Thorin and Shobha had both slept quite soundly that night, unlike they normally did. They both attributed it to spending the night in the same room, feeling each other's presence. He even allowed himself to wonder how soundly he may sleep with her laying right next to him. She had awoken in the night once having dreamt of an intruder, but having been reassured by Thorin's soft snoring coming from the couch had drifted back to sleep. Similarly Thorin had awoken to hear Shobha calling out what he thought was his name. He had even been tempted to walk over to check on her, but had been reassured after hearing her breathing grow steady once more.

In the morning Thorin had been sent his usual pot of tea by Bombur, but he had included an extra cup and a small pot of honey for sweetening. He had enjoyed his tea more than usual, as he watched her sleeping soundly, and then after building the fire up to warm the room for her, he decided to have a wash before she woke.

As he stepped back in to the room following his wash, a towel wrapped around his waist and another in hand drying his hair, daylight from outdoors had filtered through the light shafts illuminating the bedroom. And he was greeted to the vision of her pouring out her cup of tea and stirring in a small spoon of honey, licking her fingers of the sticky honey that had dripped from the spoon. Oh Mahal! Her long raven hair was dishevelled, and the tunic came down to her knees exposing her shapely calves as she tip toed barefoot on the cold stone floor. Surprised by him, she gently placed her spoon on the saucer and turned to face him.

"Oh! Good Morning-" Shobha was startled by Thorin, as he walked through bringing with him a heady cloud of vetiver and musky scented oils. His hair was still wet, and his skin damp, and he wore just a towel wrapped around at the waist. It was too early and too unexpected, and so she couldn't help herself as she openly stared at his broad muscular shoulders and chest tapering down to his waist, his chest hair also tapering down at his waist and his muscular legs covered in a layer of soft dark hair exposed from the knee.

The tunic he had given her last night had turned out to be one of his thinner, softer ones and despite the dark colour and how much larger it was on her, it had turned almost sheer in the daylight. It made her look like she stood before him almost completely naked. He could have done with another cold shower now and desperately hoped she wouldn't notice how he was becoming aroused at the sight of her.

They both stood for a few moments with their mouths slightly agape, taking each other in.

She suddenly felt completely naked as she saw his eyes rove up and down her body and then fixate intensely on her eyes. Then he quickly lowered the towel he was using on his hair in front of his lower abdomen. Was he…. aroused?! And grunting a good morning he rapidly walked over to his large wardrobe, opened the door, collected some clothes and then walked through to the parlour to get dressed, shutting the door softly behind.

She swallowed and taking a deep breath looked down at herself. As she pulled the fabric of his tunic out to the side of her body taking a good look, it finally dawned on her that it had turned sheer in the ample light that had illuminated the room. He must have seen EVERYTHING! Her hand flew up to cover her mouth in utter embarrassment. And taking a quick sip of her tea she rushed over to her neatly folded pile of clothes to get dressed as quickly as possible.

Shobha finished grinding the herbs together in the mortar, following the instructions in the book as Oin looked over her shoulder.

"Good lass! That is the correct consistency." He confirmed. "And that will help the burn heal and prevent infection. But the dressing changes and wound cleaning are just as important."

As he took the mortar from her, Kili had quietly crept over.

"Master Oin, I have been sent to escort Lady Shobha to see her betrothed…" he shot a cheeky smile as he made a mock bow.

"Go ahead Kili – she had finished her shift a while ago anyway. Wait – what? Betrothed?" Oin's eyebrows shot up. "When did that happen.."

"Um… when Bofur walked in on Uncle trying to suck her face off and tear her robe open after she had just finished bathing, that night the cave-in happened!" He shut his eyes and puckered up pretending to be in a long lingering kiss with the air.

"Ugh!" Shobha blushed covering her face with both hands.

"Don't mind him lass! He needs more practice… It reminds me of the time Fili told Kili that he learned to kiss by practicing on fish. And for months afterwards Kili always reeked of fish!" She had never seen Oin laugh so heartily. "No one could stand to be around him! And it wasn't until Dis finally arrived that things were put to right!"

Shobha tried very hard to stifle her giggle, but was unable to stop, the whole matter made worse by seeing the normally quite stern healer laughing so hard. Poor Kili turned bright red.

"Come on – " he groused, turning on his heels as she followed.

"And if he tries to tease you again lass… you come to me or Fili – we have many more stories where that came from!" Oin called out waving them off still laughing and wiping the corners of his eyes.

After what felt like a long walk, with Kili still sulking and Shobha desperately trying to keep her giggles stifled, they arrived in Thorin's War Room flanked closely behind by Zodar, who had seemingly become her own personal guard and silent shadow over the last twelve hours.

Inside Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Fili and Gloin all sat around the table deep in conversation. Thorin looked up at Kili and Shobha, gave a nod of his head as they entered the room and gestured for them to sit.

"So, reluctantly we have decided we will need to put your idea on setting a trap into action." He looked at her with concern. "But you will have no say in your role in this – and that is final… it will be as I want. If you refuse, then you will be placed in a guarded room for your own safety at the time that we carry this out."

"Ok – yes Thorin, I accept your terms." She confirmed. She was never planning on fighting anyway. Shobha had learned to defend herself, but didn't think she would ever be ready to take another's life. "So what will be the plan?" She saw him unclenching his fist and jaw as she spoke. He had clearly been anticipating her to behave in a way that frustrated him, which was unfair.

"Nori is spreading the word now, to certain parties of interest, that the Arkenstone is hidden in Fili's room, and Dori spreading the word that it is hidden in Dis' room, which has been cleared up now and arranged for you. We are expecting them to strike at night this time. So we will have both you and Fili dressed in Mithril under your nightwear feigning sleep. Dwalin and Kili will be in hiding in Fili's room, while Balin, Zodar and I will be hidden in yours. We will aim to apprehend any intruders, but it may be possible that they are killed in the process. You are not to remain in place on your bed at all times unless one of us instructs you to move, and you are not to attend anyone that is injured until everything is safe regardless of who may be injured. This includes any of us – "

"But – " she knew she wouldn't be able to watch him, Balin or Zodar bleeding to death, knowing there would be limited time to do something under those circumstances.

"No my Lady. Those conditions are part of the original terms you agreed to." He spoke trying very hard to remain calm.

The other dwarves observed her carefully, some with worry on their faces, Fili and Kili alternated between looking at her and then at Thorin to gauge their reactions, almost half expecting them to break into a passionate argument. She was torn, on one hand her conscience would never allow herself to watch someone injured and not attend to them, that was the sole reason she became a doctor. But right here, she knew there was no option but to concede to him. So she took a deep breath and sat back in her seat.

"Ok. I concede," she calmly replied. And he too relaxed slightly on hearing her comply. Perhaps there would be no dramatic injuries after all. "But we need Oin on standby and a medical bag under my bed in case… If there are only moments left, after you tell me its safe to approach the injured, then I need everything at hand." She knew if the situation arose, she would break her promise, and she imagined Thorin expected that too.

"Agreed, my Lady," Thorin replied running his right hand along his beard. He was fully expecting such a request from her, and could only be grateful that they were able to reach such an agreement so easily.

That night they were all ready. Fili, Dwalin and Kili were in Fili's room and Thorin, Balin and Zodar in Shobha's. The lights had all been turned down and the fires allowed to die away. They had been there for what felt like hours. Each had taken turns to doze off while the others kept watch.

Just as they were about to give up waiting, their ears pricked up to the very faint sound of Shobha door lock being picked. She heard Thorin, who sat in an armchair next to her bed very softly and slowly unsheath his sword. She probably wouldn't have heard it unless he had been seated next to her.

The door handle then very quietly turned and the door silently opened partially. They could see three short, stocky figures creep through the partially opened door to the side from the illumination of the corridor outside. They silently shut the door and stood still, very likely to allow their eyes to adjust to the dark.

Within seconds Thorin, Balin and Zodar turned up three lanterns they had kept at hand, and Zodar moved to block the door holding his large double axe and sword at the ready. They all wore black with cloaks and had their hoods pulled up.

The three dwarves were caught off guard, two drew out two short swords each and turned to Balin and Zodar, who were nearest while the third pointed a crossbow-like contraption at Shobha.

"Lay your arms down, or you will be brought down!" Zodar commanded.

"Where is it? Where is it?!" one of them rasped in a throaty voice. He moved towards Balin, weapons pointed.

"Who sent you?" Thorin commanded. "Surrender and tell us what you know and you will receive some leniency."

"We find the jewel or we die." The dwarf closest to Zodar hissed and lunged. At the same time Balin's attacker ran at him with both swords and the silent mercenary in the middle began moving fast towards the bed.

Zodar's attacker appeared to be of little match to him with his short swords and stature, in comparison to the rather large Zodar and his even bigger double axe. In one clean swipe it had lodged thickly in the attackers head, bringing him to his knees, followed by a plunge of his sword into his chest, felling him immediately.

Balin appeared to be holding the other attacker off, having disarmed him already of one of his swords. After dealing with his own attacker, Zodar then focussed on Balin's attacker, and was looking for a way to apprehend him rather than killing him.

Thorin grasped Shobha's wrist firmly as she jumped out of bed and positioned her behind him. The third mercenary jumped onto the bed keeping the aim of his crossbow on Thorin and Shobha.

Zodar now had Balin's attacker in a strange hold from behind, he had now been fully disarmed and Balin was attempting to shackle him, as the dwarf struggled hard kicking out.

The final attacker, who had been making his way across the bed in hopes of making his single arrow count by getting as close as possible suddenly seemed to loose his balance slightly on the soft mattress. Thorin took that moment to throw his sword, which struck the hooded dwarrow's chest with a dull thud. The dwarf grasped at the sword, and losing his balance fell onto his chest, driving the sword all the way through and then rolled off the bed to land on his back as he gasped his last.

As his hands twitched he released the trigger sending the arrow ricochetting off the stone floor. It finally came to rest in Thorin's foot, piercing through the thick leather making him grunt. He stepped forward and pulled Orcrist out of the dwarf and kicked the bow away.

Balin and Zodar had finally managed to shackle the remaining attacker and he was being held on the floor under Zodar's rather large boot. Balin pulled his hood off, revealing a dwarrow who had his skin and hair all coloured in a bright red dye.

"He's a Stonefoot Thorin!" Balin called.

Just then, Dwalin, Fili and Kili all arrived at the same time. They dragged in three well dressed older dwarrows, each by the scruff, who were also in shackles. Shobha recognised the one that Fili held onto – it was Lord Halgar from the Iron Hills. The other two must have been lords too. Thankfully none of them appeared hurt.

"Well we picked the wrong room!" Kili looked around and appeared a little disappointed.

"We caught these rock-brained goats instead – they claim they wanted to only see the Arkenstone!" Dwalin called for another guard. "Take them down to the dungeons – they can spend the night there and then I'll show them the Arkenstone in the morning alright!"

Thorin knelt down and pulled the hood off the attacker, dead on the floor by them. His mouth was gaping open, his grey eyes staring lifelessly, and he too was coloured in the same red.

"This one is too, and he has no tongue, Balin. He was carrying a crude orc weapon. And I am sure the other one is also a Stonefoot."

Six more of the King's guard arrived immediately, two quickly took hold of the three lords and marched them away.

"Ballo, can you have these bodies away. Dwalin, we need to interrogate the others fast before they have time to think – Fili and Kili, go and talk to the lords that you caught." Thorin released Shobha from behind him and limped over to Zodar, who maintain his prisoner still pinned well under his foot. "And Shobha, I want you to go to my study with Zodar and stay there until we are done."

"Thorin, you're hurt – " she looked at his boot. "Can we get Oin in here please."

"Its nothing –"

Dwalin pulled Zodar's captive up on his feet and shook him "who paid you to do this, you piece of filth?" He gave him a few moments to consider talking and then punched him in the gut followed by a side blow across the jaw sending a spatter of blood onto the wall.

Shobha pulled out the leather medical bag that Oin had hidden under her bed, just as he appeared through the door amidst all the commotion. As Thorin appeared to lose his footing slightly and stumble.

The Stonefoot dwarf seeing Thorin began to laugh hysterically, earning him a heavy slap from Dwalin. "What's so funny eh…? Maybe we should try trimming your toenails with Grasper…. That's my axe… Perhaps that maybe funny too…?"

"Your King will be dead in a day" he spat. "And by the time he does, he will be in so much pain he will be begging for death –" Dwalin punched him harder in the chest this time, winding him.

Shobha rushed to Thorin, helping him over to a nearby armchair, he appeared to be sweating, and staggering slightly. It was not what would be expected from a simple arrow wound to the foot.

"Take him away, Dwalin," Oin shouted. "We need to work."

Oin knelt down and pulled Thorin's booted foot onto his bent knee. The arrow was fully wedged in pinning the boot to his foot. Pulling out a large, sharp medical dagger, Shobha began cutting through the leather boot to release Thorin's foot without disrupting the arrow, as he grunted in pain.

"Oin, is it poisoned? Do we have antidotes?" She asked as she finally cut the boot open, freeing his foot.

The arrowhead had wedged in his mid foot, but it already looked gangrenous. She had never seen anything develop so fast before – even the worst conditions like necrotising fasciitis that she had dealt with as a doctor. Looking up at Thorin, he appeared to be about to pass out. His forehead was dripping with sweat, and he was breathing fast.

"Lass this is a Morgul-Shaft! We need to get him to his bed! Quick!" Oin called to Balin, who nodded. And within moments two guards had arrived with a litter and began carrying Thorin towards his room, as he lay there groaning and shivering.

Shobha felt helpless, following behind. She caught up to Oin fast.

"Oin, how do we treat this?"

"Shobha I can slow this down, but we may not be able to cure this – " he looked down cast.

"No.. No..No – there has to be something.. please!" She clutched at his arm as tears began to prickle her eyes. He had only just kissed her a few days ago, she couldn't lose him now. Not like this.

Then she remembered, hadn't Frodo been injured by a Morgul blade during their quest, and healed by the elves – and the Kingsfoil!

"Athelas plant!" She cried. "It will slow the poison – and we need the elves."

Oin looked at her deep in thought. "We have Athelas – it may just work. We will have to keep applying it, but lass this seems much more potent than the Gundabad poison."

"We haven't covered maps of Arda in lessons – how far is Rivendell?" She looked at him hopefully.

"Oh no lass – you will never make it there and return in time.." then he spoke the words, she feared to hear. "Thranduil is our only hope."

She had helped Oin, undress Thorin and make him comfortable in his bed. They had removed the arrow and bathed the wound and dressed it with what little Athelas they had, and then given him a sleeping tonic to help him rest. He had deliriously mentioned that he loved her, and was sorry he would not be able to marry her, or make love to her, and then asked Oin that she did not see him suffer at the end. This gave her the strength and resolve that she needed. She would have to face Thranduil, and would not return unless she had their aid.