To Love a Half-Blood (A Kili Fanfic)

Chapter 34: More Horrid Fish

 Swiftly becoming sick of dwelling on tragic things, the hobbit and I light a torch and decide to explore Erebor for a little while. We wander for a while in silence, taking a left, then a right, down stairs, over bridges. The floors and walls are polished smooth as glass and I run my fingers over the stone as we walk.

"To think it is so beautiful, even after all these years..." Bilbo mutters.

"Yes, but I am not a lover of captivity." I reply.

More solemnity. Suddenly, Bilbo stops walking.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Do you hear that? It sounds like water."

I pause.

"I hear it now! It sounds as though its coming from down that way."

And so, lacking anything better to do, my companion and I begin following the sound of the water, away from the treasure-trove and down into older caverns. The air gets mustier and the passage narrower until it finally stops at the foot of a slippery stair case. I hold the torch out to get a better look at what is bellow us.

"Well here we are Me-Lady. An underground river." Bilbo announces.

His voice echoes. Peering into the murky water I can make out wriggling shapes.

After a moment's observation the hobbit exclaims,"Fish! There's fish! Wouldn't Thorin and the rest be pleased if we brought something decent to eat?"

I nod in agreement and we go about trying to catch a few. It was not as difficult as I expected, the creatures were apparently blind and so long as we didn't disturb the water before hand, we could just pluck them out of the river.

We spend several hours at the river when another sound catches our attention. A muffled horn. Perhaps the dwarves of the iron hills have arrived. Quickly collecting our things, we scramble to see what is going on above us. As we climb the stairs, another bellow from a horn echoes through the halls. We pick up our pace. We are nearly half way back when the scraping noise begins. Its so loud I drop my bag to cover my ears. It permeates the walls and the entire passageway shakes. Then, all is silent. Blibo picks up the bag. Eager to escape from the now rickety-feeling hallways, we set out at a dead run. The scraping starts again, but this time louder, and with more force. Dust falls from the century-old ceilings as we clamber up the worn stairs. Then the booming starts. So loud that it knocks me to my knees. Rocks cascade from the ceiling behind us. I run as fast as I can but Bilbo isn't keeping up. I grab his hand and drag him along. I can see the newer, sturdier passage up ahead.

We're almost there.

I trip over a fallen rock. Bilbo and I huddle together, covering our heads just in time as the passage collapses.

When I open my eyes, everything is black. Our torch has gone out.

"Bilbo, are you okay?" No response. "Bilbo?! Are you hurt?" I call, louder this time. Still nothing.

I try to explore my surroundings as best I can by feel. Going forward met me with a pile of rubble, I feel around but I cannot find an opening. Then I methodically crawl backwards, running my hands over the ground, calling for Bilbo. After several minuets, my hand touches something warm.

Bilbo!

Upon further inspection I find the warm something to be the hobbit's arm. I follow it up to his chest, and lay my ear over what I guess to be where his heart is.

Ba-dum, ba-dum.

He's alive. Thank god he's alive. What's wrong with him?

I can't see and it makes it extremely difficult to determine what is wrong with my hobbit friend.