The current had long since disappeared, our barrels were only slowly bobbing along.
In front of us was the mouth where the river flowed into the lake. To our right was a piece of land that jutted into the river, it was stony here and there, tufts of grass peeking out. I held on to the edges of my barrel, occasionally paddling a bit with a stick I had picked up on the way.
Bofur emerged from the barrel beside me, spat out a gush of water and looked behind us "I think we lost them."
I guess we had, but now that we were no longer in mortal danger, now that the adrenaline was leaving my body the pain in my back came back. My blouse stuck to my body and my hair hung wetly in my face, I just wanted to get to land.
"Not for long." Thorin paddled a little with a stick " without current. Everyone head for the shore."
He didn't have to tell me twice, I started paddling and moved towards the shore. The first to reach the shore was Kili, he took a few steps until his injured leg gave way making him groan and drop to his knees. Fili ran to him and began to bandage his wound.
With a jerk I shifted my weight forward and the barrel tipped over. I crawled out of the barrel on all fours onto the stony ground. Stones dug into my palms, I pushed myself off the ground and took a few shaky steps until I came to sit on one of the larger stones.
"Get up!" Thorin's robe was soaking wet just like the others' "We have to keep going."
Fili's blond hair fell in his face "Kili's leg needs binding."
"You have two minutes." Thorin walked over to Balin to advise what to do next.
I tightened my legs a bit held my hands in front of my face and tentatively tried to create fire. To my delight it worked. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, I whirled around and saw a man standing in the shadows aiming an arrow at Nori.
Dwalin leapt in front of our youngest dwarf with a stick in his hand. Faster than I could blink, an arrow was in the stick and Kili was shot out of the stone he was about to throw.
I jumped up and set my hands on fire, which would certainly have looked more impressive if I hadn't felt dizzy and collapsed on the ground. I guess I was more debilitated than I realised after all.
"Do that again and you're dead!"
I raised my head, the man had shoulder length brown hair, the coat and boots he wore had clearly seen better days.
Balin raised his hands and walked slowly towards the man "Excuse me but if I'm not mistaken are you from the lake town?" the man pointed at the white haired man which didn't seem to scare the dwarf much "That barge you have there isn't for hire by any chance?" Balin pointed to a boat moored a few metres away.
The human sighed and lowered his bow. Without another word, he turned his back on us, tied the barrels together and pulled them towards his boat. Immediately Balin and the others ran after him. Kili was a bit slower than the others, he was limping rather badly. I pushed myself up from the ground again when someone grabbed my hand and put it over his shoulder, a glance to the side told me it was Bofur.
"Before you say you can walk yourself, no you can't!" the dwarf stifled my protest at its core.
I nodded in agreement, for I was already feeling dizzy again. Bofur led me to the jetty next to which was a large rock on which Kili was already leaning, not putting any weight on his shot leg. I leaned next to him and knotted the loose ends of my blouse so that my scars were halfway covered.
Balin, meanwhile, was negotiating with the bargeman "Surely you can get to the maritime city unseen?"
The man laughed and threw Balin a rope, "Yes, but you'd need a smuggler for that."
"And we'll pay him double," Balin Schell added, "because we absolutely had to get out of here, we needed clothes, food and weapons, otherwise we'd be dead within the next hour.
Weighing it up, the brown haired man looked at us "Alright." he stepped away from the entrance of the boat "Come aboard."
Relief was evident on everyone's face as we stepped onto the boat. It was good that the bargeman was there because I could already hear the orcs roaring in the distance.
"Put this on!" our rescuer threw a brown shirt over me.
I caught it just in time and hurriedly pulled it over my head, not because I was cold, but my blouse had already been torn to shreds.
The man just grinned in reply and pushed himself off the jetty with the oar. Fog rolled in as we headed out onto the lake. Balin was sitting at a small table counting the spoils, to which I unfortunately had nothing at all to contribute "There is a slight difficulty." Balin stroked the piles of coins "We are ten coins short."
Immediately Thorin looked at Gloin who clasped his hands "Don't look at me like that, this journey has bled me dry completely, it has brought me nothing but grief, pain, misery...." he broke off as the mist lifted a little and Lonely Mountain became visible in the distance.
I had to smile slightly, Erebor, we had never been so close to our destination. I squinted slightly and exhaled as I changed my sitting position, I hoped Bard, I had asked him his name, had marigold at home to treat the wounds on my back with.
Reverently the dwarves looked to the mountain "By my beard" Gloin muttered and held out his purse to Balin "take it. Take it all!"
With quick steps Bard came rushing towards us "The money quickly hand it over!"
Stubborn as he was, Thorin shook his head "We will not pay you until we have what we were promised."
Urgently our smuggler looked at us "If freedom is precious to you, then you do as I say, there are guards up ahead."
Balin quickly handed him the money, he quickly counted it through "Get in the barrels!" he commanded.
Rather reluctantly, I got back into the barrel. After a while I could feel us stopping.
"Bilbo do you see anything?" I whispered to the hobbit who was sitting in a barrel with a hole in the front.
"He's talking to someone. Now he's pointing right at us!" Bilbo's voice moved up a few octaves.
"Traitor." growled Dwalin beside me "He wants to turn us in."
"Now they are shaking hands." continued Bilbo.
I heard footsteps coming towards us, briefly I considered just jumping out and fighting, but it turned out quite differently. The face of Bard appeared above my barrel "It must be." with these words he began to empty fish over me.
I had to suppress my nausea as dead, slimy, smelly fish was poured into my barrel until I was no longer seen. My back burned like hell and I couldn't help groaning. I felt my barrel shake " Silence now!" I heard Bard's voice muffled "We're coming to the customs gate!"