They cheered up at the sight of the Lonely Mountain, but then Kíli looked around searching for Ellen, as she was not with the group and he was sure she saw her riding an eagle too. He saw her sitting on the stone ground with her head down, pale, embracing herself by the waist.
“Ellen!” He ran to her. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head.
“I’ve got an arrow, the leather corselet held most of the damage, but I think I’m bleeding.” She held up her right hand, and it was smeared with blood. He urged her to lay down.
“How did it happen? I was close to you all the time!”
As if being at one’s side could create a force shield around them, Ellen thought.
“The orc archer pointed to your back, then I ran.” She stated, simply.
“Are you crazy? You could have been killed!”
“There was no time for anything, too much noise to warn you, I thought I could defend us with my swords as I saw you doing back at the goblins’ den. But it seems the orc arrows fly faster than the goblins’.” She smiled weakly. “It is a little more than a scratch, I deem. The point wasn’t even hooked, it fell down when I touched it.”
The others came to see what was happening, and Óin looked worried.
“Sometimes their arrows are poisoned. We must clean this wound as soon as possible. The eagles will come back to carry us down, Gandalf said they are counseling among themselves deciding how far their help will go. Let the blood wash out the wound, it is better to shed some blood than to keep any poison inside of you.”’
Lily helped to take off the leather corselet as to give her more comfort to breathe and let the wound open to bleed. It was far more than a little scratch, by the way.
“I’m so sorry, Aunty, my first aid kit was in the backpack, and it was all lost inside the mountain.”
“I will be fine, but I’m worried about Thorin. What if that bloody warg had the rabies? And his wounds are far more than mine, I deem.”
“Yes, it worries me, too. Animal bites tend to fester, they must be very neatly cleansed and I should find something that can prevent infection.”
“And a painkiller, too, for them both.” Complemented Óin.
Kíli caressed Ellen’s forehead, worried.
“You are bleeding too much for a wound this size. How are you feeling?”
She pressed his hand against her face and winced a smile. “Have been better!”
“Hmm, it cannot be willow bark tea for you, then; it favors bleeding.” Stated the dwarf-lass.
“Are you a healer, Aunty Lily?” Asked Kíli.
“Aunty is your past, your brat!” She knocked his head. “Well, I’m a curious. Father is biologist and loves botany, he prefers to use medicinal plants than allopathic medicines, so we have a lot of them at home, and I learned how to use them.”
“What is an allopathic medicine?”
Lily laughed and tried to explain.
“Hmm, salves and potions made with the things the plants and other things have that can cure diseases, but don’t have the whole of the plant in it. I think I can’t explain any better. Me and Óin will see Thorin now, if he lets us.”
He was in pain, but stubborn enough to want to wait until the eagles took them away from there. It was soon, and they gave them a smooth flight to the feet of the rocks where they had their own nests. There was a stream nearby, where the men got to replenish themselves with water and cleanse as they could. Not all of them had water bags with themselves when the goblin trap opened, but some had, and brought water back to the makeshift camp. The elf was thirsty, and Kíli gave her water in small sips, as Gandalf told him to, cradling her head in his lap. Lily went with Thorin to the stream bank to help him to wash the warg bite, what he refused, grumpy.
“I can bathe myself, woman.”
She smiled as she helped him to take off his cloak and hauberk.
“I’m sure you can, but I want to make sure your wounds are thoroughly clean, you wouldn’t want them to fester.”
“Why are you smiling?”
She smiled more.
“It is the first time you call me woman instead of kid, child, girl. I smile because I liked it.” Lily helped him with his tunic, thorn in some places and badly stained with blood. He winced when some of the wounds tore open from the movement. “Bathe yourself while I get some herbs nearby, they I’ll come to wash your wounds.”
“I’ll whistle for you to know you can come.” He took the tunic from her hand and caressed her hair, kissing her gently. “I may have called you woman, but until the right time comes you will be treated by me as a maiden.”
Lily blushed like a teenager and went away along the margin, thinking when would that right time come. After a bend of the stream she found what she was looking for, a patch of wild iris plants. She dug some roots out and washed them in the stream. Somewhat ahead she cut some willow inner bark, and in her way back collected marigold, ceanothus and wormwood flowers. She was already going back when she heard a low pitched whistle.
Thorin was seated on a flat stone near the stream bank, wearing only his trousers, barefoot, and his tunic laid washed on the grass beside him to dry out. His hair was damp, and he was running his fingers along them for untangling. Lily put her plants close to his tunic and started to pick the ceanothus flowers from its stems.
“How do the wounds feel?”
“I’m trying to ignore them.” He winced when she touched one of the gashes. “But you are not making it any easier.”
The dwarf-lass rubbed the flowers in her hands along with a little water from the stream until a mild foam developed, then she used it to wash the wounds at his back. She felt him shuddering when she touched the largest of them, where the fangs had got him, thinking that if it weren’t for his hauberk it would have been far worse. She couldn’t help but smell his male scent beyond the light lilac fragrance; she washed the lather away and begun to make more ceanothus foam.
“So my lily flower is using her sisters to heal me, is it so?”
She smiled.
“More than you can imagine! That ones are iris roots, if you want to know.”
“What will you do with hobbit feet to me?”
He tried to joke to forget the pain. Lily laughed while rubbing her hands.
“I’ll smash them into a poultice to keep your wounds from festering. It is not what I’d use if I had my first aid kit with me, but it is the best I’m able for the moment. May I…?”
She knelt close to his left side with the lather in her hands. He pulled his hair to his back so not to hinder her, and leaned back exposing his chest.
Along with the gashes there was a lot of angry purple bruises to be seen underneath his chest hair. Lily touched them gently, focusing in to cleanse the wounds with the ceanothus foam, but it was disturbing to run her hands along his well defined muscles and still keep her mind on healing issues. His skin was hot from the sun, and she felt his chest move to his breathing. Her fingers couldn’t help but play with his curly chest hair while she washed away the blood stained lather; then she couldn’t resist any more, her hand reached for his lightly damp hair and her mouth found his. Thorin was responsive, sitting upright to free his hands and caress her shoulders, their breath getting heavier. She caressed his unwounded right side, then he took her hand in his, kissed her palm lightly and spoke with a hoarse voice.
“Do not light a flame that we can not quench.”
She looked at him, looking confused.
“I’m sorry, you must be in pain, I shouldn’t have…”
He kept her hand in his, holding it tight.
“Pain is nothing in comparison to my hunger.” His eyes shone dangerously, his breath still heavy. “I swore to myself I would treat you like a damsel until things are settled and the right time comes, because you are a young flower who deserves to be treated the right way; but if you tempt me this way again I will not be responsible for my deeds. “
Lily blushed.
“I’m sorry...”
“Don’t be!” Thorin hurried to say. “But don’t forget I’m not a human boy like the ones you knew back in your world; I’m a dwarf man, and my feeling is strong.” He let her hand go. “Go back to the camp, I’ll follow as soon as I cool down.”
She kissed him lightly, took her plants and headed to the camp to prepare her potions.
ooo000ooo
“Do we have any kettle to boil some water?”
Lily asked Bombur, the kitchen lieutenant.
“Not really, lass. Everything lost in that bloody goblin den.”
“Any mug, pan, pot, anything?”
“I fear there’s really nothing. The eagles brought some mutton for us to eat, but we are roasting them, no way of cooking anything.”
She looked down at the herbs she collected.
“What a pity. I had to at least steep these plants to get their medicine out.”
“What do you have there?” Asked Óin. He was happy for having someone in the Company that shared his interest in healing; he was getting old and it would be good to have someone to pass his knowledge on.
“Some marigold flowers, for washing the wounds, as they are antiseptic and help the wound to heal faster; they would be good both for Thorin and Ellen, and for anyone who has got a wound; willow bark for painkilling; and wormwood flowers for poisoning, as we don’t know if my aunt’s arrow wound was poisoned or not. But the flowers have to be steeped, and the willow bark should be boiled. It doesn’t have to be a big pan, just enough to boil a cup of water.”
Fíli approached her with a guilty look in his face.
“Aunty, would a can the size of a tuna can be enough?”
“Besides aunty is your beard, yes, that would be enough.”
The blond dwarf put his hand in a pocket and produced an empty tuna can.
“Then I hope this will help.”
Lily looked stunned at the perfectly sized tuna can.
“Where did you get it? And why?”
Fíli shuffled his feet on the ground.
“Well, back at the goblin’s porch Iris said that were the last tuna cans forever, and I thought of getting one of them as a memento.” Lily looked startled at him. “Not of the tuna, but of her.” He hurried to explain. “I know this Little Sister of mine will have to go back to her own world, when we find the Gate at Erebor. Not that I, or Kíli, like the idea, but we know this is the most probable thing to happen. We have already been blessed to have a Little Sister for some time, we are grateful, but we will miss her. So I took the tuna can as a keepsake of her.” He shuffled a little more, looking down at his feet. “To have some medicine for Uncle and Ellen is more important than any relic. Take it.”
The dwarf-lass took the empty tuna can in her hands and bowed low.
“Thank you, Fíli. I will have to burn its varnish before I steep in the medicine, but after I use it I’ll turn it back to you, be sure.”
ooo000ooo
With Óin’s approval, Lily made the marigold petals infusion and cleansed Thorin and some others’ wounds with it; then she put it to heat again and added the wormwood flowers, to wash the elf’s arrow wound. Her aunt was already getting feverish, but granted she would be fine, that she just was thirsty; the wound bled no more, just oozed out a yellowish water. Bombur helped her to bend a large tree leaf to hold the wormwood infusion that was left to use it later, then she used the same tuna can to boil a willow bark decoction as a painkiller for Thorin.
The poultice made him feel more comfortable, and he went to sleep after eating some mutton; Ellen had more thirst than hunger and ate little, urged to it by Dwalin’s command of “you must eat properly”, which to him meant to eat meat, and got into an uneasy sleep. Kíli kept at her side, washing the sweat from her face and arms with a wet handkerchief Arwen gave to Bilbo back at Imladris. Both Fundin’s sons were worried about her and went to talk to Gandalf.
“Will our Little Sister be all right? Her fever is so high, what can be done?”
The old wizard looked at them and puffed his pipe.
“Nothing more than Lily and Óin have done and Kíli is already doing. It is no more in our hands. Her body is fighting any poison that might be left, and that is why she is so feverish. “
Dwalin looked down at his fists, powerless.
“A fever can kill.”
“Yes, but this time your sister in an elf. She might die slain in battle, or out of grief, but no illness or poison will take her away from you. She may become weak for some time, tough.”
ooo000ooo
The long corridor was empty, and the electronic timed lights went out as she passed them. The door in front of her had no identification, which was identification enough. She knocked and waited. The door opened by itself, to a spacious carpeted office. The window to her right looked into nothing but another building. An obnoxious artificial palm tree to her left had dust on its leaves. The Human Resources Director sat in his armchair on the other side of the table, his black Armani suit matching his long black hair. She was left standing in front of him.
“You are fired.” He stated, simply.
“No, I am not!” She dared. “You cannot fire me, we are in the middle of a project.”
“The project wasn’t even yours in the beginning, you came in later. Now you will go out of it and it will flow as it should from the start.”
“But I have people of my own crew working on it...”
“They will go on without you, they don’t need you.”
“Thank you for your praise, you know a good leader when things go on smoothly when he is not there to supervise. Then, why are you firing me?”
Thorin straightened his silken tie and looked directly at her.
“You hurt yourself badly with no purpose. You put the whole project in jeopardy by your actions.”
“It was a work accident!”
“It was self-inflicted damage!” He hit the desk with his fist. “You jumped in front of a co-worker and got hit by the forecasted statistics!”
“What would you me do, let your own nephew get killed by the weight of the budget? There was no schedule for it, I had to do something at once, else the competitor would eat up his market share!”
He lowered his voice dangerously.
“I will hold you responsible for any loss in productivity.”
“Ask the Total Quality team about me. It is not from me that bankruptcy will come.”
“Are you still loyal to the Company?”
“For as long as my work contract goes, and beyond.”
“I will tell the shareholders.”
ooo000ooo
An extenuated Ellen woke up from her delirium to find herself held by a weary Kíli that caressed her hair and murmured that she would be all right.
“I had a nightmare.” She said softly to him, her eyes glazing no more. He nodded, but said nothing. “I’m thirsty.”
“Are you feeling better?” He asked while she drank.
“I think so. Sleep. I’ll wake you up if I need.”
“Your fever seems to be over.” He swept the damp handkerchief on her face. “I will be right here at your side, if you allow.”
“If my brothers don’t mind, it would be like heaven to me.”
Then she kissed him lightly and curled herself to his chest, to find the rest they could before down.
Tópico: [Fanfic 4, cap. 16] Loyalty, Honor etc - A Nest to Rest (Lida 5849 vezes)