An: Hey, look, I'm here! And it's not Monday! Aaaanyways, thanks for the nice reviews. It sounds like you guys feel really bad for Kili, it'd be a shame if something else happened to him... c:

O-Wan Kenop, I can't answer you because you've disabled PM but thanks for the review! Voi kettukarkki kyllä joo, ihanaa et tykkäät mun tarinoista! :) kiitos!

Úron sighed heavily and crossed his arms, glaring at Gwaen from where he stood behind his brother. Roden had come to interrupt the heated argument that had begin to look a bit threatening by stepping between the other two elves. The two others, Alvor and Erisdír, had left the camp a while ago to find them a new place to spend the night. Legolas, Gwaen, Úron, Kili and Roden would join them when the dwarf woke up from his small nap.

"If I were you, Úron, I would silence myself. I have all the authority over you to kick you out from your current work and make sure that you will never get back", Gwaen hissed, stepping a little closer. He was angry and he felt like hitting everyone that came to his way, including his fellow guards. Especially this young, naive guard who didn't seem to know where his place was.

A warning glance from Roden got Gwaen to back the one step he had moved forward. Roden was a good guard, obeyed without a question and never rebelled or stood up against the other elves, least of all the had of the guard. This side of him was new to Gwaen - he hadn't known that his brother came before rules and rationality, but it came and Gwaen knew it now.

"And if I were you I would stop beating dwarves to near death", Úron said in a pissed tone. "I don't know what the history is between you two, but nothing justifies what you just did."

"You are a dwarf-lover, aren't you?" Gwaen asked with a murderous look. "It is not a concern of mine that you befriended the dwarf. He is our prisoner and that is all he is to me, and I will treat him as one. Just because my prince and two guards have made a friend out of him, doesn't change the facts."

Roden narrowed his eyes as he stared at the head of the guard.

"He is not my friend. He is our prisoner but that doesn't mean we should beat him every chance we've got! You are a coward, Gwaen."

"Okay, that's it", Roden quickly said as he saw the change for worse in Gwaen's eyes. He spun around and grabbed his brother by the shoulders, pushing him backwards. "Don't say anything else, Úron, or I will make sure to tell father about this. Just go see how Kili is doing, alright? I will follow you in a few minutes."

Nodding shortly, Úron turned around and left, leaving Gwaen and Roden alone. Roden cursed in his thoughts - why was his brother always getting himself in trouble? He had long known that his little brother did what felt right and acted on his feelings more than his mind, but it still surprised him every time. It wasn't necessary a bad thing to do what your heart told you to, but in situations already tense like this..

Once arriving to the resting dwarf, Úron sat down onto the ground next to the prince. Legolas had been cleaning Kili's wounds as he was the best of their small group, and was already halfway through.

The elves exchanged a look and Legolas sighed, working slowly on the wounds around Kili's eyes. "I heard that you were arguing with Gwaen."

"I was", Úron nodded, taking a glance at his brother and the chief of the guard, who were now talking in silent voices. "I dislike the way Gwaen thinks he can do anything he wants, and when I mentioned that.. I think you heard the result better than well."

Legolas answered with a dry laugh. "I did, and I think Alvor and Erisdír heard that, wherever they are now."

xx

Kili sighed as he sat on the other side of the fire, Legolas eyeing him carefully. The prince had said that he'd stay with Kili that day, because if something 'suddenly changed' and Kili went for the worse, he could help better than anyone. That was, naturally, a lie, but Kili didn't know what the truth was. He assumed that Legolas had something to speak about, maybe about yesterday evening and the fight, but so far, Legolas hadn't said anything out of the usual. Kili had heard questions like 'does your head still hurt', 'how is your eye' and 'are you hungry' so many times during the few hours they had been alone that they started to annoy him a little.

As the stew boiled next to Kili, he couldn't help but get hungry. It smelled delicious. He had just eaten a couple of hours ago, before the other elves left to patrol around the forest, but he couldn't wait to eat again. For once - usually eating was mandatory since the food was tasteless, but not this time, and he was looking forward to it. Legolas had used a lot of berries to give it some taste.

The time moved slowly and Kili was at the edge of dying because of boredom. The strengthening aroma of the food boiling on the fire made Kili's stomach turn in hunger, but finally it was done and Legolas halved it to give both of them the same amount, even though Kili was sure that the prince knew that Kili could eat way more than the elf. Anyways, it was better than nothing and Kili didn't argue.

Some of the eating passed by in near silence, as well, but before Kili had reached the first half of his food, he decided to open his mouth. He couldn't take the somewhat awkward silence anymore.

"Why are you so quiet today? I mean, two days ago I merely got to say a word because you were talking all the time", Kili said, glancing a meaningful look at the prince, who raised his gaze from the bowl to the dwarf. A second passed, then another.

"I don't know", said Legolas finally, sighing. "I suppose I was looking for the right time to speak."

Kili raised his other eyebrow at the elf. "Why? Is there something I should know?"

The question made Legolas grin, for some reason. "Perhaps there is. First of all, I want to apologize for telling you all the things I did yesterday. I know I shouldn't have told them, I just thought that you have the right to know what is coming and why all of this is happening." Legolas' voice wasn't apologetic, so Kili guessed that this was more formal than an actual apology. Not that there was anything to be sorry for anyways, because there wasn't. Kili had asked for the truth and he had gotten it.

"It's okay", Kili answered, shoving a spoonful of the stew into his mouth. The smell had been better than the taste, but it was still better than usually. "Maybe I should apologize for what I did to Gwaen, but I won't apologize to him. He doesn't deserve it."

"I know", Legolas replied with a short laugh. "Secondly, I did some thinking during the time you weren't conscious, and then during the night again. I disagreed with my father's idea to end your life before out travel, and I disagree with it now, my mind hasn't changed. And to put it shortly, I have decided to let you run."

Kili froze. Run? As in...

"As in escape, yes", Legolas continued as if he had read Kili's mind. "But we need to do it so nobody suspects anything. You probably don't understand in how much trouble I will get if my father finds out about this - it has to look real. And I have a plan."

xx

The evening fell on them surprisingly fast, and before they knew it, the others returned. Stars covered the dark night sky by the time the food was done, and Kili found himself relaxing against a tree, far from Gwaen and his nasty stares. Úron had joined him for some reason, but Kili didn't mind. Legolas had told him how the young elf had stood up for Kili last night and almost got dismissed from the guards. There was something in Úron that reminded Kili of Aíthon, and it wasn't a bad thing.

"How long have you been in the palace?" asked Úron. He seemed to be really interested in Kili's whole experience, and kept asking a lot of questions. "I haven't seen you, but you must have been there for a longer time for the prince to trust you enough to take you with us here."

"I kind of lost the count of days now when I'm not in my cell anymore, but it's more than five months by now", Kili answered with a sigh. Hopefully it won't be much longer or I will lose my mind. Legolas has to keep his promise.

"Have you and Gwaen fought a lot during that time?" he continued his questions, his eyes twinkling in curiosity.

"More than I like to admit", Kili snorted, shaking his head. "With Gwaen I lost count months ago. It wasn't always physical, but almost every week I would argue with him at least once. Sometimes he would hurt me physically as well, but not in a long time anymore.. at least before yesterday."

Úron nodded, sighing deeply. "He's short tempered, but that is one of the reasons he is the head of the guard. It can be a bad thing, but it can really be a good thing, as well. But know that most of us aren't like Gwaen. I mean, none of us would hurt you without a very good reason, Gwaen and a few others are exceptions."

"I know", the dwarf answered, closing his eyes. He was growing tired, but they still needed to travel before he could sleep. The other elves were all now packing their bags, and in few minutes they would be on their way again. He wasn't really looking forward to it, but somehow he had gotten used to sitting on a horse by now and it wasn't that horrible anymore. All he looked forward to was some sleep.

"Are you tired?" asked Úron now, eyeing the dwarf who slowly opened his eyes to glance at the elf.

"Yeah."

"I heard Prince Legolas say that we won't travel far today. You get go to sleep soon", he told Kili with a grin.

"He did?" Kili asked, nodding with a smile. "Great. I can't wait."

xx

"Roden, it is your turn to guard the camp through the night", Legolas told as they had settled to their new location. "You will also keep an eye on the dwarf tomorrow. I will take the next night."

Kili was laying under the pile of blankets on his usual spot, a little further from everyone else. Úron rested a couple of meters away from him, and the others were all surrounding the fire in order to keep warmer. Kili liked to sleep away from the others simply because of the privacy and the feeling of safety. If he slept next to Gwaen, Alvor or Erisdír, he wouldn't sleep well because of the constant, lingering feeling of danger.

The news that Legolas woulf be guarding the camp the next night meant that their plan would take action then, and it was more than enough to make Kili grin to himself. Soon he would be free. It would be hard, it would take time and he would probably starve before he got back to Ered Luin, but he would be free and that was what he had been secretly dreaming of for the past five months. He would no longer have to be scared of death every time he did something wrong, he wouldn't have to count hours until the next time he got food or saw the daylight or got to have some rest.

"Sure", Roden muttered as an answer and shifted a little where he sat, his back against a tree. They were now surrounded by thick trees and they couldn't see anywhere. No light shone through the treetop, not even the dim light from the moon and stars. It would have been absolutely black if it weren't for the fire rattling on the ground.

Feeling happy, relaxed and safe, Kili quickly fell asleep.

He was woken up by a sharp cry of pain and inhuman noises echoing from all directions. "Goblins!" someone yelled and in a mere second Kili was on his feet, wide awake even though it was in the middle of the night. The fire had gone mostly out already, so it was really dark, but thankfully it still illuminated the surroundings enough for Kili to notice that there were dozens of goblins all around them. They were all holding different kinds of crappy but very heavy weapons. Kili knew what weapons made to crush bones looked like, and those were definitely designed for that. It made Kili, a dwarf with nothing to defend himself with, a little scared.

Looking around himself, Kili saw all of the elves up with their shiny swords and big bows out-

Kili cried out as something heavy collided with his shoulder, forcefully making Kili crash to the ground. His left shoulder was instantly a mess of almost paralyzing white pain and this burning feeling, as if it was on fire. Despite the agony, Kili forced himself up and faced this ugly goblin with a big hammer-like weapon. He was out of options if he wanted to survive alive, and he would, he had decided that - he blundged himself at the creature and hit it with his body, both of them colliding with the hard ground. As soon as he could, Kili started hitting and kicking the ugly creature underneath him, using all the strength he could.

The goblin still had a tight grip of the hammer, so as Kili had to stop hitting it for half a second in order to raise his hand again, it swung its ugly arm and the hammer hit Kili's jaw painfully hard, knocking the dwarf easily down. A yell escaped Kili's lips, as pain seemed to engulf his whole face.

Rising from the ground, the goblin smirked and brought its hammer up, its eyes meeting with Kili's for a second or two. It intented to smash the head of his victim. To finish Kili off.

Thankfully, it never got a chance. Before it could swing its hammer down, Roden jumped in front of it and with a powerful swing of his sword, the goblin's head lay on the ground, away from its body and shoulders where it had just been a second ago.

"Try not to get yourself killed", Roden said with a serious expression, yanking Kili up from the ground. "Take this", the elf continued and handed Kili a short but very sharp knife. "I can't give you anything else as I don't own anything else, but that can save your life."

"I hope so", Kili said as he examined the knife, holding his left arm tightly against his body. "Thank you."

Roden nodded and swirled around, leaving Kili to help his fellow elves, who were all fighting around the place.

He caught a glimpse of the blonde Prince fighting three goblins at once. Not thinking about it, he ran to his help. If Legolas got hurt, he would have to rest the next night and their plan wouldn't happen!

Coming across a goblin, Kili quickly lashed out with his knife, sinking it to its throat. The goblin shrieked and pulled away, Kili yanking the knife out of the creature's soft flesh, taking off again. As he got to the Prince of Mirkwood, who had now four goblins to fight off, Kili tightened his grip around the dagger and stabbed one of the goblins to the back of its head, a little clumsily because his left arm wasn't okay and it was hard with only one, but it killed the goblin and that's the only thing that mattered.

"Legolas" Kili almost yelled over the noises of fighting. He wasn't sure what he'd say.

"You stupid dwarf! Go!" Legolas hissed, slicing an approaching goblin with his sword. "Now, do you hear me, just run and hide! Our plan happens now!"

Kili didn't need to be told twice.

He ran.