Author Note: I don't own any of the characters from the Hobbit, or Skyrim. These are the musing of a madwoman. This will be a severe mash-up of Skyrim and Hobbit, I'm going to fix it or I'm going to break myself trying.
The dragon was dead; its body was rotting at the bottom of Long Lake.
The rest of the company had gone inside once the light had failed. Ori huddled inside his cloak as the wind picked up and pulled at his hood,
"How long do you think until they get here?" he inquired. His voice soft and hushed in the twilight. Dori turned to him, his eyes not seeing Ori's hunched form.
"Oh, not long I should think," Dori murmured. "I saw it disappear over the first ridge, but I didn't see it scale the second. They can't be far, not far at all I should say. Besides, when has she ever been late to a fight?"
A chuckle slipped past Ori's lips without his consent. He turned to Nori, standing at the parapet, gaze hard on the mountain ridge that the worm's soul had slid over. Ori could just make out an upturn of Nori's lips from where he stood. Ori glanced down as his soot streaked fingerless gloves, "Care to make a wager on that brother mine?" He glanced up at Dori, a glint in his eye.
Dori's mouth parted slightly, "Oh, well then. Two silver bits and the first hug says that they'll be here before the third nightfall," Ori raised his eyebrows, so that's how it was going to be eh?
"I say five silver bits, first hug AND dance that they will be here only as the first hammer is falling," Ori raised his head to stare Dori in the eye. Steel grey meeting pale brown, both had a fleck of deep purple just to the right of the pupil; amethyst grazed they called them. Ori preferred to think of it as lavender, lavender that had been hung and dried in the sun on an ocean shore.
"Tonight," Nori finally turned away from the ridgeline. "It will be just a few hours. In the morning we will awaken to Stormcloaks at our front door." His green eyes caught the flickering torch light; Ori could barely spot the sliver of lavender in his left eye. "I will take all of that and I get the first unbraiding, from all of you."
"OH! Well now, I doubt Hjal will appreciate you making bets in her name," Nori snorted at Dori's words.
"Don't forget brother mine," Nori teased, "I don't gamble with my money, only my life. It's not a bet if you know you're going to win," his smirk turned harsh, a knife's edge waiting to slip between ribs. Ori couldn't help himself,
"What makes you so sure Nori?" What had Ori missed? His eyes were as good as his brothers, writing by candlelight had not dulled his sight yet.
Nori turned back to the ridgeline for a moment, then pointed; "Look, to the right of the downward cliffs edge," Dori and Ori leaned further over the parapet, squinting in the failing light. Ori opened his mouth, "Just wait, patience little brother" Nori placated, his tone exposing his amusement. Ori huffed out a breath but stilled himself. Opening his eyes, un-focusing on the distance he breathed in and out, waiting. Minutes passed, Ori ran his fingers on the scratches on the stone. What exactly was he looking for?
Dori snorted, "Clever, clever girl."
"Aw, come on. Give me a hint please?" Ori pleaded, there was nothing there. The shadows of the moon painting swaths of grey on the hillside and desolation beyond; nothing stirred save for the wind. "Please can someone tell me what I am missing?"
Nori turned and smiled at him, finally giving Ori his full attention. "What is the third rule in Thieves Guild?" Ori groaned,
"Oh, come on. How is that going to help me n-OW!" Dori smacked him on the back of the head and glared at him side eyed;
"Listen to your brother. He does not speak for idleness, this is important Ori." Chagrined Ori turned to Nori and quirked his lips,
"Third rule of Thieves Guild is: become who you are around. If they do not see you, they will not know you," Nori nodded,
"Now Ori, if you were someone who did not know the land, enemies or resources; when would you travel across an open plain with no cover?" Ori pulled on his braid,
"Around the edge? Or…or at night?!" He whipped around and gazed out onto the plains. Still seeing nothing he followed the river glinting in the shifting moon light to the shadows that marked the ridgeline. "I still don't see them! Is this a trick?" He turned back to his brothers, now both with twin expressions of amusement.
"I'll give you a hint," Dori was always his favorite, "when we fled after Smaug, I don't remember the river being quite so wide at places," Ori turned again to the desolation…what was he thinking, Nori clearly was in the lead for best brother.
"Think Ori, not how a company, or handful of people pass at night. How would you get a battalion of soldiers, of Stormcloaks moving on a dark night?"
Well then, Stormcloaks had cloaks of deep navy, usually helms of steel or leather. The shields would be shiny and…shiny. Their damn shields! He turned his eyes back to the river and unfocused them again. Slowly, he watched the ebb and flow of the river's edge weave its way across the plain. Downward it seemed to swell and sway closer and closer to the grass.
"Brilliant," He knew that he would be writing his in the journal as soon as he returned to their room, How did they even know that would work?" He had never heard of it done before.
"Tiber Septim ambushed the Empire on the Vale by sneaking them up the ice shelf at night. They got so close that they could smell the cooking of dinner before the Thalmor noticed they were upon them," Nori always did know the best bedtime stories. Dori straightened from the wall,
"Damn, I was so hoping for that first dance," he signed and started for the door, "let's get some rest before dawn. I have a feeling we will need the energy, eh brothers?" Nori turned away after a pat on Ori's shoulder. Ori gazed out at the plains, wishing he could see through the shields that were glinting along the water's edge. As Ori turned back to go inside he sent a prayer to Mahal; please keep them warm and undetected tonight.
As the door closed behind Ori, leagues away, the last shield slipped over a back covered by a deep blue cloak. Galmor Stone-Fist curled his lip as cold water filled his boots. He sighed in resignation at the long night ahead of him. Slipping into the water with agility beleaguered by his huge size, he thought about how he hated water and all this wet. Who's bright idea was it to skim down the river with their shield's on their backs again?