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Chapter 9

Thorin's companions pleaded with him not to counsel with the enemy, but Thorin had reasoned with them that they could neither free the traders from the barricade nor escape themselves and he was the only one with the power to make any difference.

He had not suggested fighting their way out as Dul made it very clear numbers had been on their side. He was moved to compassion in seeing that the tradesmen had given up and embraced their seclusion with broken hearts. He had no options left and was glad for a course of action.

Fili was anything but accepting of his uncle's agreement to meet with the enemy and Kili made all efforts to support his brother's argument, but Thorin just shook his head at them, insisting that they could not understand the responsibility he had in protecting this people though they were few. These traders had been in faithful service to his father and grandfather in the flourishing days of old and he would not abandon them now.

While Thorin, Karta and Dul returned to the inn, Fili stomped to the porch of a shop and dropped himself to a bench with his head in his hands. Kili followed slowly and did not join his brother on the bench, but stood with his arms crossed and leaned his weight on a column of the shop porch. They stayed that way in silence, each lost in his own thoughts.

Kili's eyes traveled to Nur, who spoke with both Thorin and Dul in the distance. He could not hear what they were saying as they murmured in hushed tones, but Kili noted that Nur's expression went from shocked to determined over the course of their words.

The three parted and she strode over to the brothers.

"I need to ask you for a favor." She spoke, hoping Fili would raise his gaze to her, but his hands were still holding his face. She stepped forward a little, sitting on the bench and draping an arm over Fili. "I need you to go hunting."

"What?" Fili asked, still not raising his face.

Nur's eyes fixed on Kili, begging him to help her. "Dul says that there is a tunnel leading under the wall and they use it to gather in the woods. He said there is a turkey population they picked off until they brought a few of the small ones to coop at the smithy's." She pointed at the shop a way down from them. "But they've long since run out of the fowl and their hunters are not as skilled as a certain pair of dwarves."

Kili nodded, but Fili snorted a little. Nur stood on her feet in a stomp and pulled his hands away from his face. "You can either give yourself something to do while helping these starving souls or you can sit here and brood!" She turned to walk away, but Fili's hand caught hers in midstride, causing her to look over her shoulder at him.

"I'm sorry." He groaned, rising to his feet. He breathed a little. "Tell us where the tunnel is."

She led them behind the inn to reveal a pit that had been dug large enough to permit a single person to jump down. The bottom went under the wall and opened on the other side.

"Why didn't they try to escape this way?" Kili thought out loud.

"Dul said that a year back they attempted to flee one by one so the enemy wouldn't notice, but he was only sending them one by one to their death." She muttered almost so low that he couldn't hear her. "That's when they realized they were only being permitted to hunt to give them a small amount of hope, but not enough to feel free."

Kili ducked into the pit and examined the opening on the other side tentatively. "Does Thorin know—"

"I asked Dul right in front of him; he made no objections."

"He shouldn't." Fili grumbled, squatting and looking the direction of a vanishing Kili. "He's got his own dangers to think on."

"Stop that." Nur grasped his arm when he stood, looking up at his face and wishing she were taller. "You can't be angry at someone when they decide to do something you don't think is safe. You can't protect everyone."

Fili sighed and brushed a hair away from Nur's face. "Maybe not. But if you make any more dangerous decisions, I'll lock you up in your room."

"You may not approve of everything that I do, but I will do what is necessary."

He could not bear to hear her say that and hoisted her up over his shoulder, the bend of her waist resting by his head, and she protested mightily though she did not have the strength to resist him.

Kili, hearing the scuffle and confused as to why his brother had not joined him, poked his head up from the hole. His eyes widened when he saw them. "What in Durin's name are you doing?"

"I'll be right back." Fili called over his shoulder, catching a knee in his face and small fists to his back. Her blows did not cause him much pain, but he wobbled a little in ascending the porch steps of the inn.

Kili shook his head and leaned against the wall of the pit, tapping his fingers on his elbow and looking up at the sky, hoping it wouldn't rain.

The eyes of those in the lodge followed him, but the dwarves did nothing to stop the Prince who struggled with the kicking burden on his shoulder. He rose another flight of stairs and bounded down the hallway to the room, carefully avoiding hitting Nur's head against the doorpost. With a gentle heave, he let her drop to the bed and she sat indignantly with an angry cry and tears in her eyes.

He lowered his face to hers until their noses almost touched. "I may not lock the door now, but I needed you to know I wasn't bluffing."

Nur's anger ebbed and gave way to embarrassment, hands rising to her face to wipe away the enormous tears that collected on her cheeks. "I never thought you were."

Fili's heart swelled with guilt for causing her to weep and he knelt down, taking her hands in his. "Why do you torture me, then?" He rested his forehead against her knees, helpless against the irritation growing in him for Nur and Thorin.

"I don't know what to do to keep you safe." He moaned. "Don't you understand how precious you are to me and how much it would destroy me if something happened to you?"

The princess's frustration softened and she felt her heart skip in seeing Fili so broken. "Trust me." The words were simple, but he had difficulty in accepting them.

"Trust me, love." She repeated. "And while you're working on the impossible, trust Thorin, too."

An exhale left him; he could not be everywhere at once, he could not control what was happening, and he could not summon powers greater than himself to save all those whom he loved all at once.

"And," she swept a hand over his blonde braids. "Please don't keep your brother waiting."

He kissed her hands before rising and stood, towering above her. The concern hadn't left his face. "I cannot confine you, but will you please be careful while I am gone?"

She nodded and rose herself. "You're not leaving for long, don't worry so."

He walked towards the door and then paused as if remembering something important and stomped back to her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her, closing all space between them.

Only seconds ticked by before he pulled himself away from her, determined that if he should linger any more that he would not be able to leave her at all. She stood silent for a moment, transfixed by the feel of the kiss that faded from her lips.

Kili had almost given up standing in the pit when he saw his brother return, a small amount of anger and fear gone from his face, though he was not entirely recovered. The younger dwarf was about to make a witty remark, but his brother cut him off with a hand and the word, "Don't."

Shrugging, Kili bound back down the hole and climbed the dirt wall of the other side, Fili following just behind.

Kili reached out a hand to help his brother up from the second pit and they surveyed the forest before them.

It was a thick assortment of trunks and branches which was made dark by the brush above them, cutting off sunlight, but allowing them enough to see. They crept quietly through the trees.

"You might have brought something more advantageous for hunting." Kili smirked, gripping his bow with tremendous satisfaction.

"I'm not wholly unprepared." Fili whispered back, eyes still scanning the trees and untucking three throwing knives. They weren't ideal, but Kili was the winning archer, though he'd put an effort into mentoring Fili. The older brother was a nervous archer, especially since one of the lessons had involved an accident resulting in Kili's injury.

Kili rolled his eyes. "You're no better with those than you are with this."

"We'll see when the turkeys appear." Fili whispered and then shushed his younger brother. As if on cue, a pair of turkeys pecked at the ground a good distance from them.

"I'm the left." Fili whispered as he drew his hand back.

"You're always the left, pick another direction." Kili murmured.

Fili turned to face and frown at Kili. "What's the difference?"

"There's no difference, you just like your habits and I like to change things up a little."

"I couldn't hit them from this distance anyway, we need to get closer."

"Whereas I can hit both of them from this distance."

"You and your ruddy bow can go—" But before Fili could finish, Kili had loosed an arrow and struck the neck of one turkey while he pulled out another arrow for the second, who was not fleeing fast enough.

Fili would not be outdone, though, and flung a knife at the bird, missing by about a foot. Disgruntled and seeing that Kili was lining a second arrow, Fli loosed another knife and hit the fleeing turkey in the wing, slowing it down and causing it to stumble. The second arrow flew to its mark and the fowl dropped.

The brothers retrieved the birds, holding them by their feet and flinging them over their shoulders and Kili made a snide comment about Fili liking to carry things over his shoulder.

Fili only shook his head and told Kili he wasn't allowed to join Thorin and Nur in making trouble, but Kili smiled at this.

Kili had the habit of looking ahead and Fili had the habit of caring too much; and where people called Kili reckless, they also called Fili controlling. But what few beside his brother recognized was that Kili only saw that certain things had an inevitable outcome and he preferred to waste no time in getting to it.

Fili had, in the hours they were gone, brought down a boar and Kili had found a number of nests which he stole eggs from. Fili rolled his eyes at the notion that none of the traders had been "as talented hunters" as the brothers. The game in the forest was practically begging to be taken.

It was fortunate for Fili that his brother brought a sack, as the boar was heavy and the birds were, though lightweight, large and cumbersome.

When they came to the pit they had a difficult time managing the dead animals through, but eventually appeared through the other side, the rear of the outpost lodge welcoming them back.

The sky was overcast and clouds were smoothing themselves around the mountain, creating a fog. Fili looked up and took in the view, wishing it were under different circumstances so that he might have appreciated it better.

Kili dropped an egg, which fell cracking to the dirt at their feet and he muttered to himself before shrugging and continued his stroll to the porch of the lodge.

The brothers sat together with their feet dangling from edge of the lodge porch, setting aside the boar and beginning to pluck the feathers of the turkeys.

A pair of boots thudded from the doorway of the inn and Dul sat beside Fili, taking up the plucking of one of the fowl.

Fili felt the eyes of Dul on him and wondered what the fellow was staring at him for. He turned to face him, daring him to speak and break the awkward silence.

"Are you betrothed to Nur?" Dul finally spoke.

"No." Fili shifted uncomfortably. "That is, not yet."

"Yet?"

"She was…" Fili wished more than anything that he could run away rudely and not have this conversation. "…she was intended for Gren when we left."

Dul's eyebrows shot up. "That would have complicated things, wouldn't it? I only ask because if I were you, I would make haste."

Fili's discomfort kept him from seeing what the man was getting at. He turned to glance nervously at his brother, but Kili pressed his lips together and rose, hauling a bald bird into the inn with him.

"I have not made enough haste in my own life." Dul went on, pressing forward despite his own discomfort. "And it has left me with little. No haste in saving my brother. Nor my wife." He rose, the bird finished, and made to leave, but not before whispering, "And there may not be much time left."

Fili shook his head and wondered what on middle-earth had caused such a strange passing between the two, but he did not think on it long before Nur had returned.

She stood at the pathway to the inn, a slightly shocked expression on her face. "You're… back already…"

"Mahal blessed our catch." He grinned, but Nur did not look impressed. She almost looked disappointed.

She shook it off before he could say anything. "Then you'd best help me prepare these beasts for the oven, we've got a lot of hungry mouths."

Why is everyone acting strangely?

Fili raised a brow at her, but complied, dragging the boar after him.

It was not too many hours later that the kitchen erupted with good smells, but the sun had begun to set.

"Nur is preparing a feast worthy of Erebor's halls." Thorin said to Fili and Kili. "I would see my nephews sitting at the head of such a table while I prepare to leave."

"Can we persuade you to send someone else?" Fili implored.

Thorin shook his head. "Dul will be my guard, and no worthier a dwarf would do."

This shamed Fili a little. Did Thorin really expect him to sit to a meal while his uncle parlayed with the enemy? Though Fili knew better than to question Thorin, he was beginning to feel a tad suspicious.

Fili sensed that something was not right, as though everyone knew something secret and he did not.

On their entry of the inn, Fili and Kili saw three turkeys set out, as well as a small assortment of fruit and a great deal of bread. There was also a pudding, and from the smell of it, it had been a cake soaked in milk. Their bellies were suddenly grinding at them when the scent of the food saturated their noses. Dwarves trickled in to the lodge slowly at first, but on seeing the savory sight came quickly to chairs.

The nervous tradesmen and dwarf women had turned into living dwarves again, laughing contentedly and eating their fill as they had not in a long time.

Nur appeared and served Fili a cake. "I've got something I need to do, but I'll be right back." She said with a laugh, kissing his forehead and walking away.

But she stopped midstride and returned to Fili, grabbing his face and kissing his lips with such force that he was too shocked to do anything but receive it.

When Nur walked away this time his eyes followed her and she darted for the lodge's door, which showed a dark exterior as the sunlight had receded.

Dul filled the doorway for a moment, locking eyes with Fili and nodding to him in such a way that made Fili forget he was at a feast.

The large, muscled dwarf pulled something out of his shirt and dropped it on the porch floor, stepping entirely out of sight and heading for the square. Fili rose to see what he had missed.

He headed for the door and Kili's hand gripped his elbow. "Where are you going?"

"I need to see something." Fili insisted.

Fili made wide steps to reach the porch and discover what it was that Dul had dropped. It was the hide that the crow had brought, coal letters scratched into words. Only the name didn't say Thorin. The name on the hide was—

"Nur!" Fili screeched, panicking and looking about.

He raced across the sandy square, feet crunching at the sandy soil, and feeling the heat of his blood fill his arms and legs.

The gate was only just closing and between the closing gap of the doors Fili caught sight of Nur and Thorin walking away from it and into the tree-line. It boomed with closure and he lost sight of them completely.

Pounding his fists against the doors and screaming for them to open again, he raged and fought against the wooden logs, heaving his shoulder against them and kicking at them with tremendous blows.

But no matter the heat of his anger and determination, they would only creak under his exertion.

He wheeled around, Dul suddenly standing behind him. "You!"

Dul stood firm with something behind his back, clearly not frightened by Fili's pointed finger.

"You knew about this! Why didn't you tell me?" Dul held a hand out peacefully and looked as if he would speak, but Fili shouted again, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kili's hands reached out to steady Fili's shoulders, but the dwarf was mad with fury, lashing out and turning again to the gate.

Dul approached the frenzied prince and swung an axe handle at the lad's head.

At first Fili buckled under the blow, but then another followed and he drifted away from the waking world and lay in a heap on the sand.