Kili had become so weak that Thorin and Fili had to help him walk to the trees, his head drooped down so much that it was almost touching his chest, which rose and fell with harsh, laboured breaths. His dark hair covered his face, some strands sticking to his sweaty forehead. But through the gaps Fili could see that Kili's brown eyes were barely open and his features were pulled in a permanent pained grimace. He glanced at his uncle, seeing his own concern mirrored in his uncle's face, the lines of Thorin' forehead deep as he frowned. With a sigh Thorin looked away, helping to steer his youngest nephew towards the tree line. But Fili's eyes went back to his barely conscious younger brother. He felt like someone had punched him in the gut. Kili looked so unwell, so exhausted, he cursed himself for not making the company stop sooner, maybe then Kili wouldn't have been sick. He knew he was ill, he had seen it in his pale face and dark eyes. He knew better than to go along with his brother's "I'm fine"s, it's what Kili always said when he was sick or injured, not wanting to be mothered. It had been the same ever since they were young, but Fili always knew better. He should have called his brother out on his fib, made him sit down and rest. The older sibling bit down on his lip when Kili let out a pained groan, eyes squeezing tightly shut. Perhaps he didn't call him out because he wanted to believe him, wanted it to be nothing more than a headache. Fili pushed out a long breath as he pulled his brother's arm tighter around his shoulder, hoisting him up a little further as he slumped slightly more, feeling the limb tremble as though Kili had been dunked in icy water.
What leaves were left on the branches of the tall trees cast some relief from the sun, which felt far too warm for an autumns afternoon, and the company gladly stepped beneath them. Most lingered back whilst Thorin and Fili carefully lowered Kili to the ground, pushing him gently so he was leaning back against the trunk of a tree. Oin followed, of course, and Balin and Dwalin stood a little ahead of the others, who, unsure of what to do, simply looked on with worry for their youngest member.
"Brother?" Fili said, his voice soft as he knelt on the floor and cupped Kili's face, tilting it towards him. Kili looked at him blearily. "How are you feeling?"
"'m tired."
"I know," Fili brushed stray strands of hair from his brother's ghostly face. "Just stay awake a little longer, can you do that for me?" Kili simply nodded. Fili smiled sadly. In truth, he was afraid of what could happen if Kili was to fall asleep, would he even wake again? He could not recall when his brother had looked this sick last, usually Kili would make some effort to appear better than he was, in an attempt to avoid the fussing, but now he was too weak to make any effort at all. He could not even attempt a slight smile, his usual way of saying "I'll be alright" when words couldn't. Fili bit down on his lip and gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze, feeling his fingers easily curl around the bones.
"Ori." Oin said, the young dwarf looking at him with wide eyes, which until that point had been glued on kili, "go quickly back to the water and dampen this for me," he tore off a bit of fabric from the edge of his tunic, "we must bring Kili's fever down." He handed it to Ori who immediately turned and ran. Oin smiled "good lad," before turning back towards Kili and kneeling before him, next to Fili.
"I can't remember the last time he looked this unwell." The blonde said in a shaky voice, one hand wrapped around his brother's shoulder as he studied Kili's face intently, watching every bead of sweat, every line of pain and every groan which passed his cracking lips. "I knew he wasn't right. He's been complaining of a headache all day, been distant and irritable. But this, being sick, collapsing, came so quick. Why do you think …"
"I don't know," Oin sighed, before Fili could even finish his question, "infected wounds perhaps, though I didn't see any obvious signs, surprisingly. Did you notice any this morning?"
"No. And if I did, I would have said something." Fili answered curtly, jaw tight.
"Of course." Oin cleared his throat, giving Fili an apologetic look, before offering some more suggestions, "lack of food, and I doubt any water he had was at all even slightly clean. And lets not forget he went only half dressed for all those bitter nights. Could simply be that the exhaustion has caught up with him."
"So what do we do?"
"There's not much we can do out here, I haven't got any of my supplies." Oin's eyes were narrowed pensively. "We can try to lower his temperature, perhaps find some herbs or roots I could use, get him to eat something. Other than that, I'm not sure." Oin wished he could offer more. But they were in the middle of a woodland, there were no apothecaries nearby. Laketown was a day's walk away, at least. And how would they even get there? It was called Laketown for a reason. He sighed and shook his head sadly.
Ori dipped the cloth in the river, the water cool against his hands. He stared into the water for some moments, images of Kili, of Kili with the dagger, disorientated, of Kili's vicious wounds, of Kili's sickly pale face as he collapsed to his knees, seeming to be reflected in the water's rippling surface. Kili had been his friend for as long as he could remember. He had been his friend when nobody else would. He punched a boy in the nose once when he stole his book, nobody, apart from his brothers, had ever done that for him before, usually they'd just laugh or join in, tossing the book to one another while he hopelessly tried to get it back. Afterwards Kili had wrapped an arm around his shoulder and said, with a great big smile, "come on, let's play." People left him alone after that. Ori sighed. It saddened him to see his friend, the one who got rid of the bullies, in such a sorry state. And he wished he could help more, but he didn't know anything about medicine and didn't really know what to say. He brought the cloth out of the water and wrung it out, droplets falling onto the rock with little splashes. He'd run to and fro the river as much as Oin needed him to if he must. At least then he'd be helping in some sort of way. He stood up and headed quickly back into the trees.
Tauriel watched the orc intently, a blade in each hand, both of which she would be more than happy to use. What vile creatures orcs were. They cared for nothing else than killing. And the smelt like all kinds of filth. She scrunched he nose up and carried on standing quietly in Thranduil's hall.
"Such is the nature of evil, out there in the vast ignorance of the world it festers and spreads, a shadow that grows in the dark, a sleepless malice as black as the oncoming wall of night." Thranduil's voice was flat, as he circles the orc knelt on the floor, his footsteps making no sound, Legolas's knife to it's throat. He eyed it with distain, his blue eyes narrowed slightly. "So it ever was, so will it ever be." The orc made a strange growling sound that sounded more like a gurgle. "In time," The Elven King continued, the glow of the torchlight reflecting off his pale skin and silvery hair, making him appear almost golden as he strode around this thing, "all foul things come forth." He stopped his circling and stared at the orc, wondering how long it's stench would fill the air of this great hall, how long it would take to scrub the stone floor clean of the grime that came off the orc's clothing. He laced his hands together.
"You were tracking a company of twelve dwarves," Legolas said, looking upon the foul creature with just as much, if not more, disgust as his father. "Why?"
"Not twelve, not anymore." The orc said, trying to roll his neck away from the blade pressed against his grey skin.
"Because you returned one, so now it's thirteen?" Legolas asked, holding the orc still so it couldn't move even an inch. Fili's younger brother, Tauriel thought where she was stood, she hadn't been told his name.
"No," The orc laughed, a horrid sound. "There's not going to be twelve much longer because he's going to kill them all." Tauriel's brows pulled together at this. "He'll slaughter them in their sleep."
"What did you do to him?" Tauriel asked before she could stop herself. Fili had talked about his brother with such fondness, his grief so strong that she could almost feel it, that she doubted he would slaughter them, as the orc put it. At least, not of his own free will. She had taken some steps forward, fingers twitching around the weapons in her hands. She did her best to keep her face impassive.
"We did nothing. It was someone else."
"Who?" The orc smirked at her, it's yellow teeth flashing before he began to cackle with sadistic joy. Tauriel frowned, itching to relieve its shoulders of its head.
Kili had become a little more alert in the past few hours, though not saying very much at all. He had nibbled at a piece of fish that Dwalin had caught earlier. It had taken him a little longer than he would have liked to catch, stood in the shallows, trousers rolled up above his knees, as he waited for a fish to swim passed. He'd missed quite a few at first, and at one point almost lost balance and fell into the water. Luckily for him, the only other dwarf present was Bofur, who would have laughed if he wasn't looking so intently at the water, chatting about all manner of things. Trying to keep his mind busy, Dwalin had supposed. In the end, they used the dagger to sharpen the tips of branches into spikes to use as spears. It seemed to speed up the process, but it was still tricky as the fish were speedy little blighters and Dwalin decided that fishing was far easier with a rod or a net. But eventually they had caught three fish, which would have to do because the water was starting to get cold and they were starting to ache from being hunched over for so long. Bofur groaned and rubbed the bottom of his back like an old man when he finally straightened up. Bombur had, of course, taken charge of cooking the catches over the fire with a rotisserie made of thin branches. It didn't take long for the fish to cook. Once again, it had taken much urging from Fili to make Kili take even one bite. In the end he took around six, before his stomach made an unhappy grumbling noise and Fili said he didn't need to eat anymore, for fear his brother would be sick if he were to take another bite. They hadn't been able to find any useful herbs or roots, the frost that had come some days earlier killing anything that may been of any use to them and so Fili simply dabbed Kili's forehead with the rag, Ori being more than happy to return to the river to wet it again whenever needed. Kili's temperature had dropped a little, but his face didn't grow any less pale and indeed his eyes seemed to get darker with the evening. Fili sighed.
As night crept in, the company began to settle, falling asleep beside the warmth of the campfire. The glow of the flames dancing across them. Kili watched them, his brows pulled together. They made him feel angry, he wasn't sure why, but he could feel it in his gut, burning like a furnace. A loathing for these, these idiots, these pathetic, greedy dwarves. So greedy, in fact, that they'd leave him behind to suffer so they could reach their precious mountain of gold. What was it with this race and riches? It was irresistible to them, like a rabbit was irresistible to a wolf. Kili's lip curled in disgust as he looked at them. Pathetic. Beside him Fili stood up to stretch his muscles. He disliked that one the most. The one that was supposed to protect him, to not let harm befall him. Brother? What a failure he was. He'd let the orcs torture him, starve him, lock him up like a dog, and for what? For wealth? For titles? Ah, but of course. He would be king one day, wouldn't he? He'd wear a crown of gold and sit upon a throne, with subjects bowing down to him, bringing him offerings, while he sat there with his servants, thinking himself above everyone else. Kili reached for part of a broken branch and stood up. He didn't deserve to be king. None of these filthy dwarves deserved anything. They didn't even deserve to breath. He gripped the branch piece, feeling it's weight and drumming his fingers upon the cracking bark before moving a step forward. A twig snapped beneath his boot and Fili turned around, blue eyes widening at the anger and hatred in his brother's brown ones.
"Ki…" But the word didn't finish passing his lips before Kili struck him on the side of the head, sending him sprawling to the ground. Fili placed a hand to his head where Kili had hit him and when he pulled it away he saw it coated in sticky red blood. He frowned and looked up as Kili loomed above him, a look of utter loathing on his face. But it wasn't this alien expression which made Fili's breath catch, it was Kili eyes. But they weren't his eyes. They were just black pits, nothing more, no other colour. Just black. "Kili? What …" But he didn't have time to ask his question before Kili tossed the piece of wood to the side and lunged forward to wrap his hands around Fili's throat, squeezing tightly. Fili tried to struggle away, but his brother was so strong, how was he this strong? A few hours ago he could hardly lift his head.
"What on earth?" Dwalin gasped, grabbing Thorin's shoulder, eyes wide in horror. Thorin followed his gaze and immediately got to his feet and ran across camp.
"Kili!" He yelled, not quite believing what he was seeing. Kili was attacking his brother! Without pausing, Thorin wrapped his arms around his nephew's waist and tried to pull him away, but Kili turned and with one hand pushed him with such force that he stumbled backwards and against Dwalin who had ran to help. "Kili, let him go!" Thorin ordered grabbing hold of the youngest Durin again. He had to get Kili off, he could see Fili slowly loosing consciousness, eyes fighting to stay open and his struggling slowing. "Dwalin, help me." He said. With Dwalin's strong arms around Kili's waist and Thorin gripping his wrists they finally managed to pry Kili away. His grip was strong, like a vice, like trying to pull a piece of meat from a dog's jaws. Once Fili was free, coughing and wheezing on the ground, Thorin went to him, eyes asking both "are you alright?" and "what happened?" but Fili was too busy trying to catch his breath to answer. Behind them, Kili wriggled and thrashed in Dwalin's arms, growling and snarling like a wild animal, so much in fact that Dwalin, the strongest member of the company, was struggling to keep him restrained. With a cry of "put me down, filth!" Kili brought his boot down on Dwalin's shin, Dwalin falling to his knees with the force and releasing him with the impact. When Kili hit the ground he rolled and pushed himself back to his feet, lips pulled back in an animal like snarl. He panted slightly, fists tightly curled at his sides, black eyes pinned on Thorin who was still stood in front of a still coughing Fili. Then he darted forward, like a wolf pouncing on it's pray, and hit his fist against the side of Thorin's face. Thorin stumbled backwards a step, taken aback by the ferocity of the punch. By this time Gloin and Bifur had come behind Kili and reached to grab an arm each, trying to restrain him. But even the two of them found it very difficult as he roughly pulled himself free with a growl and threw the both of them to the ground. He lunged to pick the dagger up from near the fire pit. It glinted orange, the small blade looking menacing in the light.
"Kili." Said Dwalin, who had regained his footing. He held his hands up in front of him. "Lad." Kili looked at him, head tilting to the side in a jerky movement which were much like a those of a bird. "Calm down." Dwalin's voice was tense, he tried to keep it sounding calm and stern, but couldn't quite prevent to quiver in his words. What on earth had got into the boy? Where did he find this strength? And what was wrong with eyes?
"Do not tell me to calm down." Kili's words were hard and threatening, each one laced with a venomous hatred. But then came something which made the hearts of everyone stop so suddenly it sent tremors through their bones. The next time Kili spoke, it was Black Speech which rolled off his tongue, perfect, like he had spoken it all his life. Had he learnt it? Picked it up over the last two weeks? No, that was impossible. Nobody could learn a language as fluently as Kili was speaking this vile Black Speech, even with a teacher. And Dwalin doubted the orcs would have taught him anything more than to take the pain of torture. "Kili." Dwalin's voice shock even more than before as he took a cautious step forward. Kili swung the dagger, catching Dwalin's open right hand, drawing blood. Dwalin hissed and pulled his arms back, gripping his bleeding hand in his left just as more Black Speech passed over Kili's lips. The ease in which he spoke it was frightening, his mouth forming a cruel sneer.
"Kili." Fili said, stiffly getting to his feet. Kili turned to look at him, lips curled. His gaze fell upon the blood that was steadily crawling down the side of Fili's face. His brows pulled together slightly, his stiff jaw slacking.
No! Please this isn't me!
He was screaming inside his head, so loudly it was a wonder none of the others could hear him.
Please, I don't want to do this! He shock his head, swaying slightly where he was stoodI don't want to hurt anyone!
He began to feel dizzy, his head feeling like it was about to shatter. There was a shadow in his mind, whispering to him in a ghostly voice.
Please, this isn't me!
"Stop it!" He yelled, his hands going to his head and eyes closing tightly shut. He stumbled back a step, shaking his head. And then, like that, the shadow was gone, the whispering had stopped. And there was silence. The agonising pain he had felt in his head declined to a dull ache. He dragged in a shaking breath and opened his eyes, brown and terrified. His gaze moved from Gloin and Bifur helping one another up from the ground, to Dwalin and his cut hand, to Thorin's slowly bruising cheek and finally to Fili and the blood on the side of his face and his hand pressed lightly to his throat. He looked afraid, afraid of him. In fact, they all did. All members of the company were wide eyed and looking at him as though they were looking upon a great beast. "I … I..." He stopped, what was he going to say? What on earth could he say that would make this alright? His gaze fell for a moment before he dropped the dagger to the ground and without another thought took off into the trees
"Kili!" Fili yelled as Kili disappeared into the trees. He went to run after him but Thorin grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Let me go, let me go after him." He pleaded.
"You're not going anywhere, we need to see to that wound on your head."
"But.."
"No buts, Fili. You stay." Thorin turned, his chest still tight with fear, to Dwalin, who looked just as confused as he did. Neither understanding what had just happened. Thorin nodded his head in the direction Kili had just ran and Dwalin, knowing what his king wanted of him, turned and began to head into the trees.
"Gloin, Bifur. With me. Nori, you too." He said, thankfully being able to hide the tremor in his voice. The other three dwarves lingered for a moment, not particularly wanting to pursue the prince, who had somehow shown such force that both Thorin and Dwalin couldn't manage to restrain him. But after a glare from Fili, they soon followed. Perhaps preferring to be on the receiving end of Kili's anger than his big brother's, despite what they had just witnessed. Fili watched them vanish and moved to slide down the trunk of a tree, burying his face in his hands. There was silence for some time, nobody daring to move, let alone speak. Not one of the people remaining in the camp could make any sense of what just happened. It left them all rooted where they stood, horrified. They had never seen such anger, such ferocity, especially from Kili. Sure the lad could be quick tempered at times but they had never seen him act like that. To attack Dwalin and Thorin, to attack Fili, with that much force and hatred? Even Bilbo, who had known Kili for the shortest amount of time, could tell that something was very wrong. It was the hobbit who broke the deafening silence.
"What," he asked, "just happened?" Nobody said anything. "I'm going to say that Kili doesn't actually know Black Speech."
"Of course he doesn't" Balin snapped, taking a step forward and towards Thorin who was still stood completely silent. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Or at least he didn't."
"So … so he learnt it?" Bilbo offered.
"I don't know."
"Did you see his eyes?" Came Fili's voice. He was looking up at them. He looked scared, concerned, anxious. "They weren't his eyes. They were black, just black. Nothing else. Did you see?"
"Aye." Thorin nodded. "I saw."
"They weren't his eyes. And that wasn't Kili." Fili's voice cracked, "that wasn't my brother."
Kili had finally stopped running. Where could he run? There was nowhere to go. And so he just stopped and fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. He didn't understand. He wouldn't hurt them, he'd never hurt them. And he didn't hate them, especially not Fili. He loved his brother more than anyone else in the world, he could never hate him. They hadn't been his thoughts. They couldn't have been. So, why had he thought them? He didn't understand. He chocked out a sob, fingers digging into the cold earth.
Did you enjoy that?
That voice. It sent shivers up his spine. His head snapped up.
Well? Did you enjoy hurting them?
"No." Kili looked about him, expecting to see someone emerge from the tree line, but saw nothing. "W..why did I do it?"
Because I made you do it. And I'll make you do it again. And again. And again.
"Why? Who are you?"
You know who I am, don't you?
"The necromancer." Kili gulped, images of the shadowy figure coming from the walls of Dol Guldur, of the shape on the water's surface, filling his mind. He swallowed.
If that's what you want to call me. I've been following you, little one, ever since our first encounter. I've been inside your head, watching, waiting. And now it's time.
"Time? Time for what?"
You're my little puppet.
"What do you mean?"
Would you like to know my plan for you, Kili?
They had tried to be as quiet as they could as they walked through the trees, tried to avoid standing on twigs or breaking low hanging branches. When they found Kili, they didn't want to startle him, especially if he was still dangerous. Dangerous, what a ridiculous notion, Dwalin thought as he stepped over a fallen log. Kili wasn't dangerous, he was a kind lad, always had been. He wouldn't hurt his friends. But he just did. Dwalin clenched his right fist, feeling the cut on his palm sting. It had stopped bleeding now, leaving a pulsing pain. He sighed. He just didn't understand, what could have made Kili lash out like that? And so suddenly? And where had he found that strength? Earlier in the day he could hardly walk, and now? Dwalin sighed again and pushed a branch from his path, careful not to snap it. Gloin, Bifur and Nori stuck close behind him, eyes searching through the shadows. Night was completely upon them, and they were glad for the thin canopy allowing the silver moonlight to stream brightly through, or else they wouldn't have been able to see where they were going.
Finally Dwalin found what they were looking for. He held up a hand and the other three dwarves stopped where they were. Kili had wandered quite far into the trees. Dwalin observed him from where he was stood. The lad was sat at the base of a tree, hands clamped over his ears and rocking slowly back and forth, eyes tightly shut. But that couldn't stop the tears. Dwalin's shoulders slumped, oh how he wanted to wrap his arms around that frail little body before him. He didn't like seeing Kili like this. But he knew he had to be cautious and so he simply took small, slow steps forward. Kili didn't seem to hear them approach, remaining exactly where he was. As they got closer they could hear him talking. To who? To himself?
"Please, leave me alone." He said, "get out of my head." Dwalin's brows pulled together as he glanced at the others, who were listening with much confusion, Nori's eyes met his briefly and he shrugged before looking back at Kili. "I don't want to this, I don't want to hurt them. Please just leave me alone."
"Ki…Kili?" As soon as the word left Dwalin's lips, Kili's eyes flashed open and he jumped to his feet, pressing his back against the tree. "Woah, easy lad." Dwalin lifted his hands to prove he meant no harm and took a step forward. Kili's eyes were wide and frightened. This must be what a wolf sees when he approaches a rabbit, Dwalin thought to himself as he moved ever forward, each movement slow. He kept his body low. It really was like approaching a frightened animal. "It's alright Kili, we're not going to hurt you." Kili looked at him, so broken and scared that it made Dwalin's warrior heart break. He'd never seen Kili look like this. He'd always been brave, too brave some would say.
"He made me do it." Was all Kili said before stumbling forward. Dwalin dived towards him and caught him just before he hit the ground.
"Kili?" He shook him, but Kili's eyes remained closed, the lad completely unconscious in his arms.
-A/N-
I am now a fully fledged insomniac, which is annoying because I love to sleep. And after reaching 6:45am without even five minutes of sleep I decided to give up and write chapter 31. 3 and a half hours later and it's finished. (Though I didn't upload until now because I had to move all my stuff back home for the summer, which is exhausting after zero sleep.)
Aaaaannyywayyy. Soooo. Dun, dun DUUUUN!
Told ya it was about to get good/bad (however you wanna look at it.) I wonder what could be happening here? Hmmm.
Also wanted to put a bit of Ori in there, just cause he's adorable. And again, a little of 'big softie' Dwalin.
Hope you enjoyed this part. If so, let me know what you think, I LOVE getting feedback from you guys, it always makes me smile!
