Mermaids Curse

Lake Town

"Why is it always her?!" Thorin snapped loudly, pacing heavily up and down Bards' home. He was furious at Amara and at himself. He'd only just got her back and now she was gone again. Where even was she? Would she be able to find them again? Was she safe?

"I'm sure she'll be back in no time." Balin tried reassuringly, thumping Thorin on the back for good measure when the raven haired Dwarf had finally stalled in front of a large window overlooking the water.

"I hope you're right." Came Bard's gritty voice, catching Thorin's attention immediately.

"Why?"

"If the Master, or any of his slimy puppets, caught even a sniff of such a creature she'll be as good as dead." Bard replied sullenly, moving from his post leaning against a wooden pillar and striding towards Thorin. He stopped short next to his eldest daughter, however, and put an arm round her comfortingly.

"And what sort of creature do you believe her to be?" Thorin glared warningly up at Bard, uneasy that he'd ratted them out so soon.

Bard returned Thorin's stony gaze, "I've told you, Master Dwarf, I was born and bred on these waters. I know what a Mermaid is."

As soon as the word Mermaid rolled off his tongue he caught the attention of his three children, all of which gawked at him in utter shock.

"Mermaid?" The youngest repeated, her expression mixed with alarm and excitement. She then turned her attention to Thorin. "You have a Mermaid amongst you?"

"Had." Thorin corrected, only glancing at her for a moment before returning to glare at Bard. "We had a Mermaid."

Bard moved towards Thorin again. "How, may I ask, did you manage to keep such a creature?"

"Obviously we haven't been able to keep her." Thorin replied bitterly, breaking eye contact out of wounded pride. "And what do you mean 'keep her'?"

"I mean to tame a Mermaid is unheard of, never have I ever even heard of such a story, let alone seen it with my own eyes."

"Tame her?"

"It looked like you had. I never knew Mermaids could possess a quality such as loyalty."

Thorin didn't know if that was good or bad, so he simply decided to press on this the important matters. "How do we get her back then? How can we find her?"

"She found us before, did she not?" Fili chipped in from his position caring for his brother, whose face was distorted in pain.

"Ay, but that was because you were in danger."

As if on cue (although it was apparent Kili hadn't been listening) the youngest Dwarf let out a loud cry of pain, clutching his leg desperately, as if he was trying to wish it better.

Thorin came to Kili's side, momentarily forgetting about Amara. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Kili chocked out quickly, "I'm fine."

Thorin frowned, he wanted to say more but was cut off by a lapse in train of thought. His attention snapped towards a far window, along with the rest of the company he watched in alarm as men suddenly rushed around outside, yelling and calling to one enough frantically and scrabbling around for knifes and sacks.

Thorin shot Bard a questioning glance.

"I think we may be too late."

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Amara yelped, tugging desperately on the tight rope that pulled on her tail in an attempt to free herself. She felt the surface drawing closer, and she clawed frantically at the water around her, grabbing onto a nearby rope that was being used to anchor a boat to the lakes bottom. But her efforts were useless for whatever was pulling on the other end of the rope was too strong and one moment she was in the water, the next she was pulled onto a wooden pier.