'Men.' Kaledo growled.

Kassandra had to grin. 'How many men have you gotten to know to make such a statement?' she teased Kaledo. 'Kili just wanted to support you, Kaledo.'

'I do not need his support. I am capable to fight for my own.' Kaledo stated firmly.

'Kili stood up for you, against his own kin.' Kassandra reminded the hot headed girl. 'You should know that this means alot with dwarves.'

Kaledo opened her mouth to disagree, but then closed it again. She looked unsure.

'I like him. I like him alot.' she stuttered. 'But I have never even really talked to a man before, I do not know what to do...or say.'

'Talk to him like you would talk to me or any other woman.' Kassandra smiled. 'Just be yourself.'

'Orcs! In the mountain!' the guards yelled.

A pack of orcs had found their way into the mountain through a crack in the mines. Now they were swarming the tunnels, attacking the miners and few guards. Thorin, Dwalin, Fili and Kili rushed down to fight them back, but they had already disperced throught the whole mountain.

'Sound the alarm!' Dwalin yelled at the gate guards who reacted instantly. The gates were closed and the dwarves of Erebor who could not fight were told to lock themselves in their homes.

'We have to close the crack in the mines or more orcs will enter the mountain!' Fili exclaimed.

Thorin knew he was right, but there was no time.

'We need guards at the crack, we will close it later.' Thorin decided.

The hunt for the orcs took hours and nobody was sure if they had killed all of the intruders. Thorin had lost count of how many orcs died under Orcrists blows. He turned to look how his nephews were doing as he saw a giant orc swinging his blade at Kili from behind. Before the orc could hit his nephews back he was pierced in the eye by an arrow. Thorin watched as the young amazon, Kaledo, charged the orcs and took a stand beside Kili. Thorin worried about Kassandra, but at the same time he knew that she would give the orcs a fight they would never expect.

At the same time Kassandra and Daenera fought the orcs which had managed to make it to the royal quarters. Hippona had left to search for her daughter, Kassandra worried deeply about the two. Suddenly she heard a high pitched scream out of one of the room and ran towards the source as fast as she could. An orc had entered Lifs room and pointed his sword at her throat. Without thinking Kassandra launched at him and pushed him away from his victim. The orc made the mistake of underestimating the woman in front of him and was killed by Kassandras daggers within the minute. Panting, Kassandra turned to Lif.

'Are you alright?' she asked.

Lif only looked at her with a dark expression on her face. 'You saved me.' she uttered. 'That was a mistake.'

Kassandra shook her head in dismay and turned around. A part of her wished that she had let the orc kill the blonde dwarf lady. But then again, Kassandra was a good person and she would stand up for any living soul who needed her help. Feeling a cold shiver down her spine Kassandra turned around and saw a small dagger in Lifs hand. Lif looked unsure of what to do.

'Did you plan of ramming that thing in my back?' Kassandra asked her menacingly.

'N...no.' Lif lied. 'How dare you accuse me of that?'

Kassandra frowned and moved closer to the female dwarf. 'You are a coward and you are a poor excuse for a dwarf. If you ever try to threaten my life or the life of any of my friends or family I will hunt you down and then your burned eyebrows will be your smallest worry.'

'How dare you threaten me, you...you wench!' Lif whispered. 'You do not belong here. You never have. King Thorin will realise that sooner or later.'

Kassandra was about to answer as Dis stormed in. 'There you are! Come with me, Andra. We should lock ourselves in our rooms. There we are safe.' Looking at Lif she only frowned and snapped at her. 'You stay here.'

Kassandra and Dis left the room feeling Lifs burning gaze on their backs.

Out on the corridor, Kassandra stopped. 'I cannot leave, I have to fight.'

Sighing Dis took Kassandras hand. 'I know you feel the need to contribute something. But Thorin could not concentrate if he knew you were fighting here as well. I know this is much to ask, but please come with me.' her face lightened up as she had an idea. 'We will go to the infirmary. There we can be useful.'

'My courtladies are out there fighting, I will not leave them here.' Kassandra stated firmly. 'I will follow you to the infirmary as soon as I have found them.'

Nodding Dis made her way to the infirmary while Kassandra went to look for her loyal amazons. She found Daenera kneeling over Hippona at the entrance of the mines. Hippona had a deep gash in her side and was unconscious. Together they picked up the wounded warrior and carried her to the infirmary.

'Report!' Thorin ordered the guard. The majority of the orcs was slain by now and only a few wandered through the mountain in search for means of escape.

'Two dozen dead, most of them civilians, my king. Miners are working on the crack in the mine, closing it. Many of the miners are wounded.' the guard hesitated with his next report. 'One of the amazons was badly injured, my king.'

Thorin felt his heart freeze. 'Who?' he managed to ask.

'I am sorry my king, I do not know. She is in the infirmary.' the guard had to step aside to not be run over by Thorin who rushed to the infirmary as fast as he could.

Oin worked as hard as he could. He was happy about Dis and Kassandras help, the infirmary was swarming with injured dwarves. Many of them had to lay down on the ground because of the lack of beds. Kassandra had send a messenger to Dale, asking for some additional healers, but it would take some time till they came. She was tending to an elderly dwarf as Thorin came rushing into the infirmary, Kaledo was right behind him. Kassandra caught Kaledos gaze and pointed to a bed at the end of the infirmary. Kaledo pushed past Thorin and rushed to her mothers side. Kassandra could see the relief in Thorins face as he saw her, but concentrated on her patient.

Thorin was relieved to see Kassandra unharmed. Since she was busy he turned to tend to his duties. He went down to the mines to examine the closing of the crack and ordered the mines to be closed down for a week for the miners to recover from that vile attack. The gates of Erebor were only opened to let in the healers from Dale, they would remain closed until the last orc was found and killed. Thorin returned to his room at sunrise, exhausted and worried. He had not heard a word from Kassandra, yet. He figured that she would still be in the infirmary and was surprised to find her curled up in his bed. Thorin figured that she was asleep, but as he came closer he saw her shoulders shake. Shocked, he realised that she was crying.

'My love, what is it?' he took her in his arms for comfort.

'Hippona.' Kassandra cried softly. 'She is dead.'

The next days were hard ones for the Durin dwarves. Kili had not seen Kaledo since the death of her mother. The young amazon had locked herself in her room, letting nobody in. She blamed herself for her mothers death and grieved deeply. Kassandra also grieved for the loss of her friend.

'I asked her to come. She died in the dark, far away from her home and all of that because of me.' Kassandra was inconsolable.

'She did her duty, Andra.' Daenera tried to comfort her. 'She was a warrior and she fought bravely. She died honorably.'

'Have you spoken to Kaledo?' Kassandra asked.

Daenera shook her head. 'She lets nobody enter her room. I have tried, but she grieves deeply. The young dwarf, Kili, he sat in front of her door for hours, but she does not want to see him. I am afraid that she blames herself because she has not been at her mothers side as she died.'

Kassandra burried her face in her hands. Thorin was busy, he had send out patrols to search the mountain for more gaps and cracks and he helped the miners close them with his own hands. Both were so tired in the evenings that they barely made it to bed before falling asleep in each others arms.

It was one month till Durins day.