21A/N: Uhhh... Hey. What's up. It's been a while. Like, five and a half years. How's it going.
I truly cannot tell you what has come over me. I was like "I miss writing Hobbit fic. I'm gonna write a oneshot." And then the ideas kept growing and growing and well, here we are. Chapter 1. How many chapters will it be? If God smiles down upon me, not as many as previous fics. But we'll see. I hope you enjoy. Read on.
It was late in the day when the messenger came.
Fíli was outside, smoking a pipe and watching the shadow of the mountains grow longer. The evening air was cool and comfortable, and in the village below the mountain halls, people were starting to light their lamps, which twinkled softly in the blue of the setting sun. A gentle wind blew, rippling through the red and golden leaves on the mountainside and in the valley below. Fíli puffed on his pipe. He had nothing more to do today, and the peace of the coming night filled him with deep contentment.
A distant movement caught his eye, and he lowered his pipe and squinted. Someone was approaching the mountain—and fast—on horseback. Fíli frowned, pushing his back away from the rocky wall. The rider had completely ignored the village and was making straight for the mountain halls above, and Fíli had a sinking suspicion that they were coming with bad news in their wake. He started making his way down the path to the foot of the mountain.
"Ho, there!" he called as the rider came within earshot. It was a younger dwarf, probably around his own age, with a dark brown beard, dressed in the simple clothes of a villager below the mountain. The rider hopped down from his mount and bowed.
"Vigg, at your service," he said breathlessly. "I seek audience with Thorin Oakenshield. My village has been attacked, and we require immediate aid."
"I am Fíli, his nephew and heir," Fíli replied, frowning. "From what village do you hail, and who has attacked you?"
"Baraz-nâla," he said. "I do not know what has befallen us. It came in the cover of darkness, attacking our people and destroying our homes. I have been riding since just before dawn without rest."
Fíli moved briskly towards the entrance to the mountain, gesturing for Vigg to follow. Baraz-nâla a day away at a normal pace. This Dwarf had made the journey in about twelve hours.
"And why do you seek the aid of Thorin Oakenshield?" Fíli asked as they walked. "Surely there are people closer who can be of quicker aid."
"Because, my lord, this is no ordinary attack," said Vigg with a trembling voice. "A Dwarf was thrown ten yards through the air. One of the greatest trees in the village was uprooted. Rooftops were smashed from above. Whatever this is, it requires more skilled fighters than we have our way."
Fíli paused and turned to Vigg. "And no one saw what was responsible for any of this?"
"No, my lord."
Fíli nodded curtly and turned back around, taking a deep breath. There were many dangerous things in the world, but few that dared to approach settlements so boldly in this day and age. The images of several monsters and beasts flitted through his mind as he led the way. Whatever it was, he already knew what Thorin's response was going to be.
It only took an hour to assemble a party. Thorin had called upon Dwalin, Óin, Glóin, and Fíli and Kíli—his best fighters—to take on whatever threat was ahead of them. Vigg had insisted on returning with them, but Thorin had refused to allow it; the Dwarf was already beyond exhausted, as was his pony, and would slow their journey. He had been given comfortable quarters to rest with the assurance that they would travel with haste and bring peace to the village.
"What do you think it is?" Kíli asked quietly, pulling up next to his brother.
"Don't know," Fíli replied. "There are plenty of dangerous and sneaking creatures in Middle-Earth."
"But uprooting trees?" said Kíli nervously. "Throwing Dwarves through the air? It's got to be something big, right? And yet no one has seen it?"
Fíli frowned. He knew that Thorin trusted them to face a dangerous foe—it was what they had been trained for—but he could not say that he was not nervous, himself. But Kíli did not need to know that.
"You have sharp eyes," he said. "As do I. You know Thorin chose us to go for that reason."
"I just hope that's enough," Kíli muttered.
Fíli did not reply. He hoped so, too.
They reached Baraz-nâla in a day's time, a couple hours after the sun had set. About a mile off, Thorin held up a hand to slow the company and dismounted, and the rest of them did the same. Silently, they tied their ponies up to continue on foot; there was no need to endanger the poor creatures, especially with something large ahead that may want to eat them. Fíli gave his pony a gentle pat and joined the circle with the others.
"We do not know what this threat is, but we know it is dangerous," said Thorin in a low voice. "When we arrive in the village, everyone must be as quiet as possible. We will split into pairs."
Fíli and Kíli immediately looked at each other. There was no question about who was pairing up with who.
"If you find the threat, do not engage," Thorin continued. Briefly, he made eye contact with Fíli and Kíli. "Find the rest of us and we will fight together. Lives should not be lost this night. Cover each other's backs. From now on, keep an eye on each other. Use only Iglishmêk to communicate if you can."
A quiet chorus of ayes sounded from the company. Fíli felt Kíli's shoulder brush against his own, and he leaned into it.
The village was dark. No lamps were burning, and no voices could be heard. But it was not just the people of the village who were silent; not even a cricket chirped, and the wind was still, as if it were holding its breath, waiting for what would happen next. Pale light from the waning moon shone upon splinters of wood that was once a house. Further on, a wagon lay smashed, its contents scattered throughout the street. Near a stable, a dark pool gathered around a still horse.
Fíli looked to Thorin, who signaled directions for everyone to split off. He nodded and touched Kíli's elbow, and the two of them veered eastward. Thorin and Dwalin continued north, and Óin and Glóin broke off westward. Kíli stayed close on Fíli's right and readied his bow, and Fíli pulled out his twin blades. Ahead they saw the rubble of a stone wall that looked to have been kicked through the middle, and Fíli nodded to Kíli. Carefully and quietly, the two stepped through the broken wall.
Beyond it lay a path of destruction.
There was little untouched in this part of the village. A rooftop sat on the ground; the door to the same building barely managed to hang onto its remaining hinges, the doorframe supporting it ripped in two. They moved past and found a destroyed pigpen. Fíli wrinkled his nose at the sight of half a pig inside, dark with spilled blood.
Fíli felt Kíli's elbow at his side and glanced over.
Where are the people? Kíli signed.
Fíli shook his head. He had yet to see anyone at all, dead or alive. His hands were too occupied to sign back. The villagers were either killed or hiding—and he hoped dearly for the latter.
The sound of movement came from a house on their right, and Fíli and Kíli both turned to look, tightening their grips on their weapons. Fíli searched the darkness for its source, but at first, he saw nothing. Kíli lowered his bow and tapped Fíli's arm, pointing; a hatch on the side of the house was propped open by just a few inches, and a small, Dwarven hand emerged, signing a single word: help.
Both brothers ran over as quietly as they could and squatted down to look inside. The hatch opened a few more inches, and three frightened faces appeared—a mother and two little dwarflings. Fíli put a finger to his lips, and the children nodded, wide-eyed; Kíli set down his bow gingerly to sign.
Are you hurt? Kíli asked.
No, replied the mother. But my husband is missing. We got separated. I had to hide the children.
We will try to find him, said Kíli. Do you know what has done this?
The mother shook her head, pressing her lips together. She looked ready to cry. I know it is big. It came last night and was gone at dawn. We thought that was the end of it. But this—she gestured at the destruction outside—this all happened tonight. We ran to hide as soon as we heard the screaming.
Fíli swallowed and peered around for movement. Nothing yet. He turned his attention back to the mother.
Stay hidden, Kíli signed. We are here to help.
The mother nodded and pushed her two children behind her, further into the cellar. Kíli smiled and nodded, and then he closed the hatch door. For a moment, he just looked down, seemingly lost in thought; then he turned to look at his brother. Fíli nodded gravely and stood, and Kíli picked up his bow and followed suit.
A moment later, Kíli was twenty feet in the air.
"Kíli!" Fíli shouted, forgetting his silence. Not that it mattered; Kíli was shouting for his brother frantically, twisting and kicking against a gargantuan, stone-skinned hand that held him tight. Studying him were two beady eyes in a round face, quick but not lit by remarkable intelligence. Two sharp tusks protruded from its lower jaw. Fíli let out a shaky, terrified breath. It was a troll—a huge, sneaking hill troll.
Then Fíli stepped into action. With a cry, he charged, swinging viciously at the troll's legs. It let out a bellow and stumbled backward, knocking over a small tree. Still it kept its grip on Kíli, who let out a scream of pain. Fíli dashed forward again and stabbed downward into its foot, piercing through to the ground. With a mighty roar, the troll threw Kíli aside, and Fíli watched in horror as his brother hit the stone side of a house and dropped to the ground, still. But before he could run to him, he found himself dangling upside down in the air, a stone-hard grip around his leg. One of his blades still lay embedded in the troll's foot; the other he had managed to keep in his hand, and he swung out wildly, dizzied by the sudden height from which he now hung, and struck nothing. Fear coursed through him as he tried again to no avail.
Suddenly, all the wind left Fíli's lungs as two tusks embedded into his back. The troll's teeth closed down around his torso, and he opened his mouth to shout, but no sound came from his lips. For a moment, the darkness around him faded into total blackness. Then, in the next moment, it seemed as if time had slowed almost to a halt as the world came into perfect clarity. Fíli looked straight at the troll's throat, far too close to him now, and he swung out, his blade finally finding purchase. Another bellow sounded from the creature, vibrating through Fíli's body before he felt the sudden and searing pain of the tusks pulling out of him. He hit the ground heavily, narrowly missing landing on his neck, and rolled over, searching for his sword.
Instead of his sword, the blurry image of an axe on a wooden stump came into view. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself to his feet, and he stumbled over to the axe, mindful of the pained bellowing behind him. He yanked it from its resting place and turned back to the troll. It lay on the ground, holding its thick throat in giant hands. Gathering what was left of his strength, Fíli let out a scream and charged towards it, axe raised. He swung down with all his might upon the troll's neck. Black blood spurted out of the wound, and Fíli raised his axe and swung down again without pausing.
The troll stopped making noise on the third hit, but Fíli did not stop swinging. Four, five, six, swings of the axe; on the seventh, its head dropped from its body and rolled across the ground. Finally Fíli stopped, breathing hard, his body burning. He stared at the black blood spurting from the troll's neck and quickly forming a pool on the ground at his feet. He had done it—by himself. He had killed the troll.
Fíli's legs gave out from under him, and he fell to his knees, dropping the axe. For a fleeting moment, he thought of Kíli, and then the bloody ground rushed towards him as the moonlight turned to darkness.
It begins! I already have at least the length of this chapter written for chapter 2. Stay tuned! And as always, reviews are my lifeblood.
Credit for the title of this fic goes to my beloved bestie, Mhyin. You can find her on tumblr as Mhyinart or mhyinblogs. She is very excited about this fic and will probably be supplying some illustrations, so keep an eye out.
I am also still active on tumblr as mistergandalf. Hang out with us!