DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any characters, besides my OC's, all characters go to their respective owners.
This is probably the last I'm going to be posting for a while, exams are coming up, and I have massive projects due for my school art show. I don't know how often I'll be able to publish even after, bc I have to find a job, and stockpile chapters. I hope you all return to read when i publish again, but until then i hope you guys do well, and all your wishes come true.
Every one stared stunned at Leila for a moment. She stood still with her hand still extended.
" Leila this is Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of this group." Gandalf said nervously. Leila stared into his eyes, she saw a flurry of emotions pass, he was angry, surprised, embarrassed, stunned. He didn't know how to react in this kind of situation.
"What is your name?" Thorin asked, he had to regain his wits.
" My Ranger name is Reaper, but I guess you already know that. The name my mother gave to me was Leila."
" If my memory serves me correctly" a dwarf with pure white hair, and a beard that went down to his belt, the slightly curled up, "there were two of you." Liela averted her gaze.
Next it was a mostly bald, and tattooed, dwarf, " Aye, even in the forges of the Blue Mountains we heard merchants talk of the team Rangers, Xavior, and Reaper. Defending the helpless, taking the biggest jobs, they were the best team the Rangers had, or so people said."
" Then after an accident," a dwarf with a funny hat finished it off, " they practically fell off the face of the earth."
Liela looked at her feet. " It's true," she answered, "I had a partner. But she died, and I stopped taking missions." With that she walked back to the kitchen leaving the men in the entry with looks of awe, on their faces.
Leila was sitting at the table when Bilbo walked in, he picked up a bowl and carefully ladled stew into it. " I think they're gathering for a meeting," he told her without looking up. She followed him to the dining area and leaned against the frame of the door way.
" Did they all come?" the white haired dwarf was asking.
"Aye," answered Thorin, " envoys from all seven kingdoms."
" And what do the dwarfs of the Iron Hills say," queried the bald headed dwarf, " Is Dain with us?"
Thorin rested his spoon in his stew, " They will not come." An disappointed sighs and groans followed his remark. "They say this quest is ours and ours alone."
Silence overtook the dwarfs for the very first time that entire evening.
" You're going on a quest?" Bilbo asked innocently.
"Bilbo, my dear fellow," said Gandalf," Let us have a little more light. Far to the east, over ranges and rivers, through woodlands and waste lands, lies a single solitary peak.."
"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo finished.
"Aye," a dwarf with a thick main and beard of red hair, " Oin has read the portents and the protents say that it is time."
A grey haired dwarf chimed in, " Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain, as it was foretold. When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast shall end."
Leila saw Bilbo stiffen in his pantry, he turned, " What beast?" he questioned nervously.
"Oh that would be a reference to Smaug the terrible," the dwarf with the funny hat answered, " the chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne firebreather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, extremely fond of precious metals."
"Yes, I know what a dragon is." responded Bilbo.
Just then a young looking dwarf in a sweater blurted, " I'm not afraid, I'm up for it, I'll give 'em a taste of dwarfish iron right up his jacksie." This roused a few cheers from the other dwarfs, but the dwarf was pulled back to his seat by another dwarf with a intricate set of braids in his hair. Leila had to smile, he was so young, and had probably never seen battle, yet he was so willing to lay down his life if necessary, for his kin.
"The path would be difficult enough with an army behind us," Leila heard the white haired dwarf saying, " but we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest." This earned him a lot of shouts, and cries of disagreement, one dwarf even dared to queery, "Eh, who are you calling dim?"
The blonde dwarf, Fili, pounded his fist on the table, " We may be few in number," he said to them, his deep blue eyes, met with Leila's teal colored ones," But we're fighters. All of us. To the last dwarf."
Kili followed quickly, "And you forget we have a wizard in our midst, Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time." Leila looked amused at Gandalf at he stuttered out what was supposed to be the truth.
" Well how many then." one dwarf asked.
"What?" Gandalf asked nimbly.
"How many dragons have you killed?"
Gandalf sat with a blank expression on his face, puffed his pipe. The dwarfs grew restless at this and began shouting at one another, " Come on give us a number," the dwarf yelled. Gandalf grew so uncomfortable that smoke began to come out of his nose. Leila laughed, she knew full well that Gandalf had never seen a real live dragon.
Thorin shouted something at them in Khuzdul, and they quieted. " if we have read these signs," he said, "do yo unot think others will have read them too? Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east to the mountain assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lies unprotected; do we sit back while other claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor. Dubakai! Dubakai!" The words he yelled must have been endearing, for they lifted the faces of the dwarfs, caused them to shout with him.
"You forget," the white haired dwarf interrupted," the front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain."
"That my dear Balin," Gandalf said twirling a key through his fingers, " is not entirely true."
Thorin gazed at the key in disbelief, " How came you by this?" he whispered, as if in a daze.
"It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safe keeping. It is yours now." Gandalf handed the key to Thorin, and every dwarf in the room gazed in awe.
"If there is a key," sais Fili breaking the silence," then there must be a door." Leila put her fingers between her brows, and shook her head. If this was the company she must endure for the forseeable future, she did not know how she was to survive.
"These runes speak of a hidden passage, that leads to the lower halls." Gandalf informed them.
"There's another way in." said Kili. Again Leila shook her head, and closed her eyes. Silently praying to whoever would listen to preserve her sanity throughout this journey.
"Dwarf doors are invisible, at first," Gandalf sighed," the answer lies somewhere hidden in this map, and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in middle earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done."
"That's why we need a burglar." one dwarf said.
"Mmmh, and a good one too," Bilbo chimed in," an expert I'd imagine."
"And are you?" queried a dwarf with a hearing trumpet sticking out of his ear.
"Am I what?" Bilbo asked in wonderment.
" He said he's an expert." said the dwarf triumphantly.
"Me?" said Bilbo in disbelief," no,no,no,no. I'm not a burglar, I've never stolen a thing in my life."
"I'm afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins." the white haired dwarf, Balin, said," He's hardly burglar material." Biblo nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Aye," said the bald headed dwarf," the wild is no place for gentle folk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves."
The dwarfs began to dicuss this amonst themselves, setting Gandalf at a great unease.
"Enough," he said rising, the temperature dropped, and the lights flickered," if I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, than a burglar he is." Leila was astonished, it was rare that Gandalf came so close to losing his temper. Although she suspected that he would lose it quite a lot as their journey progressed. " Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet," he continued,"in fact they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage." Bilbo made to object, and Gandalf turned to Thorin, "You asked me to find the fourteenth, and fifteenth, members of this company, and I have chosen Mr. Baggins and Ms. Leila. There is a lot more to them than appears to suggest, and they have a great deal more to offer than any of you know. Including themselves." This last part puzzled Leila, she knew exactly what she could offer, why did every one assume she didn't know her own mind. "You must trust me on this." Gandalf finished.
"Very well." Thorin whispered, " Gloin give them the contract."
" It's just the usual," said Balin, " a summary of our pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth." Leila took the paper and began to unfold it.
"Funeral arrangements!" Bilbo exclaimed. As Leila and Bilbo examined the parchment, she heard Thorin say to Gandalf, "I cannot be responsible for his safety,"
"Understood." was Gandalf's reply.
"Nor shall I be responsible for his fate."
"Agreed."
She turned her attention back to the contract and Bilbo.
"...but not exceeding 1/14, of the share," he was reading. They moved onto the injuries part, and funeral arrangements.
"Lacerations," Bilbo sounded out, "insi.. Insineration." he gulped.
" Oh aye," the weird hatted dwarf spoke up," he'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye." Bilbo staggered for a moment, looking sickly green.
"You alright laddie," Balin asked.
" Yeah I will be." Bilbo said breathlessly.
"Think furnace with wings," once again the hatted dwarf spoke, and Leila glared at him, he was not helping the situation. "Flash of light, searing pain, then poof, you're nothing more than a pile of ash."
"You are not helping, master dwarf." said Leila sharply. She turned to see Bilbo straighten, "Nope," he said, and fainted dead away.
X
After they had gotten Bilbo to come to, they propped him in a chair with a cup of chamomile tea, courtesy of the intricately braided dwarf. Leila went back to the dining room, where the dwarfs had abandoned, and picked up the fallen contract. She sat at the table to read it. Suddenly, the dwarf Balin was at her side.
"Have you decided lassie?" he questioned.
"I was decided before I came, otherwise I would not be here." Balin nodded his head in understanding and offered her a quill already dipped with ink. Leila took it nimbly, and scribbled a sloppy, barely legible, 'Reaper'.