The Last of the Guardians Part 2 - A Hobbit Fan Fiction

Chapter 10 - The Rune Stone

As far as he could tell, Fili was in a cell near to his brother's, though he could not see him. For the most part, the cavern was silent, but every so often he caught the sound of Kili's voice drifting down to him. Whenever his brother broke the silence and spoke, Fili would close his eyes and listen, his heart filling with relief in the knowledge that Kili was still alive and well. But when the voice died away, his grip on the bars to his cell would tighten in fear.

He hated being separated from Kili. Of course, it was not as though they spent every waking moment in each other's company, but all the same, they were in a dangerous place, and there was no telling what lengths Thranduil would go to in order to get what he wanted.

"What is that in your hand?"

Fili opened his eyes. He had been slumped against the bars, fighting to stay awake, when a strange voice spoke. It sounded elven, and female, but it wasn't like the voices of the guards who patrolled between the cells, snapping at any dwarf who dared ask for food or water. It was more gentle, and lacked the disdainful quality the guard's voices possessed.

"A talisman," came Kili's reply.

Pushing his face up against the bars, Fili could just about make out the back of an elf standing a little way up the stairs from his cell. She wore a green soldier's tunic, and had hair of beaten copper that fell to below her waist.

"A very powerful spell lies upon it," Fili's brother continued. "If any but a dwarf were to read the runes on this stone...they would be forever cursed."

Fili saw the elf step back suddenly, as though afraid. She seemed about to move away and up the stairs when Kili spoke again. "Or not. It depends whether you believe that kind of thing. It's just a token - a rune stone. Something my mother gave me to bring on this journey so I would remember my promise." The elf moved back towards his cell.

"What promise?" she asked.

"That I would come back to her. She worries - she thinks I'm reckless."

"Are you?"

"No."

Fili heard the sound of stone on stone as Kili dropped the talisman, and pushed his face harder against the bars in an attempt to see what had happened. If the elf had dared to take the rune stone from him...

But no. In fact, the elf had stopped it escaping over the edge and into the abyss of the cavern. She bent over and scooped up the stone in one hand. Holding it up to the light, she passed an eye over the runes, then smiled. "I am not cursed," she said.

There was a moment of silence, and in that silence Fili became aware of music being played high above his head.

"Sounds like quite the party you are having," Kili said, voicing what his brother was thinking.

"The Feast of Starlight," the elf smiled, turning her face upwards. "All elves love light, but we cherish starlight most of all.

"I always thought it a cold light. Remote...distant." Kili said.

"Oh, no!" The elf turned around and drew closer to the cell, out of Fili's line of sight. "It is memory. Precious and pure. Like your promise," with these words, the elf held out her hand, offering the stone back to its owner. "I have walked there sometimes - beyond the forest and up into the night. I have seen a world far away, where a white light fills the air."

Fili turned away from the bars and leaned back against the wall of his cell. His brother was safe for now, and he saw no need to listen further. The conversation carried on for a few moments more, until the elf was called away and then silence fell again, save for the soft singing up above.