Eclipse of Hearts ✔

Chapter 48. [Philae]

Alyssae bit nervously on her finger nail. Philae wanted to say something about it, but Eldinòr already pushed down her lower arm and urged her to believe that she had made the right decision. 
She smiled hesitating and Philae turned his head away. If she knew what Eldinòr was really thinking, she would probably push him overboard. He felt sorry for her, but he was loyal to Eldinòr. He glanced at the dwarf who was standing next to her. Another naive mind who had no idea in which danger he was. He should have been dead by now, but Eldinòr thought he was more useful alive and Philae didn't mind, for he liked the dwarf prince. It was all about gold in their lives, it had always been that way. But there were moments they realized one coin less or more didn't make a big difference for their future. He expected that Kíli had escaped his dead, although he did not forget their order. If their plan with the dwarf king failed, that always had a plan B. 

In the company of the dwarf and four mates he walked down the quay. They would meet Thorin in a remote tavern. It was abandoned for some time, but he expected the dwarf king had no clue. It however was important they were there before the king walked away. From the corners of his eyes he watched Kíli. How would it feel to betray your own king? It didn't seem to bother him much, although he probably believed it was for the good of his kingdom. Philae knew better. He knew the troublemaker within Erebor. The man who had paid them to kill Kíli. They hadn't even thought about a plan when Alyssae suddenly wrote them a letter, after which she brought the dwarf aboard. It hadn't make things easier, for Kíli was a full member of the crew now. Everybody liked him - more than the quack that paid them with gold that wasn't even his. 
Over loose platforms they reached the alley. There was a thin layer of ice atop of the planks, so that he moved on carefully. Overpowering a dwarf king in a wet suit wasn't the best first impression.

They hid in the shadows. In the distance he distinguished three silhouettes. He exchanged a questioning look with Kíli, but the dwarf couldn't see the three yet. Who had Thorin taken with him? They had taken into account one dwarf woman. Was there another soldier on his side?
Even before the dwarf could see his family member, his hard voice drifted toward them. Although Philae couldn't separate the words, he could hear the man was drunk.  His assumption was confirmed when Oakenshield covered the distance to the closed tavern roaming. Philae's eyebrows rose in surprise when he noticed that the dwarf hadn't brought along a second guard, but another dwarf woman, who stared at the ground and clearly wasn't here to protect him. 
The man himself had not the slightest assumption of an ambush. He sung a song about his golden city, now and then bumping with his shoulder against the wall. Only when his guard stopped walking, he looked around suspiciously. He froze when his eyes met those of Philae. 
In a quick movement Philae drew his sword and stepped out of the shadows, followed by the others. Oakenshield watched them stunned, but it didn't take long before he turned his attention to his nephew. "Why do you need those elves?" he snarled at Kíli. "Have you deserted? Do you have to deliver me to that cunt of a Thranduil to get back Tauriel? Do you betray me for that red-haired whore?"
Philae was confused by the words of the dwarf king. Tauriel? What had she to do with this? How did the dwarfs knew her? He was so stunned that he couldn't say a word, but Kíli already started to speak.
"I do what is  best for my people. This has nothing to do with Thranduil nor with Tauriel."
Oakenshield started to scream in anger in his own language, so that Philae couldn't understand him. He stamped to the other dwarf and grasped his upper arm. Oakenshield's guard disarmed him, so that he started to shout even harder. His head turned red and Philae looked over his shoulder. Then he hit the king with the haft of his sword, so that he lost his consciousness and collapsed. 
One of this mates lifted him from the ground and he looked at the women. 
"We are going with you," the woman let him know. "As I have discussed  with Dwalin."
Philae glanced at the girl that stood next to her. She looked like a child, such an innocence she expressed. 
"Fine." He shrugged. It wasn't up to him to decide who entered the ship, but in general every man liked the presence of a woman on the ship, and even though they were dwarf women, it wasn't that terrible to look at them.