He was almost there. His hands brushed against the lever and relief surged through Kili as he grasped the metal that would save all their lives. In moments they would all be free. In moments –

A blade of coldest ice pierced into his leg and Kili staggered, a scream forcing its way past his throat as searing ice flooded his knee. He clapped a hand to the wound and gasped as his fingers closed around the slim shaft of an arrow. This was no Elf weapon or even one of the barbed arrows that Orcs sometimes used. His leg suddenly gave way and Kili fell forward with a scream, stone bruising his palms and chin as he failed to catch himself.

His leg was numb. Hands of ice gripped it and slowly crushed. Kili could feel the thin daggers of cold running through his veins and clawing up his thigh. He struggled to breathe, clawing at the stones to push himself upright. His hands. Why were they so cold? He could barely move his fingers and Kili thought that if he curled them too fast they would snap away.

Fili's hoarse screams sounded muffled in his ears. Dazedly Kili looked down, wincing as the river jumped out in bursts of white shadow. He saw Fili, frantic and terrified, but his features were wafted and distorted. Greyish hues sharpened in flickers of white and Kili cried out as his brother's face was overtaken by shadows. He flung an arm over his eyes to block out the clamorous jumble of greens and whites and browns, screaming against the pain and yearning for a moment of relief and silence.

Gnarled black hands grabbed his shoulders and hauled him upright. Kili moaned and squeezed his eyes shut as an Orc's face swam in his vision: leering and mocking and sneering at the young Dwarf's plight. A knife flashed in the Orc's hand and sliced along Kili's cheek. Howls rose up, clamoring and cheering for more blood to be shed.

Suddenly the hands gripping Kili were sliced away and his tormentor yowled before he fell back into the river. With a shrill cry Kili fell, his face drawn in agony as the numbness spiked from his foot to his hip. Blurred colors drifted in his vision and he blinked rapidly, struggling to breathe as the stone beneath him yawned up to swallow him.

Petite, wiry hands launched out and jerked the lever, permitting the other Dwarves to go free and take their chances among the Orcs. The Elves were cunning, but they were not cruel, and Tauriel would not allow their prisoners to be butchered against a cage like animals. The golden haired one had leapt out of his barrel during the commotion, and he now raced to his companion's side. He gripped the young Dwarf's shoulders, shaking him and shouting at him to stay awake and look at him.

Kili's eyes rolled back in his head and Tauriel knew they had moments to spare. She did not give the blond Dwarf a chance. Grabbing him by the back of his collar, she hefted him up and threw him over the opposite side. His protests were drowned out in splutters as he was swept downstream with the rest of his kin. Better he remain alive and separated than to remain with his friend and rot in Thranduil's dungeons. He should be thanking Tauriel for granting him his freedom.

She knelt by Kili's side, fearful of the greyish tinge of his face and the icy chill gripping his skin. Rarely had she seen this manner of wound in her lifetime, but Tauriel knew the young Dwarf did not have long. Legolas swung down by her side and the two exchanged a glance. Something flickered across his eyes and Tauriel imagined that perhaps it could have been … Wistfulness? Betrayal? She did not know…but she knew Thranduil would have scorned such fantasies. Then with a clipped nod Legolas darted after the Orcs, a handful of Elves following after him.

It would be too close, but Tauriel still had time. Tuvel would have athelas in plenty, and the wisened healer would know how to break the darkness gripping young Kili's soul. A Morgul Blade was deadly: shadow and ice wrapped up in a fiery poison that only meant certain death… or worse.

She still had time. It would be enough.

"You may not go with your friends…" Tauriel murmured, almost in apology as she gathered the unconscious Dwarf into her arms and turned back towards Mirkwood, "….But you will live. One day you will join them again."

Even if she had to defy the king himself, Tauriel would see to it. Kili would not remain alone. His mother would see him return home alive.