An: Thanks for the nice reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Gwaen hurried through the endless corridors of the palace, cursing in his mind. All these dwarves were too much for him - he had learnt to despise them over the course of time. He had been in Dale with his one when Erebor was taken by Smaug. He had made it out barely alive but still breathing and with a beating heart, meanwhile his loved one had had a sadder ending. All because of dwarves and their greed.
One dwarf living under the same roof as him had been enough and now he had spotted around fifteen of them walking close to their borders? If only he had had somebody with him, he would have gone to the dwarves and told them to leave. But no, he had been alone and the only rational thing he could do was to see his king and ask for a plan of action.
"King Thranduil!" Gwaen said in a loud voice as he stomped into the king's room, not bothering to knock. Thranduil's head snapped in Gwaen direction and for a second he looked like he would order him to leave, but then seemed to change his mind. He was with another guard, but told the other guard to leave for a moment. As the door closed behind the other guard, Gwaen bowed and looked up at Thranduil.
"What is it?" Thranduil asked, sitting back on his throne. "I suppose it must be something highly important, because running like that into my room is very impolite."
"My apologies, sir, but I saw dwarves near our borders, heading this way."
Thranduil's expression changed from annoyed to cautious, and he leaned back on his throne. "That so? How many were there?"
"I didn't count them, but more than ten. Closer to fifteen is my guess, sir. What should we do?" Gwaen asked.
Thranduil took a moment to think. These dwarves were probably looking for Kili, and Thranduil knew how stubborn dwarves were. He thought about giving the young one to his kin, but immediately decided not to when he remembered something.
"Say, Gwaen son of Calemen, did you see a blonde dwarf?"
The blonde needed to be punished for his crime. He knew that the two dwarves, the blonde and the young one, knew each other some way, although he had no proof of it.. And Thranduil had an excellent punishment in mind. Taking away something precious from the blonde would be the worst kind of punishment. He had a plan, and it was a good one. It would be right for both of them - Kili, and his mysterious blonde friend.
"I believe I did see a blonde, young dwarf", Gwaen told Thranduil with a knowing look in his eyes. "Do you think he is the dwarf?"
"That is a possibility", Thranduil simply answered and stood up. "Where is the young dwarf now?"
"Working in the forest with Amarth, sir", Gwaen replied. "Why?"
"I understand", Thranduil muttered and nodded, and continued to explain his plan in detail to his chief of the guards.
And the plan was more than okay to Gwaen. He would never turn down a chance to spill blood as long as it wasn't elvish. And he personally thought that the king's plan was marvelous. It would be what the dwarves deserved, Kili and the others near their borders. Dwarves were filth and they deserved to suffer like they had caused suffer on others.
"Oh, and Gwaen?" Thranduil called out as the guard was about to leave. Gwaen turned around and nodded, suggesting the king to continue. "Make sure only one dwarf enters my palace, and that he does not come before I ask someone to come let him in. I do not want to have fifteen wandering my halls, and not a single one before I am ready."
xx
Kili's axe came flying down onto the piece of wood and it practically shattered, small pieces of wood flying everywhere around him. He had become better over the past few days, and could now do more work in the same amount of time. Amarth was pleased by the fast change in his work and had allowed him to have short breaks now and then. Amarth was strict but he also had a 'good soul', as he sometimes said himself.
He only had four pieces of wood left before he would have another brief pause, and he looked forward to it. It was mid-day, the sun was at its highest and he had been working for hours. The wound on his palm stung as he hit another piece of wood. The cut could never heal if he didn't get a day or two off, and even though it didn't hurt badly or make anything harder, he was sick of the healer forcefully cleaning it up with water. That hurt more than the wound itself.
"That is great, Kili. You may have your rest now", Amarth called out from where he stood a couple of meters away, carving a piece of wood with his dagger. Kili nodded and laid the axe on the ground, sitting on the ground next to a huge tree to have something to lean against. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. The air was so fresh there, and now when it was not summer anymore but the end of autumn, the air was cool and easy to breathe. He had learnt to enjoy the little things by now.
He had sat there for maybe twenty seconds with his eyes closed when someone ordered Kili to stand up. He flinched awake from his slumber and stood up with a sigh. His pauses were short but not this short, so what was this about?
The elf who was watching over Kili greeted an approaching elf. Kili backed away a step when he saw that it was Gwaen - why wouldn't the elf just leave him alone? He has working now for Mahal's sake, he was doing what the king had told him to do and hadn't even complained... much anyways. He mostly just sighed deeply now and then and rolled his eyes at some of the commands.
Kili straightened his back and tried to look as fearless as he could, but something in Gwaen's eyes told him that something unpleasant was about to happen. The way Gwaen glanced at Kili was creepy, and it immediately reminded Kili of his face when he had thrown the dwarf against the wall not many days earlier. The same lust for causing pain. The same hateful twinkle in his eyes.
The two elves exchanged a couple of words in elvish before Kili's guard turned to quickly look at Kili. His eyes were full of uncertainty.
Some more elvish, and Amarth joined them. Why couldn't they speak a language Kili could understand? It was annoying how all he could hear sometimes was elvish and not a single word of a language he knew. It made him feel more isolated, more alone. But maybe that was why they did it.
Ugh, he didn't know.
Amarth seemed to be against whatever Gwaen said, because he crossed his arms and spoke in a very aggressive way. Kili tried to remain calm, but he was starting to get a little nervous. It couldn't be anything good, not at all. He was hoping that Amarth would stay on Kili's side - if he even was on his side at all - and defend him from Gwaen since he couldn't do it himself. But it didn't take long for Amarth to sigh and nod and take a step back so Gwaen could pass him.
Kili glanced at Gwaen as he started to approach the dwarf. "Don't", Kili breathed out as Gwaen snatched his arm a little too tight, bending it in a direction it wouldn't normally bend. A hiss of pain escaped Kili's lips as he struggled to get his arm free from the elf's grip, unsuccessfully.
"Chen fuion", Gwaen hissed as he twisted the arm once more, making Kili bend a little of the pain.
"What are you doing?" Kili cried out. Thankfully the elf let go of his hand, but instead of leaving Kili alone, the elf shoved Kili hard enough to make the dwarf fall over. The dwarf winced in pain as his back hit the ground with a root sticking up from it. He knew his back would be bruised, but he didn't care - all he cared about right then was the crazy glimmer in the elf's eyes.
Kili was scared for his life.
xx
Fili stared at the piece of torn garment Thranduil held in the air, carefully, not to touch the bloody parts. The familiar blue shirt was hanging in the air, stained crimson red -the color of blood- all over, long cuts piercing it in many -too many- places. It was a sight he thought he could never forget. His brother's shirt, the one he had been wearing, in such a condition.. it could only mean one thing.
"The patrols found it near our borders", the king explained calmly, but Fili couldn't tear his eyes off the shirt. His heart felt like it was not beating anymore. How he wished the shirt was unfamiliar, that it belonged to someone else, anybody else... But no. His little brother had been wearing that. The blood was Kili's blood.
His little brother was dead.
He had always wished that he would never have to use 'Kili' and 'dead' in the same sentence, but as everyone knows, you never get what you wish for.
Fili sensed curious eyes on his back but only ignored it. He knew that the guards by the doors were probably wondering what was happening, why wouldn't they be wondering? There was a random dwarf visiting their king, and twelve more outside. But Fili couldn't feel anything. He couldn't find the strength to care about the nosy elves who were staring even though it was none of their business.
He couldn't feel anything. Not rage, not sorrow, nothing. It just felt like something had been destroyed inside him, in his heart, and he felt.. empty.
And that was exactly what had happened. Somebody had destroyed something inside him by killing his little brother. His reckless little brother who had been full of life and joy, and had big dreams, but most importantly, someone had killed an innocent being. Kili had never hurt anybody - sure, they had fought sometimes and ended up hitting each other, but it had never hurt much and they had always apologized not long after. But apart from that...
What would their mother think?
"My apologies, Fili son of Dís. I wish there was something I could do", Thranduil told, and Fili turned his head to look at the king standing tall in front of him. He blinked a few times, unable to make a sound. Wished there was something he could do? There was nothing anybody could do anymore. Kili was gone forever.
Suddenly it hit him harder, and he gasped. Kili was gone forever. He would never see his brother again.
"I... I am sorry for disturbing you", Fili muttered, ducking his head. "I need to leave."
"I am sorry for your loss", Thranduil said with a nod. "My guards shall guide you out."
"There's no need", Fili rudely answered, just wanting to get away from the elves as soon as possible. "I'll manage on my own. Thank you. But could I have his shirt, at least? I believe you don't need it."
Thranduil nodded immediately. "It belongs to you." With that Fili snatched the shirt from the king's hands and walked away, his hands shaking as he pushed the door open.
The first thing he saw when he walked out was his uncle. Fili weakly called his name, but it was enough for Thorin to hear it, and his head snapped to his nephew's direction. "Fili! He looks unwell, Daín, come on", Thorin said and hurried to him. The kid was pale and he shook as Thorin supported him, wrapping his own arm around his nephew's small body. Daín was by their side in seconds, eyeing the youngest one in concern.
"What happened?" Thorin murmured, his heart starting to race in his chest. It couldn't have been anything good.
But before Fili could make a sound, his eyes rolled up and his legs gave up underneath his body. If it were not for Thorin, the boy would have crashed to the ground. The familiar, blood-stained blue shirt fell from Fili's arms and onto the ground as his whole body went limp on his uncle's arms, and the darkness engulfed him fully.
Review! What did you think of it?
I got the elvish/dwarvish sentences from the internet so I don't know if they are correct but who even knows, anyways?
Gwaen says to Kili: chen fuion - which means 'you disgust me'.
Gwaen's a prick, as you all have probably figured out, but now you also know a little bit more why.
But here's a question; do you want to see more Aíthon and his life? I have a piece of text I deleted from some previous chapter but saved for later use, and it reveals something about Aíthon and his personal life. It might be useful to know something about him so you'd understand him better in the future chapters, but it's not necessary. It's up to you. So tell me; do you want more of him or nah?