Chapter 30

*Kili*

He had thought that they might be able to cross the river without incident, but it turned out that he had thought wrong. The hard pull Coal had suddenly given him had taken the young Dwarf by surprise and he only had enough time to get a half lungful of air when his grip slid from Myrtle's mane and he went under.

At first Kili did what most people would do and that was to panic, but then he thought of last time he had panicked. Remembering how he had almost died seemed to wake him up a little more. He let go of the reins of both ponies and let himself slip to the bottom of the riverbed. As soon as his boots touched the rocky bottom, he pushed up hard.

Kili reached the surface only two seconds after he could not hold his breath any longer and had just taken a nice breath of cold muddy water. He also swallowed some of it too. That's always that way it works for me, isn't? Kili thought to himself. He was able to touch the river bottom now and he struggled across. Once Kili was on the shore, he laid down on the gravel and began to cough the water out of his lungs.

"Kili! Are you alright?" Fili shouted from across Anduin.

"Yeah…I'm fine." Kili replied between coughs and then asked, "But you know what?"

"What?"

"This river hasn't improved its taste any." This was said with a grimace as Kili tried to get the bitter, muddy, lingering taste of the water out of his mouth.

Myrtle and Coal were a few yards away from where Kili was. Both of them were soaked and appeared a little bedraggled looking with their manes and tails dripping and their heads down slightly. Kili sighed and got up on his feet, walking over to the two ponies. When he reached them, Myrtle lifted her head a little and Coal flicked his ear backward. Kili scowled at his pony and if looks could kill, Coal would have been dead a thousand times over.

"Coal, if you had brains the world would be a better place." Kili said still giving Coal a death glare. The black pony swished his wet tail and snorted. Kili rolled his eyes and turned back to Fili who was crossing Anduin and leading Mabel behind him. The dark haired prince was glad that his elder knew how to swim just in case something happened.

Fili reached mid-river without any trouble. He put his arm around Mabel's neck and grasped her mane. Both the Dwarf and the mare climbed out of the water without incident and Kili breathed a sigh of relief. Kili came over to him and was about to say something, but whatever it was never got past his lips when Fili pulled him into a crushed hug, dropping Mabel's reins. The younger prince was startled by the suddenness of Fili's bear hug for a moment and then wrapped his arms around Fili while the blond held him close.

"Don't you ever do that again, Kili," Fili said, "You scared me half to death! Why did you let go of them? They could have pulled you across."

"No, Fee. We both know I'm heavier than that; I would have weighed down their heads and possibly pulled their noses under with me. And something tells me that wouldn't have been good." Kili explained. Fili nodded and pulled back saying, "Just promise not to do that next time."

"I won't, I promise." Kili said with a grin.

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The mountains loomed over them now. It had been almost week since the Dwarves had crossed the great river and now they had something even greater to cross. Kili looked up at the Misty Mountains and experienced the same feeling he had gotten when he had first seen then so close.

"We're almost there." Fili said quietly. Kili did not say anything and he knew that they were both thinking the same thing: This would be that hardest part of the journey. The weather was rapidly getting colder and then it would snow. Also, they were not entirely sure where there would be a good crossing point since the one they had taken from Rivendell had been too narrow for ponies and then the Stone Giants had done a nice job of destroying it.

After a moment, Fili and Kili urged the ponies into a walk in a place they thought might be easier to travel up to the mountains on. There were sharp rocks jutting from the ground and Kili hoped that none of their animals would have the misfortune to trip or step on one. It would be our luck if they did, though. Sometimes I think the world likes to pick on us. Kili thought and no later than he did when Myrtle stumbled and almost went down on her knee before she regained her footing, but she would not walk any farther.

From where Kili was ridding behind her, he could see the way she was not putting any of her weight on her right front hoof. Fili had halted and both he and Kili dismounted to see what had happened to the mare's foot. Kili went to her head and stroked her velvety nose while Fili gently lifted her leg. It was not a pretty sight. A sharp pointed stone had punctured the tender flesh and it was beginning to bleed.

"Poor girl." Kili said softly and patted her neck as he asked Fili "Is it really bad?"

Fili did not reply for a moment, and then he lowered Myrtle's foot back down to the ground saying, "No, it's not, but we'll have to clean it and watch her until it's healed. She would be in a lot of misery if it were to get infected."

Kili visibly winced and the mention of an infection. He began to run his fingers though the pony's mane, untangling the strands and then he thought of something. "Fili, we don't have a way to clean her hoof."

The elder sighed. "I know, that's what's worrying me."

They agreed to not go any farther that day and they spent the rest of the hours of daylight fussing over Myrtle like she was a very special creature. And that she was to the Dwarves. All the ponies, even Coal, had become dear friends and a bit like family.

A/N Ok, I'm sorry it took that long. It was supposed to be done last Saturday, but it was like the weekend came in one window and out the other for me without letting me write…

Hurting Myrtle hurt me a little bit…I love horses, so yeah. Poor thing. I hope you all had a marvelous week and are all feeling well enough to hunt some Orcs. (I know I want to do that)

Thanks to Alicia457, Mira Meliandra, leggomygreggo2, jaymzNshed, Lady Hobbit, ACreativeHobbit, and kirallie for their reviews and all of you who have followed or favorited without saying a word. I'd like it if you said "hi" sometime, though.