A/N: i do what i want so here is another chapter dedicated to BilboRoth because if she didn't support this story as much as she does, i probably would have abandoned it long ago . have another chapter on me xx
Chapter Twenty Four
I kissed Bilbo's cheek and sent him off to Balin, who would send him into the mountain. We waited just outside the door, Thorin hanging half-in and half-out of the stone halls. Though I was worried about the Hobbit, there was someone else I was much more concerned about. I knew that I should be focused on the fact that we were sending a Halfling into the lair of a dragon (dead or otherwise), but my mind was far away with the dark haired boy I lo-
I stood quickly, ripping the idea from my mind. If I could have physically thrown it to the ground and stomped on it, I would have.
"You alright, lassie?" Gloin asked, from where he sat, leaning up against the stone wall.
"Yes." I said, smoothing down the front of my tunic. "Yes, quite."
"You look like somethin's on your mind." He slapped the ground next to him. "Come on. Let's chat."
I laughed lightly and shook my head. "I think I'll manage."
"Well, we've got to keep busy somehow. C'mere. Let me teach you a song I sing to my wee lad."
I lowered myself next to him and leaned over as he pulled a chain from around his neck. He opened the medallion to reveal two images: one of his wife, and the other showed his son, Gimli.
"Gimli loves to sing." Gloin chuckled heartily. "His favorite is an old song from just after Smaug came. It is called the Song of Durin."
"Sounds wonderful." I nodded.
Gloin sang the first verse, twice, thrice before asking me to sing it back.
"A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door." And when I sang, his face went slack and a smile played on his lips.
"Oh, lovely. You've got a beautiful voice." He said. "My boy would love you."
I blushed. "I don't sing much." I confided. "Just for Thorin, really. When I was young, he taught me old folk songs and then when I grew older, I began to sing them to him."
"Alright, lass. The next verse goes like this: The light of sun, and star, and moon.."
***
"He's been down there a long time." I mumbled, pacing back and forth.
"Hm?" Asked Ori, who was standing near me.
"Biblo." I told him. "It's been ages."
"The Halls of Erebor are vast, Ariel. It may take more than a glance to find the Arkenstone." Balin assured me.
"Yes, but what if he's in trouble?" I stressed. "What if he needs us?"
"Don't worry so much, lass." Dwalin grunted. "If the Halfling needs us, we'll know."
So we just kept waiting.
*Fili's POV*
Seeing Kili writhe on Bard's kitchen table was unbearable. We'd sent Bofur to fetch the Kingsfoil, but he hadn't yet returned. All we could do now was stop Kili from killing himself with the stress.
Sigrid and Tilda rushed around, pressing cool cloths to his forehead or helping their father prepare concoctions that would probably make him worse. I noticed that, despite her age, Tilda was very calm in the face of crisis. Well, at least what I counted as crisis.
One day, Thorin had said to me, you will be King and you will understand. If being King meant abandoning your kin, I wasn't sure I wanted it.
In that moment, I promised myself never to let my brother put himself in danger again. The only I thing I "understood" now was family, and you protect your family. No matter how stupid and reckless they might be.
I was shaken from my thoughts as Kili let out a yell. I leapt forward and restrained him, his body lifting off the table. My brother's brow glistened with sweat, his dark hair matted.
"His fever's getting worse," Oin murmured, sending my mind into a frenzy.
Kili cried out, arching is back. I yelled and pushed him back down.
"Kili!" I gasped. "Kili, you have to calm down! You'll kill yourself!" I could only listen as he screamed out a word I didn't quite catch. A name, maybe?
Even when we were children, I hated when Kili was ill. When I was sick, he sat at my bedside every night and waited for me to get better, always with those big bright eyes and an expectant smile. When it was Kili sick in bed, I never left his side. Part of me was always worried that he wouldn't get better. Now, my irrational childhood fear was becoming a reality.
*Kili's POV*
I could see her, through the haze. She looked so beautiful standing there with her blissful smile. She looked like the heavens personified as her hair tumbled down in front of her, a divine light in her bright eyes.
"Don't go to sleep just yet, my love." She whispered, her voice like a melody. "There is more to come."
Had I seen the last of her? Would I ever meet my love again? The pain of her absence was enough to make me wonder what was really killing me. Was it the wound, or was it the fact that she was gone? The mere thought of never seeing her again sent me into screaming agony.
I could here Fili, his voice calling out to me over the ringing in my ears. His voice was muddled and his words incomprehensible, as if he was speaking to me from underwater.
I yelled her name, begging her to come to me. I screamed for her loss and my love, and wondering if she could ever feel the same. Why wasn't she here, here with me?
Hot pain laced my body, from the heartache or the arrow wound, I couldn't be sure. I thought for a moment that I could surely fight this death if she was by my side. But she was far away and I was here, with leagues in between us and then I could finally understand what it really meant to love someone.
The way I loved her was burning and passionate and painful and the distance between us felt like knives in my chest with every step she took that wasn't next to me. I could die here and she would never know just how much I loved her, and then I decided that I wouldn't die. I had to see her again, at least one more time, and tell her what I'd realized. I had to tell her how much I loved her and how if she didn't want my heart I would gladly let her stomp it into the ground because even that would be a privilege.
I gasped in alarm when I looked up and saw her fading from me. Her smile was serene, like she knew it was her time to go. She held out a hand and said, "Goodbye, my love. May it not be our last."
Please, please, I begged. Please don't go. Stay with me.
But she had gone. She had disappeared, slipping through my fingers the way raindrops fell through leaves.
*Ariel's POV*
I felt useless, just waiting. It was as though time had never crawled by slower as we waited for the burglar to emerge. Stars were shining in the night, like crystal embedded in coal.
And then the ground shook beneath us, an echoing crash nearly throwing me from my feet. There was a deep rumbling from inside the moutain. I clutched Dwalin's arm for support, his hand finding my back. I met his eyes and found a look of terror set upon his usually stone face.
"Was that an earthquake?" Dori gasped.
"That, my lad," Balin said, "was a dragon."
*Fili's POV*
Kili wasn't getting better and Bofur still wasn't back. I was so focused on him, I might not have even noticed the slight tremble of Bard's home if dirt from the ceiling had not fallen into my face.
I straightened slowly, looking around. The others had all noticed, save Kili, of course.
"Da?" Sigrid whimpered, the older girl walking quickly to her father.
"It's coming from the mountain." Bain said.
"You should leave us." I said to Bard, motioning to his kids. "Take your children. Get out of here."
"And go where?" His voice dripped with venom. "There is nowhere to go."
Tilda gasped. "Are we going to die, Da?"
"No, darling." He assured the girl with a shake of his head.
"The dragon." She whimpered, voice thick with tears. "It's going to kill us."
Bard reached up to where nets and cables hung from his ceiling, and with one tug, revealed something I never dreamed I would see.
A Black Arrow.
"Not if I kill it first."