As fast as Fili and Bofur could carry Kili, we walked through the streets towards the mayor's house. The closer we got, the more people we ran into. I went out of an alley and just saw the mayor about to go back into his house "Wait!" I shouted.
The man turned around and didn't seem particularly pleased to see us.
Fili looked at the mayor pleadingly "Please you have to help us." worriedly he looked at Kili who was only half conscious "my brother is sick."
Panicked, the mayor pulled out a handkerchief "Is it contagious. Go away!" he covered his mouth and nose with the cloth "Alfred don't let them come any closer!"
I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands into fists, how could anyone have so little compassion "Please, we need medicine for him!" I suppressed the urge to snap and set the mayor's hat on fire.
Alfred looked at us arrogantly "Do I look like a pill popper by any chance?" i took a deep breath in and out to calm myself "Haven't you had enough, the mayor has important business to attend to, he can't be bothered with sick dwarves!"
"You greedy, heartless....." I wanted to rush towards Alfred but was held back by a guard.
Alfred made a wave of his hand "Off with you, get out of here already!"
I bit my lip, Kili needed medicine. But the guards just pushed us away and I wouldn't be able to fight all twenty of them.
Frustrated, I hit a wooden wall so hard my hand left a hole "Selfish humans!"
"What do we do now?" Fili looked, discreetly, exasperated.
"Someone else will help us." How naïve Bofur was.
I shook my head "Never underestimate the selfishness of people." I kept my gaze silent over the crowd who just stared but made no move to help us "Take they can, but as soon as it comes to helping others, there are few who will do that without something in return." I ran my hand through my hair in exasperation "Put him down and keep him still, he must only move as much as is absolutely necessary." worriedly I looked at Kili who seemed to be more alert again but still contorted his face in pain "I'll ask around." with these words I turned and walked towards the crowds of people.

Kili was hanging between the other two dwarves and could barely walk on his own. I was desperate and at my wits end. No one had wanted to help us. Now we were on our way to the person I had the least hope would want to help us. But he was my last hope. I hurried up the rotten wooden stairs to Bard's home and banged on the door with my fist. I would not stop until he at least opened it.
The door was yanked open and Bard stuck his head out, his features contorted with rage "No, I've had enough of dwarves." he glared angrily at us " Go away!" he wanted to slam the door shut again.
As quickly as I could I put a foot in the door and pushed against it with my hands "No please!" I looked at him pleadingly "No one wants to help us." tears welled up in my eyes, Bard was my last hope but it looked like he wanted nothing to do with us either "Kili is sick." I took a step to the side and Kili came up behind me, he raised his head for a moment and then dropped it again "Very sick." I continued to look pleadingly at Bard.
In his eyes I saw an inner struggle going on inside him "All right come in!" he stepped aside and went to the back of the room "You can lay him down here." he pointed to the narrow bed.
Bofur and Fili laid him down, a pained groan escaping him. I took another quick breath "I need to look at the wound." I looked at Kili again before removing the bandage with nimble fingers. When I saw the wound I had to suppress a sob. Black tears had formed in the skin, a black viscous liquid was slowly oozing out of the wound and something about the wound looked strange " For Eru's sake, did you leave the arrowhead in the wound?" I gasped. I breathed in and out shakily "Bofur find me a bowl of water, metal if possible." the dwarf walked to the kitchen, I looked at Bard questioningly "do you have any towels you no longer need?"
"I'll see what I can find." Bard ran off, no trace of his hostility left, so there was good in this town after all.
"What are you going to do?" Fili held his brother's hand and didn't leave his side for a second.
I drew one of my daggers "I'll pull out his arrowhead." I flashed my hand and held the dagger over it to cleanse it of germs. I knew well that removing the arrowhead would not be enough, but I forced myself to take one step at a time.
Bofur came running with the water, almost at the same time Bard put some white cloths on the table next to the bed. I nodded to them both, heated the water a little and then dipped a cloth into the water. I had to clean the wound first so that I could see anything at all. As carefully as I could, I wiped Kili's blood and the black liquid from the wound. Kili's leg twitched from time to time, but otherwise he refused to react. When the leg was clean enough for me to see where Kili's leg ended and the arrowhead began I took my dagger.
"Hold him down," I asked Fili, Bofur and Bard. This was going to hurt a lot, and I couldn't remove the arrowhead if Kili threw himself around in pain, which he would undoubtedly do. The three of them held him as best they could.
I took another quick breath, then took my dagger and slid it into the wound. Ignoring Kili's screams as best I could, I used the dagger to push the arrowhead out of the leg enough to pull it out of the wound for good with my fingers. "It's all right, it's over," I tried to calm Kili a little, who was still stifling his screams.
I dropped the arrowhead carelessly on the table beside me and reached for the clean cloths and dabbed a little around the wound with them. "What kind of herbs do you have in the house? "I had to get the poisoning out of Kili's leg, as long as the fight in the Woodland Kingdom had been going on, I guessed he only had until evening, then he would be......no I couldn't even think about that.
Bard walked over to a shelf where there were smaller sachets "I have dog chamomile, sage....."
I bit my lips in frustration "That's no use to me, I need Atelas!" only the Atelas plant was strong enough to cure a Morgul poisoning.
The man looked at me uncomprehendingly. Hastily I searched my mind for the general term "Am." I snapped my fingers as if that would make it easier for me to think of "kingsfoil, I need kingsfoil!"Bard just shook his head "No that's tares, that's what we feed the pigs!"
I banged my head on the wall behind me, then looked at Bofur "Get me some of it as fast as you can." i took a few steps away from Kili so Fili wouldn't hear what i told the dwarf next "he won't have long without it." I couldn't stop a tear from dripping from my eye. I just couldn't lose him.
"I'll find some." Bofur walked out of the house and I saw him running and disappearing behind the next house.
I filled a bowl with ice water and took a rag, then went back to the bed, dipped the rag and put it on Kili's glowing forehead "It'll be alright."
Kili bit his lip to keep from crying out, his forehead shining with sweat, his coat and overshirt long since removed as we had to keep his temperature as low as possible until Bofur returned with the saving Atelas.
Suddenly he grabbed my hand and looked at me out of feverish glassy eyes "Leona?" was the only thing he said, as if he wasn't sure who he was looking at.
I forced myself to smile, even though another tear was dripping down my face "It's going to be all right," I repeated, whether I was doing it for Kili or for myself, I didn't know.