A/N: Alright! This chapter was kinda fun to write. I kthat several dwarves die at the end, but I intend to find ways to keep that from happening! Still working on it though so enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 8: Lake-town and the Lonely Mountain

We all had barely gotten ourselves out of the river when we saw a hut full of the guards of Lake-town, all of them sitting around and drinking and laughing. They were extremely surprised when Thorin strode in through their front door with a human girl on his right, a hobbit to his left, and twelve dwarves and a young man behind him.

The guards all leapt to their feet and reached for their weapons as they all shouted," Who are you and what do you want?"

I smirked and shifted my weight to my left foot as Thorin said," I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!" And Thorin sure did look the part despite being soaked," I have returned. I wish to see the Master of Lake-town!"

The captain of the guard strode up to me and flashed a grin at me," And who is this? And the rest of your companions?" he asked, sending me flirty glances.

I smiled stiffly," Skylar Waters, master thief and assassin," I lied, making everyone except my brother look at me in surprise," The other human is my twin brother, the halfling is Mr. Baggins who has traveled with us from the West," I continued, slipping my hands into the pockets of my coat.

The captain swallowed nervously, edging away from me," If you come in peace lay down your arms," he said, glancing at me every now and then as if to make sure I wasn't going to kill him.

" We have none," Thorin said, and it was true enough: all of our weapons had been taken by the tree hugging elves," We have no need of weapons, who return at last to our own as spoken of old," Thorin continued.

I looked at all of the guards," Plus, we're obviously outnumbered," I added, once again drawing all attention to me," Take us to your master!"

" He's at a feast," the captain said simply.

I smirked," All the more reason to take us to him. We are tired and hungry after our journey," I replied," Now hurry up and let's go, or your master may have something to say to you."

The captain looked at me then to Thorin who nodded," Very well, follow me then," the captain said.

He and six of his men led us into Lake-town, and I looked around town as we passed through and, without watching where I was going, tripped over my own feet. I heard Nick snigger and kicked him in the stomach as we reached our destination.

Before the captain of the guard could even utter a syllable Thorin roared," I, Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain, have returned!"

Everyone in the great hall jumped to their feet and several elves jumped to their feet and pointed at me," They are the prisoners that escaped from our king's dungeon!"

Before anyone could even blink, I was halfway across the hall and right in front of the elf who had spoken," The elves imprisoned us for no good reason. I want you to think very hard about who I am and what I can do then I have one thing for you to do," I growled," Run."

The elves stood there for a moment, frozen with shock, then began scrambling over each other in an attempt to get as far away from me as possible. The master of Lake-town looked at me and gave me a weird look," Who are you?"

The captain of the guard beat me to the punch," Skylar Waters, master thief and assassin, sir!" he said, causing everyone around me to take a step back.

I grinned and sauntered back over to the dwarves and leaned against my brother," Wake me when it's over," I whispered to my brother then pretended to doze off on his shoulder.

After a few minutes, we all were walking through the town with the townspeople singing a song about how the dwarven king had returned. I nudged Nick, and we started to sing along, walking on either side of Thorin. The master of Lake-town led us to an inn, and we got eight rooms. Seven for all the guys and one for me just because I'm a girl.

At dinner, I was enthralled by the dwarves' singing, dancing, and flat out insanity that reminded me of whenever I had dinner with my whole family. After Thorin's third attempt to get me to drink ale, I gave up and went to my room to hide from them all. Sadly, they had my brother as a bargaining chip to bring me back down.

Unfortunately for them, I was sleep deprived, and Nick didnt warn them until it was too late for them all to hide as I stalked down the stairs. The only dwarf brave enough, and drunk enough, to approach me as I came back into the dining hall was the unsuspecting Thorin, who strode right up to me and kissed me as soon as he saw me.

I slowly pushed him away and fixed him with a glare that sobered him up instantly. As soon as he was fully able to understand the pure fury and rage that I was barely containing in my slim frame, he backed away quickly. I then raked over each and every dwarf with the same glare and growled," If I do not get any sleep tonight, you will all pay with your lives in the morning. Understand?"

The dwarves all nodded vigorously and made unintelligible attempts at apologies before I slowly turned on heel and stalked back to my room. Several minutes later, they all tried their hardest to sneak back into their rooms silently. They all froze as Nick collapsed on the floor in front of my door. Nori moved to help him, but Kili held him back saying," Leave him! He's already doomed!"

The doorknob on my door turned slowly, and the dwarves all started to pile into their rooms as fast as they possibly could. When I opened the door all the way and saw my brother passed out in front of me I got a very evil idea. I strode back into my room, picked up a small vile of red ink, a feather quill, and dumped the ink over the area where my brother's heart lie in his chest then stuck the quill through the fabric of his shirt. I smirked at my handiwork," That should freak them out enough," I said under my breath before slipping back down to the bar and doing what was least expected of me. I drank several ales then, when I was on the verge of being drunk, I crept back to my room, thoroughly pleased with myself.

I slipped back into my room, closed and locked the door behind me, plopped facedown on my bed, and nearly screamed as I felt an arm snake around my waist. If I had been close to falling asleep, I was wide awake now as I felt a scratchy beard press lightly against my face as I felt a dwarf kiss me. I opened my eyes to des Thorin right in front of me, eyes closed, kissing me tenderly as if he was worried that I would shove him away.

I slowly leaned into the kiss and jumped back as light suddenly burned my eyes. I shot up and out of the bed, swearing like a sailor. I rubbed my eyes a couple times as I looked around the room to see Nick holding open the window, shining light right into my eyes," I hate you, Nick" I groaned, falling back against the bed. He laughed and I heard Kili whisper from the doorway," He's luckier and braver than all of us combined!"

I looked over at the wide open door and all of the dwarves who gathered to watch Nick wake me up. I hurled a pillow at Kili then tackled him and all the other dwarves. They all let out yelps of shock," Never wake me up like that again," I growled, playfully putting Kili in a headlock.

We all jumped to our feet as Thorin cleared his throat behind us. He looked at us all with a stern gaze," Get ready to leave. We leave for the mountain at noon," he ordered before striding downstairs.

A/N: Hey, SkywardWriter's brother here! I would just like to say that I was not injured or intoxicated in the making of this chapter!