Chapter 19: The Clouds Burst

Next day the trumpets rang early in the camp. Soon a single runner was seen hurrying along the narrow path. At a distance he stood and hailed them, asking whether Thorin would now listen to another embassy, since new tidings had come to hand, and matters were changed.

"That will be Dain!" said Thorin when he heard. "They will have gotten wind of his coming. I thought that would alter their mood! Bid them come few in number and weaponless, and I will hear," he called to the messenger.

About midday the banners of the Forest and the Lake were seen to be borne forth again. A company of twenty was approaching. At the beginning of the narrow way they laid aside sword and spear, and came on towards the Gate. Wondering, the dwarves saw that among them were both Bard and the Elvenking, before whom an old man wrapped in cloak and hood bore a strong casket of iron-bound wood.

"We have come to tell you that payment of your debt has been offered and accepted," said Thranduil with a sly grin.

"What payment? I gave you nothing. You have nothing," Thorin snapped, but confusion was evident in his voice.

"We have this," announced Bard as he held up the Arkenstone in full view. Thorin's eyes grew wide before they narrowed in anger.

"How came you by it?!" shouted Thorin in rage. The other dwarves shouted in anger as well.

"I gave it to them," Bella squeaked, who was peering over the wall, by now in a dreadful fright.

"You…" Thorin said, betrayal and hurt in his eyes, piercing Bella's heart like a knife.

A sob escaped her, unwillingly of course. "I took it as my fourteenth share," she said.

Thorin's eyes still bore the betrayed look as he said, "You would steal from me?"

"Steal from you? No! That was not my intention Thorin. I am willing to let it stand against my claim."

A savage, humored look appeared in Thorin's icy blue eyes which promised death. Fear ran down Bella's spine at his next words. "Against your claim? You have no claim you shire rat!"

A pained gasp escaped from Bella as she grabbed onto her abdomen. Why did doing the right thing hurt so much? "I was going to give it to you! Many times, I wanted to. But… you changed Thorin. The dwarf I knew and fell in love with would never have gone back against his word. I did this to help bring you back Thorin. To bring my king back. The Thorin I knew would never have doubted the loyalty of his kin!" Tears pooled over her cheeks, soaking her shirt.

Anger flared in his eyes and his fists clenched. "Do not speak to me of loyalty!" He turned away for a moment and bellowed: "Throw her from the gate!"

Bella's heart stopped at that moment. Her Thorin almost gone, replaced by this monster, and the only indication that he was still in there somewhere was that tears were beginning to pool in his eyes. When the dwarves began to shout out in refusal, Thorin reached forward and grabbed her by the throat. "If none of you shall do it, then I will do it myself."

Thorin lifted her up and held her over the gate, but she felt no fear. All was lost anyways. Her Thorin was gone. Lifting a hand, she placed it against his cheek. "Do it Thorin," she choked out. "I know you won't mean to, so I forgive you. This is my fault."

Hesitation stopped Thorin's fingers from releasing her when a voice called up to them from below. It was Gandalf. "If you don't like my burglar, than please, don't damage her. Return her to me! You're not making a very splendid figure, King under the Mountain, Thorin son of Thrain."

Thorin threw Bella roughly to the ground beside him, where she was helped up by Bofur and Fili and aided to a rope where she quickly descended the great wall. Many of the dwarves in their hearts felt pity and shame at her going.

The poor hobbit lass was broken already, but turned to dust the moment Thorin shouted: "Never again will I have dealings with wizards or Shire rats! Be gone from my Mountain you worthless thief!"

"Are we resolved in our dealings?" Bard shouted back, as Bella went to stand numbly beside Gandalf. When Thorin never answered, he added: "We will be back tomorrow at noon, and see if you have brought from the hoard the portion that is to be set against stone. If that is done without deceit, then we will depart, and the elf-host will go back to the Forest."

With that they went back to the camp; but Thorin sent messengers by ravens to Dain, telling of what had passed and bidding him to come with great speed.

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That day passed and the night. The next day the wind shifted west, and the air was dark and gloomy. The morning was still early when a cry was heard in the camp. Runners came in to report that a host of dwarves had appeared round the eastern spur of the Mountain and was no hastening to Dale. Dain had come. He had hurried on through the night, and so had come upon them sooner than they had expected. Each one of his folk was clad in a hauberk of steel mail that hung to his knees, and his legs were covered with hose of a fine and flexible metal mesh, the secret of whose making was possessed by Dain's people. The dwarves are exceedingly strong for their height, but most of these were strong even for dwarrows. In battle they wielded heavy two-handed mattocks; but each of them had a short broad sword at his side and a round shield slung across his back. Their beards were forked and plaited and thrust into their belts. Their caps were of iron and they were shod with iron, and their faces were grim.

Trumpets called men and elves to arms. Before long the dwarves could be seen coming up the valley at a great pace. They halted between the river and the eastern spur; but a few held on their way, crossing the river drew near the camp; and there they laid down their weapons and held up their hands in a sign of peace. Bard went out to meet them, and Bella, who'd spent the entire night mourning her love, went with him.

"We are sent from Dain son of Nain," they said when questioned. "We are hastening to our kingdom in the Mountain, since we learn that the kingdom of old is renewed. But who are you that sit in the pain as foes before defended walls?"

Bard refused to let the dwarves go straight on to the Mountain. He was determined to wait until the gold and silver had been brought out and exchanged for the Arkenstone; for he did not believe that this would be done, if once the fortress was manned with so large and warlike a company. They had brought with them a great store of supplies; for dwarves can carry very heavy burdens, and nearly all of Dain's folk, in spite of their rapid march, bore huge packs on their backs in addition to the weapons. They would stand a siege for weeks, and by that time yet more dwarves might come, and yet more, for Thorin had many relatives. Also they would be able to reopen and guard some other gate, so that the besiegers would have to encircle the whole mountain; and for that they had not sufficient numbers.

These were, in fact, precisely their plans; but for the moment the way was barred, so after angry words the dwarf-messengers retired muttering in their beards. Bard then sent messengers at once to the Gate; but they found no gold or payment. Arrows came forth as soon as they were within shot, and they hastened back in dismay. In the camp all was now astir, as if for battle; for the dwarves of Dain were advancing along the eastern bank.

"Fools!" laughed Bard, "to come thus beneath the Mountain's arm! They do not understand war above ground, whatever they may know of battle in the mines. There are many of our archers and spearmen now hidden in the rocks upon their right flank. Dwarf-mail may be good, but they will soon be hard put to it. Let us set on them now from both sides, before they are fully rested."

But the Elvenking said: "The dwarves cannot pass us, unless we will, or do anything we cannot mark. Let us hope still for something that will bring reconciliation. Our advantage in numbers will be enough, if in the end it must come to unhappy blows."

But he reckoned without the dwarves. The knowledge that the Arkenstone was in the hands of the besiegers burned in their thoughts; also they guessed the hesitation of Bard and his friends, and resolved to strike while they debated.

Suddenly without a signal they sprang silently forward to attack. Bows tangled and arrows whistled, battle was about to be joined.

Still more suddenly a darkness came on with dreadful swiftness! A black cloud hurried over the sky. Winter thunder on a wild wind rolled roaring up and rumbled in the Mountain, and lightning lit its peak. And beneath the thunder another blackness could be seen whirling forward; but it did not come with the wind, it came from the North, like a vast cloud of birds, so dense that no light could be seen between their wings.

"Halt!" cried Gandalf, who appeared suddenly, and stood alone, with arms uplifted, between the advancing dwarves and the ranks awaiting them. "Halt!" he called in a voice like thunder, and his staff blazed forth with a flash like lightning. "Dread had come upon you all! Alas, it has come more swiftly than I guessed. The Goblins are upon you! Bolg of the North is coming, O Dain! Behold! The bats are above his army like a sea of locusts. They ride upon wolves and Wargs are in their train!"

Amazement and confusion fell upon them all. Even as Gandalf had been speaking the darkness grew. The dwarves halted and gazed at the sky. The elves cried out with many voices.

"Come!" called Gandalf. "There is yet time for council. Let Dain son of Nain come swiftly to us!"

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So began a battle that had not been expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves.

This is the plan Gandalf made in council with the Elvenking and with Bard; and with Dain, for the dwarf-lord no joined them: the Goblins were the foes of all, and at their coming all other quarrels were forgotten. Their only hope was to lure the goblins into the valley between the arms of the Mountain; and themselves to man the great spurs that struck south and east. Yet this would be perilous, if the goblins were in sufficient numbers to overrun the Mountain itself, and so attack them from behind and above; but there was no time to make any other plan, or to summon any help.

Soon the thunder passed, rolling away to the South-East; bat the bat-cloud came, flying lower, over the shoulder of the Mountain, and whirled above them shutting out the light and filling them with dread.

"To the Mountain!" called Bard. "To the Mountain! Let us take our places while there is yet time!"

On the Southern spur, in its lower slopes and in the rocks at its feet, the Elves were set; on the Eastern spur were men and dwarves. But Bard and some of the nimblest men and elves climbed to the height of the Eastern shoulder to gain a view to the North. Soon they could see the lands before the Mountain's feet black with a hurrying multitude. Ere long the vanguard swirled round the spur's end and came rushing into Dale. These were the swiftest wolf-riders, and already their cries and howls rent the air afar. A few brave men were strung before them to make a feint of resistance, and many of them fell before the rest drew back and fled to either side. As Gandalf had hoped, the goblin army had gathered behind the resisted vanguard, and poured now in rage into the valley, driving wildly up between the arms of the Mountain, seeking for the foe. Their banners were countless, black and red, and they came on like a tide in fury and disorder.

It was a terrible battle. The most dreadful of all Bella's experiences, and the one which at the time she hated the most. Gandalf had tried to insist that she stay back and away from the fighting but she turned to look at him fiercely. "I signed up to serve Thorin, Gandalf, and that is exactly what I intend to do," she stated. Then, putting on her ring and grabbing Sting in her hand, she darted off into the fray to help assist in the battle.

The elves were the first to charge. Their hatred for the goblins is cold and bitter. Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them. As soon as the host of their enemies was dense in the valley, the sent against it a shower of arrows, and each flickered as it fled as if stinging with fire. Behind the arrows a thousand spearmen leapt down and charged. The yells were deafening. The rocks were stained black with goblin blood.

Just as the goblins were recovering, from the onslaught and the elf-charge was halted, there rose from across the valley a deep-throated roar. With cries of "Moria!" and "Dain, Dain!" the dwarves of the Iron Hills plunged in, wielding their mattocks, upon the other side; and beside them came the men of the Lake with long swords.

Panic came upon the Goblins; and even as they turned to meet this new attack, the elves charged again with renewed numbers. Already many of the goblins were flying back down the river to escape from the trap, and many of their own wolves were turning upon them and rending the dead and the wounded. Victory seemed at hand, when a cry rang out on the heights above.

Goblins had scaled the Mountain from the other side and already many were on the slopes above the Gate, and others were streaming down recklessly, heedless of those that fell screaming from cliff and precipice, to attack the spurs from above. Each of these could be reached by paths that ran down the main mass of the Mountain in the center; and the defenders had too few to bar the way for long. Victory now vanished from hope. They had only stemmed the first onslaught of the black tide.

Day drew on. The goblins gathered again in the valley. There a host of Wargs came ravening and with them came the bodyguard of Bolg, goblins of huge size with scimitars of steel. Soon actual darkness was coming into a stormy sky; while still the great bats swirled about the heads and ears of elves and men, or fastened vampire-like on the stricken. Now Bard was fighting to defend the Eastern spur, and yet giving slowly back; and the elf-lords were at bay about their king upon the southern arm, near the watch-post on Ravenhill.

Suddenly there was a great shout, and from the Gate came a trumpet call. They had forgotten Thorin! Part of the wall, moved by levers, fell outward with a crash into the pool. Out leapt the King under the Mountain, and his companions. Hood and cloak were gone; replaced with shining armor, and red light leapt from their eyes. In the gloom the great dwarf gleamed like gold in a dying fire.

Rocks were hurled down from on high by the goblins above; but they held on, leapt down to the falls' foot, and rushed forward to battle. Wolf and rider fell or fled before them. Thorin wielded Orcrist with mighty strokes, and nothing seemed to harm him. "To me! Elves and men! To me! O my kinsfolk!" Thorin cried, his voice shook like a horn in the valley.

Down, heedless of order, rushed all the dwarves of Dain to his help. Down too came many of the Lake-men, for Bard could not restrain them; and out upon the other side came many of the spearmen of the elves. Once again the goblins were stricken in the valley; and they were piled in heaps till Dale was dark and hideous with their corpses. The Wargs were scattered and Thorin drove right against the bodyguard of Bold. But he could not pierce their ranks.

Bella, with the ring still on, had rushed to his side as soon as they had left the Mountain. Even though he banished her, she would still die to protect him. Nobody knew she was there, so she swiftly began killing goblins and Wargs that dare try to attack Thorin.

Already behind them among the goblin dead lay many men and many dwarves, and many a fair elf that should have lived yet long ages merrily in the wood. And as the valley widened his onset grew ever slower. His numbers were too few. His flanks were poorly guarded. Soon the attackers were attacked, and they were forced into a great ring, facing every way, hemmed all about with goblins and wolves returning to the assault. The bodyguard of Bolg came howling against them, and drove in upon their ranks like waves upon cliffs of sand.

Bella stood secretly alongside Thorin, watching his six. There was so much chaos, that no one noticed the vast amount of wargs and goblins that were slain by a vicious, invisible foe. All her heartache and guilt, she used as fuel to propel her to kill mercilessly all the foes that she could. Sweat dripped from her face and her hair was matted rather terribly as it fell from its braid.

The clouds were torn by the wind, and a red sunset slashed the West. Seeing the sudden gleam in the gloom, Bella looked round. She gave a great cry; she had seen a sight that made her heart leap, dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow.

"The Eagles! The Eagles are coming!" she shouted, momentarily forgetting that people couldn't see her and that they were not supposed to know she was there.

"Bella?!" Thorin's panicky voice shouted over the chaos. "Bella? Are you here? Where are you?" The anguish in his voice caused her to turn and look at him. He was swinging Orcrist madly, but his eyes searched the battle field around him, looking for her. Sadness and pain shone in his icy orbs, and Bella felt her heart leap. He still cared for her. She was about to call back to him when a stone hurtling from above smote heavily on her head, and she fell with a crash and knew no more.