Chapter 31

Annelise walked next to Dwalin in silence, her thoughts focused on the confrontation she knew was coming between her father and one of his oldest friends.

When they reached the throne room, they saw Thorin sitting on his throne in deep thought. He raised his head slightly at the sound of their approaching footsteps and Dwalin moved past Annelise, indicating for her to stay where she was. She almost moved to follow after him but thought better of it at the sight of pure anger on the dwarf warrior's face as he addressed his king.

"Since when do we forsake our own people?," he questioned, climbing the steps to the throne and standing before Thorin.

"Thorin." His tone softened. "They are dying out there."

Annelise watched silently as her father seemed to think for a moment before speaking quietly.

"There are halls beneath halls within this mountain," he said quietly and Annelise grew confused at his words.

Her confusion soon turned into sadness as he continued speaking.

"Places we can fortify. Shore up, make safe," he spoke, his voice growing louder before he stood and looked at Dwalin.

"Yes. Yes. That is it," he continued, moving to stand in front of the dwarf. "We must move the gold further underground to safety."

With these words, he turned to make his way out of the throne room to follow through with his plan. Annelise stepped forward to follow after him, just as Dwalin did the same.

"Father!," she yelled to try and gain his attention, but her shout was drowned out by Dwalin.

"Did you not hear me?!," he yelled, causing Thorin to come to a stop and turn back to him. "Dain is surrounded. They're being slaughtered, Thorin."

"Many die in war. Life is cheap," he said coldly and Annelise felt anger rise in her at his careless attitude. "But a treasure such as this cannot be counted in lives lost. It is worth all the blood we can spend."

"You sit here in these vast halls with a crown upon your head," Dwalin responded quietly, shaking his head in sorrow, "and yet you are lesser now than you have ever been."

"Do not speak to me as if I were some lowly dwarf lord. As if I were still… Thorin… Oakenshield," he said, his voice breaking as he covered his face in shame. "I am your king!"

Annelise couldn't help the small flinch that ran down her spine as her father drew his sword on his friend.

"You were always my king," Dwalin spoke quickly. "You used to know that once. You cannot see what you have become."

"Go," Thorin spoke quietly. "Get out. Before I kill you."

She heard Dwalin scoff lightly under his breath, and she knew that her father's words had hurt the warrior more than he let on.

Annelise met Dwalin's eyes sadly as he approached her. When he paused for her to proceed him out of the throne room, she shook her head and gestured for him to go on without her.

She stood in place, listening to the dwarf's retreating footsteps, and maintained eye contact with her father, who had begun to stare at her when he realised she was not leaving.

Once she could no longer hear Dwalin's heavy steps, she moved to approach the throne herself.

"So you're king now," she said casually once she had reached the steps that led up to the throne. "You must be very proud of yourself."

"Yes," he responded after a moment's hesitation, wondering where she was going with her statement.

"You have everything you dreamed?"

"Of course," he said with slightly more confidence.

"So that means you can start pushing away the people that helped you get this far?," she questioned evenly, her anger starting to show through in the tone of her voice.

Her father sighed loudly, and began to speak down to her condescendingly.

"Annelise, listen-"

"No, you listen!," she interrupted him angrily, her voice echoing through the caverns. "The dwarf that raised me would never abandon his people, would never ignore the council of those closest to him, would never hurt me," her voice breaking on her words and she saw her father wince slightly at her accusations.

"The dwarves within this mountain gave up their lives and walked into unspeakable danger to help you reclaim this kingdom and once accomplished, you treat them as if they are nothing!"

"The dwarf that raised me taught me that nothing is more important than the people we love, and that nothing is worth causing pain to others. What happened to that dwarf?," she questioned quietly.

"What happened to my father?"

Annelise could see that her last question had struck a chord in him somehow so she continued softly, her eyes filling with tears.

"I miss you, Addâd. Please come back to me."

With these words, she turned and began to make her way out of the throne room. Just as she was about to walk through the door, she turned back towards him once again.

He was standing in the same place, looking after her sadly. A tear slid down her cheek and with three final words, she walked through the opening.

"I love you."

Annelise walked slowly from the throne room back to the gate, thinking on the encounter she had just had with her father.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered finally under her breath, her voice breaking around the lump growing in her throat.

She picked up her pace then, suddenly wanting to be in the comforting presence of her cousins and the others.

Upon arriving at the gate, she saw that everyone had taken off their heavier pieces of armor and many of them were sitting on stones scattered at the foot of the wall.

She saw Kili sitting on a stone furthest away from the wall's base and gave him a small sad smile as she laid her hand on his shoulder. He reached up and grabbed onto her hand as she stood still for a moment before moving over to Fili's side.

Her blonde cousin looked up at her approach and shifted on his rock, making room for her to sit. She sat next to him and he reached an arm around her, pulling her into his side. She laid her head on his shoulder and felt him move his chin to rest on top of her head.

"It'll be alright," he tried to reassure her quietly, but she could hear the slight doubt in his voice.

After a moment of silence, she felt him stiffen slightly and heard the others stand. Raising her head from Fili's shoulder, she turned to look behind her at the others.

There she saw her father making his way towards them. She was shocked and relieved to see that he had shed his crown and robes and was no longer wearing any type of adornment that would hint at his position.

She saw Kili quickly stand to his feet and start approaching Thorin furiously.

"I will not hide behind a wall of stone while others fight our battles for us!," Kili yelled at his uncle in anger, moving closer to him with every word.

"It is not in my blood, Thorin," he finished softly, stopping in front of the dwarf king.

"No," Thorin responded gently. "It is not."

Annelise felt tears building in her eyes at the soft tone she had not heard from her father in so long. Seeing the look on his face as he looked down at his nephew, she knew that her father had finally returned.

"We are sons of Durin. And Durin's folk do not flee from a fight," he finished softly.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she watched her father smile at Kili for a moment before resting his head against the younger dwarf's forehead in affection.

After holding that position for a few seconds, her father moved away from Kili and walked toward the rest of them.

"I have no right to ask this of any of you. But will you follow me, one last time?"

Annelise watched with pride as the others around her stood straighter at his question and took hold of their weapons in answer.

Thorin looked into the eyes of everyone standing in front of him, the gratitude shining in his eyes. He paused a moment when his eyes landed on Fili, the king and his heir sharing a firm nod with one another. At last his eyes came to rest on Annelise and he moved forwards toward her.

"My treasure," he whispered and Annelise quickly dropped to her knees before him and threw her arms around him tightly. Thorin did not hesitate to return her embrace and she quickly turned her face into his hair as tears began flowing down her cheeks freely.

Thorin could feel the slight trembles going through her body as she clung to him, the shame and remorse at his actions cutting him deeply. He knew that of all the members of his company, Annelise would be the one most affected by his words and behavior.

"I am so sorry, dear one," he spoke softly, unable to speak any louder because of the lump of emotion growing in his throat. "I am here."

Annelise sobs grew stronger at his words, knowing he was referring to the question she had asked earlier of what had happened to her father.

She could hear the others moving around them preparing for battle, and knew that their time was running out. She hugged him tighter for a moment, before pulling away slightly. She could see the tears that had built in his eyes and brushed away one on his cheek that had escaped.

"I love you, Addâd," she whispered quietly and he pressed his forehead against hers in response.

"I promise," he swore seriously, grasping her shoulders in his hands firmly, "I will never leave you again as long as I live. I love you."

With these words he moved away from her and drew his sword, gesturing for her to do the same.

She quickly drew her twin blades and moved to stand behind him, with Fili and Kili standing on either side of her.

She heard a loud sound echo through the air and looked up to see Bombur standing atop the wall, a large horn wrapped around his body as he blew it.

She then noticed that the others were holding tightly onto ropes that she saw were connected to a large bell, and realised that they planned to knock down the wall with it.

At a signal from her father, the dwarves released the ropes and she watched as the bell swung down and crashed through the stone wall loudly.

As it swung back they quickly began running through the opening and joined ranks with the line of dwarves that had reformed in front of the mountain.

"To the king!," she heard Dain cry out as they passed through the dwarf ranks. "To the king!"

She heard the dwarves from the Iron Hills yell out in response, and she lifted her blades as she charged toward the enemy behind her father.

"Du bekar!," her father yelled, lifting his sword as he led the charge.

They soon collided with the first lines of the orc army and Annelise began cutting down everything that got in her way, trying to stick close to her father and cousins.

She quickly lost count of how many orcs she took down and when she looked around her, it seemed that there was no end to the sea of vile creatures.

After fighting for a while, she found herself with her back to her cousins and father, protecting each other's backs, forming a circle of swinging steel. Even though they were surrounded on all sides, she felt better knowing her father was at her back with her cousins on either side of her.

They quickly fell into a rhythm with Annelise and Thorin engaging the orcs on their level while Fili and Kili swept in lower, taking the larger creatures out quickly.

Annelise was shaken slightly from her focus when she noticed a large blinded troll with large maces for hands being steered by an orc on its head approaching them. She sighed in relief when she noticed it moving away from them, and shook her head in disbelief as she watched Bofur being boosted on top of it by his cousins, where he proceeded to kill its rider and take over controlling it.

She shook her head one more time, before turning her full attention back to the fighting going on around her.

Eventually she realised that her father had somehow gotten separated from she and her cousins and began looking around for him frantically, while still trying to defend herself.

After cutting down a particularly nasty looking orc, she saw her father alone surrounded by the enemy with Dain fighting just a short distance from him.

"Dain," she heard him call for assistance and she began to slowly fight her way towards him.

"Thorin! Hold on! I'm coming!," she heard Dain respond and she began fighting harder to make her way across the field.

By the time she made it over to them, Dain had already reached her father and taken care of the enemies. Annelise began to take down any orcs that tried to reach the two cousins so they could have a moment to speak to each other without worrying about being attacked.

"Hey cousin. What took you so long?," she heard Dain ask.

She heard her father chuckle and turned her head slightly to see him embrace his red-haired cousin with one arm.

"There's too many of these buggers, Thorin," Dain said looking around them, and Annelise went back to fighting. Her concentration was broken once more when she heard her name being spoken.

"That can't be little Annelise, now could it?," she heard Dain say loudly.

She cut down the orc she was currently trading blows with, before wiping some sweat off her forehead.

"Hi, Uncle Dain," she greeted nonchalantly with an ironic smirk on her face.

"How are ye, lassie?," he asked, moving towards her to help ward off some of the orcs.

"Well, considering our current predicament…," she let her sentence trail off, blocking a blow heading for Dain with her right blade and stabbing the orc in the chest with her left.

"Aye, I see yer point," he chuckled as he hit the surrounding creatures with his hammer.

"I hope you've got a plan," this remark being thrown at Thorin as he moved to fight alongside the two.

"Aye," he answered, looking up towards Ravenhill. "We're going to take out their leader."

"Azog," Dain said in realization.

Annelise watched as her father climbed atop one of the stray mountain goats that was nearby and she moved to his side.

"I'm going to kill that piece of filth."

"Thorin, you cannot do this," Dain protested. "You're our king."

"That is why I must do it."

"Be careful," she said quietly, knowing she was too big to ride along with him.

"And how do ye plan to fight yer way single-handed to Ravenhill?"

She heard a panicked shout and jumped out of the way when she saw a goat-drawn chariot approaching them. She smiled when she saw Balin at the reins, with Dwalin, Fili and Kili riding along with him.

"It's been a while since I've done this," Balin said as soon as they came to a stop.

She moved to climb aboard, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see her father next to her, stopping her advance.

"No, Annelise. I need you down here," he spoke and held his hand up when she moved to protest. "Take a small unit of dwarves toward Dale. The Lakemen are likely in need of help and there are many in the city who are unable to defend themselves."

"But Father-"

"I'm trusting you to lead them," he said with a note of finality in his tone and she knew there was no use arguing with him.

"Very well," she conceded. "But promise me, you will be careful."

"Always am," he smiled down at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She then quickly moved over to the side of the chariot where Fili was standing, Kili moving over to stand at his brother's side.

"Don't do anything foolish," she warned them and the brothers reached out and each placed a strong hand on her shoulder.

"I promise," they said at the same time and she reached up and squeezed both of their hands tightly before releasing them.

"Go," she said simply, moving back from the chariot.

"On! To Ravenhill!," her father yelled and they quickly rode away from them.

"You're all mad bastards," Dain said as they pulled away. "You might make it. May Durin save you all."

With these final words a shot of fear shot through Annelise, causing her to realize that there was a very real chance that she could lose one of them and she whispered a prayer under her breath.

"Please be safe."

Soon after her father and the other departed, Dain was able to organise a group of fifteen dwarves for her to take into Dale as her father had instructed.

"The King has instructed for a group to follow Annelise into Dale to assist the men and civilians in the city," Dain was saying to them. "You will be under her command."

He paused and looked over the dwarves standing before him for a moment.

"I would lay upon you another charge," he stated seriously. "The princess is to be protected at all cost. I do not want to face Thorin if anything should happen to her."

Annelise was slightly shocked at the order and also completely blindsided by the title. She had not given much thought to her position now that her father was King Under the Mountain. 'Although I suppose I am also a princess in Rohan,' she thought to herself absentmindedly, as she gestured for the dwarves to follow after her.

Thus began her efforts to lead the small band of dwarves under her command into Dale.