Chapter 1: T.A. 2770 – Keep her safe!
„It is not my place to dispute his royal dignity and neither is it my place to claim his crown and realm! He's my king as much as he is my father, maybe even more! And he'll be king under the mountain as long as he lives!"
Thrain, son of Thror and heir to the mightiest of all dwarf lords, had a deep draft of zûl and placed the empty mug back on the table before he started pacing the room again. He felt troubled and not even the company of his wife and children was able to dispel this feeling tonight.
They had another long and unedifying quarrel about the fact that his father, the so far undoubted king of Erebor and the leader of their kin, started to change. He was unwilling to admit, that he not only guessed, but already knew it, and he was even more unwilling to think about the consequences this might have if it came to the alliances they had made with the men of Dale and the elves of nearby Greenwood.
At least, the relations with the Woodland Realm seemed to be a bit strained for a couple of months, since this unfortunate incident concerning the gems, Thranduil came to reclaim. But who was he, to doubt the word of his king? He was convinced, Thror was right, when he asked for a higher payment and as there was nothing written down that would have proved the elvenking to be right, he'd never claim his father to be wrong.
He inhaled a deep breath, then clenched his teeth and frowned, while he let out a silent sigh, staring at his wife. It was useless to make a try to hide his worries from her. She just knew when something was not the way it was supposed to be. Maybe that was a gift only a woman was vested with, a mother in addition.
"It is your place," her dark voice tore him out of his thought: "who, if not you can remind him of his duties?"
"Asdis...!" He stopped pacing, ready to give her a reply, but her gaze out of powder-blue eyes told him that she wasn't yet finished.
"Will you listen! You owe it to your father! You owe it to our people, to our kin! And you owe it to them!"
He let his gaze follow hers, when she pointed at the three young dwarves with her head, who had claimed the place in front of the fireplace, and who were too occupied with themselves to follow the lively discussion their parents led.
"You know, what Thorin told us", she went on: "That Thror spends whole days and nights inside the treasure chamber, that he loses his far-sightedness and his reason. He does not sleep, he does not eat, except one of us reminds him of doing so." She lowered her gaze and added: "Have you been to Dale, lately? They don't ask frankly, but they ask: if Thror is still alive, if there still is a king under the mountain. No one saw him for months. He has not been out, neither for hunting nor for anything else..."
Thrain rested a hand on one of her shoulders and nodded. He knew what got whispered in the lanes of Dale and Esgaroth. It was no secret that their allies worried about Erebor's strength. And it was no secret either that their own kin started to gossip about the whereabouts of their king. He had no doubt that the leaders of the other dwarven realms had a watchful eye on the goings-on of the Lonely Mountain. First and foremost their neighbours from the Iron Hills, descendants of Durin as well...
The three young dwarves, who sat in front of the fireplace, had different things in mind within this moment, but to worry about the strength of their grandfather's kingdom. The two lads sat on the floor, cross-legged and eyeing each other while brooding over a game of chess. The lass lay on the floor face down, her head rested on her hands, and tried to guess the next moves her brothers would make. She looked at both of them by turns and hoped the younger would win – then the elder would have to take her with him when he'd go hunting. And that was what she longed for. Desperately!
"You'll never be a strategist, little brother", Thorin grinned, when he placed his last move to end the match, then he patted his sister's head and added: "And you'll stay at home, wee one. Hunting is not for little dwarrowdams."
"You cheated", Dis pouted and pushed his hand away. "And you", she glared at Frerin: "let him win!"
"I did not!" Frerin talked back and presented her with his most innocent grin.
"You did! 'Cause you think I'm too small..."
"Are you not?" Frerin taunted: "I bet a troll would not even notice if he'd step on you."
"And you are dimwitted like a troll", Dis spat: "Thorin does not hunt for trolls." She stuck her tongue out at him and sat up, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Now, now, little sister! Don't be so eager to see trolls and other unfriendly creatures. You'll come across them soon enough and you won't be pleased."
"You can talk! You are allowed to see them all, unfriendly or not...but", she looked at her brothers sure of victory: "I talked to the elvenking."
"Oh, did you hear that, Thorin?" Frerin jumped to his feet, picked her up and kissed her cheek: "You little brat! What fairy tales do you want to tell us?"
"No fairy tale", she protested: "He said, he'll come back and tell me a story..."
"Thranduil?" Thorin cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. If he was honest, he found it hard to imagine that the always focussed and always deliberate elf would promise anybody anything like this.
"I even touched his cheek", Dis went on, visibly proud: "it was all smooth..."
Frerin burst out laughing and then started tickling her: "You'll not fall for an elf, little one, eh?"
The wee lass squirmed in her brother's arms and laughed until tears were running down her cheeks. "Let me out", she giggled: "Let me out!"
The three young dwarves interrupted their merry discussion, when they heard the voice of their mother: "That will do for tonight. It's time for you to sleep, young lass." The lady Asdis tried to keep stern, when Frerin handed her daughter over to her: "And you lads should lay down as well. You'll have to get up before sunrise for a good hunt, Thorin, and you should also be rested, Frerin. We'll go to Dale tomorrow morning!"
Dis wrapped her arms round her mother's neck and leaned her cheek against her mother's, whispering:"I go as well, right? To Dale...?"
"And what about the trolls and the hunting?" Thorin asked, giving her a wink.
She wrinkled her nose: "Keep your trolls! Mum will get me sweets, right? You will, mum?"
Lady Asdis cuddled her wee lass and ruffled her younger son's hair: "We'll see..."
It was in the afternoon, when the Lady Asdis and her son and daughter returned home from their visit at Dale. They were grateful for the ponies and that they did not have to walk as it was a hot midsummer day, and as only a slight breeze waved over from River Running.
It was all calm and the main gates of Erebor were close.
"She has quickly forgotten about the hunting", Frerin stated having a look at his sister, who was sleeping peacefully while sitting in the saddle in front of her mother.
"The market days of Dale always had the same effect on you young dwarves", his mother replied: "The traders, all the different goods, the scents and sounds; enough to explore for a curious lad or lass.
"You spoiled her today."
Asdis brushed some curls from her daughter's sweaty brow and smiled: "I didn't for a rather long while..."
She had not yet finished her sentence when suddenly the slight breeze turned into a gust of wind coming from the North. The dwarf lady frowned and turned towards her son: "As it seems the weather will change. Let's hurry! I don't like the thought of staying in the open during a thunderstorm."
She drove her pony on, but when they reached the gates and got greeted by the guards, there was nothing to spot that would give a hint that there was a thunderstorm to be expected. Only the wind got stronger and the trees started to bend under its impact. She shook her head, convincing herself again that there was nothing to spot, and got off her pony.
Frerin was following her on her heels when she hastened inside and they almost stumbled into Thorin, who had just returned from his hunting expedition.
"What's going on out there", he asked: "There was no game to spot all day long. That's why I decided to return early." When neither his mother nor his brother were able to give him a reply, he dragged Frerin with him: "We'll have a look from down the battlements. Take care of our wee one, mother, we'll let you know when we'll find out what the meaning of this is."
When the brothers reached the battlements the wind had turned into a storm and the guards were waiting for orders. Thorin bent over the balustrade and stopped short in shock. Smoke and ashes rose where normally the towers and roofs of Dale were to spot. Flames blasted against the otherwise clear blue sky and then he saw it.
He turned round, pale like death, and all he said, when he saw the banners flutter due to the storm, was: "Hide yourself! All of you!"
Frerin stared at him in utter confusion and asked while a first fountain of fire and flame hit the mountain: "What is it?"
"A dragon", Thorin replied: "Go and search for our mother! Go!" Pushing his brother out of his way, he turned round and yelled that his voice resounded from Erebor's walls: "Dragon!"
The same moment hell broke loose, when panic and fear grabbed for the dwarves of Erebor.
Frerin jumped down the stairs and ran through countless corridors, tried not to get into the way of the guards and the soldiers who pushed past him and headed to secure the gates and to face whatever it was that sought to enter the great halls. He was out of breath when he finally reached the quarters the royal family inhabited.
Lady Asdis looked up. She didn't have to ask him to understand that the roaring and the thunder she just heard had nothing to do with a common thunderstorm.
She swallowed hard, then asked: "Is it as bad as we expected?"
"It's worse, mother." Frerin lowered his head: "Dale is lost. It's a sea of flames..."
"How is this..." Her voice died away when a terrible guess started to choke her.
"A fire drake! It destroyed the city and I'm not sure if our forces will hold out against it. Mother, I fear, it will enter the mountain!"
Asdis nodded, her face a mirror of the storm that raged deep inside her, and then, in a sudden resolve, she grabbed a bag and started to stuff it with whatever clothes were in reach, adding a little chest filled with gems and jewels and a purse heavy with golden coins: "Take this, lad! No questions! There's no time for explanations."
With it, she filled a second bag, wrapped her sleeping daughter in a blanket and said, while she picked Dis up: "We have to get out of here. Where's your brother? Where's Thorin?"
"He sent me here to warn you. I suppose, he's with father, trying to stop the beast."
"That's what I feared!" Asdis sighed, but then she straightened: "Well, then it's up to us to get as many out of here as possible."
Before she left her chamber she had a last look at everything that meant home to her and there was something within her gaze that troubled her son, although he wasn't sure about the why.
When they hurried through the corridors, nothing was as it had been only an hour before. The smell of burned wood and worse filled the air, motionless bodies almost made them stumble and more and more often it happened, that debris and burst columns barred their way.
The dragon had smashed the main gate and had left a trace of death and ravage when it stomped through the corridors and it had been just by chance that the lady Asdis, her son and her daughter escaped the beast only by a hair's breadth. Hidden behind a pile of debris the fiery breath of the dragon singed the tips of their hair and left minor burn marks due to the heat only, not due to the fire.
It was hard to bear to hear the screaming and roaring echo through the halls, mingled with the sound of weapons and armour and the groan of the dying, and it was kind of an odyssey to find a way out as some of the corridors were not just filled with debris but with dense smoke and fire as well. Dead ends wherever they looked at.
It was a small group Asdis and Frerin led through the labyrinth of corridors and halls, tried to reach one of the side gates, which meant safety and fresh air, and tried to calm down the desperate dwarves of their kin who were filled with pure horror, while her little daughter clung to her, crying, eyes wide in panic and not able to understand what was happening to them.
Then, when they had almost reached the narrow corridor that led to the side gate, it happened that they heard the rumble close to them. Dust wrapped them in, when smaller stones and loose material rained down on them and Asdis and Frerin changed a worried look. They drove the dwarves on, they were accompanied by, and breathed a sigh of relief when the door got pushed open and when sunlight and fresh air flooded in.
Only a few steps kept them from getting out of the halls, when screams from behind made them turn round.
"Seems, some of them lost their way!" Frerin said with a low voice.
Asdis looked at her son in despair and then made her decision: "Stay here, lad! I'll get them out of here. Take her!" She kissed her daughter and shoved the lass into Frerin's arms: "And now hurry, lad! Don't turn round, whatever will happen! We'll meet on the other side!" She already wanted to head back into the corridor, but she hesitated and added: "In case that not...Keep her safe, Frerin! Take her to Greenwood. The elves will know what to do! Promise!" And the young dwarf just nodded.
"No!" Dis screamed and started crying again: "Amad! No! Amad!" She reached her arms out, but in vain. Frerin held her close, when she struggled under his grip, when she saw her mother vanish in the dark: "Amad!"
"She'll be back, little sister", Frerin whispered: "She'll be back!"
The next they heard was a terrible crack, followed by a loud rumble when a huge part of the ceiling broke down...
And everything turned black...