Lord Of The Rings Fan Fiction ❯ The Healer[Thorin Oakenshield] ❯ Chapter Three - Meeting and Contract ( Chapter 3 )

The wizard got up from his seat and walked over to the door to open it. It revealed yet another dwarf. Bilbo and Maura noticed the others were gathering in the main hall. The two of them decided to follow behind, curious to see who this important person was that the others had been so patiently waiting for. "Gandalf." the gruff voice of the visitor spoke to the wizard. " I thought you said this place would be easy to find." He continued, stepping into the hobbit's home. "I lost my way twice. I wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

Bilbo and Maura had been hiding behind the others, peering through the spaces to see who this was. The hobbit squeezed through when he heard this. "Mark? There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago." The hobbit informed, feeling sure of this.

"There is a mark. I put it there myself." The wizard admitted and the hobbit looked at the door, wondering how he could have missed it. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of the company: Thorin Oakenshield." 

The dwarf looked as this short fellow, with a hint of surprise. He didn't look like burglar material, but he wouldn't express his disappointment yet. "So...this is the hobbit. Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you done much fighting?" He asked, as he circled around the hobbit before facing him once again.

"Pardon me?" Bilbo stuttered, wondering what gave him that idea.

"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?" He demanded in a serious tone. Maura couldn't believe this. This dwarf was actually being serious. 

"Well, I do have some skill at conkers, if you must know." Bilbo awkwardly confessed. Thorin gave the wizard a stern look, clearly annoyed with the wizard's final choice for their fourteenth member to steal back what was taken from them long ago. "But I fail to see why that's relevant."

"Thought as much." Thorin muttered. "He looks more like a grocer than a burglar." He smirked as the others laughed at the remark and he started following the others into the other room. Only one person didn't find this funny and she pushed her way through the dwarves.

" You think your all high and mighty, picking on someone smaller than you?" Maura sneered at him as she stood beside Bilbo. The dwarf stopped in his tracks, a little taken that it was a woman's voice that spoke. He turned around and Maura starred into his cold, ice blue eyes. 

"And who are you?" He challenged, walking right up to her.

"Ah, this Maura. She is Bilbo's aunt." Gandalf quickly explained before the conversation escalated. Thorin looked up at the wizard and then back at the young woman. She resembled nothing like any of the hobbit's he had seen, or to the one that was right in front of him. If anything, he thought she looked more like a dwarf; she defiantly had the attitude of one. He started circling around her and she was not to impressed by this.

"What are you looking at?" She demanded when he came back in front of her with his arms crossed.

"Your not a hobbit...what are you?" He asked.

"I am half dwarf and half hobbit." Maura admitted, waiting to see the dwarf's reaction to this,but he only seemed to narrow his eyes slightly, unsure what to say. He had never met anyone that was only half dwarf. Thorin was quite taken by her appearance for only being a half-breed and he shifted awkwardly from the long silence that filled the room. 

"Well..I think we have a meeting to attend to." Gandalf reminded and the dwarf turned away from her and looked at the wizard and nodded and left to go join the others at the table. The wizard let out a sigh as Bilbo looked at Maura and then the wizard, still trying to figure out what was going on.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin?" Balin asked. Thorin was at the head of the table eating his fill, with a mug of ale. Bilbo and Maura were behind the dwarf, listening to the discussion. " Did they all come?"

"Aye. Envoys from all seven kingdoms." Thorin answered. The dwarves cheered at this great news. 

"And what did the dwarves of the Iron Hills say?" Dwalin questioned. "Is Dain with us?" From the sigh that escaped Thorin's lips, they all knew the answer.

"They will not come. They say this quest is ours and ours alone." Thorin declared, and the others began to murmur amongst themselves their disappointments. 

"You're going on a quest?" Bilbo spoke up sounding quite astonished the wizard hadn't mentioned this earlier. 

"Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." The wizard insisted and the hobbit nodded to the old man;s request and went to go find some more of his candles. Maura watched from the corner she was sitting in, the wizard had taken something out from inside his robes and began to unfold it and placed it right in the middle of the table for all too see. "Far to the east...over ranges and rivers...beyond woodlands and wastelands...lies a single, solitary peak." 

"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo read out loud. Maura had made herself some tea and went back to sit in her corner. 

"Aye, Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time!" Gloin stated to the others.

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain, as it was foretold." Oin explained. "When the birds of Yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end." 

"Uh...what beast?" The hobbit asked in an uneven voice. 

"That would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible." Bofur dignified. "Chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire-breather. Teeth like razors. Claws like meat hooks. Extremely fond of precious metals." 

Suddenly the cup in the woman's hand had fallen and it smashed on the ground. The wizard and the other dwarves; including Thorin looked at her. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to have that happen." Maura awkwardly said as she started picking up the broken pieces and taken them into the kitchen. Bofur was about to continue, on when the hobbit put up his hands up for the dwarf to stop. 

"I know what a dragon is." Bilbo snapped, not wanting these dwarves to scare his aunt anymore. 

"I'm not afraid. I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of dwarvish iron. Right up his jacksie!" Ori jumped up. getting the others going. 

"Good lad, Ori!" Nori agreed

"Sit down." Dori growled as he pulled him by his clothing and he plopped back in his seat. Maura came back into the room, feeling a little more relaxed now and instead of sitting in the corner she stood by the hobbit as the eldest dwarf spoke.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us....But we number just 13. And not 13 of the best...nor brightest." Balin stated. Maura had noticed one thing about this dwarf he was the one that said things for how they were. The dwarves were not impressed with this and began protesting their opinions. 

"We may be few in number...." Fili admitted. "But we're fighters. All of us! To the last dwarf!" He continued, as he restored the dwarves hope.

"And you forget, we have a wizard in our company. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time." Kili added and the wizard suddenly found himself in an awkward situation. 

"Oh, well, no. I-I-I wouldn't say--" Gandalf stuttered, trying to gather his thoughts.

"How many, then?" Dori question.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"How many dragons have you killed?" Dori pressed. The wizard was quite for the longest time until he began coughing. "Go on. Give us a number." Every single one of them jumped out of their seats and began shouting. The only one that seemed to remain calm was Thorin as he watched his fellow companions bickering at each other.

"Uh, excuse me. Please." Bilbo politely interrupted, worried that these dwarves were going to break something, but none seem to hear him. The dwarf suddenly jumped up from his spot yelling something in a language she didn't understand but it seemed to silence them all. 

"If we have read these signs, do you not 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 now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?!" Thorin proclaimed and the dwarves were cheering once again. The woman didn't know how long she had been starring at the dwarf when he spoke, she had been so lost in thought until another one spoke up.

" You forget: the front gate is sealed." He reminded, causing the room to go silent. "There is no way into the mountain." He glumly stated, filling the others with doubt once again. 

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Gandalf stated as he held a key up in the air for all to see. 

"How came you by this?" Thorin whispered, recognizing this object. 

"It was given to me by your father. By Thrain. For safekeeping. It is yours now." The wizard said as he passed the key to the dwarf. 

"If there is a key....there must be a door." Fili insisted.

"These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls." The wizard explained as he pointed to an inscription on the map. 

"There's another way in." Kili cheered.

"Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gandalf sighed. "The answer lies hidden somewhere 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." Ori agreed.

"Hmm. And a good one too. An expert, I'd imagine. " Bilbo stated from behind them.

"And are you?" Oin wondered. 

"Is he what?" Maura asked confused.

"She said he's an expert! Hey!" Oin cheered and the woman shook her head, clearly this dwarf hadn't heard her correctly.

"Me? No, no, no, no. I'm not a burglar." Bilbo argued. Maura slumped up against the wall, as Bilbo tried to explain he was not a burglar. The half-breed didn't know how long she had been starring into space when she heard a loud thud and she looked at the ground.

"Bilbo!"