Chapter 9
Carefully, Bilbo closed the heavy door behind him as he quickly glanced around the room. No one was about, and he skirted around the edge looking for any sign of stairs. From the view through a window he could see that one door led to the outdoors, while another was some type of small storage room. The next door proved to be correct, as Bilbo spied the stairs down a short hallway. He listened carefully, and made a silent dash to the foot of the stairs before climbing; testing the steps to make sure they didn't squeak and betray his location. Fortunately, they had been made for giants and the weight of Bilbo was a trifle and they protested not at all.
As Bilbo climbed and neared the ceiling, he could see daylight from the opening to the roof. He heard a creaking sound, saw the front door begin to open, and thrust himself through and onto the roof. He was immediately grabbed by his collar and hoisted into the air.
"You're no giant, that's for sure" his capturer stated "and certainly not a dwarf."
Bilbo looked the person up and down; by all his experience this was an elf. "Would you believe a gnome?" he asked.
"I believe them no more than anyone else in this world. No, if I didn't know better I'd say you were a hobbit."
"And I would say you were an elf, but we know neither exists in this world." Bilbo, having been discovered, refused to play coy any longer. "But then again there's always a first time, isn't there?" Thanks to his elevated position he was able to look the elf in the eye.
"Well said, my fellow stranger in a strange land; Fell is the name."
"I am known as Bilbo, as little as it matters to you."
"Bilbo? I have heard that name, it was a hobbit that…that…oh my, you're that hobbit! Oh, this is tremendous! You of all people will appreciate my work here. Here, let me make you more comfortable." While still holding Bilbo aloft, he reached down and grabbed a length of rope and tied Bilbo to a large stone. "Well, more comfortable for me anyway. You are the hobbit that was at the Battle of Five Armies, yes? The same that traveled with that band of dwarfs?"
"The same" Bilbo stated flatly. "But I do not know you. The few elves I met were honorable and helped to fight against the evil hordes that attacked."
"Oh, I was there and I fought. I lost friends and even some family. All for the sake of protected some non-elves from their own fate. And did you stay after the battle to help care for the wounded? Or did you help bury the dead? No, you rode off to go back to your comfortable home with your riches and never returned."
"It was never my battle" Bilbo said, incensed. "I tried to stop it. No one would listen. Even Thorin ignored me until it was too late."
"Thorin. Yes, it was too late for him. I realized much sooner the futility of war, being nothing more than a common soldier. The only way to avert war is to be so powerful that your enemies give up. And that gave me an idea; with the right type of weapon the elves could take over and run everything peacefully. And the key to that weapon was buried with its owner deep in the mountain" Fell's voice trailed off.
"Buried deep with its owner? The only person so buried is Thorin and…and…the Arkenstone!"
Fell smiled. "So it is. Or was, I should say. After the battle I hid until all the troops left; it was easy enough, I'm sure many thought I'd fallen in battle somewhere. I began the long process of searching the mountain for Thorin's body. I had to stay hidden from any dwarfs that wandered around down there, and I had to learn all the passages and rooms. Days turned into months, and months to years but I would not give up!"
"But it was just a stone" Bilbo tried to convince him.
"More than that, my dear Bilbo. The most powerful stone ever; you saw it, you know how it gathered so much light that it practically glowed in the dark. Well, it occurred to me that could be turned into a weapon one day when I came out of the caves and was almost blinded by the sun. With a little help from some magic it could be a most powerful weapon."
"The light that King Peter described" Bilbo surmised. "That was your weapon."
"Just so. But I didn't start out on the right foot. With the help of an old magic book I started experimenting with the Arkenstone. It was during one of my attempts that something went wrong and I was sent to this…place. Fate would have it that everything nearby was transported too, so with stone and book in hand I went to find some allies. Imagine my surprise when I found out elves are unknown here! However, I found some big stupid friends that could use a helping hand in expanding their territory; I think all the land will be sufficient." Fell laughed. "That's a good one."
"You're power mad" Bilbo sputtered.
"I'm not mad, I just like it a lot" Fell answered. "Now where was I? Oh yes, once I got here I started my experiments again. The trick is to use different stones to harness the full spectrum of light. You see, light is made up of different colors mixed together; you see the different ones in a rainbow. I needed to find the right arrangement of colored stones to boost the Arkenstone's output. I've just finished the method to control the aim of it and we'll be unstoppable when we get Narnia to attack us."
Bilbo looked around. Arranged in an oval around a center platform were a dozen large colored stones of various hues. They were all angled to face the center, while off to one side stood a stand that held a thick book that lay opened somewhere in the middle of the tome.
"As long as a cloud isn't covering the sun I've been able to work for much of the day" Fell explained as he watched the hobbit studying the setup. "But I get full power near noon, as you might imagine."
"Of course. And I imagine night time must be pretty boring" Bilbo added.
Fell laughed. "You understand, I see. We all have to sleep sometime, so what better time? Don't go anywhere, I'll give you a little demonstration after I go get the Arkenstone." He checked the ropes and disappeared down the stairs.
Bilbo sat, tied to the stone as he waited. He looked at the stones and watched the colors play in the light. A shadow crossed the roof, followed by a flapping of wings. A raven landed behind Bilbo. "If only I had your wings to fly away" he sighed out loud.
"It would be a good idea" the bird spoke. "King Peter will attack in a few minutes." As expertly as a lockpicker, the bird began to work the knots behind the stone where Bilbo was tied.
"Attack? He can't, it's a trap! Fell will use his weapon and destroy the Narnian forces. You have to get back and warn them before it's too late."
A horn sounded in the distance, and another horn sounded closer. "Too late," the bird said "it's started. My fault, I took too long finding you."
Fell bounded up onto the roof again. "This IS my lucky day" he chuckled as he looked out over the edge toward the flat land to the south. "My task of luring Narnia within range has been taken care of for me, and I have an audience that can truly appreciate my work. Observe!" he bragged as he held out the Arkenstone, which almost pulsed in the sunlight. "The key to everything, it holds the delicate balance of all the beams and directs it to my aiming device."
He gestured to a box of some sort on the edge of the roof, with an opening on the side Bilbo could see. "But what good is a weapon if you can't aim it? With this last part perfected, no army stands a chance against me." He carefully placed the Arkenstone in just the right position on the center platform while the raven continued to work Bilbo's knots. "After this I will find a way to make it portable and take my show on the road!"
"Behold, the giants go out to fight...oh wait, you can't see from down there. Take my word, it will be too bad there won't be much of an army to meet them." Satisfied with his work, he walked over to the book and started a series of incantations.
Bilbo stuggled against the ropes. "Not yet!" the bird whispered. "I'm almost done." He sat and watched as light beams of different colors started to play around the circle, while the intensity of light in the center grew. Bilbo felt his ropes loosen suddenly and fly across the roof to knock over the Arkenstone.
"No!" cried Fell as he stopped in mid sentence. Without the stone in the center, the ball of light energy grew quickly.
Bilbo felt himself picked up and hurried toward an edge. "Bilbo, it's me Issa. We have to get off the roof now!" a voice yelled out of the air as they ran out of roof. Bilbo sailed off the roof and almost hit the ground before a large explosion ripped through the air, hurtling stones and debris everywhere. He landed with a thud, along with blocks of building, wood and other things he didn't have time to inventory. Then darkness embraced him as if a door closed on a room with no windows.
