Here you go, the next chapter in the story you all seem to enjoy so much (thanks for the reviews last chapter - I got a lot). This one, unfortunately, does not have much Fili and Kili, but it does have a lot of Thorin. So enjoy (hopefully). And don't ask about the chapter title.

Chapter 11: Echoes

"That went well," Thorin remarked almost bitterly, unhappy that he had been unable to glean any information from his elder nephew.

"It will take time for them to impart any information that will help us to really piece together what happened," Balin replied, watching over the cave entrance and the company leader at the same time.

"Fili is at least well enough to," the younger dwarf said. Balin shook his head.

"Maybe in body, but who knows what is going on inside his mind. Or the mind of his brother's for that matter," the white bearded dwarf answered, "For surely you know that in this situation they have been through what is likely a lot more than either of them can handle." Thorin sighed.

"I do not want to think of how they might have changed," he answered, looking over at the sleeping bodies of his two nephews, "For they were the ones who kept me sane all those years of death, displacement, plague and cold, gave me something to look forward to every time I returned home."

"And now you may have to be the one to keep them sane," his friend stated, giving voice to the unspoken fear inside of the dark haired dwarf.

A silence filled the cave, broken by only Bombur's snores as Thorin tried to think of a way he could still somehow view Fili and Kili in the same way he had viewed them before they had been separated, but try as he might, it was impossible. The haunted look in both their eyes was one that would haunt him for the rest of his long life, and it was something that would not just disappear from his nephews either.

The exiled king and bitter dwarf looked towards where the two youth laid yet again, replaying what he knew had happened over and over in his head.

"They have been gone a long time," the hobbit said with his head bent towards the ground, fiddling with something in his hands.

"Who?" had been the general response of the company, save for a few who had tensed up at the burglar's words.

"Fili and Kili," Bilbo had informed them, seeming slightly annoyed that the dwarves had not gotten it right the first time around.

"They are scouting," Nori dismissed, "And it can take a while depending on who you send." The words he had not said hung in the air.

"Fili and his brother may be high spirited," Bofur defended, "But when it comes to things like this, they take their job very seriously."

"Aye, just as seriously as when they lost the ponies," Dwalin interjected.

"Seriously enough," the toymaker shot back, refusing to budge in his standing. Dwalin and Nori both opened their mouths to argue when they were silenced by Thorin.

"Bofur has a point," he said, looking around at their surroundings, "Fili and Kili would take their job very seriously and they would have returned by now. They know how dangerous these mountains can be, with orcs and other such filth running wild across the range." There was a loud silence between the company as they all realised what this meant.

"We need to split up into groups in order to cover more ground," Dwalin said as he begun to strap his weapons back onto his person.

"Some of us she stay to guard the camp and in case they return while you are out looking," Bombur spoke up. There was a pause and then a nod of agreement,

"Aye, Bilbo and Ori can stay," Gloin agreed, "And the rest of us can split into pairs."

There was a large clamour as eleven dwarves and a hobbit begun to leap into action, shouting at one another and in all, creating a major ruckus.

"Enough!" Thorin bellowed in order to be heard over the noise. The company fell silent as they stilled. "We will only send one party out into the woods to look for them as of this time," the dark haired dwarf continued now that they were all listening, "The rest of you will stay here in calm until their return where it can be decided on our actions from there. With luck, it won't have to come to that." Dwalin and Nori will be coming with me. Now I suggest the rest of you prepare for anything we might need on our return."

Each dwarf, at these words, hesitated for a mere fraction of a moment before begging to either put down or finish assembling their gear. The two dwarves chosen for the search operation meet up with Thorin on the edge of the camp before they began to head off in the direction that Fili and Kili had headed before them.

There was no talk between the three as they trekked along between the tall pines that grew up in the mountains, and for this Thorin was grateful. He was worried enough as it was without having his worry added to by the fears of others. It was already hard enough struggling to keep his resolve when they might very well find the dead bodies of his two nephews, or the fact that they might find no trace of them at all because they had fallen over one of the many cliffs lining the Misty Mountains.

This last part may have been a bit of an over exaggeration, as there were no cliffs in this particular area as far as Thorin was concerned. Yet the dwarfish king was unable to banish any such thought from his mind.

They might only be injured, Thorin told himself, yet he was unable to believe the thought.

Dwalin was tense, eyes scanning for any signs of trouble as his hands unconsciously opened and closed on the staff of his axe. Nori was bent over, searching for any of the more undetectable signs, being one of the company's best trackers. Thorin too was looking, having picked up both his nephew's footprints, glad they had not been at all attempting to cover them.

Soon the grey clouds that had been hanging overhead for most of the day tore open, letting out sprinklings of rain drops as it slowly and steadily built up to a more full out blast of water. The urgency of the three dwarves increased, all knowing they could lose the trail in the rain, which would decimate all marks for them to follow. They broke into a faster pace, eyes flicking from side to side, picking up on everything they passed. There were the muddying footprints, and a strand of hair here and there, but the first real sign they found of what had occurred to the company's two youngest came as a massive shock.

How they had not heard anything amazed Thorin, though the area they were standing in now was a good way away from the campsite. Several orc bodies lay strewn around the clearing, but that was nothing compared to the mess of footprints that were tramping one another into oblivion, and it was certainly nothing compared to what was so obviously missing.

"Is there a chance it might not have been them?" Nori asked from where he was looking at the leftovers from a fierce battle.

"No," Dwalin said, shaking his head and cutting off all hope as he held up a knife dripping with orcish blood, "Kili, at least, was here."

"Aye, and Fili too," Thorin said with resignation, lifting the hilt of one of two duel swords he would recognise anywhere.

The rain was now pouring down upon them, making it hard to see each other and the bodies before them. Black blood swirled around in the puddles forming on the ground around the trio.

"Do you think they could be injured somewhere?" asked Nori. Thorin shook his head.

"Injured yes, but I have trained both to know better than to leave their weapons behind if they are attacked by something," the company leader replied.

"They are not among the filth here though," Dwalin interjected, having finished inspecting all those that he could find, "So, then where are they?"

Thorin rubbed his face with one hand, trying to think straight as wave after wave of panic and worry hit him, refusing to give way to logic. His two heirs might be in danger on the run from a force greater than they could handle, and yet here he was standing, unable to do anything about it. They could be dying, wounded somewhere amongst the trees and caves dotting the mountains, alone and scared. They might even be dead and he wouldn't know about it. These were the only scenarios Thorin could think of and each one did nothing to help lift his moral.

"Is it possible they have been taken prisoner?" Nori asked, kicking aside the body of one orc as he moved closer to his leader, beard and hair both dripping with water.

"It would be better they were dead than captured," Dwalin muttered darkly, knowing full well what orcs were capable of.

"But they would still have a chance of us rescuing them," Nori pointed out. Thorin lifted his head, thinking hard.

"So far, that makes the most sense," he stated, "For they are not here, yet their weapons are. As well as a hoard of dead orcs and their steeds. If we can find something else to track, we may be able to find them."

"We will never find anything in this rain," Dwalin disagreed, shaking his head, "And it will do them no good should any of us fall ill from this blasted rain."

"You would have me abandon them?" Thorin growled, his frustration at not being able to piece together what had happened and lack of ability to hold them in his arms boiling over.

"No," Dwalin said, "But I do suggest we go back to the company and wait out the rain or at least start up again when it is lighter. That way there will be little risk of catching some bloody cold, and we will have nine more pairs of eyes to look out for something to help us find Fili and Kili."

Finally the exiled king came to accept the logic in his friends words and wearily followed his companions back to camp, shivering not from the rain or cold, but from the prospect of what might have happened to his nephews.

"You need to stop worrying about them. They are in good hands."

The shock of Balin's face somehow appearing right in front of his own brought Thorin out of his gloomy memories and the dark haired dwarf eyed his adviser somewhat warily.

"They are not the sons of your sister," Thorin shot back. Balin smiled grimly.

"But they are like the sons I never had," he answered, silencing the younger dwarf once again, "They will be fine. They have to be if they are to continue on with this journey. If not..."

There was no need to finish the sentence. If his nephews did not heal, then their part in the quest would be over sooner than anyone had expected.

So, there is a button down there for reviewing in case you haven't noticed. It gets lonely from time to time. *hint, hint*