Coming Of Age – Chapter 30
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Let it be said that Dwarves and honey did not mix well, especially dwarves with beards.
At the noon meal, the wood elves served the dwarves more fish; freshly cooked in wrapped leaves with salt, mind you. Oin was very much grateful to be able to taste something in his food finally, as did his brother and cousins. The elves had offered them fruits as well but they were politely declined as they were not much fond of them. They did accept the freshly baked breads eagerly and when the elves offered them jars of honey, the dwarves were puzzled; they had never tasted them before.
Lee showed them how to eat the sweet sticky nectar. She first poured the sweet nectar into a saucer provided by the elves, the dwarves ooh'ed as the golden glob oozed out of the jar and onto the saucer then she tore a piece of bread and dipped into the sticky goo and ate it. Lee closed her eyes as she chewed her honey dipped bread slowly, savoring the sweetness; it had been a long time since she had honey.
Thorin watched Lee with a skeptical expression as he sat next to her on a wooden bench, expertly made by the elves in the open woods, much to Balin's relieve. The impromptu feast was on a rather wide fell trunk that was hewn in half horizontally, serving as the elves' dining table. The seats were the other half of the trunk quartered, half of it on one side of the table, the other quarter on the opposite side of the table.
Eluin explained to them how the honey was made by the bees that buzzed happily around them landing on the flowers collecting nectar from within. From the nectar collected the bees stored them in their own home a thin membrane filled with individual tubes of cells of honey where the elves collect them. The dwarves found the process intriguing but they were even more interested in eating them.
The dwarves followed Lee's lead in pouring the honey into the saucer and dipping the bread into it and found that they liked the sweet taste and dipped more of the sticky nectar and ate more.
And that was what began the mess; a big giant sticky mess. Sticky fingers, sticky beards, sticky faces and in Dwalin's case who managed to spill the saucer of honey on himself, his whole front was covered with the sticky nectar.
The elves were tittering at Dwalin as they ate, none of them had gotten into a mess, not even the smallest elven child.
Of course, by the time the meal came to a close, no one was sitting on either side of him for fear of getting into a sticky mess as well.
"Really Dwalin, how are we to continue on with you? You're going to stick onto Podget!" Balin admonished his brother; Podget was Dwalin's pony.
"He can wash in the stream and wash your clothes. It would not take long for the sun to dry your clothes, Master Dwalin." Eluin suggested, smiling delightfully.
Balin nodded, "If I were you, I would best do it now!"
Dwalin hopped out of his seat as he held his hands outward, a few of the elves showed him the way, laughingly trying not to touch him though.
The other dwarves stood up as well, "I guess we might as well wash our faces too." Thorin said, his fingers were sticky as well.
Eluin nodded standing up. "Very well, we will show you the way."
They all followed Eluin to the stream and not long after, they were cleaned again, except for Dwalin who had no choice but to strip his clothing and handed them to the elves shyly.
While they were waiting for Dwalin's clothes to dry, Lee had a few more questions for Eluin about her father and Crimm.
"Did my father know he was a Nogrod, Eluin?" She asked him.
"Yes." He nodded. "As did his brother."
Thorin was startled, "What? All this time, he knew who he was, and yet he worked as a…a servant of the Durin family. Why?"
"I do not know," Eluin shook his head. "He was in hiding, perhaps."
Lee nodded. "Perhaps."
"Thorin, where do you think they are hiding them?" Eluin asked him.
"Whoever this traitor or traitors was or were, they might have been in the palace. With my family in the palace.
"We must hurry back to Erebor! We have delayed much time already!" Lee stared wildly at Thorin.
He nodded, "Have no fear, Lee. Father's personal guards are sworn to protect him and mother with their lives. I have already warned him to be on extra alert and if something should happened, he should take mother, Frerin, and Dis into the undergrounds where the gold is and stay there until our return. There are provisions down there already; we have been preparing to move the gold above grounds."
"When did you...Oh! Nuin!" An enlightened expression came upon her as she smiled his cleverness.
"Still, we should be going already. Is Dwalin's clothes dried?" Thorin glanced over to Balin who was standing next to Lee.
"I'll check on it," he turned and walked hurriedly to the other elves.
Dwalin's clothing was indeed dried as the elves handed them to him who came out of the waters and dried off gratefully and began to dress, feeling very cleaned.
It would be a very long, long time before they tried honey again. Dwalin, on the other hand had sworn off of it completely, he did not care to bathe in the cold water in front of the elves ever again.
The gangly group of dwarves was now eager to set off but first Lee bade a sad farewell to Eluin once again.
Eluin touched her forehead with his forefinger and said quietly to her alone, "You are the bravest dwarf I have ever known, and I am happy you are my elf friend. ThoraLee, were I to be a young elfling again, and you were not Thorin's rúzín, I would be honored to claim you as my mate. But that is neither here nor there," he looked into her eyes for a while before he dropped his fingers from her forehead as said in his normal tone, "I wish you safe journey. May your Mahal guide you and your friends in your quest. Use your talents well ThoraLee, they will serve you. When you see your father, wish him safe journey."
Lee looked at him in wonderment as she nodded and bowed to him.
Thorin came to stand by Lee as he inclined his head to Eluin and said, "Thank you Master Eluin for your gracious hospitality you have shown to us all. I wish you well."
Eluin nodded, "Hennon le," he said.
"You're welcome." Thorin smiled.
Eluin arched a brow at him as he broke into a smile as well as laying a hand on Thorin's shoulder, a sign of friendship.
Thorin nodded as they broke off contact and he mounted his pony, the others thanked Eluin as well before they mounted their ponies too. The elves waved them off and they rode off to the direction Eluin had shown them, a shorter route that would led them to Erebor quicker.
….
True to the elf's words, the path he shown them led to the gardens of Erebor.
By the time they arrived the gardens' gate, the new moon had risen, bathing the gardens with darkness.
"Exactly when are we going to eat?" Gloin whispered to his brother.
"Shh! Not now, Gloin. We have foul creatures to catch, after that you can eat till your heart's content. Not a sound."
Gloin nodded glumly.
They dismounted their ponies and tied them outside the gate and stealthily crept within the gardens and saw the Durin's guards at their posts.
"Who do you think is the traitor?" Balin asked as they looked about them.
"It used to be easy, if you do not have the Durin's ring, we would know right away but now…?" Thorin shrugged his shoulders.
"Thorin, I want to talk to these two guards Rothin and Lethim," Lee asked quietly.
"Why?"
She explained to him previously she had tasked them to keep an eye out for traitors.
"Rothin and Lethim? Father's sentry guards by the Receiving Halls?" Thorin asked her.
She nodded.
"Brilliant my dear" he looked at her.
"Can't we all just walk in there?" Lee asked.
Thorin thought for a moment, "I'd rather not but perhaps one of us might go in there…"
"I will," Balin volunteered.
"Me too," Dwalin nodded as well.
Lee shook her head, "I told them that they were supposed to talk to either you or I, Thorin."
"Well my dear, that just put a hitch in the plan," he glared at her. "I will not permit you such foolishness." He flashed her an angry look.
"Why not? And don't you tell me it's a man's work!" Lee snapped back at him
"Out of the question, Lee!" Thorin shook his head vehemently.
"Thorin, Mored does not know that I know about the Nogrods," she tried to reason with him.
"Don't be naïve Lee. He is cunning, he will know."
"Just let me try, I promise I'll be careful." Thorin rolled his eyes upward.
"I'll go with her Thorin, she'll have my protection." Balin said, wanting to end their bickering and get this over with.
Against his better judgment, Thorin looked at his cousin whom he trusted the most. and his beloved whom he had grown too fond of to lose her and he didn't want to part with her. But he must trust her, nodded at them reluctantly.
Before they took off Thorin called out to Balin and said pointed to him, "Watch out for her."
Balin and Thorin exchanged very careful looks before Thorin turned his glance to her and nodded and then he turned his attention to his other cousins.
Balin frowned as he looked at ThoraLee but shook his head and followed her as they moved into the palace.
Thorin looked at his remaining three cousins, "Follow me to the dungeons."
They nodded as they moved along behind him.
Lee and Balin climbed up the stairs leading to the Receiving Halls, they saw quite a few guards on sentry along the hallway.
"Any suggestions?" Balin asked her.
"We'll just walk by them just like we normally do, if anyone of them stepped out or looked odd, then we will know," Lee said.
Balin nodded, "I like this idea, let's do it." He really did not have any better one, so he quickly agreed to her hare-brain idea before he regretted it.
So, they walked side by side as if that was what they did every day, observing the guards' reactions as well until they reached the end of the hallways where Rothin and Lethim were on night duty.
As they saw Lee and Balin, they waved to them excitedly.
Lee and Balin moved quickly to them and they all stood together.
"Princess! Gor, were we glad to see you!" Lethim almost seemed to bounce out of his uniform in his excitement.
"What news do you men have?" Balin asked.
The two looked at him and then at Lee uncertainly.
"You can trust Master Balin," Lee said as she nodded her head to him.
As soon as she said so, Lethim began, "We found the traitor!"
Rothin shook his head, "Two, there were two of them, princess." He smiled at her.
Lee frowned; something was not right, they could not decide how many traitors here were and that smile, it was too friendly.
She remembered now, he smiled at her previously as well. It was too smug for her liking; damn! She should have caught that! Now she had put herself and Balin in direct danger!
She tried to get Balin's attention.
"Well, let me talk to Balin here for a moment, if you please." She said.
Rothin shook his head, "Oh no, I don't think so, your Highness. We were informed by Gul Mored to be expecting you and some company and to escort you below stairs."
"Now look here," Balin tried to sound dignified. "You are most out of line here, talking to a Princess like this. I'll hang you for it!"
Lethim pulled out his long sword and pointed at them, "You don't scare us so easily, Master Balin, let's go." He nudged the tip of the sword at them and pointed at the direction of the dungeons.
Rothin pulled out his sword as well and was pointing at them as they began to walk towards the dungeons.
Lee began to try to get Balin's attention as they walked ahead of them. Balin frowned at her wondering what she was trying to do.
She glared at him and then at her boot a few times but Balin wasn't getting the hint. Lee almost screamed at him in frustration.
As they walked down the stone stairs, she tried to remember how long it took to get to the bottom; they had a few more levels to go as she continued to try with thick-headed Balin again.
It was when they got to the second to the bottom stairs that Balin finally got the hint! Lee gave him a nod and she began to bend over her waist on the landing and coughed hard.
Balin pretended to reach for her, acting as if he was concern for her well being.
"Oi! No trickeries here!" Lethim tapped on the back of Lee's back with his sword.
Lee silently counted to three with Balin as they reached for their daggers and she shouted 'Three!' out loud as they pulled it out and turned around, knocking the long swords out of the way which thankfully the two were holding it loosely as it clanked on the stone stairs loudly. They jabbed their daggers hard into their hearts. Lee stabbed Lethim while Balin stabbed Rothin killing them instantly.
But they miscalculated something. Lethim and Rothin were bigger than Balin and Lee, so that when they pulled the daggers back out the two dead traitors' now dead weight carried their momentum forward as they were standing on the top of the stairs.
Balin and Lee saw them falling towards and began catching them but their weight were too much for them as they began to fall backwards and they came tumbling down, head over heels and over again, using the dead bodies to cushion their falls, it was a very noisy affair involving plenty of cussing on Balin's part and lots of groaning on Lee's part.
When they finally came to the bottom of the last step, Balin and Lee were forever grateful it came to an end but not so much because the two big bodies landed fight on top of them, their faces with their opened eyes staring right at them at a very close range.
Balin glared at her, "Next time let's not do the killing on the stairs, shall we? I think I might have broken my back or something." He grunted.
"Master Balin," Lee grunted as well as she tried to nudge the dead body off her but to no avail, "I don't choose where to kill our enemies but I'll bear your request in mind the next time and tell my enemy. I'll tell him...Look sir, this is not a good place to kill you at the moment, and the stairs are such a dangerous place to die, let's move to a much firmer ground before we proceed to tear each other's head off…there! How does that sound to you?" She said that saucily at Balin as she batted her eyes at him for good measure and smiled at him.
Balin stared at her as if she sprouted an extra heard when he suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Indeed you are a minx! I can see why Thorin has his hands full with you! Bless him!" He continued to laugh for a little while more as tears leaked from his eyes.
"Really, I am having a rather hard time breathing. Do you think you can push your dead friend off you?' Lee asked Balin, her speech was restricted with a compressed chest.
Balin tried to push Rothin off but he just fell back right on top of him again, deflated his breath.
"Oof! It's no use! Let's hope someone would come down these stairs soon." Balin gave up struggling as he was exhausted from his exertion.
They lay there for a while before they heard footsteps. Lee and Balin exchanged looks; they did not know if it was friendly or not so they kept quiet. It was coming from the dungeons.
"…they are here, Pri! I just knew it!" Lee and Balin heard Mored's voice.
"But we have searched the whole palace! Now Thrain and the family are gone too! There is a secret hide out we just don't know. And these guards won't tell us. Where are those two fools at?"
"You are right, why are they not at their post? Come on, let's go to the quarters again. I just know it's in there…" their voices faded away as heavy footsteps stomped upwards.
Balin and Lee let out small breaths, "I thought they would be coming down here." Balin said.
Then a familiar male voice came above them as they felt nudges at their boot, "Problem?"
"Thorin!"Balin exclaimed as a smile spread gratefully on his face. "My, am I glad to see you."
He grinned at the fallen two, "Looks like you two are slightly…busy. Lee? Am I being replaced with a…sentry guard?" He gave her an amused arched look.
She glared at him as more faces came into view, "If you don't get him off me this instance, I'll make sure you will look like him…unmoving." She threatened him.
Thorin chuckled as he nodded to his cousins who easily pushed them off her and then assisted Balin. Thorin held his hand out to her which she ignored as she helped Balin up and herself up from the floor. Thorin shook his head as he grinned at her.
But he became serious when Balin told him what they found, their traitors; Rothin and Lethim.
Thorin looked over to where Lee was standing and said to his cousins, "Can you give us a moment?"
They nodded as they climbed above stairs.
"Lee, come here and sit with me," he said gently as he sat on the stairs, leaving her some space.
She nodded and sat by him.
"Lee, I wasn't sure about much coming back here but when you mentioned those two, it caught me off guard. I should have not let you go with Balin…" She was about to interrupt him when he held his hand up. "Just hear me out right this moment," she nodded.
He took her hand but did not turn to meet her eyes as he continued, "I took a very big chance by letting you go off on your own. Granted, Balin was with you but I wouldn't have it any other way. I trust him with my life, so I trust him to protect yours. He swore an oath to protect you, as well as Dwalin and Oin and Gloin. They are my not just my cousins, they are like brothers to me.
Rothin and Hilliem had not been in my family's service for long. I don't know them as well as anyone here. Yes, they should be under surveillance once we learned of traitors in the palace but so much was going at once that they slipped from under the radar. I am sorry they tricked you, if I had known, I would have warned you.
"Lee, I put you through unnecessary danger, it is my fault and for this I am truly sorry. I will try to keep you safer."
Lee was surprised; she thought she was getting a blistering lecture from Thorin for her reckless behaviour! She felt absolutely ashamed.
"Thorin, I am the one who should apologize to you, and everyone. I thought I knew what I was doing! I put Balin in danger!" She covered her face with her hands, "I could have gotten him killed." She shook her head.
Thorin smiled gently as he tried to pry her hands from her face, "Hey, you can't get rid of him that easily. I have tried to do so since we were dwarflings. He is tough. He will probably outlive us all, mind you."
"That's right." Thorin looked up and saw his cousins leaning downwards on the stairs watching them with concerned faces, Balin with a soft smile as he continued, "Remember the time when you put me into that wooden barrel and push me down the hill?" He looked at Lee and said, "It was a very tall hill."
Thorin shook his head and laughed, "You wanted to know how sturdy the barrel was."
The cousins and Lee laughed while Balin shook his head with embarrassment.
"And?" She asked.
"Oh, it didn't break but Balin came out of it because we didn't cover it and he hit a big rock and broke his shoulder."
Lee's eyes widened in horror, "Oh my. Balin! You poor thing! I hope Thorin didn't get away with it!" She glared at him angrily.
Thorin shook his head as he winked at her, "My father gave me water and bread for a week."
"Served you right for being so bad."
"Balin got back at me, though." Thorin nodded with a wider grin.
"Thorin! You promised you will not mention this ever again!" Balin stared at him in horror.
Thorin shook his head, "I didn't make any promise."
"We shook our hands!"'
"You shook Frerin's hand, not mine so it didn't count."
"Why you deceiving bugger!"Balin's eyes were near popping out in indignation. They were all laughing at them.
"What was it?" Gloin wanted to know.
"He put vinegar in all of father's wine and beer!" Balin gave him a dark look, "On Durin's Day." Thorin grinned as he told them.
They all looked at Balin and Ooh'ed at him as they shook their heads and busted out laughing.
Balin tried not to laugh but finally he joined them as he couldn't contained any longer as he tried to tell them, "You should see, Father invited the mayor of Dale and his wife and many more important people to the palace. There were many people there." They continued laughing.
"When they all toasted to father and took a drink and spurted out! It was the funniest sight to see! They were sitting at the long dining table and the people across from them, all their faces were wet! Balin was drinking apple cider at the time and he got to laughing so hard that it came out of his nose!" Thorin was slapping his thighs as he tried to breathe. Gloin began to snort loudly which cause the group to laugh all over again even harder. They had never laughed so hard in their lives.
It was a while before it subsided as Lee asked, "what happened then?'
"Well, since Balin was the only one drinking Cider, Father knew right away who had done it and so he sent him to his room, he got a sound thrashing the next day. But there were no wine or beer that was fit to be drunk, but plenty of apple cider. It was one time no one went home in his cups. Everyone was sober. It was the most awful feast ever. From that time forth, on Durin's Day, Balin was not allowed near the cellars. Ever."
Balin said sadly, "Aye, I couldn't sit for days, never forgotten that day ever. Thank you very much cousin."
Thorin inclined his head with a smile.
After a while, Thorin spoke again, "Well, our traitors had been taken care of, all thanks to Lee and Balin. Now, all that is left are Mored and Pri. How shall we take care of those two? I am up for ideas." He looked about Lee and his cousins."
…..
End of Chapter 30