Happy New Year!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all my reviewers, followers and favourites from the last chapter and from 2013 in general, you guys are incredible and have given me so much confidence it's unbelievable!

So, without further ado –

Please read and enjoy, and maybe review ;)

Chapter Twenty Four # Barrel Riding #

"Bofur?"

The toymaker looked up at nothing, walking to the edge of his cell slowly. "Bilbo?"

"I'm here." The quiet voice confirmed.

"Bilbo, they took Kíli away," Bofur whispered urgently. "A few minutes after you left, they just dragged him away, he hasn't come back!"

"I know," the hobbit murmured back. "I followed them, he's fine."

"Are you sure?" Bofur asked as he sighed with relief.

Bilbo's reply was sharp. "Of course I'm sure. He's my son; do you honestly think I would be here if I wasn't sure that he was alright?"

"I suppose not…" Bofur murmured. "Where is he?"

"He wouldn't tell Thranduil anything, so they locked him up on the other side of Mirkwood in a different dungeon. I spoke to him there, he knows about the ring now."

Bofur nodded thoughtfully. "Alright…We should still keep it quiet though."

"Agreed." The hobbit's voice said quickly, and a loud bang resounded through the dungeons again. "What was that?"

"Fíli." Bofur replied simply. "He's a little agitated."

Bilbo hummed in agreement. "Right, I'm off. I want to explore the cellars to see if there's another way out – we'd never get back to the main gates without a massacre of some sort, and I'd quite like to avoid those."

"Right you are." Bofur nodded, doffing his hat at the invisible hobbit.

In the days that followed, Bofur shared short conversations with Bilbo once a day when the hobbit snuck in for a share of the dwarf's food. Though he never planned on telling Bilbo, Bofur was giving the hobbit his more than half of his own bread. It was his responsibility to keep his friend fed, and it was a well-known fact that dwarves could go for a long time without food if they had to. Hobbits, on the other hand…

However, despite the daily visits, Bofur learnt very little from their burglar. Each day Bilbo assured him that he was working on an idea and that Kíli was still safe and then he would leave again. It was growing less and less reassuring as the days dragged into weeks. Less noise came from Bofur's fellows with every passing day – Bombur, Bifur, Balin, Dwalin, Thorin, Óin and Fíli had long since been silent. Nori's occasionally whistling would get him shouted at by an irritable Dori, who in turn spent most of his time checking up on Ori, who would answer his brother's questions in a bored tone, repeating over and over again that he was fine and that yes, he was eating his vegetables. Glóin's grumbling made little sense but no one was complaining. It was noise to break the silence, and almost any noise was appreciated.

With that in mind, Bofur spent a good few hours every day with his flute, playing happy tunes to raise their downtrodden spirits and playing melancholic ballads to match the sombre mood. Every so often he would weave the Misty Mountains Cold into his melodies, just to remind his companions why they were there and that they would make it someday.

When he was not playing his flute, Bofur would tell stories. After the first few stories told to a silent audience on the first day, Bofur had deduced that his companions would be better left to peace, but the moment he stopped talking, Fíli had called out from several cells down, begging him to keep going. Ori, Glóin, Dwalin, Balin and surprisingly Thorin and Nori had joined the chorus, so Bofur had been telling at least ten tales a day.

After two weeks, his voice began to protest a little, but Bofur kept on storytelling. It warded away the boredom, as well as the darker thoughts that accompanied the silence.

And then, finally –

"Bofur!"

Bofur looked up at Bilbo, who had appeared visibly in his door.

"Bilbo!" he hissed. "You'll be seen!"

Bilbo grinned evilly. "No I won't."

Bofur tipped his head to the side, before his eyes widened. "You have a plan!"

"I do, and we have to move now!" Bilbo insisted, holding up a set of keys.

"Ha ha!" Bofur cried, before checking himself. "How much noise can I make?"

"Not much." Bilbo's eyes sparkled and Bofur frowned.

"By Durin, Bilbo, you're emaciated!"

Bilbo winced, staring at his baggy clothes. "I'm fine, now let's hurry up!"

Bofur nodded, grinning as Bilbo unlocked the cell door. The moment he was out he embraced the hobbit fondly, before standing back. "What do you need me to do?"

"Keep watch from those stairs there, please." Bilbo ordered.

"What do I do if I see someone?"

"We're all doomed." Bilbo said casually, shoving him up the stairs.

"Oh, that's lovely." Bofur rolled his eyes and went to do what the hobbit told him.

For the first time, Bilbo felt truly useful to the dwarves as he ran to the next cell and unlocked Bombur with a warning finger to his lips. Like his brother, the company's cook gave Bilbo a massive bear hug, before going up to wait behind Bofur on the stairs.

The dwarf in the next cell did not even bother looking up when Bilbo blocked the musty light from the door, and the hobbit smiled wryly, shaking the keys gently.

"Coming, Fíli?"

His son's brother looked up quickly, his eyes widening. "Bilbo? How…?"

"No time to explain now," Bilbo hurried, unlocking Fíli's door as the young dwarf scrambled to his feet. "We have to go."

"Bilbo," Fíli began desperately, "Kíli-"

"Is perfectly safe and waiting for us." Bilbo assured him, and Fíli let out a relieved laugh.

"He's alright?"

Bilbo nodded. "He's fine."

Fíli smiled gratefully, and to Bilbo's surprise he received yet another hug. Bifur was next to be freed and after that particular embrace Bilbo began to worry about the state of his poor ribs.

Freeing Nori and Ori was relatively quick and easy, but Dori did not look at all impressed with the hobbit's condition and managed to fuss over how skinny he was before Bilbo managed to convince him that now was really not the time.

Balin clapped him on the shoulder with a grin to rival Kíli's most sunny smile as soon as he was free, and Dwalin patted him on the back so hard that he almost knocked him clean off the stairway. Indeed, he would have done had he not caught the hobbit's collar quickly and dragged him back to safety with a gruff apology.

When Bilbo reached Thorin's cell, the dwarf king leapt to his feet with one word on his lips. "Kíli-"

"Is waiting for us." Bilbo repeated, unlocking the door. "He's fine, I promise."

Thorin nodded with a smile, grasping Bilbo's arm fondly. "Well done, Master Burglar."

Bilbo grinned and nodded, before scampering up the stairs to take lead of the group. "Right, everyone follow me and keep quiet, whatever you do!"

To the hobbit's immense relief, the dwarves followed him without question, following him through the empty halls to the nearby cellar. There were a couple of close calls with lone guards, but the hobbit got them there safely.

"Where is everybody?" Bofur asked quietly.

"Thranduil's having a party." Bilbo explained. "A big one. This way…" he held open the cellar door for the dwarves, talking quietly to them as they slipped through. "There are three guards down there who may have consumed a little more than they expected when drinking their wine…They should stay asleep but keep quiet or they may well wake."

"Where are you going?" Thorin asked with a frown, and Bilbo pointed to the room across the hall.

"To get Kíli."

Thorin nodded and Bilbo slowly closed the cellar door, slipping on the ring and running into the room where he had left his son. To his horror, two tall elves were standing in the middle of the room, chatting amicably. They stared as the door opened a little, but to Bilbo's great relief the tallest of the pair waved it off.

"That door's always been dodgy."

Bilbo crept around them silently to see Kíli cowering behind a large chest, his hands clamped over his mouth to try and stifle his breathing. Thankfully, the elves left almost instantly with a pair of bows and Bilbo ran forward.

"Kíli!"

Kíli looked up, still unnerved by the fact that he could not see the hobbit. "Bilbo?"

Bilbo took Kíli's hand, leading him out carefully. "You've got them all?"

"As many as I could find." Kíli nodded, shifting an enormous bag almost twice his size on his back with a grunt. Bilbo wondered exactly how heavy it was when he observed Kíli's white fists clenching the part of the bag slung over his shoulder. "I couldn't find many arrows, and I'm positive that I didn't get all of Fíli's knives."

"That's fine…" Bilbo stuck his invisible head out of the door to check that the coast was clear before taking off the ring and stowing it in his pocket. "Come on…"

The father and son were silent as they crossed the hall and entered the cellar, to a chorus of quiet cheers. Fíli instantly pounced on his brother, pulling him into a huge hug.

Kíli laughed, unable to return the hug for fear of dropping the bag he held with two hands, but Bilbo smiled as Kíli leant his head on his brother's for a moment

"Are you alright?" Thorin asked in a low voice before his nephews could say anything, and Kíli smiled wearily.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"What are you carrying?"

Kíli slowly lowered the bag to the floor and grinned at Bilbo

"Your weapons. I found them in the room across the corridor." Bilbo explained, helping Kíli distribute them quickly. "Now, everyone into the barrels."

The dwarves stared at the stack of barrels as if the hobbit was insane, but as ever Kíli obeyed the hobbit without question, climbing to the topmost barrel and tucking himself inside with his bow and the couple of loose arrows that had been salvaged.

With a heavy sigh, Fíli copied his brother, and Thorin studied Bilbo carefully.

"Do as he says. Quickly!"

Though they grumbled, the dwarves did admittedly sort themselves out very quickly, and Bilbo beamed at the sight of them all in their barrels.

"What happens now?" Bofur asked, popping his head out.

Bilbo took a deep breath, moving over to the leaver. "Hold on."

"What?"

The dwarves all cried out as the floor fell out from beneath them, and Bilbo steeled himself before sliding down the rapidly closing trapdoor after them on his backside. For a moment he thought that he would get trapped, but to his relief he fell through the air easily enough, his body piercing the cold water below.

The hobbit sank like a stone, and instantly panic began to surge through his veins. Swimming was definitely not his favourite activity, or his greatest ability, and he thrashed desperately through the freezing water, trying to reach the surface.

Panic surged through his veins as he struggled for a moment too long, before finally his head burst above the surface. Gasping for breath, Bilbo felt himself being buffeted downstream with his friends, and with a heavy thud he smashed headfirst into Nori's barrel.

"Ah!" he cried out in pain, and a surge of water flooded his throat.

"Bilbo!" Kíli's voice reached Bilbo's ears in strange bursts as he bobbed under the water repeatedly. "Nor…hel…can…im!"

Wondering what on earth Kíli was trying to say was not Bilbo's main priority, but suddenly there was a rough hand clenching his collar and he was rising out of the water. With a gasp he grabbed the side of Nori's barrel and the dwarf cuffed him on the side of his head.

"Why didn't you tell us you couldn't swim?"

Oh, that was what Kíli said.

"Was never…relevant!" Bilbo panted, looking up at Nori gratefully. "Thank you…"

Nori nodded, keeping a hand on Bilbo's collar tightly in case the hobbit sank into the water again, before hollering up the line of barrels. "I've got him, Kíli."

Kíli's reply was lost to Bilbo as he ducked under water again when Nori's barrel tipped to the side. The hobbit's arms, fingers, legs and toes all clung to the barrel tightly as he was completely submerged, and as he was held underwater for an endless moment he thought that he would drown. A strong hand held him to the barrel, though, saving his life when the whole barrel jolted to the other side

Bilbo thanked Nori breathlessly he realised that the dwarf had leant to the other side of the barrel to get the bedraggled hobbit out of the water.

"Next time, Bilbo-" Nori paused to allow for the wave of water crashing over their heads. "Try and come up with a plan that will rescue everyone!"

"Who isn't being rescued?" Bilbo wheezed as the dwarves before them started to shout.

"You!" Nori's sentence turned to more of a scream as they suddenly plummeted down a waterfall.

Oh, he had not planned for waterfalls…

The barrel plunged completely underwater, bobbing up again a few moments later with both Bilbo and Nori spluttering frantically.

Up ahead, Bilbo heard Kíli screaming, but it did not sound like he was in trouble.

"Whooo-hoo!"

Of course. Kíli would be enjoying himself.

Bilbo cried out as they dropped again through air and into the water, and he wondered how many more waterfalls there were to go before they finally reached Lake-town. As they resurfaced Nori's hand remained secure on Bilbo's clothes.

"Don't worry, Bilbo, I've got you." Nori assured the soaking hobbit through his coughs as they were thrown from side to side across the river.

"Thank you…" Bilbo choked, spitting water out of his mouth.

Further upstream, Fíli was ready to begrudgingly admit that this was quite fun. Thorin and Dwalin were the only ones ahead of him, but he could hear Kíli behind him whooping at every waterfall.

"Come on, Fee, this is fun!" Kíli shouted from behind him, and Fíli's head began to spin.

"Come on, Fee!" his brother sang as he danced around in circles in the lightly falling snow. "This is fun!"

"Come back, Kíli, Amad told us to stay inside!" Fíli whined, pulling his blanket closer around his neck.

"It's fun!" The toddler giggled, prancing around like a pony. "All white and soft!"

Fíli grumbled and turned away from the back door. If Kíli wanted to do was dance around in the snow like a goose then he could do just that, but Fíli wanted no part of it.

"Fee…"

Fíli groaned. "What?"

"Fee, please…"

With a heavy sigh Fíli turned back, and made the mistake of looking Kíli in the eye. He could never deny Kíli when he gave him that look.

"Fee, come play with me!" Kíli begged, snowflakes falling on his long lashes and completing his pitiful gaze.

Fíli grumbled. He never denied his brother anything.

Fíli let out a reluctant hoot at the next waterfall, but at the drop after that his hoot transformed to a whoop as enthusiastic as Kíli's.

But then he fell again and the unthinkable happened.

Crack!

Fíli gasped in shock as an enormous rock broke through the bottom of his barrel.

"Oh, this is not good!"

Even as he swore, his barrel split in two between his hands and he fell into the water. Fíli grabbed his swords quickly, twisting through the rapid water to slide them into the double scabbard on his back, making sure that they were secure before focusing on keeping himself afloat.

"Fíli!" Kíli's yell made him turn his head, which was a big mistake, for what seemed like an entire river worth of water crashed down onto his head and he was tugged under water.

All of a sudden a hand clenched on his hair and dragged him up out of the water by his blond locks. He roared in pain and anger until he realised that Kíli was the one dragging him up.

"Sorry!" Kíli gasped as he pulled his soaking brother into his now rocking barrel, rubbing Fíli's skull absently. "I had to get you out; your hair was the only target."

Fíli righted himself in the barrel with a little difficulty, but nevertheless there was a slight grin on his face.

"Thank you, Kíli. By Durin, this must be the most insane thing I've ever done!" Fíli panted, shaking his head excessively and spraying Kíli with even more water.

"I know… What on earth have you done to my hobbit?" Kíli laughed as they dropped down another small waterfall.

"Nothing!"

The brothers screamed in unison as they fell down the biggest waterfall yet, and Fíli felt Kíli's hands tighten around his arms.

Not for the last time, he flashed back to the glorious era of innocence when Kíli would run to him for anything and everything, but in that moment, Fíli discovered that he would not have traded the relationship he had with Kíli now for the world.

This – falling down a waterfall in a barrel laughing and cheering with his brother safe and beside him – was living.

The rapids tossed them around like rag dolls for what felt like hours, but eventually the river calmed down and they began to float towards Lake-town at a far calmer pace.

Kíli leant against Fíli's chest and the older brother sighed happily, slinging his arm over the younger and holding him close.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kíli smiled. "I wasn't the one who broke my barrel."

"I meant after Mirkwood." Fíli murmured, leaning his head onto Kíli's. "You have no idea how worried I was when they never brought you back…"

Kíli nodded, leaning to Fíli a little more. "I'm fine. I wouldn't tell Thranduil anything other than the fact that I did speak Sindarin… It was lonely and boring but I'm fine."

Fíli let out a small sigh of relief and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Kíli asked in a little voice.

"I'm fine." Fíli promised, leaning back a little in the barrel. "You know, this is not the worst way of travelling…"

Kíli glanced over his shoulder and snorted. "I think Dwalin would disagree with you there."

"What?" Fíli wondered, glancing over his shoulder before turning quickly so that the green warrior did not notice him laughing. "He does not look well at all."

"No, he does not…" Kíli laughed, before glancing over his shoulder again and calling back over the group. "Nori? You haven't dropped my hobbit have you?"

"Of course not!" The thief replied indignantly, and Fíli glanced over his own shoulder to see Nori lift Bilbo into the air and shake him for a moment, eliciting a yelp from the dishevelled creature.

"Put me dow-"

"Thank you!" Kíli replied, his eyes shining. "This was a brilliant plan, Bilbo!"

"If you say so…" Bilbo called back wearily. "Next time I'll go in the barrel and you can pull the lever."

Kíli chuckled, turning back to paddle towards the bank. "Come on, let's get to shore…"

Fíli nodded, dipping his hands into the clear water and dragging them closer to the bank.

The two brothers collapsed onto the pebble beach and rolled over in unison, gazing up at the pink clouds the ornamented the glowing sky.

"Wow…" Kíli breathed.

"That was really something…" Fíli added, still a little breathless himself.

"Can we do it again?"

Fíli snorted and Dwalin dragged himself past on his hands and knees, stealing any control the blond heir of Durin had left.

Kíli sat up with an amused smile as Fíli laughed almost hysterically, clutching his sides in an attempt to control his mirth.

"Fíli?" Kíli coughed, but he got no response from the laughing dwarf. He prodded his brother on the shoulder and Fíli just laughed even harder. "Thorin?"

"What?" the dwarf king looked over in alarm at Kíli's wary tone and frowned upon seeing Fíli laughing like a lunatic.

Kíli looked at his uncle guiltily. "I think I've broken Fíli…"

Thorin raised an eyebrow and walked over to his two nephews, looking down at Fíli with interest. "Fíli?"

"Can-can we do that again!" Fíli chuckled, before dissolving into uncontrollable laughter again.

Thorin shook his head slowly, and Kíli's heart lit up as his uncle smiled. "I think you may be right. Well done, Kíli…"

"Thorin!" Dwalin's clipped warning drew the eyes of the uncle and both of his nephews to the man standing before them with the longest bow Kíli had ever seen.

Kíli swallowed when he realised that the arrow was pointing right at Dwalin's face.

Fíli's brilliant laughter ceased as silence fluttered over the company, and the golden haired dwarf sat up slowly, grasping Kíli's arm as if his proximity alone could keep his younger brother from harm. It took less than a second for Kíli to realise that the only reason Dwalin was in the arrows route was because he had stood in between the archer and Ori, and Kíli felt unnecessarily guilty for his previous amusement at the warrior's seasickness.

Thorin shifted slightly and cleared his throat. "Lower your weapon, sir."

The man raised his eyebrows. "I do not think so, dwarf, until you tell me the meaning of your business here."

"We need to see the Master of Lake-town." Thorin declared regally. "We mean no harm."

"Then why are you so heavily armed?"

"It is a long journey from the Blue Mountains, and the road is dangerous." Thorin's hand was twitching towards his sword in response to the arrow aimed at his best-friend and shield brother's face, but diplomacy stayed his hand.

The man studied the group without so much as lowering his bow. "What is the nature of your business with the Master?"

"We mean to speak with him over matters that greatly concern the welfare of both our peoples." Thorin's voice was as hard as stone.

"These barrels come from Mirkwood…" the man noted suspiciously. "Are you enemies of the Elvenking?"

Kíli stared up at Thorin, whose jaw stiffened. "We are neither friends nor enemies of Thranduil. I will explain in more detail when we see the Master of Lake-town."

Slowly the man loosened his bow string a little. "Do you intend to pay for passage across the lake?"

"Of course." Thorin held his chin up high. "I assure you, sir, we are no thieves."

"Very well…" The man finally lowered his bow completely and Kíli let out a breath he did not know he was holding. "My name is Bard, and I can ferry you across the Lake to Esgaroth for the usual fee."

"Thank you." Thorin nodded. "My name is Thorin Oakenshield."

"Why doesn't he tell Bard everything?" Kíli murmured quietly to Fíli as the dwarves began to get to their feet.

"He's one man, who knows if he really is from Lake-town…" Fíli replied under his breath, his now dark eyes fixed on Bard's back as the man discussed costs with Glóin and Balin.

Kíli stared at Fíli sadly as the company began to bustle around, gathering their few supplies together.

"Kíli, are you alright?" A low voice asked, and Kíli turned, smiling sadly at Bilbo and squeezing the hobbit's arm lightly.

"I'm fine… I like it better when Fíli's smiling."

Bilbo put a hand on Kíli's shoulder and opened his mouth to reply before sneezing. "Oh, that's just wonderful! I'm getting a cold."

Kíli frowned. "Will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine." Bilbo sniffed. "It's just a bit annoying."

"Alright, everyone onto the raft!" Bard called, and the company hastily boarded the wooden vessel, despite several murmurs about its safety.

Kíli watched as the others sat down and chose his spot carefully, choosing to lie instead of sit for the first time in weeks. His companions may be tense and on edge, but as he rested his head in Bilbo's lap and his feet on Fíli's legs, Kíli decided that there were very few places as safe in the world.

"Comfortable, Kíli?" Bilbo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I am, thank you." Kíli murmured. "Now, if you don't mind I'm going to sleep for the first time in two weeks."

"Alright…" Bilbo murmured, stroking Kíli's hair as though he were a child. "You can sleep."

"Thank you." Kíli yawned contentedly.

Fíli grabbed Kíli's feet and the younger brother yapped in protest before he realised that his feet were now stretched out across Fíli's lap "Better?"

Kíli blinked at his brother, a sleepy smile slipping across his face at Fíli's gesture. "Much better… Thank you."

"It doesn't take long for you to get sleepy brother, does it?" Fíli laughed.

"Can't…help it!" Kíli yawned again. "Bilbo's stroking my hair, that always makes me…sleepy…"

"It always has, nadadith." Fíli assured him, leaning his own head against the railing of the boat and closing his eyes.

Thorin could not help but smile slightly as Fíli and Kíli dozed, the latter sprawled all over his brother and hobbit.

The king even let out a half stifled laugh as Fíli slid down in his sleep, his head resting on the startled hobbit's shoulder. To Thorin's surprise, Bilbo just smiled and shifted ever so slightly to ensure that both boys were comfortable. The hobbit's eyes met Thorin's across the boat and the dwarf king nodded with a slight smile.

Perhaps it was possible for Kíli to be both a Baggins and an heir of Durin at the same time…

So there we go, our company is on the way to Lake-town. I kind of mixed book and movie and my barrel ride here, so I hope it worked. I LOVED watching the way the dwarves looked out for each other and for Bilbo – there are some specifics replicated within the chapter but I won't say them here in case anyone hasn't seen DOS yet.

I hope that chapter wasn't too bad, I quite enjoyed writing it.

Now, for questions about the Morgul Shaft - I would have LOVED to put that in this story, as Bilbo's reaction would have been awesome to write, but it just won't work with the storyline so I hope that that answers your questions.

In some ways, this is the beginning of the calm before the storm - I have many ideas planned for Smaug and the BOFA, so stay tuned! :)

Thanks for reading, leave a review if you fancy!