his exception

chapter seventeen: lake town

Bard paddled the dwarves, Maethel and Bilbo across the lake in his barge. It was very foggy and unclear, and the barge pushed aside ice floes. Suddenly, large stone formations appeared out of the fog.  "Watch out!" Bofur called out and Bard expertly poled the barge between the rock formations, which turn out to be ancient ruins. "What are you trying to do, drown us?" Thorin grumbled and Maethel shot him a look. "I was born and bred on these waters, Master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here."

 "Oh I have enough of this lippy lakeman. I say we throw him over the side and be done with him." Dwalin shouted and was about to stand up when Balin put a hand across him before telling him to sit down. Bilbo answered him slightly angrily. "Ohh, Bard, his name's Bard."

 "How do you know?" Bofur asked.  "Uh, I asked him." Bilbo shrugged his shoulders and Maethel moved to sit next to him.  "I don't care what he calls himself, I don't like him." Dwalin muttered to Thorin.  "We do not have to like him, we simply have to pay him. Come on now, lads, turn out Balin commanded as he did the same. The dwarves began pulling out their money and valuables. Dwalin whispered too Thorin, "How do we know he won't betray us?" Thorin muttered, "We don't." Balin counted the money. "There's, um, just a problem: we're ten coins short." Maethel heard the dwarfs grumble and she felt herself move forward. "Gloin. Come on. Give us what you have." Thorin ordered.  "Don't look to me. I have been bled dry by this venture! And what have I seen for my investment? Naught but misery and grief and-" Gloin stopped talking when he realised that all the others had slowly stood up and were now looking at something in the distance. As the fog thinned, they saw the Lonely Mountain. "Bless my beard. Take it. Take all of it."

Gloin handed Balin a sack of coins he had secretly withheld before. Maethel coughed and gestures her head toward Bard, who was approaching the dwarves on their end of the barge. "The money, quick, give it to me." Bard ordered as he ushered for the money to be given to him. "We'll pay you when we get our provisions, but not before."

 "If you value your freedom, you'll do as Bard says. There are guards ahead. I can see." Maethel rolled her eyes as she looked ahead. The dwarves turned and saw the rooftops of Laketown in the distance. Bard's barge is stopped at a dock just outside the city; Bard hopped off and spoke to a man. Meanwhile, the dwarves, Maethel and Bilbo are hidden in the barrels on the barge. "Shh, what's he doing?" Dwalin said is what was trying to whisper. Bilbo peered through a hole in his barrel. "He's talking to someone." Bilbo saw Bard point back at his barrels while talking to the man.  "And he's...pointing right at us!" Thorin looked anxiously at Maethel who looked even more worried. Bard shook the man's hands.  "Now they're shaking hands."

 "What?"

"That villain! He's selling us out." Dwalin seethed. All the dwarves in their individual barrels listen anxiously; suddenly, dead fish are poured into the barrels. The dwarves splutter in surprise. Maethel felt as though she could throw up any minute later. Bard poled his barge toward the gate of the city; on deck are the 14 barrels all full of fish, with a dwarf or hobbit or elf inside as well. "Oh god." One dwarf murmured. Bard kicked the barrel closest to him. "Quiet! We're approaching the toll gate."

"Halt! Goods inspection. Papers, please. Oh, it's you, Bard." The Gatekeeper smiled clearly tired from his shift. Bard brung him boat up to the gatekeeper's office, and the gatekeeper stepped out to see him. "Morning, Percy." Bard smiled at the older man.  "Anything to declare?" Percy asked.  "Nothing, but that I am cold and tired, and ready for home." Bard handed the gatekeeper some papers.  "You and me both." As the gatekeeper took the papers and went into his office to stamp them, Bard looked around warily. "Here we are. All in order." He held out Bard's papers, but a man, Alfrid, suddenly stepped out of the shadows and grabbed the papers. "Not so fast." Alfrid read Bard's papers, then looked at his load.  "Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland Realm. Only, they're not empty, are they, Bard?" Maethel wanted to slap the man in his face. Alfrid tossed Bard's papers to the wind and approached him, with some of Laketown's soldiers behind him. "If I recall correctly, you're licensed as a bargeman, not a fisherman." As Alfrid says this, he picked up one of the fish from a barrel and held it up to Bard. He doesn't see Bombur's eyes looking up from the gap where the fish had been. 

 "That's none of your business." Bard slightly growled at Alfrid. "Wrong. It's the Master's business, which makes it my business." Bard looked like he could slap the other man in a matter of seconds, it looked like he had wanted to do that for so long.  "Oh come on, Alfrid, have a heart. People need to eat!" Bard sighed and collected his composure. "These fish are illegal." Alfird shouted before he threw the fish he was holding into the water, then commanded the soldiers. "Empty the barrels over the side." Maethel let out a quiet gasp. The soldiers, lead by their captain, Braga, moved to comply.  "You heard him. Into the canal. Come on, get a move on." The soldiers began tipping the barrels over and letting the fish fall into the canal. "Folk in this town are struggling. Times are hard. Food is scarce." Bard pleaded. "That's not my problem."

 "And when the people hear the Master is dumping fish back in the lake, when the rioting starts, will it be your problem then?" Bard raised his voice, loosing almost all of his patience. Bard and Alfrid stared at each other intensely for a few seconds, then finally Alfrid raised his hand to the soldiers.  "Stop." The soldiers stopped tipping the barrels over and returned to the buildings. "Ever the people's champion, eh, Bard? Protector of the common folk? You might have their favour now, bargeman, but it won't last." He walked away. "Raise the gate!" Percy ordered as Alfrid and the soldiers were out of view. A large portcullis blocking the channel was raised, and Bard began to pole his barge through. As he passed, Alfrid turned around and shouted to him. "The Master has his eye on you; you'd do well to remember. We know where you live."

 "It's a small town, Alfrid; everyone knows where everyone lives." Bard chuckled to himself. LakeTown is a town built in the middle of the lake, and it looked quite poor and ramshackle. There are many channels of water throughout the town, through which various boats float. Bard poled his barge down the main channel. Meanwhile, Bard docked his barge. After looking around, he knocked over one of the barrels, and a dwarf falls out along with a pile of fish. Bard continued knocking over barrels. He reached for Dwalin's barrel, but Dwalin poked his head up through the fish. "Get your hands off me." He grumbled. The remaining dwarves and Bilbo struggled out of their barrels, looking greasy and slimy from the fish. The dock keeper looked on in shock. Bard approached him and slipped him a coin.  "You didn't see them, they were never here. The fish you can have for nothing." Maethel was the last to get out her barrel. Once she stood up she dusted her trousers and Thorin moved closer to knock a fish from her hair which was now matted. They laughed for a second together. 

Bard lead the Company away.  "Follow me." He ordered. A woman working on a boat happened to look up and she see the dwarves running through Laketown in the distance. She looked shocked. As they strode through Laketown, Bard's son, Bain, ran up to Bard.  "Da! Our house, it's being watched. Bard looked at Thorin and hatched a plan. Bard and his son walked along back to their house. As they walked, a fisherman in a boat saw them and dropped his eyepatch over one eye, then knocks with his staff on a wall nearby. Upon this signal, two boys run from the wall, and one knocked over a contraption which causes a hammer to hit a bell. At this signal, another man lit a match to light his pipe. He turned and looked at two men in a fishing boat right next to Bard's house, and they nod and switched their poles to the opposite sides of the boat than before. They do this just as Bard and Bain get to their house and enter through the door. Just before Bard entered, he tossed an apple to one of the fisherman.  "You can tell the Master that I'm done for the day."