Cestai was in a sort of circular room, with seats surrounding a pit at the center of the space. It seemed to be a performing room of sorts, where shows and music would be played to entertain the dwarves.
At the center of the room, however, there was no play or music. There was her father, his scales broken, his feet chained to the ground.
Her father beat his wings fiercely, trying to break free of the bonds. But a group of dwarves that surrounded him only pulled the chains tighter. He was muzzled with a great iron contraption, but she could still hear the moans of pain and anguish coming from his throat.
There were onlookers in the seats surrounding the pit where her father was, Cestai being one of them. The onlookers were chanting and screaming at the dragon, shouting insults and curses at the ruined beast.
Looking around her, Cestai saw that Thorin was seated beside her, his rough, callused palm resting on hers. He was looking at her with those same ice-blue eyes she had grown to know. "Are you ready, my love?" he asked, his voice sounding strange and false, like an echo that had reverberated one time too many.
My love? Cestai thought, utterly confused. Where am I? What is this place?
"Yes," a voice-her voice, Cestai realized-spoke. She had never consciously formed the words in her mind, but she could feel her lips moving, without her consent, speaking words that had never once crossed her mind. "It is time, I think." Her voice was hollow, sounding as fake and off as Thorin's had.
Thorin's lips curled into a smile, and, without meaning to, Cestai smiled back.
Turning to Balin, who sat on Thorin's opposite side, Thorin whispered something in his ear. The elderly dwarf nodded, and then stood up. At once, the chanting and yelling the stadium ceased.
"At long last," Balin's voice boomed across the room. "We have captured the terrible beast that slayed so many of our brethren."
A unanimous, sad murmur from the crowds. Next to her, Thorin bowed his head.
"But," Balin began. "No longer will this wretched monster relish in spilling precious Dwarven blood! For today, we execute the beast, as payment of the ruin he brought on our people!"
The crowds roared in approval. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thorin raise his fist in the air in excitement.
"Today," Balin shouted. "We kill the dragon!"
The dwarves around her father stepped aside, allowing for a dark-haired dwarf to step into the fray.
It was Kili, Cestai realized with a start. And he was wielding a bow, a huge, black arrow fastened in its string.
Standing in front of her father, Kili pulled back the string, the thunderous crowd egging him on.
The dragon struggled, pulling and fighting against his chains, desperately trying to find a means of escape.
Kili let the arrow fly, the point piercing her father's loose scale with a resounding thunk. The crowds went wild.
And Cestai felt no remorse, no sadness, no horror. She felt only satisfaction as she watched her father crumple to the ground, the shouts of the dwarves around her echoing in her ears.
The shouting was real. The rest of her nightmare was not.
"I swear, I saw-"
"That is impossible, Dwalin!"
"But, I swear, I saw her skin turn to scales! I even saw some wings sprout from her back!"
"You must have been hallucinating."
Cestai opened her eyes slightly, only to see that the entire company was gathered around her bedroll, watching her intently. Thorin and Dwalin, she could see, had been the ones shouting.
"Ah, she's awake," Balin said kindly, although the smile on his face seemed forced and strained.
What just happened to me? Cestai thought to herself, her body still shaking from the nightmare. She looked around at the dwarves, the images of Balin and Kili and Thorin ordering her father's execution still clear and sharp in her mind.
"W-what's going on?" she stammered, hating how frightened her voice sounded.
"You just turned into a dragon, is what happened!" Dwalin barked, his face turning purple with anger.
A dragon? Cestai gulped. During the nightmare, she must have lost control of her transformation. How ridiculous she felt, like a child who wet the bed when they got scared. Why did I lose control? Now Dwalin suspected her. Not that he always hadn't, but now especially so. Are they going to kill me now?
"A dragon?" she repeated out loud, trying to sound amused. "Why, that's impossible!"
"Not impossible!" Dwalin shouted, his face purpling. "I saw you do it! I saw you turn into a dragon with my very own eyes!" He leaned over and looked suspiciously at her, his face mere inches from her own. "Who are you?" he asked slowly, peering at her the way one might look at an insect they were studying.
"I-I-I…" Cestai stuttered, inching away from the fuming dwarf. Had she really blown her cover so quickly?
"Dwalin!" Thorin snapped, easing the dwarf back, allowing Cestai to breath a sigh of relief. "Leave her alone," he said, a bit more gently.
"Thorin," Dwalin said disbelievingly. "Why are you so quick to dismiss me? Do you not trust me as you once did?" An expression of great hurt crossed his face for the briefest of moments, before his features hardened again into their signature scowl. When Thorin was silent, he turned away, muttering, "I must have been 'hallucinating,' then."
Thorin watched the dwarf leave, the same sadness in his eyes that Cestai had seen in Dwalin's. At last, he turned to Cestai, looking at her frightened face with an almost fatherly expression of compassion. But then he averted his eyes and gace her bedroll a swift kick. "Get up," he said under his breath, stalking off and pulling Balin along after him.
The other dwarves lingered for the briefest of moments, but many of them quickly dispersed, leaving Cestai alone with just Fili and Kili standing around her bedroll.
"Dwalin's getting old," Fili said, his voice comforting. "I wouldn't doubt that he was hallucinating. Don't get worked up over it, Alyssa."
"That's right," Kili added, squatting down next to her. "And Uncle's always like that, yelling orders and kicking things." He gave her a wiggle of his eyebrows. "It doesn't mean he doesn't like you if he does stuff like that."
"Oh, are you still going on about that?" Cestai laughed, making the dark-haired prince smirk. "I told you, there's nothing… there's nothing there."
"Ah, but you hesitated!" Kili said triumphantly, causing her to roll her eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Fili interjected, looking between the two of them.
"Alyssa is Uncle's One," Kili said, suppressing a grin.
Fili gaped, his eyes wide with surprise. "What? Really?" he exclaimed, just as Cestai grabbed a nearby leaf and threw it at Kili in annoyance.
"Definitely," Kili said, pulling the leaf out of his hair with a smile.
"Not true," Cestai butted in.
"You know, I can kind of see that," Fili said after awhile, looking at Cestai with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Aw, not you too!" Cestai groaned, sighing as the two princes exchanged mischievous glances.
Fili simply shrugged. "Kili could be right," he said.
"He's like, three times my age!" Cestai exclaimed. "Isn't that… I don't know… weird?"
"In Dwarven culture, age is arbitrary when it comes to finding your One," Kili supplemented.
"You know an awful lot about this," Cestai remarked, snorting.
"Kili's found his One," Fili joined in. "That's probably why."
"Really?" Cestai asked excitedly. "Who is it?"
Kili looked down at the ground, drawing swirls in the dirt with a stray twig.
"Come on, Kee," Fili said coaxingly, punching his brother playfully in the shoulder.
"Her name is Tauriel," Kili said after awhile.
"That's such a pretty name," Cestai breathed.
"But she's an elf, so she and Kili can't really… be together," Fili said.
"Why not?" Cestai asked. She had never learned much about Dwarven romance in the library, and was eager to supplement her missing knowledge.
"There's always been a sort of unspoken war between the two races," Fili said. "Ever since, well, ever since they deserted us in the Battle of Azanulbizar."
"The Battle of Azanulbizar?" Cestai repeated. This sounds important, she thought. Maybe it has something to do with my father, or why these dwarves want to kill them.
"You don't know about it?" Fili asked, stunned.
"No," Cestai said slowly. Damnit! Can I not keep my cover at all? The Battle of Azanulbizar must have been something important to the dwarves, and by mentioning that she didn't know about it… well, she was only drawing more suspicion to herself.
Fili looked at her for a moment, the confusion plain on his face. But after awhile, he began, "The Battle of Azanulbizar was the battle that took place just after we lost Erebor," he paused, looking behind him to where Thorin and Balin stood, talking. "I wasn't there, but my uncle and Balin, were. They've told me that when they were in the midst of the battle, when their need for aid was dire, the elves appeared. But when they called for help, the king of the elves, Thranduil, ignored them and looked the other way, riding on."
Cestai bit her lip, watching the pain cross Fili and Kili's faces. This story, she realized, was an important one, and one very close to all of the dwarves' hearts. As much as she wanted to know why the battle had even begun, she judged it best not to probe the dwarves any further.
"Do you believe what Dwalin said? About Alyssa?" Thorin asked, once he had pulled Balin away from the others.
The old dwarf looked back at the woman in question, surrounded by the remaining company members. "I…" he trailed off, his voice cracking. Clearing his throat, he continued, "My brother has the sharpest senses I've ever witnessed."
"So you think Alyssa really did…" Thorin followed Balin's gaze to Alyssa. His nephews were kneeling by her, and talking to her, judging by the animated movements of their mouths.
"I don't know," Balin said quietly. "You may be right. He may have been hallucinating."
"But you don't believe that," Thorin said, recognizing the look of doubt in the dwarf's face. "You think your brother is right."
"And do you not trust him?" Balin countered. "My brother would never lie to you, Thorin. He had never led you astray, not once in all of our years together."
"I just…" Thorin looked back at Alyssa, unsure of why he was at such a loss for words. Why is it so hard for me to believe Dwalin? Why do I keep trying to deny what he saw?
"Thorin," Balin began, noticing where Thorin's gaze was pointed. "I like this woman as much as you do-"
"I don't like her," Thorin protested, downcasting his eyes.
"-She's quirky, and smart," Balin continued, ignoring Thorin's interruption. "But you have to put the company first. There's something off about her backstory, and something just seems… wrong with her." He paused. "And if these… these suspicions continue, I need to know that you will be willing to remove her from the company."
Thorin flinched.
"Promise me, Thorin. The outcome of this quest has been decades in the planning, the making, the sacrificing. Please tell me that you won't throw it all away for the sake of one woman," Balin said, his eyes pleading.
"I promise," Thorin said hoarsely. "We will take back Erebor, Balin," he said, clapping the dwarf on the shoulder, who gave him a sad, proud smile. "We will. I swear it to you."
Thank you so much for reading! I know the history and the lore might be a little off in this chapter (I'm not very good at writing about that kind of stuff) but I hope my errors aren't too glaring. :P
Please favorite, follow and review! :)