Veryan only awoke when he was spoken to. His eyes blinked open as he tried to adjust to the cloudy sky. He grunted and lifted himself to sit.
"Can you stand?" The man asked from his position.
Veryan nodded and looked around, not spotting the Dwarves he traveled with anymore. "Where are they? The Dwarves?"
The man gestured twords the barrels, now filled with fish. Veryan snorted as he staggered to his feat, clutching the side of the boat. "What's your name?" the Heterochromia male asked.
"Bard. And you?" "Veryan" the two quickly exchanged as they neared the entrance of Lake Town.
"All they know is that your an old man I picked up along the way" Bard told Veryan just as he heard "Halt! Goods inspection"
Veryan hunched over, making sure his head hung low. Bard's jacket still over him, giving his a more blocky frame. Moments later out came a man, holding a lantern "Papers, please!"
"Oh, it's you, Bard" The man announced happily as Bard swam in.
"Morning, Percy" Bard greeted the older man just as happy.
"Anything to declare?" "Nothing, but that I am cold and tired and ready for home" Bard answered as he handed in his papers.
"You and me both" Percy agreed as he threw a quick glance at the hunched over figure before going in and stamping an approval on his papers.
"There you go. All in order". Percy was about to hand in the papers when from besides him came a man. Unibrow across his forehead, scruffy beard and a black attire.
"Not so fast" he spoke as he snatched the papers away. He looked down at the papers and read aloud "Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland Realm"
He walked closer and pointed to the very full barrels "Only, they're not empty are they, Bard? If i recall correctly you're licensed as a bargeman. Not a fisherman"
Veryan backed away even more, trying to be as much out of sight as possible. Bard shook his head "That's none of your business"
The man smiled, the smile never reaching his eyes "Wrong. It's the Masters business, which makes it my business"
Bard sighed. Veryan could see the younger man loosing some of his patience "Oh, come on, Alfrid, have a heart. People need to eat"
All Alfrid did was shake the fish he held in his hand "These fish are illegal. Empty the barrels over the side" he ordered the guards that stood on the side.
The Heterochromia male gulped as he saw the first barrel being tipped over, fish beginning to drop over the edge of the boat. Bard turned to Alfrid "Folk in the town are struggling. Times are hard. Food is scarce. And when the people hear the Master is dumping fish back in the lake, when the rioting starts, will it be your problem then?"
Alfrid looked between Bard and the fish, when he raised a hand "Stop" he called to the guards. They positioned the barrels back in place as Alfrid glared at Bard "Ever the people's champion eh, Bard? Protector of the common folk. You might have their favor now, bargeman, but it wont last"
Bard let out a sigh when Alfrid moved to walk away, when the other's eyes fell on Veryan's hunched form. "Who is that?" he questioned Bard as he glared upon the 'old' man.
"Just an older folk i picked up along the way" he answered as Alfrid moved in closer to Veryan. Though the Heterochromia male wasn't afraid.
"Say, what's your name, old man?" Alfrid questioned him as he leaned closer, filling Veryan's nose with the smell of fish coming from the other's mouth.
He held in a gag as he answered with the best groggy voice he could "Victor, my gracious"
Alfrid seemed pleased with the answer, as he backed away and walked off of the boat, nodding twords Percy.
"Raise the gate!" Percy called to the guards, and the gate began to raise.
"I just fed that man with a big meal of ego..." Veryan whispered to Bard as he stumbled twords the other.
Bard held in a smile as he went over to his steering wheel, starting up the boat once again, swimming through the gates and into Lake Town.
The man quickly found a dock to moor at. Veryan tossed the coat off of himself as the first barrel was kicked over by Bard, sending Nori falling out. He gently placed the coat near the steering wheel, and with a stabbing side, stumbled twords the other barrels, helping Bard flip them over.
"You didn't see them. They were never here" Bard whispered to the docks owner, handing him a couple of coins before ushering for the Dwarves to follow along.
Veryan was to follow, when he was sent falling to his knees when his side shrunk in on itself. Fili looked back, and with a quick nod of approval from Kili, jogged up to the boy and helped him stand, catching the two up with the group.
"Thank you, Fili..." Veryan murmured, not able to speak any louder. Fili however heard him perfectly, and threw a smile his way, as if to say it's no problem.
They walked through the busy streets of Lake Town, Bard edging them forward. "Halt! In the name of the Master of Lake Town" "Run! Go!" Thorin rushed them forward as the guard behind them shouted to halt once more.
Veryan kept up with the others as much as he could, ignoring his stabbing side only for the purpose of escaping. It wasn't long before the Dwarves were cornered, and were forced to fight back. Veryan grabbed a pot next to himself, and smashed it over one of the guards heads, sending the man collapsing to the ground unconscious. When all of the guards chasing them laid on the ground unconscious, the Dwarves did as much as they could to hide them. The townsfolk saw what they were doing, and quickly jumped in to help. Veryan kneeled down next to the brother's as Bard went out of his hiding place, cheerily greeting the head guard, Braga.
The two conversed for a bit. Bard even offered a shirt for Braga's wife, which the man got angry at, stomping away, his guards following him. Bard quickly came back to them and beckoned them out, leading them through the market area.
They stopped shortly as a young boy came running to them "Da! Our house, it's being watched"
Bard slightly froze up. He turned around and looked at the Dwarves and Hobbit "You go through the sewer system. You can enter through the bathroom in my house. You-" he pointed to Veryan "-will come with me. They won't suspect you since your a human. Just, walk behind me. They don't need to see your bloody side"
They all quickly agreed, not really having the option to say otherwise. Bard held Veryan's hand, so the other stayed close to him at all times. The male looked around as he was lead through the wooden bridge's across the town, finally climbing a flight of stairs and entering Bard's house.
Veryan let go of the other's hand as soon as they entered the house, sluggishly walking to the fire place they had and fell down to his knees, leaning on the wall just to clutch his side.
The two girls came running to their father, smiling whilst hugging him in the process. Their attention quickly averted to Veryan on the ground. Bard handed his bag to Sigrid, his oldest child, before looking out the window for any on viewers.
"Bain, get them in. Tilda, help Veryan onto the bed" Bain quickly hurried downstairs, as Tilda tentatively out stretched her hand for Veryan. The male politely smiled and let the youngest girl lead him to what was probably Bard's bed. He hissed in pain as his back met the bed, but he could finally let his muscles relax.
"Do you need anything?" Tilda shyly asked the older male in front of her. Veryan forced out a cheery smile as he waved his hand "Oh no, I'm quite alright little one. Don't worry about me"
Tilda nodded her head quickly and hurried off to her sister, pressing herself into her skirt. Veryan watched as the Dwarves piled up into the small home of Bard. The man handing out warmer clothes for them to wear.
"A Dwarvish windlance" Thorin spoke in amazement as he looked out the window.
"You look like you've seen a ghost" Bilbo commented as he looked between Thorin's face and the window.
Bard silently walked up to the lying Veryan, bringing out a medical kit with him. He gestured for the other to take of his shirt, and so the boy did, dropping his body down whence he did.
"This will take a long time to heal" Bard commented as he opened up the case, getting things ready.
Veryan chuckled "I'm a Wizard, Master Bard. I can heal myself as fastly as I want, the wound only has to be closed"
Bard didn't speak a thing as he worked on the male underneath him. Veryan did let out a couple of hisses and curses as he got stitched up, but kept still through out it all. Bard quickly finished up sowing up the wound, and stood up, over hearing Thorin speaking of the Black Arrow and how the arm of men missed to kill the dragon.
Tilda walked up to Veryan and handed him over a navy blue shirt, similar to his own "I thought this one fit your old one the best. It might be a little too big though"
Veryan gently smiled at the girl before him and sat up, the sting in his side already becoming manageable "Thank you, my Lady" he jokingly bowed his head, making the girl chuckle.
She skipped over to her sister once again as Veryan threw on the new shirt, strapping on the added pieces along side the hood. He looked over at his side, his violin and weapon laying there beside's him, not having noticed how he had taken them off. He threw on the violin back onto his back, and secured his weapon in place.
He stood up, a bit too quickly, as his head spun. But all in all he was good to stand once again, his magic doing the job, every second patching his wound little by little. He walked over to the group just as Bard plopped down a stash of weapons, but they were not to the liking of the Dwarves. The Dwarves took to arguing for a bit, before Bard mentioned the Iron armory.
The Dwarves agreed to head out now, but that idea was quickly shot down by Bard "Your not going anywhere"
Thorin turned to him, anger present in his eyes "What did you say?"
"There are spies watching this house and probably every dock and wharf in the town. You must wait till nightfall"
the Dwarves all quieted at that, and decided not to argue any further, knowing it would lead to no where.
Veryan watched out of the coner of his eye as Kili dropped onto one of the wooden stool's next to the door, pain written all over his face.
The male walked up to the Dwarf and plopped down next to his leg, placing a hand over it, chanting coming from his mouth.
"What are you doing?" Kili asked the other, puzzled.
Veryan smiled up at him "Soothing the pain. I have no way of fully healing anyone besides myself, so all i can do now with the little magic i have is try and make you feel better"
He went back to chanting, as Kili leaned back, humming a slow tune for the other.