Happy New Year! Here's a little present to start off 2015. Onkra's harassment will take some time, so this is the first shot in a larger battle. It's a little lighter-hearted after that hard night, so have fun!
Chapter 24
Relianna woke slowly to feel someone stroking her cheek gently with the back of his hand. She smiled and reached up to pull the hand to her mouth. The blankets were warm, and she felt well and whole. The memories of frantic voices, burning pain in her belly and throat, and the cold chill of violent shivers receded with each stroke of his fingers.
"Thorin?" she sighed.
Someone shifted closer and leaned into her. She felt the vibrations of a deep voice against her side. Firm lips brushed her ear.
"Aye, love, or you could call me by my other name—Black Lion."
Her eyes flew open, and she scrambled up and braced herself with her arms. Matted curls hung limply.
"Frain!"
Her brother and lover stood together and chuckled with masculine superiority.
"It suits you, I think, Thorin," Frain said standing back and appraising the dwarf king from head to toe, "although maybe Silver Lion fits better now."
The smug smile dropped from Thorin's face, and a wicked grin replaced it.
"Hmm, perhaps Scruffy Cat then for Golden Bear."
Frain self-consciously fingered his cheek and chin while his sister giggled and raised her brows mockingly. Balin and Dwalin exchanged amused smirks.
"Old Billy Goat for you, brother," Dwalin said joining in, and he stood a little taller and looked down on Balin's white head.
"Aye," Balin countered, "but better that than Bald Otter."
After a bit of relieved merriment, the dwarves stepped back and let Frain and Oin check Relianna thoroughly. She answered their questions easily, and they nodded, satisfied with her progress. They urged her to rest for the remainder of the day, but she pouted crossly and pushed the blankets back. Hopping out of bed, she waved away Thorin's noises of concern and straightened her gown.
"My hair smells, I smell, and I need to brush my teeth desperately," she complained. "I want to take a bath and put on clean clothes. I feel like a patient."
Frain rolled his eyes. She was as kind and compassionate as could be toward the weaknesses and ills of others but was completely intolerant of her own.
"You are a patient, sister," he admonished, "not the healer this time, so you'll abide by our instructions."
She huffed and folded her arms.
"Very well, but I'm still taking a bath."
Frain and Oin gave in with a shrug of their shoulders, and Nella left to draw a bath in the back of the infirmary. Thorin moved in to hug her, but she pushed away.
"Not until I'm clean," she said making a face. "This isn't how I want you to see me."
But he shook his head, pulled her to him, and held her by her shoulders. His thumbs stroked her gently.
"I nearly lost you last night, Relianna, so to me you look and smell wonderful."
Over her objections, he wrapped his arms around her, kissed her hair and temple, and held her close. Frain stood back and observed.
"I don't think I could slip a piece of parchment between you two," he commented wryly. "I got here just in time it seems."
Relianna looked over Thorin's shoulder and made a face. Then she stepped away just as Oin came back to say that a hot bath was waiting. With a tiny squeal, she hiked her gown up to free her ankles and ran down the hall, her hair flying behind her. Thorin caught a flash of shapely calf, and his nostrils flared. Frain watched her grinning.
"She's happy with you, Thorin," he said with relieved satisfaction, "happier than I've seen her in years. She's free of Onkra, free of pain. She can be herself now. I'm grateful for all you've done."
Thorin shrugged his shoulders and, for a moment, was at a loss for words.
"I don't know that I did anything worthy of praise," he replied. "I couldn't help myself."
Soon enough, she walked back down the hall, rubbing her curls dry in a towel. She wore a light linen robe belted over a thin shift. Thorin's eyes drank her in while Frain frowned and looked around. Piles of thicker gowns lay in a bin waiting to be washed. He groaned.
"You don't happen to have anything heavier, do you, Nella?" he asked peevishly. "I don't want her catching her death or Thorin getting eye strain."
Nella bit her lip and shook her head. Throwing up his hands, Frain took off his robe and handed it to his sister. She wrinkled her nose, but he stood firm.
"When was the last time you had this washed?" she asked, holding out his robe at arm's length.
Nella disappeared and brought back the blue dress from the princes.
"Let's get you dressed in this then, my lady," she said. "I'll send out your other dresses to be cleaned."
Both hurried to the closet while the men folk waited. Once dressed, she came back out, and Frain recoiled.
"You wore that around Erebor? That?"
She put her hand over her swelling chest.
"Not in public! I only wore it when Thorin and I had private dinners!"
Frain blinked slowly and turned to face Thorin whose lips twisted with frustration. No one said a word until Oin started laughing. Nella held her hand over her mouth.
"They ate here, my lord, with us as chaperones," he said between snorts. "The dress was a gift from Thorin's nephews."
Frain blinked again.
"Oh? They consider half a dress a gift?"
Relianna waved her hands irritably.
"Oh, brother, leave it be! We've more important things to discuss."
"True enough," Thorin replied, and he called them over to sit around a table. Over her objections, he took Relianna's arm and led her to table and seated her himself. Oin plunked down two glasses of water.
"You need to keep drinking, my lady," he said with his bushy brows lowering until they almost obscured his eyes. "Tut, tut, I'll not see that lip poke out. This time, you'll do as I say."
Grimacing, she tipped the glass and drank half. Thorin urged her to have more, and she finished the rest.
"I'll burst out of this dress if I drink anymore," she said with her hand on her stomach. Then she saw Thorin's worried frown and squeezed his arm.
"I promise, I'll be good," she said. Then she bit her lip and dropped her head. "I've put you all through enough as it is."
The rest protested immediately.
"No," Thorin said strongly, "Zozer did this. You've nothing to be ashamed of."
He lifted her chin and held her eyes until he was sure she understood. Then he nodded and turned to the others.
"Mahal's favored us this time," he said, and he leaned his elbows on the table. "Rarely if ever do his victims survive. Now we need to make sure he knows it and draw him out while Fili and Kili harass Onkra enough to keep her off-balance."
"That won't be hard," Relianna muttered, and all chortled at her pun. Then she brightened. "What do they have in mind?"
Balin rolled his eyes.
"They've been waiting for this opportunity ever since she got here, so I'm sure they'll make the most of it. Besides, with her former servants helping out, I'm sure they'll be able to come up with any number of things."
She looked stricken.
"Oh, they mustn't! Onkra has these horrible guards everywhere, and she'll find out."
Thorin caught Balin and Dwalin's eyes.
"I'll bet he's hiding out with them," Dwalin said nodding. "What does he look like, my lady?"
She thought hard.
"He looks," she began, and her forehead wrinkled in concentration, "he looks so, so plain." She frowned at the others' gestures for her to go on and took a deep breath. "He has brown hair with a lot of gray at the temples. His beard is mostly gray and not too long, and his mustache is trimmed short. He has pale blue eyes with deep wrinkles in the corners. He looks, well, he looks like a kindly grandfather. He has a lovely smile, I hate to say." She shook her head in chagrin.
The others exhaled. She'd just described more than half of Erebor. Thorin took her hand.
"Is there anything about him you can recall that would make him stand out? Anything at all?"
She started to shake her head, but something stirred.
"I don't know if this would help, Thorin," she said with a doubtful tilt of her head, "but he has such a warm voice. It makes you trust him instantly. It's almost as though he's chuckling or laughing with his voice. I've been on the run for almost all my life, but, somehow, he made me trust him without much effort. I still don't know how he did it, but I'd remember hearing that voice."
Then she shuddered. Thorin pulled closer and threaded his arm through hers.
"But when I swallowed the wine it changed. It turned cold and cruel, hateful, and evil even. I swear I'll never forget that either. I'd never heard murder in a voice before, but I did in his."
Then she grabbed his arm.
"But they mustn't risk themselves! Not Bemma! Not the others! They're no match for Onkra and her thugs."
Thorin smirked darkly, and he squeezed her arm. Balin and Dwalin caught his look, and all three nodded.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them, my lady," Balin said airily. "Onkra and hers are no match for the Princes of Durin."
Onkra screamed at her second shift of servants that she had called in from Dale—the ones not fortunate enough to escape. She had insisted on bringing more servants than those allowed by Erebor, so she housed them at the city's inn. Preening before the silver platters of her breakfast, she daintily forked in an enormous mound of eggs. She chewed blissfully and then stopped. Her face rapidly turned a bright shade of red, and she gagged and spewed the eggs in a wide spread over the fur rug at her swollen feet.
"What's this?" she howled while grabbing her throat. "Someone's put hot pepper in my eggs! Pour me from the jug! Now!"
A maid ran and grabbed the water jug and hurriedly poured into a crystal goblet. Onkra guzzled it down and swallowed noisily. Then she retched, and her eyes bulged in their puffy sockets. She threw the goblet against the wall, and servants ducked the flying shards. Finally, a full five minutes later, she rasped for her maid to get the server from Erebor to explain this outrage. The maid ran out the door and begged the attendant pushing the food cart to return with her.
"Is there anything amiss with your meal?" he inquired pleasantly.
Onkra glared at him with her piggish eyes, but he appeared not to notice.
"My breakfast was a disgrace! My eggs nearly choked me with hot pepper, and my water jug was filled with something disgusting! What's the meaning of this? I'll have you flogged!"
The dwarf pulled out his list of the different noble families and their food preferences and lightly tapped it with the back of his hand.
"Oh, my lady, my sincerest apologies!" he said, a perfect picture of remorse. "I accidentally gave you Lord Bromin's breakfast. He prefers his eggs heavily spiced and drinks ginger water in the mornings. I believe he says it gets his blood up. I promise I'll make sure to serve him his breakfast first so there'll be no mistake tomorrow."
Onkra heaved her bulk from side to side in her chair, a sour and calculating look on her face.
"You'll do no such thing!" she demanded. "I require my breakfast first, do you understand? First!"
He bowed low.
"Aye, my lady! I understand perfectly. Will that be all? I must serve the other noble-borns now."
She eyed him suspiciously.
"I'll let you know. Now get out of my sight!"
He bowed again, smiled sympathetically at the maid, and left quickly. Fili met him around the corner and pulled a few gold coins out of bag, but the dwarf held up with hands.
"It was my honor, my prince," he said with a shake of his head. "Seeing her face was my reward."
"Well done, Vorif," Fili replied. "Had she lifted the lids on any of the other platters?"
Vorif laughed behind his hand.
"Not yet, my lord," he said, "but I wish she had. I'd give up a week's salary to have seen that! Her bacon and sausages are burnt into little curling crisps, and her other dish has fish heads rolled in bread crumbs and fried. Oh, and the baked goods are filled with rock-hard raisins and more than enough cinnamon."
Then they heard a loud commotion and a piercing shriek from her chambers.
"I guess she just did," Fili said with a slap on Vorif's back.
The other dwarf grinned and both leaned in to hear the lovely sounds of Onkra getting her just and sour desserts.
"But there's no need to pay us, my lord," he said. "All of us are more than willing to help out her former servants just for the fun of it."
Fili nodded but shook his head.
"We will anyway," he said with a most satisfied smile, "but tell Prince Kili it's time shut off the hot water to her bath now."
Vorif beamed.
"Gladly, my lord!" and he hurried off with great energy.
Fili turned around just in time to see two teams getting ready for their next assault in a private room down the hall. One team carried distractions for Onkra's thugs, while the other stood armed with saws and other furniture dismantling equipment.
"Ah," Fili said to himself, "I wonder if Kili's having as much fun as I am!"
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