Chapter 21
Bilbo swallowed nervously. Balin smiled and raised his hands, slowly moving forward.
He proceeded to barter for a place on the man's barge. The Dwarves quickly marched onto the barge. Bilbo found himself sitting beside the man. Thorin had argued quietly with his eyes, but Bilbo won the staring argument. He would sit where he wished.
"Hello."
The man glanced at him and nodded.
Bilbo coughed. "My name is Bilbo."
"Bard."
Talktative fellow, isn't he? Bilbo thought dryly. "And do you have other jobs besides smuggling soggy Dwarves into floating, fishy towns?"
Bard's lips twitched. "Aye. I'm a bargeman and sometimes fisherman."
Bilbo nodded sagely. "You'd have to be in a floating, fishing village. This is actually the first time I've seen a body of water larger than a river."
Bard blinked. "Truly?"
"Truly! I live far West, beyond the Misty Mountains."
"Why have you come so far?"
"My father is a Dwarf, and my mother died a few months ago. I am traveling to live with him." Bilbo coughed. "They separated before I was born."
Bard frowned and then nodded. "I am sorry. I know the sting of death. Loved ones are precious."
Bilbo thought of his sword and then of his ring. He sighed and nodded. "As for the disagreement with the Elves…well, the Elf-King is becoming more and more suspicious of travelers going through his lands. We had a…a difference of opinion. He wanted us to stay, and we…we wanted to leave." Bilbo smiled and spread his hands innocently.
Bard chuckled. He looked down at Bilbo. "You are not Human and Dwarf are you?"
"Nay! I am a Hobbit and Dwarf. A Dwobbit, if you will."
Bard snorted slightly. "That is the first time I have heard of that name."
"I am a unique creature." Bilbo grinned. They soon lapsed into comfortable silence, until Thorin grunted his name.
"Bilbo. Come here." Bilbo nodded to Bard and moved unsteadily to his father. Thorin wrapped an arm around him tightly. "You should rest." Bilbo sighed but did as he was told. He leaned against his father, which was still a bit weird, and closed his eyes.
It was weird. Leaning against this Dwarf's shoulder as if he'd known Thorin for all his life, instead of just less than one year. Bilbo knew that Thorin was testing the boundaries too, figuring out what a father was and how different it was to being an uncle.
They would learn together, slowly and surely. Bilbo smiled and settled more comfortably and quickly fell asleep.
He woke to Thorin gently shaking him awake. "Bilbo, we're stopping. You need to wake up."
Bilbo stirred and blinked lazily. "What happened?"
"Bard wishes us to get back in the barrels. Come with me." Thorin helped Bilbo into Kíli's barrel and then got into his own. Bilbo grumbled slightly.
Kíli shushed him. "Bilbo, you've got a hole on your side. Take a peak and see what's happening."
Bilbo sighed and twisted around to spy. "Uh…he's talking to a man. He's…he's pointing at us."
The Dwarves started grumbling.
Thorin called out quietly, "What else, Bilbo?!"
"They're shaking hands."
Dwalin hissed, "He's selling us out!"
Bilbo shook his head. "Wait! The man is instructing some men…oh dear." The next second all the Dwarves were covered in fish.
~later~
…Bilbo hissed as he climbed the steps into the man's house. He didn't mind going through someone's toilet, after all, getting in the water was the same as swimming in everyone's toilet, but it was the cold that seeped into his bones and core that got to him. That, and the undeniably filthy water getting into his wound, which still hadn't closed.
Bilbo hissed out another breath. He thanked the young lady and sipped the hot tea and moaned with happiness. However, no matter how many blankets he bundled in, no matter how much tea he drank, or how close to the fire in the kitchen he sat, he couldn't get warm.
The chill refused to leave his body. Bilbo closed his eyes. He was shivering. Oin noticed. Not wanting to bring Thorin's attention to this just yet, he moved over to Bard. "Do you have anything to draw out poisons?"
Bard nodded. "We sometimes have water snakes that bite us." He pulled out a jar of weeds. "The Elves once told me about this. Kingsfoil."
Oin nodded. "Aye, aye! That should do it!" He moved quickly to Bilbo. "Come on laddie, snap out of it."
Bilbo blinked. "Sorry, I fell asleep."
"No, you didn't. You fell unconscious. There's a different. That arrow was poisoned, Bilbo. An old Orc trick. I know it well. Come on, bite this." Bilbo clenched his teeth around thick piece of wood. Oin dug his fingers into the cut, shredding the weed and pushing into the wound. Bilbo grunted.
Thorin, ever attuned to his son, noticed Bilbo's discomfort. "What's going on?"
"Drawing the poison out of the wound. Stop distracting me!" Oin barked. Bilbo groaned as his wound flared in pain.
Because, I refuse to believe that Oin would be a physician and still not recognize symptoms of poison that Orcs commonly use. Humph. So there.
Ink…
