To Love a Half-Blood (A Kili Fanfic)

Chapter 11: A Promise

Kili, Fili and I sit by the hearth and wait until darkness consumes the town. We talk and they tell me stories of the greatness of Erebor and of their adventures on the way here.  As the sun sinks behind the hill Thorin rounds us up. We slip as quietly as we can along the back alleyways and streets until we arrive at the back window of the armory. Everyone presses as close as they can to the wall, trying to sink into the shadows.

"Dwalin, you're on the bottom, Gloin, you're on his shoulders, and Nori's on yours." Thorin commands in a whisper. With some grunting and clambering they comply. "Fili, Kili, Larien, you're coming with me." He continues.

Thorin climbs up first, using his comrades shoulders as a ladder. They sway under his weight, but do not fall. Next Fili scrambles up, the dwarves don't teeter as precariously with him. I look to Kili but he shakes his head.

"You go first, I'll be right behind you." He whispers.

I nod and walk up to Dwalin, trying to figure out the best way to do this. He takes one of his hands from Glion's ankle and offers it as a step. I put my foot in his hand and my hand on his shoulder. To my surprise, he pushes me upward by my foot, and I balance precariously in the air.

"Sorry, I didn't expect you to weigh so little." Dwalin whispers from below me as I climb onto his shoulders.

Gloin copies Dwalin, offering one hand, and again, I'm tossed up a few more feet to the next dwarf. Finally I clamber onto Nori's shoulders and stand. I'm just tall enough for my head and shoulders to be above the window sill. Fili extends a hand and lifts me into the room. It's dark, but from what I can see, the walls are lined with Weapons of all shapes and sizes. None of them of elvish quality, but they are decent. A few moments later Kili comes into view, and his brother offers him a hand up as well. He's breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" I ask rush up to him and touching his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He responds and stops panting immediately.

I give him a skeptical look as we walk over to Thorin, who begins to pile weapons into our arms. Swords, maces, knives and axes are piled into our arms. My arms complain under the weight as Thorin tosses another sword on my stack. I look to Kili who is simply staring determinedly straight ahead. 

"Okay, let's get out of here." Thorin hisses and we begin to walk to the window.

I stop in my tracks as I hear swords crash to the floor. I spin and drop my own load.

"Kili!" I shout and run to him. I drop my knees as he starts to sit up again, a pained look on his face. "What's wrong?" I say desperately trying to help to his feet.

Surely someone had heard that and guards would be here any moment. Thorin looks back anxiously as Kili tries to stand but just falls.

"I'm sorry." He whispers as guards flood the room.

Our entire company is rounded up and we are poked and prodded through the streets. Fili is half carrying his brother as we are pushed along. I push past some of the dwarves, frantically to try to reach them, but a guard shouts at me to stop moving. I bite my cheek with frustration until it bleeds. Soon we arrive at the town square where a repulsive-looking redheaded man meets us.

"We found these here criminals trying to rob the armory sire." says one of the guards with a bow. I can hear Balin seething in anger beside me.

"Oh, some no-good convicts eh?" The redheaded man sneers. Balin jumps at this and runs to the front.

"Be careful of your words for you know not to whom you speak! This is Thorin, son of Thrain, and he is no criminal!" Balin roars as Thorin steps forward. I take this distraction as an opportunity to run over to Fili and Kili.

"What's wrong with him?" I ask, looking at Fili.

"It's his leg, the wound is bleeding and he's in a bad way." Fili says, the anguish obvious in is his voice.

"Oh Kili," I murmur, sinking to my knees to examine his wound, "Why didn't you tell anyone that it was this bad."

"I,  I didn't want to worry anyone." He says painfully through gritted teeth. We're interrupted by a cheer from the crowd.

"You will have enough gold to rebuild Laketown ten times over!" Thorin shouts, finishing his speech. I hope that the support will mean our release, and, an opportunity to care for Kili. But then Bard rushes into the center of the circle.

 "If you awaken that beast, it will destroy us all." He yells.

"You can listen to this nay-sayer, but I promise you this: if we succeed all will share in the wealth of the Mountain." Thorin tells the people. The crowd murmurs amongst themselves as he continues, "You will have enough gold to rebuild Esgaroth ten times over!" At this the townspeople erupt into cheering and clapping of approval. 

"All of you, listen to me! You must listen. Have you forgotten what happened to Dale? Have you forgotten those who died in the firestorm? And for what purpose? The blind ambition of a Mountain-king. So riven by greed he could not see beyond his own desire!" Bard spits in distaste before turning to Thorin and saying "You have no right, no right to enter that mountain."

Thorin take a step forward, meeting Bard's gaze for a moment and replies, "I have the only right."

The crowd's cheers are silenced, but they do not seem side completely with Bard. Then the repellent redheaded man speaks.

"We welcome you Thorin Okansheild, King Under the Mountain. We shall provide all that you need to succeed in the quest to return our two cities to their former glory!" He bellows and, with their leaders approval, the crowd joins in his shout.

We are ushered into the large wooden hall that lies in front of us. The room has a large wooden table in the center for feasting, along with couches and chairs of various depressing colors lining the walls. Fili takes Kili to the nearest one, and sets him down.

"Larien, stay with him, I'm going to go see if they have a doctor." Fili orders as he runs off in search. Kili breaths slowly and painfully, doing his best not to move his leg. I take his large hand in my smaller ones and press it to my cheek.

"It's going to be all better soon. Fili's going to get a doctor." Kili nods in acknowledgement. I perch on the edge of the couch and brush some of his dark hair from his forehead. I can feel a lump of worry crowding at my heart as I continue to stroke his forehead.

"Lari-sar," he whispers.

"Yeah Kili." I reply, leaning nearer to hear him.

He smiles sadly at me and says, "I never liked my name, Lari-sar. People always got my brother and I mixed up and it made me crazy. I hated it. I would have given anything to have a different name."

"Okay, but I'm not sure I follow you." I reply gently, alarmed at his incoherent thoughts.

"The thing is; I don't mind it so much anymore Lari-sar." He says, and then pauses and takes a deep breath. "I love my name when you say it Lari-sar. I love it. I love my plain brown eyes when you look into them that way that you do. I love my heart when you touch it, when I make you laugh. I love my life so much now that you're in it! I love you, Lari-sar! I love you." He says, words spilling out of his mouth franticly.

He blushes and looks down, breaking our eye-contact. A choked laugh leaves my lips. Such love, joy and fear have never coexisted in a single heart like this before and they kept its owner from speaking for a moment. I put my hand up to his cheek and look into his eyes.

"I love you too." I whisper, a tear tumbling down my cheek.

"And now that I have so much to love my life for, I can't bear to lose it." He murmurs. His eyes sparkle with unshed tears.

I kiss his forehead and breathe, "I promise that I will not let you die. I swear with every last drop of my being I will not."

And then I see a tear fall from his eyes as he cries silently. And so I cry. And our tears mix together and become one. A doctor comes and Fili hold his bother's hand and reassures him with a forced smile. The doctor cleaned Kili's leg up, wiping away the blood and dirt and wrapping it with clean bandages. If it had been a natural arrow, that would have been enough. But when I saw the blackened wound I knew that it would be hard to keep my promise.