Epilogue
The pale mummified hand stretched out, its ringed fingers traced a cold path of hopelessness down his cheek. Kili stared in horror. He could not move or even speak, only look into the soulless burning silver eyes of the undead king.
With a barely held in scream on his trembling lips, the dwarf bolted up from his sleep. With a gasp, he bent over and knitted his hands though his bangs and dragged them down his face.
He was shaking. Uneasily, he looked about the room; his uncle's company of thirteen dwarves had spent the night in Hobbiton at the house of a supposed burglar, Bilbo Baggins. On the advice of a wizard, they sought his assistance on their journey to retake his uncle's kingdom, Erebore.
It was a momentary pause in what would be an adventure of a lifetime. Unfortunately, it was in the Shire, not far from Bree and the Barrow Downs.
It had been decades since he'd dreamed about the king.
Kili drew his legs up, and wrapped his arms about them. He was 62 years older now, though in dwarven years, barely in manhood. Still it was enough time to make the memory old, if not entirely forgotten.
But places like the Barrow Downs and its ghouls were almost never forgotten. Kili spent years of his childhood pretending the night terrors didn't exist. Until one day, they stopped. So he put the memory in the back of his mind, and went on, trained and became an accomplished scout, swordsman, smith, and bowman.
He looked across the fine light oak-wood paneled and off-white plastered parlor. The fire in the hearth no longer burned, and scattered about the arched gabled room, the bodies of dwarves, noble-blooded and commoner lay in bedrolls snoring blissfully on the floor.
Even Fili, who snored beside him, seemed contented in his sleep. They had not discussed the matter for years. Perhaps the older dwarf wasn't bothered by the Barrows anymore.
A finished wood table and matching sturdy chairs were pushed up against a round-paned window and stacked with packs and supplies for their long trip. Not uncomfortable for a group of wandering dwarves, absolutely royal for two throneless princes and their King-to-be Uncle. Outside of their home in the Blue Mountains, Kili was not used to such finery. The dwarves of Erebore lived simply during his lifetime.
There would be no more sleeping for him for the rest of the night. So Kili packed up his sleeping roll and stowed it with the rest of his gear. He slowly navigated himself around the sea of bodies until he made it to the freshly painted, forest-green front door of the hobbit hole.
After another brief look to make sure he hadn't disturbed anyone, Kili stepped out of the hole and into the night air. There he stepped down the flagstone stair and settled himself on a bench near a closed picket gate.
The night air was cool, but pleasant; he could tell by the faint pinking of the horizon that morning would be upon them in no time. Their company would, with or without hobbit, start out, and by afternoon, they'd pass the Barrow Downs on the main road.
Hobbiton was peaceful, with rolling hills, and round holes built into the earth. Around several dwellings were wildflower gardens and white picket fences. The farmland stretched as far as the eye could see, and a large pond sat in the middle of town, just outside of the market place. Cobblestone roads made paths around the town, making it easy for residents to move their produce to market.
Nothing about Hobbiton even alluded to the real world outside of its borders. It was quiet, peaceful and pleasant. Its people were innocent and uninvolved with the affairs of men, dwarves or elves, and completely content with keeping it that way.
Kili had no doubt very few of them even heard of the Barrow Downs. Hobbits almost never strayed from Hobbiton and if they did, they always stuck to the roads.
The dwarf stretched his legs and leaned back against the wooden bench. He wondered if the King still existed at the Downs. Could undead survive hewing of the head from the neck? It was an odd thought, but he knew almost nothing about Barrow Wights, even now as a young adult.
"You're up early," said a voice from behind. It was soft, yet firm and commanding.
Kili glanced over to see his uncle's blue eyes, and dark raven, silver-streaked hair. The older Dwarf, stepped down the stairwell, and seated himself beside him. "All the homes here look alike, damned place is like a maze…."
"Was that why you were late?" Kili asked remembering how his Uncle arrived at the hobbit hole well after supper.
Thorin ignored the question and just continued. "I passed the Barrow Downs on the way here. Hasn't changed. Filled with rabbits, the field across from it is brimming with them now too. Suspect the Breeland folk are still too terrified to go there."
There were times his uncle just damn outright scared him. Kili blinked and studied Thorin's stern hawklike features. How in Mahal's name did he know what was bothering him? The younger Dwarf went to ask, when Thorin stayed his words.
"We haven't been this way since you were a boy, of course I know what is bothering you. Bothers Fili too, he just don't show it."
Well, that explained it. Kili drifted his gaze to the sky and the fading stars. "I trust you have a better camping spot in mind for tonight?"
A thin smile crossed Thorin's face. "You mean the fact we have a Wizard capable of killing hundreds of dragons does not inspire you to face down the dead once more?"
"Not a hundred wizards at my side would make me that foolish," Kili replied. "I do hope you do not think I am a coward for it."
"Coward? One does not trifle with ghosts and the wicked undead, not unless you haven't a choice and a plan. I intend on being far from the Barrow Downs by evening, so you do not need to worry about those here thinking you are a coward."
Still not satisfied, Kili suspiciously eyed his uncle. "Do you think I am a coward?"
Thorin studied him with his cold blue gaze. Kili shifted uneasily under his uncle's scrutiny. His uncle rarely praised him, when he was younger there was that rare occasion, like the bear he killed, but other than that, he felt as if he could never please the man. "I think you have a great deal to learn, and this fear you have of the Barrow must someday be conquered, for there may come a time you will encounter greater evils than barrow wights."
Like the dragon. Kili leaned his elbows into his knees and pressed his face into his palms. Normally he'd argue with his uncle, but Thorin was right. "How?" was all Kili could muster.
The question appeared to catch Thorin off guard because he looked at the boy with perplexed brow raised. "How? Only you can answer that, it haunts your dreams, not mine."
"If it haunted your dreams, what would you do?" Kili met his uncle's gaze and spoke firmly.
"Your brother asked me the same question." Thorin observed.
"And did you answer it?"
"We are going to Erebore, are we not?" The reply surprised Kili. He hadn't expected Uncle Thorin to be frightened of anything, especially the Dragon. As far as he knew, his uncle hated the beast, not feared it.
"It is not…."
"No, it is not the same, but at the time, for me it was exactly the same. A unstoppable force that stole everything from me, something I could not fight, something I could only run from." Thorin stood up and clasped Kili's shoulder with one of his hand. "Learn from what happened to you, Kili, and use that as your weapon. It is time to move on." His hand slipped away, and the old Dwarf, the King Under the Mountain left the young prince to himself and sunset.
The small company of dwarves were mounted and ready to go shortly after sunrise and surprising to all, the Hobbit joined them.
Kili wasn't sure what to make of the Hobbit. He was smaller than they were, with a head of bushy redbrown hair and large furry feet. Their Wizard, Gandolf, claimed hobbits were capable of being very light on their feet, which meant this one would an excellent burglar: even though said Hobbit had no experience to speak of. Kili wasn't sure of the logic, but Gandolf was a wizard so, he trusted him by default.
Bilbo Baggins rode ahead of Fili and him and appeared to be more absorbed with staying on his little shaggy chestnut pony than them.
The other dwarves road ahead with Gandolf. Thorin lead the pack proudly astride his black pony. They were a rag tag bunch, Kili thought; a miner, a toymaker, gentry in fine red clothing, a rotund cook, a freckled scribe with orange hair and a bowl cut, a roughen with a questionable background, a proud red haired and impressively bearded statesmen, and a hand full of warriors. Two to be specific, Dwalin and Balin, Balian, was the kindly gray haired advisor to Thorin and tutor who used to buy the boys any sweet they begged for in the market place. He was also, Dwalin's older brother.
Maybe the hobbit fit right in. Even if did look like a grocer, he'd just add to the colorful and motley crew Uncle Thorin gathered to take back their homeland.
Kili exhaled and wondered how they'd kill a dragon and retake Erebore the way they were. Balin and uncle Thorin had a plan, but Kili wasn't a strategist. He was a scout. To make matters worse, his uncle still hotly debated his presence. In the end, Kili was there only because Fili, who was of age, insisted the two of them would not be separated.
For several hours they rode along rolling green hills and crop filled farmland until the road reached a dense dark forest. Luckily the road skirted around it, rather than through it. The only thing that hampered them, were the insects buzzing around in the shade.
The forest itself was ominous. It was oppressively dark, and Kili could not see very far between the leafy brush, moss and thick ancient oaks. Vines and leaves were intertwined with all sorts of branches blocking the way in. The trees themselves swayed and their leaves whispered, as if in a soft wind, but Kili could feel none.
There was something malevolent about the place and reminded Kili of the Barrow Downs. "Old Forest isn't it?" He asked.
The Dwarf glanced to his brother, ridding beside him.
"Yes, it's haunted too. Gather you don't want to go in." Fili hadn't changed much from childhood, though he had a perfectly sculpted beard, braided with all the finery of the line of Durin, and his gold mane of hair was long and thick. He wore a handsome fine leather coat, with a fur lining, and a new hooded tunic with brown pants and buckled leather boots. To Kili, Fili looked like a true Dwarf prince.
"Certainly not. I'm a dwarf after all, forests are all fine and good but these ancient ones are for the elves." As a young adult, Kili lacked a true beard. He had scruff instead and was taller than his brother. Slender still, he failed to have the thicker build of his ancestors but very thick raven hair clasped back behind his head. At least folk no longer confused him with human child anymore. Instead, they mistook him for a human teenager.
Bofur always told him it was better than being confused with an elf.
It was still just as embarrassing.
Like Fili, Kili's coat was made of leather, though gray with matching fur lining it rather than light brown. Kili liked leather. It held together better than most clothing. His mother made his blue hooded tunic and matching long vest. She used expensive wool, silk thread for its needlepoint embroidery. She insisted he and Fili looked like princes for once in their lives.
Kili of course liked his boots the best; they were soft dark leather and very comfortable. They also were durable. A young dwarf with the pretense to making a mess of himself needed tough clothing.
"Keep an eye on the Hobbit." Fili teased from beside him. "He just might fall off."
Repressing a snicker, Kili nodded, grateful for anything to focus on other than the passing landscape. "We'll just pick him up and plop him back onto old Myrtle again that's all."
The old forest doesn't like folk much." Bilbo said from his horse. "They say it tries to mislead travelers who wander in."
"Do not fear Master Hobbit! We will not wander in!" Kili and Fili said at the same time. Kili smirked and patted his brown pony, Mindi on the flank and scratched her behind the ears. "No one is going to make you go into the deep dark scary forest, girl, I promise." The pony responded by bobbing her head and wiggling her ears approvingly.
Uneasily, Bilbo returned his attention to his pony. "My people avoid the old forest, they say the trees talk. When I visited Buckland, I'd hear it now and then at the Bonfire Glade. All sorts of angry breezy sounding hissing at night. The forest will eat you whole." The hobbit shook his head, as if he frightened himself.
"I'm sure there are worse places." Fili replied.
"I'm sure there are. Which is why we hobbit don't travel very far. That's for the bigger folk." Bilbo gave a short nervous laugh. "Yet here I am, on an adventure."
Both Kili and Fili lifted their brows at his words. "I beg your pardon, but not all folk who are little avoid adventure. It's good for the soul." Kili informed confidently. Not that he thought he was little, for a Dwarf he was very tall.
"Beg your pardon, Breelanders, men, dwarves and elves, fancy adventure, and as far are we hobbits are concerned even dwarves are big, you stand a good head taller than most of my people."
"Point taken, and you are forgiven." Fili smiled good naturedly.
"Don't worry Master Hobbit, you are in good hands with us." Since he wasn't a warrior and only a burger, Kili figured it was just natural to make sure the hobbit arrived in Erebore in one piece. "Until that is, you meet the dragon. Than we are in good faith in your hands."
The face of the hobbit became white as a sheet, and Kili couldn't help but be amused. Not that it was a laughing matter. If Bilbo was too frightened of Smaug how would they reclaim their kingdom? However, the very fact Balin hired a burglar who rarely strayed out of his hole, and had no thieving experience to help them steal their gold from a dragon was laughable. It was completely absurd
"Your faith in me is humbling." The hobbit responded with a hint of sarcasm.
Kili noted it, and decided it wasn't wise to bait the hobbit. He didn't seem to have a sense of humor.
They rode for a few hours until late afternoon, and when the forest started to thin into hill country Kili started to feel anxious. The Barrow Downs would soon be in sight. To make matters worse, they would be riding by the heart of the Barrows. Not skimming the edge like when he was a boy.
Even though the sun was high, Kili found his palms sweating, and his hands shaking from fear. The Barrow Wrights weren't active in the day but, he still feared the King would seek him out.
"Oh dear, I've heard stories about this place." Bilbo said glancing back to the Dwarves. " It used to be a burial site for men, a long time ago. Never thought I'd travel this far, or even see it. Not that I'd want too. Only fools and idiots would want to stir up ghosts and other foul sorts."
Idiots like them, and over rabbits too. Kili peered down at the dirt and stone road. It was once a cow path used for travel between the Shire and Breeland. Over the centuries it became well traveled and was hard and smooth with very few stones or rocks.
Across from him, Fili tried to give a reassuring smile. "I look forward to getting past his dreary landscape too."
Ridding a bit further down the road, Kili now saw huge megalith stones on top of some of the hills. Some of the formations were in circles with like size stones around them and others were surrounded by smaller pointed stones half their size or smaller. What they thought were ruins of buildings were actually burial monuments. With a mixture of horror and fascination, Kili marveled at the structures with admiration. He wondered what purpose they served. Were they giant sundials or calendars marking the seasons and months?
A low cloud of haze drifted between hills and the near marble tombs built into the hillsides. A thin greenish veil of light stirred around some of the open tomb entrances. Kili's stomach churned with nausea. The memory of the voices with in the mists suddenly seemed just like yesterday.
"How could something so terrible be so beautiful?" Fili asked in a hushed voice.
"The men that built this place understood the beauty of stone." Kili answered back. "The Wrights came after." Kili kept his eyes on the mounds as they rode. There was no sign of barrow wights, just mist and tombs as far as they eye could see. "It is a different place in the day."
"I still would not venture inside." Fili's somber features did not hide the fear etched on his bow. "You talked to uncle."
"Yes, he prepared me for this." The discussion with Thorin helped some, and even got Kili to thinking about his experience in the Barrows. He sighed, and absently ran a hand along the flank of his pony. "Remember the story Bofur told us about Thingol and the Dwarves."
"The one about how pride and greed drove our kin to steal Nauglimir from the Elves and died for it. Yes, a tragic lesson."
"He told it to us because we are often prideful. And I was thinking of what Uncle Thorin told me."
"About learning from what happened?" Curious, Fili cocked his head. "I can not fathom how you link Bofur's story about the Nauglamír with running away naked and terrified from the undead."
"We were prideful. Or at least I was. I boasted about not being scared, and I was proud of what I could do. I didn't think of what I couldn't do or why I shouldn't do it. "
"You make many of the same mistakes today."
Kili rolled his eyes. There were rare times where Fili just couldn't follow his stream of thought. "As do you. The point is we need to be more humble and consider the consequences of our actions. We should never let greed get the best of us. Setting traps until it was too late brought on the circumstances for us to get attacked by the Barrow Wights. Just like greed got the Dwarves that stole Nauglamir and it's Silmiral killed." Proud of his analogy, Kili sat straighter in his saddle and watched his brother's face.
"And that is what you think we've learned?" Fili offered a half smile. "Yes, now that you point it out I can see the comparison, but what good does it do in facing our fears of this place?"
It was a moral revelation rather than a resolution to their problem. "It's all about greed and our weakness brother. Undead like Barrow Wights feed on our failings and emphasize our fears. To face such things, we must face these weakness in our own hearts. Uncle Thorin said we needed to learn something from it, not run from it. He didn't say what we needed to learn."
Twin blond brows rose and Fili started to laugh. "So, once we face these things about our selves, we do what?"
"Free as many souls trapped here as we can by destroying what they are bound too." Kili replied matter of fact.
Surprise widened Fili's blue eyes, and then faded into consideration. "And how do we do that?"
"By destroying the thing they are bound too. The treasure they are buried with or in." Kili thought about this a great deal. Dwalin claimed they'd be followed if they kept the treasure, so magic bonded the Wights to it. The rest was a simple deduction. "We will face this place brother, and we will defeat the King. After we retake Erebore of course."
"Of course. It's a bit ambitious little brother, but I understand your logic." The older dwarf's attention turned to the barrow mounds in silence.
Fili rode that way for some time, leaving Kili to his own thoughts. He wondered if the older dwarf was mulling over what he had said, or just thought he was insane for even suggesting it. Kili puffed out at his bangs, so the hair flopped out of his eyes. All in all, returning to the downs to attack an undead king was an insane proposition. Especially since there were: many, many, more Barrow Wights. The entire landscape of the Barrow Downs was covered in tombs, likely all of them home to one or more Barrow Wight.
The young dwarf repressed a shiver.
"You do know this plan of yours is insane." Fili finally said. "There are hundreds of tombs here. They've had a good two ages to populate the place. Take out one, we could have an entire grave yard of those fiends out to get us."
Kili shrugged. "Uncle Thorin took a hundred years before he got the gumption to go after Smaug. We have time to consider. It is a thought brother, and better than being frightened, is it not?"
Though Kili never intended on taking on such an insane task the thinking about it helped him to realize that perhaps such things could be faced in the future. It lifted some of the weight and fear from his thoughts.
"Point made," said Fili. There was a flicker of relief in his blue gaze. "And thinking on it. It gives me hope that if we do run into such things in the future, there is a way to win."
"And I am no longer shaking." Kili lifted a hand to show his brother. He wasn't sure when the shaking stopped, but he was relieved. His mind had found peace with the night they meet the Barrow Wight. "I am frightened with wisdom, and not terrified like a child. For now, this is only a place, one to tread near carefully."
"As am I, brother. Now, all this talking has made us stray from Master Hobbit, who is looking even more terrified of his pony. Perhaps we should go and entertain him with ghost stories?"
Sure enough, they had slowed down enough to talk to give ample space between them and the company. Poor Bilbo struggled to coerce his pony to catch up with the others without going faster than a slow walk. "I am up for the task, if you are brother." Kili replied with a mischievous smirk. "But we will say nothing of pony's for I fear we will never get him on one again if we do so."
With a nod in agreement Fili spurred his pony into a trot. Kili hesitated, and offered a straying glance to the Barrows once more. It seemed the rabbits avoided the Barrows themselves, wisely. The young Dwarf, gave a slight smile. He wondered if they had annoyed the Wrights with their escape. He certainly hopped so.
A gentle nudge in Mindy's shoulder encouraged the pony to speed up into a trot. It was time to move pass the Barrow Downs and get on with life. They had a Kingdom to rescue from a dragon and an adventure of a lifetime ahead of them.
The End
Thank you folks for reading!