A Tale of Time

Chapter 3: In Sickness and in Health

Chapter 3: In Sickness and in Health

Kili stands on the lookout, watching the horizon for any sign of their two missing members. Thorin has been down in the treasury ever since they went back into the mountain and he couldn't bring himself to stay down there and watch him. Thorin seemed to completely forget about Bofur and Gailien and the other members aren't brave enough to mention it to him, not knowing if it would make his episode of madness worse.

They had all watched the dragon go down and he cheered loudly with Fili. They knew that Gailien had something to do with it – that it was the reason she stayed.

"Here." A bowl appears beside him, filled with a warm stew. Kili smiles tightly at his brother, taking the bowl and spoon. Fili sighs, leaning against the rocky outlook. "Any sign?" he asks.

Kili shakes his head. "No," he admits, scowling at the food. "Do you think we should go down?"

"Thorin said Gailien would be back with in the week, Kee. It's only what? Four, five days?"

"What is Thorin doing?"

"What do you think?"

The answer sends them both into silence. They have heard stories of Gold Sickness, cursed on their grandfather and now they are watching their own uncle succumb to the same disease and nobody knows how to help him out of it.

"Why do you think she didn't tell us?" Kili asks, breaking the silence. "That she knew Smaug was going to awaken?"

"I don't know," Fili answers honestly with a small shrug. "Maybe she tried to change something, or she couldn't tell us because it would affect things."

The brothers sit together for a little while longer, eating and looking out over the now smouldering town. Kili had found a hair bead the day before. Just a simple one but he fiddles with it, thinking about wearing it in honour of the Dwarf it used to belong to – whoever it was. For now though, he puts it back in his pocket.

He rests his heavy head on his palm, slowly gazing out onto the valley below. He almost glazes over it but his head slowly moves to look straight at it. His arm rises blindly, knocking Fili's shoulder. "Look!"

Fili jumps up, looking over the rocky wall for himself to where Kili points to below. Emerging from behind a small hill is a stout figure, stumbling along the rocky path. Even from the distance, they can spot his dual-pointed hat.

"That's Bofur," Kili gasps. He squints, leaning over the rock. "He's carrying something."

Fili mimics his brother's position, trying to get closer to see what Bofur has in his arms. "Durin's beard," he mumbles. "That's Gailien. I'll get Oin." Fili sprints back down the ledge, leaving Kili to comprehend that it is in fact Gailien.

His eyes widen and his palms smack the rocky surface of the wall before he his boots kick up dust as he runs to the main entrance. The whole kingdom is silent so each slap of his boots against the stone ground echoes through the halls and he hears the slight echo of his brother's running in the other direction.

The young prince runs out of the main entrance, which has no doors or blockage from where Smaug blasted through it. He keeps running down the path towards Bofur who appears after a minute of hard running.

Bofur's head tips back in relief as he sees Kili sprinting towards him. "Oh, laddie! You need to take her, my arms are 'bout to drop from my shoulders."

Although her eyes are closed, she is just coherent enough to hear him. "Are you calling me fat?" she mutters. Kili skids to a stop in front of them and Bofur gratefully passes the woman over to him. "I've missed you," she whispers, knowing exactly who it is.