The Ranger ➵ Kili Durin

PART 2 : CHAPTER 10

Bard quickly docked the barge. He looked around hesitantly, and then with a solid kick, shoved one of the barrels over. The fish came out all over the deck of the barge, and a gagging Ori followed it. Bard moved to another barrel, but a ferocious Dwalin came up from the pile and growled, "get your hands off me."

The rest of them came out one by one, shoving the dead fish off of them quickly, their clothing covered in slimy, greasy residue. Bilbo nearly threw up, his face contorted into one of pure disgust, and Elvira shot him a sympathetic smile which he tried to return, but failed miserably as he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

The dock keeper, who was watching the whole affair, looked as though he was going to faint. Elvira stepped off the barge, her silver cloak billowing behind her but she gripped her stomach tightly, putting pressure on her wound as she tried hard not to fall unconscious. "You saw nothing," Elvira said to the dock keeper, handing him some coins. He nodded ferociously. Bard stepped off next and offered him all the fish for free. 

Elvira was swaying in place, her face pale and sweaty. "Follow me," Bard hushed to the dwarves, and sent Elvira a look of concern which she waved away. The dwarves and Elvira set off into the town, creeping around corners and staying low behind baskets of vegetables and barrels of supplies. Bard led the way while Elvira lagged behind, making sure everyone got to safety.

Kili limped in front of Elvira slowly. His face grew darker and he was looking more and more sick with each minute that his wound went unattended. At one point, he tripped and fell down, his other knee slamming harshly against the dock they crept along. Elvira tried to help him up but he refused her and tried to walk more briskly to put as much space between them, but he failed and still was only a couple steps in front of the Ranger.

"Get in the water, keep your heads low, come up through that opening when you hear my signal," Bard pointed towards what Elvira recognized as his small, cozy home. The dwarves tried to protest, but Bard shushed them quickly, and one by one, they dove into the water.

"Kili," Elvira muttered, not thinking he would be able to keep himself afloat.

"Don't worry," he mumbled weakly, his eyes glazed over as he failed to look at her and all at once jumped into the cold water.

"Scarlet, come with me," Bard called to her, grabbing her forearm gently to pull her alongside him for fear she would tip over with the way she swayed. For a moment, she forgot about her Ranger name and genuinely wondered who he was speaking to before she remembered that it was she.

They went through the front door. Elvira kept her hood up and he pushed her inside while he spoke to a pair of fisherman in the boat down below. She was breathing heavily, and as soon as she entered, there were eyes upon her.

"Who is that?" a small voice whispered, but Bard entered the home next and drove the thought out for only a moment.

"Da!" the little girl cheered, and the older girl that Elvira recognized as Sigrid, although she was much older now than the last time she had seen her.

"We were worried!" Sigrid quickly hugged her father, and then Bard quickly ducked down to a lower level to bring the dwarves up from the water. Elvira swayed, lightheaded in the middle of the house.

"Um, hello..." the little girl, who must've been Tilda, tugged gently on Elvira's cloak. The Ranger took her hood off and looked down at the little girl. A gasp sounded, but it didn't come from Tilda. Sigrid recognized the piercing grey eyes of a woman she saw growing up.

"Scarlet!" Sigrid cried, and ran to the Ranger, wrapping her arms around the warrior quickly and tightly.

"Hello child," Elvira chuckled tiredly, wincing painfully as Sigrid's hug applied pressure to her stomach. 

"What happened to you?" Sigrid asked, pulling back and looking at her quickly. She ran to a fresh bucket of water they had kept in their small kitchen area and wetted a rag. She ran around, grabbing a few more supplies as dwarves started to enter the kitchen from downstairs.

"Da," Sigrid halted, watching them come up, soaking wet and incredibly angry looking. "Why are there dwarves coming out of our toilet?"

"Will they bring us good luck?" Tilda excitedly asked, causing Elvira, as painful as it was, to laugh.

A boy entered before his father. Elvira hardly recognized him, but she knew who he was all the same. "Bain," she greeted with a smile.

Bain's eyes widened and he gasped like his sister had. "Scarlet Ranger! I can't believe it!"

The dwarves got blankets, hot drink, and warmer clothes quickly. Elvira stood by the fire, trying desperately to seem okay, but she was still clutching her wound and noticed now that blood was starting to seep out of the cracks of her fingers. She pushed harder against it and felt pain ringing through her body. She was dripping blood and starting to get dizzy. Kili noticed as well that her face was whiter than the shimmering cloak she wore, glistened with sweat and hazy. Despite his own injury, he saw her falling face first towards the ground and jumped quickly to catch her.

"Help, I think she's been injured," he said quickly, holding onto her slumping body.

"I'm fine," she said, gritting her teeth and panting hard as she sat back up as best she could. Kili looked down and saw the blood seeping from her shirt, the scarlet liquid beginning to flow over her hand and drip on the floor.

"I told you to let me see it," Sigrid muttered, concerned and angry. Tilda brought a chair over and Kili helped Elvira collapse into it. Her head lolled this way and that, and her eyes were getting close to rolling up into her head dangerously.

Sigrid quickly pushed the fabric of her shirt to the sides to reveal a deep stab wound. It looked horrific, bloody and dark in color which meant the blade she was pierced with was most likely poisoned. Sigrid jumped back and placed her hands over her mouth, gasping.

"Eli, why didn't you tell anyone about this?" Kili scolded, looking down at it in horror. It was far worse than his own looked at the moment, and that was saying something.

"Because no one needed to worry about me," she huffed, stifling a scream as Sigrid pressed a cloth to it to stop some of the bleeding.

Kili felt sad at her words. He felt like it had been his fault she felt she couldn't tell anyone, and his fault that she got hurt in the first place. When did this happen?

In the river. When she was dragged under after she saved his life, again. Kili had to sit down, the pain in his leg and the aching in his heart making him feel weak.

"Da, she's dying," Bain said quietly, looking over his sister's shoulder. Bilbo watched carefully, his face unable to hide his dread and sadness. Many of the dwarves watched her grimace in pain as Sigrid tried to clean the wound as best she could, but the overflow of blood was getting to be too much.

Thorin watched on in silent reverence. The elf girl who had helped his family on more than one occasion was now most likely very soon to die, but he had to focus on how he would get his home back. He couldn't worry about her now.

Elvira, it seemed, had succumbed to her illness at last. With a heaving groan of pain, her head and torso lulled forward and slumped against the nearest person, completely unconscious. 

hey guys!

sorry, this is so ridiculously late. I've got nearly 100 story starts and I can't ever seem to finish anything...

but i did finish one. it isn't published, but if you guys think that you might read it and stuff, let me know and maybe i will

anyway, i hope you like this chapter! I know how this book is going to end, but for some reason i can't figure out how to get from here to there. so many things. 

enjoy! vote and comment! 

em