Hello All,
Here is the next instalment - I hope that you all enjoy. Thank you so much for the supportive reviews once again!
Many thanks for the favourites and follows.
I do not own The Hobbit, just my OC.
Chapter 43 – Carved Halls
Todd had never felt so embarrassed in all her life. Every time one of the dwarves peered over their shoulder at her and winced, she too winced. She wanted to sink her teeth in to the Elves so bad it was making her just constantly growl. Never in her life had she imaged she would be placed in a collar and muzzle.
They had been walking for what felt like hours and hours, but what she was able to notice was that the air was getting thinner and easier to breath and the light was started to filter down through the trees. Wherever the Elves were leading them, it was definitely in the right direction.
That was the good piece of news that she held on to.
Before long the small winding path that they were being led down widened out into a larger path. The trees starting to look a little greener and suddenly the smell and sound of running water started to filter through her heightened senses. All of a sudden, she was incredibly thirsty and hoped that wherever she was being taken, that she would be able to drink some water. There was still the faint taste of Spider in her mouth and it was definitely not a taste she wanted to keep in her mouth for long.
A bridge appeared from around behind a large tree trunk and the most elaborate set of doors or gates Todd had ever seen. They had been woven and chiselled out the side of a rock with such care, that even though she was fuming and ready to fight, she still appreciated the beauty. Especially after all she had been seeing for the last age was mould, mushrooms and rotting wood.
They were all marched through the gates, of which were slammed shut right behind them almost. Todd was almost through the gate when she heard it. A sniffle and the shuffle of a Hobbits feet. She knew that Bilbo had evaded the Elves capture from the whispering of the dwarves around her. How can I hear him, but not see him. Todd pondered.
Through the doors they were all meet with another beautiful sight. Reluctantly Todd let her eyes wonder over the intricate walkways carves from rock and wood. Ancient arches and paths scattered out within the chamber. Sunlight filtered down through crevices higher up in the hill side, other lanterns were lit to produce light in the sections the sunlight couldn't quite reach. There were pockets of greenery and flowers that had taken root, giving bursts of colour that Todd thought she would never see again.
They walked and walked, the leader Elf that had threatened Thorin up the front the whole time.
Then he paused and shouted out in elvish, the group of them being split apart. Thorin was pulled to one side and the Company were all shoved past him and down a path that lead deeper down into the rock. Todd was led up to stand beside Thorin and they watched as the rest of the company were led away. Some of them shouting out for their King and Rebhane.
"UNCLE?" She could hear Fili shouting.
"WHERE'S TODD?" Bombur and Bofur were both shouting.
The blond Elf made both Thorin and Todd stand there and watch them disappear before setting off once more. They began heading up towards what looked like the centre piece of the walkways. Rock carved downwards in columns around what seemed to be a grand throne of wood. Antlers veering out of it creating such a feeling of natural opulence. The space was wide with guards stood around them like centuries.
As they made it into the space before the throne Todd was able then to look upon the figure sat upon it. He was the epitome of royalty. He sat lazily with his legs crossed, dark grey tunic that covered most of his legs flowed down and shimmered with the smallest hint of gold. His long blonde hair was straight and fell like silk down to below his chest. His face was strong, and his eyes were the most striking part of him, they almost looked clear, the lightest blue. Atop his head was a wooden woven crown that reached upwards like miniature antlers, red berries and autumnal leaves were adorning the crown.
They were shoved into the centre of the thrown room and left as the King before them looked them up and down, his eyes lingering on Thorin's face before sweeping over Todd with a blank look.
He wasted no time in standing and gliding down the stairs of the throne, and then he paced around them in silence for what felt like the longest time.
"Some may imagine that a noble quest is at hand" He began, his words soft like silk. "A quest to reclaim a homeland, and slay a dragon"
He came to stop right before Thorin, looking down on him with such indifference.
"I myself suspect a more prosaic motive. Attempted burglary or something of that ilk" With this he leaned in and all but demanded Thorin look him in the eye with his voice. Thorin merely glared at him.
"You have found a way in…" he leaned back, walking backwards a few steps, face looking lighter and more intrigued. "… you seek that which would bestow upon you the right to rule. The kings Jewel... The Arkenstone"
With mention of the Kings Jewel, Todd bared her teeth a little. She did not like the way this fairy king was goading her King. He was standing there tall and proud, trying to elicit a reaction from Thorin even though he was the one that left the dwarves to die and burn all those years ago.
"It is precious to you beyond measure…" The blond king boasted a smile, but only for a second before it slipped off his face. "I can understand that, there are gems in the mountain that I too desire. White gems, of pure starlight"
There was a pause where Thorin and the Elven King stared intently at each other, both weighing each other up. Thorin knew a proposition was coming now, otherwise why would he mention the starlight jewels. He wanted them back, but once again was not willing to risk his own neck. He wanted the dwarves to do it for him.
"I offer you my help…" The King stated then, bowing his head and closing his eyes.
Todd merely looked from one King to another, almost not breathing with the anticipation of what was to come next.
"I am listening…" Thorin leered, before shooting a side smirk to Todd. She had never seen this side of him before.
"I will let you go on… if you but return what is mine" The Elven King plainly bargained.
Todd watched as Thorin raised his brows and turned away from the Elven King in what she thought was genuine thought. Todd knew it sounded like a fair deal, but that was the thing. If it had come from anyone else then it would have been the best deal, but it came from the King of the Woodland realm. He had broken his word before, he could do it again. Todd set her fierce eyes on the blond King as he bowed once more.
"You have my word, one King to another!" He spoke the words that had Todd huffing in disgust and Thorin pausing in his thoughtful pacing.
"I would not trust Thranduil… the great King…" Thorin began turning back with fury. His voice raising as he went. "… to honour his word should the end of all days be upon us!"
Todd let out a low rumble from her chest as she stared down the Elven Kind before her. She didn't care that he was royalty, if Thorin's outburst got him in trouble she would be there so back him up. The guard holding her chain yanked on it making her yelp a little. Thorin fumed beside her now glaring from the guard back to the King before him.
"YOU… LACK ALL HONOUR!" Thorin erupted, his angry bellow heard echoing down through the vast halls around them. Then he surged forwards, eyes blazing. "I have seen how you treat your friends. We came to you once, starving, homeless, seeking your help. But you turned your back! You turned away from the suffering of my people, and the inferno that destroyed us!"
Thorin was furious, and Todd could see the pain on this face as he forced those words out upon the King before him. Words that he had wanted to share with him, to show him the ruin that he had let fall upon Durins Folk that day. The Elven King had the decency to look shocked at the words spat before him, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth agape.
"Imrid amrad ursul!" Thorin final cursed.
That was when The Grand Elven King snapped and lunged down to force his face right in Thorin. The Dwarven King not flinching but standing his ground. Before Todd could even make a move, her collar was tightening around her neck, the spiked pinching at her windpipe and halting her movements.
"Do not talk to me of dragon fire… I know it's wrath and ruin!" His words were sharp and rushed. Leaning back he shivered as exposed flesh started to appear on his cheek. Thorin and Todd stood frozen skin dissolved and muscle and bone began to appear. Thranduil's eye faded into white. The sight was gruesome and looked beyond painful. Yet as quickly as he had shown it to them, it vanished back under porcelain clear skin. "I have faced the great serpents of the North!"
"I warned your grandfather of what his greed would summon. But he would not listen…" The King spoke with calmness and softness in his voice again now. Yet the intensity was still there in his eyes as they bored into Thorin's. "You are just like him."
They both watched as the Elven King made his way back up to his throne, the atmosphere was palpable as they waited for what came next. Sure enough, Thranduil waved his hand over them and the guards immobilised and started drag Thorin off back down from where they had come.
"Stay here if you will, and rot. A hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an Elf" He announced as Thorin was dragged away. "I am patient, I can wait!"
"As for you… I do not wish to speak to you like that!" Thranduil's eyes snapped to Todd's as she snarled up at him. "Take her away and have her shift, I expect to see her in her second skin by the time I am ready to speak with her!"
Todd had been all but dragged in the opposite direction from where Thorin had. He had tried to shout out to her as they parted ways, but his words were lost on her as the guards shouted over the top of him, trying to get him to comply.
She had been dragged along to a room rather than a cell, which was what she was expecting. Although upon being thrown in, the door behind her was very promptly slammed shut and locked.
She was left all alone in the completely empty room for only a few seconds before a she Elf came striding in. She stood glaring down at Todd from the doorway, a disgusted look on her face before dropping some cloth and turning back to leave without a word. Todd watched the door get slammed back shut and she just sighed.
She knew that she needed to shift, she didn't want to, but she knew that she had to. There was nothing she could do to help in this situation at all in this form, not with the collar around her heck. One tug and she couldn't breathe, which never helped in any situation.
She sat herself down on her hind legs and started to relax herself back into a clear state of mind. She let her ears concentrate on the humming of the Elves around her in the halls. She let her eyes fall closed to help concentration, and she got her breathing down to a slow and stead pace.
Once she was as settled as she could be, she let her shift happen.
The clothes left for her didn't fit well at all. She imagined they were for an infant Elf, but even then, they were baggy and gathered on the floor around her bare feet. She had been given, undergarments, a white slip and a long grey silk tunic dress, that once she had slipped over her second skin, hung from her shoulders. Now she wasn't a skinny woman, even after the lack of food and constant sickness in the forest.
She stood around for a little while, before the anxiety of waiting for anything to happen had her pacing around the empty room, kicking at the gathered dress around her feet as she went. Her mind was picking up its speed, racing over what was going on. Were the company ok? Were they being treated well? Were they even still here? She didn't like being separated from them one bit. She didn't like the face that she didn't know whether they were ok, and she knew asking the elves was going to get her nowhere.
Huffing, she finally decided that the best thing for her to do was sit down, so she shuffled over to the back corner of the room and slid down the wooden wall. She let her head tilt back and rest upon the wall with her hands coming up to idly twist at the now subtly whitened ends to her hair.
