Fili raised his drowsy head when the door opened and a tall figure was standing there.
"You have to come with me."
Fili squeezed his eyes to see who gave them such an idiotic order in the middle of the night, but it was too dark to see anyone.
"He's right, Thorin is in danger!" another voice sounded, which he recognized immediately.
"Kili?" He climbed out of the bed and walked to his little brother. He recognized the elf as soon as he approached the door. It was the elf that had driven his uncle to madness: Thranduin. The image of him and Alyssae had kept him out of sleep for half of the night as well, but he had known how to hide his jealousy.
"What's going on?" Ori asked.
"You have to help me to get into the dungeons," Thranduin answered. "Your king is dying."
Fili had the feeling he was living in a stupid nightmare. His uncle, Thorin Oakenshield, king under the mountain, was dying? He knew his uncle was not indestructible, but what could happen to him here?
A chaotic cackle arose since everyone expressed his indignation and in the end it was the premonitory hissing of Kili and Thranduin that imposed silence upon them.
"Guards refuse to let us in. We will have to fight a way inside, but try to cause no serious injuries."
Fili stared in disbelief at the elf. "Why do you turn against your own people to help us?"
A sad sparkle shone in his eyes when he looked at Fili. "I want to do what's right and currently the decisions of my people are not. Now, let's hurry. We are probably already too late. When the guards forced me to leave, he was barely breathing."
"That screams we heard all night," Bombur whispered defeated, "was that not an orc in the distance?"
"No, my dear dwarf. That was definitely not an orc."
Some man inhaled in shock, but remembered the hurry in which they were soon enough. They grabbed their weapons and followed the elf.
For some time they slipped down the stairs quietly, until Thranduin stood still. "Maybe it's better if you leave, Kili."
The dwarf looked at him baffled. "Why would I do that?"
"Alyssae is the reason Thorin is tortured. I don't think it escaped the king's attention that Tauriel and you ..." He kept silent, but Kili nodded.
"I get it, but I won't abandon my king. Not to save myself."
Thranduin looked him shortly in the eyes, but nodded then and moved on.
Fili considered his words. Had Thranduil dealt harshly with Thorin because he loved Alyssae? Was he in danger too? It wasn't in his nature to flee and he felt ashamed for even thinking about it, but he could hardly believe that his uncle was almost dead. If such a strong dwarf already tasted defeat, then what would happen to him?
"Where is Tauriel?" he wondered.
"She's creating a false alarm to allure most men."
Once again Fili was impressed by an elf, that risked her own well-being for them.
"That is courageous."
Kili nodded, but Fili concluded from his face that he was worried.
"She can take care of herself."
His brother smiled and their voices faded when they saw the access road to the dungeons. More than ten elves were waiting for them, as if they had known Thranduin would come back.
The elf walked towards them. "We can do this in an easy or a hard way, but somebody is dying and we will not wait with our hands in our hair until he's gone. He is a king and the way we deal with him is so impudent it makes me really angry."
Some elves looked away uneasy to escape Thranduin's condemnatory look, but others strengthened their shoulders and didn't want to let them through.
"We have received orders."
"Damn your orders," Thranduin grumbled furiously, to everyone's surprise. "You are not bound to the orders of a drunk! My fiancé is kept in one of the cells without a reason! If you don't want to be responsible for a war with Chyndall, my kingdom and an army of dwarves you better step aside!"
Some elves shuffled aside hesitating, but others kept in their places resolutely.
"So be it," Thranduin sighed and he crossed his sword with the first elf that stood in his way.