An Unexpected Addition (Fili Fiction)

Chapter 14

All of a sudden, something caught Fili's attention and i turned my head to the side to see a tall man standing on a rock with a large bow. As he let one fly, Dwalin charged at him with a stick in his hand and the arrow swiftly embedded it's self in the stick. Kili raised a rock in his hand and Bard shot it out of his grasp. He had certainly gotten our attention....

"Do it again, and your dead." He said in a strict voice and notched another  arrow. Slowly, i started to stand as Balin spoke up after spying a barge behind the man that i too noticed.

"Excuse me, but, uh, you're from Laketown, if I'm not mistaken? That barge over there, it wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?" He said carefully as he slowly walked closer to him with his hands raised above his head. The man lowered his bow and placed it over his shoulder, then turning back to his barge. We followed.

"What makes you think I will help you?" The man said as he rolled our empty barrels onto his barge. I wondered if he would pay us for them since technically they belonged to us but Balin had other plans.

"Those boots have seen better days."  He said in a convincing voice and looked down to the man's boots. Fabric was falling off the sides and a cut was down the inside of the left boot.  "As has that coat. No doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed. How many bairns?" Balin asked in a spry voice as i leaned back on a rack and glanced over to Balin who sighed impatiently. Thorin then did the same.

"A boy and two girls." The man answered. I tried my best to imagine his children. The boy must have dark hair like his and i can imagine both the children would be quite tall. There was no doubt they were slim... Unless the mother had some sort of money.

"And your wife, I'd imagine she's a beauty." Balin asked with a smile. I tried to imagine the woman. Beautiful and slim with a curl to her hair... I smiled to my self at the image of this man's happy family living in the town. I remembered a drawing of the prosperous town sitting on a blue lake with gold decorations on the houses that was in my old home. What a fortunate man to live with a beautiful family in such a magnificent town...

"Aye. She was." The man responded. The smile was whipped off my face. His wife was dead? The scene i'd imagined crumbled away and i let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Balin started as he was interrupted.

"Oh, come on, come on, enough with the niceties." Balin said loudly and i wanted to walk up to him and give him a slap. Needless to say, I didn't.

"What's your hurry?" The man asked in a suspicious voice.

"What's it to you?" Dwalin threw back.

"I would like to know who you are and what you are doing in these lands." I very much doubt you would like to know...

"We are simple merchants from the Blue Mountains journeying to see our kin in the Iron Hills." Balin gave a wave with his hands and smiled again.

"Simple merchants, you say?"

"We'll need food, supplies, weapons. Can you help us?" Thorin butted in and wandered forward. He stared at the man with a stern look. The man explained to us that he knew where the barrels came from. He told us that he wouldn't aid us because we may stir up trouble with our business in Mirkwood. Balin then quickly protested and suggested that he would pay more. In fact, double. I wondered to myself where the money was coming from and then looked down at my shoes. A small sack of coins was in each one and for a moment, i debated how much i'd put forward...

"Fine. I think that can be arranged." He said as he rolled the last barrel onto his barge and stepped to the back of his ship. "Your names?"

As everyone went around introducing them selves, most of us said 'at your service' but others seemed too cocky to speak the words. Specifically Dwalin who rumbled his name in a low voice and who must have also been upset about the pretty price we were paying for a ride across the lake. I too was not overly pleased on that remark. I sat myself down on the side of the boat with my hands on either side of myself. I looked down to the water as Bard started paddling us forward. He had it mastered.