Chapter 12! Hooray! PLease tell me if I should continue my story. I want at least six answers before I decide, so far I only have one.
WARNING: This chapter -at the beginning- is a little bit dark until the first section is over, I do go into description of injuries that you may not like if you are great at imagining things and are squeamish. Then it gets better I promise you.
Legolas ran down the hall, hoping to catch up to Dornessiti, he needed to talk to her, to ask if he was correct in his theories. He hoped beyond hope that they were wrong but in his experience he was rarely that lucky. He found her exiting the entrance hall.
"Dornessiti!" He called out
"Legolas. I asked you not to talk to me again unless you had~" She said, beginning to turn around.
"Figured out your past? I know. But I believe- I believe that I may have."
"Oh?" Dornessiti humed, he could see the disbelief written in her eyes at his statement.
"I believe you lived here for a while. And that you were a member of the royal family during your stay." He rushed out in one breath. Silence was all that followed for a while. "Am I right?"
She mumbled the last part so low that had it not been for his elven hearing he would have missed her words completely. "I've never told anyone this before…" She paused and then took a deep breath, leaning on the stone wall for support. "You're not far off from the truth. My name, as you know, is Jackie Dornessiti, dwarvish for princess."
He stared at her. She was actually going to tell him about her past!
"My father gave me that name when he adopted me at the age of four, unable to pronounce my elven one. His name was Thrain I, King Under the Mountain."
Legolas couldn't help himself; "Thrain! He died over two thousand years ago!"
Dornessiti just continued as if he never spoke. "He raised me from that day on as his own daughter. I became the Princess Under the Mountain. At the age of fifty-eight I left my home and lived in Mirkwood, returning to the Lonely Mountain on frequent intervals. In the beginning I was not always accepted…."
Jackie, at the age of seven, was walking back to the royal chamber of the lonely mountain, not noticing, or just not caring about the evil glares she received from the common dwarves around her. She rounded the bend into an alley-way like passage, one of the shortcuts she had discovered early on in her first years at the unknown place that now felt like home. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she did not notice the three dwarves from the street that followed her.
They were probably around fifteen, each burly, strong and ugly. Jackie, taking notice of the heavy footsteps behind her, turned in a friendly greeting only to be shoved up against the wall of the alley-way by the biggest and ugliest of their number.
"What are you doin ere elf?" He spat, spit coating her face.
One of his friends stepped up behind him. "We doint what yer kind ere."
Jackie shuddered and tried to speak through the globs of spit on her face. "I'm not doing anything wrong~" She began.
"Yes ye are!" The third shouted, only to receive a glare from the second minion. He then lowered his voice. "You existed, ye set yer prim, perfect feet in our home, yer still alive. That's what ye did wrong elf." He said, saying the final word like it was venom on his tongue.
She stared at him. Every dwarf she had met so far was kind and friendly, never had she seen such hatred. The leader's forearm started to dig into her throat. "Stop- I can't breath- stop~" She rasped, her air supply being cut off.
"Good." The leader smiled, displaying all of his rotten yellow teeth.
The second minion looked uncomfortable and continued to glance at the entrance of the alley-way. "Uhh, boss? I don't think we should Kill er."
"Why not?" The 'boss' growled.
"The King likes er. If we kill er hi'll notice somethins up."
"I suppose yer right….. We'll just teach er a lesson she'll never forgit." The leader decided. Jackie watched as he pulled a long silver dagger out of one of the many pockets of his ragged tunic. He leered at her and said, "Close yer eyes elfie, this is gonna hurt."
She screamed as he brang the dagger down on the soft flesh of her neck and dragged it down the side of it. The third goon stuffed a soiled loincloth into her mouth to muffle sound and punched her in the stomach. Black spots floated across her vision and her attackers blurred in and out of focus. Over and over in her brain she repeated; someone will come and help, someone will see and help, someone will, someone will, someone will. She didn't even register when her attackers dropped her, or when they left her there on the ground bleeding out slowly. She did remember the clapping she heard from the people in the busy street outside and the cheers received by the three dwarves as they told their story of attacking the fearsome elf.
Legolas refused to acknowledge her story, instead jumped to the question on his mind. Ignoring the screaming part of his brain that said murder any one who dared hurt the elf infront of him. "Your arrows~"
She seemed taken aback by the change of subject but cut him off anway. "Are gifts, over the years collected, from each King Under the Mountain since Thrain." She laughed softly. "They turned it into a competition; Who could make the best arrow for the far off princess? They were the best family anyone could ever ask for. They are the best family.
He stared at her, she still cared for the dwarfs after what they did to her? He told her what she wanted to hear anyway. "That sounds… perfect."
"It was." She continued. "And then Smaug came." He watched as she slid down the wall supporting her and onto the floor. "When I first got the news that a dragon was attacking the Lonely Mountain -my home- it was from Tauriel. She told me the King refused to send aid. I knew that if I was caught leaving I would be charged with treason and killed but… I left anyway. It was my family. When I arrived Dale was already burning. The Mountain was still holding firm and I was able to make it inside. Everything was burning Legolas, everything."
Tears rolled down her cheeks and it broke his heart but he let her continue anyway.
"It was chaotic. I was able to make order and get everyone out but…"
Jackie was helping a mother up off the ground when she saw the dragon. She was in a smaller hall that branched off of the main hall. The east wall had caved in and the north one was shaking dangerously. Dwarves were screaming everywhere. Fire was all over the place casting a flickering glow over everything -that probably would have been beautiful had it not been way bigger than an average fire, one thousand times hotter and burning everything in its path; stone and dwarf alike- and illuminating the shadow of the dragon as it destroyed the dwarves forces in the other room. She had led about a hundred or so dwarves into this hall not to trap them as some of the not so nice dwarves were crying out to the masses, adding to the confusion, but to lead them to a hidden exit from the Mountain that came out near the base of the giant rock, near the now burning city of Dale.
About half of the number she had led were now stopping and seriously considering the words of her 'deceit'. The other half had ripples of doubt moving swiftly across their faces. Scowling, and almost shooting the speaker she climbed up one of the higher fallen pieces of wall and shooted in one of her loudest voices, that was very loud, so loud that it made most of the dwarves cringe.
"I AM NOT LEADING INTO A TRAP. I AM TRYING TO SAVE YOU!"
"And how do we know that ELF?" The Dwarven Speaker called back.
"HAVE NONE OF YOU SEEN ME BEFORE? HAVE YOU AT LEAST HEARD THE TALES, TOLD BY YOUR MOTHERS TO YOU AND THEIR MOTHER TO THEM? THIS IS MY HOME. YOU ARE MY PEOPLE! AND I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN TO SEE ANY OF YOU PERISH."
The speaker looked surprised at that. "Well, uh…"
"I AM THE ELVEN PRINCESS UNDER THE MOUNTAIN! DAUGHTER OF THAIN, YOUR KING WHO HAS LONG PAST! EVEN IF YOU BELIEVE NOT THE WORDS OF TRUTH I AM TELLING YOU LOOK TO THE END OF THE HALL WE NOW STAND IN."
Everyone turned to the end of the hall on cue, and one of the first dwarves there called out for the rest to hear; "There is a passage!" The chorus of thank you's! and, How could we ever have doubted you's? Almost drowned out the screaming and the rowr of the dragon. Almost. The dragon must have heard her booming voice because Smaug chose that moment to arrive in the small hall the dwarves were trying to escape through.
"EVERY ONE OUT!" Immediately there was a scramble to get to the doorway first and Smaug, apparently targeting her as the biggest threat, dove in for the kill.
"Everyone and everything you love will BURN!" It yelled as it charged.
She jumped down and sprung up into the rafters of the hall, the dragon, not prepared for the sudden change of position, banged head first into the wall. The only reason she did not pull the same trick once more was because 1). She was scared it would bring the walls down on them, and 2). She saw the old lady.
A little dwarvish woman, bent over with old age and hair one hundred percent grey was helping a younger child up after it had fallen on the ground. Smaug had changed targets, or was attacking but decided he might as well kill as many dwarves as he could on the way. Either way, the old woman was going to die, Smaug had hit one of the large columns, causing it to fall toward the woman slowly.
Launching herself away from her perch she used her body as a shield over the old woman. With her superior strength she held the giant stone column, not moving her body even as she felt it's oppressing weight weigh down on her, threatening to crush not only her but the saintly old woman. Smaug must have thought he had done the job, or got discouraged about the fact that all of the dwarves save a few stragglers had made it out, left the hall with a final burst of flame, bringing down even more of the already falling apart roof.
"Go!" Jackie grunted out to the dwarf who was just staring at her. "GO!"
The woman, scared out of her already-low witts or, just received a major burst of adrenaline ran all the way to the exit which was only about five feet away, only tripping two or three times at an amazing speed for an old woman, leaving behind the three year old she had been helping behind. So much for a kind old woman.. As she had left though, she had kicked Jackie's leg out from under her. She lost grip on the column and it came crashing down on her and the child. Her last thoughts were; Protect the boy.
The dwarves who made it out stared at the billowing ruble that had erupted from the small entryway when the side of the mountain came down. Among the survivors were the not-so-saintly old woman and the speaker who had tried to turn the dwarves against the Princess. A small tear ran down the cheek of a woman in the audience for she had lost her son. They had seen the Princess and a little boy through the gap before the column had collapsed on them.
"No one doubts that she truly was the Princess Under the Mountain." The speaker said loudly.
"A chorus of 'aye', 'yes' and 'ye can say that again' were echoed in response. One by one they began to turn around. A shifting in the settled stone drew their attention back. OUt of the ruble Jackie arose covered in injuries. Her left arm was obviously broken, a large black eye had already appeared over her right eye. Blood dripped from her mouth -teeth stained red, and silver hair was coated with it- and pretty much every area of her body. Gashes had appeared all over her but the worst one, completely visible due to the fact that only the top half of her shirt was still intact, ran all along her stomach. It was so deep that everyone wondered how she was still alive, they could see the layers of flesh deep into her stomach. The blood flowing steadily from it was extensive and pooled around her feet. One of her ankles (the left) was broken and the bone from her right leg was sticking out just below the knee. The tears of sadness that had once covered the lonely mothers face changed into tears of joy as they moved their focus to her right arm. Snuggled safely between her chest and bleeding, but not injured that bad, right arm, was the three year old.
"Go find- find…. Thorin…. Thorin.. Find…. Go… tired." And then she fell to the ground, limbs sticking out at awkward angles.
"After I passed out they carried me to Thorin who patched me up." Dornessit sighed. "Why do you think I told you those stories? Look." She then hefted up her shirt. A long ragged scar ran along the expanse of her stomach. "All the injuries except that one nasty one, right along the stomach. Everything else healed. Oh and that other story? About me being attacked, yeah it had a purpose to." She flipped her hair to the left, showing the right side of her throat. A smaller, yet still visible scar rested there too.
"That- you- you have~" Legolas wanted to kick himself. She just bared her past to him and that was all he came up with?
Dornessit just laughed heartlessly. "Have scars? Yep. Three actually." She turned her left arm over, showing the bare forearm as her shirt had already ridden up from her slide down the wall. A two inch long scar ran vertically down from where her arm connected to her wrist.
He just stared. Dornessit got up slowly. "You see your majesty, I am no elf. I am not perfect to a fault~"
He kissed her. Right on the lips. It felt like fireworks exploding in his body. Pulling away briefly he looked her right in the eyes. She was surprised, he could see it. "I don't care." He murmured softly, pulling her closer to his body. Kissing her again, this time he didn't break away.
Bard watched two sullen faced elves hand out goods to the refugees of Laketown. King Thranduill and his men had arrived in the night under the watch of the very vigilant Alfred. Suddenly the army drew to attention, looking as if it were prepared to march. Bursting through the tent flap of the Kings pavilion he went straight to the arrogant King of Mirkwood.
"Wait! Please wait! You will go to war over a handful of gems?" He cried.
"The heirlooms of my people are not lightly forsaken." Thranduill responded in his eerily calm voice.
"We are allies in this. My people also have claim upon the riches in that Mountain. Let me speak with Thorin." He said, hoping it would change the KIngs mind.
"You would try to reason with the Dwarf?"
"To avoid war? Yes."
He stared at the now heavily fortified entrance way to the lonely mountain. Bard was utterly surprised when he saw it. The dwarves he knew and, secretly, may have grown a liking to, never would have made such a thing but rather, would have welcomed them with open arms. They were gone, instead what remained was what he feared; gold hungry and insane dwarves. He tried to reason with them anyway. He owed it to the dwarves, and to his people.
"Hail Thorin, son of Thrain. We are glad to find you alive beyond hope." He truly was.
" Why do you come to the gates of the King under the Mountain armed for war?" Thorin called back. Bard cringed. Thorin be quiet, you help not your cause!
"Why does the King under the Mountain fence himself in like a robber in his hole?" He retorted.
"Perhaps it is because I'm expecting to be robbed."
He tried again, sensing that they were headed down the wrong path with that conversation. "My Lord, we have not come to rob you, but to seek fair settlement. Will you not speak with me?"
Thorin must have agreed because mere minutes later an eye was peeking through a small hole in the wall. "I'm listening."
"On behalf of the people of Lake-town, I ask that you honor your pledge. A share of the treasure, so that they might rebuild their lives." He spoke in what he hoped was an authoritative voice.
"I will not treat with any man, while an armed host lies before my door."
He almost screamed. Why was he being so difficult? "That armed host will attack this mountain if we do not come to terms."
"Your threats do not sway me."
"What of your conscience?" They stared at each other through the hole for a few seconds before Bard spoke again. "Does it not tell you our cause is just? My people offered you help and in return you brought upon them only ruin and death."
"When did the men of Lake-town come to our aid but for the promise of rich reward?" Thorin growled.
"A bargain was struck!" Bard almost cried.
"A bargain? What choice did we have but to barter our birthright for blankets and food. To ransom our future in exchange for our freedom. You call that a fair trade? Tell me, Bard the dragon-slayer, why should I honor such terms?"
"Because you gave us your word. Does that mean nothing?" He asked pleadingly.
Thorin's eye vanished from the hole. There was a few seconds of silence where Bard hoped he had gotten through to him until he cried out in a loud ringing voice; "Begone! Ere our arrows fly!"
They were discussing battle plans when the halfling arrived. Gandalf had arrived prior and they were sitting in the Kings tent. The halfling ran in like he had an army on his tale.
"That won't stop them. You think the Dwarves will surrender? They won't. They will fight to the death to defend their own." The little thing yelled.
"Bilbo Baggins!" The wizard looked somewhat happy to see the Hobbit.
"If I'm not mistaken, this is the Halfling who stole the keys to my dungeons from under the nose of my guards." Thranduill stated, looking at the halfling intently
"Yes. Sorry about that." A small smile curled on Thranduill's lips before it disappeared. "I came to give you this." He pulled out the Arkenstone.
"The Heart of the Mountain. The King's jewel." Thranduill spoke. Bard wondered if he was surprised.
"And worth a king's ransom." Bard said, staring at the Hobbit. "How is this yours to give?"
"I took it as my fourteenth share of the treasure."
Bard almost laughed. Instead he said; "Why would you do this? You owe us no loyalty."
"I'm not doing it for you. I know that Dwarves can be obstinate and pigheaded and difficult. And suspicious and secretive with the worst manners you can possibly imagine, but they are also brave and kind and loyal to a fault. I've grown very fond of them, and I would save them if I can. But Thorin values this stone above all else. In exchange for its return, I believe he will give you what you were owed. There will be no need for war." This time Bard did smile. This little halfling had more honour than the entire army outside combined.
They had tried once more to reason with the dwarves using the Arkenstone. The honest Hobbit almost died in the process but it seemed that not only had the halfling weaseled his way into Bard's heart but into the dwarves as well who refused to carry out the order. Just as Bard had thought Thorin may have agreed the exchange and remained in peace that little black bird came and the idiotic dwarf spoke the fatal words; "I will have war."
Bard, Thranduill, Gandalf and Bilbo were now watching a dwarven army march over the crest of a nearby hill. "Ironfoot." Gandalf said sadly.
From inside the mountain they heard cries, "Dain! Dain! Dain! DAIN!"
Only the Hobbit had the will to speak the question that was on all of their minds. "Who is that" Pointing to a far off, red bearded dwarf. "He does not look very happy."
"It is Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills. Thorin's cousin."Gandalf said.
"Are they alike?" Bilbo asked.
"I've always found Thorin the more reasonable of the two." Gandalf stated blandly, like noting his favorite tea was no longer in the cupboards. Bard groaned.
The dwarf rode over to the Laketown and Elf army. "Good morning! How are we all? I have a wee proposition, if you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments of your time. Would you consider… JUST SODDING OFF!" The Lake-town army began to pull back in fear "All of you! Right now!"
"Stand fast!" Bard yelled.
"Come now, Lord Dain." Gandalf tried.
"Gandalf the Grey. Tell this rabble to leave, or I'll water the ground with their blood." Dain yelled again.
"There is no need for war between Dwarves, Men and Elves. A legion of Orcs march on the Mountain. Stand your army down." Gandalf called in return, surprising everyone.
"I will not stand down before any Elf. Not least this faithless woodland sprite. He wishes nothing but ill upon my people. If he chooses to stand between me and my kin, I'll split his pretty head open! See if he's still smirking then."
"DAIN!" Came the cry from the mountain.
"He's clearly mad, like his cousin." Thranduill stated.
"You hear that, lads? We're on! Let's give these bastards a good hammering!" Dain hollered.
About to charge the army of Dain was cut off abruptly by the erupting of the earth. "Were-worms!" Gandalf shouted.
The distant "Oh, come on!" of Dain was still heard when an army of Orcs arrived.
Legolas and Jackie could hear the rumble of battle beyond their small cell room. Thorin had thrown them in one of the Mountain's many cells saying they were both traitors. They heard the entire exchange between Throin and The people of Laketown, and the entrance of Dain, whom she only remembered as a little boy. They heard the Orcs enter the scene and the yells of the dwarves.
"Emme boe sanganë eth -o símen. (Elvish: We must get out of here.)
"Lá (Elvish: Yes)" Legolas agreed.
Standing up she went to the barred door of their cell and grabbed two of the bars. Yanking hard in a backward direction she loosened the grip of the hinges. Legolas, catching on to what she was trying to do came up behind her and put his arms on either side of her, grabbing the bars beside the ones she had a grip on. Yanking simultaneously they pulled the door right off its hinges.
"Come one!" She whispered.
Running down the halls, barely making a sound they came to a point on the newly constructed wall that no one was occupying. Looking down they saw Elves, Men and Dwarves all fighting Orcs together as one. The only people who had not joined the fight were Thorin and his men. Legolas hefted one leg over the wall and looked at her expectantly.
"Come meles (Elvish: Love)"
She looked longingly at him before glancing back at the mountain. "I… I can't. I am going to try and make Thorin see sense. I do like you Legolas, I truly do. But I must try to save my family, my brother."
He stared at her before smiling softly. "I understand. You have a big heart… Jackie. Return when you are done." He kissed her lightly and then dropped the several hundred feet to the ground, landing without a scratch.
"Thorin!" She yelled. "We need to talk!"
Throin whipped his head around. They were standing on the now gold plated floor of the grand hall. "You."
The dwarves of the Lonely Mountain watched the battle with apprehension. When Throin came out into the light with Jackie at his tale Kili could not take it anymore.
"I will not hide behind a wall of stone, while others fight our battles for us! It is not in my blood" He yelled.
"No, it is not. We are sons of Durin, and Durin's folk do not flee from a fight."
DONE! we finally have a kiss to! Ok so I have decided on an ending, before there was one ending if I wanted to end the story and one if I wanted to keep going. Now I am just going to do the one that keeps going so I can start the second book any time I want. You might hate me for that though.
BTW! I am skipping the battle scene! You read me SKIPPING! Not doing it, whatever you want to call it. I suck at action sequences and I am guessing if you are reading this you have watched the movies so…. Just re-watch the action sequence battle thingy, add Jackie in it and then you have the next chapter without me having to write it!
Only 2 more chapters before the book is done! YEAH!