Chapter 35:
We got to the boat, which was really nothing more than a raggedy canoe. At least, that's what it looked to me.
Kili limped over to get into the boat, following his kin, but Thorin stopped him. They had a low, murmured discussion, but I got the gist - Thorin wanted Kili to stay behind.
Looking very hurt, Kili withdrew back towards me. Fili clambered out of the boat and proclaimed that he would be staying with his brother. Dori stayed as well, and Thorin at last turned to me.
"Freya? What of you?" He sounded resigned, which was odd. One would think that he wanted me to stay out of his way and out of the picture, although maybe he had finally realized that maybe I was some use after all - which would be incredibly kind, but also very late.
I pulled Thorin aside just for a moment. "You're leaving Bofur behind. And Dori, and your nephews. Without even a thought to their happiness?"
"They are safer here." He didn't meet my eyes.
"They are unhappy here. They want to be with you when you behold the halls of your fathers, and you deny them?"
He looked up suddenly. "Kili is ill. Fili is a worried elder brother who will not leave him behind. Bofur is drunk. Dori wishes to help. Those are my reasons for leaving them behind."
I drew back, then, staring at him with new eyes. "It's the gold, isn't it," I said softly. It wasn't a question. "You have dragon-sickness, like your grandfather -"
"I want my home back!" he snarled by way of reply, cutting me off. "What would you do, for your home?" His eyes burned.
I gazed back at him, my expression cold. "I don't have one anymore." I turned away.
"Are you staying?" he asked.
I stood still for a moment, then looked to Bilbo, who nodded at me encouragingly. I didn't want to leave him for Thorin to pick on, but that seemed unlikely now. "Yes, of course I'm staying," I growled, turning from the boat.
They cast off, and I caught a glimpse of Bofur sprinting about, trying to get there in time. "Drunk again. Thorin was right," I muttered to myself, turning fully around to Kili.
He looked paler than ever, a look of pain and fear now a permenant expression on his face. "We're going to fix you," I whispered. "Come on, guys, let's go to Bard's."
We got there, all of us, and Bofur knocked on the door. I was supporting Kili on his left, and Fili was holding him up on the right. Bard nearly turned us away, his face full of hurt and anger. He had had enough of dwarves.
Just as the door was swinging shut, I cried out, "Please!" The door ceased its motion and reopened, and I fixed Bard with an expression of desperate pleading. "Kili's sick. He's very sick."
As if to punctuate my words, Kili started to moan, burying his face in my shoulder.
Bard hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Of course. Come in."
We hurriedly walked into the little house, and hefted Kili onto a bed. He began to toss and turn, moaning and yelling whenever anybody touched his leg. "Come on, Kili, I need to heal you!" I said desperately.
"He's delirious, lass, you can't reason with him!" Oin told me, rushing about and trying to find natural remedies in Bard's house.
Suddenly, Dori snapped to Bard, "Do you have any kingsfoil?"
Bard looked up in confusion. "Kingsfoil? That is a weed. We feed it to the pigs."
Dori let loose a quick grin. "Right!" He bolted out the door. Bard was gone soon after, saying something about a black arrow.
There was a loud clatter, and I heard a chilling sound: an Orc-like howl.
I immediately shoved away from Kili's bed and snarled, "Take care of him." When nobody moved, I shouted, "Do it, now!" They all jumped and started and then began moving around.
I wrenched my swords out of their sheaths just as the door burst open. About the fiftieth ugly beastie that I had seen on this quest stood there, but he only stood for a very short moment before my blade drove into his chest with a wet thump. He crumpled, and I viciously kicked his corpse out of the house.
There were screams behind me, and I saw that the eldest daughter had thrown herself and her younger sister beneath the table - and they were surrounded by Orcs.
With a battle-cry, I vaulted over a chair and planted my feet in an Orc's face, shoving him backwards into the wall. I moved quicker than lightning, dispatching every single one that had infiltrated and, when they lay in a pile of smelly carcasses, I reached under the table. My hand collided with the elder daughter's, and I closed my fingers on hers, gently pulling her out.
I reached down my boot and pulled out two knives, that I had taken from the armory, handing them to her. "Do you know how to fight?" I asked her.
She shook her head, her mouth open as she stared at the blades.
I scowled. "How old are you?"
"Nigh on nineteen," she said, drawing herself up proudly.
"They should teach you how to fight. They might win more battles," I muttered. "It's not hard. Do whatever you can to drive the points into a throat, a chest, a stomach, or a back. Behead if you can, it's the least messy. You know the basics, I presume?"
This time she nodded.
"Then protect your sister!" I turned to engage the latest invaders, slashing one of them and tossing my dagger to the son. "You too!"
I stood before both of them, and the older girl looked wary and confused. The boy looked determined, but he still hung back, uncertain. Both of them watched in awe, I was informed later by Bofur, as I spun and whirled, dodging and slashing and violently destroying the Orcs in front of me. However, I was being slowly pushed back from the doorway into the house, leaving more room for relatively intelligent Orcs to slip into the place.
Just as I was getting desperate, there was a sort of tornado of combat in front of me, and Tauriel seemed to drop out of the sky.
"Hello, my lady," I gasped, remembering my manners, despite being covered in blood and Orc guts.
She graced me with the ghost of a smile. "Hello."
"Thanks for the help," I said, smearing a line of gore across my mouth as I wiped it with a slightly shaky hand, feeling suddenly ill as I looked at the remains of my enemies.
"You are welcome," she replied, looking at me with slight concern.
Legolas appeared at the door, taking care of another Orc on the porch. There was an awkward silence as there was a distinct lack of opponents.
Kili reminded us of his presence by choosing that moment to yell out as a fresh wave of pain hit him, and the children and all three of the other dwarves moved to hold him down as he thrashed, but they couldn't keep him quiet. Fili seemed to get a bright idea, because he cried desperately to Tauriel, "Please, my lady! Help him!"
Legolas turned to leave, exciting a wave of hatred in me. "Tauriel, come on," he said.
"Please..." said Fili softly.
Legolas decisively moved away. "Tauriel," he said, then jumped off of the railing, moving to apparently track the Orcs again, trusting her to follow.
Dori burst in with a handful of greens, running straight into Tauriel. "What are you doing here?" he asked incredulously.
Tauriel glanced after Legolas's retreating form, then to Kili's pain-racked body. "I'm - I'm healing him," she replied, and snatched the kingsfoil from him.
I finally came to my senses: "No," I snapped.
Every person in the room looked at me in askance, except for Kili, who continued to moan obvliviously.
"What do you mean, no?" asked Tauriel, flabbergasted.
"I mean, I'm going to heal him," I informed her haughtily, grabbing the kingsfoil from her.
"You?" she asked just as incredulously as Dori had spoken to her.
"Yes. Me." I held the kingsfoil in my hands, whispering a spell. It became mush, soft and warm. I had boiled it in an instant.
I quickly pressed it to Kili's wound, eliciting a strangled yell from him, but I began to whisper softly, in arcane words long-forgotten by any other but the Maiar, soothing him. Long tendrils of deep blue wrapped around his leg, and his head fell backwards, seemingly out of relief.
After a brief moment to let it sit, I bound strips of cloth around his wound, pressing the kingsfoil further against it, to fight against the poison from the arrowtip should it feel the need to make a reappearance.
There was a short silence, and then people began to move about, leaving Kili and I alone. I reached over and cracked his eyelid, making sure he was awake and not unconscious.
He gave a brief start. "Freya?" he asked quietly.
"I'm here," I whispered.
"You saved me," he murmured dumbly, his hand reaching down for his wound.
I caught it, slipping my fingers through his. "Hey. It's going to be alright," I said softly, pressing a brief kiss to his lips. "I love you, Kili."
"Love you too, Frey," he replied with a half-smile.
He fell into a shallow sleep, and I turned to find myself face-to-face with Tauriel.
"I did not know any but the elves with such power as you have," she said carefully.
"Well, I've got it, and I use it," I informed her cautiously, trying not reveal too much.
There was a charged pause as she waited for more information, and I refused to give it. "I must find Legolas," she muttered at last, and swiftly spun to leave. I watched her, mouth open stupidly, as she disappeared out the door without so much as a goodbye.
Okay, so, nvm, this one's long. Hm. This is NEWNEWNEW, Kili pain arrow ow Freya heal. I know that Tauriel is supposed to heal it, but I wanted to shoot that bloody love triangle down in FLAMES, so I did. *cackles while watching love triangle burn* I found that bit completely pointless - I like Tauriel, I think it's good to have a strong, female character amid a bunch of bearded men marching around to find a mountain, but the love triangle was TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. So, that's my teensy rant, and Tauriel will not (if I remember correctly) feature ever again in this fic.
Anyway, please review!