To Love a Half-Blood (A Kili Fanfic)

Chapter 18: The Calm Before the Storm

"What happened to your face?!" Kili exclaims, concerned, lifting a hand to my cheek.

Only now am I turned so he can see my whole face. Dried blood covers the right half of my face and neck, both orc and my own.

"It's nothing. Mostly orc blood." I explain, turning my face away.

"Mostly is still not nothing Lari-sar." Kili reproaches.

He stands up tentatively, and, upon determining he won't fall, walks across the room to the kitchen. I try to stop him, insisting I can get whatever it is he wants but he ignores me. A moment later he returns with a bowl of water and a wash-cloth. He dips the cloth the warm water and then brushes it gently against my skin.

"Kili, stop it, I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself!" I object, batting his hand away from my face. "Here, give it to me." I continue and reach for the bowl.

"No." He retorts, holding the bowl just out of reach. I lunge for it again, but to no avail.

"Kili, give." I order in mock anger, holding out one hand.

He smirks but keeps the bowl out of reach.

"Let me do this Lari-sar. I want to. You took care of me and now it's my turn to return the favor." He says playfully, but there is seriousness behind his words.

With a sigh, I oblige, letting him wipe away the blood, sweat and tears of the last few hours. As the layers of blood wash away, the wounds on my cheek and neck become blatantly obvious against my pale skin.

"See, I told you it wasn't nothing." Kili states when he finally finishes with me. "Lari-sar, what happened while I was out?" 

So I tell him everything that had happened, everything except how I convinced Legolas to save him. He nods along with my story, but when I finish he questions me.

"You told me how you got this," he says, tracing the scab on my cheekbone where the pot had shattered on my face. "But where did these cuts come from?"

He continues tracing down my jawline until he reaches the two slices on my neck.

Who are you, my nanny? Why does he have to be so fussy over me?

"They were from the pot too. Shards flew off and cut my neck." It was a feeble excuse, but I couldn't come up with anything better.

Kili shoots me a suspicious look but lets the matter drop as the house trembles.

Smaug.

Only now do I begin to worry about the dragon. So caught up in Kili's illness was I that I hadn't given the monster a second thought. I look to where Legolas, Fili, and the children are sitting grimly, staring into the fireplace. I walk over to them, Kili trailing behind.

"Larien." Legolas whispers grimly, "They've awoken the dragon, haven't they?" I nod slowly and Legolas puts his head in his hands. "Fools. They're all fools."

"What do we do now? Do we just wait to die?" I ask my brother.

"I have no idea what to do Larien. Dragons scales are too hard to pierce and the entire town in made of wood and straw. There's nowhere to go." He moans. "We will all burn."

A collective gasp spreads across the room, ending with quiet sobbing from Tilda.

"Surely there is something we can do!" Fili exclaims.

"There is nothing you can do! You have made your bed and now must lie in it. Is it my fault that the bed was made of a fire-storm?" Legolas snaps. "The worst part is that your greedy family has not only condemned their own lives, but the lives of my sister, me, and the innocents in Laketown!"

He looks at the three children in the shadows, clinging to each other and curses under his breath. The earth quakes again, even more intensely than last time. Dishes fall from shelves and shatter on the floor. Fili and Kili don't try to argue with Legolas; everyone sits in miserable silence.

"Wouldn't it be safer if we went down into the cellar?" I ask after a moment.

"Not that much." Legolas returns, still as furious and depressed as before.

"But still better. Come on everyone, into the cellar we go!" I command.

Everyone stands, even Legolas, albeit reluctantly.  I march over to where Tilda still sits and scoop her up in my arms. With the building shivering in fear from the fiery fate that awaits it, we walk down the stairs. Tilda clings to my neck.

I'm not sure why I insisted on carrying her instead of letting her sister do it. It's probably because if I'm protecting someone, I can't be as scared. Seeing as the four-year-old is the only one who is smaller than me, I suppose she is the only one I can protect. I'm not sure how sound that logic is, seeing as I'm quaking in my boots, but regardless...

The ground shakes again, so fiercely this time that I nearly topple over and Kili grabs my arm to steady me. Bard's two oldest children hold hands tightly, each urging the other to be brave. Legolas glowers at the ground, furious that he was going to have to die this way. Kili and Fili stand firmly behind me, side by side, putting on brave faces for whatever comes.

A whimper escapes Tilda's lips and I breathe, "Be brave gwenig (little one)."

The ground trembles once more. There is no movement after that. Minuets tick by, nothing, the calm before that storm. Then, I hear the first screams.