Yey, finally a new chapter!
Like always, I'd love to read what you think! I know that the age difference between Thorin & Dwalin is 26 years but I changed that a bit, hope you like it anyway! :)
It'll be quite emotional again!
„And who should go to the main gate?", Dwalin asked and watched Thorin questioningly. Thorins eyes drifted along his Company and he was aware that it was too dangerous to take them all into the mountain.
"Dwalin, Nori, Gloin and Legolas...you will come with me. The rest of you stays up here."
"No! I will go with you!" Fili called out and stepped forward.
"Not without me!", Kili added and stepped next to his brother. Thorin watched his nephews and he knew he couldn't stop them. What if they die in there? He would never forgive himself if he puts them more on danger than he already did by taking them on this quest at all.
"I will go as well..."
He closed his eyes for a second, knew that she would say this. He turned around, watched her angelic face. He lowered his gaze to her belly which was slightly curved already.
"I can't allow you that, Kate.", he replied.
"You teached me how to fight so I can protect my sister! I protected her from that strange creature in the Misty Mountains and I won't stop protecting her now! She is inside with that filthy dragon and I will go with you and rescue my sister!"
"But our child...", he began but she stepped closer, pulled him into her arms.
"Nothing will harm our child, Thorin. He is strong and had to go through so many tough times in his early weeks."
He looked at her in surprise. "He?"
She gave him a gentle smile. "I just feel it somehow...", she whispered and kissed him deeply.
He thought about it, but he also knew there was no way for him to change her mind. He sighed heavily.
"Fine...", he turned around to look at his Company again and added: "Dwalin, Nori, Gloin, Kili, Fili, Legolas, Bilbo and..Kate...you'll come with me. The rest stays up here. You will be safe and if Thranduil arrives, please stay up here! Don't go blindly into a battle, do you understand? If neccessary, hide in the tunnel!"
Upon hearing that he should go down with them as well, Bilbo felt a wave of sickness washing over him.
"Why me?", he asked anxiously.
Thorin turned to look at him. "Because you are the smallest, and you're able to move silently. We need you inside to look for Lindsey as well!"
Bilbo looked at Kate and she gave him an encouraging smile. He could not say 'no' to her.
And so they said goodbye to the rest of the Company and began to climb down into the valley at the first light of the day.
"Hungry, my little prisoners?" Smaug called through the halls of Erebor. Lindsey flinched, afraid that the dragon might come to them again. That he might have changed his mind and that he would eat her or Thrain.
"Don't worry, my dear. He won't harm us. Even if he would be hungry..."
"How can you be so sure about that?", she asked with a shaky voice as she was aware of the slight vibration of the ground already.
"We don't have enough meat to sate a dragon...", he tried to comfort her but it was not very helpful at all.
Suddenly she screamed as the head of the dragon appeared through the big iron door.
"Goat meat. Not fresh, but that's all I got for you. Eat, for there won't be anything else!", he growled right after he had thrown them some old pieces of meat into their cells.
"I won't eat that! I might die if I eat that old meat!", she angrily cried out.
Smaug laughed and brought his razorsharp teeth close to her cell. "Eat...or die, little one!"
He turned around, wanted to leave the cell-room but Lindsey shouted: "Why do you keep us as hostage?"
He looked at her again. "So I can get what I need!"
"And what's that?"
It seemed as if he would give her a smirk as he hissed: "A newborn bastard!"
Her eyes widened. "You won't get the chance to harm my sister and don't call her child a bastard!"
Now the dragon laughed loudly, louder than ever before. "What would you call a half dwarf-half Men? I have to say half elf-half Men would be more powerful but the one of your sister and that...dwarf king...is as good as every other bastard."
"For what?", she cried out but he turned away from her. He left her with these information behind.
Thrain clutched his fingers around the iron bars again.
"Lindsey...calm down."
"How should I calm down?! That beast wants to harm my sister! Her child! Your grandchild!"
He lowered his gaze, seemed to think hard. Suddenly she had to chuckle quietly while she watched him.
"What's so funny?", he asked confused.
"Thorin looks exactly the same sometimes when he's thinking about tough decisions...", she explained still chuckling.
He smiled slightly.
"Do you know what Smaug means? What does he want from the child?", she asked. Thrain began to pace up and down his cell, hands behind his back. Once again she had to think about Thorin, but she kept silent. Suddenly he stopped.
"He said that a half elf-half Men child would be more powerful, but that this one is good enough as well. Oh no...", he mumbled.
"What? What's the matter?"
He looked at her, tried to find the right words. "He needs this child because he has to eat it. Absorb its flesh, its bones, its blood. He wants to become immortal,"
"He moved! Smaug moves! What does that mean?", Bilbo asked frightened as they felt the vibration before. They had come close to the main gate and jumped behind a boulder just in case the dragon might break out of the mountain. They all held their breath and listened. Thorin was holding Kates hand.
"Maybe he just changed his sleeping position. I doubt that he recognized us.", Dwalin replied.
"I can only agree to that.", Legolas added. Thorin looked at the elf and somehow he trusted him in that case. He nodded and they left their hiding spot. Slowly and carefully they sneaked closer to the main gate.
"And where is that door?", Kili asked and searched along the mountainside with his eyes.
"It was here...somewhere. It has to be here..it has to...", he mumbled. Kate watched the mountainside. Where would she put a second secret entrance if she would be a dwarf queen. Her gaze drifted higher, and she watched the two massive dwarf-statues with axes of stone in their hands. They stood on both sides of the main entrance. She looked up at them for quite a while, studies every detail. As Fili placed a hand on her shoulder she flinched heavily.
"Everything alright?", he asked concerned. She watched him for a moment with a confused look on her face and was aware that the rest of them was looking at her as well. As if they had asked her something before and were still waiting for an answer.
She let her gaze drift along each of them, stopped at Thorin until she lifted her eyes again up to the statues. Something was not quite right with them. First thing she noticed was that they were not damaged despite all the damage Smaug had left behind in that area. Second thing were the axes. They seemed so strange. During her travel with those dwarves she had the chance to watch them using their axes in battle of in prepare of a battle.
"Dwalin, Nori, Gloin...", she looked at those three and they stepped closer to her.
"Yes?", Gloin said a bit uncertain.
"Would you please take the same position as these two statues? Just your bodies?"
They all looked up towards the statues and the three of them took the same body-posture.
"And now?", Nori asked slightly confused.
She looked at Thorin, he seemed not to understand just like everyone of them. Though she was not that certain about Legolas for he gave her a slight smile as if he would be satisfied with her way of combination.
"Now draw your axes and just act as if you prepare for a battle. Just take them in your hands, don't change your posture.", she explained.
They exchanged confused looks but did what she told them. As they stood like the statues Kate gestured them to look up at them. "You stay like this, and the rest of you look up at the statues and then you take a close look at the axes."
They all looked between the statues and the three dwarves. It took them a while.
"Kate...you're the most beautiful and smartest woman I know.", Thorin suddenly called out. She gave him a smile as he pulled her up in his arms, kissed her tenderly as he put her down again.
"I remember...I know it...", he whispered with his lips still close to hers.
"Now let us hope that it's still intact", she said and she was aware that he was nervous. He turned around to look at the rest of them.
"Follow me.", he ordered and they made their way closer to the statue on the right. His eyes followed the handle of the stone-axe. And there it was, hidden in an alcove behind the statue they saw something that looked like a door.
"Is this the door?", Kili whispered. Thorin looked like frozen as his eyes were glued to the door. All the memories of Frerin and him came flooding back, passed before his mind's eye.
Slowly he nodded. "Yes..yes, that is the entrance..", he whispered and grabbed Kate's hand.
"And you do not have to open it by light and strange constellations?", asked Gloin and Thorin had to laugh.
"No, this is a normal door. But now I ask you again: Are you all ready to go in there? There is virtually no protection if Smaug discovers us."
"We're ready...are you?", Dwalin cried out and all nodded in agreement though Bilbo was somewhat reluctant.
"We need a plan.", Legolas added.
Thorin looked at him. "You mean we should split up?"
The elf nodded. "It would not be wise if we go bundled into the treasury."
"He's right, Thorin.", Gloin pointed out.
The king nodded. "Well...Fili, Kili, Bilbo you seek from the upper halls where the paths are intact. Maybe Lindsey had managed to escape unnoticed from the treasury and hides on the upper floors."
The three nodded.
"Gloin, Nori, Legolas...you come with me into the treasury. Kate, you stay with Dwalin. You inspect the throne room and all rooms that are accessible."
After the plan was set, he took another deep breath, stepped into the alcove and pressed against the door. She swung open inside surprisingly light. Thorin had expected that it might be shut or harder to open after all these years.
"Quiet now...this tunnel is short and leads directly into the throne room.", he whispered, took Kate's hand and walked with her into his kingdom.
The throne room was still as impressive as Thorin had in memory from his childhood and youth. Dwalin was also amazed at how beautiful it was, despite the partial destruction. The throne was still intact, undamaged and majestic.
Thorin turned to Kate. "Stay with Dwalin all the time, promise me."
"I promise. And please take care of yourself, Thorin. Don't do anything stupid. We need you," she stroked her belly and he smiled, his hand also on her belly. He kissed her tenderly.
"Nothing will harm me. And now go. Split up! And be quiet," he turned around.
She watched how the man she loved walked into the direction of the treasury with his three companions while the other three walked up towards the throne and further to the stairs behind it. Dwalin put a hand on her shoulder.
"Come, let's take a look over here. There is the blacksmith," he suggested softly and she followed him quietly.
"I have worked in such a forge as well for a time. Believe it or not but I met Thorin in a forge the first time up in the Iron Hills. He arrived with his family and the lost dwarves of Erebor. His grandfather wanted that he learned to produce his own weapons instead of letting them produce. He was 25, I was a little younger than he, just 17 but we have seen each other and we knew we liked each other. Though I was a bit nervous in the first weeks, after all, he was the Prince of Erebor. But you know what he did?"
Kate had sat down on a bench and listened to him. She felt herself relaxing a little. "No, what did he do?", she asked curiously.
Dwalin smiled. "He had noticed that I treated him like he was something better than any one of us. Actually, he was placed higher, but he did not like to be treated like this, even not at this time, that time in which he lost his home. So one day he thus came casually to the smithy, dressed like a real blacksmith, not a royal one. He took a hammer and stood on a bench and announced loudly 'I hereby declare Dwalin, Son of Fundin, to my best friend! May this friendship last a lifetime!'...And we've been through so many dangerous times up to this point, he is still my best friend, after all these years. And I'm not about to start to let him down now. I will follow him, wherever...no matter where...", his voice trailed off. She looked at him.
"Yes, you're going to follow him to a good life! A life in which he is king under the mountain! With his child, his nephews and with me. Fili with my sister. And we will all live here in peace and prosperity together. And it is this life you will follow him into and nowhere else!"
He looked at her, nodded slowly and stepped closer. "You're the best thing that could have happen to him. And I'm proud to be able to say that I was there as you have fallen in love with each other. Initially I had really believed you would one day tear off each other's heads..."
She chuckled quietly. "Yes...yes, we had our difficulties in the beginning."
"Now that we have at least some time to talk...just you and me...will you tell me how it happened?"
"You mean why I did fall in love with him?"
"Yes...do not take me wrong, I think it's really great! Only what exactly happend in Rivendell?"
"Well, he...", she began but a loud growl interrupted her. She jumped up, looked towards the door. Dwalin drew his axe and stood protectively in front of her. "Stay behind me, Kate."
Slowly they moved towards the throne room again. They saw Fili, Kili and Bilbo on the top of the stairs. They looked scared down towards the treasury. Also Kate and Dwalin had directed their gaze in that direction. She felt her heart bumping wildly.
"LEGOLAS! Shoot!"
Her eyes widened when she heard Thorins panicked voice. Her hand clutched at Dwalins arm. He looked at her, pulled her close to him.
"What are you doing here? Do you think you can take me by surprise? NEVER!" A flicker came from the treasury and Kate wanted to cry but she managed to hold it back. The ground was shaking, and when she saw the dragon for the first time he broke out of the treasury, turned around. His eyes fell on the trio on the stairs. He sent a stream of fire in their direction but they jumped out of the way in time.
"WHERE is she? I can smell it, I can taste it!", the dragon roared.
"You will not get her! Only over my dead body!", Thorin roared, jumped out of the treasury, rammed his sword into the dragon's snout. He shook him off, threw him back into the treasury where arrows came flying out.
All of a sudden Smaug turned towards the main gate. He let out a furious scream and ran to it, he broke through with full force and swung up into the air.
"Thorin!", Kate called and urged Dwalin to let her go. He let go of her, they both ran towards the treasury. Als the other three climbed down. She saw Gloin and Nori helping Thorin back on his feet. The fur of his coat was slightly singed but otherwise it seemed as if he had no injuries. He saw Kate, ran up to her. "This is madness! She is not in the treasury!"
"She's also not upstairs!", Fili cried desperately.
"Not even in the forge!", Dwalin pointed out. Thorin was about to say something but the roar of the dragon came closer again.
"Go! Run! Hide!", Thorin cried, grabbed Kate's hand and ran, followed by Dwalin and the rest in the nearest passage.
"Where to? Thorin, where shall we go? We won't get out of here alive!", Gloin called. The dragon had already entered the mountain again, brought parts to collapse. Suddenly a part of the ceiling fell down, Kate and Thorin were separated from the rest of the group.
"NO!", he yelled desperately as he realized that his nephews, his best friend, his faithful companions and Legolas were on the side which they had no chance to hide before Smaug.
"We can't go back, Thorin. Where does that path leads us?", she asked.
He looked around, tried to remember. "I don't know, Kate. It's too long ago...but I'm certain there will be a room to hide. I hope the others will get back up to the tunnel in the treasury."
He took her hand and they ran down the hallway. They stormed into the room down the hall, closed the great iron door, leaned back against it, breathing heavily.
"Who's there?" They suddenly heard a voice calling from one of the cells.
"Lindsey?", Kate cried and felt a sudden wave of joy washing through her body.
"KATE!", the young girl cried and Kate went to the cell. When she saw her little sister she wept with relief. She reached through the bars, grabbed her hand.
"Kate, what are you doing here?"
Kate looked at Thorin, gestured him to come to her. He stepped closer.
"Thorin, you are here? Who else is in the mountain?"
"Lindsey...", he began, but she cut him off. She did not think about who was sitting in the opposite cell, perfectly quiet in the dark with tears in his eyes as he saw his son with this beautiful woman at his side.
"Thorin, I need to know what happened, please!", she said.
He sighed. "We have been looking for you..."
"Who's we?"
"Dwalin, Nori, Gloin, Bilbo, Legolas, Kili, Fili ... and both of us."
"Fili is here? Where is he? Why are you not together? The dragon saw you, right? Why was he so angry?"
"Lindsey, calm down. Fili's fine. I'm certain the others have also found a place to hide."
The girl slowly slid to the floor, tears streaming down her face.
"Don't cry. Everything will be alright."
"He wants you! He wants your baby!", she sobbed.
Kate looked at Thorin. "What?", she asked and turned to look at Lindsey again.
"He wants to be immortal! That, he needs your child!"
"I don't understand...", Kate muttered, turned to Thorin who took her in his arms, pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Lindsey was still sobbing. Thorin saw that the lock of her cell was covered with a spell.
"Where is Gandalf when you need him?", he muttered.
Kate also slumped to the floor. She was tired and exhausted. Leaning with her back against the cold iron bars, she looked along the row of cells. Something was strange. All cell doors were open except Lindseys and the one on the opposite. It seemes as if it was sealed with the same spell. She frowned, tried to make out someone or something in the dark cell. She noticed as Thorin went to the entrance, pressed his ear against the cold iron, trying to hear something. Kate slowly got up and walked to the opposite cell.
Suddenly she saw an elderly, gray-haired dwarf stepping a little closer. She froze as she looked at him. As he stood with only one eye, long gray hair and beard and those tattered clothes. Hands behind the back, his gaze warm and curious. She looked at Thorin who was staring at the door in the same position.
"Thorin...", she whispered. He turned to her, looked irritated as she stared into the cell.
"Kate? What's going on?"
She did not reply, he walked slowly toward her. She took his hand.
"What's wrong?", he whispered. His eyes fell into the cell and it was like a slap in the face with full force.
Tears gathered in his eyes, his jaw dropped open. He stepped closer to the iron-bars, in disbelief.
"Father?", he whispered.
Thrain stepped even closer, reached through the bars, took his son's hand and squeezed it gently. A tear ran down his cheek and Thorin could not hold it back any longer as well.
Thrain pulled him even closer to the bars, leaned his forehead against them and Thorin did the same. Amidst all the danger they stood there forehead to forehead, in spite of the bars between them.
"Father...how...how is that possible...", Thorin murmured.
Thrain gently stroked his son's hair.
"Oh, my son...I'm so proud of you."
took me a little longer to update but now it's done :-D
Hope you like it! :)