As the Dwarves sat in her kitchen discussing lost treasure, dragons and adventure, Annie tried very hard not to faint. What on earth was happening? Then Gandalf pulled out a map, and the voices quieted. She couldnt stand to hear anymore of it, no more adventures for her! She touched the locket hanging around her neck, it was the one thing that had survived it all, and the one reminder of what happened. She leaned against the wall, and felt herself fall into the deeply familiar senses of regret and guilt that had come with the necklace. The memories flooded through her head in flashes; faces, places and blood dripping down on the floor. It hurt too much to go back any further. Just as she was about to leave to get some fresh air, the presence flared up next to her, wild and red and cunning.
"Please." she whispered to it, "What can I do to make you understand? Or to show how much I love you?" It didnt answer, just swirled tauntingly around her, rattling her teeth and sending shivers up her spine.
"Miss Annie?" her thoughts were interupted by Balin, who has come into the hallway in search for her.
"Yes?"
"We have decided, as a company that you fit the job description." he told her, smiling kindly, like this was a good thing.
"What?" She asked, and then felt embarassed, for she hadnt been paying attention to their conversations at all.
He handed her a very large piece of parchment. "You are to be our burglar." he said, and behind him the other twelve dwarves nodded in approval.
"Well, I -ummm." she stumbled, but reached out to take the parchment.
"Just sign at the bottom, and we will be on our way." he told her cheerfully, and then returned back to the group.
Annie opened it up and read, all the way down to the bottom. It did not sound like a fun journey at all.
"Incinerated?" She whispered, Kili heard her and turned around in his seat.
"Oh yeah its not too bad, just searing pain and then poof your a pile of dust!" he told her, and they all laughed as she paled a little. This was all too much, too soon. There were too many dwarves in her home, too many dangers on this piece of parchment, and the red wasn't helping much as she felt it circle around her head. Before she fainted, she vaguely wondered if the others could see it, but before she came to that conclusion she lost consciousness all together.
The dwarves took this fainting spell as a very positive "no" and were slightly disappointed, but Gandalf insisted that she was the right burglar for them.
"Trust me, she will not disappoint you." he told Thorin, who just nodded. "If she comes, I will not be responsible for her." he told the wizard. He was not impressed by this little hobbit, despite how puzzling she was. "Just give her some time, she'll come around." the wizard reassured him.
Annie woke to singing. It was a sad mournful tune, almost as sad as she felt. She then realized that someone had picked her up off the floor and placed her on one of Biblo's many couches. The singing continued, and curiosity came over her, so she stood up and tiptoed silently towards the kitchen and heard:
The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.
Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day
To win our harps and gold from him!
She stayed quietly in the shadows, not wanting to intrude on such a deep moment for the company. They must of thought she had gone to bed, because no one came to check on her for the rest of the night, even though they stayed well into the night.
Annie lay thinking in her bed, wondering if she should jump at this chance, her eyes laid on the red pool, it seemed to follow her whereever she went. "Maybe if I go with them, it will stay behind?" she thought desperately. It was worth a try, anyway. Her last thought of the night was "I should atleast go tell Gandalf that I'm thinking about coming…" but then she fell asleep.
The next morning Annie woke with a start. "Did that really happen?" she thought, her mind muddled with the dream she had been having about very large spiders, and the events of last night. "Did 13 dwarves really eat everything in my pantry?" She thought, "Did I sign the parchment?" She could not remember. She sat up in bed and got dressed, quickly going towards the kictchen to see if they were still there.
They had werent.
"They left already!" she thought sadly, and to her surprise, her eyes filled with tears. She had kinda wanted to go with them, if it gave her the chance to leave the red behind. Then her eyes lighted on a note set on the kicthen table:
"Thorin and Company to Burglar Annie greeting! For your hospitality our sincerest thanks, and for your off of profession assistance our grateful acceptance ("what offer?" she though, confused). Terms: cash on delivery, up to and not exceeding one fourteenth of total profits (if any); all traveling expenses guaranteed in any event; funeral expenses to be defrayed by us or our represtatives, if occasion arises and the matter is not otherwise arranged for.
Thinking it unnescessary to disrtub your esteemed repose, we have proceeded in advance to make requiste prepartions, and shall await your respected person at the Green Dragon Inn, Bywater at 11 am sharp. Trusting you will be punctual.
We have the honour to remain
Yours deeply
Thorin &Co."
And underneath was the contract, already signed by Balin and Thorin. Annie stared at it for a long few minutes, then looked up and checked the time.
"Oh my, its already 10:30!" she thought desperatly, and then, on pure impulse started packing. Never in her life had she packed so fast, "my, this is a change from the last time I left in a hurry." she found herself thinking as she hurridly stuffed her things into a knapsack. She left the hole (after leaving a hurried note for Bilbo explaining everything and locking the door) at quarter to eleven.
She barely made it, just on the stroke to eleven. The company had already pulled out of the inn, 13 dwarves plus Gandalf and were already on the road.
"Wait!" she shouted, running up towards them. Thorin, who was leading the company pulled his horse around and stared, stunned that she had actually shown up. Gandalf smiled "I told you she would come." he whispered under his breath to Thorin.
"Bravo!" Balin shouted, and gave her a kind smilie as she handed him the signed contact.
"I'm awfully sorry." she said, trying to catch her breath, "But I have come without my hat, and I left my pocket handkercheif behind and I havnt got any money. I didnt get your note until after 10L45 to be precise."
"Dont be precises," said Dwalin, "And dont worry. You will have to manage without pocket-handkercheifs, and a good many other things, before you get to the journey's end. As for a hat, I have got a spare hood and cloak in my luggage."
And thats how Annie found herself, riding a small pony, and wearing a cloak that didnt fit. "Thank goodness I dont have a beard, or else I would exactly like a dwarf!" she thought as they rode along the path and out of Hobbiton.
They stopped just at the end of Bree that night. The Dwarves cheerfully sat by the fire together, and even though Annie seemed very much alone to the others, Thorin saw the pool of red not far behind her. It always seemed to be there, following them. He watched as Annie quietly pulled out a heart shaped necklace and opened it. The others laughed and spoke among themselves, very much forgetting the little hobbit, but Thorin still watched her. He watched as she stared longingly at the picture inside the locket. The red brightened and billowed behind her as she put a finger to the picture. Thorin watched this silently with interest, he was starting to put the pieces together, slowly. Whomever was in that locket must have been important to her, and maybe, just maybe it could have something to do with the ghost that was following them?
The next morning, they broke their fast in silence. The morning fog had come upon them and it was frighteningly eerie. As the company gathered their belongings and mounted their horses, Annie slipped and fell to the ground. Kili immediately bent down to help her, with various "are you alrights?" and other nonsensical questions. What Kili didn't notice was that Annie's locket had fallen off and had tumbled into the bushes. Fortunately for Annie, Thorin did. He picked it up and stowed it away in his pocket before the hobbit noticed it was even missing.
As they were riding, Thorin took the time to finally open it. Inside, was a drawing of a baby girl, not more than a year old. She was lovely, with the same eyes as Annie. He stared at the picture for a long while, and then something caught his eye; a glimmer of red.
That night they sat down for dinner among the cliffs, happily eating and smoking, with Gandalf. He was fairly protective of Annie though, and it took some while for Thorin to find a moment to approach her alone. Finally, as Gandalf went to check on Fili and Kili and the horses he approached her softly, nodding hello.
Annie nodded back, she didn't fear Thorin exactly, but his stoic nature made her weary. She couldn't read him very well and it made her slightly nervous. It surprised her even more when he sat down next to her.
"How are you fairing?" he asked softly, she nodded "alright, I guess." she answered. Then they sat in silence for a while longer. If Annie hadn't been Annie, and Thorin hadn't been Throin, this would of been an awkward and uncomfortable meeting but fortunately, both of them were so used to silence that it worked. Finally, Thorin asked;
"The dwarves treating you alright?"
"Yes"
"Good"
Then there was more silence. After a beat, Thorin continued.
"You weren't what I expected, when Gandalf told me he found a hobbit to be our burglar." he told her, she looked at him curiously "why?" she asked. Thorin sighed a little, and spoke softly.
"Theres something clinging to you, a dark past and I know that its not my business to meddle but I want to know, what ails you, Annie?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know something follows you, its presence is here, right now." and he motioned towards the red. She nodded but didn't say anything. This took Thorin aback, he had expected an explanation for it. He pulled out the locket and showed her;
"I expect you'd be missing this?" he said, immediately her eyes lit up.
"Oh yes! How did-when did? You? Thank you." She stuttered, taking the locket and pressing it into her hands. She seemed relieved, and a little happier than before. She then looked up at Thorin and then decided that he deserved a bit of an explanation. She opened the locket and showed him the drawing of the baby girl. "My daughter." she told him. He nodded, "She's beautiful." he answered, Annie nodded,
"She was, wasn't she?"
Then Thorin made the connection between the red presence and Annie. He should of known the minute he opened the locket but it hadn't dawned on him, not being a parent himself. The presence must of noticed his epiphany, because just then it swelled up, lighting the fire red and shaking the trees. Annie looked up at it and whispered,
"Shhhhhhhh darling. It's okay"
"For a baby she throws a powerful spell" Thorin whispered to Annie
"No more powerful than the way I loved her." Annie replied softly, her eyes went up to look at the stars and Thorin saw that they were glassy with tears. She didn't offer any other explanation though, and they were silent for some time. Finally, not wanting to upset her more, Thorin decided that it was time for him to leave. He patted her knee (slightly awkwardly) and then stood up.
"I'll be on watch tonight." he told her, she nodded, before he left the fire he turned to her.
"Annie, don't let the past haunt you. Stay strong." he told her, and she nodded again silently then he walked away.
Thank you so much for reading! And for all the favorites and follows. It totally made my day! Do not worry, all of your questions will be answered shortly!
