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

「 Chapter 28 」

"Great. Now what?" Kili asked, who was standing next to Ilèyn and Fili at the railing.
"I've already thought of something." Bard said and stepped closer. "All of you. You have to go into the barrels." He pointed behind him.
"I'm not going in there again, do you hear?" Dori complained.
"Forget it!" Oin added.
"You have no other choice!" Bard said emphatically and looked around. The guarded footbridge came closer and a fog bell could be heard.
"Come on!" he said.
"Do as he says!" Thorin growled and everyone began to crawl into the barrels.
Ilèyn swung over the edge of the barrel and dropped to the floor. She crouched down so that nothing could be seen of her from the outside. The barrel was quite big and the dwarf had no problems to fit into it. In contrast to the others. Some of the dwarves had a little more trouble squeezing into one of the barrels.
Ilèyn sat quietly on the bottom of the barrel while she continued to perceive the shallow swaying of the boat. The fog swept over her, all around her she saw nothing more than the wood of the barrel.
Suddenly there was a slight rumble and she heard footsteps. Bard was probably just getting out of the boat. She could hear the distant talk of the humans, the water below her and some whispering from the dwarves beside her.
For a few moments nothing happened and Ilèyn began to relax. Apparently, Bard had managed to distract the guards as best he could. But when suddenly there were more steps that must have come from more than one person, she immediately tensed again.
Without seeing a little bit of what was going on out there, the dwarf crouched on the floor, listening and waiting to see what would happen next. It could be anything.
She didn't dare to look up when someone came suspiciously close to the barrel in which she was sitting.
Before she knew it it began to rain on her that she couldn't identify at first. A musty smell enveloped her, while slippery, wet chunks fell on her.
Was that... fish?
Clearly.
Before Ilèyn could think of another clear thought about her situation, she was covered over her head in fish. The strong smell filled her nose and she felt sick. The weight of the fish that weighed on her was bigger than one might think and the air was slowly but surely getting scarce. She heard a dry choke in the barrel next to her. She could still pull herself together, but for how long was really not in sight.

Once more, Ilèyn felt Bard stop the boat. She tried to distract herself from the bad smell around her and to listen to what was going on outside, but with all the effort she could understand absolutely nothing.
This time the boat stood for a long time without anything happening. Ilèyn had completely lost her orientation, she had no idea where exactly they were, whether they were already in Lake Town or whether the boat driver was simply taking them further and further away from the city in order to drown them somewhere.
Small tremors approached. Steps.
Suddenly the barrel in which Ilèyn was sitting was pushed dangerously far to the right, which led to the fish falling out at the top. The dwarf dared to strongly doubt whether it was planned that way. Her doubts were confirmed when the person who was about to dump her barrel suddenly stopped and she was put back upright.
Ilèyn would have liked to take a deep breath, but that would have to wait a little longer. The steps moved away and a little jerk made the dwarf suspect that the journey was going on. So they really had gotten into the town.
Ilèyn's stomach began to twist, slowly she really couldn't take it anymore. The minutes dragged on to infinity. She now had the feeling that she had to get out of this barrel immediately, no matter what the consequences.
Just then it jerked her barrel and with a thud, Ilèyn's barrel hit the deck of the boat. The fish above her head spread out on the floor and the dwarf slipped outside, coughing dryly. Beside her, Bard knocked over the next barrel from which Nori tumbled. Dori landed next to his brother. The other dwarves began to break free from their fishy prisons on their own.
Ilèyn pulled Bifur out of his barrel, a fish was impaled on the piece of axe that was stuck in his head.
The company quickly disembarked and stepped onto the wooden walkways on which the whole city had been built.
"Stay close!" Bard ordered and ran to the head of the group. He walked along the footbridge and looked around very carefully before leading the dwarfs on.
"Follow me."
"What is this place?" Bilbo asked, looking around curiously.
"This, Master Baggins, is the world of men." Thorin answered in a lowered voice and ran past the hobbit and after the boatman.
The group came to a small market square, there was a lot of activity among the people. Barkers tried to get rid of fish, ropes, or vegetables, many fishermen were loading or unloading their boats, and everyone else was bustling about.
"Keep your heads down, keep moving." said Bard, trying not to lose sight of his unusual guests. "Quickly, now!"
Ilèyn hid her weapons as best she could. However, she found it difficult to hide her bow. As the only one of the dwarves who was still out and about in her full travel gear, she wanted to avoid attracting much attention as much as possible.
In spite of everything, it was inevitable that the dwarfs were viewed with extreme disdain and suspicion as they made their way through the residents of Lake Town.