Chapter 10: Rescue mission

Tracking the warg wasn't as easy as it seemed to be after their first impression. While they had the general direction the beast had been running away from, as well as several reports from dwarrows, elves and humans who had watched as the warg had crossed the battlefield from afar. They had lost track of it in the muddied chaos of the overthrown earth, between hundreds of other paw-prints that had torn into the ground. Kíli who served as the tracker in the group quietly cursed up a storm whenever his newest lead cut off once again.

It was slow going, much too slow for Kíli's liking since every minute that passed could mean Bilbo's death, but there was no other option. If they rushed their search, they ran risk of overlooking an important detail. It would only cost them more time if they ran after a false trail after all and had to double back to see where the real one actually was.

Once they passed the battlefield and had determined from accounts of eye-witnesses that they were indeed on the correct path, it got easier and since the beast seemed to be heading in an almost straight line, they strapped their gear on tight and allowed themselves to pick up their pace. If it jostled his still injured arm every now and then, Kíli carefully kept the pain off his face. The last thing he wanted was for someone to get overprotective over the youngest member and second prince and send him back. It had been bad enough when Thorin had left him behind in Laketown.

The company was unusually grim and silent. Determined expressions warred with concern and the stubborn wish for them to either make it in time to save their hobbit or deal out a vengeance that would be remembered by their foes. If any survived that is.

Kíli couldn't bring himself to make jokes right this time. He felt in debt to the hobbit for what he had done, when he had stood up to Thorin with a bravery the entire company had not thought him capable of when he had run after them at the beginning of their journey. Not only that, but his own inaction weighed heavily on his mind, and the young prince was sure his companions shared that guilt.

They pressed on. Nobody had to say it but they were all pushing themselves hard to gain as much ground as they could. Kíli despaired that they couldn't have taken some mounts, but it would have attracted unwanted attention to their rescue team and they hadn't wanted to risk getting delayed. Not for explanations, nor arguments, nor anything else. Kíli had hesitated for a moment before he had deemed the risk too great. The war-goats were well guarded, impossible to get to without drawing attention and having to disclose their plan of trying to rescue a perceived traitor to Erebor and the crown.

No. Worst case Dain would have them detained until Thorin woke up and could right things – if Thorin still was of sound mind and did indeed wake up with his memories intact – which would have led to a lot of time being wasted.

That's why they were now stuck chasing a warg on foot. And from the looks of it the beast was rather fast, faster even since it didn't seem to have a rider.

More worrying were the traces of other wargs and orcs, stragglers from the battle or cowards that had run off before the end. Kíli had made a few tense signs in Iglishmêk the secret hand-language of their people to the rest of the members of his party to make them aware of the possibility of either a trap or an ambush. Better for all of them to keep their eyes open. To his slight relief the plains were rather open, they would see the orcs coming from rather far away. At the same time this presented the problem that they were rather vulnerable too and could also be easily spotted from a distance, making the terrain rather risky to cross.

Every now and then Kíli took a closer look at either the ground or the sky. He had to keep them on the right track after all. His lips pressed firmly together as the signs of wargs increased, his brow furrowing in anger and concern. He stepped forward and crouched on the ground, tracing the one print on the ground that stood out to his eyes and made a small smile twitch in his slowly coming beard.

"Who do you know that would run around barefoot when it's nearly winter...?" he looked up at his companions who quickly gathered around and muttered to each other.

"Mahal's beard." Bofur pulled at the flaps of his ears and Kíli wondered if he wanted to pull it over his eyes in worry or just needed something solid to hold onto "The lad is still alive?"

They had almost lost hope to find him alive but that little footprint made by the warmth of the hobbit's sole that had melted the light frost covering the ground in glittering beauty... it was proof.

By now it was already rather dark. They had continued to push themselves until even their eyesight had difficulties making out details but with the rising moon they had managed to walk for two more hours after the sunset.

Excitement bubbled up in Kíli and he took a step forward, legs trembling. They had a solid lead and it might actually bring them straight to Bilbo. A hand curled around his arm and stopped him in his tracks.

"What?!" he turned around to face Nori with a frown.

"We should stop." The thief said, eyeing their surroundings with beady-eyed suspicion.

"Why?" Kíli freed his arm and pointed at the footprint "We have a clear lead! By morning new frost could have covered it, or worse snow could begin to fall and where would we be then?"

"Lad." Bifur – it was still strange to hear the dwarf talk – stepped forward "We are all exhausted. We need rest and food, or we will only end up as some game for the next orc that crosses our path."

Kíli had to concede they did have a point, especially since his legs felt like they wanted to fold beneath him if only he put aside his stubborn pride and allowed the fatigue to take over. Frustrated Kíli gnawed his teeth together and blinked rapidly at the evidence of Bilbo's survival. His arm throbbed painfully as he clenched his hands into fists.

"We are going to loose the trail." He said, blinking up at the rest of the company who looked as unhappy as Kíli felt, if not even sympathetic and uneasy. Kíli pressed his uninjured hand to his eyes until spots of light danced in his vision, sucking in a few trembling breaths to compose himself before he straightened his back and pressed his mouth into a firm line. He couldn't, he knew he couldn't push them further. They were still weary from the battle and they had pushed themselves almost all day with little to no rest. His companions were right, if they wanted to stand a chance to save Bilbo if he was indeed in a tight spot, they would need to be in fighting condition and right now it was not looking good for them.

"We will rest. A few hours, enough to get a nap to sleep and some substance into our belly." Kíli decreed reluctantly "We will have some who need to watch anyways. If it starts to snow we will set out straight away again."

Mumbles of agreement met his words and Kíli felt his shoulders relax. Quickly they set out to find a more sheltered and defensible spot and settled down for a short break.

Kíli couldn't help that his gaze always trailed back to the first sign of life they had found of Bilbo. They were getting closer. He couldn't help but feel as if the break might still cost them the chance to save Bilbo though.

A/N:

Sorry that it took so long. I had that chapter mostly ready and planned to update sooner but life is just... life. I'm honestly not sure when I will write more. I had planned to get on with writing a lot more due to my new job but... well.
I thought that with a new job my life would finally smooth out and I could have a break from all the bad stuff happening around me. The last two years have been taxing since my dad died in a car accident.
A few days ago my mother had been diagnosed as terminally ill. So... yeah. That's been... not good at all as I'm not dealing well with that.
I'll write when I can but honestly, it's not a priority for me. Sometimes it distracts me, but between learning for my new job, going to the hospital/helping my mother/keeping the apartment there is not as much time for it as I had planned. I mean, my updates already were irregular at best. I will not give the story up but the next chapter(s) will probably take a long time. Or maybe really fast as writing is as much a comfort to me as reading.
Fact is I don't know when I will update so don't worry about the story...! It will continue someday whenever I feel like it.