Hello there! I'm back from Germany where I had loads of fun and I brought a new chapter!
First of all: Thanks to all of you lovely people who wished me a happy birthday (also the belated ones :D), that was really nice of you and it made my birthday even better :)
loreleisand94: Haha! I'm glad you like it! :D Let's hope Kili realizes what's going on soon! :D Thank you for your review and for your nice wishes and I did have some lebkuchen in Germany and had to think of you, just so you know :D
DJ Sparkles: Yeeah, the slow build... :D Don't worry, you don't have to wait much longer until the bubble explodes :D
Nightbloodwolf: Thank you for your review! I was aware that some people probably wanted Tarya to lose her memory as well but it just worked better this way... But it's actually one of my favorite parts in the book as well, so I understand that you were a bit disappointed. But I'm glad you still found the chapter good and I hope you'll be happier with the oncoming chapters :)
kaia: Thank you! :D I'm glad you liked the last chapter! To your thought about Amarok fathers: They only stay a few weeks with their pups at most, until they have given them a fitting name and until the mother is fit enough to fend for herself and the cubs on her own... But essentially, they do stay a very short time only, so they don't play a big role in an Amarok's life... (A very good thought you had there, by the way :D)
Akilah Swiftblade: Haha, great writer minds really do think alike then :D I'm glad you liked it! And I can tell you that you're on the right path because there will be certain important things happening at Thranduil's :D
Thanks also to Borys68, DwarvenWarrior, ZabuzasGirl, Beloved Daughter, Sam0728, .7, Angel of the Night Watchers, Karkitty and Guest!
Also thanks to the lovely people who favorited and followed me and this story! It is highly appreciated!
Now this chapter is a bit shorter than usual but it just fit best to cut it there, so just go ahead and read and I hope you enjoy and leave me a review because I would love to hear from you! :)
They started out again the next day, hungry, thirsty and miserable but they kept going, for to keep walking was the only possibility of eventually making it out of the forest.
However, Kili's mood was better now than it had been for weeks. Tarya was walking beside him in comfortable silence, offering him a small smile whenever he had the need to look over at her and check if she was still actually there. Her gentle smiles eased Kili's mind and yet, every time he met her golden gaze, it was getting harder for him to not just reach out to grab her and pull her into a kiss. He knew he couldn't do that, of course, but he still couldn't stop himself thinking about how her lips would feel on his, how she would taste, how it would be to hold her in his arms, her body pressed to his, just the two of them and no one else there to see.
"What was that?" Balin asked suddenly, his voice ripping Kili out of his trail of thoughts and the brunet quickly averted his gaze to the old dwarf when he realized that he'd been staring at Tarya. She didn't seem to notice as he tried to fight off the blush that his thoughts had led him to, silently scolding himself for letting his thoughts wander so far up a path that was impossible to become reality. He shortly met his brother's gaze over Balin's head, Fili giving him a raised eyebrow upon noticing the faint blush that covered Kili's cheeks. The brunet dwarf just slightly shook his head at his older brother and Fili's gaze quickly darted to Tarya who was standing calmly beside the brunet, not noticing the small grin that spread on the blond dwarf's face nor the dark glare that Kili sent him.
Balin unknowingly cut through this silent exchange again, peering into the dark trees beside the path. "For a moment, I thought there was a light…"
Kili, as well as the rest of the group, followed his gaze and tried to see something behind the path but the darkness around the trees was as impervious as always. But then, suddenly, they noticed a few small lights, flickering in the darkness as if someone had lit torches in the depths of the forest.
"I see it, too!" Ori announced, stepping closer to the edge of the path, so that Dori grabbed him by the back of his cloak and pulled him back into the group rather roughly.
"Where do you think you're going?" the grey-haired dwarf scolded, sending his youngest brother a stern look.
"We should go and see who it is," Gloin said loudly, talking over Dori's bickering. "See if we can get some help."
Thorin nodded slightly and Kili felt Tarya stiffen beside him as she observed the red lights, as well.
"We should not stray from the path," the Amarok muttered, looking at Thorin insistently. The dwarf-king looked back at her and frowned slightly. She seemed seriously distressed by the prospect of leaving the path and following the lights. "Gandalf and Beorn have warned us, and with good reason, too. You do not know what lurks in that darkness."
"And neither do you," Thorin answered, brows setting in a determined and grumpy expression. Tarya just shot him a pointed look and Kili could tell that she was silently cursing his uncle's stubbornness. He understood her distress, of course, but the prospect of getting some food and drink from whoever was having that fire was too tempting as to not step from the path.
"No," Tarya said, looking at Thorin sternly, voice hard and unrelenting. "And I am not keen on finding out."
"We have no choice but to leave the path, girl," Thorin grumbled in reply, stepping towards the Amarok who didn't budge as the dwarf-king towered over her. "We have no food nor drink and we don't know how long it will take us to get to the edge of this accursed forest. So, unless you want us all to starve, the only hope we have is to find help in whoever it is that is causing these lights."
"I'm sure if we just keep walking, we will reach the edge of the forest soon," Tarya tried to reason, voice almost pleading, but Thorin was not in the mood to listen to her words.
"I will not let my men starve because of your fear," Thorin growled at the Amarok before he turned towards Bilbo, ignoring the angry glare Tarya shot him. "We shall send a spy to find out more. Mister Baggins, I suggest you investigate the lights," the dwarf-king continued, causing the hobbit's gaze to widen slightly in barely concealed fear. "You are the lightest and quietest on your feet and can creep close enough to see who is there."
Kili heard Tarya growl quietly beside him and before he could do anything to stop her, she had stepped forward to stand beside Bilbo protectively, glaring at Thorin dangerously. "He will never find his way back to us if you send him in there," the Amarok said, anger dripping from her voice. "None of you would. If you have to send someone, then I shall go. I think I might be able to find back to you all with my sense of smell even in this form."
Thorin just looked at her with raised eyebrows for a moment, obviously considering her suggestion, and Kili felt his heart sink at the thought of sending Tarya into the forest alone.
"But if you insist on sending Bilbo, then at least don't make him go alone. Let me go with him," Tarya ended, looking at the dwarf-king insistently.
"No," Kili exclaimed before Thorin could say anything, causing all gazes to fall upon him. He shortly searched for Tarya's eyes and found her staring at him questioningly. He made a few steps towards her and his uncle. "I won't let you go alone, I will come with you."
Tarya was about to reply something but Fili beat her to it. "If Kili goes, then I'm going, as well."
Thorin sighed heavily, obviously frustrated with the group dynamics that had evolved in his company.
"We all go," the king finally decided, gaze wandering over his friends for a while who nodded slightly. Thorin nodded towards Dwalin and together with the bald dwarf who had already drawn his war hammer, he stepped past Bilbo and the Amarok who looked extremely hesitant to follow their example.
Kili stayed beside Tarya for a moment, as one dwarf after the other stepped from the path and into the darkness of the trees behind it. It was after Bilbo had followed Bofur that she finally looked up at him, the reluctance to follow the others clear for Kili to see in her eyes.
"It will be all right," the brunet dwarf muttered, sending her a comforting smile when she shot him a sceptic look. "Come on," he added, grabbing her hand and pulling her with him as he followed the others into the trees. He felt her follow hesitantly, her hand squeezing his slightly in an attempt to find some comfort that Kili was ready to give her.
Tarya felt extremely uncomfortable walking between the dark trees. The small hairs on her neck stood on end and all her instincts were telling her to turn around and rush back onto the path. The only thing that kept her from doing that was Kili's hand that was wrapped strongly and warmly around hers and she followed him as they stepped towards the faintly glimmering lights, further and further away from the path.
The Amarok could hear faint voices echoing through the forest, laughter and soft singing and Tarya only hoped that these people would help them, whoever they were. One hand tightly holding on to Kili's, she pulled out one of her daggers with the other, having a bad feeling that she might need it. She could only see the others in dark silhouettes in the blackness of the trees but she could see that they had all drawn their weapons, too, alert to any danger they might encounter.
It didn't take too long until they reached the small clearing that the lights were coming from, and Kili pulled her behind a tree trunk beside him.
"Elves," he whispered almost soundlessly as they peeked around the trunk together, Tarya realizing that there were a lot of people – indeed elf-looking – apparently having a merry feast, laughing and singing happily around a fire, some torches hanging from the trees around them for further light. Tarya didn't even have enough time to react after having seen the food that they were having, before her companions leapt onto the clearing, obviously planning to beg for some food. Tarya was pulled along by Kili, her dagger still held tightly in one hand, but as soon as they had set one foot into the elves' midst, suddenly all the lights went out as if by magic. Tarya swivelled around as someone kicked the fire and it went up in rockets of glittering sparks before it vanished and they found themselves in completely lightless darkness.
Calls and cries erupted around her as they all started searching for each other in the blackness and it was a long while until they were all together again, counting each other by touch and holding on to each other as to not get separated again. Tarya felt herself being pulled forward and bumping slightly into Kili's side, the brunet dwarf not having let go of her hand the entire time. She felt him shortly squeeze her hand as she sheathed her dagger on the belt on her hips again in order to hold on to Bilbo with her free hand.
There was a short silence before the dwarves erupted in agitated discussions, trying to figure out what they should do now.
"Tarya," a deep voice rumbled through the darkness then, cutting off every discussion that was taking place and Tarya recognised that it was Thorin speaking. She turned her head in the direction the voice was coming from a few metres to her left. "Can you guess where the path lies?"
The Amarok looked around, squinting to try and see something, but the darkness that surrounded them here was even more lightless than the one on the path and she had no idea in which direction they had to go. "No," she eventually muttered in reply, hearing the dread in her own voice. They should never have stepped from the path, she thought, the bad feeling in her guts evolving quickly.
"It is no use," Thorin mumbled with a sigh, the forest quiet enough for all of them to hear. "We have no chance of finding back to the path before morning."
And so they settled down on the cold forest floor, huddled together in order to keep warm and not to lose any of the company members during the night. Tarya was leaning lightly against Kili's shoulder, feeling his warmth and the small circles his thumb was trailing over the back of her hand that he had positioned on his knee. Tarya was well aware that their position was somehow quite intimate but she didn't care because at the moment, Kili's nearness was the only thing keeping her calm and stopping her from doing something stupid. And she felt that Kili knew that.
Her eyes were scanning the darkness, though it was impossible to see anything more than shadowy silhouettes. Sometimes, she thought she saw something move in or around the trees but whenever she concentrated her gaze on it, there was nothing to see and soon, her eyes grew tired and fell closed as her head lolled on Kili's shoulder. She faintly registered how he adjusted himself slightly into a more comfortable position before she fell asleep.
The next thing Tarya felt was being pulled to her feet, eyes darting open as she collided with a strong chest. "What…?" she mumbled confusedly, the remains of her sleep quickly fading away as Kili turned and tugged her along with him.
"The lights are back," he replied over his shoulder and Tarya sighed heavily as she noticed the small red lights ahead of them. She didn't think that there would be a different outcome of their search of help this time.
And there wasn't. Even though Thorin decided to send Bilbo alone this time, thinking that they wouldn't be afraid of a small hobbit, the lights went out again as soon as Bilbo had set one foot into the elves' midst. It was even harder to find each other this time and Tarya's breathing came fast as she heard the hobbit call out the companions' names from further away, obviously not able to find them. They called for him, too, and for each other. And as they bumped into each other in the dark and one by one grabbed each other by the hands, Tarya heard Bilbo's voice getting fainter and moving further away from them.
"Bilbo!" she cried out frantically as the hobbit's voice drifted further away. She was unable to see where her small friend might be or to even move in his direction as Kili held her right hand tightly in his left one, refusing to let go. She heard Bilbo call her name back to her and, even though Tarya had no doubt that they had woken everything and everyone in this forest with their cries by now and the thought of displaying themselves like that was rather dreadful, she couldn't help calling for her lost friend again, her voice echoing loudly through the forest.
She never got an answer and due to her preoccupation, the Amarok only registered the heavy rustling behind her when it was already too late.
The next thing Tarya felt was a sharp pain in her back.
"Tarya!" Kili called out as he felt her losing her footing next to him, her hand slipping from his as she fell to her knees with a pained gasp.
"What happened?" he heard Fili call worriedly from his other side.
Kili was about to reply to his brother as he reached down to pull Tarya back up but before he could do any of that, something sharp suddenly jabbed him in the leg as if something had bitten him, causing him to fall as well. The young dwarf landed facedown on the hard floor with a painful groan.
And then, suddenly, everything went extremely fast and as Kili heard a choked wheeze from Tarya at the same time that agitated cries and calls erupted from all around him, he instinctively turned onto his back, stabbing the creature that was trying to climb onto him with his sword. A horrible screech filled the young dwarf's ears and only now he realized that he had just killed a monstrous spider, that dozens of giant spiders were attacking them.
Kili heard his brother call his name but couldn't reply, suddenly starting to feel dizzy and nauseous. He tried to get up but fell back onto his back with a slight groan. The air was filled with inhuman screeches and hisses, mixed with the battle cries of dwarves. He had to get up and fight, Kili thought frantically, while the voices and cries of his friends around him one by one started to die down.
There was a pained outcry to his left where he knew Tarya was and Kili forced himself to use his remaining strength to get back on his feet. He stumbled towards where her voice had come from and saw the dark silhouette of a tremendous spider standing over the Amarok who was trying desperately and weakly to hold it off with her daggers while it had already started to spin its silk around her legs. Kili raised his sword, feeling his arms grow weaker with every move he made, but he wouldn't let this spider hurt his beloved, at least not as long as he still had some strength to spare and so he sank his blade into the spider's flank with a furious cry, causing the beast to screech violently and stumble away from Tarya's body before it fell to the ground, a dying mass of twitching legs.
Kili fell to his knees beside Tarya, unable to fight the dizziness that was overtaking his body any longer, his breathing coming quick and shallow. He felt for her face in the darkness, his fingers grazing a cold and sweaty forehead.
"Kili…" Tarya breathed hoarsely, her strength obviously quickly fading. He could see her golden eyes glowing faintly up at him in the dimness and he quickly leaned down and pressed a short kiss to her forehead, not caring what she might think of it.
"It'll be all right," he muttered weakly, not believing his own words but failing to say anything else of sense. Tarya didn't reply and Kili saw her eyes fall closed just as he felt another sharp pain in his shoulder that had him cry out in pain. This time, Kili didn't have the strength to keep his own eyes open and fell sideways, already unconscious as his body hit the cold, hard forest floor.