Warrior's Heart

Chapter Seven

Laketown was at least a three week journey from Mirkwood, and although she was anxious to close that distance, she was also not so anxious that she'd forget any precautions, that she would let her guard down. Having Legolas and Tauriel with her definitely helped.

Although she had heard of Laketown, Arielle had never actually seen it, but it was exactly as she imagined—a town in the center of an immense lake. Instead of streets, it boasted canals, and the houses were tall and skinny, built up instead of out as families grew.

It was also dark and dingy and as snow fell around them, it did nothing to cheer up the town at all. The buildings were ramshackle, looking very near to toppling into the lake below them.

And there were Orcs.

So many Orcs.

They burst into action, splitting up to cover more territory and Arielle had to fight to not try to find Thorin as well. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop, Tauriel alongside her, and when they reached the center of town, it happened.

The first morgul-arrows whizzed by her and she and Tauriel split up, each going down the opposite side of a house, where Orcs congregated on a narrow balcony near a door. She jerked her sword clear and and dispatched the first two she saw and hurried thorough a door that had been torn from its moorings.

There were five Orcs in the main room, and two terrified young girls, But that wasn't all.

"Fili?" She resheathed her sword, tugged free her two daggers, and took out the first two Orcs in her way. "What are you—Kili?"

He lay on a low table, as pale as death, and Bofur popped up. "Arielle?"

"What is going on?" She leaped from the floor to a bench, as Tauriel came through the window and took down two more Orcs. "Why are you here?"

The remaining Orc lunged. She ducked, Tauriel swung her knives, and his head went in one direction while his body crumpled to the floor. Footfalls above their heads made them all look up at the same time, but thankfully no more Orcs came through the door, the windows, or the roof. She could hear them shouting to one another, but didn't speak their language, so had no idea what they shouted. But then, the sound of retreating footsteps echoed around her.

"Fili," she swept a rag off the table to wipe off her blades before resheathing them, "what is going on? Why are you here and what is wrong with Kili?"

Fili shook his head. "Your Healer must have missed something," he said flatly. "He's been growing worse by the day."

Tauriel came up on Kili's opposite side. "I need kingsfoil. Do you have any?"

A dark haired man, a human, burst into the room, bearing a black-tipped spear. The two girls ran to him and he wrapped an arm about each one. "What goes on here?"

"Orcs," Fili gestured to the bodies, "and we need kingsfoil. Have you any?"

The man shook his head. "No. It's a weed. We feed it to the pigs."

Bofur squared his shoulders. "I'll find it. How much do you need?"

Tauriel glanced down at Kili. "As much as you can find."

"Got it." He dashed out the door and Arielle turned back to Fili. "Where is Thorin? And the others?"

"They left for Erebor."

She froze. "What?"

He nodded. "Kili was too sick, Bofur was too hungover, and I go where my brother goes, but the rest of them should be there now."

She moved away from the table, toward the door once more. Stepping out into the snow, she stared off into the distance, where a thick column of smoke rose through the snow. "Smaug..." she whispered.