Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit.
Hello! Yes I know, long time since my last update but I got caught in a performance for a musical and took all of June. So to make up for it I have a nice long chapter for you guys, and some news. I an actually heading to Europe on a 6 week holiday so my next update won't be until September, but they will all be Smaug related so I hope that will cover it.
p.s: While I'm in London I shall be attending a showing of 'The Crucible' staring Richard Armitage. Front row seats for the win :)
Read, review and enjoy!
'Blue gray? Turquoise? Azure? Periwinkle?' There were many names for the colour blue, but finding the right one was a challenge.
It had been a very early start for the mountain, so early the sun had barely crept up over the edge of the world. The company's send off may have been a grand send off indeed but to Marie, the sight of the Lonely Mountain at dawn was far more grander than the Master and his very, very, very loud fanfare.
Their small vessel had made it to the edge of the lake by the time the sun had completely cleared the horizon and shone upon the mountain, colouring the snow and clouds a shade of faded pink and silver, but the sky ... it was a beautiful blue. But what kind of blue?
The reason for the hobbit's fascination with the colour blue was out of need to focus her mind on something other than the painful headache she was enduring. It was her own fault for letting herself get drunk, but it would help if she could remember just how much she drank.
She glanced back at the dwarves, hard at work pulling the barge onto the show and in fighting condition. How they managed to fight off their own hangovers was a mystery to Marie. They did look slightly uncomfortable with the plates of armour and robes they had been given, it made them look even bulkier. Chances were most of the armour will be left behind, all the dwarves required was the weapons.
Marie's eyes drifted from the dwarves to the faded outline of Lake Town. The armour would not be the only thing left behind.
Poor Bofur had been nowhere in sight when they boarded the barge, and Thorin made the choice to leave without him, right before he command Kili to remain behind under the pretences of him 'slowing them down' but they all could see it was out of concern for the young dwarf. Despite the quiet words of reassurance from Thorin, Kili had not taken the news well. Fili and Oin chose to remain with him, bring the company to a total of ten.
The pounding commence again and the hobbit went back to her colour listing.
When that failed to calm her head, she tried once more to remember.
Her memory was in tatters and no matter how much she tried to piece it back together, she still could not determine what had really happened and what her mind had just made up. There was singing, that much was she was positive. Then she remembered spinning so ... that meant dancing? Then the itching in her throat ... that was brandy ... then ... warmth ... engulfing her to the point of burning. She couldn't even recall how she got up the stairs.
She brought her hands that she had clasped together tightly to her face and warmed them with her breath.
There was that dream.
She had been walking away from the festivities in jolly spirits and into the darkness, unafraid of it for the first time. From the dark something had taken hold of her arms and trapped her. A shadow loomed over her, cerulean blue eyes filled with desire as she kissed it sweetly. Her body shiver under the large red cloak around her shoulder as she recalled the dream kiss. It was felt so ... real. The unabashed passion she had felt when the shadow drew her in, demanding all of her, the want to be touch by it filling her soul. It had all but devoured her before it was gone in an instant. Then the fire came for her. It did not burn her, but chilled her to the bone and made her weep frozen tears. She was trapped again, but by the unrelenting glare of a dragon's eye until she awoke.
'Ugh, why? Why did I drink?'
"Leave all that can be spared behind. We must reach the overlook by midday." Thorin ordered. Marie eyes were instantly drawn to him, standing on the lake's edge like a conqueror.
He was staring intensely at the mountain.
'Thorin has cerulean eyes.'
Her face went red and she quickly quelled her thoughts.
As she had predicted, the dwarves left the breastplates, helmets and fur capes in the barge, strapping the water and rations bags to their backs.
Marie chose to part from her own cloak, it would only slow her down. Besides, the cold would help knock some sense into her.
The hike through the barren terrain brought back memories of the days spent wandering the Misty Mountains. She remembered the bitter feelings of then but also the nostalgia and humour of it, however little there was before the goblin incident.
As the morning rolled on and the cold winds finally blew away the last of the painful pulses in her head, Marie took note of the lack of colour in the world. Strange how at dawn there was colour everywhere she turned, yet here at the very edge of the mountain, a grey ash had settled over them, topped with tiny white flakes of snow. The sun still shone through the clouds, but brought no light with it.
Was this what Durin's day was, a blank beginning for a new year? Marie mentally shook her head. If she had learnt anything about dwarven culture, both through storytelling and seeing it first hand, such an event would not be deemed so somber. This place was void of ... anything. Even the Misty Mountains had, in it's own cruel manner a feeling of life.
"Up here!" Dwalin called from up ahead. He had strayed off course and stood on a the top of rocky slope.
Marie walked alongside Balin as the company came to the peek. Out of habit, Marie came up beside Thorin. He did not acknowledge her, which seemed a little odd to Marie, but when she looked out at the sight before them it instilled a sense of horror in the hobbit.
Ruins of a large city, blackened and frozen in the grasp of time, stood alone on the base of a small mountain, some of the long gangways leading from ground up to what may have been the city gates were smashed and high towers were as jagged teeth in the sky line. Some were crushed, small melted. Marie knew with sickly certainty what she was looking at, but the question still escaped with the heavy breath she let go of.
"What is this place?"
"T'was once the city of Dale. Now it is a ruin." Balin answered her. "This is the power of dragon fire. The desolation of Smaug."
Marie gulped.
"The sun will soon reach midday. We must find the hidden door before it sets." Thorin said, glancing up at the sun hidden behind a passing cloud. The dwarves took this as a cue to move out, but Marie remembered one of the last things Gandalf had told them.
"Wait, isn't this the ... The overlook?" She asked, looking around for someone to hear her. Funny enough, Thorin did. He stopped and looked back at her.
"Gandalf said to wait for him at the overlook. This is the overlook."
Thorin made to step towards her, but he caught himself quickly and kept the distance. "Do you see him?"
"No but .."
"Then we move without him." Thorin's face was stiff as he spoke. He turned away from her quickly leaving a perplexed Marie behind.
She trotted softly after the dwarf, "But if we are to face the thing that caused that," she waved a hand out back at the ruins, "Surely a wizard would be, oh I don't know, very useful to ..."
"We can not afford to wait for the wizard Miss Baggins. We are in our own."
Marie slowed her pace. What had his britches twisted?
The company came to a cross road, one path to Dale, the other to the gates of Erebor. Thorin pulled the map from his cloak and showed it to Balin. "We best to head west side and star along there. The secret passage would most likely come up into one of the main walk ways. That is if my memory serves me right"
Thorin nodded. "Bombur, take Bifur and begin scouting along there," He indicated to the closest point at the base. "Nori, Gloin, Ori, you take the western face."
As the dwarf focused on ordering the remaining dwarves, Marie snuck around him and peeked over his arm at the map.
"The marker is here. Should we be looking for perhaps a path up the mountain towards the north si ...?"
"Miss Baggins you go with Dwalin." Thorin barked, cutting her off.
"I'm just saying that the marker .."
"Go now."
That made Marie raise an eyebrow. Now she was certain there was something and he was holding her at arm's length on purpose, and she did not like it.
"Come on lass. Let's put those sharp eyes to good use." Dwalin soothed out the sudden tension in his usually gruff manner and started for the mountain.
Marie, feeling hurt by Thorin's quick dismissal of her, followed Dwalin.
"You've turn out well today." The warrior said off handily.
Marie stubbed a toe on a rock. "I ... pardon me?"
"I must say I'd never peg you for a jolly drunk."
'Oh bugger.' Marie could feel the colour leaving her face. "Iyaya ... I think my head is still a bit foggy, but no real harm. Wwwwhhhat did I do?" She asked, dreading what she might learn.
"Oh don't worry lass, you did nothing. Which was more than can be said about some of those upstanding guest we dined with." Marie's relief was brief at best. "You did disappear so suddenly I had cause to worry until Thorin assured me you were safe and sound"
The hobbit hit her toe again. "Really? He, he said that?"
The slight shrug of his shoulders meant yes.
"Right." Marie sucked in the mountain air and quickly changed the subject. "Where to start?"
"Good question lass." Dwalin's fingers tightened around both his weapons, "Now if I take this side you can search the higher terrain."
Marie nodded and began her search. She looked for anything that would indicate a door of a secret entrance but nothing substantial came up in her search. She climbed up the mountain side, patted random rocks and kicking away dirty. Still nothing. She could also here the shouts of colourful words from the others, meaning no one was having any luck finding the door.
"Anything?!"
"Nothing! There's nothing!"
"Keep looking!"
Marie gave an exhausted puff and scratched at the back of her neck. Something was prickling at her skin. She looked up and caught the sun dipping beneath a cloud. It was well pass midday.
'That's not good.' She thought, her fingers tracing around to catch the curls that blow across her cheek. Before she was even aware she was doing it she was looking to Thorin to get his reaction to it all.
He was not too far from her, just below the ridge Marie was standing on. He was studying the map earnestly, glancing up at the mountain every few seconds until he caught Marie watching him.
He stared at her was a strained look in his eye, but as quick as he captured her gaze he looked back down at the map. What had she done? Had she said or done something that unintentionally insulted his ego? She could not fathom what.
She pressed a finger into her temple, rubbing it in a circle.
'Come on Marie, think.' She said quietly, grinding her jaw. 'Think. THINK! Why don't you just ask him?' Logically that seemed the easiest route. 'You did disappear so suddenly ... Thorin assured ... you were safe.' Then it hit her. Last night in the shadows. She didn't ... no. No she couldn't have. Or had he ...? She brushed a finger tip against her lips and the whispers of her dream lover seemed fresh on her lips.
'Cheese and biscuits.' Marie thought and immediately wanted to smack herself. 'This will do you no good. Now you need to focus on the door and worry about what may or may not have been later.'
And she did just that, ignoring the weighted feeling in her gut and the fluttering of her heart.
She pictured the ancient map before her as best as she could remember it, the inky hand pointed to the marker, or a dwarven ruin? That was the door, the door to the lower halls. Then the door should be around the base. But Marie could see in her mind the marker being in the middle of the mountain. She remembered Balin mentioning the many layers of Erebor. Could the lower halls be that high up? Then there were the hidden moon ruins.
As Marie dissected the layers to her new challenge, the complicated emotions about Thorin fell into the deepest recesses of her mind to fester.
"Stand by the Grey stone when the Thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day shall shine upon the Keyhole." Marie murmured. "West facing were the sun sets," Marie turned herself around and took long steps northward. "Up high ... straight up on the side." Her hands, held before her like she was holding and invisible box, moved in accordance with the mountain in her mind, tracing the image. "Look behind the stone."
She could see it, where she needed to go and her feet took her there. She was sure she got some quizzical looks from the dwarves as she passed them. Her pace picked up when she spotted from a hidden curve in the mountain a set of stairs carved into the rock. They continued up and up until they joined with a giant stone statue.
"Up Here!" Marie shouted to the dwarves. She turned around and saw the sun dipping ever so lower in the western sky.
xxx
Not a single complaint was uttered from the dwarves or the hobbit as they climbed the stairs up the statue. It was no easy climb by any means and required careful footing when the steps narrowed, so Marie the so dubbed expect climber of the lot went first and instructed the dwarves where to place their large boots. As the stairs reached the right shoulder of the statue they came upon a ledge of uneven ground, walled in by grey stone.
Marie felt Throin pass her as she just about ran to the stone wall, muttering to himself, "This must be it. The Hidden Door."
It had to be. The setting sun was casting its light on the right spot on the map and Balin had confirmed that this part of the mountain would in all probability lead to the lower halls.
Thorin pulled the iron key from his tunic and held it proudly before the company. "Let all those who doubted us rue this day!" He said and the dwarves cheered. They were there, they had made it. But there was still the task of finding the keyhole. Marie stepped to the side to let others climb up onto the ledge.
She glanced over at the sun sitting on the outline of Mirkwood, burning bright through the scattered clouds. If anything was going happen now would be the most opportune moment. But something seemed to be missing, or so a small voice in Marie's mind kept saying.
"The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the Keyhole." Thorin said.
Dwalin placed his two weapons down and began searching for it. "It must be somewhere round 'bout ..." He brushed away moss and lichen with his stubbed fingers.
After a few moments of unsuccessful prodding, Nori stepped up with a cup and spoon, most likely stolen from the Master's home, and settled himself along the wall, tapping it with the spoon and listening for something. But the shadow they were casting were growing longer the more they tried. Dwalin took another approach and banged his fists on the stone.
"Be quiet. I can't hear when you're thumping." Nori snapped at him.
Dori and Gloin looked about with a nervous look in their eyes with Marie caught in the middle with Ori. "What if we lose the sun?" Gloin asked. Ori shrugged while his brother whispered frantically under his breath. Despite losing more of the light and the dwarves starting to panic, Marie remained abnormally calm.
"It's not here!" Dwalin shouted and picked up an axe.
"Break it down!" Thorin ordered and Gloin, Bifur and Dwalin took to the stone, sending Nori scuttling away from the swinging weapons. But Marie watched the sparks fly at the metal it the stone loudly, two axes actually shattered leaving the dwarves to beat wood on stone.
"Come on!"
"It's no good!" Balin said over all the noise. "The door is sealed, it can't be open by force. There's powerful magic on it."
The dwarves ceased beating the stone and the light faded.
Marie looked again as the amber rim of the sun disappeared behind the mountains in the far west.
"No, NO!" Thorin pulled the map out so quickly that over folded edges of it began to tear. "The setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day ... will shine upon the key hole." He raised his head and Marie was caught by his expression.
It looked as though he had de-aged by about thirty years and was a youth standing before his elders in judgement for his faults, or in this case, a uncrowned king before his company. "That's what it says." His voice was so fragile it pained her to see him so ... vulnerable. He turned to Balin, "What did we miss? Balin?
But Balin shook his head. "We've lost the light. There's nothing more to be done."
No. This wasn't supposed to happen ... Was it? They were dwarves, they didn't just give up. Marie was shaking her head as one by one the dwarves turned to head back.
"No, you ... you can't just ... Wait wait wait." It Marie several stuttering syllables until she found her voice. "You can't give up now."
But they were not listening. They heard nothing over the woes of defeat. Thorin looked down right heartbroken, the map limp in one hand and the iron key in the other. "Thorin?" Marie asked. Surely he, of all people not simply throw it all in. But as she watched the key slide from his fingertips, she could feel the disappointment of the dwarf king with a resounding thunk of the key hitting the ground.
He turned away from the hidden door in shame and began after his company.
But Marie was not quite ready to give up.
"Now wait. Thorin, just ..." When the dwarf did not respond and passed her in silence, Marie had finally had enough. She grabbed his wrist and put herself in his path. "Now you listen and you listen well you block head." Marie didn't care anymore what was going on said or unsaid between them, he would hear her. "When you lot first stumbled into my home, raided my pantry and sat at my table, I was about ready to throw you out by the ear until you told me about Erebor. Your conviction moved even a started old hobbit into a tiz and, despite my misgivings and apprehension, I have followed you across half way across the world."
If she could see it, she would see eight dwarves stopping in their tracks to watch Thorin Oakenshield being scolded by a woman almost half his height.
She squeezed his wrist tightly and Thorin blinked. There was a look Marie was much more comfortable with. It was a look he gave her when she managed to surprised him. "I have not been almost eaten by trolls, beheaded by a goblin, chased after by bears, wargs and giant bloody spiders, half drowned and battered about like a doll just to finally get here and have you quit on me." She released his hand and took the map from him. "No there is more to this. It's a riddle, it has to be."
"There's nothing more." Thorin murmured.
"Just let me help. I said I would and I intend to keep my word." Marie walked around him, eyes fixed where the moon runes were hidden on the map. "There's no riddle I haven't been able solve."
A deathly silence fell over the dwarves as they waited for something, either for the hobbit to admit defeat or for miracle.
Marie's fingers tapped against her side as she stared at the stone, muttering the same thing over and over. "Stand by the Grey stone when the Thrush knocks." They were missing something. When the Thrush knocks. Was it a literal instruction or not? Knocking? She remembered back home hearing them hitting freshly caught snails along the stone steps at dusk before she'd retire for the evening. Then that phrase. "The setting sun with the last light of Durin's day. Setting sun, last light of Durin's day ... Durin's day, last light, last light ... of course." Marie turned sharply, "Balin. Do you remember when I asked you about Durin's Day? Back in Rivendell?" She asked, waving a hand about to conjure the memory.
"Aye, that you did."
"You said something about the moon."
"You mean about the start of the new ...?"
"No before that. What was it that actually happens during Durin's day?"
"The last moon you mean? The last moon of Autumn and the first sun of Winter appear in the sky together."
"Yes. That. That is it." Marie exclaimed and bounded over to the discarded key. "It's all in the riddle. Yes yes yes, so easy to mistake that for sun."
"Miss Baggins, you might want to fill us in what mistake was made." Balin stopped the hobbit's rambling.
"It's not the light of the sun." Marie said with an odd smile, "What is the last lot of light on any day?" The dwarves looked at her as if she had lost the plot completely. She looked up at the cloudy sky. "Durin's Day isn't over. The sun is gone but what remains,"
Thorin and Balin looked up into the sky and one by one so did others. The moon in question still remained cloaked by clouds. "Is moonlight. To be more precise, the last moon of Autumn."
There was a tapping coming from behind Marie. She looked around and saw a tiny brown bird striking a snail on the stone. Its shell cracked and the thrush joyfully chirped as it ate its prize. The clouds shifted and the crescent moon finally showed itself.
Marie felt her mouth hinging as the stone wall turned to silver white as the moonlight hit it. The colours shifted until Marie saw a small hole appeared. She glanced down at the key in her hand and back at the hole with a giddy laugh. The dwarves could not believe that yet again their burglar had produced yet another miracle. Thorin seemed too shocked to look cross with her.
Then it dawned on Marie. "I believe," She addressed Thorin in a much more controlled tone, "The honor is yours." She held out the key to him.
Slowly, Thorin approached her and took it, his eyes never leaving her's.
It was a tense few moments as Thorin placed the key inside the key hole, a perfect fit. He turned it once and placed both hands on the door. With one push the stone opened back with a long winded groan. A wave stagnant air hit Marie but it quickly faded. The dwarves crept in behind Thorin as he entered his home for the first time him centuries. Marie thought it best let the dwarves go first, but Bifur silently hooked her and pulled her in along with himself and Bombur. He did not want her left behind it would seem.
She shuffled along until over head she saw the dark green walls of the tunnel and the carvings that went along the borders. Lines of intricate patterns and runes ran perfectly along the wall, but Marie was taken in by a large mural above the hidden door. She couldn't quite make it out in the dim light, but thankfully Gloin began interpreting the runes.
"Here in lies the seventh kingdom of Durin's Folk. May the Heart of the Mountain unite all dwarves in defense of this home."
Balin came up beside Marie as she studied the image. "The Throne of the King." He told her.
"And what's … that above it?" She meant the small diamond like carving above it.
"The Arkenstone."
Marie blinked. "Arkenstone." She had heard that word before. The Elven King mentioned it when he had Thorin. "And what's that?"
"That, Miss Baggins, is why you are here."