An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Fifty-Six: Those Left Behind

"What are we going to do?" Bofur asked looking to Thalia as yet another person turned them away, it was clear that no one cared about the remaining part of the company now that the others had left.

Thalia ran a stressed hand through her hair trying to work out what they should do, she hated how quickly things had turned on them and she knew that there had to be a reason for why it had happened.

"We head to Bard's house," Thalia decided knowing that it was a risky move but there was no way around it, Kíli was getting worse by the minute and unless they found somewhere to stay then there was nothing that could be done.

Oin nodded his head in agreement, they had no idea what they were going to do but Bard had helped them before and there was a chance that he would help them now when they needed it most.

"What if he turns us away?" Fíli asked staring at Thalia, there was a chance that it could happen and there was no denying that Bard hadn't been overly fond of them to begin with.

Thalia was the only reason that he had helped out in the first place and that hadn't helped when he had found out what the dwarves had been planning; he didn't want them to retake the mountain and hadn't spoken to them in days.

"We have to try," Thalia replied shaking her head, she had no idea what they were going to do if Bard turned them away; the company was gone now and would have reached the bottom of the mountain by this time.

Bofur nodded his head in agreement, it couldn't hurt to try and they didn't have many options right now; Kíli was looking horror right now and it was clear that whatever was happening was something he had been hiding from them.

Thalia looked at the four, she had no idea what was going to happen but she prayed to whoever was listening that things couldn't get worse than they already were.

***

"Go away we've had enough of dwarves here," Bard announced upon opening the door to find the group outside of his home, he had no interest in whatever they wanted and he knew that they were nothing but trouble.

Bofur quickly stopped him from shutting the door, this was their last option and Kíli needed help; they didn't know what it was but it was clearly his leg causing him more problems.

"Please no one else will help us," Bofur pleaded knowing that it was best if he spoke instead of the other dwarves, they wouldn't react well to this and he could already see the look on Fíli's face that told him that the younger dwarf was going to snap.

Bard shook his head, he wasn't going to change his mind and he had enough on his plate right now; the entire town was likely to suffer from whatever was unleashed when the other dwarves entered the mountain.

"I can't say I blame them," Bard muttered moving to shut the door again, he knew that the Master had no idea what could happen when the dwarves reached the mountain; they would release hell on the town and people would suffer.

Thalia stepped forward and stopped him, she knew that this was a lot to ask but she was sure that somewhere deep down there was someone willing to help them.

"Please," Thalia said staring at Bard, she knew that sometimes dwarves could be idiots and hell, she was practically engaged to one but that didn't help them now; she needed to focus on Kíli who clearly wasn't going to last much longer unless he got the help that he needed.

Bard stared at Thalia, he had been sure that she would have gone with the other dwarves; anyone could see that there was something going on between her and Thorin.

"I know that you have no reason to trust us but we need help," Thalia said trying to find some way to convince Bard to let them inside, she stared at him with blue eyes wanting to do what was right.

Bard eyed her for a moment before he sighed and allowed the small group into his home, he had a feeling that he was going to regret this later on but he didn't see what it could hurt now.

"Thank you," Thalia murmured passing Bard with a small smile, the dwarves quickly setting Kíli onto the table so that they could start treating his injury before it got any more serious.

Bard didn't say a word, instead he muttered something to his children before hurrying out of his home; the last thing he wanted was more trouble turning up on his doorstep.

Thalia watched him leave before she focused on helping Kíli, she watched him thrashing around in pain as Oin ripped his trousers to get at the leg; she stopped at the sight of the blackening flesh wondering how she had not noticed this before.

"What the hell?" Thalia whispered shaking her head, she wondered why Kíli had hidden this from them; it was clearly reacting to something and she had no idea what it could be.

Thalia was sure that they hadn't put anything on the wound that could lead to this, she looked at Oin who looked just as surprised as she did about what was happening; it had been nearly a week since Kíli had been shot and it was only doing this now.

"What could cause this?" Fíli asked staring at the wound, he had never seen anything like this before and it scared him that this was happening to his younger brother; he turned to Thalia and Oin wanting answers.

Thalia didn't know what to say, there had to be some time of poison that they hadn't noticed before that was making its way around Kíli's system and it was reacting to something.

"We need kingsfoil," Oin said starting to try and clean out the wound again, there was some sort of paste that had been put over the wound and he couldn't tell what it was; he cursed Kíli for messing with the wound like this.

Thalia furrowed her brow, she couldn't figure out what that was but she was sure that someone would know what it was; she moved to get some clean water to help Oin clean the wound out.

"That's a weed, we use it to feed the pigs," Bain murmured watching the dwarves work along with his sisters, he didn't know where his father had disappeared to but he hoped that he would be back soon.

Thalia rolled her eyes, she wasn't surprised that people often dismissed the uses of most plants; some of them could be useful and they usually ended up being feed to the livestock.

"I'll go and find it," Bofur offered wanting to help in some way, he wasn't a healer like Thalia and Oin nor was he going to be any help right now but he could easily find the plant that was needed to heal Kíli before it was too late.

Oin nodded his head, he had no idea how long they had before it was too late for Kíli but they had to do something; he and Thalia could only do some much before their luck ran out.

"You stay here," Bofur said pointing at Kíli before he hurried out of the house and into the cold dark streets, it was surprising how much time had passed since that morning and they knew that the company were so far away from them now.

Thalia watched Bofur leave, she hoped that he would be able to find the plant without any problems; she couldn't shake the feeling that they were going to have enough trouble later on.

Thalia didn't know what it was but she had a feeling that they weren't going to be alone in Laketown for long.