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

「 Chapter 36 」

Kili groaned when Ilèyn, Bofur and Fili laid him on the makeshift bed that was quickly made up in a hurry.
The young dwarf had his eyes half closed and his forehead was sweaty.
"His condition is getting worse and worse..." Ilèyn said as if to herself as she took off her cloak and then placed it under Kili's neck.
"Get this thing off him." she said to Fili and Bofur, who then began to free Kili from the armor. Breathing became harder and harder for him and he rolled restlessly back and forth on the woolen blanket, as if he were being haunted by a nightmare.
Ilèyn had put her weapons on the other side of the room, had come back to the bed and now stood at the level of his leg and could already see more than clearly that the bandage was again bled through. She wrinkled her nose for a moment, because she could roughly imagine what Kili was now expecting.
"Fili." she said calmly. The blonde hurried to her side immediately.
"I need to check on the wound." she looked at Fili briefly "This... is going to be a bit painful for him, you have to hold him tight. I would prefer not to be kicked in the face by him."
Fili just nodded seriously, grabbed Kili's legs and pressed them against the bed. He watched Ilèyn as she untied the bandage and carefully began to unwind it. The fabric was stuck to the wound by the old blood and when Ilèyn pulled on it, Kili narrowed his eyes and began to fidget with his legs against his brother's hands. This held him with all his strength. Ilèyn frowned pityingly. She had to continue tormenting him, the bandage wasn't off yet. She unwrapped the last few inches of the fabric around Kili's leg and looked at the piece of bandage in her hands. Kili relaxed for a moment. Ilèyn got an uneasy feeling when she looked at the noticeably dark blood. She twisted the corners of her mouth and looked down at Kili, who lay panting in front of her.
Fili let go of his brother's legs and approached Ilèyn.
"What's the matter with him?" he asked in a lowered voice filled with worry.
Ilèyn stared at the wound in Kili's leg for a moment, then slammed the used bandage onto the small cabinet.
"Morgul Shaft." she said only with a disturbing undertone in her voice and hurried away from the bed into the living room, where Bard was talking to his daughter.
"Bring me all the herbs and medicine you have!" she said to him. The urgency in her voice immediately made the boatman disappear down the stairs.

Kili had meanwhile started to scream in pain, which made Ilèyn hurry back to the bed. Fili held a wet sponge against his brother's forehead, Ilèyn now approached the wound with both hands. She tore the hole in Kili's pants a little bigger and felt the edge of the wound. Kili screamed. Undeterred, Ilèyn examined the infected and badly discolored injury.
"Hot water!" it came from her and Bofur hurried to the table in the living room, on which there was a can with heated water. He dumped it in one of the wooden bowls and came back to the bed with it.
Fili noticed Ilèyn's gaze. The little twinkle of uncertainty in her eyes suggested nothing good.
"Can you not do something?" he asked, looking at her pleadingly.
"I need to know what kind of herbs they have here." she replied "I urgently need something to bring down his fever."
Then Bard came back up the stairs, arms full of smaller bags. He put everything on the table in front of him.
"I have nightshade." he said hurriedly "I have feverfew."
"They're no use to me." Ilèyn Interrupted and looked briefly over her shoulder "Kingsfoil, you have any Kingsfoil?"
"No, it's a weed." Bard replied "We feed it to the pigs." He shot her an incredulous look.
"Pigs?" asked Bofur, who was standing behind Fili and Ilèyn "Weed... Right!" He spun around.
"Don't move!" he said, pointing his finger at Kili and hurried off.

Kili's suffering continued and got worse and worse. Ilèyn had rubbed the wound again with a liquid that she still had with her, whereupon the dwarf exploded again into a louder scream. Bard had looked for more herbs in his house.
"Linden?" Ilèyn shouted "Or Thyme! Do you have any of that?"
"Nothing!" Bard shouted from below.
"What about poppy seeds?" Ilèyn asked further.
"We have something of that!" the older of the two daughters threw in. She followed her father down the stairs and came back just a moment later with a small potty. She took the lid off and handed it to Ilèyn.
She dipped her hands into the bowl with the water and then reached into the pot in which the poppy seeds were stowed. The water on her hands allowed Ilèyn to moisten the seeds and roll them into a small ball between her palms.
Now she pushed past Fili so that she stood at Kili's head. She grabbed his cheeks with one hand and pushed the dwarf's cramped jaws apart with her fingers.
"Swallow that!" she said aloud in his ear and stuffed the poppy seeds into his mouth. She took her fingers from Kili's cheeks so he could close his mouth again. He obeyed and forced himself down the pile of poppy seeds.
Ilèyn wiped her hands on her pants and then checked again at the injury.
A Morgul Shaft, why hadn't she figured it out earlier? Inwardly, she cursed herself severely for her own stupidity.
Had she realized that sooner, she would have been able to help Kili sooner and the company would not have had to split up.
Ilèyn shook her head and reached for the scrap of cloth next to her to soak it in the water and clean the oozing wound one more time. In doing so, she constantly had to avoid Kili's involuntary kicks and hold him tight.
A few minutes passed and the poppy seeds began to take effect. Kili was getting sleepier, he wasn’t wriggling as much and began to fall into a slightly trance-like state.
Ilèyn sighed deeply and relieved that Kili was calmer and sank down on the edge of the bed. She looked around. Bofur had still not shown up, Bard had looked for new bandages and put them on the table. His youngest daughter had been watching Ilèyn from a corner of the room while the older one was heating a new pot of water over the fire. Bard's son had found more sheets and blankets.
It was now dark outside and some candles and lamps were lit in the hut.
Fili was still standing at his brother's head, noticing how he slowly dawned away. The blonde looked at Ilèyn, their eyes met.
"We need the Kingsfoil, we can't get him through for much longer." she said seriously and got up.