Sorry, for making Dain such a bad guy. I know in the book he was actually a great king and in the movie he was hilarious. Yet, I needed a villain.
Fili met up with the company in the armory. He asked to speak with them privately in another room. The company nodded and followed Fili to Bilbo's chambers. The hobbit was shocked to see them, but welcomed them all into his living space.
"What is this about Fili?" Dwalin questioned.
Fili sat down on a chest in Bilbo's room. "It's about King Dain. He doesn't just want to invade Lake-Town, he wants to completely destroy it and kill every man, woman and child who lives there."
"What!?" Bilbo gasped. Balin quickly filled him in about how Dain is readying his army for an attack on Lake-Town.
"We all know the men of the lake are weak," Fili went on. "They hardly escaped the dragon and are just starting to rebuild their lives. They are too few in number and Dain's army will easily over power them. Bard has no idea what is going on. The search party must have told him Thorin was missing, but he does not know Thorin is dead and Dain is now king. Bard and the lake men are unarmed and unprepared for the war Dain will bring to them. If Dain's army gets to Lake-Town there will be no hope for them. Dain will finish the job Smaug started. There will be no more Lake-Town."
The room was silent. "What can we do?" Bilbo asked.
"Nothing," Balin stepped forward looking at Fili. "He is our king now. We may not like it, or agree with it, but he is still our king. We must follow his orders. I don't want to see those poor souls get hurt anymore, but Dain is our king. There is nothing for it. I am sorry. I wished there was something we can do, but if we act we would be committing treason. Our lives would be forfeit. Our king has ordered us to war and no matter how much we despise it, we must follow our king." Balin sat down next to Fili and put his hand on his shoulder."I do not wish to invade Lake-Town, but if our king says we must then we must."
"He shouldn't be king in the first place, Fili should!" Kili yelled.
"Our laws are our laws Kili, there is nothing we can do about that either," Oin told him. "By all rights Dain is king and nothing will prevent him from being king until Fili is old enough."
"What if he killed that last king? Would that be reason to over throw him?" Fili asked with his head low.
The company gasped and looked over at Fili. "You think Dain had something to do with Thorin's disappearance?" one of them asked. Fili nodded slowly. "Are you sure?"
"I'm pretty sure. Everything Dain is doing seems planned. This cannot all be happenstance. Thorin just so happens to go missing with no body to be found and Dain just so happens to know a law where without a body he could be king. He brought up the law too quickly; like he knew he could use it after we pronounced Thorin dead. He had a reply to all of our arguments, as though he researched it. And now, the first thing he does as king is to attack an innocent town, one by how he is acting, he has held a grudge against for a very long time. So yes, I think Dain helped kill Thorin."
Everyone gasped loudly. "That is a serous accusation," Balin said.
"You've been thinking the same too, all of you," Fili said. The members of the company looked away, ashamed to look Fili in the eye. Only Kili looked at Fili nodding.
"Thinking something and saying it out loud are two different things," Balin told Fili. "Claiming that Dain killed Thorin without any proof could be seen as treason."
"What if I could get proof?" Fili asked. "Those closed mines are the only place in Erebor we haven't looked. If Thorin's body is down there I can rule. He must be in those mines. If we can get down there we can stop Dain from destroying Lake-Town."
Balin and his brother signed heavily. "Fili, those mines were searched last night. We sent a team down there to search for Thorin. He was not there, nor any sign that he was ever there."
"But that's the only place he can be!" Fili began to raise his voice.
"I'm sorry, Fili," Balin put his hand on the prince's shoulder. "Thorin is gone. We have looked everywhere. His body is not in the mountain. I am sorry."
The room was silent. Even the sound of everyone breathing seemed muted. Kili fought back his tears as much as possible; he wouldn't let himself cry in front of the company.
"We can't let Dain hurt the people of the lake. We just can't," Kili's soft voice suddenly rang throughout the room.
"What are you suggesting we do then? Dain will soon notice we are not in the armory getting ready for the war. He will throw us in the dungeon if we do not march out with his army, or worse," Gloin said and members of the company nodded in agreement. "The king had ordered us to war and Balin is right, we must follow that order. We must march to war if our king demands it."
"You're right. We must follow our king; we will follow him into war," Fili paused for a moment. "Yet maybe we could get word to Bard. One of us could sneak out to Lake-town and warn Bard about the upcoming attack."
"That is still treason against the king," Balin told Fili.
"I know he's our king….I know," Fili said put his head in his hands. He was running out of things to say. He couldn't think of a way out of this. Dain was going to get all the people of Lake-Town killed. Fili and the dwarves were going to march into another battle to hurt innocent people and there was nothing he could do to stop it, all because he king ordered it.
"He's not my king," Bilbo peeped up with his hand raised slightly. "I'm not a dwarf. I owe no alliance to Dain. I will go to Lake-Town and warn Bard. I will tell him what happened and help him get the woman and child out of the city." Bilbo said with a great amount of courage.
The company looked at Bilbo on amazement. "Are you sure," Ori asked him.
Bilbo nodded. "Dain is not my king. I pledge my service to," Bilbo paused to take long breath, "to Thorin. I'm not a dwarf," Bilbo said again with a little laugh. "I don't need to follow your king, if I don't want to. I have no stake in what happens. I was hired to be burglar and that's what I did. I helped you get your home back, but this isn't my home. My home is back in the Shire at Bag End. A place I should get back too," Bilbo told them. "I will warn Bard about the attack. It may be seen as treason by a king, but not my king. I'll warn Bard and go back home, Dain will never have to know I was there."
The company smiled at Bilbo and agreed with his plan. They thanked him and said their quick good-byes. Bilbo tried his hardest not to cry and kept smiling as he told them they were welcome to Bag End at any time. Kili jumped out and hugged him. Bilbo smiled and said good-bye to young prince. He wished them luck with Dain and told them he was happy to share in their adventures.
The dwarves left so Bilbo could pack, but Bofur remained. "You'll always be a part of this company," Bofur said giving the hobbit his usual bright smile even though he looked as though he could cry. "And you are always welcome to come and visit us too."
Bilbo smiled. "Thank you for the offer but, I don't think I'll be coming back, Bofur. I think I…you see…I don't want see mountains anymore. I want…I don't want to go any more adventures. And if some adventures, one day, did come my way, I'd probably be old to go them. No, I think this will be my last adventure Bofur."
The room was quiet as the two shared fake smiles. "Well, it looks like I'm going to have to visit you then," Bofur said and Bilbo let out a faint laugh.
Bofur dismissed himself after that. He went back to armory to get ready with the others wiping his eyes. Bilbo wiped his own eyes and began to pack his bag for his return journey to the Shire. He gathered his things, packing a great deal more than he expected. He found he had Thorin's map. Sighing Bilbo folded it carefully and tucked it into his jacket. He took the ring out of his pocket. For a split second he thought about leaving it. Yet, since it was his and he found it Bilbo put it back in his pocket and left his room to warn Bard.
I always liked to think that Bilbo would have stayed in Erebor if Thorin lived. Why didn't Thorin live…why!? Brb crying.
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