Saving the Sons of Durin

Thand Enenquë

~ Part Sixteen ~

"We have no time. We must leave." Tauriel said as she came back inside. "Get him up." Ellía instructed Bofur and Fili. "I'm fine! I can walk." Kili grumbled as he shoved their hands off of him. Ellía rolled her eyes at him and went to help Bard's children get ready to leave. "Come on, fast as you can." she encouraged Tilda as she helped the small girl slip into her coat. "We're not leaving without our father." Bain said firmly.

"If you stay here, your sisters will die. Is that what your father would want?" Ellía asked him lowly. Bain sighed and shook his head before helping his sisters grab some necessities and hurry down to their boats. "Quickly, now!" Ellía urged everyone as she made sure all the children and dwarves were out of the house before following. She helped Kili climb into the boat before taking Fili's outstretched hand and boarding last.

Bofur sat at the back with a long pole to help push the boat along the canal while Fili sat across from him with another pole to help steer. The group had just pushed away from the dock when the dragon flew over them. "Ahh!" Tilda yelled and gripped onto Ellía's hand tightly and buried her face in her sister's shoulder. Ellía had no words of comfort for the small child, but squeezed her hand gently and continued to hold it.

Ellía looked up in the sky and saw the beast's chest begin to glow like smoldering embers. "And so it begins..." She whispered and her eyes locked with Fili's, both trying to hide their fear. "Look out!" Bofur yelled just as a larger boat crashed into the side of their small dinghy. The elf practically growled when she saw it was the Master and Alfrid trying to escape the city with all of their hoarded treasure.

Their boat started to dip to the side as the Master's boat shoved past them and continued down the canal. "Move it! Move it!" one the guards yelled as they continued. "Stay still! Don't rock it!" Oin called to the panicked children. Ellía could see in Tauriel's eyes, as the older she-elf watched the men go by, that she despised the corrupt humans just as much as she does. The group took cover under a raised building as the dragon flew past, burning everything in sight.

Once the coast was clear, Tauriel motioned for Bofur and Fili to push the out into the open. "Da!" They heard Bain yell and looked where he was pointing. Up on the bell tower stood Bard armed only with a bow and arrow. "Da!!!" The girls cried as the dragon flew past the man and he loosed an arrow. "He hit it! He hit the dragon!" Kili yelled. "No." Tauriel said sadly. "He did! He hit his mark! I saw!" Kili argued. "His arrows cannot pierce its hide. I fear nothing will." She told him.

"The black arrow..." Ellía whispered. Bain heard her and his eyes widened as if he remembered something. The boy sprung up and launched himself out of the boat, landing on a dock. "Bain, come back here!" Sigrid shouted. "Bain!!" Fili yelled at the boy, but he was sprinting off into the chaos. Sigrid stood to go after him but Tauriel grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back down. "Leave him. We cannot go back." She told everyone. As mush as Ellía's heart broke watching the girls cry for their brother, she knew Tauriel was right.

"We're close! Faster!" Tauriel shouted over the screams, but a loud shriek tore through the air, drowning all other noise out. Everyone looked to the sky and saw the dragon desperately flapping its wings and climbing higher and higher into the smoky sky. It lout out one last gargled roar before its smoldering chest dies out and the beast tumbled down to earth."Bard did it! That crazy bastard did it!" Oin shouted as the dragon crashed into the water below, right on top of the Master. Tauriel quieted the rowdy dwarves down and forced them all to focus once again. They still needed to make it out of the burning city.

~~~~~

The sun had risen, but it could not be seen through the smoke. The survivors of Lake-Town were starting to gather on the shore and start fires. It was pure mayhem. Those who were able, were pulling the injured from the water and bringing them to the fire to warm up and to be treated. Others were beginning to collect the dead so the families could identify their loved ones.