Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter update, my beautiful viewers. I have been occupied with other projects of mine, but I am making an effort to keep up with my writing. Please be sure to leave your comments in the reviews as I will read each and every one of them. Thank you all for your support and please enjoy the story.

Chapter Five: Tales of Moria and A Heart-to-Heart with Dwalin

It has been four days since we left Bag-End and since I first showed the dwarves how capable both Bilbo and I were in a fight, to say they were amazed would be an understatement as they have come to believe that both Bilbo and I were just lying about our abilities in battle.

We had just left the town of Bree and I could hear Thorin talking with Gandalf and Balin about something but I couldn't make it out, I remained by Bilbo's side and continued to train him on this journey but there were times when some of the dwarves would offer to spar with either of us just to switch things up a bit which I believed was a good idea as Bilbo and I have gotten almost too familiar with each other's fighting patterns.

We were now camping by a cliff which I recognised as the same cliff where Balin told the story of the Battle of Moria. When we stopped to camp for the night, I erected a protective barrier around the whole company and our ponies which earned me a few approving looks from Gandalf and Balin.

A few hours later, I was sitting by the fire reading one of my spell books while many of the other members of the company when I noticed Bilbo getting up, stretched and then walked over to his pony Myrtle while pulling out an apple from his pocket and fed it to her while whispering.

Then suddenly...

SCREEECH SCREEECH

I looked around as I knew what that sound was before Bilbo then turned around and asked while pointing out into the wilderness:

"What was that?"

"Orcs." Kili said as he was looking around from the fire.

"Orcs?" Bilbo asked as he stepped closer to the fire, I turned to see Thorin waking up suddenly and looked out over at the landscape at the edge of the cliff.

"Throat Cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lone-lands are crawling with them." Fili explained as he was puffing at his smoke pipe.

"They strike in the wee small hour when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet, no screams. Just lots of blood." Kili continued in a hushed tone, causing Bilbo to pale slightly as he turned to look out at the horizon. I turned to see Kili looking over at his brother and both then chuckled before Thorin's voice spoke out.

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" Thorin asked as he stepped up and glared at both his nephews.

"We didn't mean anything by it." Kili looked down bashfully as he realised that he had done something that hit too close to home with his uncle, who had fought more orcs than he or his brother have.

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin growled as he walked off towards the cliffside, I wanted to go over and talk to Thorin but I knew that he wouldn't be much of a taker at the moment. I decided to wait until tomorrow or something to talk to him.

I turned to Kili and Fili and looked at the with disappointment. "Thorin's right, boys. You should never joke about something as serious as raid by orcs." I said calmly but also sternly, the two young dwarves looked at me with a look of shame in their faces.

"Don't mind him, lass." Balin said as he walked up and then leaned against the cliff wall. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs." I looked over at Fili as he turned his head towards his uncle who stood at the cliff's edge.

"After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient city of Moria." Balin said as he began to tell us all the story of the Battle of Moria, the death of Thorin's grandfather the King, the disappearance of Thrain (Thorin's father) and how Thorin fought against Azog the Defiler.

As I listened to the story, I recalled watching it all in the movies.

FLASHBACK

The scenes flashed through my head, images with vast numbers of dwarven warriors fighting grotesque orcs on a rocky terrain. The sounds of metal clashing against metal, the cries of the dwarves and snarls of the orcs filled the air along with the smell of smoke, dirt, sweat and blood.

I recalled the image of Azog swinging his club hard against any dwarves in his reach as he swatted them away like flies, then he turned to see Thorin's grandfather: Thror glare at him before he snarled something in Black Speech and made his way to the dwarf king. Swinging his club against the Dwarven shield that Thror held as the two fought.

Images soon turned to Azog letting out a roar as he held up the severed head of Thror, Thorin witnessing Azog holding up his grandfather's head before the Pale Orc snarled as he threw away Thror's head towards the young dwarf prince. Thorin, after witnessing the severed head of his grandfather rolling on the ground, let out a bellowing before he started to make his way face Azog, only to be stopped by Thrain.

"Father." Thorin turned to see his father as he held him back.

"Stay back." Thrain said as he stared at his son firmly.

"No. I will fight with you." Thorin protested.

"Azog means to kill us all. One-by-one, he will destroy the line of Durin. But by my life, he shall not take my son." Thrain said as he looked deep into his eldest son's eyes. "You will stay here." And with that he made his way through the hoard of fighting dwarves and orcs towards the Pale Orc that had savagely slain his father, leaving behind Thorin who could only look on as Thrain disappeared from his sight never to be seen again.

"Father!" Thorin called, soon after the Pale Orc turned his sights onto the young dwarf prince once again. Azog began to spin around before his club came into contact with Thorin's shield, knocking it out of his hands and then Thorin's sword with another swing. The impact of the second swing caused Thorin to lose his balance and roll down some steep rock until he landed on his back.

Staring up at the Pale Orc who was about to swing his club to crush him, Thorin crawled back a bit before turning his head to see an oaken branch within arm's reach. He grabbed it and then spun away as Azog's club then hit the stone ground, giving Thorin time to get back up on his feet and turned back to face Azog himself.

Azog continued to swing his club against the oaken branch that Thorin used to protect himself with, but the force of each impact caused Thorin's knees to buckle under. But as Azog was about to swing the final blow, Thorin reached for a sword from a fallen dwarf warrior and swung it against Azog, cutting off the Pale Orc's lower left arm.

Azog let out a cry of anguish and pain as he took hold of his wound, falling to his knees before many other orcs took him from the battlefield and into Moria to tend to his wounds while Thorin turned back to his people and cried out:

"Du Bekar!" And with that he led the remaining dwarf warriors to fight against the remaining Orc forces.

But then the images of the after battle, is what brought me to tears the first time I saw it.

By the time the battle had ended, the stone terrain was now covered with the corpses of both Orcs and Dwarves warrior. The few Dwarves that survived the battle walked amongst their dead brothers-in-arms, mourning for them as they counted them.

Thorin walked through the dead, carrying the sword and oaken branch as he searched for his father among the dead. But never finding him...

END OF FLASHBACK

"And I thought to myself then: There is one who I could follow." Balin's voice pulled me back to reality and I saw him look out towards Thorin. "There is one... I could call king."

I turned to watch as Thorin turned back to see all the members of his company awake and stood in their place, staring at him in awe after hearing the story that Balin had just told. Slowly, Thorin walked past each member before the sound of Bilbo's voice asked:

"But the pale orc? What happened to him?" He asked curiously.

"He slunk back into the hole from whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Thorin sneered as he walked past us and went back to his bedroll, 'If only that were true, my dear Thorin.' I thought as I looked over at Gandalf by the tree who shared a concern look with Balin. They both knew that Azog the Defiler was still alive, and he was looking for revenge against Thorin and the line of Durin. But unlike them, I also knew that Azog wasn't going to be the only pale orc to destroy the Durin line, but also his son: Bolg, was practically raised on his father's belief that the Line of Durin needs to end.

I wasn't going to let those monsters get to Thorin or Fili and Kili like they did in the movies and the book, this was the mission that Aule and Yavanna gave me in return for reincarnating me here in Middle-Earth. A pretty fair deal and seen in a few isekai animes.

I motioned to Bilbo to get some sleep while I looked over at Thorin, I could relate to him a little in regard to losing a loving father and grandfather. I had those things too once, and the memories of losing them was painful.

I returned to my own bedroll which laid near Bilbo's and laid down as I looked up at the stars, I knew my magic barrier would keep us all safe during the night and so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The Next Morning...

I slowly woke up from my sleep to see it was still dark, but the horizon was starting to show the first signs of sunlight, I got out of my bed roll and looked around before my eyes set on Dwalin who was sitting by the fire. My best guess was that he was on watch, even though my magic barrier was still in effect.

I knew that he was a very cautious of anything that he was not familiar with, and I respected that about him, I also knew that he knew Thorin the most as the two seemed to be as close as Dwalin was to his own brother.

I made my way over to the fire as I greeted Dwalin.

"Good morning, Master Dwalin. I hope you slept well." I said as I approached.

"Well enough." Dwalin said as I then started pulling out ingredients from my item box to cook a quick but filling breakfast, Dwalin then asked: "What are you doing, lass?"

"Cooking breakfast, what else?" I said casually with a shrug before I started prepping the ingredients. "I know you don't trust me, master Dwalin. And I don't blame you for that, in fact it actually makes me respect you a little more." I looked over at the big bulking Dwarf as he was watching me with suspicion.

Dwalin looked at me with a hint of surprise but mostly tamed his face with doubt at my words. "You do?"

I nodded.

"I know that my magic powers are strange and that me using it makes you weary of me." I said before continuing with nothing but sincerity in my voice and words. "But I swear to you, I have no ill will against you or any other member of this company. I truly wish to see your people return to their rightful home and be rid of the dragon, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that promise."

I watched as the dwarf warrior looked in my eyes to see if I was lying to him, I could feel the doubt and suspicion in his gaze slowly simmer but not disappear completely.

"We'll see, lass. We'll see." Dwalin said as he then turned away from me and began to sharpen his weapons, which combined with the sounds of my cooking caused the rest of the party to awaken from their sleep and to begin gathering around.

Once the food was ready, I handed everyone their portions and everyone ate happily among themselves, but then I looked over at Thorin who was sitting by himself, and I took a single serving before taking it over to him.

Thorin seemed a bit more accepting of me as he took the serving, I offered him, I felt a warm fuzzy shiver wash through me, but I kept my composure as I returned to the others and ate my breakfast as well. Once everyone was fed and awake, Thorin then called out:

"Alright everyone, gather your packs."

And so, everyone went and gathered up their bedrolls and packs before mounting on their steads and riding off, I looked over at Bilbo as he mounted his pony after feeding her something once again.

I smiled as I then followed the others along the trail with Bilbo by my side.