Baylee's brows furrowed as she started to regain consciousness; her head ached horribly and her body felt like lead. Before she could even open her eyes, her ears were filled with wails of anguish and groans of pain while her nose was assaulted by the smell of woodsmoke. Just as she was starting to question why she was hearing and smelling such things, visions of fire and Smaug's terrible face flashed through her mind.
Her eyes shot open and, with a small gasp, she bolted upright. Doing such made her brain pound against the inside of her skull, though, and she groaned in pain. Clenching her eyes shut again, she cradled her head in her hands for a moment and tried her best to will the pain away.
After a few minutes, the throbbing mostly subsided, allowing her to open her eyes and see the devastation that surrounded her: People mourning the loss of their loved ones and their homes; others were tending to those who had been injured in the attack; and still more were trying to salvage what they could from whatever washed ashore and whatever floated in the shallows.
Directly in front of her was the worst sight of all: The smoldering remains of Laketown. Almost no buildings had been left standing and those that did still stand would soon collapse due to how damaged they were. In some places, there weren't even pilings left sticking up out of the water.
"Valar help us," she breathed, feeling her eyes beginning to sting with tears. It was as she went to wipe them away that she discovered that her hands were bound together. She stared at the rope in shock, wondering both how she hadn't noticed it sooner and why her hands were bound in the first place. "What the…?"
"Sire, she's awake."
Hearing the unwelcomed voice, she frowned and turned to find Alfrid squeezing water out of some large, furry garment. Near him stood the Master, a contemplative expression on his face as he stood there, twirling his thin mustache. He looked down at Baylee and a somewhat relieved smile came to his lips.
"Ah, Mistress Baggins! Good to see you awake, dear," he told her as he stopped twirling his mustache.
"Why are my hands bound?" she demanded.
The Master looked back at Baylee, a pitying expression now on his face. "You gave us quite a fright, my dear. We were rowing out of the city when we saw you and one of Bard's br—ah, one of Bard's children—at the belltower. Right as we were about to beg you to get in our boat so we could get you to safety, Smaug crashed into the tower and you were hit by some debris." He clicked his tongue and shook his head, almost as if he were getting ready to scold a naughty child. "I was able to dig you out and get you to safety, but while you were unconscious, you had a few fits. We were forced to bind your hands to help keep you from flailing about and injuring yourself further."
While she had never heard of a hit to the head causing someone to have a fit, Baylee was more concerned with another part of the Master's story. "Are Bard and his children alright?" she then questioned, twisting her hands slightly in an attempt to loosen her bonds. Part of her wondered why he wasn't ordering Alfrid to untie her yet, but her mind was focused more on her friends than herself at the moment. "And where are the dwarves?" With a bit of difficulty, she stood up and, ignoring the fresh round of throbbing in her head, she began to look around, turning around in circles as she tried to spot her friends.
It was futile, though. She was far too short. Listening didn't prove to be of much help either, as there were too many people around to make out distinct voices.
The Master cleared his throat. "To be honest, I haven't seen any of them just yet," he told her, "but, if they survived the horrors of last night, I'm certain they're somewhere around here."
'Oh, I'm sure you haven't,' she thought, her lips pursing somewhat. As much as she wanted to say that out loud, she was able to restrain herself. Instead, she said, "I thank you, my lord, for saving me from death last night. But now I must go find my friends before they worry themselves to the grave about me." Not caring about the rope still around her wrists, she started to walk away only to be stopped when a heavy hand clapped down on her shoulder.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mistress Baggins," Alfrid said, a bit of amusement in his voice. When she tried to push his hand off her shoulder, he released it. "You see, it was because of you lot that Laketown was destroyed and the people aren't very happy with you right now."
Baylee turned around in time to see the Master nod in agreement. "Naturally, they blame you and the dwarves for waking the dragon and making him cause such destruction." He gestured at the survivors around them. "Look at them all. Mourning the loss of their homes, their families, their gold…I'm afraid if you were to go searching for your friends right now, you may find yourself with more of a headache than you already have."
She remained silent; as much as she hated to admit it, the Master did have a point. It was because of them that this all happened and she was certain that the people of Laketown would lay the blame on her and the dwarves, since they were part of Thorin's Company. And with the blame on them…
"Naturally, they'll want to hold you all accountable," he continued, "rightly so, may I add. And, as their leader, it's my duty to see justice served."
Her brows furrowed and she took a step back from the pair. "And just what sort of 'justice' is it you intend to serve?" she demanded, her tone betraying her annoyance. Between the pain in her head and the worry in her heart, patience was not something she had in great supply.
The Master quietly chuckled, his brow rising at her words. "That, I have yet to decide. Monetary reimbursement will most definitely be part of it, however."
"And just how are we supposed to supply monetary reimbursement when we have no money to reimburse?" she snapped. Her lips pursed in annoyance and she shot Alfrid a small glare from the corner of her eye when she heard him snicker at her tone.
"Why, my dear, I thought you were smarter than that!" Quite rudely, the Master leaned over and looked her in the eye as if he were about to scold a child, but instead he was laughing. "You and Thorin's two heirs will ensure that I—I, ah, mean Laketown's people—get their fair share of Erebor's gold."
Her eyes narrowed as she glared up at him. "What makes you believe that we'll be able to get Erebor's gold?" she questioned, her voice filled with anger and annoyance.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way," he retorted, standing upright once more. "After all, I'm the only person keeping the five of you from facing an abrupt and unpleasant execution via hanging or drowning…at least, for now I'm the only person keeping you five safe. If you step out of line, there's no telling what could happen to you harbingers of misfortune."
It took a great deal of willpower for Baylee to not unleash a torrent of very unladylike unpleasantries at the man. Glancing behind him, though, she suddenly smirked. "I think you mean that Bard's the one keeping us from execution," she stated. "Isn't that right, Bard?"
At the mention of Bard, both Alfrid and the Master whipped around, giving Baylee the chance to dart away. She wished she could have seen the looks of anger on their faces when the pair discovered that there was no Bard, but she forced herself to focus on the task at hand: Finding the others. Doing her best to ignore the pain in her head—and, as running quickly revealed, the growing pain in her hip—she hurried through the throngs of survivors, ducking and weaving around people who either didn't see her or didn't get out of the way in time.
She was, however, quite surprised no one tried to stop her; there was no doubt in her mind that a good portion of the townspeople were upset with her and the others. 'They might think I'm just a child running around, looking for her parents,' she thought, looking around her in hopes of seeing a familiar face.
Behind her, she could hear distant yelling; the Master and Alfrid. Swallowing hard, she risked glancing over her shoulder, but couldn't see them. When she looked forward again, she saw someone standing in her way and she swore, trying to stop herself from running into them. She was unable to stop, however, and she slammed into the person; they were much sturdier than her, resulting in them remaining upright while she toppled to the ground, landing on her hindquarters.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" she stammered, wincing at the new pain in her rump. "I-I wasn't paying attention and—"
"Baylee! Thank Mahal you're alright!"
Her eyes widened as she was suddenly lifted up and given a tight hug—a dwarf hug. With her face pressed against the dwarf's chest, she wasn't able to see which dwarf it was hugging her, though.
"Bless my beard, she's alright!" came Bofur's voice.
"Is the wee lassie hurt? Does she need tendin' to?" Oin questioned.
"Fili, you're going to crush her if you keep hugging her like that!" scolded Kili.
As she was set back down on the ground, she looked up only to see the relieved face of Fili looking down at her. He opened his mouth to tell her something, but before he could get one word out, she was promptly plucked up and given another hug by Kili.
"Now who's the one tryin' to crush her?" Fili dryly questioned, his brow rising as he glared at his brother.
Kili's reply came in the form of blowing a raspberry at him.
"Put her down before you break her!" Oin ordered. "The wee lassie has blood all over the side o' her head an' face—I need t' check her injury!"
Once more, Baylee was placed back on her feet. "I'm glad the four of you are alright," she said, managing a halfhearted smile. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but it was out of my control." As Oin came over and started to look over the wound on the side of her head, she glanced around. "Where are Bard and his children? And Tauriel?"
"They're safe, lass," Bofur assured her. Unlike the princes, he knelt beside her and gave her a gentler hug from the side so as to not disturb Oin. "What happened t' you?" He looked her over, his brows suddenly furrowing. "An' why are your hands tied together like a criminal?" Reaching over, he started to untie her wrists.
She flinched when Oin's fingers brushed over an extremely tender part of her skull. "I got knocked out," she began, "supposedly by falling debris when Smaug hit the belltower, but being that I was 'found' by the Master and Alfrid, it's hard to know if that's the truth." As the ropes were pulled away, she sighed in relief and rubbed her wrists. "They claimed I was tied up for my own safety because the wound on my head caused me to have fits while I was unconscious."
"Never heard o' anyone having fits from a head wound," Fili frowned.
"It happens, though not very often," Oin told them. "Usually happens a few days after the injury, though. An' this wound o' yours, lassie, wasn't caused by fallin' debris." He stepped back, looking down at her with concern. "This was a purposefully aimed blow t' your noggin. Debris would've hit the top o' your head. This one is on the side o' your head, near your temple. It's a wonder the blow didn't kill you, t' be honest."
The others swore while Baylee merely rolled her eyes. "I had a feeling they were lying," she grumbled. "Never mind that for now, though. The Master wants to send us to Erebor in order to have us bring gold back here," she explained. Kili opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up, shushing him. "Yes, the townspeople deserve as much gold as they need and then some, but the Master hinted at us possibly being executed for what happened if we don't cooperate."
"He can't have you executed. The five of you are blameless in this tragedy." The group looked up to see Bard and Tauriel approaching; behind them were Bain, Sigrid, and Tilda.
Though she had been reassured that the family and Tauriel were safe, Baylee felt a wave of relief flood over her when she saw Bard and his family. "Oh, thank the Valar you're safe!" She squeaked when Bain suddenly hurried over and scooped her up in a tight hug. A few seconds later, Sigrid and Tilda joined in.
After a moment, they finally released her, Bain taking care when he set her on the ground. "Thank the Valar you're safe!" he told her. "I was halfway up that ladder when I looked down to check on you only to see Alfrid wallop you upside the head with a goblet!" His cheeks then turned a bit red and he looked somewhat guilty. "I wanted to help you, but I had to get the arrow to da'."
"That's what happened?!" Bofur cried, his eyes wide. "Why, that slimy son o' a—"
Fili clapped his hand over Bofur's mouth, muffling the insult before it could be heard by the children. "What matters most is that Baylee's relatively unhurt," he stated with a frown, giving Bofur a scolding look. Then, looking back at the hobbit lass, he let out a sigh. "Baylee, what did you mean, the Master hinted at us bein' executed?"
"The Master intends to have us fetch a bunch of gold from Erebor as 'monetary reimbursement'," she explained to the group, "and he claimed that he's the only one keeping us safe from the survivors executing us for what happened last night. He said if we step out of line while under his protection, there's no telling what'll happen to us."
The dwarves exchanged looks of concern with one another.
"I don't disagree that we owe the survivors compensation," Fili stated, finally releasing Bofur's mouth. "Mahal knows I'd be more than happy to pay thrice the amount originally promised to the people of Laketown in order to help rebuild—that is, if uncle is really…" His words trailed off into a momentary silence.
Kili glanced at him before clearing his throat. "But execution is a bit extreme, don't you think?" he finished for his brother. "We haven't done anythin' wrong!"
"Which is exactly why you won't be executed," Bard sighed. As Baylee looked up at him, she could see some dried blood on his cheek and dark circles under his eyes; she knew he couldn't have gotten much rest. "Even if you were guilty of any wrong doing, you would be taken before a court of the people."
It was then Tauriel finally spoke. "I'm afraid I must disagree, Bard," she said, keeping her voice gentle. "Your people are hardly in their right minds at the moment. The Master can be cunning with his words and, should he manage to say just the right thing, he could easily form an angry mob that wants to seek revenge for last night."
Bard quietly grumbled as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. "I hate to admit it, but you're right," he sighed at length. Glancing down at the dwarves and hobbit lass, he swore under his breath. "Which means it is too dangerous for the five of you to stay here."
"But where are we supposed t' go?" Kili demanded, his eyes wide and brows furrowed. "We can't just leave! The Master might be able to rile some people up, but the majority of people are going to want to start finding a way to build shelters and gather up what foods they can before winter gets here and we can help with that!"
"That's a noble thought, Kili," Bard said to him, "but Baylee told us the Master was hinting at execution. I don't want to risk any of your lives."
Bofur shook his head. "That still doesn't tell us where we should go when we've got nowhere t'—"
"We go to Erebor." Baylee and Fili had spoken at the same time, making them look at each other in surprise. After a second, Fili cleared his throat and spoke again. "We need to go there regardless to see what happened to uncle and the others. Not just as closure for ourselves, but…" He paused a moment, letting out a heavy sigh. "But also to tell mother and the others in Ered Luin what happened when a group of thirteen dwarves returns as only four."
Baylee bit her lower lip as she turned to look up at Bard. "You and your people should also go north," she told him. "Even if the city is in ruins, Dale should still provide you with some shelter from the elements. Or, if it's safe enough, maybe you could even stay within the halls of Erebor, where you'll be even more protected."
"But what if the mountain is filled with monsters, little mistress?" Tilda piped up, poking her head out from behind her sister. "Won't they come get us if we're in Dale?"
At that, Bard knelt down and set his hand on her shoulder. "It's our only choice," he told her, his voice soft. "If there are monsters lurking inside that mountain, the other men and I will do our best to keep you and everyone else safe."
Sniffling, Tilda nodded in understanding.
Standing upright once more, he sighed. "The five of you should get going," he told the dwarves and hobbit lass. "I wish we could send you with even a little bit of food, but—" He was cut off as Fili held up his hand.
"Don't you worry about feedin' us," the prince said. "Your people come first." He gave him a tired smile before holding out his hand. "Thank you for all that you've done for us, Bard. Words can't express how sorry I am for what happened." As Bard took his hand and gave it a small shake, Fili set his other hand atop it in a gesture of reassurance and promise. "I swear to you, should the mountain be free of any monsters and we're able to reclaim it, we will do our best to help your people rebuild with both our hands and the gold."
Fili's words seemed so much more genuine and hopeful than Thorin's promises to return glory to Laketown; a small smile graced his lips. Giving him a small, approving nod, Bard squeezed his hand. "I look forward to the day I meet you again under better circumstances, Fili," he told them.
"I'll go with them to the northern shores of the lake," Tauriel then said. "From there, I'll return to Mirkwood and see if Thranduil would be willing to provide any sort of aid."
Bard nodded in understanding. "Thank you, my lady. Any help, no matter how small, would be most appreciated." Looking down at Baylee, he found her giving his children hugs as she said her goodbyes to them. "Don't crush the little mistress now," he said, watching as Tilda and Sigrid gave her an extra tight squeeze. "We will see her again in the near future."
"It's fine," Baylee reassured him with a small smile. Inwardly, however, she was aching—both physically and emotionally. "We hobbits can be quite the squeezers when it comes to hugs. My late grandmother was an especially tight squeezer if she was fond of you."
Bard was about to say something when Bain suddenly piped up. "Da'! I can see Alfrid; it looks like he's looking for someone."
"Go, now," Bard told the others. "And be quick—we can't let either Alfrid or the Master find you."
Nodding, Fili started to lead his companions away from the family. They walked quickly, but didn't run; running would draw too much attention to them. He occasionally glanced over his shoulder to both make sure the others were keeping up and to see if they were being followed. A small sigh of relief left his mouth every time he found only Tauriel behind them.
With every other step she took, Baylee let out a quiet hiss of pain. Her hip was no longer filled by a dull ache, but by a burning pain. In an effort to try and lessen the pain, she pressed her hand against the spot where it hurt most; it helped, but only slightly. What made things more painful for her was that the throbbing had returned to her head.
"Over there," Kili said, pointing at the boat they had used the previous night.
"Everybody in," Fili ordered. He gently lifted Baylee up, passing her over to Bofur who had scrambled into the boat first. "Careful with her," he reminded him. "She's hurt."
"Aye, lad, I'm bein' careful." He used the utmost care when setting her down on one of the seats before leaning over to help haul in Oin.
Kili was next to hop in, moving to the stern of the boat so he could take the setting stick. He watched as Tauriel and Fili pushed the boat into the water before hopping in. Before they could even get settled, he started to push the boat further out into the water; in the distance, he could hear irritated shouting.
Fili clambered over the seats. "Here, let me do this," he said. "You're still hurt and need to rest—especially after last night."
"Fi, I'm fine," Kili assured him. "It doesn't take much effort t' punt a boat across the water."
At that, Fili gave him a bland look, his brow rising. "You can't punt the boat sitting down, which is exactly what you should be doin' right now. You need t' keep weight off of that leg of yours!"
"He's right, Kili," Bofur chipped in. "Miss Tauriel was only able t' get the poison out o' you—not heal you completely. You should get some rest while you still can, lad." Hearing a hiss of pain, he looked over at Baylee to find Tauriel being as gentle as she could while cleaning the blood from Baylee's head wound and face. "How bad is it?" he asked the elf, his brows furrowed. He made sure to speak loud enough that Oin could understand him.
Behind him, the princes stuck their tongues out at each other before Kili reluctantly handed the setting stick over to his brother. Then, with a small huff, he plopped down on the seat, his arms crossing over his chest.
"It is superficial," Tauriel answered, also raising her voice for the older dwarf, "but the area is badly bruised. Oin was correct in saying that she is lucky that the injury isn't more grievous." She scooped up a handful of lake water and poured it over the spot. "Is this the worst of your injuries, little mistress?"
"I believe so, yes," Baylee replied, her eyes clenched shut as she gripped her dress. While the icy water felt a bit good on the wound, it also stung. "S-something is wrong with my hip, too, but it's probably just bruising."
Bofur frowned at this. "How did you hurt your hip, lass?" he questioned. He watched as Baylee's cheeks turned a bit pink.
She cleared her throat only to hiss again as more water was poured on her wound. "When Bain and I were getting the black arrow from his home, I…may have fallen off of a pile of debris."
"Fallen off o' a pile o' debris?!" Bofur yelped. "What in the world were you thinkin', climbin' onto a pile o' debris in the first place?!"
"Bain couldn't squeeze past the fallen timbers keeping us from getting into the house," she quickly explained. "Since I could squeeze through, I went in and got the arrow. In order to reach it, though, I had to climb the timbers."
"That was foolish of you, little mistress," Tauriel said, a bit of disapproval in her voice, "but I know you had no other choice. How far did you fall?"
"Five feet? Maybe six; I don't quite remember." She decided it would be best to not tell them that some of the debris had fallen and landed atop her. When she felt Tauriel stop pouring water, she opened her eyes and looked over to find the elf going through Oin's medical supplies—as few as they were. "As I said, though, I'm certain it's just bruising, nothing more."
Fili spoke up. "I saw you limping quite badly while we were running to the boat. I think it may be more than just bruised."
Her cheeks reddened a bit more, but before she could reply, Oin spoke up. "There's not much we can do for a hip injury—not with what supplies we've got, anyway," he stated, shaking his head. "So long as she isn't bleedin' or has any bones out o' place, the best we can do for her is t' let her get as much rest as she can."
Tauriel nodded in agreement. "He is correct. I can do a general check of the area to see if there are any fractures or dislocations, but there is not much we could do if she does have either of those, aside from fixing any dislocations." She then looked down at the hobbit. "Little mistress, I am going to dab a bit of this salve on your wound. I apologize for any pain caused."
Clenching her eyes once more, Baylee prepared herself for the incoming pain. "But I can walk," she said, her brows furrowed in confusion. "If I can walk, doesn't that mean I don't have anything out of place?" She grit her teeth when she felt the salve begin to make her injury sting.
Bofur shook his head. "No, lass. Sometimes you can dislocate a limb an' it'll be unusable, but when you dislocate your hip, you can still use your legs."
"You would not be able to bear much weight on the affected leg, however," Tauriel said. "Luckily, there is an easy enough way to check for dislocations." When Baylee opened her eyes to look at her, she gave her a small smile. "Bring both your legs onto the seat while keeping them stretched out."
Doing as instructed, the hobbit brought her legs onto the seat, wincing a bit as she did such. She watched as Tauriel took both her feet and held them together, looking at them with some concentration.
"No dislocation," the elf said. "If there was, then one leg would be shorter than the other."
A small sigh of relief left Baylee's mouth. "That's good…I've heard tales of folks fainting from the pain of getting something pushed back into place and I really don't think I'd be able to handle that right now."
The others chuckled at her comment. "Aye, the pain from gettin' a bone shoved back into the socket can be mighty painful," Bofur told her. "I remember one time, when Bombur an' me were still just dwarrowlings, Bifur came home with a dislocated shoulder after huntin' some boar and…" As he spoke, the amusement on his face slowly drained and his voice faded into nothing.
A sorrowful silence overcame the boat's other passengers as well and, one by one, they looked to the north, where the Lonely Mountain could just barely be seen through a haze of distant fog.
It was almost evening when they reached the northern shore. Tauriel took her leave of the group at that time, promising that she would see them again soon—though she made no promise of being able to bring supplies. Kili had been reluctant to let her go, but a reminder of how she had been the one to not only save him from spiders, but from orc poison as well, reassured him that she would be fine. She did, however, leave Kili with her bow in case they were able to find any game or came across any enemies.
Following the river as it wound its way northwards, the group started their trek to the Lonely Mountain, though they only traveled for another hour and a half before stopping for the night. With no wood to speak of and the turf being too wet to burn, the five of them were forced to huddle together for warmth as they slept. The dwarves were sure to place Baylee between Fili and Bofur, both of whom didn't move much while they slept, so as to not crush her. Their sleep, though, had been plagued with nightmares, making the night less than restful.
The next day, they had a little more luck. As they journeyed northwards, they spotted some rabbits, of which Kili quickly dispatched three. While they were quite hungry—none of them had eaten since the hours before Smaug's attack—they were not yet desperate enough to eat raw meat. As such, Kili rid them of their organs and of their blood to keep them from spoiling.
As they traveled, the terrain started to become more and more dry thanks to the rise in elevation. To their dismay, it was growing colder as well. Near midafternoon, the skies began to darken, threatening snow that evening. Because of this, they started to keep an even sharper eye out for any sort of shelter and fuel they could use for a fire.
Luck was once more on their side when evening started to fall. While pausing to look around the area for more game, Kili spotted a group of trees east of their path. They were long dead, but they looked as if they would be able to provide fuel for a few fires at the very least.
"Should one of us go over an' make sure it's safe?" Bofur questioned, squinting slightly as he tried to count how many trees there were. "Never know what could be lurkin' under those dead boughs."
"In a landscape as barren as this, there won't be anythin' hidin' over there, laddie," Oin told him.
Kili shrugged. "There could be nocturnal creatures hiding out over there," he stated. "For all we know, something went and made a burrow in their roots."
Fili closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. "We'll all go over there," he told the group. "If something's there, it's less likely t' attack a group of us, but I'm going to have to agree with Oin. We haven't seen anything living aside from ourselves since this morning."
With no objections, he started to guide them away from the river in favor of heading for the trees. He hoped that, when they got nearer, they would find that there would also be some sort of shelter from the coming snow or, if there wasn't, that they could at the very least see some shelter. Subtly glancing over his shoulder, he let out a quiet sigh; both Kili and Baylee were grimacing with every other step thanks to their injuries while Oin and Bofur looked exhausted.
As he looked back at the lands ahead, he silently sent a prayer to Mahal that at least one good thing would come of this journey, no matter how big or how small it was.
A/N: With this chapter going up...I do believe there are only 5-6 chapters left in this story. 'Tis the beginning of the end, my lovely readers. Also, I want to thank you all again for your patience with the sporadic updates. I know they can be a pain in the butt, especially when a story's at an exciting part, but I do truly appreciate the patience and understanding you've all been showing ❤❤❤