Hi!
Thank you for the support so far, it's been truly amazing!
A longer chapter here, with a bit more pain for our Dwarves…
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Enjoy!
Onwards….
Thorin let out a savage yell and swiped viciously with his sword in a wide arc, cutting a gash into the palm of the troll reaching for him. He would not let these things eat his nephews…
'Ow! I'm not eating that one!' growled the troll, swiping at the dwarf, 'He's got sharps bits!'
'Then take the sharp bits off!'
The troll blinked, before sucking the saliva running down its face back into its mouth and advancing again.
'Run, Kili!' Thorin grabbed his youngest nephew around the middle and bodily threw him under the troll's legs, Kili scrambling to his feet and trying to pinpoint his brother. Panic kept bubbling up in his stomach, his head still pounding…he could hardly see straight, let alone run straight.
Fili heaved up air now; his stomach empty of everything and his throat still searing from the salt. He could barely open his eyes, the white hot pain pounding through his head. His arms had been painfully wrenched behind his back, tied together by large clumsy hands. He could feel warm blood trickling down his arms.
'Kili!' he shouted, blind to his brother's struggles.
'Where'd we put that bacon?' he heard a troll yell. Another troll stomped off.
Fili heard scrambling in the corner, his dwarven ears sharp.
'Leave them…leave them alone!'
Bilbo grabbed his sword and looked around for a gap in the tree-branch prison he was in.
'Bilbo!' Bofur pulled him around and grabbed him round the middle. He heaved and Bilbo saw his chance; Bofur was pushing him towards a small gap. He took his chance and scrambled through. He hit the ground painfully and straightened up.
''ere…looks like we got a rat!'
Bilbo turned in indignation, but yelled as he found himself being hauled upside down. Head swimming, he shouted in shock as he looked a troll straight in the eye, it's foul breath filling his nostrils.
'It looks like a little man!' it exclaimed, reaching out with a filthy finger.
'I like little men!' called another, the one who was holding Fili. 'I like 'em boiled!'
'Boiled? Mmmm'
Bilbo's stomach dropped.
'Bilbo!'
Thorin came charging forwards, sword aloft. The troll turned around, let out a low growl and kicked out, hitting Thorin in the stomach and pushing him back onto the floor.
'We'll eat the fast one first!'
'Where's me filleting knife?'
Thorin kicked out as a hand picked him up; he looked across and found Bilbo being held in the other hand.
'Do we squash…' the troll squeezed Bilbo and Thorin hard as it spoke 'all the guts out first?'
Bilbo spluttered for breath and yelled as he felt his bones crunching together…another few inches and he would be flatter than the pages of his precious books…
Thorin reached around and grabbed his knife, stabbing it into the hand that was holding him, but to no effect.
'Tastes better if we leave 'em in!' came the reply.
Thorin felt his bones jar and his teeth smash together as he was flung to the side, twisted upside down…
His vision blacked out and he saw stars as he was dunked headfirst into a large amount of water, his head hitting the bottom of the cauldron. He heard a faint slash and knew Bilbo had been thrown in next to him.
The Dwarf came up for air, coughing and spluttering, arms flailing- it was not in the nature of a Dwarf to swim.
'Bilbo!' he yelled, searching, hair plastered to his forehead.
'I'm here…I'm here!' coughed Bilbo, treading water. He swam over and patted Thorin on the arm. 'Don't panic' he told him. 'It's not too deep…what on earth…?' Something in the water touched his leg and the Hobbit reached down to grab it.
Both Thorin and Bilbo's eyes widened when the saw the carrot. All around them, all manner of vegetables were popping up to the surface.
'They mean to boil us' breathed Thorin. 'We must get out of here!'
They both looked up; the cauldron was high, the edges smooth with nowhere to grip onto to climb out.
'What's that smell?'
Thorin sniffed. 'Wood…they've built a fire.'
Bilbo let out a snort of sarcastic laughter 'Well, at least they're organised.'
Thorin rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.
-x-
Kili knelt behind a rock next to the prison. He had wiped the blood from his face the best his could, but he knew his wounds were still bleeding. He looked up at his brother.
Fili was now hung about fifteen feet off the ground, not yet over the fire, but over a chasm of sharp rocks. He looked unconscious, but once in a while Kili would see him struggle; he noticed he kept his eyes firmly shut. The trolls were huddled around a large chopping board, and Kili couldn't see what they were doing; his Dwarf comrades were very still and silent, unwilling to draw attention to themselves.
Kili sucked in a breath before running as fast as he could towards where his brother was hung. He stood underneath.
'Fili!' he hissed loudly, 'Fili, wake up!'
'Can't see!' came the reply. Kili could've laughed in relief; his brother was alive. That was all that mattered.
'Can you untie yourself?'
He was Fili frown. 'No…don't think so'
'I'm coming up!'
Kili, ignoring the pain in his head, held a firm grip on the nearest rock, before hauling himself up. He climbed up, head pounding, more blood running down the back of his neck.
'What's happening, Kili?'
'They've got Thorin and Bilbo'
'Damn' sighed Fili, struggling in his bonds.
'Don't move! Do you know how far up you are?'
'No…'
Kili reached out as soon as he was near enough. 'I'm going to try and get the salt out your eyes first, ok?'
Fili nodded and felt some reassurance as his brother's gentle hand rubbed at his eyes, trying to rid the salt. It felt as if he was rubbing sandpaper up and down it.
'It won't all come out till we wash it…can you open them now?'
Fili let out a pained breath before forcing himself to open his eyes. The pain was awful, but he focussed on his brother's face.
'Alright?'
'I'm going to untie one leg…then you swing round and I'll untie the other…don't let go!' he warned his big brother. It should've been the other way round- Fili was always there to get him out of trouble, even when they were children. It was an odd experience for it to be the other way around.
-x-
'It's getting past comfortable bath water temperature now'
Thorin glanced at Bilbo, whose face had gone quite red in the heat of the water.
'Don't move as much…keep still.'
'They're trying to boil us!'
Thorin let out a breath from between his teeth. The water was quite hot, but they had a while until it was hot enough to boil them. He shrugged off his heavy cloak and watched it float in the water.
'What are we going to do?'
'There's nothing we can do!' he yelled at the Hobbit, his voice echoing in the confines of the cauldron. He hated feeling like this, not being in charge. He didn't like the thought of other's having to have to save him…he shouldn't need saving.
He looked up again…there had been no sound from Kili or Fili. Or any other dwarves, for that matter.
What was happening up there?
-x-
'That's it…' Kili coaxed his brother. They were nearly through…just one more leg was attached.
'Look!'
Fili's hand nearly slipped as a booming voice echoed around the cave.
'He's stealing our food!'
'Go, Kili!' he yelled at his brother, but Kili shook his head.
'I won't leave you again!' he shouted angrily, pulling at the binds quicker.
'This one's another quick one!' said the troll, cocking it's head and looking at the youngest Dwarf.
'Noo!' Fili screamed out in fury as another hand came to claim his brother, Kili kicking as he was squashed into the palm of another troll.
'Get the tenderiser!'
'No..' breathed Kili as he was smashed back-first onto hard stone and his arms and legs held apart, so he was star shaped.
He groaned as blood filled his mouth, eyes bleary as he looked up at the stone ceiling. Six troll faces loomed down at him.
'Kili!' he could still hear his brother calling him.
'Let me go!'
'I got it!'
Kili's breath left him as he saw what the troll had brought with him.
It was a wooden mallet, with blood encrusting the sides and mould growing along the handle.
'Meat tastes better if it's tender!' boomed the troll weiling the device.
Kili didn't have time to try and struggle before the mallet came slamming down.
He yelled in agony as it hit his legs, not hard enough to break bone but enough to seriously bruise. Again the mallet came down, this time hitting his middle.
He felt bones break this time, ribs cracking, his breath pushed with him with the strength of a thousand horses.
He didn't even have enough breath to scream as the mallet came down again.
That's got to hurt…
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review!
More whump to come… : )
Back soon….
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