The silence that fell from Ori's words lasted through the arrival of the promised food and the initial tentative bites before Balin cleared his throat. It came as no surprise to them that they had been denied knives and forks and so fingers were burnt and blown upon in an attempt to tease steaming meat from the cooked joint that lay on a platter by the fire.
"Well, now that we have established that – no matter how vague she may have been – Miss Baggins did not lie to us we shall move on,"
There were a few grudging nods and grumbles of acceptance around half chewed food.
"The trolls?" Nori thumped his foot down in triumph, refusing to let the subject go. He was a thief, he lied for a living, how could he not have seen that the Hobbit was not on the up and up?
But right there was something she had lied to them about.
"She lied to us about-"
"She didn't!"
Nori's eyes widened in surprise at the vehemence in his usually quiet brother's voice. He sounded almost exasperated now.
Ori's eyes darted about the Company and Nori watched with rising amusement as Ori's cheeks flushed up quickly with embarrassment. One of these days his little brother's beard would catch fire from that blush he was sure of it.
"Bilbo didn't lie about the trolls," Balin nodded at Ori and picked up where he had finished, taking pity on the young Dwarf who had already been made to speak more than he was comfortable with.
"All she told us when she was asked was that she had told them to 'go home'," the old advisor stopped pointedly, a brow raised, to allow his words to sink in.
The lass really had tried her best to not lie to them and he respected her for that.
Mouths gaped once again about the room like fish on a river bank.
Balin was right. No matter how much they might wish he wasn't. No matter how much they wished to plant Bilbo firmly in the wrong the old Dwarf had a point.
They thought back to every little moment that could remember with the Hobbit and what young Ori had told them. She had never told them an all-out falsehood. Like the young scribe said, she would always change the subject.
"And how exactly did you expect her to broach the subject, hmm?" Balin continued, meeting the eyes of each member of the Company - even the cool angry gaze of his king.
"We were stranger to her. A group of rowdy men who showed up in the late hours at her front door," he glared at Gandalf as he spoke, he knew that the wizard had been very highhanded in his dealing with Bilbo that night, "She had no reason to trust us with her secrets. With information we did not earn and were not entitled to,"
Balin expected a reaction at this but received none. In fact, boots began to scuff along the floor and eyes dropped to the ground or focused with excessive interest upon the walls. Even Thorin remained quiet.
Well, it looked as though he had finally said the right thing to get them thinking.
Silence swallowed the room and even the food was ignored until Balin finally judged that enough time had been spent in stillness and thought.
"What are we going to do about the offer, Thorin?" his voice shocked the Company enough to finally have them glance up, or away from rock walls. All eyes now shot to their leader.
"Do we have much of a choice?" scoffed Dwalin, his arms folded across his chest as he glanced at the entrance with open suspicion, expecting the Goblins to descend upon them at any moment.
All guilt seemed to fade instantly from the Company. Bofur glared angrily at the warrior and grumbles began to issue from some of the others.
The very thought of entering into an alliance of any kind with Orcs and Goblins of all creatures unnerved them all.
"Course we do. She wouldn't have offered otherwise!" the hatted Dwarf growled.
To their surprise Thorin turned to Gandalf who was standing to the side puffing on a pipe. Just where had he got that from?
"Well, wizard," Thorin growled, "what would you have us do? Forfeit our claim to the mountain in favour of this?"
The Wizard took the pipe from his mouth and breathed steadily for a few moments. They were sure he was doing it on purpose just to keep Thorin waiting.
"No, indeed not," Gandalf finally answered, "I believe that retaking the mountain is to be your destiny Thorin. You shall all once again walk in the halls of your fathers,"
"So you would have us join with the Orcs?" Thorin asked his voice tense, every muscle in his body tight, "with the ones who slaughtered hundreds of our kin?" he threw out his arms, gesturing to the Company.
"From what Her Majesty told us, it would only be a temporary arrangement should you wish it to be,"
Thorin snorted at this and Gandalf scowled.
The Company felt the need to take a step away from the Wizard, feeling that something was about to start that they would much rather not find themselves in the middle of.
"I believe you did not listen to Her Majesty when she spoke,"
Another snort came from their leader and they took another step back.
Balin sighed. It didn't seem to matter how hard he tried, diplomacy and tact were two qualities he never quite seemed to be able to teach his king.
"But you will listen to me, Thorin Oakenshield," the Wizard bellowed.
The fire flickered and the room grew dark with the Wizard's shadow which seemed to spread to every surface. They had witnessed this same phenomenon the night at Bag End but this seemed much worse.
While Thorin had appeared unmoved by the display that night this time he staggered backward as though being forced.
And then, just as quickly as the darkness had dropped over them, it lifted and Gandalf was once again the almost scruffy looking old wanderer they had journeyed with for weeks.
"You will respect Bilbo Baggins as a fellow ruler if nothing else, Thorin Oakenshield," the Wizard's eyes glistened dangerously.
"Now, I am certain that you can trust Bilbo's word and I know you are more than aware that she is the only one in favour of this temporary alliance. Azog would have had your head the moment he saw you if Bilbo had not stepped in. Perhaps you should think on that,"
Thorin kept his eyes steadily on the Wizard, never wavering for a moment.
"There are matters at hand that are larger than us all and Bilbo is right to try and put differences aside – even for a short time – to be victorious against this enemy,"
Thorin's mouth opened to speak but Gandalf interrupted him before he could utter a word.
"You would do well to follow her example in this," the wizard spoke sternly.
"And fight an enemy no one had heard of in millennia?" Thorin scoffed.
"Just because the wolf sleeps, it does not mean it is not there," Gandalf replied, "An army is flocking to the shadows, the darkness is drawing all who have no strength to fight it. Smaug is a creature of darkness, one of the last – if not the last - of a race created by the first Dark Lord. Should the Dragon ally with the enemy the results would be bloody and terrible,"
"Can the same not be said of the Orcs and Goblins?" Balin asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
What was stopping the Orcs and Goblins who were by all appearances loyal to Bilbo and ruled by her from returning to their Master?
Gandalf stood in deep though for a moment before answering.
"In a way, yes. Just as there is nothing stopping Smaug from rejecting any offers to join with the enemy there is nothing stopping those allied with Bilbo from returning,"
This caused a ripple of unease to wash through the Company.
"But I do not see that happening. The Orcs serve their Master through fear, perhaps a few also serve through what it can gain them, but, in the end it is the strongest who will have remained by Azog's side. If they have remained strong for so long I cannot see them faltering now. And as for Bilbo's Goblins, they have been separated from their brethren for centuries, they have no desire to set a new Dark Lord over themselves,"
The silence that fell after Gandalf's words was interrupted by a heavy sigh from Thorin as he turned to face the Company.
"You are the few who were loyal enough to come on this journey, a journey that held no promise of success, I shall make no decision without your say,"
They had no expected that.
-To Be Continued-
Tada!
Sorry there is quite a bit of info dumping in this chapter. So things are finally moving and although Thorin is still being very stubborn and not very accepting there is hope on the horizon. :) I hope I have explained things adequately. I was trying to not make it a history lesson…
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Bilbo is up next and Azog is not happy.
Take care.
x
