Chapter 30

Annelise was awoken a few hours later by Fili's hand resting gently on her shoulder, telling her that the sun was rising and they needed to finish preparations.

She quickly strapped on her quiver and sword before following after her cousin and joining the others on top of the gate. The sight that met her up there was not a happy one.

Her father and cousins were standing at the front of the wall, surrounded by the rest of the Company. In the valley before the mountain stood the entire elven army, with Bard's men standing in the middle of them.

She watched as the elves shifted their formation to allow Thranduil and Bard to ride through to the front line.

Annelise and Bilbo stood behind the dwarves, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible. She watched as her father borrowed Kili's bow and pulled back an arrow before firing it at the ground before the elk that Thranduil sat atop. The elf king and man quickly stopped their approach.

"I will put the next one between your eyes," Thorin shouted and the dwarves around him began to cheer.

Annelise watched as Thranduil shifted his head just slightly and as one the first few lines of elves raised their own bows and pulled back their arrows, aiming at the dwarves.

The entire company, minus Annelise, Thorin and Bilbo ducked behind the wall to avoid being shot.

After holding their stance for a moment, Thranduil raised his hand and the elven army shifted again and put their arrows down. Annelise would have been extremely impressed at the synchronization of the elves if she had not been on the receiving end of such a threat.

"We have come to tell you," Thranduil yelled up to Thorin, "payment of your debt has been offered and accepted."

"What payment?," Thorin asked. "I gave you nothing. You have nothing."

Thranduil simply looked over at Bard and the man reached into his coat. Annelise held her breath knowing that the moment of truth had arrived.

"We have this," Bard replied, holding the shining Arkenstone in his hand above his head.

"They have the Arkenstone," Kili said in disbelief. "Thieves! How came you by the heirloom of our house?! That stone belongs to the king!"

"And the king may have it with our goodwill," Bard answered calmly tossing it in the air carelessly before returning it to his coat. "But first he must honor his word."

Thorin shook his head slightly before speaking under his breath to his nephews on either side of him.

"They are taking us for fools. This is a ruse. A filthy lie."

"The Arkenstone is in this mountain," he yelled louder then, address the leaders before them. "It is a trick"

"I-it's no trick," Bilbo interrupted stepping away from Annelise's side. "The stone is real. I gave it to them."

Annelise watched as the faces of the Company turned to the Hobbit in disbelief. Her father slowly turned his back to the armies before them and looked down at Bilbo.

"You?," he asked and Annelise could detect a small amount of sadness in her father's voice.

"I took it as my 14th share."

"You would steal from me?"

"Steal from you? No. No, I may be a burglar but I like to think I'm an honest one. I'm willing to let it stand against my claim."

"Against your claim?," Thorin asked in astonishment and Annelise knew that Bilbo had said the wrong thing. "Your claim. You have no claim over me, you miserable rat!"

At these words, Thorin threw down his bow and took a threatening step toward Bilbo. Annelise stepped up behind the Hobbit and put her hands on both of his shoulders and her father stopped in his tracks. She was stunned to see a look of sadness cross his eyes when he looked at her, and knew he saw her actions as a betrayal.

"I was going to give it to you," Bilbo continued when he saw Thorin stop moving toward him. "Many times I wanted to but…"

"But what, thief?"

"You are changed, Thorin. The dwarf I met in Bag End would never have gone back on his word. Would never have doubted the loyalty of his kin!"

This last sentence had caused Annelise and the others to look up at her father in shock. 'He thought one of the others had taken it?,' she thought to herself sadly.

"Do not speak to me of loyalty. You have betrayed me and turned my own daughter against me!," Thorin yelled in anger, taking another step towards them.

"Throw him from the rampart!," he ordered the dwarves and instead of following his order, they all shifted and looked at him in shock. Seeing none of them move, he turned and grabbed Fili behind him roughly.

"Did you not hear me?!," he yelled at his nephew, trying to pull him toward the Hobbit. Annelise watched sadly as Fili fought against his uncle's grip, breaking free. Thorin looked around at the others, seeing that none of them intended to follow his order.

"I will do it myself!," he yelled moving quickly to grab onto Bilbo. "Curse you!"

"No!," Fili yelled jumping in with his brother and the others toward his Uncle, trying to break the Hobbit out of his grasp. Annelise moved to her cousin's side to try and help but Gloin grabbed onto her.

"Stay back, lass. He already thinks you have turned against him. He could hurt you in his anger."

"Cursed be the wizard that forced you on this company!," her father continued to yell as he forced Bilbo's back against the edge of the wall.

"Addâd, no!"

"If you don't like my burglar," Annelise heard Gandalf's voice echoing loudly through the air and sighed in relief, "then please don't damage him. Return him to me."

Annelise held her breath as she watched her father staring out at the wizard while still holding onto Bilbo's coat, ready to throw him over the wall.

"You're not making a very splendid figure as King Under the Mountain, are you, Thorin, son of Thrain?"

Annelise released her breath as she watched her father relax his grip on Bilbo and Fili reached forward and pulled the Hobbit away from the wall. She quickly moved to his side and Bofur directed him back to the rope he had used the night before to leave the mountain.

"Never again will I have dealings with wizards, or Shire rats!," she heard her father yell.

"Are we resolved?," Bard yelled. "The return of the Arkenstone for what was promised?"

Instead of answering, Annelise watched Thorin look to the hill on their left in hope. 'He is waiting for Dain,' she realised sadly.

"Why should I buy back that which is rightfully mine?," he asked instead, beginning to pace across the wall like a caged animal.

"Keep the stone," Thranduil said to Bard lightly in answer to Thorin's question. "Sell it. Ecthelion of Gondor will give you a good price for it."

"I will kill you!," Thorin yelled, continuing to pace back and forth. "Upon my oath, I will kill you all!"

Thranduil turned back to him abruptly, yelling, "Your oath means nothing!"

"I have heard enough," Thranduil said to Bard, turning his elk around the elves shifting their stance once more.

Annelise watched her father step forward and lean over the gate, looking at the armies before them.

"Thorin, lay down your arms. Open these doors. This treasure will be your death," Gandalf yelled, trying to reason with the Dwarf king.

"Sire, we cannot win this fight," Balin spoke from Thorin's side.

"Give us your answer," Bard said finally after watching Thorin thinking in silence for a moment. "Will you have peace or war?"

Annelise jumped a bit in surprise when a raven suddenly appeared and landed next to Thorin.

The raven started making some noises and a smug smile began appearing on her father's face before he turned to look back at the hill to the east.

"I will have war."

Annelise grew disheartened as she heard the sound of soldiers marching and knew that Dain had finally arrived.

She turned her eyes to the hills and watched as the army from Iron Hills appeared just over the rise, Dain leading them atop his large hog. The dwarves around Annelise started cheering happily at the sight of their reinforcements, and she watched as Thranduil turned and ordered his soldiers to change their formation and advance toward the dwarf army.

She could just make out the top of Gandalf's hat in the middle of the small army of men, and could only hope that Bilbo was somewhere safe.

"Ironfoot has come!," she heard one of the others yell excitedly.

Annelise watched as the dwarf soldiers stopped at the top of the hill, and Dain moved further down the hill to address the Elvenking.

"Good morning!," she heard him yell casually once he was closer to the elven army. "How are we all?"

He was silent for a moment, as if waiting for a response, before he continued speaking.

"I've a wee proposition for ya if you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments of your time, would ya consider…..just sodding off! All of you! Right now!"

Annelise couldn't help the slight flinch that went through her body as he unexpectedly yelled his last words loudly. She could see that many of the men that were standing together in the middle of the sea of elves couldn't help but jump as well. She watched Thranduil hold his hand up to stop his soldiers from reaching for their bows.

"Stand fast!," she could just make out Bard yelling to his men.

"Come now, Lord Dain," she heard Gandalf yell, trying to sooth the tension. She watched as he moved out from the crowd of men and could only hope that the wizard would be able to stop this foolishness.

"Gandalf the Grey," Dain acknowledged the wizard approaching him. "You tell this rabble to leave or I'll water the ground with their blood!"

"There is no need for war between Dwarves, Men, and Elves. Even now, a legion of orcs marches on the mountain. Stand your army down!"

Pulling himself up to his full height atop his boar, Dain replied, "I will not stand down before any Elf, not least this faithless woodland sprite! He wishes nothing but ill upon my people. If he chooses to stand between me and my kin, I'll split his pretty head open! See if he's still smirking then."

With this Dain turned his hog and rode back toward his army.

"Dain!," Gandalf yelled, trying to stop him.

All around her, the dwarves atop the wall cheered at Dain's bold words and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at their actions.

"Let them advance. See how for they get," she could hear Thranduil say loudly to Gandalf and shook her head sadly.

"Ya think I give a dead dog for your threats, you pointy-eared princess?!"

By this time, Dain had reached his army once more and turned again to face the elves below them in the valley.

"You hear that, lads?! Let's give these bastards a good hammering!"

Annelise heard a shout in Khuzdul and the dwarven lines drew their weapons and responded to the shout as one. She watched as Thranduil rode over towards Bard and, after a few words from the Elvenking, the man signaled for his men to stand down.

The elves began moving forward into position, and Annelise could feel her heart in her throat at what she knew would be coming next.

"Send in the goats," she heard Dain order to his army, and she watched as the foot soldiers began shifting to allow dwarves riding atop mountain goats to move through them and charge down the hill.

She then heard Thranduil yell out an order, and the elves quickly drew their bows and pulled back their arrows, aiming at the riders.

"Thranduil! This is madness!" she heard Gandalf shout just before the Elvenking ordered for his troops to fire.

Tears built into her eyes as she watched the wall of arrows flying through the air towards the dwarves.

The tears quickly fell down her face in shock and sadness when, after hearing an order shouted in Khuzdul, large spinning contraptions flew through the air, decimating the arrows and landing in the midst of the elves and destroying everything in their path.

The others around her began cheering once more, and Annelise just looked down at her feet sadly as the tears kept flowing down her cheeks.

She heard movement next to her and a hand grasped her own. She looked up to see Fili looking at her sadly, as if realising just how hard it was for her to watch two races that she loved fighting each other.

All around her, she could hear the sound of the battle continuing and she could hear the precise moment that the two armies collided. The sound of metal clashing and pained yells filled her ears and she turned away from the battle, unable to bear it.

She looked up suddenly however when the ground beneath her feet began shaking and she heard a loud rumbling over the sounds of the battle.

She watched as the dwarves and elves slowly stopped fighting one another and looked toward the hill to left of Dale.

Suddenly large worms burst through the ground, breaking up the rock, and a heavy feeling of dread spread through Annelise's body. She could see the dwarves around her looking at each other in confusion. Fili squeezed the hand he still clutched in his own tightly, while Kili moved to his brother's side.

Annelise's breath was taken from her when she heard a loud shout from the north. The yell was quickly followed by a foul horn and she looked toward Ravenhill and saw figures standing on top of the structure.

"Azog," she gasped under her breath, crushing her cousin's hand within her own.

At the sound of many footsteps, she turned back toward the holes in the ground left by the giant worms and let out a small sound of fear as an army of orcs began pouring from the openings.

She watched as the dwarves pulled away from the elves they had been fighting and reformed their lines to face the new enemy.

The elves began falling into their own lines but Annelise watched in despair as they stayed back, seeming as though they intended to let the dwarves face the orc army alone.

"I'm going over the wall!," Fili yelled from beside her and she drew her weapon alongside him, intent on helping their allies. "Who's coming with me?"

The others cheered at his words and began to ready themselves.

"Come on, let's go!," she heard Dwalin shout and she began looking for the fastest way to get over the wall.

"Stand down."

She stopped in her tracks at her father's stern order.

"What? Are we to do nothing?," Fili asked angrily in response.

"Father!"

"I said stand down!"

He yelled these words as he walked down the stairs back into the mountain and Annelise looked out into the valley in despair.

"We have to help them," Annelise said quietly in despair.

"We cannot disobey the king," Balin said to her sadly.

She then turned and watched sadly as the dwarves finished falling into position, their shields forming a wall against the approaching orcs. Her sadness grew deeper when she saw that the elves were still standing behind the dwarves in a relaxed formation, making no sign of joining the battle.

She looked down and saw Thranduil sitting on top of his elk, and she knew he was unsure of what to do.

"Come on," she said softly under her breath, willing him to make the right decision.

She let out a sigh of relief as she saw him raise his hand and the elves began running toward the dwarves, jumping over their shield wall just as the orcs descended upon them.

They quickly engaged the orcs in battle and after a moment she saw the dwarves stand and charge into the ranks of orcs, fighting alongside the elves.

She then heard the loud horn sound through the air once again, and looked out over the valley to find out what it was meant to signal. Soon large trolls began marching toward the army of dwarves and elves.

She watched the elves draw back arrows to shoot at the large beasts and they managed to take down quite a few of them to her relief. Sadly it was not enough.

Another blow of the horn signalled for the creatures to begin destroying the goat-drawn chariots the dwarves were using to take out multiple enemies. Annelise watched as many of the war machines were destroyed, the dwarves driving them being thrown through the air or hit with huge clubs.

When another horn blow sounded, Annelise couldn't help but wonder what could possibly come next.

"No!," she yelled when she saw a portion of the orc army break off from the main unit and make its way towards Dale. She saw Bard's men begin running toward the sitting as quickly as they could to avoid being cut off. 'They will be defenseless,' she thought in despair, her mind going to Bard's children and the people of Lake-town currently taking refuge in the ruined city.

Annelise stood on top of the wall and watched helplessly as countless orcs flooded into the crumbling city.

She could make out King Thranduil atop his elk riding quickly across the bridge into the city, taking out multiple orcs at a time as he rode by them. When she lost sight of him within the walls, she sent up a silent prayer for his safety and for the others within the stone kingdom.

After watching for a moment next to Dwalin, she heard him cursed quietly under his breath before turning away from the wall.

"I'm going to talk to Thorin," he said sternly and she put a hand on his shoulder to indicate that she would go with him.

He nodded to her sadly before leading her into the mountain towards the throne room, where her father had no doubt returned to.