Hello again! Once again thank you to likarian and killthepain62 for your constant loyalty, I truly am happy that you've stuck with me and still show signs of support.
Regarding the people who reviewed about my 'review tactic', I have been on both sides of the glass and often people will read without saying anything and so on. Reviewing isn't hard and if you don't want to do it then you won't, simple as that. Then you have those who are constant supporters and want to know more about the story which I happily reply to. I do enjoy writing and even if you didn't review I'd do it but I'm not going to feel bad for doing the more oldest, simplistic tactic of 'give and you will be given back'. Call it what you will but it still got you to review and I always want to hear what my readers say, may it be negative or not.
Replies to Guest users:
Igotdatstyle: Your idea is quite indeed interesting but the thing about the dragon sickness is that it made him selfish and care only for his gold. He was less harsh on Bilbo cause he was a hobbit who aren't known to be greedy like dwarves. His sickness led him to be irrational and he was even suspicious of Bilbo's actions while they looked for the stone. I think it'd be a bit unrealistic if he held her on the same level as his gold and not his own kin who he feels more connected to. Lian and Thorin's relationship, no matter now passionate it may be, is still in the early stages when they're trying to get past their uncertainties and understand each other more. Their situation isn't the best for blooming romance after all.
Disclaimer: I do not own the hobbit or it's characters, I do however own my own and the artwork I do for the series.
Chapter Fifteen: Left Behind
Lian's eye lashes fluttered open, pale light meeting her sensitive eyes and she squeezed them shut, letting out a deep sigh through her nose. She felt so at peace as she snuggled into the fur lined blankets, reminding her of her own bed back home.
Thorin had led her back inside in the heat of their passion, leading to the room he had acquired out of the many. Picking her up he had walked them over to the large bed whilst they shared heated kisses, sending Lian's heart into palpitation frenzy.
Gentle were his hands as he traced them over her body, taking favor in tangling his fingers into the large mass of her hair as she too allowed her hands to run over his chest. She felt the heat of their passion course through her veins like electricity, encouraging her to press her body firmly to his.
They did not make love or anything of the kind, only held each other while sharing kisses ranging from passionate to tender. She felt whole, like she'd been missing something she didn't even know she'd lost until then.
Lian smiled gently at the memory, cheeks warming as she remembered the ghost of his lips against her flesh, making her heart squeeze lightly.
Shyly she rolled over; expecting to see the thought of dwarf beside her but instead laid a note folded neatly atop the pillow. Her smile vanished and fear replaced contentment as she felt her breathing catch in her throat, her lungs feeling constricted inside her chest.
With trembling hands she lifted the piece of parchment gingerly, somehow already knowing what was going to be written upon it. Unfolding the piece of paper she's greeted with Thorin's heavy yet neat scrawl, at least a whole paragraph written down and she can't help but read.
'Lian, I can only hope that we'll be far enough away from you so you are not able to follow by the time you read this. I couldn't bear to wake you from your sleep for last night I realized that I couldn't allow you to finish this quest. You are exempt from your duties to the company and can return to your home with your father. Understand that I do not do this cause I think of you as a burden, but because I know that if you were to die I'd never be able to forgive myself.
I truly care for you and if I am to die upon finishing this quest then I can only be thankful that I was able to feel the closest thing to true love I've ever encountered. Live on, Lian, find a worthy man to be your husband and have children that bare the same amount of honor and courage you do. I will never forget you, Thorin.'
Tears streaked down her face by the time she finished reading, feeling as if she could hardly breathe under the heavy words that would forever be branded in her mind and heart.
Letting out an enraged cry she ripped the letter in half, throwing the parchment to the floor in anger. She stared at it for a few seconds until she slowly reached down and folded them together; safely pocketing them. She ran from the room and into the main living area, the house was empty and the fire nothing more than a cold pile of ash in the fireplace, indicating they had been gone for several hours.
Lian quickly swung the door open, not even bothering to close it as she rushed through the town and towards the docks, knowing that's where they'd have to be to leave the town. By the time she got there it was empty, nothing there but a few stray fishermen coming back in with their morning catch.
Her breathing came out shallow, panic rolling off her in waves as she searched the empty lake for any sign of them, a shadow, a sound, anything. Upon finding not even a trace she let out her anguish in a roar, grabbing a barrel and hurling it into the water. Her outburst startled the nearby fishermen; who rushed over to calm her as she began to break crates against the dock posts.
"Where are they!? Where did they go!?" She roared, thrashing around as the men try and grab her.
"Calm down!" One of them grunted, attempting to catch her flailing arms with great annoyance. The biggest of the group took her into a bear hug from behind, effectively pinning her arms to her side as she wiggled and kicked out but to no avail. A few minutes pass before she finally tired herself out, breathing heavily within the confines of the lumbering man's massive arms.
"Good, you all calmed down now?" One of the fishermen asked, the man rather short compared to the other two with green overalls on.
"Where are they? Where are the dwarves?" She panted, feeling far too exhausted for her own liking as she peered up at the slightly taller man.
"Dwarves? They left to reclaim the mountain at the crack of dawn about four hours ago. There was a big ceremony and everything." The other fisherman chimed in, rather lanky with a thin wispy beard. Lian felt her hope dwindle, draining the rest of her strength as she lowered her head in defeat, fresh tears threatening to brim over.
"I do believe a few of them stayed behind though and are staying at Bard's house." The shorter man saif, catching her attention as a spark of hope reignited.
"Let me down." She grunted, wiggling to show that she wanted down but the man doesn't budge.
"How do we know you won't go bashing things again?" Asked the lanky one.
"I won't just let me down! I have to go." She panted, rather annoyed by their persistence but then again, everything annoyed her at that moment.
The large man finally set her down and she doesn't even waste time with thanks as she dashed towards Bard's house. The house doesn't take long to reach and she quickly slammed the door open, startled when something made contact with it.
Stepping into the house she saw that Fili had been in front of the door, the impact effectively landing him on his rear end. Lian was struck with a sense of relief at the sight of the dwarf, scooping him up into a massive hug.
"I'm so happy to see ya, Fili." She breathed, still winded from her dash over.
"Um, me too?" Fili awkwardly patted her shoulder, not really knowing why the woman was suddenly so affectionate. Lian let the dwarf down, looking around to see that Bofur and Oin were also still here, surrounding Kili's resting form.
"Why are ya still here? Why didn't they take ya with them?" She asked, walking over to stand in the small circle surrounding Kili.
"Thorin refused to let me go, so they offered to stay and watch over me." Kili grunted, attempting to sit up but his wounded shoulder had other plans. Sweat coated the young dwarf's skin, cheeks flushed in a way that had to be bad considering the labored breaths he was taking; fever was starting to set in.
"Damn fool." She cursed, running an impatient hand through her hair as she debated her options. She wanted to leave and join the rest of the company but she knew that she couldn't just leave them when Kili was in such a poor state.
Cursing again she took a seat, slumping as she came to the decision to stay and help look after Kili. She knew it'd be unfair to leave them and she couldn't even bring herself to do it in her fit of rage. "Has the infection gotten worse?" She asked Oin, focusing her attention firmly on Kili's health.
"Aye, whatever you gave him stopped the poison from eating away at his flesh but the infection and amount of poisoned blood in his veins seems to be making up for that." Oin explained while examining Kili's wound openly, causing her to sweep her hand once more though her hair.
"We need something that can draw the old blood and infection out of the wound though we'll probably need some salt to clean the wound first." She said more so to herself than to the dwarves but Bofur seemed to have heard her and grabbed a container of salt from the pantry.
"So like this?" Bofur asked, leaning over to pour a ridiculous amount of salt on Kili's open wound like he was trying to make a full on salt lick, sending the dwarf into a thrashing mess of pain.
"Bofur, you damn fool!" Oin yelled, slapping the dwarf's hands away as he quickly ordered Fili to grab warm water.
"What?" Bofur asked, a bit offended that he was suddenly being called the fool when he was only trying to help.
"Yer supposed to mix the salt with warm water, not dump it in dry." Lian exclaimed, quickly holding the trashing Kili down as Oin tried to clean the salt granules out of Kili's wound with only his hands.
"Oh." Bofur made an 'oops' sort of look as he help her hold down Kili; said dwarf screaming at the top of his lungs in agony. Fili rushed back into the room, handing a pan of warm water to Oin; who quickly poured handfuls into Kili's wound to wash it out.
After about an hour Kili finally settled down, moaning in pain as Oin finished cleaning the wound; swollen and raw from infection plus the large amount of salt poured on it. You could see the tissue and puss clearly inside the hole, the poison having eaten through a portion of flesh half the size of her palm.
Bard's children had managed to come back after they settled him down, having gone shopping to restock the pantry the company had wiped out. Lian had done well to stay by the dwarves, not trusting herself to be alone with her emotions, the feeling of hurt and betrayal still fresh.
The rest of the day consisted of running around looking for things to make Kili more comfortable, not like the lad asked for much in the first place though. Fili was constantly flocking the dwarf, asking if he needed anything or if he was in too much pain. Lian made herself busy with helping Bard's children around the house as night began to fall, learning that the eldest daughters name was Sigrid, the youngest was Tilda and the boys was Bain.
Sigrid was quiet the curious lass, asking where Lian came from, her age, how she came to travel with the dwarves and Lian answered them all, finding no need to hide anything.
"So you're a princess?" Tilda asked, a glint of childish excitement alight in her wide eyes, the child had to be no more than 10 years of age.
"Aye." Lian answered, a bit awkward in being called one after so long; made her feel a bit embarrassed by the title.
"Do you have a prince waiting for you back home?" She asked, making the woman freeze.
The question was rather innocent and yet it somehow struck a nerve, sending a wave of emotion through her but she stubbornly bit it back, not wanting to suddenly get emotional in front of the girls. It almost felt like she had been the one with salt poured in her wounds.
"No." Lian answered rather dryly, her tongue feeling like lead as she swallowed her emotions. "No, I don't, ya see all the men are afraid of me." She continued softer than before.
"Why?" Tilda whispered, rather wide eyed by this news.
"Cause…I eat them!" With this Lian scooped the young lass up, tickling her sides until the child was nothing more than a giggling mess. Sigrid seemed to enjoy the bout of joy in the house, keeping the creeping tension of their situation at bay.
Lian walked down the stairs to the bottom platform of the house to fetch a basket for Sigrid, noticing Bofur suddenly run out of the house to fetch something when she heard a noise. Looking around she felt her skin rise anxiously, a tension settling over her as she slowly crept out onto the outer boardwalk.
Sudden something heavy collided with her back, sending her to ground with a loud grunt and a busted lip.
She slammed her head back, connecting with whatever was on her and sending it stumbling back. Quickly she scrambled to her feet, turning only to be rammed once again by an orc, toppling to the ground in a tangled mess.
"Da?" Sigrid suddenly called from the balcony as Lian struggled on the boardwalk with the orc, trying to draw her hunting knife since she left her other weapons inside.
Sigrid let out a shriek, alerting her to the girls danger and Lian pushed the orc farther away from her with her elbow, bringing the studded knuckle brace of her glove up in a punch.
Quickly she rolled on top of the orc; taking the front and back of the creatures head in order to violently snap its neck. The now dead orc flopped over and Lian stumbled to her feet, only to be slammed into once more by a different orc, sending the pair straight off the boardwalk and into the icy waters.
Lian felt the sharp nails of the orc dig into the flesh of her neck as they struggled under the water, desperately trying to slam her knee into its gut but the orc held on tight, strangling her of her limited amount of air.
Slowly she felt the air leave her, head growing light as she weakly grabbed her hunting knife and with the last of her strength she slammed the blade into the orcs skull.
She felt numb as she sank to the bottom of the lake, her plating and clothes preventing her from floating back to the surface and she didn't seem to have the strength left to swim back. Her lungs burned as she gritted her teeth, not willing to let go of the last puffs of air still in her as she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling helpless to the hands of death. She always heard that your life is supposed to flash before your eyes before you die but strangely enough it was not her life that filled her mind but Thorin. Their moment in Bilbo's dining room back in the Shire, inside their chambers in Rivendell, outside of Beorn's house, in the prison at Mirkwood and their tender kisses exchanged the night before.
This suddenly gave her a bout of strength, her lungs expanding as adrenaline rushed through her veins and forced her eyes open to look towards the surface. Quickly she kicked to the surface, teeth clenched as she desperately tried to hold onto the air in her lungs.
The light of the moon grew closer and closer, so much that Lian reached her hand out and could almost feel the eerie light on her skin. 'I will not die!'
With this final thought she gave one final kick, breaking the surface of the water to gasp loudly, air filling every inch of her deflated lungs. She hauled herself up on the boardwalk, grunting as her arms shook under the weight of her soaked clothes but none the less she managed to safely climb to stable grounds; sprawling her soaked body out across the decking.
She panted as the moon bathed the woman in light, shining down on her as if like a guardian angel and she closed her eyes for a moment before shakily stumbling to her feet. She hadn't been under the water long, screams still sounding from inside the house and Lian can see orcs jumping inside the house from the hole they had created in the roof. She reached for her knife but came up empty when she realized it must still be embedded in the skull of the orc deep under the water.
Quickly she broke a broom over her leg, quickly climbing up the stairs and being met with the sight of orcs clambering around fighting with dwarves and two of the elves that had captured them in Mirkwood. Sigrid and Tilda were both hiding under the table under the scuffle while Bain tried to help Fili hold down an orc.
Lian shoved the jagged end of the broken broom stick violently into an orcs chest; saving Oin from having to use a fork instead. Shoving the stick deeper she pushed the orc back into the back of another, sending them toppling out the open door and off the balcony.
"Kili!" She bellowed, noticing the dwarf fall from his bed rest upon a struggle with an orc. The she-elf quickly dispatched of the orc with her dagger, red hair flowing down her back in loose waves.
There was only one orc remaining in the house and he quickly bolted off the balcony with the pale haired elf hot on his trail. The she-elf remained though; glancing down at Kili's anguished expression with something akin to conflict in her eyes. The look in her eyes was quickly gone though, replaced with determination that you'd hardly ever see on an elf.
"Put him on the table." She ordered, her voice like a finely tuned violin as she quickly grabbed what looked to be weeds from Bofur's hands and rolling them up into a ball.
Lian quickly helped Fili and Oin lift Kili's withering body, his voice raised in pain when they lifted him up; jostling his shoulder. They quickly placed him on the table, not breaking away as they pin his thrashing limbs down to the table.
The she-elf doesn't waste time and pressed the firmly rolled ball of plant against the wound, sending another series of screams and thrashing throughout the dwarf. Sigrid and Tilda hastily helped, pining one of Kili's legs to the table as the she-elf began to chant in elvish.
Kili's thrashing continued for about a minute more before he slowly began to calm down, gazing at the she-elf with a dazed look in his eyes. Their eyes met and Lian saw something familiar there, she saw a connection. Finally Kili's struggles ceased, allowing everyone to breathe a breath of relief for the first time in a while. The she-elf removed her hand, showing that his wound was already half healed and Lian can't help but marvel at how quickly she had managed to heal the dwarf.
Lian slowly walked onto the balcony, still drenched in water but not seeming to care even as the chilling winds blew right through her. The orcs had fled, letting them rest for now but there was no doubt they'd be back to finish what they started. Looking up she saw the moon peak out from the clouds once more, seeing an old friend in its pale light that set a new flame burning inside her belly.
'I will not rest until I see the dwarves stand in the halls of their home, if I have to shed every ounce of blood in my veins then so be it.' She vowed to herself, iron determination enforcing her words as she looked up into the moon once more before the clouds cover it once more.
'Even if Thorin abandoned me...I won't do the same.'
How Lian's feeling:
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Review goal is 5 this chapter since apparently 10 is too much so please review to those who haven't dropped the story over something petty.