Bard of Laketown

Part Twenty

PART TWENTY

BARD'S POV

The sun is beginning to set. I stop the boat by the dock in front of my house and tie a secure knot to one of the wooden posts. I look around carefully, making sure Alfrid hasn't sent any of his spies after me, and then knock on each of the barrels. "You can come out now," I say. The dwarves burst out of the barrels, coughing and gagging.

"Never have I hated the smell of fish so much as I do now!" Thorin roars.

I glare at him. "Keep silent, dwarf, or there will be worse smells for you to get used to."

He looks at me questioningly. "Your soon to be jail cell," I explain. "Lake-town does not take kindly to visitors."

His eyes darken angrily. "They wouldn't dare lock me up."

I nod. "They most certainly would."

"Where are the weapons?" Dwalin asks me in his gruff voice.

"Weapons? What weapons?" I haven't the slightest idea what he's talking about.

"You did promise us weapons," says Balin.

Had I really? I couldn't remember anything from our first conversation. "Did I now." I bite my knuckles, trying not to look too confused. What was I going to do about the weapons? I didn't have any at all, except for my bow.

I smile. "Ah, of course," I say. "Right this way."

We sneak across the docks and come to the back of my house, where the toilets let out. I don't tell them that, of course. "Go up here," I tell them. "I'm going round the front. It looks less suspicious that way."

I walk back around to the front and let myself in through the door. Something is blocking it. "Bain?" I say quietly. "It's only me."

The weight leaves the door, and I push it open. Bain, Sigrid, and Tilda jump up from the floor and run to me. I laugh and wrap my arms tightly around them, kissing their foreheads. Our happiness is ruined from the loud splashing noises coming from the water closet. Tilda pulls back, her eyes wide with fear. "'Tis alright," I say.

We walk over to the water closet and I open the door. One by one, the dwarves come up out of the toilet. "Why are there dwarves in our toilet, Da?" Sigrid asks. "Will they bring us luck?"

I shake my head. "They need a place to stay."

"And food, if you've got it," says Balin.

Fili comes out last, dragging Kili with him. He is nearly unconscious.

"Sigrid, heat up some water," I say. Kili is looking worse than before. Sigrid rushes to the cupboard and pulls out our small teakettle, fills it with water, then hangs it on a iron rod over the fire, which is crackling brightly.

I help Fili bring Kili to the mattress which Areya used. It is still by the fire. We lie Kili down on it, and I check the temperature of the water. It is warming up, but too slowly.

"Sigrid, I need a rag with cold water," I say. She brings me one, and I lay it across Kili's forehead. He gasps at the cold.

Fili looks as if his brother is already dead, with a white face and anguished eyes. "Come now," I say, "there is still hope."

He just shakes his head slightly. "The wound has been festering too long already," he says quietly. "He will be gone before dawn."

A/N: OH NO!!! I HOPE YOU ARE ALL STILL ENJOYING THIS! PLEASE KEEP GIVING ME FEEDBACK!! -Natasha