Hello again~~
Much apologies and thank you for being patient...I've just been sooo busy with work, kids, finally closing on the house we've had for sale for 8 months now; and here, close to Chicago, we're finally entering our 4-5 months of "decent" weather (where u can actually be outside without scarves, hats, mittens etc!) so I've also got a lot of landscaping to do too.
Here is our next chapter, and, yeah...sorry...another cliffhanger ending ;)
ill try to post again soon. And comments are always much appreciated~~
Chp. 33
Tauriel was positively beside herself, as she is finding out that Hobbits can be amazing storytellers; she obviously already knew the dragon had come rampaging to Laketown; but she implored Bilbo to finish his part of the tale while they stood in the Gallery of Kings chamber. "I was watching from behind one of these large pillars, and I guess...the gold hadn't had enough time to set in the mould. So the statue stayed whole for only a brief moment...then the statue melted and covered Smaug completely in gold! He didn't surface from the sea of gold for a few moments, and we all had thought maybe the great creature had been drowned! But -he surfaced and his anger was terrible to behold! I watched him explode the gates apart and shake the molten gold off, of which there's still some remnants here in the hall."
"Unfortunately, I think we provoked the horrible fury at which he unleashed on Laketown," Bilbo looked very sad and ashamed at admitting this last part. Tauriel was just trying to catch her breath and collect her thoughts, since she knew where this tale picked up at. She looked down at Bilbo and smiled in a rather melancholy way, "Do not feel bad, Bilbo. Such a great evil cannot be quelled by just one, it takes many to sacrifice much, to finally be rid of such a beast. Let us be glad that now we are in the Spring of a new era, here at its beginning when all things are new and budding." Bilbo was looking at the ground and a sniffle even escaped him; but when he looked back up at Tauriel, he had a large grin on his face. "Ahh, I could listen to elves talk forever, he said wistfully and closed his eyes briefly. Tauriel smiled back at him, her hand on her chest; "Let us continue."
The pair turned to their right and walked towards a large set of doors. They went through the doors and entered into a very wide hallway with a high ceiling. In this hallway a few dwarves were busily coming and going. The dwarves, as usual, nodded to Bilbo as the pair passed, but scowled at Tauriel. To which, Tauriel could just tell Bilbo's huffiness and she just patted his arm. She sensed his tension leaving him and they continued to walk on. There were large doorways opposite each other in this hallway and this is where a lot of the dwarves had been coming and going from. They stood for a moment deciding which way to go first, then they heard loud yelling coming from the room to the south, which they hurried to enter.
They ran into a cavernous room with sparse furnishings but many weapons stored on the walls...this must be some kind of Guards chamber she thought. As they entered, Tauriel quickly assessed the situation- there were three shorter and stouter Dwarves who were fighting with a taller, bald dwarf, who Tauriel recognized as Dwalin. She knew him to be an amazing fighter, but with three, very capable and ferocious warriors on him, she thought it would turn bad for him quickly. A blow to the back of his head felled him to the floor where he struggled to get up. One of the other dwarves grabbed an axe and flung it to the dwarf nearest the prone Dwalin and raised it over his head. Even though it had been awhile since Tauriel was in a battle, her hundreds of years of training kicked in automatically and she quickly ran over to the dwarf with the axe. She gracefully lunged her body sideways and kicked him hard in the belly with both of her feet; to which he doubled over and dropped the axe. Bilbo ran over and picked it up. He threw it to Tauriel, who was standing in between the still struggling Dwalin and the three other dwarves. She yelled, "Bilbo...go get help, quickly!" He ran out the room very fast.
Tauriel swished the axe side to side with deadly purpose as the other dwarves were trying to figure out how to defeat her. One of the dwarves ran to the wall where a lot of swords and axes were hung. He grabbed a few weapons off the wall and hurried back to the other three with them. So armed now, the three advanced on Tauriel.