The Wind Fell Silent

23. Stone Mouth

Arenna's Point of View

"Who are you?" the little one asked me as I hovered near Kili and the others erupted in panic.

"I'm a friend," I answered softly as I helped Kili sit up, his eyes never left me.

Around us were the sounds of terror as the people of the town realized what we had brought upon them. I had never intended for this to happen, Thorin must have entered the mountain before Gandalf came.

"We must leave, now" Tauriel said coolly, gathering her weapons. I agreed. It would be safer on the water than in this box of kindling.

Fili and Bofur helped steady Kili before scrambling about the house gathering anything that could be used as a weapon and some blankets.

"Come child," I said, grabbing the little one's hand as we prepared to leave, and motioning for the boy to follow. The older girl ran to one of the cupboards and grabbed a small bundle before following us out of the house.

Kili was healing quickly, and already he could hobble on his injured and shaky leg, but I realized that no matter how well he healed, we may all very well die tonight. The thought seared me almost as much as a flame would, but I hadn't the time to panic.

In the far distance, I could see the light of flames, and the shrieks of the dying surrounded us. I hurried the children into the boat and prayed to Yavanna and Mahal and every other Vala I could name.

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The sun peeked over the Lonely Mountain the next morning, shining its distant light on the damned. The dragon had fallen, but his damage was done, his wrath expelled. The smell of burnt wood and singed hair and charred flesh stank over the water and made me want to wretch. We paddled our way to the shore where other survivors had gathered; weeping and cursing and wishing that they had died. I will never forget, not even in death, the image of a mother clutching her child's limp body.

I had clung to Kili the entire night, gripped him as tight as I could and hoped. Yes, I was very aware that only luck had saved us from ruin. Luck and nothing more separated us from the charred bodies that bobbed in the lake. The little girl's hand hadn't left mine the entire time as she screamed for her 'Da' , then her brother. I suspected that the boy had perished as well as his father.

But Kili was alive. Fili and Bofur were alive. Two of the children still lived. I had much to be thankful for.

There hadn't been much time to speak to the others during the horrors of the night before, but I had guessed that the others had made their way to the mountain, for what else would have woken Smaug? And besides, I could tell by the pained looks my three companions had shot the mountain the entire night. I began to mourn for the others quietly, for how could they still be living?

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Third Person

The three dwarves and the sprite readied themselves to make their way across the lake and towards the mountain. Amazingly, the children that they had been looking after had found their father and their brother, the two men responsible for the dragon's death. It was time for the group to leave, while the town's people were busy gathering their strength, before they could turn on the company of four. Besides, the dwarves were insistent on going to the mountain to search for the survivors and see their home. Arenna said nothing of her doubts that anything lived in the mountain, for she decided that the dwarves were battling those same doubts in their own hearts.

As the boat was about to push off from the shore, Arenna noticed that the red haired she-elf, Tauriel, hung close by and watched Kili. Arenna, felt a twinge of jealousy in her heart, as Kili broke away to speak to Tauriel, but only a twinge, she knew that he had made his choice.