"All this talk of civil unrest; someone's been stirring the pot, sire." Alfred said as he was in the Master's bedchamber, and the Master had just woken up and was standing in his nightgown. Alfrid emptied the Master's chamberpot out a window. The Master groaned and moaned as he stumbled about, then sat down, rubbing his knees.
"Gah! Auh!"
"Gout playing up, sire?" Alfrid asked
"It's the damp. It's the only possible explanation. Now get me a brandy."
Alfrid moved to comply.
"The mood of the people, sire, it's turning ugly."
"They're commoners, Alfrid. They've always been ugly. It's not my fault that they live in a place that stinks of fish oil and tar. Jobs, shelter, food, that's all they ever bleat about."
Alfrid handed the Master a glass of brandy, and he drank it all in one shot.
"It's my belief, sire, they're being lead on by troublemakers."
"Then we must find these troublemakers and arrest them!" The Master said
Alfrid and the Master, who was now dressed, descended to the Master's study. The Master was drinking another glass.
"My thoughts exactly, sire."
"And all this talk of change must be suppressed. I can't afford to let them rebel, band together and start making noises. The next thing you know, they'll start asking questions, forming committees, launching inquiries." The Master growled
At his desk, the Master poured yet another tall glass of brandy.
"Out with the old, in with the new."
"What?"
"That's what they've been saying, sire. There is even talk of an election."
"An election!? That's absurd. I won't stand for it."
As the Master walked away, Alfrid spoke softly such that only he can hear.
"I don't think they'd ask you to stand, sire."
The Master opened glass doors and walked out onto his balcony, looking over Laketown. He muttered to himself.
"Shirkers. Ingrates. Rabble-rousers. Who would have the nerve to question my authority? Who would dare? Who....Bard. You mark my words, that trouble-making bargeman is behind all this."
.....
Meanwhile, Bard docked his barge. After looking around, he knocked over one of the barrels, and a dwarf fell out along with a pile of fish. Bard continued knocking over barrels. He reached for Dwalin's barrel, but Dwalin poked his head up through the fish.
"Get your hands off me."
The remaining dwarves and Bilbo struggled out of their barrels, looking greasy and slimy from the fish. The dock keeper looked on in shock. Bard approached him and slipped him a coin.
"You didn't see them, they were never here. The fish you can have for nothing."
Bard led the Company away.
"Follow me."
A woman working on a boat happened to look up and she saw the dwarves running through Laketown in the distance. She looked shocked.
As they strode through Laketown, Bard's son, Bain, ran up to Bard.
"Da! Our house, it's being watched.
Bard looked at Thorin and hatched a plan.
Bard and his son walked along back to their house. As they walked, a fisherman in a boat saw them and dropped his eyepatch over one eye, then knocked with his staff on a wall nearby. Upon this signal, two boys ran from the wall, and one knocked over a contraption which caused a hammer to hit a bell. At this signal, another man lit a match to light his pipe. He turned and looked at two men in a fishing boat right next to Bard's house, and they noded and switched their poles to the opposite sides of the boat than before. They did this just as Bard and Bain got to their house and entered through the door. Just before Bard entered, he tossed an apple to one of the fisherman.
"You can tell the Master that I'm done for the day."
Inside the house, Bard's daughters, Sigrid and Tilda, greeted their father.
"Da! Where have you been?" Tilda asked
"Father! There you are. I was worried." Sigrid said
Both daughters ran to their father, and they hugged. Bard then handed his bag to Sigrid.
"Here's something to eat. Bain, get them in."
He then turned to his daughters.
"Do we still have some Lotus flower powder?" He asked
Sigrid nodded.
"They are in the cabnet. Why?"
"Please go and fetch it. Tilda come here."
Sigrid ran towards the cabnet and grabbed a goldern brimmed draw-string bag. Running back to her father, she disposed of the bag in his hand.
Bard gave a nod in thanks. Pulling back his jacket revealing a shivering Draco, he placed her fragile body down on the old worn couch that was sitting by the fireplace.
Opening the draw-string bag he pulled out some of the herbs and began to crush it together to form a green paste that he then fed to Draco.
As Bard saw to Draco, Bain went down some steps to the lower floor of the house, which was open to the water. After looking around, he knocked on the wall near the toilet three times. Dwalin's head appeared through the toilet, which was open to the water below.
"If you speak of this to anyone, I'll rip your arms off." Dwalin growled
Dwalin raised the seat and began to pull himself out of the toilet. Bain reached out to help him, but Dwalin slapped his hand away.
"Get off."
"Up there." Bain said as he pointed up the stairs, and Dwalin went up. Bilbo poked his head up through the toilet, looking flabbergasted, and Bain helped him out. The rest of the dwarves followed and headed upstairs.
"Da...why are there dwarves climbing out of our toilet?" Sigrid asked
"Will they bring us luck?" Tori asked
Nori emerged from the toilet with some leaves stuck to his hair.
.....
The dwarves were all wrapped in blankets, and their wet things had been laid in front of the fire to dry. Some of them shivered. Draco lay in the arms of Thorin as he sat the closest to the fire in an attempt to warm her up and rise her temperature.
"It may not be the best fit, but it'll keep you warm." Bard said
Tilda passed out blankets, and Bilbo thanked her when he received one.
"Thank you very much." he said with a warm smile.
Thorin looked out a window and saw a wooden tower not far away. Atop the tower was a windlass, a giant cross-bow type weapon with four arms. Thorin looked at it in shock.
"A Dwarvish Wind-Lance."
Bilbo, who was sipping a hot drink from a mug, looked at the wind-lance too.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." Bilbo said worried
"He has. The last time we saw such a weapon, a city was on fire. It was the day the dragon came." Balin explained
Thorin looked sadly away as a flashback consumed him. He could still hear everything around him including Balin's narrating in the background.
-Flashback-
Smaug is attacking the city of Dale. He blows fire, destroying buildings.
"The day that Smaug destroyed Dale. Girion, the Lord of the city, rallied his bowman to fire upon the beast." Balin said
The city was in flames, but a man in armor, Girion, lead a group of archers in shooting at the flying dragon.
"But a dragon's hide is tough, tougher than the strongest armor. Only a black arrow, fired from a wind-lance, could have pierced the dragon's hide, and few of those arrows were ever made." Balin said
Girion ran to a rack holding three long, heavy, black arrows, each made of metal and at least 4 feet long, and grabbed one. He turned and loaded it into a Dwarvish Wind-Lance, and drew the arrow. He turned the wind-lance, aiming for the dragon. It was difficult to see the dragon because it was flying swiftly and because the air was full of smoke. Girion fired, and the arrow hurtled through the air. It hit the dragon in the chest but bounced harmlessly off.
"His store was running low when Girion made his last stand." Balin said
Girion grabbed another black arrow into the wind-lance and fired. This arrow too found it mark, but bounced off the dragon's chest.
-End of Flashback-
"Had the aim of Men been true that day, much would have been different."