The next two days passed quickly. They followed Thorin's instructions, and morning were spent searching Erebor's grounds for Smaug, while the afternoons were spent readying the two viable tunnels for further mining activity.
Bella's nights were spent lying and talking in Thorin's arms in front of the fire in the library. She told him of her childhood in the Shire and he spoke of the East End and his family. She knew that she was falling very hard and very fast for the man, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
The morning of the third day, Bella, Tauriel, and Bofur looked through the attic, and Bofur had the two women in stitches with his stories about life in Glasgow and the things he and his brothers got up to when they were young lads.
"Bombur's the luckiest out of the three of us," he said looking under a large steamer trunk. "He found himself a lovely girl who loves a laugh. Married her as quick as he could. They've got three little ones already. Can't wait for him to get up here. The kids are going to love that lake. Not many lakes in London, you know."
Bella smiled at him and something tickled the back of her mind, but she pushed it away in order to examine a large crate of papers.
The tickling feeling remained with her throughout the morning, and it finally dawned on her as they drove towards the mines. Bella caught sight of the lake as they pulled into the main yard and she went to Balin.
"About our searches, what about the boathouse?" Bella asked as they walked into one of the tunnels. "Has anyone searched the boathouse?"
"What boathouse?" Balin asked absently looking at the walls and pressing his hand against one of the support beams.
Bella frowned. "The boathouse. You mentioned it when we first arrived."
"Did I?" Balin said looking blank. He paused for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't think it's all that important, lass. We can look at it if you like. Later."
Bella's frown deepened, and she made a mental note that she really needed to look into the boathouse.
Their afternoon at the mine was incredibly productive, and Bella had to send only a handful of ghosts on their way. None of the spirits she encountered had the blank and angry drive of the ones they'd encountered those first few nights and she wasn't sure what to think about that.
As had become customary, they all had dinner together and chatted happily, making plans for the following day.
"When should we send for the others?" Balin asked.
"Soon," Thorin said after taking a drink from his mug. "The two tunnels look as sound as they can be. I'd prefer to have more support before we look at the larger one."
"We need more supplies," Tauriel said. "The order we placed should be ready day after tomorrow. We could send a telegram then."
"Good idea," Fili said quickly. "I'll go into town to get the supplies."
"Fee, you're not fooling anyone," Kili said chuckling. "We all know you just want to get another gander at the lovely Miss Bowman."
Fili's response was to throw an apple at Kili's head.
The group broke up close to midnight, and Thorin and Bifur took the first watch. Bella caught Thorin's eyes, and he nodded at her. She hid a smile and hurried up to bed.
She was woken a couple of hours later when a weight made her bed dip to the side. Humming she turned and smoothed her hand across Thorin's chest.
"All clear on the Western front?" she murmured.
"All clear," he murmured back, his hands already making their way down her side and along her thigh.
"Good work, Captain," she said curling close and languidly throwing her leg across his hips. He helped her the rest of the way, and as she sat astride him he leaned up. Their mouths met and sleep was quite quickly the last thing on Bella's mind. Thorin's hands were strong and sure on her body and Bella experimented by rocking shallowly atop his hips.
He groaned and she kissed him frantically, desperately trying to follow the sensations that tripped up and down her spine and simmered just under her skin.
His mouth found a spot on her neck as his hands came up to cup her breast. As his thumb brushed over her nipple through her thin nightdress, Bella rolled her hips just so and with a sharp gasp, the sensations sharpened and left her clenching and shivering above him.
He froze beneath her and lifted his head to look her in the eyes, his eyes wide and his mouth parted slightly.
She smiled breathlessly and said, "Not quite like they say it is in the books, is it?"
"No?" he asked as his hands gentled on her ribcage.
"No," she said shaking her head. "It's far more exciting and lovely."
"Gorgeous thing," he said before kissing her softly. Eventually, he pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers. "I should go."
"Oh, I don't think so," she said looping her arms around his neck. "You just got here."
"Yes, and while the last few nights have been wonderful," he said. "I'm not entirely sure how strong my self-control is right now. Especially right now."
"I see," Bella said leaning back to look him in the eyes. "And if I said to hell with your self-control?"
He stared back at her and she could practically see the desire swimming in his eyes and the tension in his body was a thrumming thing under her.
"I…feel I should still go," he said haltingly. "I'm trying to be firm on the matter, Bella."
"Oh, yes," she said shifting on his hips. "Quite firm, indeed."
"Minx," he growled and she laughed as he rolled them both over. His mouth covered hers once more and she couldn't keep her hands still, they roamed over his arms, his shoulders, his back.
Far sooner than she would have liked, he stopped.
"I should probably marry you," Thorin said looking down at her, whilst Bella stroked his hair.
Her hand stopped then resumed stroking. "Should you?"
"Hmm," he said. "I know our situation is an odd one. But, I have taken rather extreme liberties, and well, my parents would be most ashamed of my actions towards you. They haven't exactly been honourable. Seducing a young woman, such as yourself."
She gripped his hair and tugged none too gently. "Hardly young, and as I recall, it was an act of mutual seduction. I rather insisted that you kiss me as I'm rather insisting that you stay here in this bed with me."
"All the same," he said chuckling. He turned his head to look at her. "Wouldn't your parents wish the same for you?"
"I suppose," she said thinking. "They'd mostly like me to be happy and to marry someone who would respect me and treat me as an equal."
"Am I not your equal?" he asked, and she heard the distinctive Durin pride enter his voice.
"It's more like I'm not your equal," she said.
He frowned. "I don't see-"
"Thorin," she said, "if this mine turns out to still be profitable, you will be sitting very, very pretty. Far prettier than anyone in my family ever has. Prettier than the majority of British Isles, actually. You come from nobility." She shrugged. "I come from a line of gardeners. Good, respectable ones, but gardeners nonetheless."
"You think I would throw you over based on such a superficial thing?" he asked, his voice deepening and his eyes narrowing. "Disregard your thoughts and feelings like my grandfather?"
"That isn't what I said in the slightest," she said rolling her eyes. "I'm only pointing out some of the things that others will. And it is a factor, you must admit that."
"I'll admit that I hadn't expected you to be so fixated on status," he said pushing himself off of her and getting to his feet.
"Thorin!" she said scowling. "What on earth?"
He headed towards the door, before he paused to look back at her. "I was attempting to do the honourable thing by proposing to you."
"I beg your pardon, but I didn't hear a proposal," she said hotly.
"And instead I get a lecture on the suitability of pedigrees," he spoke over her. "From you!"
She narrowed her eyes. "I honestly do not know how this conversation degraded to this point, but I think you should leave."
"I'm happy to satisfy you," he said arching his eyebrow and then he left.
Bilbo stared at the closed door and then flopped back onto the bed. She lifted her pillow, covered her face with it and groaned.
"Bloody prideful man," she muttered into the pillow.
The following morning found Bella in a dreadful mood. By the time she made her way downstairs, she had worked up a righteous fury that she fully intended to take out on a certain someone's head. But first…
"I've put this off for too long," she muttered and headed to the library.
She noticed that the fire had long burned out, and that the loveseat looked as though it had been slept on. Restlessly slept on. Pillows were strewn about the room, and the fire looked like it had been disturbed several times during the night as soot was scattered about the floor.
Serves him right, Bella thought, but she made a face and shook her head. She didn't mean that. Not really.
Well, she mostly didn't mean it.
She went straight for the gaps she'd noticed previously and made a note of the books on either side of the gaps. Then she went to the small card catalogue near the door. She flipped through the catalogue until she came to what she was looking for.
"Magic in Britain," she said aloud. "And The History and Practice of English Magic."
She stood absolutely still and then looked around the library.
"He's been here," she said softly. "And he took those books. But where did he take them?"
She thought she knew. Oh, she was going to need breakfast before she did anything else and so she hurried to the kitchen. On the way she braced herself in case she ran into Thorin and prepared a small speech she was aching to deliver to him.
She was rather let down when she reached the kitchen to find only Tauriel at the sink. Bella rolled her shoulders and smoothed her hair back.
"Where is everyone?" she asked walking over to the still hot kettle and preparing a cup of tea.
"Searching the old stables," Tauriel said finishing the washing-up. She eyed Bella. "Overslept, did we?"
"Not altogether sure I slept at all," she muttered drinking her tea quickly. "Don't suppose there's any bread left?"
Tauriel nodded at the table where a small heel of bread lay abandoned on a plate.
"Lovely," Bella said. She haphazardly slathered some honey on it and bit down grumpily.
"Well, I suppose I'll be the one to bring it up since you seem to not want to," Tauriel said turning to look at Bella. "What did Thorin do?"
Bella glared at her. "Everyone knows, don't they?"
"That the two of you have been keeping company? And that he looked like a thundercloud this morning? Yes, of course, they do," Tauriel said. "We all knew that it was only a matter of time after you yelled at him on the side of the road."
"Really?" Bella stared at her.
"Durins rather like being challenged," Tauriel said with a shrug. "I'd consider it a defective trait, but I love my husband quite a bit, so… What happened?"
"He proposed," Bella said swallowing the last bite of bread and walking over to the sink to slip her plate in. "After a fashion."
"Let me guess," Tauriel said handing Bilbo a plate to dry. "He proposed in such a way that conveyed just how much he was condescending to you and that you should be eminently grateful for the offer and weren't you so happy he'd asked?"
"Something like that," Bilbo said drying the plate vigorously. She paused and looked at Tauriel. "Oh, Kili didn't?"
"Oh, he did," Tauriel said.
"And you accepted him?" Bilbo asked.
"That was the first proposal," Tauriel said grinning. "The subsequent six offers improved over time."
"I'm not sure if I fancy another six after this one," she said snickering, then she sobered. "But I'll worry about it later. I need your help now."
"What do you need?" Tauriel asked drying her hands.
"I need you to come with me to the boathouse," Bella said.
Tauriel looked confused. "The what?"
"That's what I thought you'd say," Bella said. "Come with me."
They headed outside. The sun shone weakly through the haze of morning mist that seemed to have settled in the area as though it had no intention of moving. Bella marched determinedly towards the lake.
"Oh," Tauriel said blinking. "There's a boathouse. A rather large boathouse." She frowned. "Why haven't we looked in here before?"
"Magic, I suspect," Bella said flatly.
Tauriel looked at her. Bella shrugged. "Gandalf warned me, you know. I'm just annoyed it took me this long to realise that it was at work. I think Balin's tried several times to remember this place and he just couldn't."
She looked at the boathouse and nodded.
"We need to go in there," Bella said, grabbing onto Tauriel's hand.
"Should we get the others?" Tauriel asked.
"Probably. But if we leave here, I think I'll forget that this is here, and I think this place is too important to forget," Bella said.
"I take your point," Tauriel said. "Well, can't be worse than Normandy, so, KBO, Miss Baggins."
"Right-o," Bella replied and they walked towards the unassuming small house.
The tall pines on either side of the boathouse swayed as a cool wind blew in off the lake. Bella tugged the sleeves of her jumper down over her hands and walked briskly to the door on the side of the building. The boathouse jutted out over the lake just enough for a small boat to be moored just inside. She used her sleeve to wipe away the grime from the window and peered in. As she leaned on the door, it swung open slowly with a loud creak.
She and Tauriel stared at the open door.
"Well, that wasn't odd at all," Tauriel said drily.
"Oh, no," Bella agreed. "Doors swing open all the time."
"Right."
"Right."
They exchanged glances and then stepped inside the boathouse, looking around the walls.
"Well, I think we found the books," Bella said staring at the piles of books on the small worktables that lined the building. She wandered over to one of them, the sound of the water just underneath the floorboards echoed in the room. Looking up, she stared at odd, handwritten ciphers and squiggles that had been tacked to the walls. The signs and strange letters had been written in black ink and the damp air had smudged the ink, causing it to run and the paper to wrinkle.
"Bella," Tauriel breathed. "What does this all mean?"
"Nothing good," Bella said consciously echoing Beorn's words from several days ago.
"Do you feel that?" Tauriel asked.
"The feel of someone watching us?" Bella asked backing away from the walls and barely moving her lips. "Yes."
"What is it?"
"More like who," Bella said looking around. She stopped when her eyes moved over the grimy glass of one of the windows. She stared at her murky reflection; stared at it until it moved.
"Oh, Christ!" Bella said jumping back into Tauriel.
"What?" she said, grabbing for Bella's hand.
"I thought…" Bella leaned forward, looking again at the window, gripping Tauriel's hand tightly.
They both stared at their reflections until the windowpane was filled with a dark shape. The glass cracked loudly. Jumping, they stumbled back as the dark shape oozed from window to window, shattering the glass as it moved. With a deep laugh, the dark form shot out from the broken glass on the floor and passed over their heads.
The women ducked and Bella felt the intense chill of death settle in her bones as the darkness flew over them.
Then all was silent.
Bella looked around the boathouse once more, Tauriel at her side. When a piece of glass slipped from a window and smashed on the floor, they both ran from the boathouse.
"Bella?" Tauriel asked. "What in the bloody blazes was that? Was that a ghost? Wait. Was that him? Smaug?"
"Yes," Bella said as they ran towards the house. "I don't know how, but yes. He's been watching us the whole time. In fact, I doubt we've been without his attention since we got to the area." She shivered. "I really don't like this. He's using magic somehow." She groaned and wrung her hands. "Gandalf warned us about this, but he didn't say how to fight it. Damn and blast!"
"We need to tell the others," Tauriel said as she pulled open the main door to the house.
Bella nodded and they rushed into the foyer where the company had already gathered. Tauriel went to Kili, while Bella went to Thorin.
"Thorin," she said breathlessly. "We need to talk."
He barely glanced at her. "You said everything that needed to be said last night, madam."
"Oh, for heaven's sake," Bella said rolling her eyes. "This isn't about that. It's about Smaug. I think-"
"Smaug is dead," he said raising his voice and turning to the group. "And we've wasted enough time looking for him. It stops now."
"What? No, Thorin, he's-"
Thorin spoke over Bella. "We're going into the main tunnel today."
The entire hall fell silent.
"Lad, are you quite sure?" Balin asked quietly.
"I'm positive," Thorin said looking at them all.
"We don't know how bad it is," Fili said frowing.
"However bad it is, it's nothing to a Durin," Thorin said, his hands clenched into fists. "We can do it. We must. It's ours to take back, gentlemen. And I mean to take it all. We will return this area to its former glory and prosperity and the only way to do that is to find the vein that defeated my grandfather."
"Thorin," Bella said urgently.
"No," he said, his voice flat and low, not even bothering to look in her direction. "We will do this. Anyone who does not have the heart to come with me may stay here."
Bella's eyes widened as she stared at him and her heart stuttered in her chest, and she felt sick to her stomach. Something was wrong. He didn't sound… right. She craned her neck to try to look into his eyes, but he kept his face averted, but she saw a flash of shadow cross the blue of his irises. She reached for his hand, but he moved away from her.
"We leave now," he said striding out the door.
Bella stared after him. She glanced at Balin who looked worried. "Are you going to just follow him?" she asked.
"He hasn't led us astray yet," Balin said hesitantly. He squared his shoulders. "And we'll follow him into this, too." He patted Bella's shoulder. "It'll be fine, lass."
"Will it?" she asked flatly.
He avoided her gaze and went outside.
Tauriel came over to her, looking exasperated. "Kili says to wait until later to bring up the Smaug problem."
"It's just as well," Bella said crossly. "They're walking into some kind of trap, I can feel it."
"Well, we're not going to let them walk into alone, though, are we?" Tauriel asked.
"No, I suppose we aren't," Bella said and she followed Tauriel out to the cars.
She tried once more to catch Thorin's eye, but he seemed bound and determined to avoid her gaze. Her stomach turned and she sighed.
The drive to the mines was tense as Bella never took her eyes off of Thorin. She was seated in the back with Tauriel who was trying to tell Kili their suspicions. He kept shooting them both incredulous looks, but seemed to believe them.
"Uncle isn't exactly approachable right now, though, is he?" he whispered to Bella.
"Oh, you noticed that, did you?" she snapped.
"Bella," Tauriel said, putting a hand on her arm.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Bella whispered back. "Just…keep a close eye on him, yeah?"
They both nodded.
They pulled into the yard and Thorin led the way to the main tunnel. He stood staring at the boarded up entryway for some time.
"Lad," Balin said hesitantly. "We can come back some other time. When we have more men and…"
"No," Thorin said, his voice harsh and rough. "We do this now."
He turned his head to the side and Bella craned her head to see if she could look into his eyes.
"Open it," Thorin said, his voice a low growl that echoed in the tunnel.
Dwalin exchanged a look with the others but quickly began tearing down the old wooden boards, Bofur assisting him.
"This isn't a good idea," Bella said quietly, trying to keep her voice down, but she saw Thorin's shoulders tense. He glanced at her over his shoulder and smirked. Bella's jaw dropped and she stared at him as he turned back around.
She could have sworn that a different face had looked back at her just then. A mean, sneering face that lay just beneath Thorin's features.
"Damn," she breathed as she stepped closer to Tauriel.
The other woman leaned towards her and asked under her breath, "Did I just see what I think I saw?"
"Yes," Bella said. "Something is very wrong and it's going to get worse."
"That's what I thought," Tauriel said, nodding at Kili who was sneaking looks back at them. He nodded back at her.
"Don't suppose you're armed with anything?" Bella asked.
"After the last few nights?" Tauriel said. "Two pistols and a spade."
"My hero," Bella said. "Be ready."
The last board came away and the company parted to stand on either side of the tunnel in order to peer down past the barricade.
Balin aimed his torch down the tunnel. "The cave in was several metres further down."
"That's where we must go," Thorin said striding forward.
"There are ghosts," Bella called. "I can feel them just up ahead."
"Of course there are, medium," Thorin called back mockingly. "This is a tomb, isn't it?"
Balin sucked in a breath and Dwalin gaped at Thorin's retreating form.
"What the devil?" Dwalin growled.
"Yes, precisely," Bella said pushing past him.
"That didn't sound like Thorin," Bofur said as the others hurried after Bella.
"Because it isn't him," Bella said. "Come on. We can't lose him in here."
They ran after Thorin, who called back at them, "Hurry, men! Our treasure awaits!"
"Thorin!" Bella yelled. "Stop!"
"Not so loud, lass," Balin said. "Don't know how stable these walls are."
"Oh, bloody hell," Bella said under her breath.
"Here we are," Thorin said a few metres ahead of them. The others stopped just behind him and they all stared at a great pile of rubble. "Shall we blast it? Hack at it with pickaxes? Tear it down with our bare hands? What will we do to get to the great Durin mines?"
He turned and Bella held back a whimper because it was Azog that stared at them through Thorin's eyes. Thorin's blue eyes had been replaced by the pale, terrible gaze of a dead man.
He sneered directly at Bella. "Try and catch me, medium."
"You bastard!" Dwalin growled, stepping forward. "Leave him."
Azog laughed, the sound dreadful and wrong coming from Thorin's mouth. "Try and catch us all!"
Ghosts melted out of the shadows and swarmed the group. Bella couldn't catch her breath as the spirits rushed through her body and around her head. She kept her eyes open and managed to send a few on their way, but there were so many and she was so small, she couldn't meet their gazes.
"Too many!" Bofur shouted, batting at them with his pickaxe and nearly impaling Fili in the process. "There's too many of them!"
"Tauriel!" Bella shouted as she tried to ward the ghosts back with her torch. "Aim for their heads!"
Shots rang out as Tauriel and Kili aimed their pistols at the ghosts. They managed to get several to falter long enough for Bella to step in and pull them through her, but the ghosts just continued to pour out of the walls and the tunnel.
Azog laughed Thorin's laugh and spread his arms wide, clearly delighted at the chaos and Bella's heart ached.
"We have to get out of here," she shouted. "Grab Thorin!"
Dwalin, Balin and Bifur managed to overpower a snarling Thorin as Tauriel, Kili and Fili cleared a path with their pistols for Bella to guide them out, Bofur at her side as he swung his axe. She kept her eyes wide open as her skin burned with cold.
She heard a struggle behind her and the sound of flesh hitting flesh and wondered if Dwalin had landed a blow on Thorin or the other way round.
"Release me!" Azog yelled through Thorin. "Release me! You will all die here! I was promised!"
Bella did her best to ignore his taunts as she continued to walk quickly towards the entrance of the mine, pulling as many spirits through as she could. Weak daylight eventually appeared and they emerged into a cold, hard rain.
The men dragged Thorin over to one of the cars and shoved him against the side of it. He growled and bared his teeth at them.
"He's mine," he snarled. "The Durin line dies here. I'll have my revenge."
"Get out of him," Bella ordered through gritted teeth, rain streaming down her face and soaking her through.
Thorin's eyes flashed startlingly blue for a brief moment, then they turned pale again.
"No!" Bella shouted. "Thorin, come back! Force him out!"
"He'll take him from you," Thorin said in a nasty tone. "He'll drive you all mad because he wants to see the effects of it. He's fascinated. You're the perfect subjects. But this one. This one I'm going to make watch!"
"Get out!" Bella yelled, pressing her cold hands to Thorin's wet face. "Get out, get out, now!"
She pulled with all her strength, and Azog slipped a little, but then fell back in.
"Thorin, fight him," she whispered. "You have to fight him."
The blue flashed again, and Balin leaned down to speak next to Thorin's ear.
"Not like this, you said," he spoke in a low tone. "You refused to become your grandfather, Thorin. Push this devil out of you so that you can be the Durin you want to be. Come back to us, lad."
Balin looked at Bella, who nodded and then pulled with all her might. Thorin bared his teeth and then let out a roar that seemingly shook the air and paused the rain. Azog was thrust out of Thorin, directly into Bella. She gasped and fell flat onto her back in the mud, and dirty water splashed onto her face and clothes. She closed her eyes to trap him in her mind and had to wrestle fiercely with Azog before shoving him down the path.
He howled as he went, but then it all fell silent. Bella gasped and hesitantly opened her eyes. She looked up and saw Tauriel's worried face.
"All right?" she whispered, as rain continued to fall all around them.
Bella nodded and blinked the rain from her eyes. "All right."
Tauriel helped her up and Bella clasped her hand. She looked to Thorin who was being supported by his nephews. Although he was pale and breathing hard, he was looking at her.
"I believe I may owe you an apology," he said his voice hoarse. "I know I owe you my thanks."
"Later," Bella said smiling a little. "I know where Smaug is."
"How?" Bofur asked, his hat dropping with rain.
"Azog told me," she said drily.
"Where is the bastard?" Dwalin said roughly wiping his face with his hand.
Bella sighed, before saying, "He's dead."