Bard of Laketown

Part Seventeen

PART SEVENTEEN

BARD'S POV
We are almost at Lake-town now, one hour later. Kili is delirious, and muttering words under his breath that I can't understand. His face is shiny with sweat.
I turn around. "Listen to me now. Where I live, it is not a friendly place. Nobody takes kindly to strangers, especially not dwarves." The barrels of fish, still in the boat from my last trade, are sitting against the corner. "Get inside," I say. They look at me doubtfully. "I don't know who you are, or who you think you are, but I will not get inside such a foul smelling place." It is Thorin who speaks.
I feel a surge of annoyance rise in my chest.
"And at this point, I don't care if you are the bloody prince of Erebor. If you don't get in those barrels, you'll never make it out of the Lake-town jail cell. So I suggest you get in the cell."
A few of the dwarves roll their eyes, but they all get into the barrels. I go over and pile the fish on top of them. They complain loudly about the smell.
"Get used to it," I say. "This is nothing compared to town."
I hear groans from the barrels, and then spluttering. Smiling, I row up to the gate. Alfrid, the Master's assistant, is waiting with a smug smile.
"What's in the barrels, Bard?" he asks in his nasally voice.
I fight the urge to strangle him. "Nothing but my regular load of fish, Alfrid."
He leans down to look in the barrels. "And.. what were you doing outside the city?"
It seems to me that we have this talk at least twice a month. "Collecting our goods from Mirkwood, as I always do."
His eyes glint, and my hands clench into fists.
Then he stands, and smiles his disgusting smile.
"Thank you, Alfrid." I pick up the heavy oars, but he holds up his hand.
"You didn't think I was letting you through that easily, did you?" He waves at the men standing behind him, and they step to the edge of the dock.
"Dump the barrels," Alfrid says.
The men take the three closest barrels, and grunt when they pick them up, surprised at their weight. They tilt the barrels and start to dump the pounds of fish into the lake. I can see a dwarf's eye, peering out of the remaining fish.
"Do you really think the Master will appreciate you dumping back all of this food?" I say to Alfrid, trying to keep my voice light.
It appears that he's considering this, but then he shakes his head. "No. No, because if he does, you can always go and get more."
The head of the dwarf, Ori, is becoming more visible now. I'm beginning to feel a bit panicked. I step in front of the men. "You! You've got families to feed! Do you want to come home with nothing, again, and tell them that there's nothing to eat? To hear your little ones crying because of how empty their stomach is?"
One of them slurs at me, "What do you know about being hungry?"
My eyes widen. "The fact that I have three children waiting at home. You must have some waiting for you to get home to them, aye? How many?"
We stare each other down, till he turns away. "Sir, maybe he's right," he says drunkenly.
Alfrid glares at me. I pray that he won't look in the barrel and see Ori.
He leans close to my face, and I can smell his foul breath. "Just remember," he leers, "We know where you live, Bard."
I smile and shrug. "It's a small town, Alfrid. Everyone knows where everyone else lives."
He stands back up and waves us through, glaring at me the entire time.
I let out a breath. That was close, too close.