Incendio

Ch.4 Desolation comes upon the sky

The next morning was a quiet affair for the dwarves. Most of them were still leery of Harry. Even the ones who had stood up for his plan of negotiating with Smaug. No one brought up Harry's change in status from friend to possible foe. They were probably still trying to absorb the information Harry had told them last night. He knew it was hard to believe. Harry wasn't sure he would have believed it if he hadn't seen both Middle Earth and Earth with his own eyes.

The dwarves had been on a time constraint to reach the mountain. The secret door leading into Erebor only opened at a certain time on a certain day. Durin's Day fell today. However, they no longer needed to use that particular door since they had access to the front doors via Harry.

Thorin wanted to get to the mountain as soon as possible anyway. The others wanted the chance to rest up a bit before they risked going up against Smaug. Harry was certain that it was all a bit more intimidating for them knowing for certain that Smaug was alive and awake up there in the mountain, waiting for them. They had been on one crazy adventure after another, and if they were going to face a dragon they wanted to be ready for it.

In the end the other dwarves compromised with Thorin. They would spend just one more day in Laketown before heading up to the mountain. Harry was certain that the big motivator was Kili's worsening condition. The dark haired dwarf prince was growing steadily paler by the hour.

Fili and Harry were worried.

"Is it the same poison that the orcs used on me?" Harry asked of Oin.

Kili was currently laying down in a fitful sleep.

"It's something similar. The fever, the pallor, and the weakness seem to all be similar symptoms. The black ichor from the wound looks the same as well. Eventually you were able to fight off the toxin on your own. However, you might have a stronger tolerance being what you are," Oin admitted.

"Oin's right, you got better the longer you were off it. Yet, Kili seems to only be getting worse," Fili worried.

"We can only wait, and hope that he fights this on his own," Oin sighed.

Harry once more was swamped by hopelessness.

"He's strong, he can do it," Harry said firmly.

Fili nodded his agreement even if he looked as worried as Harry felt.

The day was spent with Fili, Oin, and Harry standing vigil over Kili, who was confined to his bed. To distract Kili, Harry made Fili and Kili tell him about their journey again, which they were more than willing to do. They told him about every little detail of their adventures. Harry had seen brief snippets of it in his dreams but it was nice to hear the entire tale from them. They had even had a run in with the same trolls that Harry had. If it hadn't been for Mr. Baggins' quick thinking they would have been cooked.

"I did wonder how the one with the ladle hurt his arm," Fili mused.

"They're nothing but stone now," Kili grinned.

"As long as they're not terrorizing families any more," Harry shrugged.

The other dwarves went about their own business. Bombur, Bofur, and Bifur talked and laughed amongst themselves as they rested. Nori went out scouting into Laketown while Dori kept Ori the farthest distance from Harry that he could in the small flat. Thorin, Dwalin, and Balin were in deep discussion. They did keep an eye on Kili's progress, and on Harry.

Bilbo hovered between the different groups before Harry invited him over to sit with Fili, Kili, and he. The hobbit was slightly terrified at first but he reluctantly joined them for the rest of the afternoon. Soon the hobbit settled down and was providing Harry with a much more accurate description of their journey across Middle Earth.