Holding their breaths, they all watched the stone wall as the last sunbeams dropped down, mantling the wall in a deep dark. Nothing happened. No door appeared. No key hole.
"How is this possible?"
Thorin walked frustrated from left to right, muttering in Khuzdul, something Alyssae hadn't heard him do often.
"The last light," Gandalf mumbled.
Clouds of smoke went up from his pipe as Gandalf stared pensively at the door.
"The sun is only the first light."
Alyssae turned around, to Thranduin, who stood at the edge of the platform. His eyes were aimed at the horizon, were the sun had just disappeared fully. "Soon the second source of light will come."
"The moon?" Gandalf's eyebrows rose. "Ah, of course."
Thorin watched them from a distance. He sighed, but kept walking back and forth impatiently, only taking a break when a shriek of surprise hewed through the night.
Alyssae tore loose her glance from Thorin and looked at Dwalin, who stared at the wall, which started to glitter on some places. The dwarves ran towards it and touched the walls. A hole became visible and Thorin walked toward it. The other dwarves stepped back, making room for their leader.
Just like everyone else Alyssae held her breath when Thorin put the key in the hole. A scraping sound made her lean forward. Joy filled her heart when Thorin placed his hands against the wall and started to push, where after the stone wall slit open. A cool breeze blew outside, which made Thorin's dark hair wave.
"We did it," she whispered.
Thorin looked over his shoulder. His eyes glittered. "Now it is up to you."
She saw the longing in his eyes. The longing to enter his homeland. But the risk was too high and they all knew it.
"Yes." She kissed him. "See you soon."
She didn't look back to the others, who surely wanted to say goodbye. Alyssae however was convinced the job was easily done and she didn't want to act like she could be dead soon. She stepped into the dark corridor and followed it.
. . .
As soon as the darkness of the mountain had swallowed her, she put the ring around her finger. It took a long time before her eyes were used to the dark, but in the end she could distinguish forms. She entered a large hall, which she concluded from the different air and not so much by what she was seeing.
He was here. Alyssae heard a deep breathing, very regular, from which she made up he was sleeping. It resonated through the hall, surprising her they hadn't heard it outside. She resisted the temptation to view the rest of the dwarf kingdom - for as much as she could see anything - and she returned before she could awake the dragon.
"Are you back already?" Fili asked nonplussed when she stepped through the door, just after she had put away the ring.
"He is in the treasury, just as we expected. He is sleeping."
The dwarves seemed to be impressed by her.
"Then it's about time we'll start with the plan," Gandalf spoke.
Together with Balin and some other dwarves they had wandered through the mines all days, which were located at the outside of the mountain and were no longer connected to the city that was guarded by Smaug. They had gathered seven pickaxes with which they could do the job, but Alyssae waited outside while the dwarves were mining. She hoped the shafts neither went deep into the mountain, nor carried the noise over a long distance, otherwise Smaug would probably wake up too early.