Chapter 18
The front gates of Erebor were wide open when King Dain's army reached the mountain. Dain led the men through, strangely silent as he took in his surroundings with an open mouth and awed expression.
Fili followed closely, pointing out the way to Dain as he attempted to ignore the knot in his stomach. He kept glancing back nervously at Kili who was walking side by side with Tauriel; a similar expression to Fili's frozen on the young archers face.
As they walked through the mountain the sounds of preparation began to get louder and soon they began to meet with men hurrying through the corridors. They would bow quickly to Dain and then carry on and Fili couldn't help but feel more confident knowing that Bard's army of Men of the Lake had come to join them in full force.
They entered the main hall and Dain marched up to one of the large piles of treasure where Thorin could clearly be seen reclining atop the pile of gold. Too busy stroking the Arkenstone to notice Dain's arrival, Thorin remained oblivious to the presence of the dwarf army, and his nephews.
Dain stopped before his cousins makeshift throne, grimaced in distaste and then knelt, willing to wait for Thorin to realise he'd arrived. It could be said that Thorin Oakenshield was incredibly stubborn, but his resolve was nothing compared to that of Dain who refused to make a single noise to disturb Thorin's thoughts. He waited happily before the Mountain King, admiring the great cavern and surveying the gold that seemed to glitter everywhere around him.
Bilbo scarpered up the pile of gold that served as Thorin's throne and knelt beside him, whispering in his ear. Thorin looked up, a bored expression on his face, and caught sight of Dain for the first time.
"Ah cousin, you're here. You took your time getting here, did you get lost?" Thorin asked, waving the Arkenstone at Dain with the smug expression of a small child who'd just got what he'd been whining about for the last few hours.
"I came here as fast as I could, O King under the Mountain. It takes some time to rally an army bigger than 14."
Thorin laughed at this and nodded in appreciation.
"I thank you for coming."
"I could hardly refuse King Thorin of Erebor." Dain said humbly, still waiting for Thorin to tell him to rise from his position knelt before him.
"And I am King. I did it Dain, the beast is dead and the mountain and Arkenstone are mine."
"You did the impossible, and now we must do so again. My scouts have seen the orc army with their own eyes and it is vast, perhaps the single biggest gathering of orcs Middle Earth has yet seen."
"I wager it will see bigger, unless we stop them." A deep voice came from the gloom. Gandalf stepped in to the light and bowed to Dain before greeting him in Dain's mother tongue.
Dain returned the greeting, pleased that Gandalf had shown him the courtesy of such politeness, before he turned his attention back to Thorin.
"Rise Dain, one King should not wait so long on another." Thorin said graciously, leisurely stretching out on his golden throne.
Dain stood up and raised an eyebrow at Thorin, before looking at Gandalf and jerking his head in Thorin's direction.
'Really?' he seemed to say, scepticism and disbelief clear on his face.
Gandalf just groaned and shook his head. 'Don't ask.'
Dain looked around him, taking in the dwarves of Thorin's company who milled about carrying weapons and armour and arguing amongst each other. The leader of the Men of the Lake was stood by Gandalf, his face grim and lined. Dain nodded towards Bard with what he hoped was a friendly expression and took a deep breath, hoping to control the violence that Thorin would no doubt unleash in the following minutes.
"But it isn't 14 is it Thorin?" Dain asked; his loud voice echoing round the hall and causing dwarves and men alike to stop in their activities and stare at the Kings.
"What?" Thorin asked, taking his eyes off the Arkenstone once more to give his cousin his attention.
"Your little Army of adventurers is not 14 strong."
"No, I wouldn't call Bilbo much of a warrior either. But I didn't think he was much of a burglar when I first met him and he proved me wrong there. There is much more to the hobbit than meets the eye." Thorin smiled proudly at Bilbo who smiled nervously back, uncomfortable around the Mountain King since he began to show signs of his hereditary gold sickness.
"I don't mean the hobbit." Dain snapped, failing to control his anger even in this early stage of the audience.
Thorin frowned, and looked around him. He screwed up his face in concentration and began to count on his fingers, mouthing names as he went. 'Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Balin, Dwalin, Ori, Nori, Dori, Oin, Gloin, Me…'
He stopped and sighed, rubbing his face as if the act of counting to 11 had exhausted him.
"Fili and Kili aren't here."
"Why?" Dain asked, trying to keep his temper and sound as innocent as possible.
"I sent them away."
"Why did you send your own kin away Thorin?"
"Oh I don't remember!" Thorin snapped, glaring at his cousin. He began to fiddle with the Arkenstone, his eyes widening with wonder and glee as he gazed into its depths.
"You don't remember why you sent your own nephews away?" Dain asked, his voice guarded as he realised the extent to which Thorin had faded.
"The elf. Kili and the elf." He said sullenly, as though Dain was a teacher slowly dragging answers out of a disinterested schoolboy.
"What about him and an elf? Thorin?"
"He was in love with her, stupid boy."
"So you sent him away?"
"I don't know… Yes, I suppose I must have."
"So you banished your nephew because he fell in love with an elf."
"S'not right."
"You banishing your kin isn't right."
"He chose her over us. I didn't make him."
"Did he choose to go?"
"… No. But he couldn't stay."
"Why?"
Thorin sighed loudly, looking at Dain as if he was incredibly stupid for even asking such a question.
"Elves are the enemy." He said simply, as if disappointed he had to spell out the obvious.
"Some elves have treated us badly in the past, but that should not reflect on Kili and Tau… this elf of his."
"Shouldn't it?" Thorin was getting bored now, his eyes flicking rapidly between Dain and the Arkenstone.
"Did the others in the company want them to go? Was that it?" Dain asked, stepping forward and claiming his cousin's attention.
"Hmmm… Maybe? No…" Thorin looked confused, and then angry as he seemed to reject Dains interrogation. "Does it matter, he's gone. They're all gone now."
"Of course it matters. Did they leave because you alone wanted them to or did everyone want them to leave too?"
Thorin groaned, shrugging his shoulders as if it was the last thing in the world he cared about.
Dain looked about him and raised his eyebrows at the members of the company nearby.
Ori shook his head at the King shyly.
"We wanted the lads to stay, but Thorin…" Dwalin revealed, lowering his eyes as Thorin glared at him menacingly.
"So it was your decision alone?" Dain said, clarifying his suspicions with a smile.
"Well they didn't go with them. They can't have cared that much, bloody cowards." He muttered darkly, stroking the Arkenstone.
Bilbo felt his heart stop and he stared at Thorin, realising that his Kings manner resembled that of the creature Gollum. He swallowed, trying to convince himself that he would never resemble either of them. As he did this his hand reached into his pocket and clung to the ring, giving him courage and an odd calm.
"But they spoke out against you sending them away?"
"Why in Durin's name does it matter?" Thorin sighed.
"Just because I want to know how much opposition I have now I've brought them back with me."
For a second Thorin didn't even seem to register Dains meaning, he just stared down at the Arkenstone in his hands and hummed to himself. Then he froze and looked up slowly, his eyes wide and wild with fury. His body had stiffened as his muscles contracted, disbelief at his cousin's nerve in every pore.
Fili, Kili and Tauriel stepped forward until they were beside Dain and there was a dramatic collective gasp from all who were present. They couldn't quite believe that the banished had the courage to return, and flaunt that return in Thorin's face. Gandalf grinned and Bard laughed, nodding his head in approval at Dains actions.
Thorin slowly pulled his hand back from the Arkenstone and placed it on the sheath at his waist, his mind calculating how long it would take him to rush down from his vantage point and reach his shaking nephews.
"Don't you dare." Dain growled, glaring at Thorin with a murderous expression so openly challenging that Thorin stopped in his tracks.
"You should not have brought them here. They were banished."
"They shouldn't have been banished in the first place you fool."
"That is not for you to decide. It was my decision, I am King here not you. You swore an oath to the one who holds the Kings Jewel that you would obey them. And here I am, with the Arkenstone. Now, I order you…"
But Dain cut him off, his fury giving him courage.
"You don't order me to do anything you pretentious little bastard. Now, you listen here. I will fight for you, I will kill for you, I will give dwarves for you, but I will not stand here and watch you abuse my kin. You banished them from your side, well fine, they're not by your side they're by mine. They will fight for me, by my side, and you will shut up and accept that or, oath or no oath, I will march my army back to my Kingdom and leave you and your army of 10 dwarves and a hobbit here to get slaughtered by orcs."
Dain took a deep breath, waiting for Thorin to speak.
But Thorin could not speak; all he could manage was to stare mutely at Dain, his mind full of things he wanted to scream but his mouth not letting him give his angry words life.
Their audience waited, incredulous, no one with any idea of exactly how Thorin would react to his will being so flouted.
"Thorin!" Shouted a distant voice from the gallery above.
In an instant his nephews and Dain were forgotten and Thorin stood and raced up the nearest flight of stairs to the balcony where his posted guards were yelling and backing away, terror in their eyes.
Sprinting, Thorin reached the balcony where Nori was stood waiting, his face pale and eyes wild. Pushing past his friend, Thorin went to the edge of the balcony where all those years ago he had stopped Balin from being burnt alive by the first bout of Smaug's dragon fire.
Thorin leant over the side and took a deep breath, staring out over the slopes of Erebor with a sinking heart. The orc army had reached the mountain and were in numbers even greater than Thorin's nightmares had dared imagine. He allowed fear to grip him, knowing later he would have no time for it.
There were legions upon legions of orcs beneath him, and although Thorin could not spot the pale orc in the sea of twisted and hateful faces he could feel his gaze upon him. Swallowing his fear, Thorin looked at the army and took it in, in all its mutated glory, allowing himself to master his fear and get angry.
These were the orcs who had slain his grandfather, most likely his father too, and were here now to kill him. They had haunted his steps from the Shire to his home and he allowed his old hatred to swirl within him, strengthening him and making his stomach clench from pure fury.
They had murdered his people, killed his kin and somewhere out there was Azog the defiler, sitting upon his white warg, with Thorin's grandfather, the great King Thrain's skull still tied round his waist.
Thorin straightened his shoulders and faced the oncoming slaughter calmly, he was not afraid of death, merely afraid of losing. This journey could not fail now, not so soon after what seemed like the greatest victory. The dragon Smaug was dead, destroyed and festering at the bottom of the lake. He was fucked if he was going to let these orcs show up and take his home away now; after all he'd been through.
Smiling, Thorin knew there wasn't a chance in hell he was going down without a good fight. He had one more left in him at least.
Squaring his shoulders, Thorin turned and walked away from the balcony, patting Nori on the arm comfortingly as he passed. He stepped out and looked over the cavern, surveying the faces of men and dwarves alike beneath him.
Dain was still stood where Thorin had left him, with Fili, Kili and Tauriel by his side. Seeing his nephews, Thorin felt a pang in his heart.
Fili looked like his father, like Vili, but Kili looked so like his mother Dis that Thorin felt like weeping. The words he had spoken in anger could never be retracted or forgotten but he would not allow that to stop him now. He had promised Dis, his baby sister, that he would bring her sons home safe and sound. He could not and would not let her down. He had already returned alone from one war, having left her husband buried in a tomb far away from her and her young children, he would not return in a similar manner.
He would stay alive. He would keep them alive. If it killed him two hundred times over he would not allow those monsters to touch a hair on his kins heads. In his head Thorin saw the orcs slaughtered on the slopes of Erebor, Azog lying headless in a ditch while he and his nephews embraced. He saw Dis arrive home to her sons calling out and greeting her happily. He saw his family reunited in their home where they belonged. Together, safe and happy.
'I will make this vision true if it's the last thing I do.' Thorin swore to himself.
"KILI!" He shouted, his voice echoing and rebounding off the chambers walls.
Dain and Fili moved to be with Kili but he shrugged them off and stepped forward into an open space, staring at his uncle with determination.
"Get your bow." Thorin called, he nodded with what he could only hope looked like encouragement and turned to look at where Dwalin was stood.
"ORCS! EVERYONE READY YOURSELVES. TONIGHT WE KILL THESE BASTARDS ONCE AND FOR ALL."
Dains men started up the call, shouting their appreciation and agreement. But soon the mountain echoed with the hopeful voices of men, dwarves, wizards, elves and a hobbit as they howled their loyalty to Thorin Oakenshield, King under the Mountain.
Kili and Fili yelled loudest of all, their hearts burning with their happiness at their uncles last minute change of heart and show of faith.
Tauriel called out too, her bow in the air and chin raised nobly. Her hand clutched Kili's and she squeezed it, hoping to remind him of all the promises he'd made to her and his brother. The three of them would stay together and protect each other in this fight. No matter what, they would survive.