This is the last chapter in my story...

Many many thanks to They call me Mary, for checking my story...

Italics represent thoughts.

Bombur exited his workshop. He was very tired today. He only wanted to go home and have dinner. For tonight Bofur was preparing roasted pork and garlic bread. The combined images of the crushed garlic and oil poured over the roasting bread, and the fat of the pork dripping into the fire, made him drool.

The Dwarf walked towards his house. On the way he had to stop and greet many other Dwarves. He was particularly popular among his kin as everyone loved his work, especially the butterfly toys. He always knew which were the right questions to make "Is your father better?", "Did your children like their gifts?" or "I hope the little one wasn't jealous of his eldest brother's wooden sword".

However today he was too tired and hungry to make small talk those he passed. He simply wanted to go home. Unfortunately today wasn't his lucky day after all…

He was walking down a long, poorly lit corridor. It was not one of the main routes home, but it was a shortcut that few people ever use. However today he saw one of his customers using it. Bombur panicked. He did not want to make more small talk about sick relatives, toys, or anything else. He just wanted to eat garlic bread and roasted pork by the fire. So, he looked around in hopes of finding a place to hide. Maybe I am lucky today after all, thought the hungry Dwarf.

Behind the statue of a grim old Dwarf, with stern look and a name that no one remembered anymore, he noticed a small door. It seemed old and it was very well hidden. He would have never notice it there if not for his need to seek a refuge away from his customer. Without hesitating Bombur hurried to the door. He pushed it once but it did not move. He shoved it harder but nothing happened again. At that moment, a hobbit, an elf or man would have given up, but he was as stubborn as any other Dwarf of the Blue Mountains and beyond. He pushed it once more, putting all the force he could manage. At last it opens!

He quickly hurried inside and closed the door behind him with a loud creek. Once inside, exhausted from his fight with the door, he put his ear onto the door in order to know whether the other dwarf had noticed him or he had just passed by his hiding place. After a while, he could make out his footstep like they were coming from a mile away. From the infrequent thud he could understand that he had paid a visit to the pub The Mighty Hammer and had a mug of ale or two. Good choice that I am hidden here, thought Bombur, there was no chance I could avoid him otherwise.

He waited a little longer until his footsteps faded away. When he was sure that there was no one on the other side of the door, he tried to open it and go home at last. But the door wouldn't open. He tried again harder. Again and again. But it would not move even a bit. Frustrated now, and slightly panicked, he banged the door very hard. He shouted many times, but there was no one to hear him.

Exhausted, he sat down and faced the room he was now trapped in. It was darker than the corridor and he couldn't tell if it was a chamber or a corridor. Dammit! I wanted so much to eat that pork! If I had stayed and talked, I would be by now outside my house, savoring the smells of dinner carried to me by the air, just like the draft here, except that that one has not any smells at all. A draft! Of course!

He sat up quickly. If there was a draft of fresh air coming to him, then there must be another way out of this place. He moved around quickly. When he found the wall, he followed it forward. He was extra careful as not to have an accident, they could occur even to the most careful adventures. He walked slowly for about 15 minutes. From time to time with call out loud in case the corridor it was connected with other rooms, but only the echo of his voice reached him back. He had no other choice but to follow it to the end.

After a while he saw something gleaming in the distance. That's it! I am almost out! Here I come roasted pork and garlic bread! He thought cheerfully. However the sight that he encountered was nothing like he had been expecting. The corridor had led him to a chamber full of precious gems. There were diamonds clearer than water, rubies as red as blood, emeralds green as the grass after a rain and sapphires as blue as the sky in a cloudless morning. The light fell upon them in a way that made them glitter; it was like there was a rainbow in the cave. Bombur was in such awe that he had completely forgotten the roasted pork and the garlic bread.

After the dumbfounding awe at his discovery has passed, he started to notice the details of the cave. He noted now it was not a cave at all, it was actually a chamber. The floor was made of white and black marble and had triangular shapes on it. There was some furniture too; a couple of chairs and a long table, made by an exquisite material as well. The precious gems displayed on the wall were not at all random either. After studying their patterns for a moment the Dwarf noticed that they made shapes. And these shapes then told a story…

He sat down and started "reading" the story. It was about somebody that tinkered with things: small, large, usual and unusual. He followed with his eyes the order he thought that it was correct. The man, as he could tell now, continued making more complicated and elaborate things. This continued along all angles of the chamber's wall, until it reached a central point. There the picture was larger and more refined. Bombur understood that it must be the story's climax. He studied it a bit more than the rest; it seemed that the man had made something like dolls, seven of them…he could not understand why the man had turned into a toy maker after all the wonderful things he had made before.

Fool!, he thought, coming to a realisation, that is not a man and those are not dolls! He sat up and started jumping around. He had found Aule's secret chamber! The man was a representation of the great Valar Aule, and the dolls were the seven Dwarf Lords he had made! That was great indeed! There was a rumor that some of his kin had made a little shrine dedicated to the great Valar in these parts of the mountain, but despite many searches, they had never been able to find it. And now he was the one to discover it! He would be treated like a hero!

But first I have to get out. He looked around more carefully. There must be another way out. He walked around the chamber twice, and could not find anything. The third time, he examined more carefully the detail in the hidden corners. And at last he was lucky. Behind the great table there a crypt that he could use. Hastily, he stumbled his way through a pitch black tunnel, and eventually he reached a road of their city.

One month later

Bombur was in the chamber again. Today was the first day that they had allowed the public to visit the shrine. After he had informed their leader of its existence, the builders of the Dwarf-city had worked day and night to make it possible for everyone to come and admire this ancient piece of art. As Thorin himself had said, "A piece of art like this should be admired and cherished by everyone and not be kept in the dark."

Now, he was standing by the side of Thorin Oakenshield. It was just like he had imagined. All the Dwarves treated him like a hero. Today, everybody wanted to hear about his adventure and he did not have to ask questions about their wellbeing, because he was in the centre of couldn't help but smile with content, however there was a lingering sadness in his eyes. Bofur, who was by his side the whole time, noticed that. He approached him and asked.

"What troubles you, brother? I thought you wanted to be here this day? Why are you sad?"

"It is not that I am not content, but…it would be better that day If I had eaten the roasted pork and the garlic bread as well," answered the Dwarf.

I hope you have liked my story. Thank you for reading, please review! :)