Date: TA 2904
Thorin: 158 years old
Lina: 155 years old
The darkness was strange. It was warm, not cold as Lina would expect. It seemed to flow around her like a river. Surrendering to the flow was easy. It drew her gently along, making her feel safe and comfortable. The darkness felt almost like arms carrying her along. She wondered vaguely where the warmth was taking her.
Sweat. That was the first thing she smelled. It was a heady mixture of oak and fire. Lina recognized that smell. It was the familiar scent of her husband, her own scent mingling faintly with it. Images grew in the darkness. It almost seemed that the darkness was parting like a curtain for her. The first thing she saw was her bed in Belegost. Empty. The sheets were in disarray as if someone had been in the bed and left quickly. The darkness covered her vision again.
Sound. Something was crackling and pooping faintly. Fire? That seemed right, but then there was a different type of smoke. Pipe smoke? The smell seemed right. The room faded into view. There was the fireplace, a small fire just dying down. Thorin stood before it. His pipe dangled loosely from his fingers as he stared into the flames. The fire glowed in his eyes. His brow was knit, his whole body tight. What had him so worried?
"Thorin!" Lina called out. Her husband's head shot up. Had he actually heard her? He looked searchingly about their bedroom. Though his eyes rested directly on her, they did not seem to see her. His shoulders fell a bit when he realized there was no one else in the room with him.
"Lina?" Thorin cast his gaze around the room once more, as if hoping Lina would actually be there, before turning back to his brooding.
"You're not here," she heard him mutter, "I don't even know where you are."
Lina felt her heart ache at the resignation in his voice. She reached out her hand, trying to touch him, to let him know she was still alive. The distance between them did not shrink and Lina could not move. Her hand grasped at empty air.
"I will be home soon," she told him, hoping he might hear her once more. Thorin looked over at their empty bed.
"You will be home soon," he repeated softly. The darkness began to close back in around Lina. She kept her eyes fixed on her husband until he was completely hidden from view and not even a vague shape remained.
A hand resting on her shoulder woke her. Her eyes flew open to see the faint outline of Kira against the greying sky. Her companion nodded when she realized Lina was awake.
Lina stretched as she sat up. That was the strangest dream she'd ever had. Thorin had frequently been part of her dreams on a number of other occasions, but this dream was different. The darkness was not like any she'd ever experienced. Whenever darkness surrounded her before, it had no shape and was certainly not warm. And Thorin. She missed him bitterly.
It had been nearly two months since the dwarves had set out from Belegost. Getting such a large host with heavy packs from Belegost to the Iron Hills had taken longer than Lina or Kira had anticipated. These dwarves were not nearly as strong as the warriors under Dain Ironfoot and so could not make the time his army could have.
Whenever she could, Lina tried to send word back to Thorin. She never knew if the messages reached him as she could never stay in one place long enough to receive a response. Still she hoped he at least knew she was alive.
Sighing, the warrior got to her feet. Now was not the time to be dwelling on dreams. There was a battle to be won and a fortress to be claimed. Trying to push aside thoughts of her husband, Lina began to settle her armor into place. Her suit of mail slid easily into place. The leather breastplate she wore was laced tightly over it. The metal scales on the leather would hopefully deflect the worst of the blows coming her way as it had so many times in the past.
Lina paused in her own preparations for a moment to aid Kira. Kira's armor was far heavier than Lina's. It was full metal over chainmail. It was designed to withstand far more than Lina's, but then Kira was expecting to get far more action than Lina. If someone or something got close enough to land a hit on Lina's armor, she was in trouble regardless of how heavy she was armored. Her weapon of choice was simply not fast enough to deal with truly close quarters.
The last pieces of armor were strapped into place. None of the tents had been set up the night before, so only bedrolls had to be adjusted. Packs were piled to one side, guarded by a couple of the youngest warriors Lina and Kira had deemed not quite ready for battle. Spare weapons were strapped to backs, legs, forearms, wherever the dwarf using them thought best.
Kira sent out her scouts again, this time sending some of the company's best saboteurs with them. They were to make sure that the forces within the fortress could not send for aid. During the night several scouts and saboteurs had crossed the small pass above the fortress and found a back way in. Not wanting anything to escape that way, but not wanting the entrance to be unusable in the future, they had barricaded it and set a handful of warriors to guard it. The barricade would stop most things from being able to flee. The warriors would be able to take care of anything else. However, Kira and Lina hoped to occupy the goblin forces enough that they wouldn't even think about the other entrance.
The fortress was an interesting one. There was a large, open-air courtyard behind the massive stone gates. If the dwarves could lure most of the goblin forces into the courtyard, then it would be possible to send large boulders down the sides of the mountains to crush them as well as rain arrows down upon them. Kira had already determined to utterly destroy the courtyard once her forces took the fortress and set the gates into the mountain itself. In theory the fortress would be more defensible then.
The scouts returned, having left the saboteurs to their work. This time they escorted up the light skirmishers and archers. The archers hid themselves in the clefts of rocks, ready to rain down death on any foolish enough to enter the courtyard from the fortress. The skirmishers quickly took out sentries on the upper walls of the fortress and its outer wall above the gate. A single bird call floated down from the heights. The warriors were ready.
Kira blew a long note on her horn, drawing the attention of every creature in the fortress. Many went rushing onto the walls. The walls were only big enough for one or two goblins to stand side by side. Only one if the goblin wished to fight. The skirmishers who held the walls were able to take care of any they came up against as the creatures quite literally had to wait in line to fight them. The archers picked off any goblin they chose. More of the foul creatures flowed into the courtyard. At a signal from the captain of the skirmishers, the saboteurs on the mountain let loose the rocks they'd pried from the mountain. The massive stones bounded down the mountain with a frightful roar. Most of the creatures in the courtyard were quickly killed as the boulders hit them and rolled a little further. The saboteurs, once all their boulders had been set loose, descended into the courtyard under the cover of the archers' arrows. The gates were opened to allow Lina and the two other dwarves she trained in line breaking to enter the courtyard. Kira and her regular heavy fighters followed close behind.
The dwarves charged into the melee, pushing the goblins back into the fortress. The archers moved quickly from their positions on the mountainsides to take up positions on the upper walls looking into the fortress. Once there they began dropping arrows into the ranks of goblins furthest from the other dwarven warriors. The skirmishers and saboteurs held the gates, allowing nothing to escape beyond them. There would be no goblin left alive.
Their arrows nearly spent, the archers pooled their resources, giving those with the greatest aim the few arrows they had left. Arrowless archers began to join the melee, their short swords and axes going to work beside the other warriors. Goblins fell quickly before the advancing dwarves. None had been expecting the attack on their fortress as none had ever occurred before.
Lina and her line breakers made their way deep into the fortress, smashing heads and crushing bodies with ease. Some of the smaller goblins were able to dodge their blows and get under the massive hammers. Lina was thankful for one of the skirmishers darting about, avoiding the line breakers' hammers, while cutting down the small creatures before too much damage was done. Sweat already burned powerfully within the lacerations the goblins had managed to inflict on the line breakers.
Suddenly the fighting was over. Lina had run out of goblins to crush. She looked around. A few of the other melee warriors were cutting down stray goblins left alive within the fortress. Kira sent her warriors down the various side tunnels in groups to root out any survivors. In another ten minutes, the groups started reporting back. The goblins were vanquished.
"It's not the biggest fortress I've ever seen," Kira told her friend, leaning on her axe and wiping sweat out of her eyes. "But it'll be near perfect with a few changes."
"That back door of yours will be nice when you start raiding trolls in the Ettenmoors," Lina pointed out.
"So it will," Kira answered, smiling. "So it will."
The first order of business was to tend the wounded. A few of the warriors had healing skills. These were set to work examining any wounds deemed too serious to be handled without them. Lina and her line breakers had escaped with only minor lacerations. After washing and binding them, the wounds were fine. They set to work with the uninjured locating the wounded unable to move, pulling out their dead, and dragging goblin bodies outside to be burned.
Already modifications to the fortress had begun. The dwarves with some skill in masonry were fitting the face of the fortress for the gates to be installed there. Others were carving the mountain so that it never again could be used in battle as the dwarves had. The weaknesses they had exploited could not be left behind for another to exploit.
The moment a dwarf had been cleared by the healers for work they were sent out to help move the massive gates into the face of the mountain. This was a job Kira wanted done before nightfall and it was one her warriors had assured her could be done. Dwarves are fast at this sort of thing. Entire cities could spring up within a week given enough dwarves with the desire to do so. Moving gates was a simple thing. The gates settled perfectly into place. The upper walls of the fortress were built up to protect against invaders.
By the time night fell, the fortress looked far different than it had that morning. The courtyard was no more, only a boulder field remained. Kira quite liked the boulder field. It had made getting the gates into place challenging, but it also kept unwanted visitors from charging the gates. The warriors placed to guard the back entrance were brought into the fortress while a series of strong doors were erected along the length of the back tunnel. This would make it very difficult for an opposing force to enter through the rear.
Lina remained in the fortress a week more, aiding her friend in fitting the location to their purposes. Yet her mind never could be drawn from dwelling on thoughts of her husband. The strange dreams returned each night. They were never the same twice. Sometimes Thorin was training with his nephews when Lina saw him. Others he was lying in bed, wide awake. It seemed as if she could reach out and touch him, though she never could quite reach. Her voice, however, seemed to catch his attention.
After a week, Lina could no longer stand to remain away from him. She had been gone for too long and the dreams had begun to wear on her. Kira ordered a few of her warriors to escort Lina as far as Bree. The road was too dangerous for one to travel alone.
The morning Lina was to begin her journey home dawned bright and clear. Kira walked silently beside her as the small band made their way out of the fortress through the back entrance. Once outside the two friends embraced.
"If you ever have need of our strength, you need only call upon us," Kira whispered in her friend's ear. "We will always answer the call of Lina Firehammer."
Lina blinked back tears as she bade her friend a fond farewell. It would likely be some time before they met again. With that she turned and began her journey back to Belegost. The dwarves marched resolutely behind her.
On the evening of the eleventh day, the dwarves reached the outer edges of Bree. The dwarves did not wish to enter the town and so camped one last time on the outskirts. At dawn of the twelfth day, the dwarves of Kira's army said good-bye to Lina and turned back to their own home.
The journey from Bree to Belegost was simple and quite pleasant. The dwarf skirted along the edges of a rather beautiful and peaceful land called the Shire. She paused once to watch young children, smaller even than dwarf children, racing barefoot over the green rolling hills. Their giggles brought a smile to her face.
Lina was able to move faster without her escort now and reached the gates of Belegost a little over a week after leaving Bree. The guard at the small side door let her in, recognizing her immediately. It was already late and many of the dwarves had gone back to their homes for the night.
After being away from her husband for almost three months, Lina was eager to find Thorin. They had not parted in the happiest of ways, something she regretted deeply. Her pack, armor, and weapons were put up in the armory until morning. She had no desire to waste time on them just now. Her thoughts were only on Thorin.
A warm fire in the hearth greeted her as soon as she pushed open the door of her bedroom. Thorin was standing before the fireplace, much as he had been in her dream several weeks earlier. His eyes brightened and a smile replaced the frown he'd been wearing.
"Lina!" He pulled his wife further into the room and kicked the door shut behind her. Immediately his mouth descended upon hers, giving her as enthusiastic a greeting as she could ever have hoped for.
"I take you're glad I'm home," she purred against his lips. Thorin smirked and kissed her again.
"You've been away for so long. I was beginning to hear your voice out of thin air," he responded. Lina thought about telling him of her dreams, but decided against it.
"Dain's messenger arrived about a week after you left. He told me your mother had died."
Lina felt her excitement vanish at the mention of her mother. She was still numb about the whole thing. That bothered her.
"She had," Lina answered simply. She mechanically began to remove her travelling clothes.
"What's troubling you?" Thorin asked, helping her remove her cloak. "There's more upsetting you than just your mother's death."
"I don't feel anything. That's what's upsetting me," Lina whispered, turning to him. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Ever since learning of her mother's death, Lina had been trying to feel properly sad. Yet she'd been unable to conjure up even the tiniest of tears. Even now the tears that began to fill her eyes were not for her mother, but for her own inability to cry for her mother.
"Am I so heartless I cannot even weep for my mother's death?" she whispered, slumping down on the edge of the bed. "She protected me from the worst of my father's anger. Then was never a moment she was not trying to help me in some way. Why can't I feel anything?"
Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she cried out in anger and frustration. Thorin settled his broad frame on the bed beside her and simply pulled her into his arms.
"Perhaps it is because you had so little in common," Thorin suggested quietly. "She never had the strength to raise herself up from where she had fallen. Yet you did. You loved her certainly, but you never idolized her the way most children do their parents."
Lina looked up at him, comprehension dawning in her eyes. Her husband smiled down at her and carefully wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"Someday you may find it in you to cry for Lorina, but do not be hard on yourself if that day is not today. Some things take time before we are ready to cry for them." He placed a tender kiss on her forehead. Lina's mouth twitched into a small smile. Swiping at her eyes, she rose.
"I guess the trip really wore me out," she told Thorin.
"I'm sure it did," he murmured, rising to stand before her. "Let's get you into bed. You need some sleep."
Lina removed the last of her travelling garments and slipped into bed. Thorin banked the fire and joined her a moment later. His strong arm pulled her naked body against his. He had missed her as much as she had missed him. Lina closed her eyes and reveled in the feel of his powerful body beside her. Her head rested on the broad expanse of his chest.
"You aren't heartless," Thorin said suddenly. "I could never have made a home with someone who had no heart." With that he kissed her forehead tenderly and pulled the covers over them.