Disclaimer: J.R.R. Tolkien owns all save for the characters not in his works.
"I'm falling down
And fifteen thousand people scream
They were all begging for your dream
I'm falling down"
~Muse, Falling Down
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
T.A. 2941
The Misty Mountains
Nuil woke with a pounding head, and a stiff neck. Her limbs had frozen with the chill, and where she was warmer was where she was touching the others.
She didn't want to move. Not at all. Nuil flinched as the cool wind that had been biting at their heels blasted into her face, dispelling any warmth she had felt. Her clothing was wet, slightly dried from the wind, but still clinging to her and making any sort of movement uncomfortable. She did wonder how the others members of the company were feeling as she heard them stir around her. The several unhappy groans that met her ears led her to believe that she was not the only one in a miserable state.
Bombur was passing around breakfast, apples and dried meat. Nuil rubbed her shoulder where her wound lay, as it twinged painfully from her movement. But her eyes were on the dark stormclouds rolling in from the west.
More rain, no doubt.
"Nuilweyil," Thorin murmured, his tone drawing her attention as he approached her, for it was soft and nearly beseeching. Nuil looked to him. "Are you well?"
And she saw by the look in his blue eyes that he was worried, and knew that his question held more meaning than the regular 'Are you well?'. Nuil did not want to lie to him, but she also did not want to worry him, nor hinder their progress. She wanted to be gone from these mountains. For there was a threat here, but it lurked within the mountain, and one could never be sure were the front door lay. Fili's mention of goblins only made her more aware of the danger.
Nuil reached out and touched his cheek, brushing her fingers over the dark hairs of his beard before letting them fall from his face. She watched his eyes darken and knew that he wanted to hold her, but he did not. A small smile formed on her lips.
"Worry not, I will feel like myself in due time."
Thorin's brows drew together, and his lips formed a thin line. Nuil could see that her words had not appeased him, nor made his worry any less. As much as she wished to keep him from worrying about her, she did not want to lie to him. Whenever she did it always left a bad taste in her mouth, like she had eaten something foul. There was also that look in his eye that he got whenever he knew she was lying as well, and Nuil did not like it. But he saw he would get no other answer from her and slowly rose to his feet muttering about 'stubborn women' and the like.
Not long after they were walking again, single file, down the mountain path against the rocky slope of the mountain. Nuil was in front of Kili and behind Dwalin. Fili was right after his brother and would always say something every so often to the effect of, 'how are you?'. Then there was Kili's blunt questions.
"Alright there Aunnie?"
Nuil rolled her eyes, sucking in a breath through her nose. "All good, Kili," she replied with a little sarcasm to her tone. When he said nothing she flashed him a look over her shoulder and smiled. Kili beamed at her and resumed talking about the different types of feathers he wanted to use for fletching his arrows.
"I think I would like to try a ravens feathers," Kili told them. "I've tried the ones from home, but not from Erebor. From uncle's stories there must be something special to their feathers. I wonder if they're stronger, or straighter-"
"We would like to think so, eh?" Fili grumbled from behind him, kicking a stone off the path down to the ravine below with a clatter. "And what if they're curled, like ladies hair?"
Kili turned and punched Fili in the chest at his teasing tone, a scowl on his face. "I'm being perfectly serious, Fili."
"Aye," Fili huffed, rubbing his chest with his hand. "And unnecessarily violent."
"I'm not the one who punches like a wee dwarrowdam," Kili shot back.
"Oi, watch it," Fili snapped, "I wouldn't go around calling me a wee dwarrowdam, when you've got such a lovely little scruff there, fitting I think of a 'wee dwarrowdam', aye?"
Kili turned to hit his brother again only to be yanked back by the scruff of his collar. Nuil pulled him in front of her and gave him a shove. Fili snickered from behind her and Kili looked positively thunderous. But Nuil knew that the elder brother had struck a sensitive nerve and turned abruptly, hooking her foot behind Fili's and lifting. Fili stumbled forward midstep, landing in a heap on the ground with a startled yelp.
Several members paused, turning to watch as Nuil stood over Fili with a tired smirk written on her face. Fili gaped up at her. "Aunnie!"
"I would've let the both of you beat each other into the earth had you steered clear of beards," Nuil replied airily, "especially seeing as it is a rather sore spot for me. I quite admire them really, always wanted one. You have offended me deeply."
"But, Aunnie! I was implying that to Kili, not yo- umph!" Fili doubled over when a hard kick met his stomach, and Kili was storming ahead towards Thorin who stood watching. Nuil raised her brows at Fili, tutting under her breath as she held out a hand to Fili.
"Sometimes you are very insensitive," she murmured gripping his outstretched hand tightly. Fili was watching his brother fall into line behind his uncle, and nearly toppled over when he tried to lift himself up with the help of Nuil. She stumbled, unprepared for the sudden weight and made a panicked sound before righting the young dwarf.
"You alright, Aunnie?" Fili asked grasping her by her elbows firmly as they both gained their footing. His blue eyes met hers and Nuil heaved a sigh, slightly put out that she had slipped up.
"Right as rain."
"Are you sure?"
"Don't make me take you down again."
Fili held his hands up in surrender, "I'm only making sure."
"You have my thanks." She looked up the line towards where the dark haired brother was now walking and fell in line behind Fili. "You should apologize."
Several minutes passed where Fili didn't reply. Only the crunching of boots over loose stones and the distant roar of thunder could be heard, before Fili's voice met her ears. He did not face her.
"I know, but sometimes I can't help it," he murmured. "He's my mimel nadad, always will be. I just- I forget myself. He always forgives me, Aunnie, but I can't help but wonder if there will be a time when he won't."
A small smile touched her face. "Kili is your brother. You may not get along at times, but you are tied to each other, like the sun is to the moon. Neither can be without the other. Whenever my brothers upset me, I try to remember the good things about them, I'm sure Kili will too when that day comes. The only thing you can do is remember to be considerate, let him know that you're sorry."
Fili grunted, rolling his shoulders. Nuil knew that her words made him uncomfortable. They usually did. He was a dwarf, proud and strong. He was not used to the concepts of forgiveness and understanding the way she was. To have an apology from a dwarf was a rare thing, and not lightly given. She only hoped that he would take her advice, instead of acting as if nothing had happened.
Plop!
Plop!
Plop!
Nuil looked up as the fat raindrops landed on her head, a shiver running through her and a frown crossing her face. The dark thundering stormclouds were over them, and in the distance they looked even darker. A soft moan escaped her lips, for she knew that tonight they would be wet and cold. She wanted neither, and felt another foreboding chill sweep through her.
"Not more rain!" cried a dismayed voice behind her. Without turning to look she knew it was Bilbo, face scrunched in disgust and misery as he wrapped his cloak more tightly around his shoulders. Further along she could hear Dori muttering and Dwalin was even cursing in Khuzdul.
"It will rain, whether you want it to or not, Bilbo," she called back to him. "It would be better to expect it to do so everyday, and at the end of a day when there was no rain, be grateful that it hadn't." Nuil frowned, at herself. When had she started to sound so much like Gandalf? Perhaps it was his absence.
"That's lovely," Dori pipped up, a frown laced in his voice. "But didn't you just say you were 'right as rain'? You brought it on us!"
"No, she didn't!" huffed Bofur.
A round of arguing erupted amongst them, until the steady fat droplets turned into a downpour and their voices died down to disgruntled murmurs. Nuil rolled her eyes, sniffling, and trying not to dwell on the stinging rain hitting her cheeks. The somewhat wide path then became a narrow one, where they could only walk single file. She ended up back behind Dwalin with Fili and Kili behind her.
The path was not safe. Parts crumbling beneath their feet as they crossed it, falling into the long deep abyss below. The hairs on the back of her neck rose, or they would have had she not been soaked to the bone and shivering like mad. There was a crack of thunder and below the noise of the storm she heard the faint cracking of rock.
Her eyes widened before a cry of surprise passed her lips.
"Bless me! Stone giants!" Bofur cried into the raging storm, his voice lost before it reached the other members of the company.
"The legends are true!" Kili yelled, raising his arm to shield his eyes from the pelting rain. Fili's face slackened with shock, and Kili turned to look at her with glee in his eyes. Another crack of lightning and thunder filled the air, only this time they could clearly hear the grinding of stone. They cowered against the rock face, as an enormous stone hand landed on the mountain above their heads cracking the stone and sending showers of shattered rock down on them.
Nuil stood, watching as the massive giant, made entirely of stone, through the chunk of the mountain at the other giant who had just appeared from the other side. It slammed into the giants shoulder and sent it stumbling backwards.
"We must get off the mountain!" she screamed into the air, her voice getting lost in the symphony of thunder and giant moans of the rock.
Then the rock they stood on shook, and began to shift. A large crack began to form at Nuil's feet, rivers of water surged down into it. The rock was splitting, the path was breaking. Her mind went blank and in a blind panic she jumped to the other side, into Dwalin's arms where he held her against the mountain as he caught Kili with his other free hand. The crack widened to a dark fall and Kili looked back at his brother with horror in his eyes. He reached out his hand, almost desperately.
"Fili, jump!"
"Kili!
"Fili!"
As Fili made to jump to his brother the rock they stood on lurched suddenly and the elder brother had to clamp his hands down on the stone to avoid falling down into the blackness below. His panicked blue eyes found Kili's and the younger brother was still reaching out his hands desperately.
"FILI!"
Nuil watched in horror, as the moved further and further away, and then their own side gave a sudden lurch and Dwalin pressed her against the cliff wall. She gasped as her wound was painfully jarred, and cold water ran down her neck and into her clothing.
"Hurry!" a voice cried and Dwalin was shoving her down the crumbling path to another crack in the stone. Balin stood on the other side, gripping the rock with one hand and reaching out with the other. Dwalin flung her forward and she grabbed onto his hand, a gasp tearing from her lips as she moved to the solid, unmoving stone beyond Balin. Kili came next, a yell passing his lips as he crashed next to her and then Dwalin jumped.
Then Nuil turned to face the battle, eyes wide as she realized where the other members of the company were. Fear and terror gripped her heart when she realized that Fili and Bilbo were not with them, but on the stone giants leg, holding on for dear life as it battled with another giant. She was helpless to aid them, protect them and keep them safe.
The sick feeling in her stomach only seemed to grow, dread settling in her as the stone giant stumbled, losing its head to a blow from the other. Horror filled her as the ledge they stood on slowly but surely slammed into the mountainside.
"No!" Nuil screamed into the thundering storm. She scream was not the only one.
The giant fell away, revealing an empty ledge. No, please no. Mahal please, no. She heard a faint cry from up ahead and Kili was rushing past her shouting his brothers name.
"Their alive!" a breathless shout came, reaching her ears. Nuil lifted her head. What? All alive? She pushed forward in disbelief, pausing to watch as the company members who had been on the giant slowly began to pick themselves up off the larger ledge they had landed on. Kili had his arms wrapped around his brother, both of their heads buried in each others shoulders. Relief swept through her at the sight, until she noticed they were short one person.
"Where's Bilbo?" she asked in panic. The others looked around, shock and horror crossing several of their faces before a cry of fear reached her ears. Nuil looked to the cliff, eyes widening at the sight of two hands clinging desperately to the slick gray stone. She shot forward with Bofur at her side reaching for him. But the hobbit slipped when they tried to grab him, crying out as he fell down a few feet, barely managing to hold on.
"Reach lad!" Bofur cried, stretching out his arm. Bilbo tried only to almost lose his grip.
"I can't!" he said shaking his head. The hobbit pressed himself into the rock, clinging desperately as the rain pelted down on them. Nuil leaned further towards him.
"Reach for me Bilbo, you must do it!" she implored, heart pounding in her chest. She could lose him. And it frightened her. Bilbo raised his head, staring up at her with wide eyes that were full of nothing but fear. "Trust me."
Her soft words caused Bilbo to slowly raise one of his hands, his fingers barely brushing the tips of her own. He was too far away, she realized as he cried out returning his hold to the rock. "Stay there!" she ordered. Faintly she heard Bilbo give a huff. As if he could move.
Quickly she turned, swinging herself down. She heard several yells of protest above the storm and more of the company crowded around the edge. Nuil ignored them, lowering herself slowly, feet feeling for any ledge to hold herself on as she slid down to him. A firm hand clamped over her own and she looked up to see Thorin, glaring firmly down at her. He made to pull her back up but she glared at him.
"I must do this, none of you can!'
"You don't know that!" he snapped back.
"He can't stay here all night!"
Her feet found a small ledge in the rock face and she rested the tips of her feet on it, settling her weight there before turning to Bilbo who was right beside her, face pressed into the stone. Nuil held a hand out to him, blinking the rain out of her eyes while keeping a firm grip on Thorin's hand.
"Bilbo!"
He turned his head, eyes widening when he saw her beside him and not above with the others. Nuil offered him a slight smile, still holding her hand out.
"Nuil!" he gasped.
"Take my hand!"
Slowly with shaking fingers he latched onto her hand, letting go of the rock and putting some of his weight into their shared hands. Nuil looked up at the others.
"I'm tossing him up!"
Bofur nodded, rising to rest on bended knees, arms held out ready. Bilbo shook his head frantically.
"No, please!"
"One!"
"Nuil, you can't-"
"Two!"
"Wait!"
"Three!"
With a yell she pulled him from the rock, the hobbit screaming as he swung down and out over the ravine, before she brought her arm back around and thrust him up into the waiting arms of Bofur and Fili. Bilbo's feet slipped against the wet stone and they ended up dragging him up over the ledge.
"He's safe!" Dwalin cried.
Nuil shuddered, pressing herself against the cliff as her shoulder grew numb and a heat filled it. She did not need to look down to know that she had torn open the wound, and was slowly bleeding out. Black spots flooded across her vision. It was Thorin's firm hand on her that held her to reality. She looked up at him as he struggled to keep his grip. Their hands were wet from the rain and she felt herself slipping out.
"Give me your other hand!" he called down to her.
She did, screaming as she moved the limp appendage up. His other hand closed around her wrist and he began to pull her up. A strangled cry left her lips as her shoulder stretched. Her feet left the little edge and soon she was able to rest her elbows on the rock ledge where the company rested.
Thorin began to lift her further when their wet skin met, her hand slipping from his own and the two went sliding towards the edge. Dwalin shot forward with Kili behind him, catching Thorin by his shoulders before he could go over. Nuil dangled over the edge, her right hand still within his. She scrambled to find purchase against the cliff, finding her ledge and resting her weight on it breathing in deeply.
"Help her!" Thorin roared. Nuil heard the panic in his voice, whereas Dwalin and Kili only heard the anger and frustration.
"Fili!" Kili cried. Fili's matted golden hair appeared over the edge and his arm extended towards her.
"C'mon Aunnie!"
Nuil shut her eyes, her free arm numb and cold. Dread filled her when she realized that something was horribly wrong. She then looked up at them. "I can't feel my arm."
Fili sucked in a sharp breath as Thorin let off a long string of Khuzdul curses. Nuil couldn't move the arm anymore, there was just a numb space there, a dull ache. She wanted to move it, she really did. Mahal knew that she wanted nothing more than to get out of the rain.
Another mountain shaking boom filled the air, and a cracking met her ears. Only a moment later did the small ledge her feet rested on, begin to crumble away. Nuil let out a startled cry, desperately trying to find something to hold her feet, but finding nothing. Only slippery dark stone. Thorin roared, both his hands now gripping her right arm tightly.
Her shoulder felt like it was being pulled out of the socket. Once she made it over the ledge and to firm ground she would be lucky if she would even be able to move. But Nuil could feel herself slipping from his grip. His hands were sliding down her arm to her wrist, slowly but surely.
And he knew it too.
She could see it in his eyes.
"Nuilweyil hold onto me!" he yelled, panic flaring within his eyes. Fili was still reaching for her, Kili had now joined him. But she was just out of their reach. Realization began to dawn on her.
Oh.
The rain was still pelting down on them, nearly blinding her as she gazed up at them. They were all soaking wet. Thorin's dark hair was plastered to his skin and face. He somehow still managed to look beautiful to her, even with the desperation shining in his blue eyes. Fili and Kili were calling her name, and somewhere behind them she could see Bilbo trying to reach her, but being held back by Nori.
They all knew.
"Nuilweyil!"
A hand slipped.
"Thorin-!"
Then the other.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
She was falling.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Until she saw no more.
Let me know what you think. I've been busy so if there's something wrong just let me know. Thank you so much to every one who reads, follows, and favorites, and reviews. Seriously, it just makes my day, even when I think I've posted a terrible chapter. Heads up, Goblin town and angst/depressed company next chapter.
Read and Review!
~filimeala