I really should be writing my project, but no. I'm writing this instead. This chapter is a little short.
Bilbo packed his things slowly. He had to stop once in a while because he felt as though he was going to cry. He grew quite fond of his dwarf friends, no matter how loud and crazy they were. Whenever he felt tears in his eyes Bilbo sat on his bed for a moment and thought about the Shire. He placed Thorin's map down on his bed. He did not feel right keeping it. Nodding Bilbo finished packing. He held his bags and fancy shield hoping no one would notice him slipping out. He did not want to say good-bye to his friends again. It hurt too much.
Bilbo was about to leave his room when there was a knock on the door. "Bilbo? Bilbo you in there?" Bofur's voice called out.
"What is it?" Bilbo put down his things and opened up the door.
"Thorin called a meeting in the great hall. The way the guard put it, I guess it's pretty important that Thorin speaks with us," Bofur told the hobbit.
"What does he need to speak to us about?"
Bofur shook his head, "I don't know, but it's not just the company. He asked for all the guards, miners, and warriors to meet him there too. I guess whatever Thorin has to say it's big. The guard said Thorin said it can't wait."
Bilbo glanced back at his things. If something was wrong Bilbo wanted to know, yet he was so close to finally leaving. He was done packing all he had to do was walk out the gate and he would be headed back to his garden.
Bilbo went to tell Bofur he was not going to attend the meeting when he remembered Thorin leaving to go speak with Dain shortly before the meeting was called. "Alright, let's go," Bilbo said and rushed out the door.
The great hall was packed with dwarves. Bilbo and Bofur made their way through the crowd looking for the other members of the company. They only managed to find Balin and Dwalin who they stood next to while they waited for Thorin. Neither Balin nor Dwalin knew why Thorin called the meeting, but they feared it was something bad. Bilbo hated crowds. He was always too small to see anything and people would push him with their elbows.
Thorin entered the room from a balcony high above the great hall. The crowd turned looking up at their king. Dain entered right after Thorin, standing slightly behind him. Thorin was not in his armor, nor did he have his crown on. He scanned the crowd, glanced back at Dain, and cleared his throat loudly.
Bilbo looked over at Bofur, Balin, and Dwalin. They were smiling guessing Thorin had called this meeting to finally bring Dain to justice. Dain was standing behind Thorin glaring at him and Balin could only assume it was because Thorin finally had proof of his involvement.
Shifting, Bilbo tired to get a better view, but the taller dwarves were blocking his view of Thorin. No matter how Bilbo moved he only saw Thorin in glances. He saw, for a moment, that Thorin was gripping a tight fist which made his knuckles turn white. Bilbo caught another glimpse of Thorin's eyes. They had a familiar offsetting gleam to them. Thorin looked angry, extremely angry.
"Dwarves of Erebor!" Thorin boomed out. His voice reminded Bilbo of how Thorin sounded when he was under the influence of the gold sickness. Bilbo grew nervous.
"As you know we have been very giving to the men of the lake. We have shared our treasure with them, gave them our gold and jewels, and saw nothing in return! They took our gold, our treasure, like they have a claim to it! This is dwarf gold, our gold, the king's gold!"
Bilbo felt his heart sink into his chest at every word. He shook his head.
"I will not part with it so easily! The gold the men of the lake have stolen from us will be returned to these halls. The gold is ours and ours alone. It does not belong with the men of the lake! We will return the gold they stole from us, every single coin!" Thorin yelled then paused for a moment as some of the members of the crowd cheered. Thorin began breathing heavy and he closed his eyes for a second before continuing with his speech. "The men of the lake will defend our treasures like a robber in their hole! Yet, they are weak and we are strong! We will march to Lake-Town and take back what is ours."
"Thorin…no," Bilbo said under his breath.
"We will reclaim our gold and kill anyone who gets in our path!" Thorin yelled a battle cry in Khuzdul and the crowd yelled it back. Thorin kept yelling it shaking his fist in the air.
"To Lake-Town and to war!" Thorin yelled in the common tongue.
The air was caught in Bilbo's lungs. The dwarves pushed by him heading to the armory to prepare for the attack on Lake-Town. Bilbo ran through the crowds trying to get closer to Thorin. This couldn't be happening. Bilbo weaved his way to the balcony and looking up at Thorin, who was turned away talking with Dain. "Thorin, you cannot do this! It's only gold! You cannot go to Lake-Town!" Bilbo yelled up to Thorin's back. Thorin began to walk out of the great hall like he did not hear the hobbit. "Thorin! Please!" Bilbo yelled out again.
Thorin stopped. He stood above the hobbit with his back to him. "Thorin…," Bilbo said softly. Thorin walked out of the room without saying a word and slammed the door behind him.
A short chapter to introduce the plot and new problem our characters must overcome! I did say things were going to get worse.
Please tell me what you think of the way the story is going and have a good day/night.