his exception

chapter twenty-three: attack

With a terrible headache, Bard woke up in a cell. Braga and his soldiers drank and partied nearby. Bard rubbed his head as he woke, then jolts upright when he realised he was in a  prison. Bofur ran through Laketown, trying to find Kingsfoil. He smelled some flowers on a windowsill and rejected them. "Na." As he continued running about, Bolg and other orcs spie him from a rooftop. "Khozd!" (Dwarves!) Bolg growled softly. Bofur found a pig eating some weeds; he yanked it out of the pig's mouth and examined it, then smiled and turned to get back to Kili. Bolg and his Orcs followed on the rooftops.

At Bard's house, Sigrid leans over the balcony outside the front door, looking for her father. She heard a noise and calls out.  "Da? Is that you, Da?" She called out. She looked around for Bard but didn't look up and see Orcs creeping on the roofs of the neighbouring houses. Inside, Maethel heard a noise on the roof and looked up. Kili's condition was getting worse. Maethel and Kili had laid him down on a table, with his head rested on a sack of hazelnuts. His skin was getting paler by the minute. Maethel was extremely worried that he might not make it, but she pushed those thoughts aside. She had to stay focused.

She was helping Oin grind the herbs, when suddenly, they heard a shriek. Sigrid ran inside from the front porch, with an Orc chasing her. Fili pulled out his sword and as she ducked under the table with Tilda, he sliced off its head with one quick slash. He then gave Sigrid a small smile before he stood prepared for more orcs to come. Oin threw a stack of plates at its head, but another Orc broke through the roof and fell into the house. Another orc at the door swung at Sigrid, at she fell backward onto the table benches. She slid under the table and pulled the bench sideways next to her as a shield. Maethel grappled with an Orc. As another orc fell in through the roof, Tilda threw a plate at it, then Sigrid pulled her under the table as well.  "Get down!" She shouted to her younger sister.

An orc threatened Bain, and Bain pushed the bench at it, knocking it over. He then grabbed the end of the bench and threw it up, hitting the Orc in the head. More orcs jumped in through the roof, and one approached Kili, who was still lying in bed. Maethel swirled around and shot an arrow straight through the head of one orc and through the head of the orc which was edging it's way closer to Kili. She smiled at Kili. Two more came from behind her, and she killed them as well. But one of them had managed to slice her left arm with its dagger, and it made a deep cut. Maethel cringed and wiped away the blood, wincing as she glared into its eyes before grabbing her dagger from her side and stabbing it in its face.

Bofur tried to crawl away, but an Orc grabbed him by the legs and pulled him back, then he threw him onto a table which tipped and caused Bofur to roll away. The orc raised its sword to cut Bofur down, but is suddenly skewered by an arrow through its chest. It fell over dead. In the house, the girls screamed as an Orc flipped over the table they were hiding under. Another Orc leaped to the balcony in front of the house, but suddenly, Tauriel appeared and stabbed it in the throat with her knife. She pulled out her other knife as well, and began killing the Orcs in the house. Legolas jumped in through one of the holes in the roof. He too began killing Orcs. An Orc approached Kili and grabbed him by the wounded leg. As Kili screamed in pain, Tauriel threw her knife and it plunged into the Orc's throat. Legolas and Tauriel slay Orcs left and right. As an Orc ran at them, Fili grabbed Bain and forces him down. "Get down!"

Tauriel killed the Orc, then turned to kill another one. Kili stabbed the Orc as well with the knife Tauriel had thrown earlier, and they together kill the Orc. But then, Kili fell over onto the floor, howling in pain, and Tauriel looks at him in worry. "Kili..?" Maethel shouted from across the room and Legolas turned to look at his sister.

An Orc, Bolg's lieutenant, fleet from the house and jumped over the balcony, landing in a boat in the water below. He yelled to Bolg, who was striding towards the house. "Ekinskeld. Obguranid!" (Oakenshield has gone!)  "Gur! Arangim!" (Fall back! Regroup at the bridge!) The remaining Orcs joined him.

In the house, Maethel stabbed an Orc and tripped it, and it fell backward over the balcony railing and landed in the boat below. The boat acted like a seesaw and sended Bolg's lieutenant orc, who had jumped into the boat earlier, flying up into the air, where Maethel sliced off its head with her dagger. As the orc's body fell into the water below, its head still looked at Maethel. Maethel released the head and it fell. Maethel looked and saw the remaining Orcs running through Laketown after Bolg.

Maethel then turned back towards the house and saw her brother standing in front of her. Bofur dazedly got up and saw the Kingsfoil lying in front of him. Back in the house, Bain spoke to Tauriel amazedly. "You killed them all." Maethel smiled at the young boy.  "There are others. Tauriel, come." Legolas ordered as he strode towards the door. Tauriel, who had been looking after Kili, looked up. Kili was on the ground, and Oin examined him.  "We're losing him!" Tauriel's smile dropped, looking shocked, she looked at Kili, then at Legolas, who was still waiting at the door.  "Tauriel." Legolas looked at her for a moment and then walked out the door. Tauriel remained standing. Legolas jumped over the balcony and onto a bridge, then began running. Tauriel looked away and began to head out the door to follow Legolas. Just as she reached the door, Kili moaned in pain, and Tauriel turned to look at him. Maethel looked at her friend who then looked at her.

Legolas caught up to the Orcs and shot one at point blank; the arrow went all the way through its head and into the wood planking behind. Tauriel looked after Legolas, then at Kili again. Hearing a noise, Tauriel grabbed her knives, then saw Bofur running up with the Kingsfoil. Her eyes opened  in shock and she took the leaves from Bofur's stunned grasp. Now that Tauriel was there, Maethel knew Kili was going to be fine. She took off, she jumped over rooftops, sneaking up to the orcs and shooting them with arrows from behind. She worked quick and quiet. 

"Athelas." Tauriel whispered as she reverently examined it. "Athelas..." She repeated. "What are you doing...?" Bofur asked looking up at the elleth. "I'm going to save him."