Return to Me (Kili)

Chapter Sixteen: Left Behind

"Excuse me, but, uh, you're from Laketown, if I'm not mistaken? That barge over there, it wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?" Balin approached the man slowly with his hands open in front of him. The man was dressed in warm furs and held a longbow in his hands, ready to fire again in a moment's notice. He lowered the bow and climbed on the barge floating behind him.

"What makes you think I will help you?" He asked simply, clearing a space on the deck and getting off again.

"Those boots have seen better days." Balin said. "As has that coat. No doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed. How many bairns?"

"A boy and two girls." The man said, loading the empty barrels into the barge.

Balin and the man talked back and forth a bit more. Priscilla found a rock and sat, half listening. Thorin, impatient, stepped forward and asked if the man could help them with clothing, food, and weapons, promising to pay well. The man didn't believe him of course, setting aside the elven barrels and regarding the defeated, odd-looking group of folk. Balin was busy pestering Gloin. Suddenly he sighed, reaching into his shirt and pulling out a large bag of coins. He tossed it onto a barrel near the man, and it jingled as it landed. 

"Welcome aboard." He said simply. Everyone boarded. 

They paddled across the lake, dodging ice floes and stones through the fog. Expertly, the man steered his barge between two large rock formations, ancient ruins, to the surprise of the dwarves.

"What are you trying to do, drown us?" Thorin asked.

"I was born and bred on these waters, Master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here." The man replied simply, focused on navigating. Priscilla watched Bilbo turn and approach the man, ask a question, and return. She furrowed her brows in curiosity.

"His name's Bard." Bilbo said, settling next to her again. She nodded. They watched across the water, ripples and chunks of ice floating away from the passing craft. She could hardly see the Lonely Mountain through all the fog, but they were close. 

A few moments later, Bard approached the group on their end of the barge. "In the barrels. Quickly. If you value your freedom, you'll do as I say. There are guards ahead."

They all hurried into the barrels again, trying to keep quiet. As they approached the docks, Bard hopped off and began speaking to a man. It sounded like they were making a deal of some sort, and Dwalin exclaimed something about him selling them out. Priscilla held her breath to listen, and was suddenly covered in dead fish. The barge began moving again, and Bard shushed the sputtering dwarves as they approached the toll gate. 

She couldn't hear much of what was happening under the fish, but someone stopped Bard before he could proceed through the gate. She heard something about "illegal fish" and "people need to eat" and before long, the barge was moving again. They moved through what was probably the main canal of Laketown and pulled to a lonely dock. 

Bard began to knock over the woodland barrels, dwarves and fish spilling out everywhere. The rest of them struggled out, greasy and slimy from the fish. Priscilla spat, wiped her face, and grimaced at the oily stains on her dress. She shouldn't have expected it to last this long, anyway. She made a mental note to find another. 

Bard approached the stunned dock keeper and passed him a few coins, before leading the Company of smelly folk away. "The house is likely being watched, as will every dock and wharf in town. Follow me."

Priscilla followed Thorin and the other dwarves into an alley behind the fisherman's house, and then below into the water. It was freezing, but she didn't notice much. They waded under to a hole above them. She tried not to think of what they were swimming in as they listened for the three knocks that would tell them it was safe to emerge.