Chapter 10

Fili, King of Erebor, stood stone still and did not bow to Gondor's envoy, as was correct for a King. Beside him, his oldest daughter Iri stood equally still.

"I bring you dispatches from your stonemasons in Minas Tirith, for their kin," the envoy said in a smooth and feminine voice. Eyebrows rising, Fili considered that the tall Gondorian envoy was a woman, alike in dress as any Gondorian courier.

"Our thanks to you, Envoy Cuindel," he replied as Cuindel lifted a neat leather satchel and held it out flat as a formal offering. He recognized this as simply an opening courtesy. If this was all the envoy brought, she would have delivered it to the commander at the gate.

So he said nothing as Iri stepped forward and accepted the dispatches, her manner formal and gracious. But as she turned back to take her place beside him, Fili could see her eyes bright with a thousand new ideas.

Oh dear Mahal, he groaned to himself. She'll be asking to ride the next courier horses to the Iron Hills. Or even worse, to the Blue Mountains…

"I bring also a formal invitation to you from our good King Elessar." The envoy's clear voice cut through Fili's inner grumbling and she offered a parchment envelope to Fili with both hands, head slightly bowed.

Fili accepted the packet, eyes scanning for the secret mark that verified its authenticity, then flipped it over and broke the seal. He handed the outer envelope to Iri and snapped open the crisp paper. He scanned the words, written with stylized Gondorian letters in a silver ink, and his eyebrows raised.

"Aragorn travels north this summer?"

"Yes, my Lord," Cuindel answered.

Fili felt a distinct hollowness growing in the pit of his stomach, but he read on, murmuring his summary for Iri's sake. "He plans to hold court in Arnor and invites the northern kingdoms to join him at Lake Annuminas…"

Cuindel inclined her head in confirmation.

Fili's first reaction was annoyance. This was an error. "He means to invite my brother who no longer resides here. He is in Ered Luin, which sits much closer to Arnor."

"Yes, my lord. At least," Cuindel folded her hands (annoyingly elf-like, Fili thought) and added, "Your royal brother the King of Ered Luin has already been summoned. Our good Elessar means for both of you to attend."

Fili could feel his left lower eyelid twitching. Leave Erebor…? He had not left for more than a day visit to Dale since…

Since the day I lost An.

Neither had he played his fiddle, sang more than a lullaby to his youngest bairn, or danced at the midwinter parties, even when Iri asked him to join her.

And Iri was reading over his shoulder. "He wishes us to bring copies from our archives?" she asked the envoy.

Fili blinked away the eye twitch and made himself focus on the section she was reading aloud. "…any archival logs detailing the early months of your reign in Erebor, for posterity. We are endeavoring to fully document the events of the last 200 years of the Third Age, including Thorin's last battle and the War of the Ring. We have already archived a copy of Bilbo's journal as completed by Frodo, and wish to add similar documents from the other realms of Middle Earth."

"Da…!" Iri whispered, eyes wide.

He ignored her.

"I see," Fili replied to Cuindel in his King Voice. "Thank you for the execution of your duty," he said. "I will prepare a response for you to take back to Aragorn." He waited to see if the envoy would say anything further, but she simply bowed again, hand on heart.

He returned the gesture, without the bow of course. And according to protocol, Gondor's envoy stood still when he took one step back and turned for the door. He was aware that his daughter performed a curtsy and said a few words of thanks to the envoy, offered a room and food and the obligatory tour…but he left without her, lengthening his strides and taking his roiling thoughts with him.


Fili made it to his ready room and closed the door, one hand on the wall to steady himself.

Thorin's last battle.

Aragorn was mistaken if he thought those details had ever been documented in Erebor's archive.

They had not. Mahal...no.

In truth, there were parts of Thorin's last battle that Fili didn't fully recall, and the things he did recall were odd, disjointed details: the freezing updraft of wind that blew ice across the hill like volleys of sharp darts. The roaring battle sounds from the plain below, rising and falling as if it were a contest of sport and not deadly earnest war.

He did recall looking up at Bolg: ugly, half-disfigured by old war wounds and bleeding heavily. The warrior goblin had one weapon: a massive barbed warsword with a wicked curve. Fili had never been in such a bad position, his eyes wide in battle mode, his brain assessing what strikes and angles had the best chance of stopping the hulk before him.

He fought alone now. Thorin lay not ten feet behind him, unable to rise, weakened from a gut wound. Kili… He had just seen his brother thrown backward from the force of a full barrage of many thick, long orc-arrows the size of spears...too many.

Dying…? Kili. No…

He could spare nothing for his nadadith. Before him, Bolg stood tall, eyes narrowed, warsword raised...and foolishly exposing his bare right side. Fili took the chance, his battle training giving him speed. He surged upwards and with everything he had, slashed hard with his sword, slicing across the wicked goblin's right side.

Greenish-ochre blood flew, but didn't slow the big orc's counter-strike. With only a moment to react, Fili ducked as Bolg's blade came around.

But not fast enough.

He felt the blade slice across his pauldron and he hit the dirt hard from the force of it.

And then a deafening roar louder than a clap of thunder made him open his eyes to see a beast the size of a massive bear looming over him...and then passing him by to take hold of Bolg. It snapped its jaws around the huge orc and reared up, shaking the goblin violently and then dropping him, limp.

And as Fili lay blinking in incomprehension, the beast turned for Thorin.

Fili struggled to get up, desperate to protect his uncle.

But his shoulder was numb and he couldn't push himself up, couldn't find his balance...he could only stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed as the beast reached one curved paw for Thorin and scooped him up.

And the next moment, they were gone.

What happened next was a blur and Fili's understanding of the event was more from hearing Kili describe it afterwards. All he remembered was a sudden heavy weight, the stench of orc, and being unable to breathe-lights dancing in his vision and blood pounding in his ears, barely able to hear someone shouting Du Bekaaaar!

He had the impression of black feathers and flapping wings...but he felt his brain stalling, his world darkening, his senses fading...

And then suddenly the weight was gone and he sucked in icy air...three more breaths and he tightened his grip on his sword, got his feet under him and as his vision cleared, tried to see what was happening.

Ravens. A hundred or more...fighting like he'd never seen, shredding Bolg's grisly hide with beaks like sharpened steel. Fili raised his weapon, looking again for the strike.

Get him! He heard Thorin's voice in his head, as if he were in a training arena. Make the kill, Fili!

He used his sword like an axe—both hands and swinging the blade down with a thunk on the back of Bolg's meaty, unprotected neck.

The ravens took wing in a riot of shrieking approval, shooting upward and widening their whirlwind circle to include attacks on goblins all over Ravenhill, and Fili stepped back, blinking in shock at them.

Within only a few minutes the flock was done with its deadly battle and dispersed. The top of Ravenhill became suddenly eerie and silent.

Fili looked back at Bolg. The big goblin was certainly dead, the sinew of his spinal cord glistening white from the gaping neck wound.

Now see to your brother...

Fili turned and stumbled to the place where Kili had fallen. To his great surprise and profound relief, Kili was on his feet—and not as dead as he'd feared.

"Just stuck in my chain mail," Kili panted, reaching for one of the arrow shafts and breaking it free. When blood didn't gush from the wound, Fili took heart and pulled the other two himself.

"Mahal, Kee. I thought they'd got you too…" He leaned forward to touch foreheads with his brother...but the world around them became a sideways blur and he remembered nothing more.


Fili, standing still in the King's ready room in Erebor, rubbed his brow and forced himself to breathe. After a moment, he walked slowly to his desk and opened the side drawer and found the flask of single malt ambershine he kept there.

Two swigs later, he eased himself into his chair, tapping on the desktop and trying to sort out his thoughts.

Aragorn and Annuminas.

And an odd eclipse-given warning from Thranduil.

What a King desires lies in shadow still.

An ancient scroll.

This you must study to save your kin….

Durin nosse anida tumba nu dagora nalla en' annuminas lirilla i' sikil en' nir' sana tuulo' numenor. i' er ya a' maa ten' i' sikil lotesse il- caela ta ar' will utua ere' ba...

Annuminas.

Sikil en' nir'...knife of many.

Kili's news about orcs in Duillond…were tracking that villain the hobbits named Shadowback.

Red-moon marks a journey. Aragorn was going to Annuminas.

Sikil en' nir'...knife of many blades.

And the image in his memory of Thorin's last battle on Ravenhill.

"Damn," Fili said aloud, taking one more swig of his ambershine. "Chamberlain!" he called.

This you must study to save your kin….

A moment later, the hearty dwarf who managed the King's Halls appeared from an alcove.

YOU must study to save your kin….

"Send to Fjalar," he demanded, rising from his chair and pinning the fellow with a steely eye. "Command him to meet me on Ravenhill at sunset."

The Chamberlain bowed quickly and spun on his heel.

Red-moon marks a journey.

"My journey," Fili said aloud, finally understanding in full what Thranduil had been trying to tell him.

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Translation

Durin nosse anida tumba nu dagora nalla en' annuminas lirilla i' sikil en' nir' sana tuulo' numenor. i' er ya a' maa ten' i' sikil lotesse il- caela ta ar' will utua ere' ba...

Durin kin beware: deep under the battle cry of annuminas lays the knife of many...taken from numenor. The one who seeks the knife may not have it and will find only death...

From The Tel'Quessir Online Translator

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A/N

Thank you for your patience with the slow progress of this story. I think we are on the way to seeing everyone at Aragorn's party-if all the trouble can be resolved!

Yes, the story is slow because I work full-time, but I also took the vacation of a lifetime this past month...and made the pilgrimage to Hobbiton (Matamata, New Zealand) for International Hobbit Day. What a party! I met the fabulous Jessie152 in Auckland, and we spent almost two weeks having an amazing time. If you can ever make the trip, do it. Hobbiton in person is just pure magic-and quite a nice garden as well.

This kind of trip is not normally something I can afford to do, but it took a year of planning and paying for things (flights, AirBnBs) ahead of time...so I was able to make it work. And kudos to Air New Zealand's Vancouver-Auckland route. Long flight, but they make it as pleasant as possible. LOTR/Hobbit locales that I recommend: Weta Cave (Wellington), Hobbiton, Tongariro National Park (Mordor), and the lovely lady who does the Hairy Feet tour of the Trollshaws near Piopio. She has marked all the scene locations and has props-and helps you get the best photos. She truly understands the fandom. :D The US$ (and Euro) go a long way in NZ (check the exchange rate) and that makes the expenses a bit easier to manage. Two weeks in NZ is actually less $ than two weeks at home (except for the airfare part.) ;p Get a travel buddy who can fully pay their half of the expenses. (Hand on heart to Jessie152!)

The stars of the trip were a surprise-New Zealand's native birds were absolute charmers! It's as if they knew I cast Corax as a major character in my ffic stories and approved the inclusiveness of avian-kind. I now LOVE Tui (such a range of vocalizations), Piwakawaka (Fantails-such flirts), Puke (friendly and curious), and Kereru (aka Fat Pigeons...srsly look like pigeons but are the size of chicken.) Also the glow worm caves are not over-rated. Quite magical. (And I believe part of the Gollum-Bilbo riddle scene was filmed in one of the caves...)

There was a time in my life that this sort of travel seemed completely impossible...but time has helped me get braver and better at visualizing how to do it. So if there's something in your life that you've always wanted to do, my wish to you is that someday it becomes possible for you and you go for it.

Hand on heart, mellons!

And let me know you're reading-even a quick note is helpful.