Chapter Fifty-Three: Freefall


Emelia was surprised, and slightly ecstatic, to discover that the caves under Dale did, in fact, exist. Bofur seemed surprised as well, although he did a much better job of hiding his nonplussed look better than she did. The three of them stood at the entrance, staring down into the dark tunnel with mouths slightly agape. Kili shifted in his spot, clearing his throat in such a way that it added to the silence rather than detracted from it.

They found the entrance at the back of a partially caved in cellar, obscured by years of built up dirt and ash. Emelia glanced back, peering out just enough to see the cracked, crooked stairs up to the street. It was the fifteenth place they looked. And even that was on a whim. Bofur had suggested it once they started getting desperate, once they began to think that the caves were nothing more than a myth, something made up to give them hope, only to take it away once they had started to feel something along the same vein as positivity. It had been Kili who spotted the crack next to the cellar and the drafty air squeezing out the sides confirmed it. After a few more moments of silence, they went to work removing the rubble, unearthing a gap in the stone that looked like a gaping mouth trying to swallow them more than anything else.

"So, who wants to go first?" Emelia asked, rubbing her hands together nervously. "No big deal, but there might be a troll down there."

"I believe it would smell profoundly worse," Bofur said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Emelia, having experienced it up close, couldn't help but disagree. Trolls, as a general rule of thumb, smelled like something freshly dead. They smelled like blood and guts and evacuated bowels. The caves, while not as poignant, smelled just as bad. They smelled like something that had been dead for a long time. Stale and metallic, like the body had cooled and been forgotten.

She felt a chill run down her spine and she almost asked them if she could wait outside. Realizing that Bofur was still watching her, she cleared her throat and smiled at him awkwardly. "You're right. It just seems like the kind of place where evil things lurk."

Kili moved back from the rocks he dislodged. He whipped his hands on the bottom of his coat before he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. "You're shaking. What's wrong?"

"It's cold." She shrugged her arm out his grasp and turned back to the opening.

"Would you like my coat?" Kili asked, tone indicating that, despite his willingness to let her little white lie slide, he didn't believe it in the slightest.

She shook her head. She wiggled her arms, trying to get the blood flowing back to her frozen fingers and hands. Kili grabbed her hands, smirking at her cheekily, and tucked them into his coat pockets, intertwining his fingers with hers. Bofur immediately rolled his eyes at the affectionate display and made himself busy doing something else. He bent down next to them and dug through the rocks, pushing some aside until he found what he was looking for. He next ripped off a thick strip of fabric and wrapped it around the stick.

"Gloin would be better suited for this," He grumbled, trying to get a light with a flat, sharp rock against the stone of the cellar. It sparked a few times before it finally lit the fabric on fire, instantly throwing the collapsed space into sharp relief. "This won't last long, but it's better than fumbling through the dark."

They walked slowly at first. Emelia and Kili were still able to hold hands inside his coat pocket for the first few yards before it got too narrow and they were forced to walk slightly at an angle. The further they walked, the more the tunnel felt like a throat constricting around them, narrowing enough that they had to walk single file.

"How far do you think they go?" Emelia asked, rubbing her arms as the chill of the cave, which was about ten degrees colder than the air outside, started to get to her again.

"If what Nori told me was correct," Bofur paused, glancing over his shoulder at them. "And I wouldn't trust that, if I were you, they connect all the way to the mountain."

"We do not have much time," Kili reminded them, grabbing the torch from Bofur. He seemed distant, lost in his own world of spiraling thoughts the further underground they went. It was hard for Kili. She knew that. She just didn't know what to say to him to make it easier. He was normally so good at making her feel better, at reassuring her that the world would keep spinning even when it felt like she as careening off into nothingness. Emelia couldn't do that for him, in this instance. She couldn't tell him that they were going to find what they were looking for under Dale.

She felt a sharp sting of pain in her chest, realizing that she might have dragged them both down there for nothing. It was her suggestion, her idea to go on this side quest that, if Bofur's hunches about what actually happened in the caves was true, would only cause Kili more pain.

"So, we just go straight?" Emelia asked, looking down the expanse in front of them, apprehension filling her up. It was very dark, even with the added light from the fire, and cold. Water dripped down the sides of the rock, pooling at the bottom and making the hard ground slick and hazardous.

"I don't know," Bofur admitted, eyeing everything like he was cataloging it. Kili did the same and Emelia got the impression that they knew a lot more about the rock than she did, that they were seeing something in the grain and sharp edges.

"Let's go?" Emelia asked, waiting for one of them to move. Kili glanced over at her, eyes clearing up slightly as he refocused on them. He nodded, holding out his hand for her to take. She laced her fingers through his again, squeezing harder than before.

They moved down the tunnel slowly, Emelia in the middle, Kili in front now, Bofur the back. For the most part she kept her gaze forward, zeroed in on the back of Kili's head like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. The walls of the tunnel unnerved her, made her feel very small and closed in. She kept that thought to herself, however, deciding that it was probably best not to mention that little fact to two dwarves who, as far as she could tell, preferred the darkness of caves and the solid strength in stone to everything else.

She would have to get used to it, if they lived long enough to give her the time to.

She gripped Kili's hand just a little tighter as the tunnel dipped downward, descending deep into the earth until even the air tasted unfamiliar.

"Are there side tunnels?" Kili asked, holding the torch up a bit higher. The yellow light spread out further, illuminating the path just a bit more than before. Emelia caught a glimpse of paint on the walls that was smeared and cracked from the cold water dripping down. Kili glanced at it as well, pausing for a moment to lean forward and rub his hand along it. He scraped at it with a blunt nail.

"Miners marks," Bofur offered, leaning over Emelia to look at the markings. "Old ones, too."

"Is this an Iron Beard mark?" Kili asked, smiling slightly.

"Aye."

"I thought they were just a story." Kili turned around, looking at Bofur with slight wonder in his eyes. Emelia stepped around him, face scrunched in confusion. Iron Beard sounded like some sort of off brand pirate. "They were real?"

"Apparently," Bofur said, leaning back. "I always preferred the Stone Hammer."

"The Stone Hammer?" Kili sounded thoroughly indignant at the very mention. Emelia was even more confused. "You're daft or stupid."

"And why is that? The Stone Hammer are noble in name and action. Much more so than those pansy Iron Beard."

"You're joking?"

"What's going on?" Emelia asked, turning her head to look at the mark again. It looked vaguely man-shaped, if she were to ascribe it to a category she knew, and was covered in hair. Above its head were more of those weird shaped letters like the ones on Kili's pipe. Khuzdul, she remembered. She reached out and ran her fingers along it, tracing the sharp angles carefully. "What does it say?"

"The Iron Beard slayed a thousand dragons."

"Pure horse shit, if I ever smelt it. The Iron Beards stole those stories from the Stone Hammer and embellished them."

"The Stone Hammer were nothing but drunken thieves."

"Your mother did you a disservice lad, if that's the tale she told you."

"Watch it."

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Everyone knows it."

"Is this like the dwarvish version of hieroglyphs?" Emelia asked, turning around. She paused, looking between the two now hostile looking dwarves. Kili had his arms folded his across his chest, nostrils flared, eyebrows drawn together in frown. Bofur leaned back against the wall and glared back, disagreement written clearly all over. "What's happening?" She gestured between them, waiting for one of them to explain what they were on about.

"He thinks the Stone Hammer accomplished more."

"Is that a tool or…"

"A tool?" Bofur sounded truly offended. Kili smirked, nodding at Emelia with enthusiasm. "My father would be rolling in his grave."

"The Iron Beards are a legendary clan of old. They killed more dragons…"

"Lizards probably and called them dragons."

"I'm sorry, are these real people or just stories?"

Bofur and Kili glared at each other again. The small space was filled with silence as they seemed to forget, for a moment, that Emelia was there. They turned to look at her when she cleared her throat thickly, asking her question again. Bofur pushed himself off the wall and turned towards her. "I suppose nobody knows. It's a tale all dwarflings are told. The Iron Beards and the Stone Hammer supposedly conquered all of Middle Earth and then some before they killed each other off."

"So you guys pick sides?"

"Of course," Kili said, like there was no other alternative. "The Stone Hammers were bloodthirsty, war mongering, thieves. Nothing more."

"Now, wait just a moment. You cannot taint the poor lassie before she's heard the stories. We'll let her make up her own mind. I'm sure she'll be sensible and pick the Stone Hammers like all decent folk do."

Emelia smiled, biting her lip to keep it from being too obvious. "So every dwarfling gets told the stories?" They nodded, seeming to put their momentary conflict behind them. "Can you tell me?" She asked, stepping back as Kili took his spot in the front of the line once again. He glanced back over at the mark on the wall once more before he started walking again, mood more uplifted than it had been when they started their journey down the tunnel.

"My mother always told it the best, although Thorin sometimes had a few as well."

"Thorin told you stories?" Emelia tried to picture it, finding the mental image both comical and endearing. It was also sad, if she was being honest, to think about Thorin in such a carefree way. There hadn't been a single moment of her time with Thorin that she had got even a hint of him doing something as loving as telling his nephews stories. She knew he loved them. She knew that in different circumstances, he was probably quite likable and warm. It was all the more upsetting for her to think about how he could be and how he was. The Thorin that had banished her wasn't the Thorin that spent his time indulging in stories for two curious young dwarflings. She was certain that he wasn't Thorin at all, not at the moment at least.

"Sometimes," Kili said, voice quiet. "When he wasn't so serious."

Emelia didn't press the subject. In fact, she thought it best not bring up Thorin again, just to avoid the inevitable tension that came with him, if even just in name.

"My favorite story growing up was The Giving Tree," Emelia said, hoping to mitigate some of the awkwardness that had suddenly descended upon them. Kili glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow in a gesture for her to continue. "It's about a boy and tree. When he was younger he used to visit her every day just to spend time with her. As he got older he started coming less and taking more. Eventually, the tree didn't have anything left to give."

"That's depressing," Bofur said, causing both Emelia and Kili to turn around and scowl at him. "Sorry."

"How did it end?" Kili asked, turning left slightly as the tunnel curved. It smelled fouler and fouler the further they went, forcing Emelia to cover her nose with her coat to keep from breathing it in too much.

"He came back to her and spent time with her like he did as a kid," Emelia said voice muffled by the fabric. "I'm not telling it right, but when you read it, it's a lot nicer than it seems."

"My favorite was Inalebrang the Iron Beard." Surprisingly, Bofur said nothing. Although she did hear him emit a slight scoff. "They say he was so strong he could split the earth open with a single hammer swing. His daughter and wife had beards longer than a tree and twice as wide."

"Sounds legit," Emelia said, trying to picture the women Kili described. "When did these clans supposedly exist?"

"Nobody really knows."

The path widened suddenly, giving them a bit more room to breathe. Emelia moved to walk next to Kili, glancing up at him and holding eye contact with him. He looked worn down to her. He had dark circles under his eyes that looked like bruises. She knew that part of that was because of his leg, that his body was overworking itself to keep heal as he pushed himself beyond his limit. She had caught him favoring it when he thought she wasn't looking. He limped every so slightly and leaned against the wall whenever he got the chance. She was sure she looked just as haggard, although for different reasons.

Bofur moved to stand next to them, hands tucked into his belt as he surveyed the space in front of them. It was large, large enough to fit the people of Lake-town, if they squeezed together and gave up their notions of personal space. Kili stepped further into the space, holding the torch aloft enough that it lit up the room. Emelia deflated slightly when the other end came into focus. Stacked on top of each other, crumbled and broken rocks extended all the way up to the ceiling of the cavern, blocking them from going any further. Kili walked forward, leaving the other two standing by the entrance with matching expressions on their faces. When he reached the rocks, he paused, head tilting up to look at them in full before he ran his hand along them, knuckles brushing the jagged edges.

"So it is true," Bofur said, voice somber and barely audible.

"What?"

"If there's one thing we dwarves know, it's stone."

"And that?" Emelia pointed to the cave in, knowing what he would say, but asking it all the same.

"Didn't happen by accident."

Emelia immediately walked towards Kili. She stopped about ten feet from him, careful to give him enough space to process what he was looking at one his own. He walked up and down the length of the rubble, looking up and down as if he was trying to confirm that he was actually looking at it and it wasn't something his mind had conjured up to trick him. He walked the length twice. When he started to make the path for the third time, Emelia stepped in. "Kili?"

"He knew," Kili said, keeping his back to her. Her hands clenched into fits at her side to keep from reaching out to him, thinking it better to let him work through things on his own before she interfered. She could only imagine the connections he was making in his mind, the conclusions he was drawing based on the collapsed rock in from of him. "Thorin knew this happened and he still let himself succumb to it."

Emelia glanced over her shoulder at Bofur, holding his gaze for a fraction of a second. He shook his head and turned around, making his lack of ability to help very clear. Emelia turned back to Kili, taking a few timid steps closer to him. She felt out her hands and hesitantly touched his back, flinching when he jumped at the contact. She moved her hands along his shoulders as she moved to stand next to him, coiling her arm around him. "I don't think it was his fault."

She felt like a traitor to herself for defending Thorin, but she knew that Kili needed to hear it. Besides, she did not think, at his core, Thorin was a bad person. Perhaps a bit selfish and hardheaded at the worst of times, but not altogether bad by any means. Her anger towards him had somewhat dissipated, leaving it nothing more than a simmer deep in her gut that flared up every once and while when she thought too much about what happened.

"He saw his grandfather fall to Gold Sickness. He knew it was in his line," Kili said, gesturing to the rock with shaky hands.

"We don't know if Thror did this," Emelia said, moving to stand in front of him, hoping that if he looked at her instead of the rock, he would calm down a bit. He had a right to be upset and she didn't want to take that away from him, but their time was limited and they had already wasted so much of it simply trying to find the caves. She instantly felt bad. He had never tried to get her to not to be upset. He had let her be angry and sad and scared and everything else in between. He deserved the same from her. "I'm sorry."

"I thought it was a myth, like Iron Beard and Stone Hammer." She chewed her lip nervously, watching the cogs turning in his mind. "Do you think Thorin," He stopped, stepping back from her. "What if it happens to me, or Fili?"

"It won't."

"You cannot possibly know that."

"Kili," Emelia started, forcing him to look at her. "We can fix this."

"Do you hear that?" Bofur called, interrupting Emelia before she could continue. She hadn't the foggiest where she was going, but she knew she needed to say something to help him. Emelia popped up on her toes and peered over Kili's shoulder at Bofur, finding his timing a bit less than ideal. She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to elaborate, mouth drawn together in a thin line. "It think it's coming from above us."

Emelia strained her ears, cursing her own human limitations once again. Kili seemed to hear what Bofur was referring to and looked up, eyebrows drawing together even more.

"Footsteps," He said quietly.

Emelia felt like her lungs dropped out of her chest. "They're marching for the mountain."

They were all still for a moment, not a one of them having anything to say. Kili stepped back from Emelia slowly, gaze panning the entire expanse of the top of the cave. Bofur and Emelia did the same. It only took them another moment to start running back the way they came, each of them having realized on their own, that they had run out of time.

Bofur led the way as they sprinted back up the tunnel. The light from the torch behind them made their shadows look garish and disfigured along the walls, adding the sudden stress. Emelia found it incredibly lucky that it was a straight shot down the collapsed chamber, otherwise she was certain she never could have found her way out. Bofur moved faster than she had ever seen him, pulling in his shoulders when the path narrowed without ever slowing down. Pushing her legs to keep up, Emelia, tried to keep his head in her sights. After a few minutes of silent running, the tunnel started lightening up again.

When they made it back to the cellar, Kili threw the torch to the ground, allowing Emelia to take the stairs first. Bofur skidded to a halt just outside it, looking left and right frantically, ducking just in case a guard came along to patrol.

It became clear, however, after a few seconds that when Thranduil and Bard marched on the mountain, they did so with every able-bodied person within a hundred miles.

"They left them alone?" Bofur asked, voice incredulous. He looked around again, apparently unable to understand why Bard and Thranduil would have done such a thing.

Emelia wasn't surprised in the slightest. Disappointed, perhaps, in Bard for making that kind of decision, but she expected that from Thranduil. She thought, in fact, that she would be more surprised if he hadn't taken all of his elves with him. Despite bringing food with him, Emelia knew without a shadow of a doubt that his goodwill was entirely selfish.

Still, Emelia found the emptiness of Dale unnerving. It felt like a ghost town, lifeless and haunted.

"You don't think they'll try and take the mountain, do you?"

The thought had occurred to Emelia, but she never thought it would actually get to that. In her mind it would come down to them posturing in front of Thorin, flexing their metaphorical muscles until he finally relented and gave them what they were asking for. Taking something like Erebor by force seemed a bit like throwing rocks at a skyscraper and expecting it to collapse. Of course, Thranduil had made his intentions known, but she never took him as seriously as she should have. That was clear to her now.

He would throw stones until the mountain came down in front of him.

"If it comes down to it."

Kili's scowl deepened, his face hardening as his hands clenched into fists. Almost out of reflex, Emelia wrapped her hand around his, fingers unable to wrap around his hand, though she tried with repeated coaxing. "At least they made our job a bit easier," Bofur said, apparently trying to lighten the mood with a bit of sarcasm.

Emelia and Kili both looked over at him with matching expressions of annoyance. Bofur shrugged his shoulders, clearly more bothered by the things happening around him than his own morbid sense of humor. After a moment, during which the three of them surveyed the crumbling town once more, Kili sighed and dropped his head to his chest, rubbing the bride of his nose with his free hand.

"Bofur, head north and gather them up. Emelia and I will come from the south."

Bofur looked in the direction he was being sent, face impassive and impossible to read. The only hint that Emelia got of his feelings was the slight twitch of his beard as he worked his mouth nervously, chewing on his lower lip ever so slightly. It helped with her nerves to see him as unsure as she was. She supposed they had about as much experience with this sort of thing as she did. She had never asked them, never thought to see if orc attacks were common on civilian populations or if this was some kind of new horror that no one knew how to deal with any more than she did.

"Be careful," Bofur said, looking at them both significantly. Emelia nodded, gripping Kili's hand tighter until she was sure she was cutting of his circulation. He squeezed back.

"We will." Kili started to pull her back, turning away from Bofur as he left them in front of the cellar that led to the caves. Emelia felt the all too familiar pang of dread in her stomach again once Bofur was gone, but she forced it away so she could focus.

They walked in silence through the city, hands swinging between them. If the situation was different, Emelia would have found it delightfully clichéd and romantic. Instead, it felt like a lifeline tethering them together, grounding them in the reality of just how bad things had turned since they got to Lake-town. Kili found her gaze after a moment of walking, pulling her a little bit closer as they walked, and planted a swift kiss on the side of her head.

There was something off about it, something that she couldn't put her finger on, but she didn't care for it and she wanted to rewind the last five seconds and do it again.

They took the most stable looking steps down to the edge of town. Emelia knew that a large group of people had settled down there, close to a small creek that flowed past the south border and in some of the more intact buildings. She knew Bard's children were there, along with Hiron and Galon, and Alfrid, if she remembered correctly.

Much like Thranduil's tent, Emelia could feel the warmth from the fire's before she saw them. Although there was something decidedly different. For one thing, the warmth was hardly enough to stave off the oppressive cold more than a few degrees. For another, the number of people huddled around the fires made her heart ache just knowing that they could have benefited from the tent more than Thranduil.

"Emelia!" She jumped at the sound of Tilda's voice, yanking slightly on Kili's arm. She blushed and gave him an apologetic look before she turned to Tilda, unlacing her hand from Kili. "When did you come back?"

Tilde smiled up at her, nose red and lips chapped from the cold, but otherwise fine. "A few hours ago."

Tilda tugged on her coat and pulled her through the maze of shivering people, past a half-crumbled stone arch, and over to a spot next to a free standing wall. Sigrid looked up when they approached and immediately stood up, pulling a shivering Hiron with her. Bain continued stoking the small fire, frustration showing on his face at the challenge of it. Kili walked over and crouched down next to him, injured leg wobbling ever so slightly underneath him. Bain looked at him warily, but didn't refuse the help offered.

"Hello Sigrid," Emelia said, smiling down at Tilda when she wrapped her arms around her waist. "Doing okay?"

Sigrid nodded but said nothing else. Emelia walked over and picked up Galon, moving the flap of her coat aside in the hopes that her own body heat would warm him up a bit. He snuggled closer to her quickly, cold hands pressing against her chest.

"We found a nice place for everyone to stay," Emelia said, hoping her voice sounded casual and not at all urgent. Sigrid noticed at once. Bain would have too, she thought, if it weren't for Kili distracting him. "Do you want to see it?" She asked, speaking more to Galon.

"Is it warm?" He asked, causing her chest muscles to convulse under his hands.

"We can build fire," Kili said, standing up and turning to them. He touched the top of Galon's head, ruffling his mop of wild red curls in a way that made the boy smile. "Nice and big. You will forget you were ever cold in the first place."

"I do not like this place," Hiron said, tugging on Sigrid's skirt. "I want to go home."

"Soon." Sigrid's promise was bit hollow to Emelia, but it seemed to comfort Hiron well enough.

"Do you want to see it? There are pretty drawings all over the walls and beautiful, rainbow colored rocks." Hiron and Galon both smiled even wider, causing Emelia to feel guilty for exaggerating the niceties of the caves. It was an ends to a means, however, and she would lie straight to their face to get them there, if it came to it. She would tie them up in sacks, ignore their screaming and crying, and drag them there if she had to just to keep them safe. It alarmed her to think about the lengths she was willing to go to, but the thought of them still being above ground when the orcs arrived reaffirmed her resolve.

"What is this place?" Bain asked, suspicion clear on his face.

"Caves. Under the city," Kili said, sharing another look with Emelia. He seemed to be of the same mindset that lying to Bard's children would only slow them down. "They will keep you safe."

"From what?"

"Orcs."

"Da says they aren't coming."

"Your father is stubborn," Kili said. Emelia's face heated up, fully aware of the fact that Kili only had her word to go on.

"No more so than you, dwarf," A voice behind them said, clearly having been eavesdropping on their entire conversation.

Emelia tensed and turned around, scowling at Alfrid as he skulked over to them. Kili stepped back to stand next to her, hand slipping down to grip her hip in an almost painful way. "You survived the fire."

"Of course." Alfrid folded his arms over his chest haughtily, looking down his pimply nose at them as if he thought it shouldn't be a surprise he had survived. Emelia felt Kili squeeze her hip tighter. "Come crawling back for our help, have you?"

"The opposite, actually," Kili said, lips tight, eyes narrowed. Emelia glanced to her left and shifted Galon to a more comfortable position. The people at nearby fires had started to take notice of the conversation. More specifically, they had started to notice Kili. A man who relied heavily on a wooden crutch struggled to his feet, glaring openly at the dwarf as he gestured to his neighbor. A woman, whose head looked like someone had taken a rock to it, touched her bandage gingerly as angry tears welled up in her bright blue eyes.

"Kee," Emelia whispered, nudging him to look away from Alfrid.

"We are trying to help," Kili insisted, removing his arm from around her waist.

"Where were you when the dragon attacked us?" A man asked, an accusatory look on his face. "Hidden away in your mountain like a mole, that's where."

"We suffered the dragon fire."

"You released the dragon on us and left us to die."

"Hey," Emelia snapped, turning on the shrewd woman with a glare. "That isn't what we're talking about."

"It should be!" Someone yelled from behind them, causing both Emelia and Kili to spin around. It seemed everyone was more interested in them, or blaming Kili, than they were with stoking their fires or trying to keep warm. There were more of them than she realized, more pairs of eyes boring into them like knives. "Why should we trust either of you?"

"There are orcs coming," Kili implored, echoing what Emelia had been saying on repeat for days. It felt good, more than she could even say, to have him trust her so implicitly and fully. She supposed she was more of a mouthpiece for Gandalf in that sense, but no one seemed to be keen on listening to him, so she hadn't expected much better for herself. Thorin, Bard, and Thranduil certainly didn't care, or if they did, were too concerned with their own goals to give it much thought. Kili hadn't even talked to Gandalf and yet he was there, surrounded by a group of humans who probably hated him for simply being a dwarf, trying to help them based on just her word alone.

It was more romantic gesture than flowers, in Emelia's book.

"What a load of rubbish."

"Oh shut up, Alfrid," Emelia said, rounding on him. "Why the hell does it matter if he's a dwarf? He's trying to help save your lives. We found a place that you can hide and ride it out. That's all that you should care about. A place to send your children so they won't have survived a dragon, only to be slaughtered by orcs."

The people of Lake-town lanced back and forth between themselves. An uncomfortable silence fell over them all. Emelia had experience enough of them over the last few months to not be bothered by them anymore. She watched the woman with the bandage think it over before she nodded, taking a step closer to them. "Show us."

The others murmured their agreement, nodding their assent as they seemed to realize neither Kili nor Emelia had any reason to lie to them, nor had much more of an option to sit out in the cold and freeze.

Emelia practically collapsed in on herself with relief. She smiled at Kili, who looked just as relieved as she was, and immediately turned to Sigrid and Bain, already thinking about the logistics of moving everyone efficiently and without incident. If Bofur hadn't faced the same sort of argument, he should already be in the process of getting his group of people into the cave. If they were lucky, he might have even had time to get a fire going, but she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"You're up to something," Alfrid said, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Emelia scowled at him. "I still haven't forgotten the rock."

"I'm about this close to make you eat your own hat, Alfrid," Emelia seethed, realizing that her tolerance of the man had completely expired, if she ever really had any at all. "Gather up only what you need to stay warm." She turned her attention back to the other people, turning her back on Alfrid as she gave him one more withering glare. "We have to be quick."

They all stared at her, glancing back to Kili and Alfrid before they started moving. The courtyard exploded in activity, forcing Emelia to step back to avoid being bowled over. Alfrid scoffed angrily but went to gather up his own things as well.

"I love you." Emelia jumped, realizing that she had been caught staring at the back of Alfrid's head. She turned to Kili, blushing at the look on his face.

"Stop," She said, moving to wrap her arms around his waist.

"If you had accepted my proposal, I would point out that you would make a fantastic princess."

Emelia pinched him, tipping her head back so she could make eye contact. "But I haven't, so you shouldn't."

"You're so difficult." She smirked and kissed his chin.

"Ask me again when this is all over."

He rolled his eyes and leaned down, touching his forehead to hers. "You'll give me an actual answer?"

"Probably."

"Em."

"Yes. But I think you already know my answer."

"It will be nice to hear." He kissed her, stepping back after a moment so he could go help the people get ready to go. He winked at her and turned around, bending down to help an older woman stand up. She looked up at him, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape, as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up into an unsteady standing position. She blushed and Emelia had to bite her lip to keep from smiling too widely.

"Emelia." Tilda tugged on her arm, pulling her back. "Sigrid needs help."

"Sorry," Emelia said, glancing over at Kili one more time as she walked over Sigrid to help her with the twins. "He's distracting."

"You mean his backside is distracting."

"Tilda!" Emelia wheeled around, unable to stop herself from laughing out loud. Tilda smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Sigrid told me that."

"Sigrid told you what?" Sigrid asked, wrapping a blanket around Hiron's shoulders. She cocked her head to the side, eyes scanning their small little camp as she tried to take inventory of what they would need to take with them. "Should we bring firewood?"

Emelia nodded.

"Emelia was staring at Kili's backside. Remember when you did that to Ylder."

Sigrid blushed crimson. Bain looked up, mouth twisting slightly in response to the thought of one of his sisters spending her time ogling some random guy in town. "I did not."

"She did," Tilda whispered, apparently quite proud of herself. "She just won't admit it because she got caught by Da once."

"Is Ylder cute?" Emelia asked, bending down to pile up the extra blankets they had.

"He was," Sigrid said, face suddenly quite ashen and drawn looking. Emelia looked up, confused for a moment before she understood the implication behind Sigrid's words. "I think we're ready."

Emelia nodded, allowing Sigrid to change the conversation in whatever way she wished. "Stay close to me," Emelia told them, looking over at Kili to see if they were ready.

He was currently trying to coax and older gentlemen into leaving behind his collection of valuables that had, apparently, survived both a dragon and the trek to Dale, only to be left behind at the last moment. Kili shook his head at something the man said and folded his arms over his chest, pointing to the blanket next to him. The man's wife made a big show of slapping the tarnished gold cup from her husband's hand before she marched over to where everyone was gathering, muttering to herself about how fifty some odd years of dealing with the same thing. Kili glanced the man, who merely rolled his eyes and followed her dutifully. When he passed by her, Emelia got a good look at him for the first time and immediately had to bite her tongue from saying anything nasty. If she was remembering correctly, and there was a possibility that she wasn't considering almost directly after she was attacked by orcs, but she thought that man was the one who refused to give her poppy seeds.

She shook her head. Bitter wasn't a good look for her, even if it was hard to be otherwise knowing that Kili still wasn't back to full health.

Kili squeezed her hand as he passed by, heading to the front of the group. Hitching Galon higher up on her hip, she pushed Tilda forward to walk with the throng. Bain made sure that both his sisters were moving before he trailed behind, throwing furtive glances over his shoulders. His shoulders were slumped, but he didn't seem like he wanted to protest the idea of keeping his sisters safe. Emelia moved over to him and grabbed his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"You okay, Bain?"

"No."

Emelia nodded, accepting his answer without pressing him.

He smiled slightly and walked ahead, joining the throng of people following Kili. The dwarf in question looked back at the same moment she looked forward, holding her gaze over all the people. Fleetingly, and perhaps irresponsibly, the wondered what her parents would think of her as she stood there, helping people take cover from a threat that seemed to come straight from Revelations. She wondered if they would be proud, or scared, or perhaps a little bit of both. She wondered what they would think of Kili and his people and their home.

She wondered what it would be like to show them.

Of course, she would never find out.

Kili frowned, seemingly aware that her mind had started to wander. He gestured to one of the older men in the front, pointing up a set of stairs to the left. The man nodded and hobbled onward, allowing Kili the chance to walk back down to her.

"Melia," Galon said, tugging on her coat and pulling her back to reality.

"Sorry, I got lost in my own thoughts."

"Em," Kili came to stand in front of her. "You'll get left behind."

"Right, sorry." Kili frowned, but said nothing. He reached down and grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together so they could walk together.

The silence that fell over them was thick and permeating, but Emelia couldn't bring herself to break it after they started moving again. Galon's weight in her arms seemed to ground her a bit, keep her from feeling like she was going to float away. Kili kept glancing at her, eyebrows knitted together in concern, but she never told him that thinking about her parents had brought up an uncomfortable question that she had been mulling about for weeks but still hadn't quite found the answer to.

What would happen to her if she died here?

Would she wake back up with her parents like nothing had happened, or would the world have kept spinning and Kessog, Alaska have moved on without her? Would Eddy remember her?

Perhaps she would actually die and all her worrying was for nothing.

Kili squeezed her hand and held out his other arm, fingers moving to ask for Galon. Emelia held him closer to her, unable to part with him. He pulled his arm back and sighed, holding his arm stiff to help her down the steps so she wouldn't fall. They had made it back to the cellar entrance during her mental wandering. Bofur was waiting for them on the outside, nursing a newly blackened eye with a sour look on his face. He nodded at the people who passed him by, inclining his head to each as they entered one by one.

"Some old bird got me with a spoon," He said, touching the tender skin around his eye.

"You almost certainly deserved it, Bofur," Kili said.

"Is that everyone?"

"This little guy is the last." Emelia help up her little companion. "Galon, this is my good friend Bofur."

"Hello, Mister," Galon said. "You're a dwarf too."

"He makes toys," Emelia said.

"Aye, and I think I might just have something with me." Bofur made a big show of looking through his coat pockets, tapping them with his tongue poking out. "Ah, here we are." He fished out a small bundle, causing Galon to smile brightly. He unwrapped the dirty fabric and held it out, showing the little boy the intricately carved statue. It looked like the one he had shown Emelia after they left Rivendell, but it was different somehow, less finished than she remembered. "Miss Emelia asked me to make this little one for her brother."

Her chest convulsed, but she refused to allow it to show on her face.

She remembered it clearly. She had still been under the impression that she would get to go home. Returning without a souvenir had seemed so bad at the time.

"You actually did?"

"Well, I started to. I got interrupted by a few thousand goblins. I couldn't quite find the time after that."

Galon held out his hand and wrapped it around the toy, holding it up with a genuine smile on his face. "Are you going to share with your brother?" Galon nodded, holding the toy close to him like he had just been presented with pure gold. "Promise?" Galon nodded again, more vigorously. "We should get him inside."

"I'll take the lad," Bofur said.

Emelia hesitantly handed Galon over to Bofur, noticing that, now that he had the toy in his possession, he didn't seem to care who was carrying him. She watched them descend into the cellar, feeling her anxiety building once again. Once she was sure Galon wouldn't be able to hear her, she rounded on Kili, pulling her hand out of his so she could pace in peace.

"I'm okay."

"You're not."

She paused and looked over at him. "I'm not."

He folded his arms over his chest and waited for her to continue. She opened her mouth to elaborate, to open the flood gates of her racing thoughts to him in the hopes that he might help.

She didn't get the chance however, because the earth beneath their feet shuddered, groaning and creaking like old bones. It stilled for a moment before it happened again, more violent than before. The world was quiet after that and Emelia thought she might have imagined it, save for the shrill screech that pierced the air and made her blood run cold.

Emelia knew that sound.

She closed her eyes and took three increasingly shallow breaths, waiting for a moment. She pressed her shaking hands together and counted backwards from ten before she opened her eyes.

The second screech seemed to echo in her chest, interrupting her heartbeats and freezing her lungs. It seemed the time for waiting was over. They were no longer staring over the edge of a cliff, waiting to step back or plummet. They were freefalling, speeding towards the ground without knowing what was waiting at the bottom. Emelia and Kili turned to each other simultaneously, about a thousand different playing emotions on their faces. Kili looked like he was drinking her in while he had the chance. She did the same, considering herself far luckier than she deserved to have met him when she did.

Time had slipped away from them. It always seemed to be doing that.

The third screech sent them into action, breaking their gazes from each other as they both started running in opposite directions to grab the nearest weapon.

It had begun.


Lol, I was clearly feeling very dramatic when I finished this. The Battle starts next chapter, so get pumped! Just a head's up, the events will not take place in the same way they did in the movie. It just wouldn't work in my narrative, so I thought it better to rewrite in a way that suits my story, rather than shoehorning in things in a way that doesn't feel natural.

Anyway, reviews, as always, help me so much as I move forward.

Thanks again for the support throughout this entire journey! I know you guys are concerned about who lives and who dies, but that will be clear in the next few chapters, so the wait is finally (almost) over. Good or bad ;)