I'm back! Thank you so much for all the lovely response to the last chapter, here's the next!
As ever, forgive any mistakes!
Read. Enjoy. Review.
Chapter Fifty Four # There Ain't No Me if There Ain't No You #
Bilbo walked happily down the corridor of Bag End, turning his ring over around his fingers. He was expecting Kíli and Fíli to return from the market any moment now, and he really could not be happier.
A sudden growling noise broke through Bilbo's consciousness and he froze, whirling around in time to see an emaciated, horrible creature crawling towards him.
"Bagginses!" Gollum hissed and Bilbo staggered backwards with a startled cry. "Thief! Thief! Baggins!"
Bilbo turned and fled down the corridor, dropping the ring into his pocket and sliding into the kitchen, grabbing a meat knife that was conveniently sitting on the side by the sink. He whirled around to face the snarling creature. "I'm not a thief!"
"You stole it from us!" Gollum snarled. "You stole the precious – Gollum, Gollum!"
"I didn't steal it, I found it!" Bilbo protested, brandishing the knife fearfully.
"Found it, Bagginses? No, Bagginses is a liar, you stole it, you stole it from us!" the creature screeched and Bilbo shook his head, backing away.
"No, I didn't!"
All of a sudden a sickening smile passed over Gollum's face and Bilbo's blood ran cold as the creature began to chant. "You stole the precious… you stole our precious – so we stole yours!"
"What?" Bilbo frowned, patting the ring in his pocket. "What are you talking about?"
Gollum laughed, his eyes alight with malice. "We took your precious! We took your precious!"
Bilbo frowned, completely baffled by the creature's song. "What are you talking about?"
"Your precious is no ring, no ring indeed!" Gollum crooned. "Your precious breathes, it does, and it cries, oh but it cries when we cuts it – Gollum, Gollum!"
"What are you talking about?" Bilbo swallowed, his heart beating faster as the creature came closer.
"Baggins knows what we talks about!" Gollum jeered, lurching a little closer. "Baggins knows! Your precious breathes and cries and sings and sighs! Your precious is as precious as ours – Gollum, Gollum – but your precious has no powers! Your precious makes you weak, and we takes it, we takes it away from you like you stole ours!"
Bilbo opened his mouth to reply but then a long, tortured scream rang out and he gasped. "Kíli!"
Gollum laughed with sickening glee. "Bagginses knows! Baggins understands now! We took your precious, and we hurts your precious!"
"No, no!" Bilbo cried, fear surging through his veins. "Don't touch him, don't you touch him! Gollum!"
Gollum laughed and a horribly familiar, red haired dwarf poked his head around the doorway. "Don't touch him? You pathetic halfling, we already have!"
"What? No, you can't be here!" Bilbo cried. "You can't, you – you're dead!"
Einar shook his head with a vicious grin. "Am I, though?"
With that, the dwarf stepped into the room, and his fist was clenching Kíli's hair.
"Kíli!" Bilbo cried, and his son looked up at him with fearful eyes.
"Bilbo?" Kíli begged. "What have you done, what have you done?"
"I…I didn't…" Bilbo stammered before raising his chin to make eye contact with the dwarf. "Let him go!"
"Let him go?" Einar sneered, shaking Kíli's head around roughly. "No, this is your punishment, you foolish halfling! This is the price you must pay for being a thief and a traitor!"
"I didn't steal anything, I didn't betray anybody, let him go!" Bilbo protested fiercely.
"Oh you most certainly did steal something!" Einar crowed, running a knife down Kíli's cheek. "And your friends will ever pay the price for it!"
With a feeling of growing horror, Bilbo looked outside and was distraught to discover that the rolling hills of the Shire had become a battleground. The green grass of Bagshot Row was stained red as the dwarves of Thorin's company struggled in a losing battle against legions upon legions of orcs. Even as Bilbo watched, hobbits got dragged into the fray, and he yelled in horror as Pearl Took and Frodo Baggins were dragged out of a burning building by their hair, screaming and kicking and fighting.
What could two tiny little hobbit children do against such ravenous hate?
"Stop, stop!" Bilbo cried desperately, but even as he watched his friends were falling and there were so many screams and –
"Bilbo! Bilbo, wake up, wake up!" Kíli whispered.
Bilbo's eyes flew open with a gasp and he sat up quickly, his head spinning painfully. The low burning fire was still the only light in the cave, which explained why Kíli appeared to be the only one awake, though Gandalf and the elves were nowhere to be seen. Breathing heavily, Bilbo met his son's eyes and swallowed. "Kíli?"
"Are you alright, Bilbo?" Kíli murmured, grasping the hobbit's arm. "You were moaning and shaking…"
"I…" Bilbo swallowed, shaking his head. "I… Well, let's just say my dreams were a little unpleasant. Thank you for waking me."
Kíli smiled sadly. "Anytime."
"Kíli, you are…" Bilbo paused, glancing over the numerous dwarves all sheltering in the cave. Both Nori and Bofur were clearly sound asleep, as were Jari's family, so he took a deep breath and turned to Kíli. "Ever since… well, since the battle and then after that with the… the incident with… Are you really alright? Because you never bounce back like this, and don't get me wrong I'm so glad you have but don't you… are you… Are you really so unafraid? I'm worried you're not telling me everything…"
"It's alright, Bilbo." Kíli smiled softly. "I made up my mind after…what happened… I don't want to be hiding in the shadows my whole life because of things that we fought through and conquered. I decided that we're going to be alright, and that's that. So I'm fine – I'm just worried about you."
"Oh, I'm alright…" Bilbo tried to wave off Kíli's concerns, but he could not stop himself from leaning against his son slightly. "I'm just tired."
"Mmh." Kíli hummed, sounding completely unconvinced. "Of course you are."
Bilbo sighed heavily, painting a smile onto his face. "Of course I am."
"I've told you before, Bilbo, you don't have to hold yourself together for me." Kíli murmured quietly and Bilbo looked up sharply.
"Kíli, I've told you before – don't worry about me, alright?"
"I can't help it." Kíli's mumble was weaker this time, and a sad smile flickered across the young dwarf's face. "I'm scared for you."
With a heavy sigh, Bilbo put his hand on Kíli's. "I am… haunted… yes, I suppose that's the best adjective to use. What's happened, what we've been through… it's…it's a little too much. I just feel very… on edge, I suppose, all the time, and I'm not used to it. I don't like it, but I can't help worrying like an old woman… Really, Kíli, I'm fine."
Kíli sighed, before smiling slightly. "It's going to be fine, Bilbo. I won't let anything happen, not anymore."
Bilbo raised an eyebrow. "Because you made up your mind? Is it really that simple for you?"
Kíli nodded sombrely. "It is."
Bilbo gave a little laugh and shook his head slowly. "By Durin… what did I ever do to deserve a son like you, Kíli?"
"Oh, something awful, probably." Kíli said offhandedly and Bilbo laughed quietly.
"I am serious, Kíli." Bilbo smiled, a sudden sad thought springing to his mind. "I'm so glad that I'm the hobbit."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Kíli asked, confused.
Bilbo froze. "I didn't say that aloud, did I?"
Kíli nodded, looking rather amused. "Why are you glad you're the hobbit?"
"Well, if all goes according to nature I won't have to live without you. Children are supposed to outlive your parents but if I were a dwarf and you a hobbit…" Bilbo regretted the truthful words the moment they left his lips, and he cursed himself for murmuring them so flippantly.
The amusement in Kíli's eyes died instantly and horror took its place as the young dwarf's smile fell away from his lips.
Swallowing, Bilbo opened his mouth. "Kíli, I'm sorry, I-"
"Never, ever say that to me again!" Kíli's eyes were full of pain and unshed tears and his voice was weakened by emotion. "Bilbo, you can't, you can't say that to me! Why would you even…?"
"I'm sorry; I never meant to say it aloud!" Bilbo insisted, but he realised with a surge of pain that the damage was done.
Kíli's large brown eyes stared straight into Bilbo's and the young dwarf swallowed, closing his eyes. "Just… don't say it again, Bilbo. Please…."
"I won't, I'm sorry…" Bilbo whispered, putting a hand on Kíli's arm. "Kíli…"
"It's not as though…" Kíli paused, his eyes still closed. "You're not just my father, you know, Bilbo… I can't imagine having to… Urgh! Don't say that, don't you ever say that again!"
"I won't, I won't, I promise you, Kíli. I'm sorry." Bilbo swallowed, and merely a moment later he was engulfed in a crushing embrace from his son. As Kíli's fingers tangled in his hair, Bilbo wrapped his arms around his son tightly. "I'm sorry, Kíli…"
"I said I wouldn't leave you, but you can't leave me either, you know." Kíli mumbled, clutching at Bilbo's coat.
"I won't," Bilbo promised easily, stroking Kíli's hair. "I'm here."
"I know." Kíli murmured. "We're…we're going to be alright, Bilbo."
"I know." The hobbit whispered back.
Even when they pulled apart, Kíli and Bilbo continued to sit close together, and Kíli looped his arm over his hobbit's shoulder, leaning against Bilbo with a soft sigh.
"We'll be home soon, Bilbo." Kíli smiled wistfully. "And there'll be our family there, and food and so many stories to tell."
"I can't wait…" Bilbo sighed longingly, though there was a wide grin on his face. "Oh, I can't wait, Kíli…"
They spoke quietly for a little while, murmuring to each other quietly, though they ensured that they did not speak loudly enough to wake any of the others. It had not taken them long to deduce that dawn was not too far away, so there was little point of going back to sleep.
After a little while, though, Kíli placed a hand on Bilbo's arm. "Wait, Bilbo, listen!"
The hobbit's ears twitched and he frowned as he heard the soft whimpering sound Kíli was listening to. "What is-"
"It's Ari, the little one." Kíli murmured, pointing at the little dwarfling curled up at his mother's side not two feet away from them.
The child was indeed the one whimpering, his face contorted in fear as his little hands curled into fists.
"Should we wake him?" Bilbo whispered, but before Kíli could reply the little boy sat up with a gasp and grabbed his mother's sleeve.
Ari looked around quickly, breathing heavily. When he saw Bilbo and Kíli looking at him, the child blushed and he looked down at his lap.
"M-misters Baggins…"
"Are you alright, Ari?" Bilbo asked gently, and the little boy peeked up at the hobbit from underneath his blonde hair.
"M-me, I'm fine, M-Master Baggins!" Ari stammered, looking nothing like the confident, happy child they had spoken to the previous day.
Bilbo smiled sadly, reminded of how another happy young dwarfling who had been reduced to a frightened little thing by nightmares.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Kíli asked softly, and the boy's blush strengthened.
"N-no, I don't have nightmares, I'm fifty-six!" Ari protested, lowering his eyes again.
"I do." Kíli said calmly, his eyes fixed on the little boy. "I have them quite a lot, actually, it's really annoying. I can't stand them but they always creep up on me, even when I'm happy."
Ari looked up. "You do?"
Kíli nodded seriously. "You're fifty-six? That's how old I was when I came to the Shire. I used to get nightmares almost every night, it was horrible."
"You did?" Ari swallowed, glancing across at his older brothers and father.
"Yep." Kíli grinned wryly. "They're no fun at all."
Ari nodded, pulling his sleeves down over his hands. "I… I might have had a bad dream…"
"We don't have to talk about it unless you want to." Bilbo smiled. "If you want to talk we're all ears, if you want to change the subject, go ahead."
Ari blinked, looking surprised. "I get to change the subject?"
"Don't you often?"
Ari grinned widely at Bilbo's question, giggling quietly. "I have three big brothers and one big sister, sir."
"Oh, I can imagine it can be hard to get a word in edgeways, sometimes?" Kíli grinned.
Ari rolled his eyes. "Oh, definitely, Master Kíli. Especially because Jari talks all the time!"
"He does speak a lot, doesn't he? And please, just call me Kíli, 'Master' is so formal." Kíli grinned at the child before looking at the blonde dwarf snoring next to Fíli. "Jari does seem quite brilliant, though."
"He is." Ari nodded matter-of-factly. "Do you know that he's going to teach me how to hunt? I want to be an archer, like my uncle Torvar!"
"That sounds like fun." Bilbo commented. "Kíli's a brilliant archer, but I'm awful. I shot my own foot once."
"Really?" Ari's eyes widened and he looked at Kíli with something that could be described as nothing other than awe, speaking up almost shyly. "Did you really shoot the dragon?"
"I did," Kíli nodded. "But it didn't kill him."
"But you still shot a dragon!" Ari insisted, his eyes alight with admiration. Kíli nodded calmly and Ari paused, glancing at his mother and then at the mouth of the cave. "Can I come and sit with you, please?"
"Of course you can." Bilbo smiled warmly. "Be quiet though, you wouldn't want to wake your mother, would you?"
Shaking his head, Ari carefully tiptoed over to sit next to Bilbo and Kíli. "What's it like in the Shire?"
"Wonderful." Kíli began with a bright smile. "The food there is unbelievably good and the company is brilliant as well. It's very peaceful as well, which is great, but it's always exciting around the trees and lake where everyone plays – it's a good balance, I think."
Ari nodded thoughtfully. "I think if I fell into a river I'd be very scared, and I'd miss my family a lot, even if they all talk too much. Was it scary not being able to remember?"
Bilbo glanced at his softly smiling son as Kíli nodded. "It was the scariest part, I think. I had no idea where I'd come from or who I was – I wasn't even completely sure that Kíli was my name!"
"But you remember little bits now, like you remember my brother?" Ari asked curiously.
"Yes, although I only remember playing with him once." Kíli confirmed, furrowing his eyebrows. "I think Auden was there as well…"
"You played with Jari lots, I think, and the twins sometimes too." Ari remembered. "I was only very little when you were still in the Blue Mountains but I remember that you and Fíli used to be in our house lots, with Alfr and Ehren and some of the others. Fíli and the others still come around a fair bit… Do lots of hobbits do archery?"
Bilbo laughed aloud at that question. "No, not really. Only the Tooks – most of us have about as much talent as a field mouse when it comes to wielding any sort of weapon."
"So no one has any weapons?" Ari considered that for a long moment. "Is that because nobody needs them?" when Bilbo and Kíli nodded, the boy smiled wistfully. "Then it must be a good place if nobody needs to fight."
"I think it is…" Kíli murmured with a soft smile, and Bilbo silently nodded his agreement.
At that moment, Elrohir walked back into the cave and nodded at the three dwarves. Ari looked cautiously up at the elf and then glanced at Kíli, whispering quietly.
"Is it true you speak elvish?"
Kíli nodded. "Yes, I do. Well, I speak Sindarin; it's just one type of elvish."
Ari glanced at Elrohir again, clearly unaware that the elf could hear his every word. "I thought elves were untrustworthy?"
Kíli leant towards the child, whispering quietly. "Actually, they're quite the opposite. Most of them are very loyal and very trustworthy; it's just that our people have had the misfortune of dealing with some rotten ones over the ages."
"Oh, I see…" Ari looked carefully at Elrohir.
"Ari, can I ask you something?" Kíli asked slowly and the boy looked at him curiously.
"Of course!"
"Your brothers… Your name rhymes with Jari but Auden and Austen really don't. Why is that?"
"Oh, it's because they're twins." Ari explained knowingly. "Ama says it's a tradition to name twins with really different names from other siblings because twins are so rare and special, but not everybody does it. They're very proud of being twins."
"I see…" Kíli nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Ari beamed before looking back at Bilbo. "I was wondering, Master Bilbo, if you could answer a really important question for me?"
"I'll do my best." Bilbo replied with a nod. "But please, call me Bilbo!"
"What magic do hobbits use so that nobody ever sees them?" the child asked sombrely.
The hobbit almost laughed out loud in confusion. "Magic?"
Ari nodded soberly. "Nobody ever sees you unless you want them to, so it must be magic."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Ari, but it's not magic." Bilbo smiled wryly. "Hobbits are excellent at going unnoticed but it's just the way we're built and the way we move. Dwarves can learn to go just as quietly, if they try very, very hard."
Instead of disappointment, wonder lit up Ari's big green eyes. "Really? That's amazing, Bilbo!"
The hobbit laughed quietly. "Keep your voice down a little; we wouldn't want to wake the others before dawn now, would we? I'm glad you're so impressed."
Ari covered his mouth sheepishly, before lowering his voice once more. "Can you teach me? I'd be unbeatable at hide and seek if I could sneak like a hobbit!"
"I can try to give you some tips, but it would take a very long time to teach you how to sneak like a hobbit." Bilbo warned, and Kíli nodded.
"It took me a decade to learn how to move as quietly as my friends."
"I'm a quick learner and I'll practise all the time!" Ari swore vehemently. "Oh please, Bilbo, please give me some tips!"
Bilbo's heart was warmed by the dwarfling's obvious awe - it was not every day that one of Durin's hardy folk expressed such open wonder about the humble and unremarkable race of hobbits. "Well, the first thing you'll need to do is to think very carefully for a minute – what is the quietest animal you can think of?"
Ari's face screwed up as he concentrated. "Um, a rabbit."
"Perfect!" Bilbo clapped his hands together quietly. "Now, have you ever seen a rabbit when there's danger about? What do they do when they see a threat approaching?"
"They look frightened and scuttle." Ari answered immediately.
"Precisely." Bilbo nodded. "Now, when hobbits see danger, the first thing they do – very much like a rabbit – is get out of the eyesight of the threat. If you're playing hide and seek, that threat will be the seeker. So the first thing to do in such a situation is to get out of sight – to scuttle, to use your words, though the 'looking frightened' is optional. However, it's very important to scuttle quietly."
"Scuttle quietly." Ari repeated with a nod.
"To do that, you have to concentrate on how you're moving," Bilbo explained, thinking carefully about how best to explain it to the boy. For hobbits, walking almost silently was merely how they learnt to walk naturally, so it was not easy to describe how to do so to one of another race – Kíli had picked up sneaking himself after years of copying his friends.
"How?" Ari asked, wide eyed, when Bilbo took his time in responding.
"You need to make your footsteps very controlled. Put your heel down first and then roll onto the balls of your foot – that's this bit here-" Bilbo pointed to his own foot. "-and when your weight is on the ball of your foot, softly put your other foot down. You have to take care to walk softly."
"The back of your heel goes on the floor softly, then you roll onto the ball of your foot and then you put your other heel down gently." Ari recited seriously.
"Exactly." Bilbo nodded. "Try and keep yourself low if you're trying to go unseen, even walk in a bit of a crouch if you can. Keep your breathing steady and quiet as well, that should help."
Ari nodded vigorously. "I can do that, Bilbo!"
"The most important thing is not to be discouraged if you can't do it right away." Kíli reminded the dwarfling. "Like I said, it took me a decade to learn properly, and I had hobbits all around to show me what to do."
It was not long before the others awoke and sleepy dwarves began to prepare breakfast and pack up camp, but even as everyone else woke up, little Ari only had eyes and ears for Bilbo. Jari commented with amusement that perhaps the hobbit should adopt another fifty-six year old dwarfling, earning him a giggle from his little brother, loud cries of agreement from Auden and Austen and a clip around the ears from his mother, and chuckles from the hobbit, Kíli and Fíli.
When the time came for both families to head their separate ways, Ari hugged Bilbo tightly and begged him to visit Erebor soon in a spectacle that amused most of the others there.
Jari, however, pulled Fíli aside while the others were talking and clamped a hand onto his friend's arm.
"It was good to see you, Jari." Fíli smiled sincerely. As the oldest in Fíli's small group of close friends, Jari had always looked after the younger dwarves, and when Kíli had gone missing it had been Jari who would knock on Fíli's front door every three days without fail. After almost three months of solitude, Fíli finally let Jari in, and his friend had looped an arm over his shoulders and sat with him in silence until Fíli asked quietly to be distracted and then Jari continued to come over every three days, like clockwork, talking about whatever Fíli wanted to talk about. For years, Jari had watched out for Fíli, and Fíli loved his friend dearly for it.
"It was good to see you too, Fíli." Jari smiled. Then he sighed and the smile slipped from his face, revealing concern in his eyes. "What's wrong with you, Fíli?"
Fíli recoiled, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Do not play the fool with me, Fíli; I've known you since you were toddling. I see the way you look at Kíli and the others when you think no one will notice. You have the same look in your eyes that you had after Kíli was lost the first time – you are afraid, don't think I don't know it. What's wrong, Fíli, what happened?" Jari pleaded, squeezing Fíli's arm lightly.
Realising that there would be no dissuading his stubborn friend; Fíli sighed heavily and shook his head. "The battle, Jari, it was... It was worse than I could have possibly imagined. There was so much… it was… Mahal, Jari, if the elves hadn't been there, I would've died! Then Kíli was... It... Jari, I still have nightmares about it!"
"By Durin, I can't imagine it…" Jari shook his head sadly, his eyes full of sympathy.
Fíli knew full well that his friend was not a warrior – rather than following in his father's footsteps and becoming a merchant or his uncle's and becoming a guard, Jari was a craftsman who created mainly jewellery and other small, delicate items. Despite his love of wrestling and his boisterous nature, Jari was one of the gentlest dwarves Fíli knew. As a child, Fíli had mistaken Jari's mildness for cowardice, but as he grew older Fíli began to understand a little more, though the nicknames that sprung from his ignorance stuck. He often called Jari "Coward," to which Jari would playfully label him a "Fool" in response to his childhood rashness.
Jari's clever green eyes narrowed as they studied Fíli's. "There's more, isn't there? Fíli?"
"When we left Mirkwood, not fifty days ago, we were attacked." Fíli said quietly, averting his eyes from his friend's face. "We were sheltering in the home of a friend and a gang of traitors tried to burn it to the ground - and then they kidnapped Kíli."
Jari gasped in horror. "What?!"
"They took him..." Fíli swallowed, slowly raising his eyes to meet Jari's horror-struck stare. "They took him and they tortured him - we got out and they didn't expect it, but they hurt him badly, Jari. They had a dwarf who...who looked like Dwalin, and in the dark they had him say things to Kíli, awful things! They were all killed but one, we think, but though that traitor was taken back to Erebor there may well be more. I… I nearly lost him again, Jari…"
"Oh, Durin's beard, Fíli…" Jari breathed, shaking his head slowly. "I'm sorry that happened…"
Fíli nodded, smiling sadly. "Well, we're coping. I mean, Kíli seems to have dealt with it better than I have by far, but we're all coping."
"You shouldn't have had to go through that, Fíli. Especially not so recently after getting him back… I don't think I can think of anyone less deserving, though that won't make you feel any better, I know. You say you're coping…?"
"Better than I did the first time." Fíli confirmed with a wry smile. "I think it helps that I didn't lose him again."
Jari smiled wryly himself. "Aye, I think that would help… He holds you together, you know. We were just about able to cling onto all the pieces and stop them from floating away, but he's the only one that's ever been able to hold you together completely. You know, when he's around you're more… more…"
"More what?" Fíli frowned lightly.
Jari grinned. "Well, the only way I can think to describe it is that you are more Fíli when Kíli is around."
"What have I been for the past two decades then?" Fíli raised his eyebrows, though he wholeheartedly agreed with Jari's analysis.
"Less Fíli. More perfect prince, perhaps, but less Fíli." Jari winked, grinning and squeezing Fíli's forearm again. "And it's good to have you back, even with your demons."
Fíli laughed aloud, his smile gaining strength. "I agree with you totally…"
"So, have you decided what you're doing when you get back to the Shire?" Jari asked curiously, glancing towards the others. They were far enough away for their conversation to be private thanks to the bustling of their families' preparations, but it appeared that the time to leave was drawing closer.
"I have no idea." Fíli admitted slowly. "It all depends on Kíli."
"Well then, I hope to see you both in Erebor, soon, I've missed the pair of you." Jari insisted. "I will trek all the way back to the Shire if I must, but I'd probably just sit on another hobbit or twelve."
Fíli laughed, embracing Jari firmly. "I hope we shall see you soon, either way. Take care of yourself, coward."
"You take care of yourself, fool." Jari grinned, returning the embrace fiercely.
After a long moment, the two young dwarves returned to their families and bid farewell to their friends, travelling off in different directions with equally lightened hearts.
"You're a coward."
The dwarf chained hand and foot to an iron chair responded only with a wordless glare, made all the more dangerous by the blood trailing down his face from the two decent wounds marring his skull.
Dwalin was not afraid of the prisoner, no matter how darkly he glared.
"Attempting to kill an innocent woman in the dead of night - you're a coward." The king's best friend repeated, twirling his knife around his fingers without even looking as he gifted the traitor a glare of his own. "I bet it never crossed your mind that she might fight back, did it?"
The traitor did not reply and Thorin spoke up from the corner of the room. "I suggest you answer his questions - this will go much less painfully if you do."
The traitor did not reply, choosing instead to continue his wordless glower.
Dwalin looked to Thorin and the king nodded once. The warrior smashed his fist into the criminal's face several times before standing back and addressing Thorin. "Maybe he will not talk because he fears his own companions more than he fears us, for fear is obviously what holds his tongue - there is no trace of loyalty in him - he is a coward."
"I am a martyr!" The dwarf hissed, speaking for the first time since Elza's brothers had delivered him to the king.
"Except you are not." Thorin's expression would have been eligible to be called a smirk if it were not so grave and dangerous. "You have no way of ending your own life and I assure you that no one will end it for you. You will wither away and rot in a dungeon for centuries but if it is your wish to die we will do everything in our power to ensure that your miserable life drags on for as long as possible until at last your weak body crumbles to dust and you fade from this life alone and forgotten. You will never be a martyr."
At Thorin's glowering threat, the dwarf fell silent once more and Dwalin began to talk slowly. "We know why you did it, of course. You needed to dispose of the witness to the murder of your filthy friend in the dungeons, but in attempting do so you've just given us another piece of the puzzle. So tell us - who killed Balder? Was it you?"
By the time Thorin and Dwalin left the nameless traitor in the cell alone, the assassin was beaten bloody and had refused to give them a single name – not even his own.
They did, however, have a place to start and Dwalin addressed the collection of loyal guards they had assembled. "We need to find out who this dwarf is and who he knows. We need to know where he comes from and who he is working with - we need to know everything."
As the guards dispersed, Thorin ran over what little they had in his mind. Bombur, Glóin and Ori had woken shortly before Dwalin and Thorin went to interrogate the would-be assassin, but though they were awake and coherent, if a little dazed, they could remember nothing of the attack. It appeared that their attacker, or even attackers, had been clever and skilled enough to attack the Lords from behind. The woman, Elza, was yet to awake, though she still clung to life with the obstinacy of a true woman of Durin's folk.
"We have something to go on now." The King said after a long moment. It was not like Thorin to look on the bright side of life, but every time he looked at Dwalin he saw the barely concealed pain lingering around his friend and he knew that it was not the time to be preaching doom and gloom. In his heart of hearts, Thorin was a friend first, and sometimes friendship meant giving hope where you did not necessarily feel it yourself. "And we have managed to capture another of the traitors, which is better than nothing."
"Aye, that's a blessing. It's just a curse that it took the stabbing of an innocent woman for us to achieve it." Dwalin said darkly. "How her brothers did not slay him on the spot, I will never know. I would've."
"They knew we needed information." Thorin reasoned wearily. "The eldest - Dastan, I believe his name is, is in the guard, as is one of the others."
Dwalin shook his head. "Aye, but the restraint they showed in leaving him alive… Can you say you would have let him live even for a moment if it was Dís' chest he shoved his knife into?"
Thorin's blood chilled at the very thought of it and if Dwalin had been anyone else he would have cursed him aloud for ever verbalising the thought – let alone in such a blunt manner. However, it was Dwalin who spoke and Thorin was well aware that Dwalin's brotherly love for Dís was almost as strong as his own so he took a deep breath. "I doubt it."
"I wouldn't have, sure as death!" Dwalin spat, and Thorin glanced at his friend.
It was painfully clear that Dwalin was still burning, the news of Kíli's torture hurting the warrior just as agonizingly as it hurt the king, if not more. Thorin's heart hurt at the idea that his nephews and their hobbit were still out there, alone with scarce any protection, save that of two elves, a wizard who had an unsettling habit of vanishing during danger and two of the most loyal – though certainly not the most battle-skilled - dwarves he knew.
All of a sudden there was a loud knock on the door and they turned to see young messenger lad standing in the doorway, breathing heavily as he bowed deeply at the king.
It was clear from the breathlessness in his voice that the lad had been running as he tried to appropriately address his king. "Your highness, Lord Dori sent me to inform you immediately that the woman, Elza daughter of Aisa, has awoken. She is weak but they believe she will live! Lord Dori requests that you come as soon as possible, for she believes she has information."
So I hope you enjoyed that little chapter, the chronology may be a little off since the interlude in Erebor would have taken place perhaps a day after Elza was stabbed, so at least a few weeks before the travellers met Jari, but I hope it was okay anyways.
The ageing rates are coming, I just need to finish perfecting them :D Also I THINK WE SHOULD REACH THE SHIRE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! YAY!
The title of this chapter comes from a certain TV show I am slowly catching up on, brownie points to whoever knows what it is ;) I don't know, it just seemed to fit this chapter with the heart to hearts... (Speaking of, were they okay? In character enough for you - as in was the OOCness justified? Were they too cheesy? Sheesh, I hope not, eek!)
Please leave a review if you can, I really, truly appreciate them!
