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I had fully intended on posting chapter 11 last Thursday or Friday but the internet was not cooperating.
So you get TWO chapters today!
BUT, be sure you are reading them in order. Don't skip a chapter by accident.
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Chapter 12
~X~
"What in Mahal's name happened?" Thorin demanded, having run all the way from his council chamber to the south mine, Fili and several others close on his heels.
"Accidental explosion due to a faulty fuse," Bofur informed his king, the hatted miner still directing a string of dwarves out of the cavern entrance, all covered in dust and coughing, but none looked wounded. "No one was injured, but we do have quite a mess to dig out once the air settles. Thank the maker that a bit of rubble is all we have to worry about."
"Yes," Thorin nodded, happy to hear that. "Will you be needing any extra help?"
"No, I think we'll simply call it a day, let things rest for now, and hit it hard come morning," Bofur told him. "No sense in asking anyone to go back down today…best to give them a breather."
"Agreed," Thorin replied. "Just be more careful next time…we don't want anyone injured or killed."
"No, of course not," Bofur said, apparently also relieved that it had been nothing serious. Yet, before he could say more, a guard came racing through the entrance, his face full of concern.
"Your Majesty, there's been a cave in! It occurred in one of the chambers we have yet to stabilize," he reported. "The ceiling collapsed and took out a stone bridge."
"Was anyone there? Any injuries?" Thorin demanded.
"We don't believe so…it was deemed off limits because of the instability," he informed the king. "We are questioning those who would have been working in the nearby area now to see if anyone is missing."
"We should go investigate, Uncle," Fili told him, an odd sensation creeping into his bones over the news. "I…I have a bad feeling about this."
"Oh?" Thorin asked, looking at his sister-son questioningly. He had never known Fili to be overly dramatic, thus he was not about to discount his urgings on the matter too quickly. He turned to Bofur, the miner still working on organizing his crew, making sure they were all unharmed. "If you have everything under control here, I will take my leave."
"Of course," he nodded, giving his king a friendly wave as he returned to his duty.
Fili, anxious to get to the site of the cave in, rushed ahead, leaving his uncle and Dwalin to trail behind. He couldn't explain what compelled him to hurry, but something in his gut told him there was danger. When they all arrived at the cavern, there were half a dozen guards and just as many workers milling around, each one unwilling to enter for fear the ceiling was still unstable.
"Report!" Dwalin said gruffly, the dwarves in uniform snapping to attention.
"The ceiling caved in, destroying the bridge, and burying the small alcove beyond," one of them spoke up.
"The alcove?" Thorin questioned, just now realizing what the small recess in the stone had housed – the carving of him and his siblings. If it had been destroyed, he would mourn its loss, for they had so few remembrances of their brother Frerin as it was. "Is it possible the carvings beyond are salvageable?"
"We won't know until we can dig it out, but the bridge will need to be replaced first," a dwarf dressed in working clothes answered. "However, we will do our best to see it preserved, Your Majesty."
Just then, another guard stepped forward, with a nervous looking older dwarrow at his side.
"My King," he began. "This worker said that just before the cave in, he saw two others pass him in the hall, heading for this area."
"Others might have been in there?" Thorin asked in horror. "Do we know who? Is anyone unaccounted for?"
"My Lord Thorin," the older dwarf said, bowing his head. "I fear that the ones I saw were none other than Prince Kili…and Prince Fili's consort, the Lady Jade."
"OH, MAHAL!" Fili gasped, suddenly realizing exactly why his stomach had been tied in knots with worry. Without thinking, he spun and headed for the archway that led to the demolished cavern, yet an iron-like grip on his arm held him back.
"Fili, NO!" his uncle ordered. "I will not see you trapped or killed as well!"
"We have to save them! I know they're alive…I can feel it!" the blond prince insisted, doing his best to shake off his king's hand, but it was no use.
"We will do everything we can to get them out…if they are indeed trapped in there," he swore. He then turned to one of the guards, ordering him to fetch Bofur, and have him bring his best rescue team on the double. All the while Thorin never let go of Fili's arm, knowing that his nephew would simply run headlong into danger should he release him.
"Thorin! What's going on?" came the voice of his sister, heading down the hall, quickly followed by Balin, Oin, and Nori. "I heard the rumbling in the lower halls…is everything all right?"
"Amad!" Fili shouted, at last pulling away from his uncle to go to his mother, desperate for answers. "Have you seen Kili or Jade in the last half an hour? Tell me you've seen them!"
"I…I haven't seen either since breakfast," she told him, her eyes growing wide with fear at her eldest son's demanding tone. "Why?"
"We know nothing for certain yet," Thorin broke in, doing his best to keep the situation from getting out of hand. "However, there is a chance that Kili and Jade might have been inside the chamber when the ceiling collapsed."
"WHAT?" Dis cried, lunging for the doorway herself, yet it was Fili who held her back. "My baby's in there…and Jade?"
"We don't know that!" Thorin reminded her, his voice perhaps a bit more harsh than necessary, but everyone was on edge. "At least not yet!"
"I'll make a search…if they're somewhere else in this mountain, I'll find them soon enough," Nori promised, hurrying off to do Mahal knows what, but they could guarantee he would get the job done.
"I'm sure they are both someplace safe, but until we know different we need to treat this as a rescue mission," Thorin continued, taking charge of the situation. "Dwalin, you tell your soldiers to block off the area, we don't want a bunch of spectators getting in the way. We will also need strong backs to cart out the rubble as well as detailed plans of every inch of that room." Next, he looked over at Oin. "I want you to ready the healing halls in case there are injuries while excavating, or Mahal forbid, Kili and Jade are indeed trapped in there." At this, Dis – who was never one to let her emotions show - gave a sob of fear and buried her face into Fili's chest. Yet, this was her baby, her little Kili they were talking about, not to mention the dam she had grown very fond of! Thus, her eldest son said nothing, only wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to offer much needed comfort.
Everyone leapt into action, eager to see to their task in hopes it would aid those who might be trapped, or at least ease the suffering of those who feared for them. Bofur and an entire team arrived seconds later, and without any need for instruction or direction, they set to work.
"Don't worry, Amad," Fili whispered into her ear as he rubbed circles across her back – much like she used to do when he was little and afraid. "I know they're alive…I can feel it!" And he could too, for something deep within assured him that his brother was still with him, and the strange warmth he had been experiencing since having met Jade, still glowed strong as well. He only hoped they would find them soon…before those lights went out.
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Kili and Jade had remained quiet for a while, both lost in their own thoughts and fears, not wishing to voice them out loud, afraid of causing panic in the other. Yet, at last Jade could stand it no longer and spoke.
"How's your leg?" she asked, coming to sit beside the injured prince once again.
"I think it'll be all right," he told her, once more sitting up and supporting himself on his elbows as she squinted through the low light at it. "It hurts like the dickens, but I've experienced worse." His mind instantly recalled the debilitating pain he suffered when he was struck in the leg by that morgal arrow. This was nothing compared to that! "Still, I don't think I'm bleeding out or anything, you bandaged me up pretty well."
"I'm no healer," she was quick to assure him. "But my cousin was always getting injured during battle practice before he rode off to Rohan, and I was the one who usually patched up his wounds."
"Your foster cousin?" Kili clarified, Fili having already told him that she didn't remember anything about her dwarf family, and only had a mysterious pendant to remember them by.
"Yes, Brayden," she nodded. "He's the son of my mother's, sister's daughter, Sella, so he would technically be my second cousin, I guess. Though of all those I was related to, we are the most alike in age…at least by their standards. I mean, I'm nearly fifty years older than him, but as far as maturity goes, we are the closest."
"I understand," Kili nodded. He knew that men aged much faster than dwarves, and to them, Jade would be likened to a woman in her early twenties. "And you say he left for Rohan?"
"Yes, to join King Thengel's army," she informed him. "I sent him a few letters when I moved to Ered Luin, but I never received a reply. Still, even if he had sent any letters, I doubt they would find me now, especially after I came to Erebor. I just hope that his mother, Sella, has heard from him, even if I have not."
"Were you two close?" Kili inquired, noting a tinge of sorrow in her tone.
"As close as could be expected," she shrugged. "Him being a lad and me being a lass…and a dwarf to boot. We were an odd pair, but we got along very well, despite our size and age issues."
"I can only imagine the hardships you must have felt growing up," Kili sympathized. "We were surrounded by villages of men when we first settled near the Blue Mountains. It took years to build up the underground city, forcing us to deal and trade with the big folk quite a lot. Fili and I became used to it, not knowing any different, but Uncle and many of the others are still wary of other races…especially the elves."
"I've heard your uncle talking about Lord Thranduil and the Mirkwood elves, and not exactly in a favorable light. Why is that?" Jade asked, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them as she leaned back against the stone wall.
"Bad blood from way back," Kili sighed, laying back down as he laced his fingers behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "I'm not really sure what actually happened, but my great-grandfather, Thrór, and Thranduil had a falling out. Over some silly gems or something, or so I've heard. Needless to say, when the dragon attacked, the elves of Mirkwood did not come to the dwarves' rescue, and neither did they offer us aid."
"That's strange," Jade muttered, looking somewhat shocked by this. "For the elves I've met seemed very hospitable, and willing to offer assistance whenever they could."
"Oh, I'm not saying all elves are like that…but like I said, there was bad blood between Thranduil and my great-grandfather, Thrór," Kili explained. "Still, it left a very bad taste in Thorin's mouth, and it was over a century before he was even willing to attempt to make peace again. The Mirkwood king throwing us all in his dungeons didn't help matters either, but in the end, when the elves chose to fight with us in the Battle of Five Armies, it softened my uncle's opinion of them somewhat." Kili was silent for a moment, before he spoke again, yet this time in such a quiet voice, that Jade wondered if he even knew he had said the words out loud. "Yet I fear he will never truly warm up to them…or to her."
"Her?" the dam questioned, although she knew in doing so, she was taking a chance of upsetting her companion. "Who do you wish for Thorin to warm up to?"
"Umm, no one!" he stated quickly, almost too quickly, leaving Jade even more suspicious. "No one at all. Forget I said anything."
"Rather hard to do when you seem so adamant about it," Jade grinned, imagining that she could see a blush color his cheeks in the dim light. "Come on, Kili, we're trapped in here with nothing to do, and there's always a chance we won't get out of this alive. Might as well tell me. I'll most likely take it to my grave anyway."
"Well now, aren't you the little optimist?" he replied, the hint of a smile on his lips as he regarded her thoughtfully. "Fine…but if we do get out of here, and don't die horrible deaths, you have to swear never to speak a word of this! Understand?"
"Of course! I give you my word," Jade promised, holding up her hand in a gesture of assurance. "Your secret is safe with me." She then leaned forward, resting her chin on her knees as she waited for Kili to speak. After a few false starts, and one very long exasperated sigh, he spoke.
"So…on our quest, I kind of met someone," he reluctantly confessed. "We were traveling through Mirkwood, doing our best to find our way on a path that kept disappearing, when we were attacked by spiders."
"Spiders?" Jade had not heard this story before.
"Yep, large, hairy, dwarf-eating spiders," Kili continued, his tone telling her that he was far from joking. "They were the size of horses and wanted nothing more than to wrap us in their webs and dine on us for dinner."
"What did you do?" Jade gasped, her eyes growing wide at the thought.
"Tried to fight them off, of course," he admitted. "However, they snuck up from behind and stung us all with their poison, knocking us out and dragging us off. Thankfully, Bilbo, our Hobbit Burglar, avoided such a fate and came to our rescue, getting us out of their clutches, and we all ran as quickly as we could in hopes of getting away. It might have worked too…but we ended up surrounded by Wood-elves before we could. Thankfully, they have no love for the spiders either, and made quick work of them before taking us all prisoner. And that's when I met her…Tauriel," Kili finished with a wistful sigh.
"Tauriel? An elf?" Jade clarified…pretty sure he didn't mean a spider. Besides, she recalled Fili mentioning that name before, when he had spoken of what took place in the Battle of Five Armies.
"The most beautiful elf there ever was, or ever will be," Kili continued, his voice now full of reverence and wonder. "Her hair was like a dancing flame, her movements like water, and her eyes…oh, her eyes like the cool green grass of spring."
"Well…she sounds…lovely," Jade replied, doing her best not to snicker at this flattering description.
"Lovely doesn't even begin to describe her," Kili went on. "She reminded me of a lightning storm, both beautiful and deadly at the same time. She took out several of those spiders as if they were nothing but annoying flies, her blades slicing, her bow singing, and all the while I stood there and gazed upon her as if she were one of the Valar."
"She saved your life?" she pressed, eager to hear more.
"That she did…right before she took me captive and threw me into the dungeons," he chuckled, finding the whole thing rather humorous when spoken out loud. "I mean, it was her duty after all, her being the captain of Thranduil's guard." He let out another sigh. "We spent a lot of time talking through my prison bars though, for she would come and sit with me each night after making her rounds. We were there for nearly a week before Bilbo found a way to free us, so needless to say…I became rather attached."
"I can imagine," Jade agreed. "But you did escape. And you never saw her again?"
"Yes, we did escape…but not without consequences," Kili admitted. "I took an orc arrow to the leg in the process, leaving me rather incapacitated. I of course had no idea at the time that it was a morgal shaft that had struck me, one that was slowly bringing me under the control of the forces of Mordor."
"OH NO!" Jade gasped, covering her mouth in horror. "What did you do?"
"Limped around while trying to downplay the whole thing," he confessed. "None of us knew how serious it was, that is until I could no longer stand, think, or fight against the pain and agony. Thankfully, that's when Tauriel showed up, coming to our rescue once again like the warrior she is. Not only did she turn the tide against a hoard of orcs who were attacking us at Bard's house, but she used her strange elf magic to heal my leg and free me of falling prey to the dark forces. And I believe that's when I truly fell in love with her."
"You…you're in love with her?" Jade figured she shouldn't be shocked by this, since from everything Kili had been saying about her, it was obvious that he held her in very high regard. But for a prince of Erebor, and a son of Durin, to confess his love for an elf-maid…well, that was something!
"Have been for nearly six months now," he nodded. "She fought in the battle with us, even saved Fili's life when Azog had him captured on the cliffs at Ravenhill," Kili informed her. "He would have run my brother through with that spike on his arm if she hadn't fired an arrow and struck that foul beast in the shoulder. Once free of the orc's grip, Fili leapt over the side and caught few handholds, allowing him to slow his fall, and not kill himself when he made it to the bottom. In the melee that followed, I unfortunately lost track of her, but I know she made it out of the battle alive."
"Where is she now?" This was one lass that Jade truly wished to meet.
"Back in Mirkwood," he told her in a sad voice. "She returned with her king and I haven't seen her since."
"You mean you haven't gone after her, or spoken to her about your feelings?" Jade demanded.
"And say what?" Kili scoffed, gesturing to an imaginary Tauriel as if speaking directly to her. "Oh, fair maid of the woods, I know we're of two different races, and I know we just only stopped being mortal enemies, oh, and let's not forget that our kings would never condone us associating…but despite all that, I'm kind of in love with you?" He waved his hand around in the air as if to point out the absurdity of it all.
"Well…yes!" Jade huffed, not at all understanding his reluctance. "What does it matter that you two are of different races? I've heard of elves and men marrying, as well as men and dwarves…why not an elf and a dwarf then? And do you honestly think your uncle would stop you from following you heart, even if it led you to Mirkwood?"
"You don't know my uncle very well yet, do you?" Kili laughed, though there was no humor in it. "I think he would rather I fell in love with a cave troll then an elf."
"Well, I've never seen a cave troll…but personally, I think an elf is a much better choice," Jade concluded.
"As do I…but it's not my opinion that's the problem," he pointed out. "Still, it doesn't matter right now anyway. What does matter is getting out of here alive, or any talk of love and elves will be pointless."
"Agreed," Jade nodded. "Any ideas?"
"None," he said despondently. "I seem to have left my blasting powder in my other trousers along with my pic-axe and shovel. You?"
"Sorry," she replied, patting her pockets with a frown. "And I skipped wizard class in school…so there's no chance of me using any magic powers to help us escape," Jade added. "Looks like we sit and wait…and just hope someone comes looking."
Kili, don't you know how important it is to carry a pick axe and blasting power in your trousers at all times? ha ha. Maybe Tauriel WAS right in the dungeons...you have nothing down your trousers. ha ha.
And don't worry, Fili knows you are alive and he will not rest until you both are rescued. That and Dis wouldn't let anyone sleep until you are both safe either.
Guest Reviews:
Since I'm posting two in one day, I have no guest reviews at the moment, but I do hope to get some.
But Emrfangirl...I wanted to make sure you saw both of my responses to your reviews at the end of chapter 11. I only saw yours for chapter 10 after I posted, and I quickly went back in and added it in. Hope you saw both of them.