Chapter 24: Poisoned Blood
Fili, Kili, and Gailien leave the Banquet hall as casually as they can but as soon as the door closes behind them, Gailien snatches Kili's arm, wrapping it around her shoulder. It seems that she has broken the façade that he has been putting on as he begins to grunt, limping heavily. Fili takes his other arm as they help him down the short stairs.
"I'm sorry," he whimpers. "I thought I could handle it."
"You don't just handle poison, Kili," she chides, trying and somewhat failing to keep the bite from her tone. "Especially not from a Morgul arrow. Did you even get Oin to look at it?" Kili looks down to the ground in front of them, not answering.
"Morgul?!" Fili exclaims. He looks over Kili's scrunched face. "He's going to be alright, right? What exactly did you see?"
Gailien chews her cheek. She really doesn't want to tell either of them what she saw but she needs them to know the seriousness of what is happening. "What I saw was us reacting too late. I think I can heal him, but I need something first. We just need to get Kili onto a bed and not moving. The more you move, the faster it will spread." If it wasn't already entirely throughout his body, just slowly affecting his heart. "I'll worry about what I need."
Fortunately, their temporary house is not far from the hall at all and Fili kicks the door open. She knows that Kili's number one desire right now is to be with the company. And if Thorin saw exactly the pain that he is in right now, there is no way that he would be allowed to continue. As long as Gailien can find what she needs, Kili will heal just like the rest of the company believes him to be doing.
She debates bringing one of the beds down but it would arouse suspicion if one of the other Dwarves returned earlier than they could return it so Fili and Gailien help haul Kili up the stairs, one at a time.
His fingers dig into hers and Fili's shoulder as he tries to use his right leg. "Don't," Gailien says softly. "We can take your weight." Kili must be tired of denying as he shifts to his left entirely and hops up the stairs with their help. "I can't believe you were dancing tonight," she mutters.
"I was ignoring it well until you brought it up," he grunts as they finally reach the top.
"That's the way of the mind for you."
"Come on, Kee," Fili says, guiding him over to his bed. Gailien kicks her own cot out of the way to give them a direct path and they slowly lower him down onto the thin mattress. He sits on the edge, his fingers brushing over his injured thigh.
"Lie down, Polodren er," she instructs, pressing down on his shoulders softly. Kili lets her, his head falling onto the pillow.
"Polodren?"
"I've taught you what that means before," Gailien says, inspecting his leg. She tries to keep him talking as she does so. "Do you remember?"
Kili frowns, trying to think back to all their little sessions as the bandage around his leg is unwrapped. Her touch is painful as she lifts his leg to pull it away, but he plays with her attempts to distract him. "Does it mean handsome?" he asks, choking on laughter.
Gailien smiles softly. "No," she chuckles. "What about, Ech maethor veleg ar gornen?"
"You called me a warrior," Kili says. "And brave."
Fili looks to Gailien in appreciation as he stands near his brother's head. "Is there anything I can do?" he asks.
Gailien shakes her head, straightening back up. She reaches for her jacket lying over her bed and draws it on. "Stay here and watch over him for me. I need to go find Athelas. It has healing properties that should be able to take this poison out."
"I've never heard of it," Fili notes.
"It's called Kingsfoil is Common tongue." She bends down near Kili's head. He has a small smile despite the pain so clearly painted as well. They have time. She brushes the hair off his face then looks to Fili. "I'm going to ask Bard. If he doesn't know then I might need to go to the mainland, but we still have quite a bit of time. What I saw wasn't tonight."
She kicks off her shoes, swapping to her boots.
"Maybe we should tell Thorin," Fili suggests. "Or have someone go with you."
"I'll be fine. Just…stay here."
Gailien bounds down the stairs, her own limp heavily playing as she takes no regard to hide it. Without wasting another moment, Gailien jogs through Lake-town, trying to find her way through the paths in the little light. Quite a few people are still around town and she ducks through them, mumbling apologies randomly.
Finally, she finds her way to the familiar house and knocks on the door, pulling the jacket tighter around her. Her ears pick up the sound of footsteps belonging to someone that could only be Bard. Sure enough, he opens the door.
Bard's face (which never really smiles in the first place) darkens. "I am done with Dwarves," he growls. "Do not come back here." He begins to shut the door but Gailien's hands shoot out, holding the edge.
"Please. I just need to ask you something," she begs, looking at Bard through the closing gap. Though he doesn't open the door any further, he doesn't pull it closed either. "Kingsfoil. Do you know where I can find it?"
"Kingsfoil?" he questions. "Why would you need that?"
"Kili's hurt and the plant has healing properties. Do you know if I could find it here, or even on the mainland?"
Bard's jaw muscles protrude as he seems to have an internal debate. Half of his mind is telling him to not aid the Dwarves in any way, but he does not like to ignore those who need help. Besides, telling her wouldn't come to any harm for him or his family. "It's a weed. We feed it to the pigs. You'll be able to find it in any trough."
"A weed," she mumbles. Of course. They probably wouldn't know about its uses. "Thank you, really." She lets go of his door, giving him an appreciative smile before she skips into another jog, only this time, her eyes are darting around as she takes random turns to look for any pigs.
"Pigs. Pigs. Pigs. Pigs," she chants to herself darting around corners. "Pigs. Pigs…. Pigs!"
Three large pigs sleep in an enclosure. Their trough is only partially full but there are still the remains of some of their food in there. Gailien hoists herself up onto the fence, quickly looking around for any eyes that might spy on her peculiar actions but there are none. She swings herself into the enclosure, being sure not to wake the pigs who will surely squeal if they hear her. She looks into the trough, thanking her eyes for letting her see clearer than the blood of Men.
Fruits. Vegetables. Some other unidentifiable substances. And one batch of Athelas sitting right under a rotting apple. Gailien's hand dives in, taking the whole thing and holds it up in achievement. Now to get back to Kili.
She swings back over the fence, her boots landing heavily. The pigs awaken, and true to prediction, begin squealing loudly but Gailien is already sprinting back to the awaiting brothers. The plant stays tightly gripped between her palm and fingers, staying close to her chest so the resistance of the wind has no chance to blow them away (not that it could with her grip).
Back through the maze of the town she runs, twisting and turning, jumping over the water and using the boats as steppingstones. She has never felt so Elvish in her life. And she is a little timid to admit that she is almost proud of her lithe display of skills. She has always thought herself to odd to even resemble them, yet here she is with the grace of Legolas himself.
Finally, she reaches their building. The hall that the Dwarves are at still having merry music seep through its wall. She pushes the door open, which she had conveniently not shut completely on her way out, and almost leaps into the kitchen. She pulls a bowl from the cupboard and shoves the plant in. Grabbing a pestle, she begins to grind it up and uses what she can to make it into a paste.
She would need to use the Elven chant as well – just to make sure. The words are imprinted on her mind, taught from a young age to almost every Elf; whether it be by their mother or their commander.
Fili bounds down the steps, hearing the commotion below. He sees Gailien pacing with a bowl and pestle under her tucked arm. "You got it then?" he asks, stopping half-way down. Gailien looks up nodding.
"I do. I'll be up in a minute." Fili nods, retreating back up to his brother. Kili is sitting up in his bed, touching the skin around his wound. It is clearly infected – with poison apparently – and he feels awful for causing such a fuss. Fili slaps his hand away. "Stop touching it," he chides. "Gailien's back, she'll do a lot more than slap you if she sees you doing so."
"You think I'll still be able to go? To the mountain?" Kili asks.
"I'll carry you if I have to," Fili assures him. "But you better be down-right grateful that she's seen what she did. Morgul, Kee." He shakes his head, not believing that his brother has been so stupid to ignore the pain of Morgul poison.
"I am," Kili replies coyly.
Gailien comes up the steps, poised and ready with the paste in hand. She clicks her tongue as she sees Kili sitting up. At least he does not look anything like he did in her vision – besides a being on the paler side and dark circles under his eye. She wonders how she didn't notice his sickening state before.
Kili smiles bashfully, quickly lying back down before she can push him. "That's what I thought," she mutters, placing the bow next to his leg. She has already removed the bandage, which was painful enough, but this next process would be excruciating. She removes her jacket and leans closer to his head. "Open."
Kili opens his mouth and she shoves the material in there. His eyes widen partially as he realises what this means. Fili moves around the other side, taking the silent hint as well. Kili begins to show his true fear as the effects of the wound is not held behind any façade.
She scoops the paste into her fingers and nods to Fili who holds his shoulder and opposite knee down. Gailien's free hand presses his forearm into the table, his fists already clenched. The wound is blackening.
Without another moment to lose, Gailien presses the paste to his wound. The young prince's throat strains as he tries to contain the grunts and cries of pain, coming from the pressure and new substance entering his body.
Fili presses hard against his brother whose limbs are straining against his hold and Gailien has to use her elbow to keep his knee from jerking up to her. He squirms and writhes in agony as she rubs the paste in.
"Meno o ni a hon, I eliad annen annin, hon leitho o ngurth."
The Elven chant falls from her lips repetitively. It is an enchanting sight, her Elvish blood showing through. Her ears on full display with her hair tied back, emphasising her pointed features. Her eyes close, her sole focus on the flow of the words through her and into the Dwarf under her hands.
Kili's jaw begins to unclench as the pain begins to ebb away slowly as he and Fili stare at Gailien with wonder. The pain doesn't disappear entirely but transforms into a new sort of pain, the one belonging to a healing wound. Slowly, her hand retreats and her eyes open.
Kili and Fili watch her as she takes a step back, her hands held out in front of her as she watches Kili. Using his elbows, he pushes himself up and looks at his leg which is covered in this paste. Then her still face breaks and she takes a step forward. With the back of her clean hand, she slaps his chest harshly.
"You do not get to do that to people!" she exclaims. "You tell someone! Me, Fili, Thorin, Oin – just don't ever force me to have a vision of you on your deathbed!" Her hands drop back down as her shoulders sag. Kili's eyes are wide as saucers and Fili even takes a step back. "The stubbornness of DWARVES! You are an absolute foolish, stubborn-" her minds runs so fast that she can't even come up with enough insults "-idiot!"
Gailien quickly picks up the bowl, turns around, and storms back down the stairs. A few tears prickle in her eyes but she hastily wipes them away. This was supposed to be a good night. She never wants to feel the fear she had tonight again. She dumps the bowl into the water bucket to wash later, dipping her own hand in to wash them.
She still has to bind his leg back up but that paste won't move until she has the mental state to return. She wipes her now clean hands on her dress then places them on the edge of the counter, hunching forward.
Today has just been…a day. A storm of emotions.
Two heavy sets of footsteps come down the stairs and Gailien turns around to chide Kili for even thinking about getting out of the bed, but she can't find herself to yell at him again. His arm is around his brother's shoulders and he limps but that cheeky smile is back, even if it is a little smaller than usual.
She raises an eyebrow in question, crossing her arms and leans back against the counter as Kili unwraps his arm from Fili. He looks up at Gailien and slowly limps forward. Though he is still paler than usual, the circles under his eyes are beginning to lift.
Kili finally reaches her and instead of talking, he just wraps his arms around her. Gailien's stoic face breaks once again and she sighs with soft laughter mixed with a dry sob, wrapping her own arms around him. "Im naer," he says.
"You should be," she says in resignation. She lifts her head, looking at Fili and opens one of her arms. "Join the hug," she chuckles. Fili smiles to himself, marching forward and wraps his hands around the both of them. Kili places a kiss to her forehead and she smiles in content. "Either of you ever does something like that and I'll leave you for dead. Got that?"
The brothers laugh. She bathes in their hug for a few more moments before she sighs, dropping her hands. "I've got to get it bandaged up. And not a word of this to anybody unless you want them to know just how injured you are. You're going to that mountain."
"Yes, mam," Kili states.