✓ | Forget-Me-Not ~ Fili FanFiction / Hobbit FanFiction / Fili FF

「 Chapter 1 」

"This is a joke, right?", Ilèyn sternly looked down at the pile of coins that was pushed in front of her.
She counted quickly.
"You promised me twice as much!", with one hand she suddenly shoved the money off the sticky tavern table.
The jingling and subsequent rumbling of the chair, which tipped over when the man stood up against her indignantly, silenced the laughter, singing and roaring around them for a moment. The two were stared at with drunken, empty eyes.
"What?", the man growled into the group, "Dedicate yourself to your beer and leave us in peace."
The tavern noises slowly returned. The many pairs of eyes turned back to their conversation partners and their food and drinks.
Slowly the man trudged up to Ilèyn and leaned, with one hand on the table directly over her.
"I don't negotiate with... someone like you, little one.", he said, grinning broadly, "Take what you can get and stop thinking you're better than anyone."
He reached for his beer mug and took a sip so big it ran down his beard. Ilèyn's eyes followed every single movement from him.
"You are nothing more than a dwarf nobody wants."
At least he was right on that point.
The man put his beer down in front of Ilèyn's nose with a rumble. She looked up at him provocatively.
"Pay me what I asked for.", she said, "Or this is the last beer you will ever drink."
Suddenly the man laughed out loud. He slapped the table with his hand, almost choking on his coughing laugh.
Ilèyn grinned mischievously.
"You...", the man was still laughing, "You think..."
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and not choking on his beer again.
"You think I'm afraid of you, do you?", he wiped the saliva from his lips and glared at Ilèyn.
"Listen up everyone!", he shouted into the tavern.
Those present fell silent again. Hobbits, humans, a few dwarfs from all corners of Middle Earth. They all heard what the man shouted next.
"This little maggot actually thinks she could be dangerous for me!", he laughed again and the bystanders got in maliciously.
"Dream on, dwarf!", someone shouted from the crowd while the beefy gentleman continued to celebrate his joke.
In not even a second, Ilèyn took out her sharp dagger and rammed it into the man's large hand on the table with such force that the knife got stuck in the table top.
For the blink of an eye it was completely silent. Then a cry of pain with tremendous proportions erupted from the bearded man's throat. His horrified gaze flickered back and forth between Ilèyn and the knife in his hand, while Ilèyn let herself slide down the chair she sat on, to pick up the coins from the dusty floor. The tavern guests watched in shock, occasionally whispering things to each other.
When she had stowed the coins in a small leather pouch, she fished for the bag in the man's robe, who was still whimpering in pain. She pulled out another leather pouch filled with coins. Without hesitation, she tucked it in the pocket around her shoulder.
She strapped her quiver to her back and picked up her longbow.
Slowly she approached the man. Blood was already dripping from the table.
"It's been an honor to negotiate with you.", Ilèyn said sharply and jerked her dagger out of the pierced hand.
The man cried out again.
Without looking back, Ilèyn strutted towards the exit, followed by several pairs of eyes whose owners still didn't dare to utter a word.
She passed the counter and flicked one of the golden coins to the bartender.
"For your circumstances."
Then she left the tavern.

Upon stepping out the door, Ilèyn sank into a huge puddle of mud and sludge.
It rained.
As always.
On top of that, it was late.
"I hate this place.", she grumbled as she maneuvered her boots, soaked with filthy water through the puddles in the muddy alleyways of Bree.
As much as she hated Bree, this was the place where most of the jobs were to find.
Clients waited in the alleyways, each more seedy than the other. Ilèyn already knew most of them. Often it was debtors who had no way of getting the money in honest ways. Or it was the creditors, as in the tavern case. Often she was asked to silence people with the help of... well, yes, some knifes or maybe poison.
Fast jobs, which could usually be completed within a few days and Ilèyn had the opportunity to bag enough money for herself to at least equip herself with new boots.
It was a vicious circle that should never end. If she got to Bree, she got into trouble.
When she came to Bree, it was not uncommon for her to lose all her money to pickpockets.
When she came to Bree, all her clothes were as good as unusable on her return.
Bad enough that not even the food was good.
And all these smelly, disgusting people. No matter if hobbit, dwarf or human, everyone here was really shabby or contaminated with parasites. Most likely both.
Ilèyn strived to find other things that invited one to avoid this place that she skilfully ran into the guard at the gate.
"Hey you!", he grumbled immediately, "Don't you have eyes in your head? The gate is closed, how did you imagine does this work?"
Ilèyn rubbed her head. Even her hood was soaked through.
"Sorry.", she apologized briefly, "I'm just asking to be allowed to pass."
The old man at the gate rose from his rickety hump with a groan.
"Dwarfs...", he muttered angrily.
Ilèyn tried to ignore this remark and stepped out of the gate. Still grumbling to himself, the guard slammed the wooden gate shut right after she was out with both feet. Bree was behind her now.
She had almost forgotten the unpleasant encounter with the client in the tavern, after all, it was not uncommon for that to happen. She had one last Client to meet today.
Ilèyn sighed loudly and hurried over to a large tree, which spread its thick branches over a fork in the road in front of her. She took cover, even if she was already soaked to the bone.
She played with a small bag filled with coins while she waited. The wind rose and lashed raindrops on her face. She narrowed her eyes grimly. She really wanted to get out of here. Where was that damn hobbit?
Never before had a client been so late.
Ilèyn leaned against the mighty trunk of the tree and crossed her arms. She had pulled the hood down over her face, from the edge of it the water was already dripping down.
"Are you... the bounty hunter?", came a cautious voice next to Ilèyn. She turned her head.
"Who wants to know that?", the dwarf asked suspiciously.
"My name is Bogart...", stammered the figure, "I have commissioned you."
Ilèyn straightened and stepped up to the hobbit, she towered over him slightly, but that was hardly worth mentioning. He stood before her, chubby and trembling. Without further ado, she tossed him the bag with the coins. The hobbit quickly opened the bag and counted.
"Everything is there, thank you very much!", he bowed several times, "Can... can I give you something as a thank you?"
"Get out of here.", Ilèyn replied gruffly, "This is no place for someone like you. Especially not at night."
Without waiting for a reaction, Ilèyn turned and trudged away.
On the big east road she wanted to get to the Weathertop before taking the first rest. It was raining so hard that she could barely look straight ahead and just stared at the ground. She realized again that this is the wrong way to travel as she collided with someone head-on.
"Ugh, again?", she muttered, "Watch your step!", she said irritably and looked up.
A huge, spindly man stood in front of her. He too had pulled his hood low over his face and had hardly any luggage with him.
"I could say the same to you... bounty hunter." he said in a hoarse voice.
Ilèyn eyed the man suspiciously.
"Who are you?", she asked.
"That doesn't matter.", the man reached for the side of his belt with one hand.
Ilèyn reflexively reached for her bow, a moment later had an arrow on the string and aimed directly at the heart of the stranger.
He only let out a small laugh.
"We are kind of colleagues, do you think I would stab you here on the street?", he shook his head.
"Don't worry, for once I only have a hint for you."
Ilèyn lowered her bow and put the arrow back in her quiver. The man pulled a battered piece of leather from his belt and pressed it into Ilèyn's hand.
"Maybe you are interested."
He bumped into her so that she almost fell to the ground as he walked past her. "But be aware of one thing, it won't be easy."
With that he was gone in the veil of rain.
Ilèyn unfolded the piece of leather and examined it.
Black language.
A murder assignment with a reward so high the bounty hunter had never seen before.
A reward on the head of Thorin Oakenshield.