Chapter Eleven
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The dwarrow and Bilbo were not pleased with having to get into the barrels and load them with fish. Thorin was one of the few who complained the loudest until Verity offered to silence him up by knocking him out for the rest of the journey. This had several rebuttals from some of the other dwarrow but she quickly reminded them that they had no choice in the matter if they wanted to get into the town itself.
"What about you lassie?" Oin asked, looking a little green around the edges as he got into the barrel and started to wiggle down so that it could be filled with fish on top. Verity grinned at him.
"Don't worry about me, I have my own plan." She assured the group, as they neared the gate she slide down onto the edge of the barge before putting her helmet back on and slipping underneath the barge, hanging onto the bottom of the boat as they moved through the icy water. She had taken a deep breath in, having to learn how to do breathing exercises when she joined the military as a precaution of being on board a space ship losing oxygen. Holding ones breath was part of the training involved along with being gassed and other violent matters that she had to go through before graduation day. She felt the barge come to a stop and moved out from underneath the barge swimming in the dark shadows of the floating town to pop up a few yards away and silently climb out of the water, helmet removed, she pulled the wet rags that Bard had given her beforehand to throw over herself, and walked with the hood over her face and body bent over to look like an elderly person. Slow steady movements with a confidence that she was always there gave little away as people moved passed her without another look.
She watched from a vantage point as the barge was searched and how the fisherman Bard handled the situation. The ugly little man that was speaking to him made her trigger finger twitch with a need to shoot him; however, she ignored the instinct and watched from her position as the barge was allowed to pass into the town without further problems. Other than for the little toad ordering for his men to keep a very close eye on the fisherman and his house. She shuffled her way over to where the barge had settled and watched as the dwarrow and Bilbo piled out of the barrels and into the water to go up the sewage system. She grimaced in sympathy at the idea, but shuffled her way over to pick up some fish and look at it like she was thinking of buying it.
"Now my dear old lady, after all the times you've watched my kids. I must insist that you come in for supper tonight. On me!" Bard stated, ushering the 'elderly' lady up the steps and toward the house. Verity made hemming and hawing noises as if she was trying to find an excuse not to do so, but then finally gave in like any old woman would do when offered a free meal for the night without having to cook it herself.
A teenage girl met them at the door, asking her father why there were dwarves coming out of the latrine. Verity had to cover up a smile at that image it caused in her head. She moved passed father and daughter as Bard discussed what was happening. The girl watched the taller woman enter into the house and set down her helmet and bag before pulling the sodden wet rags off her back and setting them down in a small pile.
"Who is she?" The eldest girl asked, watching as the dwarrow moved around her and started to complain about how she hadn't had to do some of the things that they had to do.
"That is a foreigner, I don't know from where?" Bard stated. "Her ship is around here somewhere around here, at least that is what she has stated to me." He said, looking down at his eldest.
"No foreign ships have sailed in here." The eldest stated, looking at the woman once more. She was wearing strange attire and had very short hair. Bard also looked at the woman and he frowned and started to move toward her.
Verity sensing the change in mood from the fisherman turned toward him. "What do you wish to know." She asked, having guessed he was told by his kid that no seafaring ship had sailed from anywhere foreign.
"Where are you from? I don't like being taken for a fool." Bard stated, placing his hand on the knife on his hip. Verity looked down at it and smiled charmed by the action for some strange reason.
"And I didn't. My ship isn't one that goes on water, well that isn't true it could but it wouldn't stay afloat for very long. To heavy. It flies in outer space." She stated, the look Bard gave her almost had her laughing.
"Do you think me a fool?" He asked his voice dropping low in his anger.
"No, I do not. This is why I didn't speak about it in the first place. You do not fully understand but that is alright. Just know that I am from a very far off land and please allow that to satisfy you for the time being." Verity assured Bard, placing her metal arm onto his own hand to still it from pulling the knife out. He looked down at the hand, cold to the touch and the sound of the movements seemed to have been almost like gears jamming up. "Blast this arm." Verity grunted, turning around and peeling her armor and undershirts off to show where the arrow head was lodged in the metal of the shoulder. Oin hissed and moved over to take a closer look at the wound.
Thorin and others curious about what had Oin humming under his breath moved in to take a look. The metal plating was pierced and Oin was using some tools to pry the arrow head out, catching them on different levers and gears that allowed the arm smooth movement. "Watch what you are doing you old man." Verity hissed, as he tugged on the metal lever and had her arm twitching slightly with the movement, like he was pulling on a tendon. Oin looked surprised at the way the inside of the metal arm looked, gears and other items flowed along a path similar to a wheel or cycle, sparks causing the gears to shift and move with the body as different pathways were being moved by neurons from the brain. The flow of wires seem to reach along the spinal cord and into the flesh racing up to Verity's brainstem and allowed for the even movements of the robotic limb.
"This is amazing work." Oin stated in awe, running his hand up the metal limb and looking at the smooth metal that hadn't been damaged by the arrow head. "Who in the world was capable of creating such fine works of beauty?" Oin asked, stepping away from Verity.
"Doctors that had to refine the ways of thinking about the human body and how it moves. Neurons from the brain and robotic limbs with small nanobots to help the body except the new limb instead of rejecting it. The fragile connection between a lost limb and how those functions could be used to create kinetic functions for a new limb." Verity stated. Oin looked confused by the statement. "Science in terms of use Biology, physics, anatomy, and robotics all being able to function together to create a limb that can be used by the wearer and not just as a form of covering up or slight aiding the individual, but actually being able to function as an actual limb." Oin shook his head still lost by the idea and Verity shrugged at him. Bard was staring at her with just the same expression of crazy on his face as he had been when she said her ship was meant for outer space.
"Right, let's move on to something else. Like, how are you Dwarrow going to get to the mountain that is across from this lake?" She stated, leaning forward to look at Thorin. "Please tell me that you have thought that far ahead and you were not just thinking of one baby step at a time." The blank look the man gave her answered her question and she sighed heavily into her arms as she dropped her head into them.
"Mountain!" Bard stated, sounding stressed. "Smaug lives in that mountain."
"Yes, they know. They plan on taking it back by some freaking miracle." Verity stated dryly. Bard looked at her before looking at the dwarrow.
"We need to get more weapons and armor from the stock and take some boats to get us across the lake." Thorin answered. Verity nodded her head.
"Okay, so do you have funds to pay for this. My guess is no. So that leads to plan b, stealing them. Which will lead to you being discovered and you making a grand speech about birth rights and blah blah blah, and everyone gets rich fast scheme." Verity stated, "You following me so far, good. Here is what I think you should do, go and ask whoever is in charge for the rights these items in exchange for money via an actual contract, not from word of mouth because that does little good for anyone." Thorin turned away from her and Verity nodded her head.
"What does that mean?" Bard asked.
"Means they are going with plan B, and are going to get caught." Verity stated. Bilbo looked between the tall woman and man and then toward Thorin.
"We could actually listen to her for once." Bilbo stated, only to have Thorin glare him into submission. Verity nodded her head and looked up at the roof of the building.
"Don't worry you won't have to deal with me for too much longer. I will be gone in the morning. My ship isn't too far from this area." She stated, and turned to look at Bard. Reaching out and handing over a flare gun, "If you need help in any way just point this at the sky and pull the trigger. I will come if I can." Verity assured the man.
It was near midnight, that the dwarrow were caught breaking into the armory and taking items that they felt they would need for the rest of the journey to the mountain. Bard and Verity watched as Thorin made his grand speech and Bilbo backed him up. The man had changed some since Verity had been with them. He seemed off, in a mind illness kind of way. Verity had hoped to see them all the way to the mountain, but she didn't think that Thorin would allow her to go any further with them. The other Dwarrow also had changed, almost in a similar fashion to Thorin, seemingly to become single minded on one thing, the mountain of gold that awaited them and the stone that was there.
Verity didn't know much about the stone, other than Thorin wanting it in his hands to prove to others that he would be king. She had no idea what makes a king, but she knew it had nothing to do with stones no matter how precious they are in the end they are cold dead objects. She turned away and headed back to the house, no longer interested in what the dwarrow were doing, but very disappointed in them. Like they were her children and they had done something that had left a deep scar across her heart that would never heal. She shook her head of the feeling and watched from the window as the dwarrow were welcomed with open arms after their verbal declaration of being generous with the flow of gold.
"They remind me of the prophets spewing lies to get us to do what they wish." Rok stated over the com, Verity chuckled at the thought of Thorin dressed like a prophet spouting out his pretty words to the people who want to hear them. "A just cause to win back a home, but that cause has become squandered in the muck that seeps from the pores of poisonous rot."
"I didn't know you were that poetic Rok." Verity stated. The com went silent before Loki spoke up.
"I believe that Rok is correct in this metaphor, the dwarrow wish to bring their people home, but have become blinded by the gold that seems to become the poisonous rot that brings them to their death."
"Greed will always befall upon the men who wants it least." Verity stated with a dry chuckle. "I hope that some of them will see that in time to stop what will happen afterwards." She commented.
"I doubt that they will until it be too late." Rok answered back. Soon silence stretched upon them and Verity was asleep curled into a ball as small as she could get in the area she had chosen to be her resting place for the night.
By dawn she was gone, bags and her other items all removed from the house like she had never been there. The dwarrow didn't bother to look, but Bilbo did and he was saddened that she hadn't said farewell to him or the three younger dwarrow. He sat in one of the row boats as he and a few others watched the people gather around them to wish them luck. Kili and Fili and a few of the others were late coming to the boats having overslept, and Thorin was in no mood to wait for them. They watched as the other dwarrow were left behind as Thorin ordered them to start rowing for the shores closest to the mountains.
Kili kicked at the ground looking at the boats as they grew smaller and smaller on the horizon. "He could have waited for a few more moments." He grumbled to his brother who was also moping beside him. Bofur looked just as down in the mud as the other two but he soon cheered up and got the other two inside the house with Bard to warm up.
"Hey Bard, where did our lady friend go?" Bofur asked. Bard looked over his shoulder at him.
"I don't know, she was just gone by the time I got up in the morning just before dawn." Bard answered, looking out the window to squint at the rocky areas that bordered the lake and town. "I am sure she is around here, she said her ship was nearby." He stated, more of a reminder to himself than to the dwarrow who had stopped listening to him anyway.
Verity moved much faster on her own. Meeting up with Rok about an hour after she had left the town. The sun was just starting to rise over the Eastern horizon and shadows were starting to spread across the ground beneath the sun stretching like claws out to grasp at travelers passing by. "What have you got?" She asked as a way of greeting.
"Activity inside the mountain, looks like something is awake and moving. You wouldn't happen to know what, would you?" Rok asked gruffly. Verity nodded her head.
"A dragon. A fire breathing dragon, at least according to the dwarrow and the wizard I was riding with that is what is in the mountain." Verity stated. Rok pulled a flexible screen out to show her the ground activity that had been going on around the ship where it was partially resting on the mountain side.
"We thought it was an active volcano at first." Rok answered as the way the rock shifted in reds, blues, and greens. Verity nodded her head in understanding, her lips bowed as she looked over the scans.
"They spoke about the dragon at length, even the damn elven kings spoke about them. Large and rather nasty attitudes with a greed for gold and gems. Came here a while back and took over the mountain kicking the remaining dwarrow from the home and hoarding all the gold. At least that was what I got from the story." The Major stated. The two looked over at the mountain where steam was slowly rising from the sides. "But I would have thought it a volcano as well from this point of view." She agreed. Rok nodded his head.
"You have any plans if that beast decides to get out of the mountain?" Rok asked, The Major looked at him and shrugged.
"Can't say that I do, just know that we may have to defend our position and even take in some refugees from the town on the Lake, I am pretty sure that beast will be coming out of that Mountain. Those Dwarrow are not going to be able to defeat it, but I have a feeling that the boatman might. However, we may need to lend some arial support and ground support. Get a couple of crickets and snipers ready to roll out and see how many pelicans are able to be operational at this time." The major commanded. Rok nodded as he and the major moved to the Pelican waiting for them. The Pilot nodded his head as he heard the orders over the radio.
"Sounds like we are going to have one hell of a party." He stated, a grin starting to spread across his face. "And here I thought we were going to be bored out of our minds sitting on our asses here." The co-pilot laughed at that and raised a thumb up to the Major as the two officers boarded the plane.
"Welcome back Major Amezcua, good to see you in one piece." The Co-pilot stated.
"Yes, it is good to be back. May not try the whole flying thing without a pelican next time." She answered in good humor.