The Last of the Guardians Part 2 - A Hobbit Fan Fiction

Chapter 15 - Laketown

The sky had developed an amber tinge by the time the two Guardians deemed it safe to descend from the clouds. They had followed the barge all day to the very centre of the lake, until at last it came to rest on the edge of the floating settlement Sîor had named Laketown. The flight had been a long one. Their wings could have borne them from the river to the town in a few short hours, but they had to follow the boat's tediously slow progress instead. 

The journey was made worse by the fact that no matter how high Nema flew, no matter how many times she circled back to check on the barge, she could not escape Sîor's glare. His eyes followed her for every moment of their flight, and he never once let her alone to her thoughts. 

She had given up counting how many times he had called her a fool.

"Death would have been kinder," he chastised her. "You have doomed the dwarf," he warned her. "You are not worthy of the name Guardian," he screamed at her. On and on he went, each word piercing through the wall she had thrown up between them until her heart felt heavier than her sore wings.

It came as a relief to Nema when she saw the sun bid them farewell that evening. She dipped below the clouds, no longer delighting in their cold caress but despising it. The heavens had lost their appeal for the day and Nema was looking forward to a much deserved rest. Come the morning she would be glancing skyward once more, waiting for the chance to soar above the world, but for now, all she wanted was to sleep.

On the descent she picked out the barge, now docked within the confines of the town. The dwarves had long since disembarked and disappeared, but the Guardians had had to wait until night fell to come down, lest any man be watching the skies. It was a rarity - the men of Laketown were to busy watching each other to spare a glance for the heavens - but Thorin had not wanted to take any chances.

It was on her third circuit of the town that Nema finally spotted the candle flickering in the upstairs window of one of the houses. She landed on its roof, taking care to go lightly so as not to alert those within to her presence, just in case she had the wrong house. With gritted teeth, Nema plucked a feather from her wings and dropped it down the chimney.

***

From the faint light of the candle in the window, Fili could see all eight of the dwarves hiding up in the attic; his uncle and his brother, Balin, Oin, Ori, Bifur, Bombur, and Dori. Bilbo and the other four dwarves were hiding in some unknown location in the lower part of the house. Bard, the man who had smuggled them in on the barge, had been very accommodating. He had provided blankets, threadbare as they were, for the company to keep them warm, as well as a two whole loaves of hardbread and cheese, though he parted with the food reluctantly.

"I should have held on to some of the fish," Bard had said before leaving.

In order to smuggle them past the gate guards, Bard had hidden them in the barrels, along with several hundred fish which he had later sold on to a man in the docks. In Fili's opinion, parting ways with the fish had been a good idea. The smell of it still clung to their clothes and hung heavy in the air. He wasn't sure whether he'd be able to eat a fish again because of it.

The sight of something white landing in the hearth beside him distracted Fili from his thoughts, and he immediately hissed at Ori to extinguish the candle before reaching into the grate and retrieving the feather. He shook off the worst of the soot and nodded to Thorin. 

Nema was back.

The thought warmed his heart and sowed the seeds of a smile upon his lips. He ripped a strip of cloth from his blanket and set it ablaze, dropping it into the hearth before it could burn his fingers. It was only a small fire and lasted no longer than a few moments, but it gave off a little smoke that wafted up the chimney.