Chapter 22
Kili, King of Ered Luin, led the early morning charge across the cavernous muster hall to the Wide Stair with his sword in his hand, one slightly muddy wolf pelt on his back, and his head down-his features set in a glower of controlled fury as he ran toward danger.
Will the evil things of the world ever leave us alone? He growled to himself as he reached the stairs and double-timed to the top. Skirfir, bow in hand, climbed two steps behind. Guard Captain Ingól and an entire squad of Blue Mountain guards, bristling with axes, swords, pikes, and bows, pounded along at their heels.
Three turns and a long tunnel later, they burst onto the flat parapet of Norkeep's overlook and suddenly quiet, moved single-file along a thick stone wall and took positions–peering from the battlement to the jagged ravine below.
Sunrise bathed the granite around them in shades of black and white, a touch of topaz yellow on the icy snow that clung to the heights above. Kili leaned forward to scan the base of the rocky cliffs below and received a gusty updraft of mountain wind right in his face, nearly freezing his eyebrows.
"There," Skirfir murmured, pointing just left of a thin frost-rimed waterfall.
Kili narrowed his eyes and spied the rough, ill-planned encampment below. "Where did this sorry lot come from…?" he muttered. "They look more like the old Goblin King's creatures than Moria orcs."
"I count eight," Skirfir said.
"Yes," Kili nodded. He could see the wayward looking scoundrels around a pitiful campfire on an uneven ledge, noting the oddly bent shoulders and spindly legs of mountain goblins. They had tattered, scant gear.
Along the battlements, the Guard nudged each other and pointed, grunting their disapproval of these interlopers. Ingól looked directly at his King, his eyes wide and hard as if to say, give me the word and we'll obliterate them.
But Kili turned and looked at the sky.
Sunrise. Ravens will be waking. He lifted a hand in the air and glanced over his left, then his right shoulder. There.
One young raven, wing tips fluttering in the wind, had spotted him and angled itself into landing position.
As it stretched out its feet and landed precisely on his upraised hand, Kili was aware that Ingól and the other guards were staring, holding themselves oddly very still.
Must be lads who haven't seen a Ravenspeaker before. Kili suppressed a smile as he lowered the young raven to eye level and considered it as his free hand searched his coat pocket for a treat. Did he have one?
"Hello my friend," he murmured, just as his hand found a stash of nuts in his lower left pocket. He pulled one out and offered it. "Thank you for meeting me. I am Raven King. Have we met?"
The raven considered the nut, then looked at Kili in the eyes before letting out a long, low Quooork. It took the nut (which vanished down its throat) and then answered. "Karket. I am Karket."
"Good bird, young Karket. Excellent bird." Kili offered another nut, which disappeared as quickly as the first. "I have a task for you. Will you do it?"
Karkat seemed to consider, looked over Kili's gear and nibbled at one of his metal buttons, and made the raven version of a little bow. "Task. Yes," it said.
The lads on the parapet were looking at each other, and Skirfir raised a hand to signal quiet.
Kili went on. "Ered Luin requires your help. There are gobs below. Do you know gobs?"
The raven made a sudden squawk and shook his head. "Bad not-dwarves. Bad! Gah!"
"Yes. That is true. King Raven asks this: fly and look. Get friends if they are near. All of you look. See the nest of gobs?" Kili helpfully leaned forward and angled his hand toward the encampment below. "Is there another nest? Look for hidden nests behind stone. Fly quick and return. Search for nests of gobs."
"Gah!" Young Karket squawked and quite suddenly launched himself into the sky, leaving Kili's hand with a great leap and three strong downbeats of his glossy black wings. He caught the cold updraft of mountain wind and soared sharply upward.
"King! King!" Kili heard him calling. "King calls ravens!" Karket circled, keeping up his call.
Below, one goblin wearing a horned helmet stood and looked up at the bird. On the parapet, Kili and his fellow dwarves held themselves still. But Karket flew out of sight over the ridgeline to the west, Kili's eyes following the raven until a fresh gust of wind sprayed ice across his face.
Blinking, he turned back to the goblins below in time to see the one with the horned helmet turn back to his fellows and sit.
A moment later, a flight of many ravens arrowed out of the south, a silent flock that swooped over Kili's location on the parapet and circled. Beside him, Ingól and his warriors ducked, eyes wide.
"Just a small sortie," Kili murmured to them, wondering what they'd say if they ever saw a full war flock. Kili suppressed a smile, then sobered, recalling the times when his brother had called massive and deadly warflocks in Erebor. No…let's hope they never see a real war flock in action.
Suddenly the circling ravens scattered, flying randomly over and around the goblin camp in silence, looking like normal morning raven activity as if they'd just awakened and were scouting for food. One raven, Karket, Kili assumed, remained high, tilting with the wind gusts as it watched. A few of the others would dart by, circle, or turn on a wing…and finally, Karket landed on the rocks above the parapet, pecked at the stone, and hopped a few steps before landing on a craggy rock near Kili's head.
"One nest. One nest only."
Kili set several nuts on the stone while staying out of sight of the goblins. "Good bird. Excellent bird! Thank your friends."
Karket took three hops and took a nut.
"Now tell them this," Kili said. " Fly away and be safe. A snow dragon will be here."
The raven stopped mid-peck at the second nut and stared at him.
"I will call a Snow Dragon, Karket. Tell your friends to fly away until it's gone."
Karket considered this, then quickly took the last nuts. "Will. Will fly away all." With that, he launched into the open air, caught the updraft, and soared high again, joining his friends.
"Snow Dragon?" Skirfir murmured.
Kili winked and pointed at the overhang of glacial ice. "We'll need a few mortars from the Master Miner."
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A/N Thanks for reading! A shout-out to beta reader Jessie152 who also posts translations of these chapters on the German fanfik DE site. (Applause!) As always, leave a review or PM and let me know what you think or just say Hi.
I will try posting shorter chapters from now on to see if that helps me get chapters out sooner. Hand on heart to you!
Summer
