Chapter 45: The Last Light of Durin's Day

(Almost uploaded the wrong document here - you nearly got an unedited 10,000 word Silmarillion crossover. It would have been a wild plot twist.)

Thanks to everyone who motivated me to get this posted!

Days passed and the weather grew no less cold. The map was taken out, argued over, put away again and argued over some more until, finally, sunrise came to a little camp at the foot of a rocky cliff to the western side of the mountain.

Light crept sluggishly over the rocks and the dwarves snored on unawares, but Bella met Thorin's eyes across the camp.

So dawned Durin's day.

It was a crisp and clear day, milder than those of late, and proclaiming it a sign of good fortune the dwarves had begun their search for the hidden door with high spirits. Indeed, it was a good day to search, for the chillier it got the more miserable they all became and rain would have dampened their moods as well as their tunics and mist hindered their vision. As it was, when midday had come and gone they were still just as determined that they would find the door, only their stomachs grumbled a little louder.

"Are you sure stone-sense is a real thing?" Bella asked dubiously, an hour or so after when lunch should have been but hadn't.

Bofur was plastered head to toe to the rock face with his eyes closed and had been for the past five minutes.

Dori shook his head and gave the same put-upon sigh he did whenever Oin started talking about portents. "They say that it is possible to see inside the rock, to feel the cracks and faults within; that either as a result of living beneath the surface for centuries or as a gift from Mahal, it speaks to us."

"Like the trees speak to elves?" Bella smirked.

"Like a compass and map." She was dutifully ignored. "...Some are more attuned to it than others."

Bofur snorted as he pulled himself away from the cliff. "I hear our leader has a talent for it. Dori, however, is as deaf to the stone as a doornail."

"I can search just as well with my eyes," The dwarf huffed as the three of them moved on. "They can see much further than you can sense. 'Twould only be luck to be close enough to the door to feel it."

The miner shrugged, but did not withhold a mutter. "Invisible door..."

And ah, yes. Invisible doors. An impressive feat, Bella would be the first to admit, and no doubt a fantastic security system. Ingenious, really, for keeping unwanted visitors out. It was only unfortunate that in this case they were the unwanted visitors for all intents and purposes. It was a problem, one that had been argued over many a time, but Balin had been certain that the position of the entrance would be marked in some way, even if the door itself could not be seen, and so they searched for a sign.

"Where's my brother?" Dori demanded as they came upon a bored looking Dwalin leaning on an axe.

The dwarf grunted and motioned upwards with a nod of his head. It seemed Nori had decided to check out a interesting ledge on the cliff. Just a simple thirty meter free climb up the sheer rock face.

"Good lord."

Bella raised an eyebrow mildly, quite determined to think as little about it as possible, while Dori turned shakily to Dwalin and hissed, "Do me a favour: if he does not fall and break, kill him."

The fussy dwarf stomped off to look elsewhere, seething silently and pulling a bug-eyed Bofur along behind. Dwalin noticeably perked up a little, a grin slowly working its way on to his face as he watched Nori climb. - Then he noticed her still standing there and stopped and gave a roll of his eyes as if to say 'I wouldn't'.

Bella sighed. To the west Oin and Gloin were arguing over a hole in the rock. A little further along Bifur was working his way around the cliff-side. She turned and surveyed the area before setting off in the opposite direction.

"Fili!" She yelled, seeing his head turn and getting a wave. "Where's-"

He cupped his hands to his ears, and Bella strained to be heard over such a distance.

"Thorin!" She shouted over the picking wind. "Thooorin!"

It took a minute, but eventually the dwarf got the idea and pointed east.

Bella started to shout a thank you, but then settled for a wave of her own and was on her way.

The spur of the mountain was vast and weathered. In some parts rocky slope one could walk up, covered in coarse grasses and long abandoned rabbit holes, in other parts near-vertical rock faces, dark and high. It was easy to lose sight of one another with all its rises and falls and jutting outcrops, and there were plenty of places to keep a door well hidden.

Bella turned a bend in the rock before catching sight of the dwarf she was looking for standing at the foot of another cliff and oh- Her eyes widened in surprise. Almost at the same time Thorin turned and spotted her and began heading in her direction.

"You found it!" She cried and hurried her pace as they neared. Finally! Now maybe Bombur might be allowed to cook them something!

The dwarf gave her a faint smile as she slowed from her jog but shook his head. "Not as of yet. We may need to spread further-"

"You don't think the giant dwarf carved into the cliff has anything to do with it?" Bella interrupted with a frown and a raise of her brow.

"The-?" The dwarf turned and trailed off.

It was an impressive thing, over a hundred feet tall and unmistakeably dwarf-shaped – not at all dissimilar to those standing guard on the main gate. What this one guarded? Well, Bella would dare a guess. Without a doubt this was the most interesting thing they'd come across all day.

Bella eyed the dwarf at her side, taking the time to enjoy the dumbfounded expression on his face.

He'd missed it. He'd been standing right there and he'd missed it. Bella bit down the urge to immediately crow over the fact. There'd surely be plenty of opportunities. - This thought clearly occurred to Thorin too, even through all of his surprise and triumph, for it was not long before he rounded upon her with a glare, likely hoping to swear her to silence.

But across Bella's face had already spread a wicked grin, and he could recognise a cause completely lost.

Half a year ago he might have stomped off without a word. Half a year ago she might have let it go. Bella's grin widened.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

The company was gathered by a large stone foot with everything they had within the hour, exclaiming over the statue's size and poking victoriously at the map and claiming that this must be the place.

The carving hid a pathway - stairs set into the rock which zigzagged up as far as the giant axe the dwarf hefted, which it seemed they would have to walk along. It wasn't as easy to spot from this angle...not that Bella would ever admit that. No, she was perfectly happy to hold this over Thorin's head for days, weeks if at all possible.

The staircase itself was steep. Its narrowness made Bombur nervous and in the end he opted to remain at the foot of the cliff with the pony.

Thorin started climbing first and was quickly followed by Fili and Kili who were eager in their excitement and pulled Ori along with them. That sent Dori off after them, and then went Balin and Dwalin followed by Oin and Gloin who were, after the initial elation of finding the pathway, both suitably put-out that the whole time they'd been looking for a keyhole. Bifur took with him a large wicked-looking spear he'd gotten hold of in Laketown, as if it might ward any waiting dragons away.

It wasn't such a hard climb once you got going – that was, it looked worse from the ground. As long as one focused simply on the step in front of them it wasn't even slow going, and the company progressed at a steady pace with no slips or stumbles.

No, no, it was fine. As long as one did not look down over the edge. Bella gulped and focused her attention back on her feet, her fingers whitening around a handful of Bofur's coat.

"If either of you take me down with you," Nori began dryly, and Bella gave a little squeak. "I will find you in Mandos' Halls..."

The threat was left hanging over the edge of a narrow stone pathway eighty feet above the ground. Bofur gave a nervous laugh and quickly released his hold on the dwarf's belt.

"Tell me it again."

Bella did not pause in her pacing, very conscious of Ori watching her wide-eyed from his perch on a rock.

Kili let out a long loud sigh, not looking up in favour of picking through a small bag of nuts.

"Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks," The young dwarf half-heartedly flicked a peanut at his brother. "And the setting sun with the last light of Durin's day will shine upon the key-hole..."

On a small ledge upon the mountain side the hours had passed and sunset had been and gone, and no amount of shouting or cursing could bring the sun back. The moon hid behind silvery wisps of cloud and, as Oin so helpfully pointed out: 'That damned bird is watching us again. What a pretty bunch of fools we must make!'

The dwarves sat (or in Kili's case, sprawled) around with the empty bowls left from the dinner Bombur had cooked them several long hours ago, and glared at anything and everything they set their eyes upon as if it were to blame for their failure. They were understandably upset, more than a little angry at the unfairness of it all - dejected and sulking but remaining at her insistence...or perhaps simply too disappointed to do anything else. Gloin was grumbling, Bifur restless, Thorin's face set in a scowl and Fili's an impressive stony mirror. A little optimism would not go amiss at a time like this. Unfortunately Bofur had clambered back down to keep Bombur company.

Bella turned sharply on her heel, stared a moment long and hard at the rock face (where the door should be), then began pacing once again. Gloin made a strangled sound.

She had thought it all over again and again and she was certain she was missing something, she just didn't know what. But there had to be some way. They had done everything right, they were certain this was the place and it had taken the better part of a year to get this far – she'd be damned if they did this all again next year just because the door wasn't being cooperative!

None of the dwarves were being particularly helpful either and despite their glumness her refusal to let things rest was beginning to irritate, though no one had spoken up about it quite yet. Bella let out a sigh and rubbed the heel of her hand over her forehead. Perhaps there was such thing as too much thinking, but she refused to accept they had come all this way for nothing.

The little bird that had been flitting around the ledge since they arrived didn't share her woes. It darted down to snatch up a small snail in it's bill, ignorant of the murderous looks it was getting from a twitchy Oin. Above, the clouds finally parted.

It was Bella's turn for a choked noise to escape her throat. She reached blindly for where she thought Dwalin's shoulder was in an attempt to gain his notice, her eyes as wide as her grandmother's dinner plates.

The dwarf swatted her hand from his face with a grumble, but Thorin was already on his feet and moving and if Bella's flailing didn't get the other's full attention, that did. There was a chorus of in-takes of breath and hushed exclamations and then they were all scrambling to their feet. Kili's bag of nuts went scattering across the rock in his haste.

The cliff face was bathed in pure moonlight, and there upon the rock beside them lay a dark outline of the door. For a long moment they all could do naught but stand and stare, the light of moon softening shadows and revealing their expressions of awe.

Balin eventually broke the silence with a quiet chuckle. "The map was written in moon runes, we should have guessed!"

Thorin marched forward with the key. The bird on the doorstep unsettled with an indignant twitter, flying off into the night.

They all watched with bated breath.

The key fit - it turned with a heavy click.

Thorin breathed a sigh of relief. He pressed his fingers to the stone and gave a push. The door gave, opening to reveal a dark passageway three dwarves wide and two dwarves tall.

They filed in slowly, one by one.

There was a collective quietness that no one thought to break. Bella stood in the darkness as the dwarves traced their hands over the passage walls to feel the stone. Her eyes had lost the advantage of daylight and in the passage she could discern very little, but the dwarves' eyes could make out more. They saw the shapes of carvings on the walls where she could not, and those with good enough stone-sense felt beyond.

Bella reached out too and ran her fingers along the ridges of runes. Her hand bumped into something set on the wall. Oh!

Gloin was already at her shoulder, and with a bit of fumbling the lantern flared to life and the passage flickered with light, revealing the carvings on the walls and a tear-y Balin to her right.

They'd made it. They'd truly made it.

Her stomach dropped. They'd made it.

It was time to do what they'd hired her for.

It seemed suddenly that they were all avoiding her gaze, and a feeling of dizzying overwhelmingness began to creep over Bella.

Thorin finally turned from where he had still been engrossed in the rock. He cleared his throat and gave them all a once over before giving his orders.

"...It's been a long day. Get some rest."

The dwarves nodded and those that had kept them on their backs began throwing down their packs in the passage and pulling free their bedrolls.

Bella immediately retreated back out onto the ledge, waving off Nori's concern with a shaky smile.

The night was cold, but the air was calming. Bella picked an out-of-the-way spot and sat heavily on the ground.

She had just had time to take a couple of carefully measured breaths when Thorin emerged. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he retrieved his pack from the other end of the ledge, picking up two more that had been left lying about and slinging them through the door as he passed it by. The noise he received in return could have been one either of gratitude or of pain, and something of a smirk graced his lips before he trudged over to her.

"How do you fare?" He inquired quietly as he settled himself on the ground at her side.

Bella slumped. A long sigh escaped her. "I..."

She shook her head and turned her attention to the sky. "I do not know."

How should one feel, when preparing to steal from a dragon? Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, probably not disagreeable to the taste of hobbit-

"If the dragon is awake down there you get yourself out. Straight back here to the narrow passages where he cannot follow." The dwarf spoke up.

Bella tilted her head in acknowledgement. More common sense than an actual plan, and a little vague on the details...It didn't have quite the ring running screaming for the hills this very instant did, but it definitely had more honour in it.

"Then what?" It had been explained to her more than once the importance that she get what they were after, should the dragon still live.

The dwarf gave the slightest of shrugs. "We'll deal with that if it comes to it."

Bella swallowed and gave a single nod.

The sky was mostly clear and the moon and stars allowed a certain amount of visibility. The moon in particular was exceptionally bright, accented only further by their lack of a fire. Bella was certain she had never seen it shine so strongly in all her life, and wondered briefly if it was an exclusivity to this part of the world or a strange dwarvish magic especially for door-revealing proposes, but quickly pushed the thought away.

For all the moon's efforts Thorin was still shadowed to her, and while she was well aware he could see her much better than she saw him, at least the darkness may yet hide from him some of her pallor. She did not like to be seen so affected, though she would not wish him away.

She felt a measure of gratefulness that he would choose to sit by her while she fretted instead of with his kin surrounded by the walls of his home. It lightened her heart and drew her mind from dark paths.

"What would you do?" She wondered aloud, quickly back-tracking upon hearing her own words. "What would be done next, if the dragon is dead and Erebor was yours tomorrow?"

It was something that had never greatly been discussed, never had he truly dared to hope.

"I'm sure there's all manner of things to be attended to. Steps to be taken," She reasoned. "Though there can hardly be a standard procedure for things like this."

Thorin hummed and shifted as he gave the question its due consideration, pulling over his pack to retrieve a large, man-sized blanket acquired in Laketown and settling himself in for the night. She huffed as he almost elbowed her in the face.

"You mean after the wild celebrations my nephews will no doubt drag us all into?"

Bella snorted quietly. Yes, she could well imagine.

"First word would go to the Iron Hills, of which my cousin, Dain, is Lord." The dwarf began. "The dragon is a great danger, but while it lives it provides this mountain with protection, once it is gone... We shall have to move quickly to secure the mountain. As soon as we begin to do so the world will know it, and time will be a matter of essence."

"It would take more than a week for Dain's forces to arrive, but they would come several hundred strong - skilled warriors to defend our walls from any that might look to press their advantage." His gaze darkened slightly and his eyes wandered in the direction of Mirkwood. "Stone-layers and architects would follow at their heels – as many as can spared, to repair and assess stability...I dread to think of the damage that beast has done."

Bella winced – even at a distance she had seen the great chunks of rock broken from the front gate.

"Word would be spread to all standing dwarven settlements; and in the following weeks we may receive a few workmen from the outpost that survives in Ered Mithrin... The next to arrive would come from Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains, where the majority of Durin's folk have found settlement. A number of the more able merchants and guards may immediately start out for the mountain, though we should not see them for several months. Many plans must be put in place before the masses truly begin to move."

"Not all will come." The dwarf admitted. "Some will wish to remain in the lives that they have built there, but many will look to Erebor, and among them will be young and old and un-battlefit. Their journey cannot be left to luck and chance as ours, nor can they arrive to a home unstable and unable to support them. They need safer passage, and trade agreements must be made long before the caravans grace these lands..."

There was an odd inflection in his voice, as there often was when he talked about his people. Bella doubted she could ever hope to truly understand what they meant to him, and she had no wish to find out through first hand experience. She had long come to the conclusion it was no great thing to be King.

Bella settled herself further into the scratchy blanket. Her fingers were numb with cold and she rubbed her hands together insistently in attempt to bring them back to life. She was utterly filthy – her thick curls a-fly and dry mud between her toes, but none of that bothered her quite as much as it once did.

Actually, it bothered her very little, and it was around about this moment that Bella came to a startling realisation – that she could be happy here, like this: on a mountain ledge in cold night air, listening to Thorin speak. She might forget the dragon beneath the rock, given time she might even forget how far she was from home...and that was a worrisome thing, especially for a hobbit.

But it was true; whether she should or should not, she could be quite content...and she feared she knew why.

Thorin was a solid presence at her side, and Bella ignored the stars in favour of studying his face in the darkness. The dwarf carried on, ignorant of her gaze - his head lent back against the rock and eyes closed, musing aloud about possible structural damage in the mines.

He was an interesting soul, and though Bella would not count her initial judgement of him as entirely incorrect, she would admit there was more to him than first met the eye.

Ill-mannered and proud – that's what she had thought, and there was plenty of truth in it. Thorin was painfully lacking in manners when it came to strangers (which was practically everyone they came across) and it had frustrated Bella to no end more than once. It was born from distrust, which dwarves seemed to have in spades. His pride, meanwhile, was an odd sort of thing. He would rage against any who should dare speak a word poorly of him or his people whether they were correct in their accusations or not (and anyone who could consistently beat Dwalin in a fight was a force to be feared), and yet he was self-depreciative in a way that surprised her, counting his failures before he did his triumphs.

Thorin who could get lost on a single path fenced on both sides, got sick when trolls shook him around too much and scoffed at pretty words even when blunt honesty would bring him more trouble than it was worth. Who told a good tale and was knowledgeable in his own practical, royal way. He could be sharper than an outsider might give him credit when he stopped and actually bothered to think - patience was usually his issue (and perhaps the long standing presence of Balin, who was often clever enough that no one else had to be).

He had moments in which he managed to utterly surprise her, like the instant she realised he would sometimes let Fili and Kili get away with small mischiefs by pretending he was too far away or too in thought to hear. Or like a few nights ago when Balin had come to her with a new list of riddles and answers had rolled off their leader's tongue with such a casual ease that Bella had done naught but stare at the dwarf for the rest of the evening.

Thorin who spent the better part of every passing day with an expression of stone upon his face, and huffed and glared and snapped at the world, yet completely transformed with a smile or a laugh. With a good heart and a dry humour and more stubbornness than any one individual had right to possess. ...He had come to mean a great deal to her, despite how they had started out.

Bella shook her head and gave a silent sigh. A great deal indeed. It was odd how these things worked.

It was a strange feeling, growing stronger by the day. It was the voice perhaps, or the face, the way they lightened when he smiled. Just think what the neighbours would say... Despite herself Bella could not withhold a quiet chuckle.

Thorin opened his eyes and looked to her in question. "What?"

"Oh, I'm just imagining you in Balin's reading glasses." Bella did not miss a beat.

The moon had clouded over a little and in the darkness she could not fully appreciate the flat look her lie had bought her, but she could practically feel the roll of his eyes and that made her laugh again.

"...And you?" He asked after a pause.

"Hmmm?" She could just about make out the curve of the dwarf's smile.

"What would Bilbo Baggins do?"

It took her several moments to pick up the conversation, but very few more before her answer came to her. "See what preserves you have in the stores. Your people emptied my pantry, 'tis only fair I do the same to yours!"

She had been assured time and time again by Bombur that there should be edibles still in Erebor's stores rooms, sealed away from the air and the years - that dwarvish preserves were the most long-lived in the world.

"Then..." She turned back to the stars. "I'm not certain. I'd stick around for a while, I suppose. I'd want to be around to see Gandalf's face when he turns up, and I'm owed a tour."

The dwarf grunted. "Was that in your contract?"

Bella flashed a grin.

"You'll have to check the entire thing to find out." She declared. "So either we'll have to find you some spectacles, or else you could have Ori read it aloud to you."

Thorin gave a half-hearted scowl.

"My eyes are perfectly fine." He seemed to finally feel the need to defend himself, but by Bella he was willfully ignored.

"I understand now how you managed to get lost on the way to Bag-End. Everything is signposted, you know." She nodded knowingly.

The dwarf sunk down an inch, grumbling under his breath.

"Should have left you in the Shire." He huffed, but it was fond, and that meant more to her than she'd ever admit.

Bella woke up shivering.

Unlike the previous day the sky was completely clouded and an icy breeze had already begun to blow in from the North. It whipped past their sheltered corner and whistled over the rock, but every so often a biting gust would find its way into their refuge and Bella half regretted not sleeping inside with the rest of the company. Poor Bofur and Bombur and the pony down on the ground must be being blown away!

Thorin was still asleep, and Bella stared a few beats before giving his arm a shake and watching him wake.

The was a furrow to his brow as he sat and went about securing his weapons. Bella wondered if he'd dreamed about the dragon too, except while her dragon was undefined and reminiscent of an old picture in a book and the faces of the people who ran and screamed nameless and blurred, his dragon was very real and the faces people he'd known once, a long time ago.

The itchy blanket was shoved unceremoniously back into Thorin's pack and the straps buckled down. The dwarf ran a hand through his hair only for it to get stuck. He gave a slight wince before he sighed tiredly and stood.

"I'll wake the others." He said.

Bella allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Standing made the morning even colder. "I'll go check on Bofur and Bombur. I don't suppose they even know the news."

The dwarf nodded and let her go. She was stalling, but when it came to live dragons there was little shame in that.

Balin insisted on walking her as far down the passage as any of them dared to go.

The old dwarf blabbered on in hushed tones, detailing and re-detailing directions that made little sense to Bella, and theorising in which part of the treasury she was most likely to find the arkenstone.

All too soon they reached a turn in the passage and the old dwarf drew to a sudden stop. A terrible tension had risen in the air.

She looked to Balin and found him watching her tentatively with grandfatherly concern. She stared a bit dumbly back, and dimly realised he knew very well that every word he had said had passed completely over her head. He hid it well for her sake, but there was fear in those old eyes of his.

"Bilbo-"

But Bella shook herself then, and spoke up in a voice steady enough that she'd later recall the moment with a glimmer of pride.

"I overheard Bombur mentioning an early lunch today, don't let them eat it all before I'm back."

I have about twelve chapters to go with this, and about half of it written. Unfortunately that's not six chapters written and six not, but twelve chapters in varying states of unfinishedness. But hey, at least they've found the door now!