Dwarven Denouement

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Neana sat as far way from the man as she could. She was happy Kili and Fili sat next to her. Kili looked at her,"You slapped him pretty hard. His cheek is still pretty red." Fili put an arm around her and answered,"He deserved it."

The trio nearly fell of the deck when the man swerved, narrowly missing a rock. "Are you trying to kill us?", Thorin asked with a cross look. "I was born and bred on these water master dwarf. If I wanted to kill you I would not do it here.", was the mans answer. "Get in the barrels quickly!" They were confused,"What?" The man answered quickly,"If you value your life you must listen to me! There are guards ahead."

The dwarves stood up and began walking to a barrel. Neana couldn't stand, the boat was turning and moving more than usual. She looked up and instead of seeing 13 dwarves and a hobbit, she saw 26 dwarves and 2 hobbits climbing into the barrels. She felt a pair of hands scoop her up and gently place her in a barrel. She thanked the person, figuring it was Fili, but met the eyes of the man.

He walked off the boat onto a dock. Neana looked through a hole in her barrel. She saw the man talk to another man, hand him money and point to the barrels. He was selling them out! She knew he would do that! She knew- her thought got interrupted by fish being poured on her. She heard fish being poured into all the other barrels, and the boat kept moving.

It stopped once again and Neana wiggled her way back to the peep hole, grimacing at the pain in her side. She looked through and saw a greasy haired man talking to the boatman, who Bilbo told her earlier, was named Bard.

"Bard! What is this?" Bard smiled,"Fish." Grease head stepped forward,"Illegally bought fish! Dump these out immediately!" The man stepped forward and started dumping out fish. Bard said,"Are you really going to dump out all these fish Alfid? You'll start a riot." At that, Alfrid stepped back onto the dock,"Fine, but watch what moves your making! I know where you live." Bard pushed the boat off,"Its a small town, everybody knows where everyone lives."

They traveled a few more minutes before they docked once again. Bard walked over to her barrel and carefully pulled her out. The others just jumped out, splaying fish everywhere.

Bard had seen a man and was paying him,"They were not here and you can have the fish for nothing." A boy ran up to him,"Dad! Our house is being watched." Bard turned to the company,"Looks like you're going to have to go the other way in."

Neana was helped up by a young girl, probably 15-16, out of the toilet and handed a towel to dry off. She stood in the dining area and watched as the company started coming in one by one. She looked down at her wound. It was bleeding, but she didn't want to trouble anyone so she ignored it. Once everyone was inside bard said,"I'll go get your weapons, just stay here." And he left.

Fili sat by Neana,"How's your hip?" She smiled,"Good." He looked at her seriously,"Will you let Oin take a look at it when Bard comes back?" Reluctantly she nodded and he smiled. 10 minutes later Bard came back with a bundle in his arms, he set it on the table and revealed what was inside.

"What are these?", Gloin asked,"We asked for weapons! Not some home-made knick-knaks!" Neana picked up a wooden stick with a fishing hook attached to the end, Gloin was right these were pretty useless. "This is all I can offer, the real weapons are locked away in the town hall. I'm sorry." He looked over, seeing Thorin staring out the window. Nori asked,"Are you alright Thorin? You look as if you've seen a ghost." Balin stood up,"That's because he had lad. That crossbow you see there on the tower? That was used against Smaug. It fired black arrows, the only thing that could pierce a dragons hide. As luck would find it only a handful of them were made. No arrow that day made their mark." Thorin interrupted,"If the aim of man were true that day, it would be different."

"You speak as if you were there.", Bard observed. Neana quickly covered them,"All dwarves know the tale." Everyone nodded. Bard added,"Then you should also know that one arrow loosened a scale on Smaug's chest." Thorin turned,"But it didn't pierce." Bard stepped back, as if he was remembering something,"I have to go, check, on something." He pointed to his son,"Don't let them leave." And walked out the door.

Neana cleared her throat, it was itchy and dry. She blinked hard, her double vision was back and everyone's voices sounded they were in a long tunnel. She felt a hand on her shoulder she looked at it confused. She heard her name being said over and over. Neana shook her head and saw that everyone was looking at her. "What?" Fili moved his hand, "everyone has decided to go get some weapons, you stay here and rest." This made Neana mad,"What? No! I'm coming with!" Fili shook his head when Dwalin interjected,"For Durin's sake Fili, let her come. You know she's going to anyway."

Neana stood up slowly. Damn this hurt. She looked Fili in the eye,"Shall we go?" He couldn't help but smirk. Bards son stood I front of the doorway,"No! My father said you can't leave!" Neana smirked. The boy was moved simply by Gloin picking him up.