Hello, my lovely readers. I have been on a roll with my writing and finished another chapter...in two days, which is a very rare thing now.
I'm quite pleased with this chapter, as the story picks up and THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPEN. *WOOHOO*
I'm getting somewhere! Somewhere quite strange, but somewhere nonetheless.
Thankfully, it was not raining when we reached the highest peaks of the Misty Mountains. However, I had no map, and the rocky terrain was unfamiliar territory. I merely went where the company had gone before, gauging by sight where we were, all the while cursing myself for not thinking to bring a map. Arwen would have gotten me one, I was sure, but I was also relatively certain that none could be found in Rivendell that weren't in Elvish. Either way, I'd be lost. The pony at least was surefooted enough, being used to mountain paths. It was probably a merchant's animal, used to carry packs instead of people.
Kili was slumped in the saddle in front of me, exhausted from the chase. My mind raced with worry. If we encountered something, he'd never be able to fight. I could not defend us both, not against a swarm of goblins.
We stopped when it grew dark enough that I could no longer clearly see. We found a cave smaller and farther ahead than we had gotten with the company. This was good, perhaps at this rate we'd be out of the mountains by midday tomorrow.
Securing the pony, I withdrew a loaf of the lembas Arwen had given me and gave a piece to Kili.
"This should keep us sustained for awhile. I'm told a bite will keep a grown man full for a day. But we must be careful with this, Kili. We have to save as much food as we can for our journey through the Mirkwood."
"Mhm," he muttered, taking a mouthful and rewrapping it in the leaves. "Wait, we're going through Mirkwood? Thranduil's territory?"
"We must reach Erebor by Durin's day, remember? Going around it through the Grey Mountains would take too much time." I said. Kili gave an exasperated groan.
"Kili," I warned. "You're the one who followed me. So now you must do as I say."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mum."
"You're still healing. You cannot afford to be rash. Do you understand?" I didn't mean to be so harsh with him, but I needed to make him see my point.
"You sound like Thorin," he grumbled.
"Good. Maybe you'll listen to me, then."
He tried to recline into a more comfortable position against his pack, which he was using for a pillow. "What happened to you, Fee?" he sighed. "What are you trying to prove? Even if we make it to Erebor, there's no guarantee Thorin will welcome you back."
"I have to try. It's a matter of pride, Kili. Why can't you understand?"
His eyes widened with fright as he struggled into a sitting position. "Fili…you're losing your grip. This foolish quest is consuming you. You've…you've got the sickness."
"The what?"
"The gold sickness." He stared at me intently. After a moment his gaze became unnerving.
"Don't be ridiculous." I scoffed. But his words stayed with me long into the night, and after he had drifted off to sleep, I lay awake thinking. It wasn't gold sickness, but I was plagued by something. I was becoming obsessed with the desire to prove my worth. And I was the last to realize it.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I was awakened by a scampering noise and unintelligible muttering. On reflex I drew a dagger and struck flint into my lantern to have a look around. I was never too careful.
What I saw was a scrawny creature crouched on my brother's chest with a crudely sharpened stone held to his throat. Instantly I lunged at it, knocking it back and holding it to the ground beneath my boot.
Pointing my dagger at it, I demanded, "Who are you? What do you want with my brother? Speak, or I swear by the name of Durin, I'll cut you apart."
It held up its filthy hands in a gesture of supplication and gazed at me with large, glowing eyes. "We wantses a tasty meal, is all we wantses! We is tired of fishes, and there hasn't been any nice, fresh goblin meat for so long! Yes, so long!"
"You will not make a meal out of him, or me. Be on your way and I'll give you no further trouble." I released him and he scrabbled away, still staring at me with those unsettling eyes.
"We has seen travelers, yes we has, precious!" he gloated, his voice changing to a menacing tone. "Travelers like you!"
I approached him, dagger still drawn. "You have seen travelers? Which way were they going?"
It crept to the cave opening on all fours and pointed. "That way!" he said eagerly. The same direction we were heading. In the moonlight, I got a better look at the thing I was talking to. He—it—was nothing I had ever seen before, hunchbacked, bald, with ashen skin and enormous, bulbous eyes. It wore nothing but a filthy loincloth and dragged its knuckles when it moved. It had pointed ears, and, had it been standing, might have been roughly the height of a hobbit. Were there cave-dwelling hobbits? I had no time to question it.
"How long ago was this?" I demanded. "How many were there?"
"We doesn't know, precious, we doesn't know time down there in the dark. But…" he began pounding his head with his fists. Suddenly, he had an epiphany. His eyes widened even more "Oh! We knows! There was a Bagginses, yes, there was! A tasty Bagginses, who wanted riddles for a way out! Shut up! Shut up!" This was followed by a strange gagging sound.
"Baggins?" I yanked him up by the scruff of the neck and held the tip of my dagger to his scrawny throat. "What of this Baggins?"
"He lost his buttonses, yes. I hases them!" He drew out a handful of brass buttons from what I hoped was a pocket in his loincloth.
"Give those to me!" I growled, and swiped them from his hand, instantly wishing I hadn't. They were oddly…warm. I quickly pocketed them and regained my hold on his windpipe. "Baggins! What happened to him?" I was only now aware that Kili was awake and staring at the scene unfolding before him in disbelief.
"He got away, the tricksy…little…hobbitses! Shut up, don't answer! Got away and tried to steal the precious, yes he did!" Again, he coughed. "But we took it back, yes."
"The…precious?" I questioned. He fiddled around in his pocket again, turning something over in his emaciated fingers.
"Don't show him, idiot!" barked his menacing voice. It was almost as if he had two personalities in one body. His other side took over and withdrew a shining band from his pocket. A ring that looked remarkably like Thorin's. I looked out of the cave as if I saw something there. He looked too, and snatched the ring from his hand before he could react. He went wild and threw himself upon me, biting my hands with his sharp teeth.
"Get off me, you lunatic!" I yelled. "How dare you steal from the Company!" With a single slice, the blade of my dagger cut across the thin skin of his throat. I couldn't have him running back into the mountains to warn anyone—or anything—else of intruders.
For an instant, there was an odd burning sensation in my fingers, where I held the ring. It seemed heavier than it should be. A deep, growling voice called my name, but no one was around besides Kili. I decided it was the wind, pocketed the ring, and went to saddle the pony.
"Kili, get up. We've got to leave. Something will have heard that."
As it was still dark, I had more than enough trouble navigating. I did not press the pony to gallop, we were still high up in the narrow mountain passes. Kili now sat behind me, his good arm around my waist.
"When did you become so merciless?" he asked.
"What?"
"Why did you kill that…whatever it was?"
"That whatever it was," I said matter-of-factly, "was perched on your chest with a sharpened stone to your throat, and I wasn't supposed to do anything about it?" I snorted. "Forgive me for saving your life."
"Fili…" he trailed. "You haven't been yourself lately. Can't I help?"
"Also, that thing may have killed the company, or led them to goblins. It had Bilbo's waistcoat buttons and Thorin's ring."
"And you didn't think to look for the others?"
"And go down into the mountains and get torn apart by goblins myself?" I sneered.
"What is wrong with you?" Kili whined, pleading.
"I don't know. Might be this," I took the ring out of my pocket to show him.
"Fili…that's not Thorin's ring. Thorin's ring is made of mithril. This is gold." he said.
"So it is," I realized, trying it on for size. And, for the second time that day, regretted my actions.
Kili's fingers dug into my gut as he frantically pawed at me "Fili! he shrieked. "Fili! For the love of Aule, take that thing off!"
I yanked it off my finger and turned to face him, nearly toppling us both over the ledge.
"What?" I shouted in his face.
He was white with shock as he stared at me incredulously. "Mahal…" he gasped. "You turned invisible."
Yeah. That just happened.
And Fili may be going nuts. Poor Kili...he just wants his brother back.
Review to please the Creativity Beast! (which, by the way, is something like a Balrog. I'm not kidding. It scares me sometimes...)
:P