Author's Note: I own nothing.

39 From The Ramparts

The next morning dawned unfairly clear. It should be cloudy and murky, Bella thought. This was no weather for battle this was the kind of weather for a crisp morning walk and tales told by a fireside. But that was unlikely to happen as Thranduil's forces marched to the gates. Bella knew what was coming, though no one else in the mountain did. If they were lucky, if Bella had done what was right then there would be no battle met. No one would die today. Well she might. She was trying not to think about that, hoping that Thorin would realize what he was doing well before things got that far. Thranduil had expressed no such faith in the nature of dwarves when he'd offered her a group of elven guards to take her across Mirkwood the night before. She shook her head standing in the shadows atop the gates of Erebor as Thranduil and Bard rode up to the gate, one last parley before battle. She wondered if all battles began this way, she didn't exactly have much experience in this after all.

"Good morning Thorin son of Thrain." Thranduil called, sounding completely calm. Bella nearly shook her head, she could certainly agree with Thorin that the King oF Mirkwood was a smug bastard but she had done the right thing.

"Why are you here?" Thorin called distain dripping from his voice, an arrow aimed right at the elf king.

"We come to tell you that payment of your debt has been received and accepted." Thranduil said as though commenting on the weather. Bella rolled her eyes. Should have let Bard handle that one, she thought to herself.

"What payment!" Thorin snarled. "I have given you nothing. You have nothing!" He seemed to relish that fact and it made Bella's stomach turn.

"We have this." Bard said pulling the Arkenstone from his jacket and carefully unwrapping it. Thorin dropped his bow. Kili blinked looking incensed. Balin glanced at Bella.

"How!" Kili called. Thorin shook his head.

"They try to take us for fools! This is a ruse! The Arkenstone is in this mountain! This is some trick!" Thorin called and Bella stepped out of the shadows.

"It's not a trick Thorin. The stone is real." Silence echoed across the field. No one moved no one seemed to breathe except Bella who took another step forward. "I gave it to them." Thorin's eyes were cold and lifeless as he stared at her, gold glinting where there had once been blue.

"You would steal from me?" He muttered. Everyone heard him the silence was so loud.

"Steal, no. I took it as my fourteenth share. The contract I signed when I signed onto this Company made no mention of any artifacts excluded from that claim." Bella said. Standing her ground in the face of Thorin's building rage was more difficult than facing a hundred dragons. She did not understand the word he snarled at her in Khuzdul but from the looks on the faces of the other dwarves they could not have been kind.

"You have no claim over me!" Thorin said taking a step forward. It took all of Bella's courage not to match him with a step back.

"You are changed Thorin. The dwarf I met in Bag End, the dwarf I fell in love with would never have gone back on his word, would never have turned away those who's plight he knows all too well. Would never have doubted the loyalty of his kin!" She was shouting now, nearly matching him in his anger.

"Do not speak of love or loyalty you little rat!" Silence echoed around them for a moment before Thorin roared again. "Throw her from the ramparts!" Bella winced. Bard flinched forward on his horse, only held back by Thranduil's hand on his shoulder. The elf kings dark eyes were watching intently as though waiting for some change to occur. No one on the ramparts moved. Bella thought she heard Ori sniffling but she would not turn to look at him. She knew what she had done in giving away the Arkenstone but would the gambit be worth it in the end? Would Thorin actually hurt her, or would he see what he had become?

"Did you not hear me!" Thorin demanded. Kili looked close to tears. Dwalin was shaking his head lightly. She did not see the other dwarves' expressions as Thorin lunged forward. "I will do it myself!" He snarled and Bella knew it was hopeless. The dwarf she loved was gone, he seized her by the front of her coat and made to do just as he threatened when a voice boomed across the ranks of Thranduil's forces.

"If you don't like my burglar do not damage her!" Thorin's muscles seized and his hand loosened on Bella's coat. She pulled free as Gandalf rode to the front of the elven ranks. "Return her to me!" He called and Bella stepped back, the dwarves behind her parting as she reached for the rope she'd stashed atop the ramparts the night before. She met no one's eyes as she tied it off, not even Thorin's, well he wasn't really her Thorin anymore, she did not know the being in front of her. Scaling down the gate, the same way she had the night before was easier now, despite the venomed words echoing around her.

"Curse you both! I will never again have dealings with Wizards or Shire rats!" She made it all the way to the ground as Gandalf rode up to the gate and held out a hand pulling her onto the horse in front of him. They rode back to where Thranduil and Bard were still sitting astride their own horses. Thranduil nodded to Gandalf and Bella thought she spotted a bit of relief in his expression. She wasn't sure but then again she was never really sure what the elf king was thinking.

"Are we resolved?" Bard called. He was trying to calm the situation, Bella could tell that Thorin would not be calmed though. He, whoever he was now, would never concede. "Will you have peace or war?"

"I will have war." Thorin called as an unfamiliar deep clear horn sounded across the field. Half the ranks of Thranduil's army turned. An army of dwarves was marching over the east side of the valley that made up the entrance of Erebor. At their head road a dwarf astride what appeared to be a massive boar. Bella blinked she had known nothing of another force coming to Erebor. Neither it seemed had anyone else for Thranduil was frowning. Gandalf shook his head.

"Dain of the Iron Hills. Thorin must have sent him a message in secret." Gandalf muttered as the red haired dwarf rode forward calling out to Thranduil's forces to leave or be brutally killed. Of course this resulted in the elves drawing weapons. Gandalf nodded to Thranduil and turned his horse away from the battle back to Dale the ranks parting around them and closing behind them. They were barely halfway back to the gate when the ground shook and a dark grating sound filled the air.