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A/N:

- I am a NON NATIVE English Speaker, so please criticise my errors kindly and I will hear with equal respect every suggestion for improvement.

- Update 2018: I am trying to re-edit this since I completed it. If you see an error that truly rubs you the wrong way tell me and I will correct it immediately. Thank you. Ps: I will place an asterisk next to each chapter that I have re-edited.


*In every end there is also a beginning.


"The eagles are coming…hold on…the eagles…" Bilbo's throat convulsed as the words choked him. He looked down at Thorin's pale mask of death as the eagles soared above the valley. He fell on Thorin's torn armour unable to hold back his tears.

"Get away you fool!" the angry voice of Gandalf made Bilbo glance up shocked. The grey wizard came rushing towards them with his staff raised "Get back, give him some air!" He kneeled next to Thorin with eyes full of trepidation.

"He is dead Gandalf, you are too late…" Bilbo shook his head dejected and his fingers curled protectively around Thorin's ring mail armour that proved so inefficient against Azog's cleaver. Then in an act of desperation he tried to take off the mithril armour that Thorin gifted him with, before the battle. "If he had kept this for himself this wouldn't have happened! It wouldn't have happened!"

"Get a hold of yourself Bilbo Baggins!" Gandalf's harsh voice shook him into silence as the wizard touched Thorin's forehead with his palm and closed his eyes. The blood of the dead King spilled over the edge of the waterfall colouring the robes of Gandalf deep maroon. His comrades created a protective circle around the dead King in cold silence. Balin kneeled heavily, unable to hold onto this burden anymore and his quiet tears were enough to break even the coldest of hearts. Dwalin looked at the pale face of his friend and threw his war axe away with a feral cry of anguish.

As Gandalf's hand gently caressed Thorin's bloody forehead, Bilbo looked at his closed eyes and couldn't understand if the grey wizard was praying for the dead King, or simply mourning. He walked over to Balin and touched his shoulder. The old Dwarf Lord covered Bilbo's hand and gave him a soft nod as his tearstained eyes gazed at him. "It's ok my boy. It will be ok."

"I am so sorry for your loss." Bilbo kneeled next to him.

"It's everyone's loss. Mine, yours, theirs," -he looked diminished above his shoulder- "Dale's, Erebor's and all the seven Dwarven Kingdoms."

"Sustain…you must sustain Durin's son." Gandalf whispered behind a tight jawline and when he opened his eyes they were spewing fire. Ancient magic left his hand silently and rushed through the dead King's body trying to revive his heart. As the minutes rolled by, no one noticed that Thorin's blood under Gandalf's robes begun retreating back to his body slowly.

"Let him rest Gandalf, let us carry him back to Erebor and offer him the burial he deserves," Balin pushed himself up with difficulty and Bilbo helped him. Now that the battle had finished and Thorin was dead, it was as if all strength had abandoned his old body. The fierce warrior that ran to battle next to his King was now suddenly an old Dwarf barely able to stand.

"No! Remain!" Gandalf raised his hand to them and everyone froze. "Remain…for I believe that he is still with us." He whispered mystically with a raised brow.

"What are you talking about? Let him be!" Dwalin roared, finally abandoning all tries to sound civilised.

He walked quite decided towards Gandalf, intending to tear him away from Thorin, when the later opened up his eyes suddenly and took a rugged inhalation. His body convulsed and Gandalf immediately tried to restraint his arms from thrashing about. "Animate you fools!" He barked at everyone, who were looking at Thorin shocked out of their minds.

Bilbo reacted first. He fell knees first next to Thorin and braced his head, mingling his fingers through his bloody locks. "Look at me, Thorin, look at me!" he gritted his teeth against falling apart now that he was needed the most.

"Azog?!…" Thorin's deep voice roared upon the mountain top, a question full of agony.

"He is dead, you killed him. Thorin, keep your eyes on me…no no no…don't look at the sky…me, look at me!" Bilbo turned his head around trying to keep those azure eyes focused, as Gandalf resumed his mystical ways around the King's body once more.

Thorin's face twisted in pain and his mouth uttered a blood curdling cry that resounded amidst the frozen ruins and down at the open valley. "The acorn, remember the acorn? I still have it here" -Bilbo untangled one bloody hand and started digging into his pocket for the damned seed- "see I will find it and show it to you! I will plant it in my garden and then you can come sit under its shade, okay?..." -he brought the acorn seed close to Thorin's face and smiled- "see, here it is! Look at it!" -his mouth broke into a terrified smile. Then his brow darkened and he cupped Thorin's cold face protectively- "Don't close your eyes, please no, no..I can show you more, I'll find more to show you. Don't close your eyes! Gandalf help him!" He bellowed and tears blurred his vision when more blood cascaded down the side of Thorin's pale lips.

"Bilbo try to keep his eyes open, Balin come here!" -The wizard commanded and the Dwarf ran over quickly. His face was a mixture of confusion and dread- "Open up his armour and press hard on the wound! We need to keep him from bleeding to death again…we need to stitch him up, from the inside out as soon as possible!" Gandalf yelled.

"I can do it, keep him alive and I will do it!" Oin run to them and tried to find some space between the Dwarves that had crowded their King.

"We have to take him to Erebor, we cannot stitch him up here!" Balin cried and took hold of Thorin's hand. It felt frozen.

Thorin coughed up more blood and his features distorted from pain. "Thorin, look at me…It's me your favourite burglar. You killed the monster, we've won the war…the valley is secure! Thorin…the eagles came to help us…open up your eyes…open them damn you!" Bilbo's hand slapped the King's bloody cheek, eliciting a howl of pain, but managing to make Thorin's bloodshot eyes fly open.

"I cannot contain the bleeding, we need to move him now!" Balin grumbled, feeling frustration taking over the initial shock.

"Balin keep your hands on the wound and press as tight as you can! Dwalin pick him and run!" Gandalf thundered.

The huge Dwarf was looking at them with parted lips and eyes that couldn't really process what was happening.

Gandalf sprang up urgently and grabbed Dwalin by the lapels. "Pick him up and run you fool! His life is hanging by a bloody thread!"

Dwalin inhaled sharply as the sudden realisation slapped him across the face. He broke through his crowded comrades with enviable ease and placed his arms under the King. With considerable effort he managed to lift the equally tall and wide Dwarf in his arms. His knees buckled for a moment which was enough to make Balin lose his grip on Thorin's gushing wound.

"Don't be so clumsy!" Balin chastised.

"I am trying, give me a break!" Dwalin rebuked angrily.

"Let me help!' Bombur joined Dwalin and lifted part of the weight making it easier for them to carry Thorin down the fort. Balin's hands covered the wound again which splattered blood on his face and white beard.

Bilbo ran next to them as fast as his legs could carry him, trying to keep his palms steady on Thorin's face. "Open your eyes Thorin, come on, that's it. We are taking you to Erebor, you hear me? Nod, if you can hear me." He tried to find Thorin's gaze that was lost somewhere in the pale clouds above.

"Gandalf he is slipping away again!' Bilbo hollered in dread.

The Grey wizard touched Thorin's chest with his staff and the King inhaled sharply, which caused him to get into a coughing fit, sending his already lost mind into a pained fueled madness and a feral cry of anguish tore through his chest. Balin wiped Thorin's blood that washed down his chin and sobbed. "Please laddie stay with us, I beg you!'

"The carriage, put him in the carriage!" Gandalf commanded and passed in front of the company drawing his sword. All the Dwarfs apart from Dwalin, Bombur, Balin and Bilbo ran after the wizard wielding their weapons as they came face to face with platoons of retreating Orcs. As these brave comrades battled through, the ones remaining behind placed Thorin on the carriage and Joined him, creating a protective circle around him. Nori took the reigns and soon they were dashing through the heat of battle, ramming anyone who had the misfortune to be in their way. Axes and swords flew in every direction, cutting down Orcs like weed. When Dwalin lifted up his formidable war axe, many heads got violently detached from bodies, but still his other arm was wrapped tightly around Thorin's chest, keeping him safe. By the time they reached the first lines of the Dwarven army they were all covered in fresh black orc blood. Dain saw the company arriving and raised his humongous hammer. "Protect the King!" He thundered and the first lines created a protective circle around the incoming company.

"Thorin, we are in Erebor's valley. Dain is here…look at him! Please just open your eyes!" -Bilbo prayed next to him. A sudden jerk in the carriage made Thorin's eyes fly open and he howled in pain. His hand clutched Bilbo's arm and crushed it with fingers of steel making the poor hobbit grit his teeth- "I am here Thorin. I am here!'

"What happened to him?!" Dain pushed everyone away demandingly, wishing to see his wounded cousin.

"The head of the beasts slew him, before Thorin managed to kill him!" Balin heaved with his hands trembling upon Thorin's torn stomach.

"We will push the filths back, take him to safety!" -Dain commanded and then turned to his army and roared with a ferocious voice- "Their head is dead, spare no one's life!"

By the time the company came inside the Lonely Mountain, Thorin was drifting in and out of consciousness. They placed him down, where the statues of his forefathers stood guard under the mountain, in the King's Halls. Immediately the golden floor under him got stained by a pool of blood that grew bigger with each rugged breath Thorin's mouth attempted to take.

"Oin, bring over your gear! Hurry up, we have lost too much time!" -Dwalin snapped and kneeled nervously above his friend. He placed his hands over Balin's and pressed hard- "Thorin please look at me! I am here my King, my Captain, my blood! Open your eyes, please!" -His nose flared against the need to sob like a baby as this unfairness was choking him- "We both promised to come back from this quest alive! You promised! You promised!" His voice became almost desperate and he had to force himself not to grab Thorin by the lapels and shake him back to life through violence.

Thorin arms flayed around, bindingly pushing away everyone who tried to touch him. "Bombur, keep his hands away from the wound!" Gandalf barked.

The thick Dwarf positioned himself behind Thorin's head and grabbed his arms, but he was not enough. Thorin pulled free with surprising ease and pushed Balin several feet away. His other hand send Bilbo rolling on his back. He tried to turn into a foetal position and several curses escaped his bloody and trembling lips. Then a growl of pain tore through his throat, that resounded in the tall pillared hall.

Gandalf kneeled next to him and placed his palm gently on the King's head. "He needs to stop fighting. Dwalin, Bombur get one arm each. Bifur, Bofur one leg each. Balin keep the bleeding in control as much as you can. Bilbo bring me a thick cloth!"

Bilbo released Thorin's face with regret and looked around startled, trying to find a piece of cloth to bring Gandalf. Dwalin and Bombur got one arm each and tried to keep him still, but the adrenaline that rushed through Thorin's blood kept his strength monumental even in this weakened state. He was lifting them up and thrashing them about as he desperately tried to break free.

"Use your knees to stop him! Thorin stope!" Dwalin snapped and they both kneeled on Thorin's forearms, keeping him down with their weight despite the fact that his forearm shields tore painfully through the flesh of their knees.

"It's impossible to keep him still!" Bombur cursed and fell on Thorin's bicep with the rest of his body covering his arm completely. Dwalin did the same and that was the only thing that brought results. His legs were even harder to control. Bofur and Bifur couldn't stop him from kicking them off of him. Ori and Dori joined in, so two Dwarfs fell on each leg, thusly managing to immobilize him.

"Come on Bilbo, tear a piece away from your vest!" Gandalf yelled when he saw that the poor hobbit turning around himself unproductively, bewildered out of any logical functions.

Bilbo stopped, looked at Gandalf and then tore his vest quickly.

"Open your mouth Thorin!" -Gandalf said, but his voice couldn't pass through to the King's foggy brain- "We need to have him bite something down or he will swallow his tongue when Oin starts stitching him up. We don't have any anaesthetic. We have to do it with him in full consciousness," the wizard explained to Bilbo, who gave him the cloth, but felt all the blood draining from his face.

"I am going to faint," he muttered and felt his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

"Not now you won't!" Gandalf snapped at him and surprisingly that was enough to ground Bilbo once more.

The Hobbit fell next to Thorin and cupped his frozen cheeks again, feeling his body numb and his heart frozen from terror. "Thorin, we need to stitch you up, please open your mouth. Don't close your eyes again no! Look at me…open your mouth!" Bilbo tried to force Thorin's mouth open as Oin kneeled next to Balin.

"Mahal above spare him…." the old Dwarf prayed when he saw the large diamond needle and mithril thread in Oin's hands.

"If you hurt him I swear I will kill you!" Dwalin warned Oin.

"What did he say?" Oin frowned confused as he could hear virtually nothing without his hearing cone.

"Do it, do it now!" -Gandalf commanded and then turned to Thorin- "Open your mouth you stubborn Dwarf! Open it!"

Thorin closed his eyes and pulled violently away from Bilbo's steady grip. The steady rush of adrenaline and the fact that only the basic functions of his brain worked at that moment, thus protecting him from any further shock, made him act violently towards his friends. He managed to lift Dwalin's whole body off the floor for a brief moment, but it was enough to worry the huge bodyguard. "Help me Gloin!" he called and instantly the red headed dwarf fell above Dwalin. Nori joined Bombur, even though that Dwarf was enough to keep him still by his immense weight alone.

"Thorin please I know you can hear me. Bite down on this cloth, we need to stitch you up...," Bilbo begged feeling at the end of his tether.

Thorin met Bilbo's tearstained eyes with a forlorn look that broke the Hobbit's heart. "Your father Thrain loved you Thorin…" Gandalf spoke quietly above him and touched gently the King's chest. Oin pushed Balin's hands away and threw open his hexagon plated armour, not wanting to waste another second. Under it the blue royal tunic had turned maroon and it's fabric was trapped at the edges of a large diagonal gush that spewed blood with each pained undulation of Thorin's wide chest.

"My father?" Thorin's once deep and commanding voice was now merely a defeated whisper. A wince of pain rippled through his wounded brow.

"He told me that he loved you…The Necromancer killed your father and stole his ring of power. His plan was to end the line of Durin and you must not allow him that. You must live and sustain. Live son of Thrain. Bite down on this cloth and let Oin stitch you up..." Gandalf's voice covered the long hallways and echoed heavy with the history that burdened Thorin's shoulders.

"Do it…look into my eyes, and do it..." -Bilbo pulled the King's head and met his pained eyes- "You avenged your family, you killed the defiler. Now help yourself, bite down on this."

"Come on!" Oin called with the needle trapped between his bloody fingers.

"Do it laddie…please" -Balin's hushed voice begged and tears covered his face. Thorin turned his eyes to his old friend and tears run down his blood crusted cheeks. He opened his mouth slowly and Bilbo pushed his torn coat quickly between Thorin's teeth, making sure his tongue was captured securely under the material.

"Don't let go of the cloth! Press it down hard!" Gandalf warned Bilbo.

"In the name of Mahal if I hear Thorin scream one time, I'll stitch up your mouth when this is all over!" Dwalin warned Oin.

"Is that baboon cursing me?" the almost deaf Dwarf asked.

Gandalf waved his hands dismissively and motioned him to continue. "Shut up all of you! Oin continue!" He commanded.

Oin turned his attention to the patient and without any warning opened up the wound until he revealed the internal organs that were injured. Balin averted his eyes and grasped Thorin's collar protectively as the King's anguished cry resounded loud enough to be heard outside in the midst of the battlefield. Dwalin's curses were loud enough to overshadow Thorin's cry and nasty enough to make young Óri blush.

Oin begun stitching up the lower part of Thorin's mangled lung and the left side of his liver whilst Gandalf kept his staff above the wound containing the blood to a minimum. "Keep his tongue secure!" Gandalf broke his mantra to glower at Bilbo who nodded and sweating profusely he tightened his grip on their cloth.

"I am going to kill everyone who hurt you, I swear I will..." Dwalin muttered broken, as Thorin's scream tore through the domes of his ancient Kingdom. Oin blessed with his loss of hearing was stitching up part of the stomach with enviable emotional detachment.

"It's ok, look at me, look at me!" Bilbo pulled Thorin's head in his direction by the cloth. It felt as if he was pulling a wild horse by the bridle. Thorin's wild eyes were glazed with pain and they were looking past Bilbo at something invisible. "Oin is finishing, you are doing an amazing job. Thorin, look at me…" Bilbo tried a smile that ended up in more tears. As Oin's hands finished stitching his stomach another try to be free ended in failure.

"Ori, sit on his bloody leg, he is going to lift both of you up!" Dwalin scolded and the young Dwarf pinned down the King's leg with sweaty determination.

Oin having finished with the internal organs begun stitching up the muscles from the inside out. Each time the needle passed through tissue, Thorin's cries echoed in the golden chamber and each time they lost a small part of their vitality and strength. The carnal cries of agony, turned into frustrated groans and then to mere defeated sobs. By the time Oin began stitching the skin outside Thorin was so exhausted from the continuous torture that he was merely flinching. "I think the bleeding stopped Mister Gandalf." Oin said and wiped his forehead, leaving a red trail of blood on his hair and skin.

"I think so too…although we are far from over yet. Carry the King to his chambers. He needs to rest." Gandalf ordered and stood up.

"Where are you going?!" Bilbo gazed up confused and relaxed his grip on the cloth.

"I need to see some people if he is to survive this, Bilbo Baggins. I cannot heal him from this moment on. Higher skills are needed." Gandalf rejoined solemnly.

"Who are you going to see?"

"The Elves." Gandalf replied flatly.

"Oh now, You are not bringing any Elves in these halls!" Dwalin hollered and released Thorin's arm.

The King brought his arm down with a faded moan of pain and tried to cover his torn stomach. Balin took hold firm hold of his forearm and removed the cloth from his mouth. Thorin's face was streaked with blood, sweat and tears and his eyes were glassy. He tried to focus on his friend, but a pained sob left his chest and more tears run down his cheeks creating smudgy rivulets on his face.

"You will be okay laddie, we are all here with you. It's over, we will not give you anymore pain, I swear on my word of honor!" Balin caressed Thorin's bloody hair.

"Let me go," Thorin's words sounded more like an exhalation, but they were enough for Balin to understand. In them he heard a prayer to the heavens and not to the people around him. A wish to return to the dead, not to be released from his temporary bondage.

"Release him," Balin ordered with trembling hands.

The moment he was free Thorin twisted sideways and came into a foetal position unable to stop the heart retching whimpers that broke free from his quivering lips. He wrapped both arms around his stomach and brought his knees up to his chest trying in some manner to contain the brain melting pain. His body began shaking uncontrollably from the extensive blood loss.

"I am here laddie, you are not alone..." Balin said affectionately and pushed Thorin's sweaty locks away from his forehead. Thorin squeezed his eyes tight unable to stop his body from shaking like a leaf. Balin found his cold hand between the folds of his clothes and held on it tightly, wanting to make his friend feel something else apart from pain.

"You cannot leave him like this now. Whilst you are gone he might die!" Bilbo exclaimed showing back at the twisted body of Thorin upon the golden floor.

"If I don't go, he will most certainly die, because his wound will get infected soon. Now will you let me go to the Elves Master Baggins?" The grey wizard's voice was laced with warning.

"Didn't you hear what I said about Elves and Erebor master Wizard? You shall not bring them here! Our King would have forbidden it!" Dwalin came up to him grimly.

"The Elves are the only ones who can save him master Dwarf!" Gandalf raised his brow quietly.

Dwalin got ready to answer, but Balin stopped him. "Brother…please this is not a time for us to be torn in two." -he trailed off. He was still kneeling by Thorin's side caressing the sweaty temple with tenderness- "We need to be united…let the grey wizard go."

Dwalin crossed his arms defensively.

"…he hasn't let us down yet. Give him a chance to save Thorin…Dwalin, please." Balin looked at his brother beseechingly.

"Take your King to his chambers and tend to his needs. Some of you go help Dain. I shall return in two days time. May Mahal protect Thorin and you, till then." Gandalf said firmly and before anyone could engage him with any new arguments he walked out into the battlefield.

Bilbo ran after him, but stopped at the entrance. "What if you don't come back in two days?" he cried.

"Then pray Dain proves to be as strong a King as Thorin!" Gandalf rejoined without turning around.

Bilbo paled and covered his mouth.

"Did he just say that in two days Thorin will die?" Dwalin roared next to the Hobbit.

Bilbo looked up to the terrifying Dwarf, not knowing what to answer to that.

"Come on laddie, we have to move you." Balin caressed Thorin's trembling hand. The King was barely responsive, but he was breathing steadily and the bleeding had stopped.

"He fainted?" Dwalin kneeled next to Balin.

Balin nodded. "Vala Aulë had mercy on him. Lift him up with care."

Dwalin pulled him up and Bombur came quickly to his assistance. Thorin was completely unconscious throughout the endeavor of moving him up the stairs, which didn't make things easy on them. His dead weight was even worse than when they brought him down from Ravenhill. When they entered the royal chambers Bofur and Bifur changed the covers that were full of cobwebs quickly and messily. Then Dwalin and Bombur laid Thorin on the king sized bed.

"We need to get him out of his armour and clothes. I need a clean tunic, can you find me one son?" Balin said to Ori.

"Of course mister Balin." The young Dwarf went to the closet and begun shuffling through the clothes that hang there, abandoned by Thorin's grandfather when Smaug attacked their Kingdom.

"Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Gloin, Dori, and Nori you go out and search for the remains of Fili and Kili. We cannot leave them at Ravenhill." Balin said heavily.

The me hesitated for several moments before leaving the room with many looks of worry towards the bed.

"Dwalin you should go help Dain." Balin turned to his brother.

"I am not leaving him!" Dwalin crossed his arms and pinned down his brother with a ferocious glare.

Balin sighed. "Very well, you and Bilbo help me get his clothes off then."

"That I can do." Dwalin said and rounded the bed.

"Can you hear me laddie?" Balin caressed Thorin's cheek with great care.

He remained totally unresponsive.

Bilbo lowered his head and listened at Thorin's heart. His steady breathing made him sigh in relief. "Contradictory as it sounds, I think he is actually asleep."

"He lost too much blood and I dare say this casual stitching will soon get infected as Gandalf foresaw. He will be riddled with fever by the end of the day, I fear." Balin's voice fell as he took off Thorin's hexagonal plated vest when Dwalin lifted his upper body off the bed.

"I stitched him up with diamond needles and mithril. They are not carrying any microbes, Balin." Oin said and adjusted his hearing cone better in order to understand what they were all blubbering about.

"Nevertheless the environment does. Look at this room and don't make me remind you that we stitched him up at a debris littered floor, with dirty hands full of Orc's blood!" Balin rebuked and took off Thorin's torn tunic.

Oin paled when he gazed at his stained hands that were full of mud, rust and blood.

"Don't look at him like that, we didn't have a choice. We had to stop his bleeding brother!" Balin chastised Dwalin whose eyes were spewing fire towards Óin.

"I need to clean him with my ointment before we dress his wound. " Oin went quickly to his bag oblivious of the deadly glares that the huge bodyguard was gifting him with.

"Do your job my friend, we won't bother you." -Balin's head dropped in resignation and he looked in dismay at the large angry scar under Thorin's chest for several minutes before managing to speak again- "I am afraid this has all been in vain. He won't be able to battle off any kind of fever. He is too exhausted from all this loss of blood."

"We must tell Dain to keep the army's spirits uplifted. We don't tell them that their King's life is hanging by a thread until we have news from Gandalf." Dwalin warned.

"I hear you" -Balin agreed- "I hope the boys will be able to recover the bodies of Fili and Kili. I am afraid if this wound doesn't kill Thorin the realisation that his nephews are both dead, will."

Oin took over cleaning the wound carefully. Dwalin approached and begun unclasping the shields from Thorin's forearms with care. "I don't trust Dain. He didn't offer his assistance when we first set out for this quest. He only came when he knew that Thorin had reclaimed the mountain. Maybe all this could have been avoided if he had been with us since the start." He grumbled.

"You are grasping on straws." Balin looked at him sadly.

"I am grasping on anything that can get me out of this nightmare." Dwalin spat with blazing eyes.

Balin closed his eyes. "If he dies brother, we have to accept Dain as our King."

Dwalin paled and glowered at his brother.

"There, it's as clean as I can get it." Oin observed his work smugly.

"Looks good. Now help me dress him with a clean tunic." Balin said.

When they were done, a deadly silence fell in the room as their grave faces studied Thorin's pale countenance and their fingers counted every breath as if it was going to be his last.

"Someone has to clean up his face. You can barely see him for all the blood and soot." -Bilbo's voice interrupted their quiet mantra. He flicked his shoulder feeling uneasy- "Besides we haven't cleaned his brow wound. That must be painful also, right?" he sounded so desperate that Balin's heart bled.

Balin closed his eyes. "Do as you please my friend. Nothing will change the graveness of his situation, but if it makes you feel better..." He flicked his shoulders.

Bilbo's face fell and his shoulders deflated. "I sound stupid, you are right."

"I need to go out and search for several herbs in order to brew some medication for him. Bloody taste is foul, but it might help him out when the fever hits." Oin muttered under his breath.

"You'll need someone to back you up. Dwalin will you help him?" Balin suggested.

"He made Thorin squeal like a pig and I am keeping myself with difficulty from beheading him!" Dwalin hurled back.

"Oh! Enough you insolent youth! I tried to save him, not hurt him!" Oin threw his hearing cone down and looked angrily at Dwalin.

"I'll show you insolent youth..." Dwalin took the first step to come up to his face, but Balin's roar stopped them.

"You both stop! It's inexcusable to fight right now! Let the poor lad rest." Balin's eyes welled with tears.

"Your threats don't bother me especially when I cannot hear them! I am going alone to get the herbs I need!" Oin humphed and with one last worried look towards his unconscious King he marched out of the room. As he passed the door he picked up Dwalin's war axe and dropped it on his shoulder.

Dwalin stirred angrily. "Did he just take my axe?"

Balin wiped his eyes and shook his head. "Have mercy on me brother...please."

Dwalin averted his eyes and crossed his arms.

Balin covered Thorin's hand tenderly. "We both know him since we were children, let us respect his anguish now brother. Lad was always very strong, but also very stubborn. I never doubted that we would manage to reclaim what once was ours under his command."

Dwalin lowered his head and crossed his arms.

"He won over the gold sickness despite the fact that his forefathers failed. In the end he pulled through for us…So please all of you shut up and let us pull through for him as one, now that he needs us the most." Balin squeezed his eyes tight.

"You are so right." Bilbo whispered.

Dwalin looked up and his eyes were haunted.

"Dwalin, don't rock the boat. He needs us all united. It is what he would have wanted." Balin pleaded.

"You claim he was stronger than his forefathers. Yes, but he wasn't stronger than sharp steel!" Dwalin's heavy voice echoed in the chamber foreboding.

Balin looked up lost.

"I knew that pale filth would finally get him and I was unable to do anything! I saw every single detail of that accursed fight and I still couldn't reach him on time. Why did I ever let him get away from me? Why!?" Dwalin cupped his forehead forcefully as if wanting to punish himself.

"It was not your fault brother. Thorin would have gone after the Defiler no matter what any of us did." -Balin frowned and his words came out with great difficulty- "You have appointed yourself his bodyguard early in your childhood, even though no one asked you to do it."

Dwalin's pained face closed up tight.

"You were always next to him, protecting him even since then. Still, you cannot hold yourself accountable for whatever happens to him. He is our King and makes his own decisions. Such is their importance, that we should accept them as inevitable."

"He sacrificed his life to kill that beast and it's death was the beginning of the end for this war. He turned the odds on our side with what he did." Ori's timid voice made all of them look up to him.

"Why do you talk as if he is dead? He is still alive, don't you see?" Bilbo muttered tilting his head confused.

"If he is to suffer in this manner, maybe it's better that he would rest." Dwalin rejoined with an empty voice.

"Don't speak like that! You heard what Gandalf said. The line of Durin must sustain." Balin's eyes fell heavy on Dwalin.

"I don't ever want to see Thorin suffer in this manner again. Just in order to fulfil the plans of a crazy wizard or the expectations of his dead family Balin and you know very well what I am saying!" Dwalin threw back mercilessly.

Balin blanched.

"Shouldn't this be about him surviving? Plain and simple?" Bilbo frowned.

"He was dead! He was resting and we woke him up! We forced him back to life! And for what? To hear him scream like a lamb on slaughter!" Dwalin roared and kicked the stone floor. The metal protection of his boots echoed in the abandoned hallways.

"Dwalin, he is alive!" Balin snapped and tightened his grip on the King's forearm.

"Just barely and he might not make it in the end anyway. It's better to burn out than to fade away! If Thorin had a choice which do you think he'd choose? To die in battle sword in hand or on some bed riddled with fever from a deadly wound?" Dwalin's eyes were hard and relentless, but Bilbo could feel the emotion that was choking the King's best friend.

Balin didn't want to answer. He lowered his eyes on Thorin's resting face and exhaled defeated. "He won't die." He muttered after a long heavy moment.

Bilbo nodded. "I agree. You won't die will you?" -he murmured at Thorin- "I'd like you to come down to my house again. We might enjoy a pipe of old Toby in my bench one day, right? Maybe see my acorn tree growing." His eyes burned him again and he cleaned his nose with the back of his hand.

Dwalin was not as empathetic. Apparently his anger had to be vented somewhere. "He is King under the Mountain! He is King of the seven Dwarven Kingdoms! Do you think he'll have the time to smoke an old Toby with you in Bagshot Row?"

"Happiness comes from the simplest things in life, brother" -Balin spoke quietly and caressed Thorin's hand- "You come back to us laddie and if it pleases you to smoke old Toby next to Master Baggins, rest assured that all the Seven Kingdoms will accompany you to Hobbiton to get your wish." The old Dwarf feeling emotionally overburdened covered his face with his palm and begun crying softly under it.

Bilbo shuddered in apprehension. Seeing Thorin like this, he too felt momentarily uncertain if Gandalf had done the right thing by bringing him back. Maybe Dwalin was right.

It's better to burn out, than to fade away...

Those words kept playing in his mind like a broken record as he, along with everyone else remained a silent sentinel above a sleeping King who was riddled with nightmares of the past.


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