"Watch out!" Bofur shouts as a large rock formation appears in front of them from the mist.
"What are you trying to do, drown us?" Thorin angrily turns towards Bard.
"I was born and bred on these waters, Master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here." Bard smiles and carefully steers the barge around the rocks.
"So, how has life been treating you these last couple of decades?" Durion asks Bard, leaning on the side of the boat, watching Bars steer.
"I'm not very popular with the town's Master." Bard shrugged and Durion grinned.
"That must mean that the town's people love you."
"What about you? Still honestly stealing?"
"You bet."
"What does that mean?" Bilbo suddenly appears next to them. "How can one honestly steal?"
"Do you remember when we were in Rivendell, how Lord Elrond said his sons weren't very happy with me?" The hobbit nodded. "That's because I stole some of their jewelry and sold it for a good price, then gave the gold to a recently widowed mother of four, who would have no chance of feeding her whole family through winter otherwise. I stole something expandable and gave it to someone who couldn't live without it." Bilbo scratched his chin in thought. "Returning something to the rightful owner is also honest stealing." Durion added and shared a smirk with Bard. Bilbo nodded and walked back to the dwarves. "You still have the arrow, right?" The elf whispered to Bard.
"Of course I do. After all the trouble you went through to get it."
"Good, good." Durion mumbled and then followed Bard to the dwarves.
"The money, quick, give it to me."
"We'll pay you when we get our provisions, but not before." Thorin grumbled.
"If you value your freedom, you'll do as I say. There are guards ahead." The eyes of the company shift to look into the distance where they see the rooftops of Laketown. "And hide in the barrels." Bard adds and the dwarves and the hobbit do so.
"Yeah, there's no way I'm fitting in any of those." Sighs Durion and Bard ushers him to the back of the barge and has him sit behind some ropes. "Don't make a sound and don't move." Bard tells them and throws some fabric over the elf. Durian leans back and feels his eyes start to droop, the exhaustion of the last few days finally catching up to him. He stays awake by the sheer force of his will.
"Shh, what's he doing?" Dwalin mumbles out of his barrel as he tries to peek at Bard, who is talking to someone at the docks.
"He's talking to someone. And he's...pointing right at us! Now they're shaking hands." Bilbo, who apparently had a solid view anxiously announces.
"What?" Thorin has panic in his voice.
"That villain! He's selling us out." Then Durion hears a strange noise, like something wet and slippery falling in the barrels. The elf cringes in sympathy as he smells the stank of dead fish.
***
"Oh god." One of the dwarves groans and Bard kicks the barrel closest to him.
"Quiet! We're approaching the toll gate."
"Halt! Goods inspection. Papers, please. Oh, it's you, Bard." A new voice calls out with a welcoming tone.
"Morning, Percy."
"Anything to declare?"
"Nothing, but that I am cold and tired, and ready for home."
"You and me both. Here we are. All in order." Then another, much colder voice speaks.
YOU ARE READING
In the Ruins//Legolas
FanfictionDurion's heritage is painted in mystery. Being the last elf born in the Second Age, with his mother dead and his caregivers nowhere to be found, he battles with what his future holds in store for him. What reason would a mother have for naming her c...
