Thank you again to all the readers. I see that this story is read in the stats and it warms my heart, even if this is a short, simple story with a simple plot. I just wanted an alternate ending to the book for Fili. There are but few chapters left.
Angst in this chapter.
Please review :)
Chapter 9
I recommend listening to Sarabande by Haendel by for this chapter.
Fili and Kili arrived with Bofur and Oin at the Mountain after the dragon was slain. So many people had died in Esgaroth.
Fili would never forget the screams, the fumes, the flames, the gigantic form of the dragon set to destroy all life around him. He could never have imagined such an attack, such violence, and how helpless every human being would be in this situation.
The panic in the streets was carved in his young mind forever. The bodies had burned to ashes on the pavement and slowly disappeared inside the water as every structure sung into the dark depts of the Lake.
And all this pain, all this loss, for what?
The greed of a handful of dwarves?
Bard had been right, but they did not see it until disaster was upon them.
It was Kili who voiced first the bitterness Fili felt, in a small voice: "What madness have we unleashed?"
His brother's eyes were haunted by the horrors he had witnessed, horrors caused by their companions who had awakened, and surely angered, the dragon.
Fili nodded, his heart full of doubt and slowly building anger mingled with guilt.
But he could not have imagined what awaited them inside Erebor.
The halls of the Lonely Mountain were glorious, majestic, dreadfully high, tremendously wide. Fili marvelled at the strength of his ancestors who had built such a place. Every place, every room was so big, so wide, the walls carved with golden runes shining, reverberating the golden pavement.
Fili had thought that standing in Erebor would quiet his anguish, that it would show him the purpose and the victory of their Quest. But the bittersweet taste in his mouth remained.
What was the purpose of the Lonely Mountain now? Dwarves were a failing race, with few births and few females. Why live in such an enormous place?
Every room reeked of the dragon, the smell of fumes clinging to their clothes, hair, penetrating everything and bringing their minds back to the destruction of Lake Town. The brothers were standing back, staying together, almost overwhelmed by the place.
The light inside the treasure chamber was blinding. It seemed like the gold was singing, the sound resonating inside Fili's head painfully. The treasure was not to be admired but feared. Fili knew this from his mother's words about their grandfather sickness. He did not like this place; it was a strange and dangerous place.
Foreign. Not home.
But nothing could have prepared Fili to his first encounter with the King under the Mountain, in all his glory. His uncle, heavily crowned, his coat burdened with so many jewels that his body seemed to have shrunk under the weight.
Thorin was completely drunk on the treasure, his deep blue tainted with gold and furiously jealous.
"SHARE? What would you have me share?!" the king roared at his nephew "Men are so easily poisoned by gold" he huffed; his voice full of hatred.
"And we are not?" asked Fili, his voice disgusted, his eyes wide "WE brought the disaster upon these people!"
"It is OUR birth right! Not theirs! We fought for it and we won!" Thorin yelled to the golden walls of the treasure chamber.
The rest of the Company watched the scene, faces dark, some worried, some disapproving. None would have thought that the end of the Quest would take such a dark turn.
Kili barged into the conversation, his voice strained with anger and guilt: "You should have seen people fleeing for their lives in Lake Town, uncle! Children crying, bodies burned, houses sinking at the bottom of the lake. We brought them death…" he finished in anguish, trying to appeal to Thorin's goodness od heart. The man who had raised them was still inside somewhere, he was sure of it.
"They have nothing left. They will starve" added Bofur in his serious but steady voice.
"And now, the least we can do to is help them" stated Fili his voice final.
Thorin's eyes were watching his nephews and the rest of the Company and all he felt was betrayal. The hold of the treasure on his mind and heart was strong.
"You are weak" he whispered, especially to Fili, in disgust. And he turned his back on them to bury himself deeper into the treasure chamber.
There was no air inside this Mountain. Selis would suffocate here, Fili thought.
He was suffocating already.
The blond dwarf's heart clenched realising that, given her nature and special purpose, Selis would never live between rocks. He was a dwarf, born from stone, and she was a creature of the wind and sun. His teeth clenched hard on his pipe as he felt despair fill his mind.
Everything seemed to be falling apart. How he longed for the quiet of the Ered Luin, the conforming presence of his mother and brother near the fireplace. Home had never felt so far away.
Dain had arrived and the negotiations between his uncle, Bard and the elves were not going well.
"I want to get out this Mountain" Kili said angrily, his leg now almost completely healed "We're hiding beneath all this stone like cowards!"
"We have to respect the King's orders" Balin stated, but his tone was sad.
Dwalin was glowering, sulking in a dark corner.
Since Thorin had almost killed their burglar in anger for taking the Arkenstone to Bard, the company didn't know what to do. Some disapproved Bilbo's stealing of the King's jewel, but most understood that the hobbit had tried to defuse the situation between the parties.
It had been days, and still no news of Selis. Fili was scrutinizing the morsel of sky he could see from the gates of Erebor, hoping that she would appear out of thin air as usual. He worried terribly.
Did she make her choice already? Did she choose to never come back to him?
He understood her decision if it was the case, but it hurts so much. He felt completely broken and useless.
Kili tried to comfort him, to change his mind by telling him they would go back to Ered Luin. That they would bring their mother Dis back to Erebor.
But Fili reminded him that Dis had never known the Lonely Mountain, so she was not coming back to anything she knew. And Kili had nothing to say to that. He just sighed and sat next to his brother, resting his heavy head on his shoulder, dark locks mingling with blond.
The air was growing cold, autumn turning to winter, and there was no comfort to be had inside the even colder Mountain.
Then a terrible army of orcs arrived, and the battle began. A horrible battle: Men, dwarves and elves fighting the evil orcs. The brothers of Durin had never seen such violence and death before.
Their kin were dying at the foot of the Mountain, as Thorin ordered the Company to remain inside and do nothing.
The dwarves of the company went to confront their King, just telling him they would go out and fight alongside their comrades.
"We need to defeat his evil, Thorin" Dwalin said, the seriousness of his voice enhanced by his tall and proud stature "once and for all."
Kili's eyes were watering with anger as he saw his uncle still taken by the gold sickness. His blue eyes remained golden, but the King seemed to be finally hesitating.
"We're not meant to be here, hiding, while others die for us!" he roared "Are we not part of this world?"
Fili tried to reason with his uncle and stood in front of him, clasping his arm.
"Do you know where you belong, uncle?" he asked gently, trying to pierce his mental armour.
"I belong to Erebor" Thorin answered, without looking at his nephew, his voice croaking.
"That Mountain is cursed. It will never be home!" cried Kili. And Fili sadly nodded.
It would take a few more hours and a lot more deaths for Dain's army for the King to escape the gold sickness. All the words and persuasion of his nephews, kin and friends had eventually brought Thorin back from the terrible hold of the treasure.
But not all was lost. They were going to battle. Dying sword in hand was an honourable way to go in Middle-Earth, whatever your race.
Fili smelled the wind on his face coming from outside the Mountain when they prepared to charge the orcs. It was cold, foreign, and full of despair as the cries of the battle reached his ears.
He grasped his brother's arms to embrace him and they nodded to one another gravely.
There is never a good day to die.