Date: TA 2941
Thorin: 195 years old
Lina: 192 years old
Lina woke with a start. Had it not been for Thorin's presence at her side, she would probably have a weapon in her hand. The smells were unfamiliar, but reminded her she was in Beorn's home. A glance through a small window revealed the sky turning pink with the dawning of a new day.
She was just as glad it was nearly morning. There would be no returning to sleep for her. The dreams had ensured that. Even if she could sleep, Lina was not sure she wanted to. She was not sure what to make of the images still haunting her waking mind. They were not the dreams of the past. For nothing in the dreams had been written in the histories of the dwarves, Lina would have known if it had. Yet she could not see these being prophetic dreams. The darkness shown in them was far beyond anything Lina could have ever imagined. A dark Elven King sat upon the Mirkwood throne. His features were certainly not those of Thranduil. Who this dark elf was, Lina did not know. His people both loved and feared him. The darkness and cruelty of his reign threatened even the dwarves of the Iron Hills. An evil like that had not been seen in this world since the ancient wars against Sauron. While Lina did not particularly like the Wood Elves of Mirkwood, she could not see any of them becoming as twisted as the ruler in her dream.
The sun peaked over the horizon, turning the sky from pink to orange. Almost immediately, Lina heard the sounds of animals moving about the other end of building. Two large dogs were dropping logs into the fireplace. One was preparing to start the fire anew. Lina watched in fascination as the animals began bringing in food and drink for Beorn's guests. She had never seen anything like it. A pony trotted over, making it quite clear that Lina was welcome to the breakfast now spread out on the vast expanse of the table. Then the animals let themselves back out of the structure.
Lina stood and stretched. Her eyes flickered over the rest of the company, still sound asleep. Bilbo lay hidden in the shadows, the blanket pulled tightly over his head. Bofur slept upright with his back against his brother's enormous girth. Fili and Kili lay sprawled across their two beds, limbs tangled together. Ori had fallen asleep with a ball of yarn in his hands, a half-finished scarf lying in a heap beneath him. The rest of the dwarves had kept pretty much to themselves, most buried under a mound of blankets, trying to create little caves. There was one noticeable absence from the group. Gandalf was missing. When Lina had fallen asleep in her husband's arm, the wizard had been sound asleep near the fireplace.
Thorin rolled in his sleep, reaching blindly for his wife. His hand found Lina's leg, but that didn't seem right to him.
"What're you doing up?" he asked as he pushed himself upright.
"Breakfast is ready," she answered. Thorin looked up at her, unblinking. He said nothing, however, as the other dwarves, hearing his voice, began to awake. At the scent of food, Bombur was on his feet, dislodging his brother. The other dwarves followed him to the table, hoping to snatch some food away from Bombur before he ate it all. Bofur, having been knocked over when his brother woke, went about waking the other dwarves and Bilbo.
Thorin waded into the melee briefly, and then reappeared, bringing food back to his wife where she still stood. He sank down onto the blankets, making it clear he was not finished speaking with his wife. Lina accepted the breakfast Thorin handed her, settling back onto the blankets beside him.
"Something is troubling you," he observed after another moment of silence. "What?"
"Several years before the first time you told me you'd dreamed of reclaiming Erebor, I too had dreams of what lay ahead. But my dreams were dark and troubling. They have only grown more so since this journey began. When I do not dream of you, I dream of darkness in many forms." Lina fell silent.
Ever since that first uneasy feeling she'd experienced on the road into Belegost nearly twenty years earlier, Lina's dreams had grown darker. The uneasiness had developed into a sickening fear of some unknown evil. That fear, that evil, had been given a face in her dreams that night. It only unsettled her further.
"Do you fear the outcome of this quest so much?" Thorin asked quietly.
"Not the quest," Lina answered carefully. "It is something else. There is something that has intersected with this quest, but it will continue far beyond the success or failure of this venture. It is because of this that I cannot help but fear the outcome of the quest."
All conversation between them ended, both lost in thought. What Thorin was thinking about, Lina could only guess. Her own mind was occupied with the feeling of dread growing within her. Something was horribly wrong. The dreams, she was positive, were not prophetic. Lina might be able to see over vast distances and into the past, but only with respect to her husband. The gift of the Valar did not extend to the nebulous future of the rest of Middle-Earth. However, the dreams did speak to the evil she felt. Whatever this evil was, she was going to come face-to-face with it someday. She simply hoped, and prayed, that confrontation would wait until after the quest had concluded. Perhaps, once the dwarves once again inhabited Erebor, Lina could focus on this evil. Until then she resolved to put the notion from her mind. It was only serving to distract her from the task at hand.
The dwarves finished breaking their fast, and began to venture out of doors. They were all curious about the rather conspicuous absence of both their host and their guide. A search of the surrounding area, however, turned up no sign of either the skin-changer or the wizard. Both seemed to be some distance away. Where they had disappeared to, no one knew. Once that fact had been established, the dwarves contented themselves with other pursuits until one or the other should return.
Lina and Nes took stock of their losses in the flight from the goblin tunnels. When they had entered, both had carried large packs of supplies containing both what they had brought from Belegost and what the elves of Rivendell had given them. The fighting had been so fierce that both were forced to abandon the majority of their supplies. Neither had lost any weaponry, however. Their swords could use sharpening to be sure, but the damage to their weapons and armor was minimal.
Someone, Lina was not sure who, decided the dwarves needed to have an impromptu tournament. The idea was to see who the best fighter among them was. Bets were quickly being made. The dwarves who remembered the Battle of Azanulbizar or the bouts the line breaker had run against Thorin placed bets on Lina ranking at least second, usually behind Thorin. Those who'd never watched either Thorin or Lina fight placed bets on Dwalin. Dwalin just laughed when he discovered Bilbo and Bombur had both placed bets on him taking first. He knew he was not likely to best his mentor, Lina. Most of the dwarves had watched their companions fight before. The only real wild card was Nes. Though the dwarves had glimpsed her fight during their flight from Goblin Town, none had seen the true extent of her skills. Even Lina did not fully know what she was capable of. Lina quietly placed a bet on Nes winning the tournament.
The rules of the tournament were quite simple: no killing or maiming one's opponent. Other than that, any tactic to either disarm or knock out one's opponent was allowed. Live weapons were used as those were the only kind available.
The first round of the bouts was quickly organized. Lina's first opponent was Bifur. The old warrior had a rather erratic fighting style. Sometimes he acted like he was a wielding a pike, just trying to keep her at a distance. Other times he started spinning like a top, forcing Lina to jump backwards to avoid his deadly spinning. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to interrupt his spinning and bring the bout to an end in her favor.
Nes was torn between amusement and dread when she discovered her first opponent was Bofur. Her hope for the bout was to defeat him so soundly that he had no desire to be near her again. It had taken her some time the previous night to escape him so she could sleep. Her goal in mind, Nes went after her opponent. Bofur swung his mattock in a wild attempt to block the blow from Nes's sword. He barely managed to do it, but discovered Nes was a singularly unusual opponent. Her fighting style was fluid and lightning quick. He would barely deflect one blow before she was striking again. The fight dragged on for quite some time, nearly fifteen minutes. It only took the on-looking dwarves a few moments to realize Nes was simply toying with Bofur. The male dwarf was sweating and panting heavily while Nes had not even slowed or shown any sign of growing weary. If anything, Nes seemed to be getting faster and faster. Then, on one final spin, Nes wrapped her legs around Bofur's neck and flipped him onto his back. His mattock sank into the dirt with a dull thud and a groan at the force of the impact escaped his lips.
Silence fell over the rest of the company at the sudden end to the bout. It had been quite plain to the dwarves that Nes had been playing with Bofur. Yet none of the males had guessed just how strong she was until that moment. Lina hid a smile as Nes accepted her opponent's submission and headed toward her commander. She could see Nes struggling to hide a similar smile. She obviously felt confident that Bofur would not be following her any more.
As Nes disappeared briefly back into the house, Lina shot a glance over to Bofur as he was being helped up by Bilbo and Bifur. The look on his face had Lina torn between shock and hysterical laughter. The male dwarf had the most ridiculous smile plastered on his face as he stared after Nes. Nope, he wasn't discouraged in the least.
Lina next opponent was Balin. Surprisingly, in all their long years of friendship, the pair had never done battle before. In some respects, Balin had the upper hand in that he had observed Lina's fighting far more than she had observed his. Lina, however, had the bonus of far more years in direct combat. While Balin had helped Thorin deal with politics, Lina had been fighting orcs and wargs beside Kira and Dwalin. Lina also had nearly one hundred years of learning dirty, under-handed fighting from the likes of Nes and Kira which her opponent did not. It was one such under-handed trick that knocked Balin out of the tournament after a long and well-fought bout.
There was an air of disappointment about Bilbo and Bombur when Dwalin was knocked out of the tournament by Thorin. The bout had been close. There were moments in which Thorin managed to surprise everyone by staying on his feet with his sword in his hand. Dwalin's hammer blows were far heavier than Lina's, sending Thorin stumbling backwards to avoid them. Most of the blows, had they connected, would have knocked Thorin unconscious. The round ended with the same move many bouts between Lina and Thorin had ended with. Thorin would get in behind his opponent and deliver a hard blow to the back of his opponent's legs, knocking them to the ground.
In no time at all, the combatants had been narrowed to four dwarves: Lina, Nes, Thorin, and Fili. By then Beorn's companions had set out a noon meal for the dwarves. Everyone agreed to take a break for food and relaxation before beginning the final bouts. Additional bets were being placed now on the outcome of these fights. Fili was not expected to be able to best any of the senior warriors, though he had done respectably well in earlier bouts. After watching Nes's bout with Bofur, many were becoming convinced that she would at least place second. Lina, as Nes's next opponent was amused by the assassin's sudden gain in popularity.
For nearly an hour after their meal, the dwarves lounged in the sun, doing less arduous tasks. Some repaired the laces and toggles on boots or cloaks. Others napped. Lina took the opportunity to write a letter to her companions who had journeyed north to Kira's Fortress several days earlier. They had not been so far south that the group would not have reached the fortress by now. The silence disturbed Lina.
Her concern for her companions was momentarily forgotten as the second round of the tournament began. Thorin and Fili went first. Having trained with his uncle from the time he could first hold a sword, Fili was able to survive for quite some time. Lina watched with pride as her nephew skillfully parried and returned Thorin's strikes. The two males became locked tightly together for a brief moment. Thorin took the opportunity to whisper something to his young heir, shocking his heir enough to be knocked over backwards with a harsh shove. Even after Thorin was declared the winner of that bout, Fili sat staring up at his uncle in shock.
"What did you say to him?" Lina asked her husband as she watched Kili help his brother up from the dirt. Thorin grinned cheekily at her, but refused to say a word.
Lina and Nes were up next. It had been a few months since Lina's last bout with the assassin. Who knows what tricks Nes had learned or developed since then? For this round, Lina opted to use a staff like Ona had once wielded. It was one of the few weapons Lina had any success with against Nes. Her normal war hammer was far too slow to be effective against the assassin. A sword was of little effect, being both too short and too slow. The bladed staff extended Lina's reach, was light-weight, and extremely fast. It was the type of weapon she used only in smaller skirmishes when she needed to clear out enemies rapidly.
The male dwarves found themselves very much a part of the combat once it began. Nori found himself used as a springboard in one of Nes's flying attacks. Lina had to move quickly to avoid the knives thrown while her opponent was mid-air and then deflect the heavier blow she knew would come. In order to avoid further use as living shields, the males learned quickly to dart away from the females whenever the fighting drew close to them. Few blows actually connected during the fight. Both females were fast and avoided contact as much as possible. Lina was, of the two, the strongest. If they became locked together as Fili and Thorin had, Lina would be able to easily end the bout. Nes, however, was the fastest and most flexible. Even Lina's most accurate shots seemed to slide right around her opponent.
Suddenly the fast and furious fighting had ended. Lina was on the ground, Nes above her with a knife. It took the rest of the company several seconds to realize just what had happened. In avoiding a spin of Lina's, the assassin had slid under the blow and dropped to the ground. Continuing to slide, she'd wrapped tightly around Lina's legs, bringing the line breaker to the ground before leaping on top of her.
Nes extended her hand to Lina, helping her out of the dirt. The two women congratulated one another on a bout well fought. Nes immediately began preparing for her bout with Thorin. Thorin took the moment to check his wife over.
Lina gave him a soft smile as he made sure no serious damage had been done during the bout. When it came to her safety and well-being, Thorin was such a worrier. True, he cared for his nephews and other family members a great deal. His concern for Lina was something else entirely. Lina wondered vaguely, as his hand ran over her arms and torso, what would happen to him should she be killed in battle.
Before the dwarves could begin the final round, Gandalf returned. Interested in knowing where their wizard had disappeared to all that day, the dwarves promptly forgot about finishing the tournament. His tales were far more interesting.
A/N: I apologize for the lack of updating these past few weeks. I've been pretty busy with school and the like. As things stand now, this story will probably only be updated once a week or so. I think I bit off more than I can chew this semester. Thank you to all my loyal readers! I look forward to hearing from all of you. Let me know if you think I can improve the story in any way. I'm always open to helpful suggestions.