AU: Hello again, I've been very busy lately so my writing time has gone way down, but starting very soon I think I'll have more time again :)
A little Kili!hurt ahead!
After what seemed a very long night, the orange rays of sun rise shown through the shop window and Lee watched Krangon begin to wake. Krangon noticed Lee's worried eyes, and this woke him up completely.
"Is the prisoner still there?" Krangon asked immediately, and Lee's face clouded.
"The prisoner? Yes, Kili is still here. No, something else worries me." When Krangon didn't reply, Lee continued. "You know how all selkies need a pelt to return to the ocean? Well, mine is missing. I hid it on the beach, and now it's gone!"
"Gone?" Krangon's brow wrinkled.
"Yes, no longer on the beach. What do I do? I can't go home without it? Someone must have taken it from the beach!"
"The beach?" Krangon asked slowly, his mind spinning. "You hid it on the beach?"
"Yes, but now it's gone!"
"Well," Krangon gave Lee his best impression of a worried frown, "We might ask Kili if he knows anything? If he took your sister's pelt, how can we be sure he didn't take other pelts as well?"
Lee hesitated, but then he nodded.
"Okay, we can ask," he agreed hesitantly.
Krangon strode over to the storage room, flinging the door open, when suddenly an unexpected force knocked Krangon to the ground. Moments later, Kili was running from the room. Somehow, despite his still tied hands, he'd untied his feet and he was hurrying toward the door.
"Well, get him you fool!" Krangon shouted as Lee watched Kili escape with wide eyes. "Go on, get him! Or you'll never get your pelt back. I'll never give it back!"
This made Lee freeze. Give it back? Meaning that Krangon had it? In fact, this proclamation even stilled Kili's run and he suddenly wondered if this whole setup was black mail against Lee.
In the time that it took Kili to puzzle through this and start running again, Krangon grabbed Kili's coat, throwing the dwarf off balance and sending him crashing to the floor. A moment later, an earsplitting shout cut though the air as Kili fell incorrectly on his left ankle and there was a disconcerting snap.
"Hurry!" Krangon grabbed hold of the whimpering Kili, "Get him back there before someone comes inquiring as to what that shout was. We don't need more trouble!"
Lee, however, simply stood and stared, and so Krangon shoved Kili into the storage closet and locked it before turning to Lee.
"What's wrong with you?" Krangon glared at Lee, who gave a glare of equal or greater anger right back.
"You have me pelt? And you won't give it back to me?"
The words he'd said earlier suddenly came back to Krangon in a rush, causing him to ponder his new plan. Deciding on a course of action, Krangon nodded.
"You will get your pelt back the minute that selkie pendent is in my hands."
Lee was silent, staring at this man with hurt and new understanding. He wasn't trying to get back Lee's sister, he was only trying to get the pendent! No wonder Lee had been so trusting; selkies always trust those who have the selkie's pelt.
"Now, don't you want to go find out where that pendant is?"
No, quite frankly, Lee wanted to get out of this shop and away from the whole miserable situation, but for now he nodded and carefully approached the storage room. Inside, he heard whimpering. Though at first he hoped it might be an act and that Kili would again leap to his own escape, but the door was pulled open to reveal Kili leaning against a cabinet, clutching his ankle best he could, his eyes tightly shut.
"Now," Krangon stepped inside, "What happened to you ankle?"
Kili said nothing, so Lee dropped to the floor and gently checked the ankle and whispering reassurances Kili. Standing, Lee told Krangon that it was broken.
"Easily healable by a good healer, but I don't know what to do about it," Lee told Krangon, who nodded once.
"You could wrap it if you feel that you must. Then we need to continue asking questions."
Lee hesitated, but seeing as Krangon didn't seem to be mocking him about wrapping the ankle, he took the wrapping from the shelf that the merchant pointed to, and wrapped Kili's ankle. It didn't seem to help much, but at least he'd tried, right?
"Thanks," Kili murmured, and Lee nodded before standing.
"Now, you won't be making anymore escapes, will you?"
Kili simply glared up at Krangon, who continued quickly, ignoring Kili's angry glare of disgust.
"Well, perhaps now you'll see reason and tell us more about the pendent? Besides, our friend Lee here can't return to the sea until you do?"
Kili, for one, felt miserable. His ankle felt like it was throbbing, and his back still ached from the days previous and the uncomfortable sleeping positions. Besides that, his stomach ached for food, despite the small bit of bread he'd gotten from Lee the night before; in addition to all that, Kili's head hurt terribly both from the fall earlier, and the lack of nourishment. Truthfully, he'd be happy to give up information about pretty much anything for a bit of food, except the pendent. After all, as far as he knew, the pendent was still in the hands of Rae, and he didn't want to put her in danger. Maybe he should tell Lee that? Lee would surely want to keep his sister safe! Yet what if Lee really was playing a part and Rae wasn't even his sister?
"Still silent?" Krangon's voice held genuine disbelief, and Kili braced himself for whatever would come. However, he hadn't excepted the sharp pain that came shooting up his leg when Krangon stepped on Kili's ankle.
With a gasp, Kili's eyes shot open, and locked with Lee, who gulped and looked away.
Another well aimed kick caught Kili in his midsection, and he gasped for air, just as a new noise caught everyone's attention. There were people in the shop!
"Keep him quiet, and I mean silent!" Krangon told Lee sharply, and then Krangon strode from the room.
"Hello, welcome to the Sea Shop!" Krangon's voice floated into the back room, and then Kili froze. A very, very familiar voice answered the man, and Kili's heart ached to run out to them, to give the person standing so close a sign.
"Hello," it was Fili's voice. Fili!
"Just wanted to look around this shop. I guess it was one of the last things Kili ever saw," that was Thorin's voice! They were here, so close!
"That's my family!" Kili hissed to Lee, who paused.
"Your family?" he whispered back, and Kili nodded.
"Please, let me go! They're right there! I could go to them!"
"I would, really I would, but he has my pelt! You don't understand what that means, I know, but this is a very delicate situation for me. If he hurts my pelt in anyway, anyway at all, I will be unable to return home. All this to help Rae would be for waste. I'd never see my own family again! Don't you see? I'm so sorry. Please, just stay quiet."
Kili whimpered quietly as he shifted and his ankle strained. Biting his lip to keep from crying out, Kili shifted again and listened to his uncle and brother.
"Very interesting wares you have," Thorin was saying, "What's back there?"
"Oh, just the storage room; employees only!" Krangon's voice was nervous, but smooth enough that apparently Thorin stopped asking about it.
"My my, lad, that's a very interesting pendant you have there!"
Kili froze. Interesting pendent?
"Oh, yes, it was my brother's. It's a lasting memory of him," Fili's voice was quiet, but it cut through Kili like a knife. Fili had the pendent, easily he could also be in trouble now!
Lee locked eyes with Kili, and Kili nodded once, miserably.
"Oh, yes, I understand," Krangon's voice was fairly sympathetic, "However, I don't know if you know what you possess."
There was silence, and then Krangon continued to speak.
"That is a selkie pendent. It attracts selkies, works better than any pelt. I would give untold riches for it, you know, lad. Really I would."
"A selkie pendent?" that was Thorin's voice.
"Yes. You know, selkies can bring troubles as well. I'd gladly take it off your hands. You know, Kili was also looking at this over here. It also is a memory of your dear brother."
There was more silence, and then Kili could hear Thorin speak, but he couldn't hear what his uncle was saying. Fili replied, and then Thorin's voice grew louder.
"It's very nice, but I think we'll keep this pendent for now."
"Oh yes, alright. Well, good luck to you both."
The bell outside the shop tinkled as Thorin and Fili left, and suddenly Kili felt something lodge itself in his throat. They'd left him behind! His chances of escape just seemed to disappear. Worse than that, however, was that now Fili was in danger, and Kili could do nothing about it.
Moments later, Krangon came back into the room, a grin on his face.
"So," he spoke softly, "Your brother has it. Would that really have been so hard to tell me?"
Kili didn't reply with anything but another gasp as Krangon kicked Kili's ankle, and Lee glanced out the door to see the shop was indeed empty. Kili's brother had the pendent that whole time? No wonder he didn't tell. Now, as Kili gasped yet again, Lee began to seriously debate what to do about the situation.
AU: Well, do Thorin and Fili have a plan? Did they really give up? Is Fili in danger? I love hearing back from you! Your reviews really help this fic get updated.