The river washed them all away. The current taking the party away from the Orcs and the elves and towards the lake. By the time they had gotten out of the rapids and were able to paddle towards the banks, Luin was exhausted both physically and mentally. The spell he had preformed the night before and the constant chaos since had left him shaking like a newborn lamb. Limbs weak and numb. He was barely able to cling on to the side of Dwalin's barrel. The dwarf having to keep a hold on his collar to stop him slipping away.

The water was now calm enough and there were no orcs to be seen. Thorin called for them to paddle to shore. They did so with grumbled groans. Luin ended up half crawling up the rock before collapsing onto his back, breathing heavily. Around him, the dwarves began hauling the barrels up the bank. They were all bruised and battered by the river journey. Luin ached from more than just his joints.

"What do we do?" Dori asked Thorin once all the barrels were on shore. "We have no weapons, no equipment, no food".

"We have to keep going", Bilbo answered, panting. He was in almost as bad shape as Luin. Both of them had no barrels and had been at mercy of the rapids and the rocks. But the hobbit was standing up and trying the squeeze the excess water out of his coat. "I mean", he continued. "The mountain is so close now. We've got to keep going". He gestured towards the lake a quarter of a mile away. A river town floated in the centre, a structure of wood and bright lights, beyond which the mountain of erebor looked like a dark shadow. The darkening sky making it loom over them.

"We'll continue to lake town", Thorin stated. "Try and gather supplies there. We shall rest here for a bit, try and salvage anything from the fight".

Luin sighed and tried to push himself upright onto his elbow, meaning to get to his feet. Something in his chest gave a spasm of pain and he fell back with a groan. He winced and pressed a hand to his side. It felt sticky and wet. He was bleeding. Luin couldn't even recall how he got injured. There had been so much going on. The water, the orcs, the arrows, the elves. Why was he injured? When did it happen? It hurt. The pain, held back by adrenaline and fear, hit him like battering ram. It blazed under his hand and he gave a choked cry.

Gloin and Dwalin were the closest and they rushed to his side as he gave another groan of pain. "Are you okay lad?" Dwalin asked. He spotted Luin's red hand. Gloin pushed it back to get a closer look at the wound. His blue tunic was darkened with blood and ripped. A long deep slice was carved into the side of Luin's chest. It was ragged round the edges, and the surrounding skin was bruising colourfully. It stretched from below his arm round and down to the bottom of his rib cage. It was a severe cut, having been torn and scrapped against wood and rocks from their journey through the river. With no supplies, it could get infected and turn deadly. Normally, even in their current circumstances, Luin would be able to concentrate energy from his golden core to the area and lessen blood flow and assist healing. But he was currently in no fit state to do so. Magic and Qi still sapped from his body.

"Hey", Gloin raised his voice to get the other's attention. "Luin's injured". Fili, who was supporting Kili, hobbled over. Kili was obviously injured as well. Fili had pulled a broken arrow shaft out of his calf and tossed it back into the river. The young dwarf didn't seem too bad yet. His wound wasn't bleeding as much as Luin's was. Fili had one of Kili's arms around his shoulders and was helping his brother to keep his weight off of it. He set Kili down next to Luin. Both of them exchanged grim grimaces of pain.

The rest of the dwarves gathered around. Luin could make out the sounds of nervous chatter and tried to focus. Everything was blurry around the edges. He severely hoped the wound didn't have poison, although it was probably just his exhaustion taking its toll. He had not had to do such a large scale spell in decades. He forgot how much it took out of him.

"My case", he mumbled. Fili heard and quickly shushed everyone. "Money and supplies in my case", Luin repeated. His guqin case was lying next to him on the rock. It was scratched and battered. Most of the black paint was peeling off and one corner was splintered. Balin was the nearest to it. The old dwarf flicked the catches and pulled it open.

Luin sighed in relief to see that his guqin was unharmed. It gleamed damply as Balin moved it gently aside. Underneath were several rolls of wet cloth and a few leather bags. They clinked with coin as they were moved aside. Balin began passing rolls of bandages over to Fili and Gloin. Fili began bandaging his brother's leg while the other dwarves concentrated on Luin.

"Where did you get those?" Balin asked as Dwalin helped pull Luin into a seated position. Luin let out a cry of pain as he was moved. The action caused more blood to spill out onto the rock below. The place where he had been lying already marked with a streak of red. He leaned back heavily on the big dwarf as Ori helped Gloin pull up his tunic.

"Stole the bandages from a healing room in the palace when I was looking for the dungeons", Luin grunted as Gloin began winding the wet material around his chest in an effort to stop the bleeding. He hissed at the sharp pain it brought. "Swiped the gold bags off of sleeping elves at the feast", luin grimaced. He had nicked the bags from a few of the rich elf guests the night before. One of them was from Legolas' belt. The poor sleeping prince had woken up with no coin on his belt. Luin giggled at the mental image, the laughter slightly manic from pain.

A few of the dwarves chuckled. "We'll make a dwarf out of you yet", Dori commented cheerfully. Lupin smiled weakly at the praise. He gasped, trying to to scream as Gloin tightened the bandages and knotted it securely.

"It's not much but it's the best we can do", he said with a frown. "We'll have to get better medical supplies in lake town".

"Do you think you can stand?" Ori asked with a worried expression. Luin gritted his teeth and nodded. Apart from the wound and a lot of pretty harsh bruises, he didn't think there was any other injuries to be concerned about. Luckily no broken bones. The main problem was his lack of magic. It left him weak and slow, tired and defenceless. The dwarves helped him to his feet.

A shadow appeared on the rock above. A male figure holding a bow. The dwarves hurriedly scrambled for weapons. Kili grabbed a thick branch but fell back as an arrow embedded into it's surface. He dropped it with a yelp.

"Do it again and you're dead", the man hissed. Luin stumbled and the man turned, raising his bow threateningly. He paused as he took in the way Luin was holding himself and the blood on his clothes. Luin brushed his black hair out of his face and slowly sat down on the rocks again.

"Excuse me", the man pointed his bow at Balin. The old dwarf raised his hands in a no threatening gesture and stepped forwards slowly. "But you're from laketown if I'm not mistaken. Um, that barge over there". He gestured to further down the river where the tail end of a barge was visible. "Would it be available for hire by any chance?"

The bowman lowered his bow. "Help me with the barrels and we can discuss", he instructed. With the bow lowered, Luin was able to take a look at his face. He was tall and dark haired, quite handsome for his middle age. He had a stern and angry look to him that reminded Luin of Thorin. Apart from Dwalin and Fili, who were supporting Kili and Luin, the dwarves obediently began rolling their barrels down the bank. The man had them line them up on a small wooden Getty where his boat was tied up.

"What makes me think I would help you?" The man asked as he began loading the barrels on to his barge.

"Those boots had seen better days", Balin replied, "and that coat. I have no doubt that you have some hungry mouths to feed. How many?"

The man looked at him for a moment. "A boy and two girls".

"And your wife, I imagine she's quite the beauty?" Balin continued.

The man paused, back turned to them. Luin watched the desolate sag of his shoulders. "Aye, she was". Balin's smile fell.

"Ah come on, enough of the niceties", Thorin growled. The man stopped and looked at them. Luin stood as tall as he could as the man's gaze flickered over him, Dwalin keeping a arm around his waist to steady him.

"What's your hurry?" He asked. "I would like to know who you are".

"As we are but simple merchants, journeying to see our kin in the iron hills", Balin smiled.

"We need supplies, weapons, food", Thorin interrupted. He stepped forwards dominantly. "Can you help us?"

The man stopped and turned one of the barrels to face them. It was splintered and chipped from orc and elf arrows. Thorin eyed it nervously. "I know where these barrels came from. I don't know what business you had with the elves", the man smirked, "but I don't think it ended well. No one enters lake town but by leave of the master. All his wealth comes from trade from the woodland realm. He would see you die before risking the wrath of king Thranduil".

"I'll wager that there are ways to enter the town unseen", Balin called hastily. The man paused as he began to untether the boat.

"Aye but for that you'd need a smuggler".

"Which we'll pay, double".

The man rose and turned to look at them. "Give him the bags from my case", Luin instructed, voice weak. He coughed and pressed a hand to his side as the injury throbbed. Ori hastily opened the case and threw one of the bags at the man's feet. It opened and gold coins spilled out.

"There's more where that came from", Balin said quickly. "And our friends are injured. We need to get to laketown".

The man scooped the bag and coins up and tucked it into his belt. He smiled at them as he walked over and stood next to Luin. "Welcome aboard. Let me help you". He threw Luin's arm over his shoulder as all the dwarves boarded the barge. Luin was set down on a pile of ropes, where he collapsed in a heap as the boat set sail out onto the lake.