Fathers and Sons

Chapter three

Fili woke to the screams and shouts outside his room. He sat up in bed and looked across the room to Kili who was sitting up in bed and trying to look out the window.

Moments later, their bedroom door burst open and Thorin hurried in. Fili squinted at him in the dark, noticing that he was wearing his armor.

"Get up, both of you," Thorin said, urgently, rushing in and pulling his nephews out of their beds, "Hurry. Kili! get away from the window!"

Kili started to do as he was told, rubbing his eyes as he slowly slipped off the bed. Not quick enough for Thorin's liking, he darted forth and grabbed Kili by the arm and yanked him away from the window, harshly.

"Uncle!" Kili protested, but his cry was cut short when something large crashed through the window, landing on the bed he was laying in only seconds ago.

Fili glanced over and saw an arrow sticking into Kili's bed and gulped. That was nearly his little brother.

"What's happening!" Fili exclaimed as he hurried over to Thorin.

"Orcs," Thorin said grimly. Fili's heart pounded. He'd never seen an orc before though he knew from his uncle's stories that they were very dangerous. All his training with Dwalin had been to defend himself from orcs and wargs.

"Enough talk," Thorin said, pulling his nephews along to the hall closet, "Here," he handed them their armor and their weapons. Fili slipped into his suit of maille and leather and started shoving knives and axes into various compartments all over his clothes, before grabbing his double scabbard.

Dis came over to them then, "Where on this earth could they have come from?" she exclaimed, fear in her voice.

"They probably came down from the Misty Mountains," Thorin said as he handed Kili his bow and his sword. Fili was surprised to see even his mother in armor and carrying a blade.

"I don't intend to sit here and wait to be flayed like some human maiden," Dis said when she saw her sons watching her, "I may not be as skillfully trained as Dwalin, but I can handle a sword."

Fili didn't answer any further. He didn't have to. The orcs suddenly burst through the doors like a wave and ran right for them. Kili was quick to equip his bow and let loose an arrow into the first orc's face. A second orc swiped at Thorin, who blocked and parried with his own sword.

Fili tried to defend Kili and was soon inundated with three orcs of his own. This was what all his practice had been for, now was the time to show what he'd learned. He held his own, as did his brother, the two of them were an unstoppable machine of steel as they chopped down one orc after the other.

Fili saw Thorin and Dis fighting nearby, each handling their own. Piles of dead orcs fell around them.

And then one of the orcs knocked over a torch from the ceiling. Within seconds, the room erupted into flames. And they kept coming. Fili was beginning to feel tired as he sliced through another orc. Beads of sweat poured down his face as he fought for his life.

Fili came in for another volley, lifting his swords high to come down on his attackers, and as he brought his left sword down onto an orc's skull, he felt a sudden slice of fire across his right side. Looking down, his eyes widened as he saw an orc blade embedded in his skin.

Fueled on by adrenaline, Fili ignored the pain and pulled the blade out of his own body, throwing it back at the orc, watching with satisfaction as it got lodged into its throat.

"Fili!" Kili called, trying to fight his way to him. Kili coughed as smoke bellowed down on him. The entire house was engulfed in flames, and it was hard to make his brother out. Fili coughed, too, and his eyes stung. He reached for his brother and pulled him over to him.