The Sisters [A Hobbit Fanfiction]

Chapter 35

“Oooooh.”

Silvia had been eyeing the boat skeptically and moved to the stranger who was watching her friends with interest.

“Silvia,” she introduced herself, hand out. Surprised, he shook it nonetheless, noting the firm handshake with approval.

“Bard,” he returned, inclining his head slightly. Her mouth twitched in amusement, noting his curious gaze.

“I’m afraid our story is a rather long one and one I have neither the time nor ability to tell.”

“Later,” he agreed with the shadow of a smile in return.

“However, what does present a problem would be your barrels.”

“My barrels?” he seemed taken aback by this, but Silvia nodded adamantly.

“Yes, you are going to have to sneak those dwarves into the town somehow. And the barrels are the only place for them to hide…”

Bard to a second glance at the girl standing before him explaining his entire strategy as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She was an elf with long, white blonde hair and gray eyes that were almost silver set in a delicate face. She was on the shorter side of an elf, only rising to his shoulder, but on his second examination, Bard noticed subtle signs. The confident posture, the sparkle of intelligence in her eyes…

Clearly he was not dealing with ordinary girls.

“Yes,” he finally returned. “Barrels. What’s wrong with them?”

“Well if you’re expecting to fit me, Nienna, Aelith or Avice in there, it’s not going to work.” Bard looked at his barrels and then at the girls.

“Fair enough, how will you get in?” he asked with a sigh. Silvia smiled slightly,

“Well, I haven’t the faintest idea, but I’m sure them will,” she jerked her head in the direction of the others (Aelith was still attempting to explain what was going on to Nora while Nienna, Runa and Avice snickered unhelpfully).

“Really?” Bard looked doubtful.

“Oh yes,” Silvia returned with confidence. “Just give me directions to your house and we’ll meet you there.” Bard still wasn’t convinced, but did his best to give Silvia instructions on how to find his house.

Silvia nodded as he finished,

“Right, well, if we don’t show up right away, don’t let the dwarves panic. We might wait until dark depending on the plan.”

“Very well,” Bard nodded and both in their respective directions. Bard went and pushed his boat off, the dwarves and girls too caught up in their conversations to notice right away. When they did, Kili and Fili both freaked out.

Bard silenced them and Silvia could see him explaining the situation to the dwarves, his stoic expression rather funny when placed beside the dwarves confused looks.

“Um… did they just abandon us?” asked Nienna in disbelief.

“No,” said Silvia and she quickly explained the issue to the girls.

“I’m not sure what we did to inspire such confidence in you, but its misplaced,” commented Avice rather acidly when the elven girl was finished. Nienna snorted,

“Don’t take your romantic frustrations out on the girl Avice darling.”

“For the last time, I’m NOT in love with Thorin!”

“I never said you were,” said Nienna smugly while Runa and Nora snickered. Avice threw her hands in the air and stormed off.

“Oh knock it off,” said Aelith, barely repressing her own mirth. “We need a plan. And a good one.”

Welllll…” said Nora slowly, exchanging a look with Runa. “I might have an idea.”

*    *    *

“When you said we were going to pull a Rivendell, I didn’t think you were serious,” hissed Avice in a whisper.

“When do we ever joke around?” shot back Runa sarcastically, grinning at her disgruntled friend.

“Oh let me think… all the time!” Avice returned. Currently, all six were soaking wet and hiding underneath one of the docks while Silvia tried to figure out where they were.

After getting as close as they could to the town by land (dragging a barrel each with them), the girls had used the barrels to walk along the bottom of the lake by holding them over their head and torso so the barrel acted as a pocket of air. When used correctly, this would allow for a prolonged submersion.

Fortunately for them, the barrels, built for wine, were airtight and they had recovered their old outfits, abandoning their elven dresses in favor of their semi water and far more durable outfits.

“We are all going to get sick and die,” proclaimed Nora dramatically as she shivered next to Nienna whose lips were quickly turning blue.

Though all the girls were accustomed to harsh conditions, even they couldn’t last much longer in the frigid water.

“Runa,” Nienna said suddenly, looking at her friend as she remembered, “is your wound okay?”

“Wound? What wound?” Aelith swam over, concern etched on her face. Runa rolled her eyes, but her friends could see the signs that she was struggling -- clenched jaw, tight mucsles.

“Look, I’ll be fine. You can check it when we get to Bard’s house. We can’t do anything about it now anyway.” Aelith looked at Runa, but finally conceded and swam over to join Silvia.

“Right, it should be this way,” Silvia finally said, swimming in the lead. The girls followed, grateful to be moving again.

“I hope the others made it in okay,” commented Runa as they moved through the star reflected waters.

“Lets worry about us getting their first,” responded Avice grimly. “Then we can plan a rescue mission if we have to.”

*    *    *

The dwarves all sat in Bard’s small house, strained looks becoming more and more evident as the day waned on. Night was now upon them and fragments of moonlight wandered across the wooden flooring.

“Where are they?” muttered Fili, head in his hands. Kili sat next to his brother in silence, shoulders slumped slightly.

“They did tell us not to worry if they didn’t arrive until night,” Sarabelle pointed out comfortingly and Kili awarded her optimistic efforts with a strained smile. The rest of the company however, continued to sit in a perilous silence.

“That’s it. We’re going out to look for them.” To everyone’s shock it was neither Fili or Kili who finally snapped.

It was Thorin.

He was standing, a determined look in his eye, unabashed by his rash decision. Bard looked up from where he was stirring a pot of the remaining stew from the day’s earlier meal.

“Sit down,” he ordered harshly. Though Thorin might have been made to acknowledge the wisdom of this, he didn’t appreciate the tone it was said in and resolve hardened in his eyes.

Luckily for everyone involved, a new voice from the window interrupted him.

“Confound it all Thorin, we told you not to worry.”

There, balanced in the windowsill and dripping wet, but still grinning, was Runa.