was no time to eat as the ponies were saddled right away and they were off as soon as everyone had their bedrolls packed up.
The wind whipped around them and the rain got worse as they went further up the mountain. It was on the fourth day that things got really bad.
Rocks flew from overhead. Barely missing them at times. And the sounds of thunder echoed all around them.
No one said anything about it. But Holly thought it was strange to have thunder but no lightning flashes. The sky stayed gloomy and dark and not a flash of light to be seen anywhere.
"Shouldn't we be stopping?" Holly asked Fili, she was almost yelling the thunder was so loud.
"Aye," Fili said. "But it's not safe here." Fili's stomach was in knots, and not from his own thoughts. He looked at Holly and wondered just what she was thinking.
Soon after that Thorin called a stop, as the way grew more dangerous.
"We'll have to lead the ponies," Thorin said to the group as everyone was huddled together against the wind and rain. Thunder boomed and rocks fell from overhead.
"Shouldn't we wait?" Holly asked Fili when everyone had started to lead their ponies away.
Fili shrugged. "I would think so, but Uncle wants to keep going," he said. Holly bit her lip and nodded. She kissed Fili on the temple and they set off after everyone joining in the middle of the line.
Holly was just ahead of Fili and Kili was behind him. Bofur was ahead of Holly, but she couldn't tell who was ahead of him.
More rocks fell and some crashed into the side of the mountain above them. Holly looked up just in time to see a rock and side step it. Fili's eyes were wide in horror as he realized what just almost happened.
And suddenly there was even more noise from above and a great noise as of rock sliding against rock. Holly winced and covered her ears as she looked up.
"Stone gaints!" someone said over the noise and Holly could just make it out. Fili poked her in the side. Once he'd gotten her attention he pointed up to the other mountain where a stone giant was.
It was a giant. Made out of the same stone that the mountain was. Perfectly camouflaged. And it was moving around, climbing on the top of the mountain opposite them.
Having already seen the stone trolls and orcs, Holly shouldn't have been surprised to see these giants made of stone. But she was.
It broke a piece off the mountain and threw it at their mountain. Something moved overhead dislodging more rocks over them. They pressed to the side of the mountain out of harm's way. The ponies were growing skittish at the fray.
A large chunk of rock went hurtling away from their mountain and smashed into the stone giant. It staggered back but recovered. In all the action on the mountain, Fili urged Holly on, Bofur and the others had moved on. Fili was soon behind her with his pony.
But then the mountain shook and things fell apart. The ponies forgotten as part of their path was torn away, sheared right off. Someone screamed and everyone went rushing to see.
"Bilbo!" someone shouted. "Hang on!"
And then Thorin disappeared over the side. Bilbo was handed back up by Thorin and Holly edged herself to the edge to see what the hell had happened.
Thorin was standing below on a small ledge, brushing himself off and looking up at them. A frown on his face. And then the mountain shook again and the ledge started giving way under Thorin's feet.
Fili gasped as he dropped to the ground to give his uncle a hand up. Others did the same but none of the helping hands could reach him. Holly pulled Kili out of the way and dropped down and thrust her hand down. Thorin had to jump to reach, and as he did, the last of the ledge gave way and he dangled for a moment before Holly pulled him up and then many hands were on his coat pulling him roughly over the ledge.
Overhead more rocks fell and there was no time to celebrate Thorin's or Bilbo's state of aliveness. Before anyone could move on with the ponies, a crack formed and part of the shelf were they stood began to rip away.
Fili turned to see Kili along with a few others fall slowly away. "Kili!" he yelled and made to reach for him but Kili was too far away to reach. He stepped out, wanting to jump, wanting to take that step and leap. But he stumbled, missing the step that would have allowed him to launch safely. And an arm came around him like steel and pulled him back onto the shelf.
Fili blinked and gasped. Realizing what he'd done, he sank back against Holly, her arm tightly around him.
It pained Fili to look away, but he couldn't watch his brother die. He turned away and closed his eyes and waited. It seemed like forever.
And suddenly a great shout sounded behind him. Holly's arm relaxed and he felt her breathing again. His stomach unclenched with relief and then he dared to peek. Searching the mountain below them, he found the small group huddled against the mountain.
He looked up at Holly and she down at him. He leaned back against her and sighed.
Holly thought she was going to shit herself when she saw Fili begin to step off the edge of the shelf. She also knew he didn't mean to give her a heart attack. But the crack had happened right at his feet and by the grace of Mahal and all the other gods he wasn't left in the middle of the thing to fall straight down to his death.
She watched Kili fall away with the others, the only thing anchoring her to sanity was Fili's bulk pressed into her. But the others made it with a crash to settle against the mountain a little further down.
"Come!" was the call at her back. They turned and watched as the others in their group headed off with the ponies. The pair had little choice but to follow. Grabbing their pony, Fili held tightly to Holly's hand and they walked with Holly going ahead.
They were led into a cave. The ponies were put into the back and unloaded. Dressed in dry clothes with their wet things lying about to dry, they settled down to wait out the storm as there was little else to do.
Eventually they were joined by their missing members. Many hugs and greetings were shared and then everyone settled down again. It grew dark even darker than it had been, night was falling.
Holly watched Fili as he sat with Kili against the wall and smoked his pipe. He looked at her and held it out to her, a smirk on his face. She frowned and shook her head as she closed her eyes. Fili chuckled and took a deep drag off the vile thing.
Yawning, Holly pulled the blanket over her and fell asleep.
It was sometime later when she heard talking. It was Bilbo and someone else talking. Maybe Bofur, she couldn't be sure. She also couldn't hear what was being said. And then it was quiet again. She yawned and settled back down.
And she dreamed of a big crack in the back wall of the cave. And then the floor opening up and swallowing them.
And then suddenly it was real and she was awake. Tangled in her blanket and backpack. Falling in a heap with Fili. All arms and legs and hair. And others fell on top of them until Holly thought she would be flattened.
She squawked, the only sound she could make.
But others made up for her lack of vocabulary with many curses in their own language and hers. And some other things she'd never heard before.
One by one the bodies were removed from her. "Stay down!" Fili whispered harshly to her. There were a great many legs surrounding her. And a little fighting and scuffling in the group. And then Fili was back at her side again, kneeling down next to her.
"Change! You must change now," he hissed to her. "We're in Goblintown. You have to hide." Worry was in his eyes as he looked through the others' legs and up at the group of backs surrounding them.
"What? Why? What's going on?" she asked, a little muddle-headed with sleep and shock. She felt a twinge in her stomach that wasn't from her. She looked up at Fili, his face full of worry.
"Goblins, orcs," he whispered. "They've taken the horses, and they'll take us too. You have to change. These beasts know no decency."
As Fili spoke, Holly changed size. The others began to move and Fili helped her up and pulled her hood up as she fumbled to secure her trousers and boots better.
"I still don't understand," she hissed at Fili.
"They'll... they'll rape you if they know you're female," he said and it hurt him to say it. "Then they'll beat you until you're dead. And then rape you again."
"Oh, I see," Holly said and frowned. Foul beasts, indeed. She squeezed his hand.
a/n: Well, that was quite the chapter! Hope everyone enjoyed it.