Author's Note: I'd like to give a quick thanks to everybody who has stuck with this story so far. You indulging the many twists and turns of my most cherished fic really means a lot to me. Sending you 3!

x

"Be still," Iree said in a voice much unlike the one that she had used earlier. She stirred a spoon around in her mug and stared at the frozen Dwarves with unabashed delight. "You," she said suddenly, pointing to Ori with her spoon. "You will answer my question. Where is Nadi?"

"Thorin sent her back," Ori squeaked and looked very frightened by the words that had found their way out of his mouth.

"Back? How unfortunate. Very well, then. And who is Thorin to you? Answer the question."

"He is our King," Ori said. Quivering with the pressure of trying to still his own bones, he tossed his chin Thorin's way.

"King? Well, well, well. Aren't I just the luckiest woman in the world? The King of Dwarves just happened to come stumbling upon my doorstep." She turned in her chair to face Thorin. Her face was full of joyous malice. But Thorin, for his part, eyed her quite cooly. His obstinately fierce expression unsettled her but she did not show it.

As soon as he felt the tingling in his fingers, Thorin knew that foul-play was at hand. He assumed that they had been poisoned and would have ordered them to purge themselves then and there at her table had not Iree ordered them to be still. Suggestibility was at play, he soon came to find. But what was suggestibility but a battle of will between two minds? And the weaker of the two minds could potentially be exploited.

A stronger spell cast would have been enough to craft orders that could not be exploited, but Iree seemed to be relatively new at her craft, and overly passionate. He would have to think reflexively. When an order was given, he would have to find its weak point immediately before his mind took hold of her suggestion. It would be a battle of his out thinking her words as soon as they were spoken. All this went through his mind while she spoke, but he was careful not to betray himself.

"And you are Thorin? Answer the question."

"Aye." He hadn't been fast enough, but luckily it was a relatively harmless question.

"And what are you doing in these parts? Answer the question."

She said to answer the question, but she did not tell me to answer it truthfully, he thought. "We are on our way to visit our kin."

"Ah! So close to the Lonely Mountain! Are you lying to me? Answer the question."

She did not ask if we were visiting living kin, or dead. There are bodies buried beneath the mountain. My answer does not have to be specific. "Nay, I do not lie. Our kin awaits us at the end of our journey."

"Ah," she said, looking down her nose at him. "Thorin, tell me. What do you fear the most? Answer truthfully, now."

This one was slightly harder. He knew that she intended to use his greatest fears against him, somehow. Images of the Company dead and ravished to pieces crossed his mind. From the deepest darkest, depths of his imagination Smaug rose from behind a mountain of gold and rained fire down upon them. Azog the Defiler descended from a white mountain and made for their heads. The sheer invincibility of his own weaknesses. Worst yet, she had demanded that he answer her truthfully. There was no way out of it. His lip trembled but he kept his stormy gaze upon her.

"Speak!" She shouted, making the Dwarves jump.

There it was!

She had changed her demand. She hadn't told him to admit to his worst fears, she had simply bid him speak!

"Woodland creatures!" He lied, admitting only to creatures that they had previously encountered. "Orcs! Bears! Goblins! Wargs! Fire!"

"Then this is your house of nightmares."

All fell silent.

The spot that she had occupied was empty. Her mug sat upon the table, the spoon twirling slower and slower until it came to a complete stop. He looked around at their shocked faces and yelled, "Run! Now!"

The Dwarves scrambled from the table and made for the door. They piled upon it, banging upon it with their fists and pulling at the wooden piece that barred it.

"We can't!" Kili cried out furiously. "She's locked it by some magic!"

There was a sudden rumbling from the staircase behind them. They turned around in fright and Balin moaned, "how can it be?"

A single Goblin bounded down its steps, carrying a dagger in its rotted teeth. Thorin unsheathed his ax and ran towards it, roaring in fury. The Goblin squealed and then spoke in Ori's voice.

"Thorin! Wait! Please! It's me, Ori!"

Thorin's vision wobbled and he blinked. It was true: there stood Ori before him in the space where the Goblin had been.

"What-"

A bone-chilling roar resounded through the castle and they turned once again to face the landing of the second story. There stood a giant Warg, twice the size of the largest that they had ever seen. The creature roared again and leaped to their level.

"No-" Thorin said and he raised his ax once again but Balin grabbed it quickly.

"What are you doing?" He cried and Thorin saw that it was not a Warg but Kili standing braced for impact where the Warg had been. His nephew looked at him with eyes full of mistrust. Suddenly Fili roared from behind him and Thorin turned just in time to see Fili descend upon Bifur with a raised sword. Bifur jumped away just in time, cursing Fili in Khuzdul, but Fili ran after him and swung again.

"Fili! Stay your hand!"

Fili raised his sword one more time and would have no doubt struck Bifur a fatal blow had Gloin not tackled him to the ground.

"I thought I saw...you were an Orc!" Fili said in confusion, looking Bifur's way. Bifur cursed him and waved his balled fist. Just then a deeper, more guttural roar echoed through the castle and a large brown bear came rushing at them from the back door.

"Steady," Thorin roared as the bear got closer, "Steady!"

The Dwarves screamed as the bear clasped Bombur's arm in her jaw and dragged him away into a darkened room. Half of the Company went chasing after him and the others gathered in a tight circle with weapons drawn.

"I do not know what is happening," Thorin said, "but we can no longer trust our eyes."

It didn't make sense. Iree must have been playing some visual game with them, masking their identities with savage beasts, but how had the bear been able to drag Bombur away?

"It was Nori!" Bofur's voice called from within the unlit chamber. "He was trying to drag Bombur away from-"

A roaring and majestic flame burst to life before the Company. They backed away in fright, the heat searing their skin. A hundred creatures crawled towards them from the flames: Orcs, lions, Wargs, Goblins, bears. Thorin had no idea which was real, which were his kin, and which were simply a trick of his eye. A lioness pounced upon Kili, sending him backward and then rippled to reveal the image of Dori, who thought that Kili was a large, fanged Goblin.

There was nothing he could do but find Iree and slay her in the hopes that the trickery would end. As he watched, the Company descended into madness: slicing and striking at each other with their weapons, each Dwarve seeing a different grotesque foe. Movement caught Thorin's eye and right as he turned he spotted the heel of Iree's foot disappearing around the kitchen corner. He ran after her, ax in hand, and came to a stop in a dark kitchen. He could barely make out the silhouettes of furniture littered about the room. But what was furniture and what was simply a trick of his mind? The cries of his kin echoed back to him as he moved through the space, eyes searching about for Iree.

"You really thought that you could lie to me?" A voice echoed through the room. He turned about on his heel, but the voice was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. "Foolish Dwarven scum!"

Just like that, the voice fell silent. A low growl reached his ears and he steadied his ax in both hands. A different voice rang; it was ugly and ancient and the sound of it made Thorin sick with hatred.

It was the Pale Orc.

"No," Thorin said in disbelief, his heart racing. "How can this be?"

Slowly, the Pale flesh of the Orc materialized out of the darkness beyond. It rose taller and taller than it should have been, its arm missing, its legs clutching the sides of a Great White Warg.

"You're not real," Thorin said. But the hot, rancid breath of the Warg settled upon his face. "You're not real!"

The Warg lunged and Thorin was toppled backward. He grabbed his ax and twisted around, just in time to see the rear end of the Warg disappear into the fires. Hastily he stood and tried to go after it, but a stream of fire spun forth from the flames and singed his clothing. He roared for his kin but all he could hear was screaming and the crackling of his fire. All is lost, he thought to himself, we have been defeated.

"Thorin!" Dori called from somewhere beyond the wall of fire, "look!"

Thorin looked up and saw Iree standing upon the landing of the second floor. She held Kili in her pale arms, a dagger dripping with blackish poison held against his neck. He grimaced and attempted to shake himself free but she pressed the tip of his dagger harder against his skin and he winced.

"Tho-rin," she sang, giving Kili's body a shake. "How do you like my little house of horrors? I made it just for you!"

"Why are you doing this?" Thorin called up to her and her face twisted as if in pain.

"Your kind took something from me!"

"We have done no such thing!"

"Lies! Lies! A band of you took my daughter!"

Thorin hadn't the slightest idea what she was talking about. But it was Bofur who spoke next and momentarily saved them.

"A band? Wait...the Bahndobin brothers! Iree, listen to me, please!" Bofur rushed as close as the fire would allow and waved his arms. "I know your daughter. She lived happily in Dale up until the moment of her death."

The fires around them lessened. The fearful images of savage creatures evaporated as Iree stared incredulously down at Bofur. Nothing could be heard but gentle crackling and the heavy breathing of the wounded Dwarves.

"What?" Iree said weakly, her grip on Kili loosening.

"Yes," Bofur said, a relieved grin spreading across his face. "Three Dwarves broke into your home and stole Ailee from you, right? They stole her instead of hurting you or Ana. But the Bahndobin brothers were caught wandering the hills with your daughter, caught by a group of other Dwarves from Erebor. They were brought before our court and made to pay for their crimes against your family."

"That's right," Balin said quickly, remembering the events of that day. "They were cast into the deepest, darkest pit of the mountain. Never to be seen again."

"We tended to Ailee's wounds and nursed her back to health with the best amongst us. We clothed and fed her and gave her the very best of our lodgings for we were ashamed by what the trio of brothers had done. Over time, she came to forgive us and moved into the city of Dale where she was loved and cherished by everyone. She even married and had a kid, which she named 'Ana.' "

Iree's face contorted. Her lip trembled and a single tear rolled down her papery cheek. Bofur took a step forward, for the fires had dwindled to nothing more than pathetic flames at that point. He held his hands out in a placating gesture.

"Iree, she never stopped looking for you and her sister. She traveled far and wide her entire life, always returning to Dale, and always leaving again as the seasons changed. She was happy, Iree, because she never gave up hope that she would find you and share the fate of Bahndobin with you. She died in Dale of a sickness that had passed through the city at that time, but she is survived by her daughter who looks very much like you. Here, I have a picture to prove it! I had it commissioned by an artist in Dale so that I would always remember her kindness."

Bofur reached in his pocket, frowned, and then reached in his other pocket. The Dwarves watched him, sweating and panting. He muttered to himself and turned his coat inside out in search of the golden locket that he did not know was in Bilbo's possession.

"Er, I had it…" he said, patting at his vest and shaking out his pants.

Suddenly Iree screamed and the fires sprung up even higher than before. She clutched Kili to her chest and pressed the blade harder against his skin. "Liars, thieves, the lot of you! I'm sure your filthy brethren bragged about the taking of my Ailee. I'm sure that you killed her with your dirty hands and stained weapons. For that, I will stick this Dwarven pig and laugh as you kill each other off!"

The beasts of their imaginations took up their awful roaring and screaming. The fires licked at the Dwarves and drew them into a tighter circle. Kili cried out as the blade broke his skin and clutched at Iree's arm.

X

"Steady," Gandalf said from his place among the sturdy tree branches. His eyes were trained upon the castle. Nadi's body was taut, her gaze focused upon a single point beyond the arrow's tip. "Steady," Gandalf said again.

"I can't," she said but she remained still, one with Kili's bow. Bilbo was crouched on a branch slightly above her, his hands wringing the bark of the tall tree. Just beyond the glassless window, he could see Iree's body. He could also see Kili's body and the glinting of the black-tipped blade that she waved about. A single tear rolled down Nadi's face and her voice quivered. "I saw this in a dream. I killed him."

"Those dreams are not real," Bilbo said, his eyes never leaving Iree's imposing figure. "That's what she wants you to believe. That's the power that she holds over you."

"It's now or never, Master Dwarve," Gandalf said.

Nadi swallowed. The arrow flew with a fantastic speed and embedded itself in its mark. Nadi gasped as Kili turned around. His eyes found her there, straddling the thick limb of the tree. A small smile passed over his lips before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell out of sight.