Of The Earth And Starlight (A The Hobbit/Kili fanfiction)

It's Only A Matter Of Firewood

Kili

"Are you alright Kili?"

The caring voice of my brother reached my ears and I snapped my head up to meet his concerned eyes. I had slowed my pace so that I was at the back of the company and had been riding in silence for most of the day. Ever since we had left our camp, miraculously with our ponies, I had felt uneasy, a fluttering in my stomach, my instincts telling me that something was wrong. It wasn't the remarkable recovery of the horses that unerved me, but the feeling that something else, or someone else was at work here was eating away at my mind. I wanted to be at the back of the company so that I may keep an eye out, incase I saw something that seemed suspicious, however I did not want to discuss my worries with the group as I feared they would laugh at me for my lack of proof.

"It's nothing." I shot him a false smile however my brother had known me long enough to know when I was lying or when something was bothering and he did not buy my fake look. Fili raised his eyebrow at me knowingly, forcing me to break eye contact and look away awkwardly.

"Kili," he called, letting go of his reins with one hand and reaching over to me, placing his palm on my forearm. "I can tell something is up, what is it?"

"I feel like we are being watched, followed." I admitted quietly to him, so that neither Dori or Oin who were riding infront of us would hear. Fili's features flooded with worry and he nervously glanced around, anxiously peering into the forest. "I've been looking for the past couple of hours and I haven't been able to see anything but I can feel them, ever since last night at the camp I've had this feeling in the pit of my stomach."

"Shouldn't we tell Thorin, or even Gandalf?" Fili suggested and I shook my head vigorously.

"No, not without proof, best not worry them." I replied.

"But what if it's an orc pack?" Fili seemed to be working himself up and I shook my head once more, trying to calm his nerves.

"I think if it were an orc pack, they would have attacked us by now." I explained, glancing around the surrounding trees again. "I don't know what it is, but I'm not sure they mean us harm, if they did then why not kill us in our sleep?"

Fili shivered at the thought of someone slinking their way into the camp and murdering the company, and I must admit the thought made me feel quite ill too.

"I'd rather not tempt fate," Fili whispered. "Let's not dwell on the subject any longer, we will be making camp soon, and when we do we can have a scout around then."

I nodded in agreement and rode on in silence, letting my mind wander once more. At the present, the quest seemed quite tame, we hadn't yet had to kill anything, well atleast nothing that would have rather killed us first. We had heard the distant sounds of an orc pack a few nights previous, but since then we had neither heard nor seen anything and had all but put it out of our minds. Thankfully now everyone was settling in their new environment, even Bilbo who we all knew had been extremely homesick the first few days. But now he seemed to take the wilderness in his stride, much like the rest of us had. I had also been homesick for a while, and more importantly I had missed mother, but I was getting used to travelling and having Fili there with me had helped tremendously.

I gazed around me, the setting sun cast a golden glow over the forest, the soft light weaving its way through the thick woods, illuminating some areas but pushing others into shadow. I didn't care too much for growing things or nature for that matter, but this forest was beautiful.

I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye to the right and I snapped my head round just in time to catch a deer prancing between the trees away from us. I watched the creature as is danced about, its movements elegant and graceful, until it had galloped from sight, back into the trees. I grinned and glanced at Fili who had also caught a glimpse of delicate beast.