Ranger of the South ➵ THE HOBBIT

➵ 16 | B A R D

I stood on the front of the boat, listening to the dwarves who were arguing.

"His name is Bard," Bilbo said.

"How do you know?" Dwalin asked.

"Well," Bilbo replied, "I asked."

"I don't care what he calls himself," Dwalin grumbled, "I don't like him."

"We don't have to like him, we simply have to pay him." Balin piped up, counting the money. "Come on now, lads, turn out your pockets!"

I put my hands in my pockets and pulled out all the money I had. "Here you go."

Balin looked at me. "Are you sure, lass? It's a lot of money."

I nodded my head. "Aye, I'm sure."

He patted thankful my shoulder and counting again. "Hmmm, there is just a wee problem. We're ten coins short."

I patted all my pockets, trying to find some coins I might have missed but Thorin stopped me, looking at Gloin.

"Gloin, come on, give us all you have." Gloin scoffed at this. "Don't look at me! I have been bled dry by this venture! And what have I seen for my investment? Naught but misery, and grief, and..."

We didn't hear the rest of his sentence. All of our gazes were captured by the look of a single mountain. I smiled while looking at the faces of the others. Their expressions were full of wonder and admiration.

"Bless my beard! Take it! Take it all!" Gloin exclaimed while giving Balin a sac full of coins.

I put my hand on Thorin's shoulder and squeezed it. "We made it." He smiled slightly to me and I went to the side to lean on the balustrade, trying not to put too much weight on my leg. Carden came standing by my side. "We're almost there." I nodded. "We are." I turned to him. "You can't come with us in Laketown."

He nodded his head. "I expected you would say that and in this case I think you are right. A hippogriff would just pull to much attention. I will wait for you in Dale. If you need me just yell and I'll be there."

I smiled and put my hand on his feathers. "Thank you, you're a good friend and a good soulmate."

He bowed his head and flew away.

"Where's he going?" A voice behind me asked. I smiled and turned around, looking at Thorin.

"Dale," I replied, "it's hard to hide a hippogriff."

I felt his hand on my back. "Are you alright?" I smiled at him and took his hand. "I am now." He cupped my face, ready to kiss me when Bard made a sharp turn.

"Are you trying to drown us?" Dwalin exclaimed angrily.

"I was born on these waters, master dwarf." Bard replied, "if I wanted to drown you, I wouldn't have done it here."

Great, now I'm feeling safe.

"The money, quick, give it to me!" Bard demanded. Thorin glared at him, clearly not trusting him.

"We will pay you when we get our provisions, but not before."

Bard sighed, annoyed with the stubborn dwarf. "If you value your freedom, you'll do as I say. There are guards ahead." Thorin gruntingly gave him the money.

Get into the barrels, now!" Bard commanded. Thorin lifted me up and put me in front of him in the barrel.

I leaned with my back against his chest. There wasn't really that much of space. Just as I wanted to ask Thorin what would cover us up, tons of fish was thrown on us.

Fish. Really?

I bowed my head, trying not to inhale too much of the fish air.

We sat there, unmovable, for a while until Bard pushed our barrel over. We fell on the ground and I gave Bard a glare. He smiled apologetical and continued pushing over barrels. He then gave some money to the nearby people.

"You never saw them, they were never here." He walked further but stopped and turned.

"You can have the fish for free."

The sixteen of us sneaked through the town when a boy stopped us.

"Da! Our house is being watched!" I looked at Bard, hoping that he would have a plan.

"I have a plan," he said.

We were standing at the edge of a dock, we all stared at what Bard's genius plan was. "I'll kill him." Dwalin said while turning to us. "No one speaks of this." I nodded my head. "Agree."

A couple of dwarves sprang in the water before me. I looked at Fili and Kili. "This isn't on your bucket list, is it?" They shook their heads. "Well," I continued. "You only live once." That was the last thing I said before jumping in the water.

We came back up in Bard's toilet. I could hear Dwalin threaten Bard's son if he ever told anyone this. I climbed out of his toilet and walked into the house.

"Da, why are there dwarves climbing out of our toilet?" The eldest daughter asked.

"Will they bring us luck?" The youngest girl, cheerful added. She smiled when she saw me. "Hello! I'm Tilda! You have nice hair." She said while trying to touch my hair. Bard was eyeing at how I would react and I kneeled before he, giving her the chance to touch it.

"Not as pretty as yours, little one." I replied. She giggled. "What is your name?"

I smiled. "I'm Keira," I held out my hand. "It's nice to meet you miss Tilda." She giggled and shook my hand. "The pleasure is all mine."

The eldest daughter came towards us. "I'm Sigrid, let's get you fixed up." She dragged us upstairs to a room that was probably hers and Tilda's. She pulled out a simple dark blue dress. "Here, put it on."

I took off my weapons and laid them on the ground. I saw Tilda looking at it with wide and exciting eyes. I pulled out my clothes. "Is it possible to wash them?" I asked Sigrid. She smiled and took my clothes. "I'll do that, don't worry about it."

I smiled at her. "Thank you."

She helped me in the dress and I striped my weapons back on. I noticed that Tilda was still looking at them.

"Do you want to touch them?" I asked her, kneeling down so that I was her height. She nodded enthusiastically and I carefully unsheathed my sword. I gave it to her and she took it, looking at it with full admiration. "It's beautiful."

"Thanks," I replied, "I made it myself."

She looked up at me. "You did?" I looked down and nodded. "Yeah, a couple of years ago, I was in Lothlorien and I had a friend there who held a high position and he arranged that I could make my own sword." I replied while thinking of Haldir.

She carefully gave it back to me. "Do you think you could make a sword for me?" I smiled at her. "Now why would a pretty little lady as you want to have a sword?" She smiled at me. "To protect the people I love."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "When all of this is over, I'll teach you, okay?" She nodded and looked at Sigrid. "Keira is going to teach me how to use a sword!" I looked at Sigrid, smiling innocently. She just sighed. "Let's go downstairs."

I went first, not wanting the girls to see possibly naked dwarves and men. Fortunately for us, they were all dressed and around a table, discussing things. I made my way towards the table and looked at what laid on it.

"Is that a fishing hook?" I asked to no one in particular. Thorin looked at me when I spoke up. "You look beautiful," he said. I smiled and winked at him. "Thank you." He glanced at me before turning back to Bard.

"Is there an armory in town?" Bard frowned. "Yes but there are lots of guards standing between us and the front door. It's impossible." The look that Thorin and Dwalin gave said enough.

Let's go rob the armory tonight.