Chapter 8

It took some days of sailing and walking to even reach the overlook that Gandalf had spoken of what seemed so long ago. The days of constant travel were almost pleasant compared to the rush and panic of some of their journey. No wargs or orcs in sight, In fact, apart from the time restriction, the only thing to worry about was the inclement weather.

Bilbo spent most of the first day or so listening to the Dwarves speak of their imprisonment by Thranduil. By noon of the first day she had nearly mastered control of the flush that came to her face whenever they brought up their stay in the Woodland Realm. Guilt filled her constantly.

Had she done the right thing by staying away from them the whole time?

Maybe it would have been better after all if she had just got everything out in the open weeks ago and gone to see them. But Thorin hated Thranduil and despite her 'rescuing' him and his sudden change in demeanor towards her she still wasn't sure of him. It was hard to put aside months of harsh and at times hurtful words and treatment just because he had suddenly changed his mind about her. No. She was sure that Thorin, while having a new appreciation of her, did not trust her enough to put aside any animosity he felt for the Elf King just on the power of her word alone.

She had done the right thing. She was certain of it.

Now, if she could just stop feeling guilty about it everything would be so much better.

As Bilbo struggled with her inner turmoil they walked and they climbed, eating while they travelled and only breaking off to make a rudimentary camp and find as much sleep as they could when night fell and continuing on became too dangerous.

It seemed with each passing hour the temperature grew colder and Bilbo found herself offering silent thanks to Bard for his thoughtfulness in supplying her with the cloths – her Shire jacket would not have stood a chance against the cutting wind and the odd flurry of snow the land nearer the mountain was offering.

She tried her best to avoid the odd bank of snow or puddle of icy water but it was not always possible and for the first time since leaving Bag End her feet were cold and she envied the Dwarves in their heavy boots – despite not knowing how they walked with such uncomfortable looking things on their feet…and heavy, how on earth did they lift their legs?. But she trudged on after them and as they grew nearer to the base of the mountain and the conversations and excited chatter between even the younger members of the company became less, she lost herself in thoughts of Legolas and Thranduil and the time she had spent with them.

She could not remember ever feeling so happy. Not for a long time anyway. It had only been a few days and she missed them both so fiercely her chest hurt with the strain of it.

Bilbo was walking along in a bit of a daze – the weeks of inactivity had made her soft and she had lost some of the stamina she had gained – when a cry came from the front of the Company. She looked up from where she had been concentrating on putting one chilled foot in front of the other and realised they weren't even walking in a straight line anymore.

Her eyes darted about as she tried to spot each of the Dwarves strewn about in front of her.

Just when had everyone spread out like that?

Oh Bilbo, where is your brain. Wake up you foolish creature. She chided herself, blinking repeatedly and scrubbing at her eyes viciously to rid herself of the sleepiness that seemed to have fallen over her.

That was better.

They were all together in what could be called a group – if you were feeling generous with the word – and Thorin had broken away to run to the edge of a cliff. In a moment of panic she thought he wasn't going to stop but he did and she herd the clang of the blade of his sword hit the stone beneath his feet as he leaned on it.

She sped up and joined them all looking out onto the ruin of a city.

At least that is what she imagined a city looking like…if it had been knocked over and left to the elements for a while. Hobbits did not have cities and the largest towns she had seen were Bree and then Laketown. Just how many people could have lived in this place when it was inhabited? The number she imagined boggled her mind as she tried to imagine how many Hobbitons would fit into the place.

Bilbo squinted, trying to take it all in.

There was a bridge far below to the right. The supporting columns looking thin in places and there were sections missing completely. Unless you could sprout wings there was no way of crossing that bridge that she could see. The buildings were obviously abandoned and she could clearly see were some had collapsed in on themselves and on onto their neighbours.

The Company stood silently and all she could hear was their breathing.

There was an eeriness to the whole thing and Bilbo felt a shiver start at the back of her head, making her hair itch and her scalp crawl. It was as though a skeleton hand had just ran down her spine for the fun of it before closing about her neck permanently.

"What is this place?" she whispered, although she was sure she already knew.

Balin was the one to answer her question as she came to stand between him and Thorin. She was still gazing in fascination at the view but she was aware of the others joining the row at the edge of the cliff.

"It was once the city of Dale, and now it is a ruin," Balin sighed.

Bilbo tore her eyes away from the city and looked at him.

There was a deep sadness etched on his face, making him appear older than she was accustomed to him looking despite his snow-white beard. She wanted to reach out and touch him. Hug him. Something.

Was this the first time any of them had seen the city since they had left all those years ago?

It must be.

"The desolation of Smaug," he growled, turning away from the sight.

She moved to join him, wanting to comfort him but Dwalin broke from the line and walked behind his brother with a firm hand on his shoulder.

Bilbo looked back to the city as the old Dwarf and the warrior walked a few steps away wanting to give them the privacy they deserved.

"We must find the hidden door before the sun sets," Thorin's deep voice allowed for no silence an no arguments now that the shock of the view had run its course, "It is already nearly midday. This way," he had turned and was already pacing away before the last word was uttered.

A sudden darkness fluttered through Bilbo despite the sudden smiles on the faces of the Company. She could not blame them for their smiles. After all they were nearly there. After so long the end was in sight.

Gandalf though. What about Gandalf?

"Wait. Thorin," she turned from the sight of the ruined city before her and was glad to see that Thorin had stopped. He looked at her with some impatience in his eyes.

"Gandalf told us to meet him here, didn't he? This is the overlook?"

They needed Gandalf. There was a dragon inside that mountain. A big dragon judging by the destruction she had just looked down upon…

It was funny. The dragon had always been a fuzzy figure in her mind whenever her thoughts had drifted towards it. Sharp teeth and fire breathing were a given but the size… She gulped. Feeling terribly sick all of a sudden.

"He said on no account-"

"Do you see him?" Thorin snapped bringing her reminder to an abrupt stop.

Thorin was angry at the delay she was causing. She could tell.

"There is no time to wait for Gandalf," he told her sternly and she watched as his eyes drifted from her to the mountain at her back.

"We are on our own now, Miss Baggins," he met her eyes for the briefest moment before turning and calling for the Company to follow.

Bilbo stood for a moment as the Company obeyed his summons and strode after their leader. The end of their quest was in sight and there was a lightness to their steps that Bilbo had not seen for months. Not since the very beginning of their journey.

She bit down on her bottom lip and turned back to the ruin of Dale.

Where was Gandalf?

Sighing she scurried after the Dwarves who had got a lot further than she would have expected in the moments she had been thinking.

"Wizards are never late indeed!" she muttered irritably to herself as she skidded down the slight hill, sending small stones and shingle skittering ahead of her. Gandalf would be getting a piece of her mind when she saw him next.

Despite herself she stole another quick look over her shoulder at Dale.

If she saw him again.

It had taken longer than Thorin had been happy with for them to reach where they needed to be but they had made it.

Bilbo panted for breath as she wandered about in what she felt was circles while Thorin looked at the map and the others wandered about just as aimlessly as she in search for the door.

Door? Huh.

All around her were rocks. Big rocks, small rocks, slopes, hard earth, some poor excuses for plants and stones. Lots of stones. Which were just very small rocks at the end of the day and so she was back at the beginning again.

No door.

She wondered if a dwarf door could be destroyed. Had they come all of this way only for Smaug to have already burned it or crushed it to rubble.

What kind of a door would it be?

She felt the ridiculous urge to giggle as an image of her lovely round door at Bag End came to mind. In her mind's eye she stuck it onto the front of the mountain. She hid her giggle by coughing.

It was the excitement of it all. That was it.

"If the map is true, the door should be directly above us,"

Above us?

She looked up, her eyes catching on a pile of boulders that was hiding something behind them from her sight. She glanced further up and saw that behind it was the side of the mountain but a whole section was still hidden from her view.

Her heart skipped a beat as she sprinted to get a better look.

Oh please let this be it. Please.

Bilbo looked up.

Steps.

And up.

Steps. Built into a massive statue. Steps that would lead them up to the secret door. Because why else would they be there?

"Here. It's here!" she called, wanting to dance and jump and cry, the excitement filling her chest and making her giddy as all thoughts of the Dragon were pushed to the back of her mind with this new discovery.

She couldn't stop herself from smiling as the others flocked to her. Thorin came to her side, smiling as widely as she was.

He really did have a lovely smile.

"You have keen eyes Miss Baggins,"

She continued to grin like a fool.

Not even the thought of having to climb all of those stairs was enough to dampen her spirits as she followed the others towards the bottom of the giant figure carved into the rock.

How dare they! How dare they!

They were just giving up. Just like that!

Oh she was so angry. Bilbo couldn't remember ever feeling so angry in her life.

They had climbed up that wretched statue – she was almost certain (more than once) that she would die during the climb – found the place and now they couldn't find the door and they were all just walking away.

How…How…How…

Ugh!

She wanted to push them all off the mountain one at a time for their stupidity. They had come all of this way and they were just giving up.

Well. She wasn't going to give up so easily.

Oh no.

She could have just stayed in Thranduil's halls and saved herself the trouble of joining them again if she walked away now and she was not going to make her decision to join them in Laketown a pointless one.

Bilbo began to pace. Anger and nerves making her movements sharp until she forced herself to stop and breath.

She rubbed at her forehead and pinched the top of her nose as she thought through the verse.

She had riddled with that creature beneath the Misty Mountains and kept her head while her flesh was on the line, surely she could figure this out. She could and she would.

All she had to do was calm herself down and think.

She allowed herself one more chance to narrow her eyes in the direction that the Dwarves had retreated in and then began to speak the words written on the map.

They had been repeated quite a few times during the journey and she knew them by heart now.

She could do this.

"Durin's Day. Durin's Day," she muttered under her breath as she paced and pointed at the wall of rock before her like it was a misbehaving child.

"Durin's Day. Durin's Day? Day?" she slowed down.

Today was one day. Tomorrow was another.

Last light of Durin's Day. Light?

Tomorrow would not begin until…tonight had ended.

Light?

The sun lit the day and at night the-

Movement caught her eye and she glanced up to watch a bird, a thrush, flutter down to the wall.

She was spellbound by the small creature as it hopped along the ground until it was almost flush with the wall and began to knock at the rock.

Bilbo's heart was in her mouth. She had almost forgotten the passage about the bird.

"When the thrush knocks…" she whispered reverently to herself.

She turned to look up to the sky just as the clouds cleared from before the moon and a beam of the cold white light broke through the darkness.

She turned towards the wall, not daring to breath. Not daring to hope…

Her heart froze as she watched the light illuminate the wall.

Bilbo stopped breathing as the keyhole melted into existence before her eyes.

It was there.

She glanced between the moon glaring impassively down upon her and the keyhole that had appeared by magic in the rock.

The key!

Bilbo scrambled looking for the key that Thorin had discarded in his anger and disappointment.

"Come back!" she tried to shout but the excitement had dried out her mouth and was threatening to close her throat and all she managed was a squeak.

She coughed and tried to clear her throat.

"The moon," she stopped in her frantic search and pointed towards the pale sphere high above her, "It was the light of the moon," her voice finally gained some strength.

"Come back!"

She squinted at the ground about her looked for the key, turning in circles as she scanned the rocks and stones.

Suddenly her foot caught something and her heart shot into her throat as it skittered away with a metallic clang.

Bilbo's eyes widened and she watched helplessly as the key shot away along the hard ground and towards the edge of the ledge.

Oh no.

A heavy boot dropped down onto the chain and she looked up.

Thorin was staring at her, his face pale and cautious as he bent down, never moving his foot, and rescued the key from its near fall from the mountain.

She smiled broadly at him and gasped his name, pointing at the circles of light shining on the wall.

Thorin stepped forward, his eyes like someone in a dream.

Bilbo moved to the back of the Company as each of them returned to the ledge – each of them only had eyes for Thorin as he raised the key – this was their moment and she would not interfere with it by being accidentally in the way.

Bilbo had felt a twinge of discomfort that had started at the back of her mind and had spread like a fire through her as the eyes of the Company had locked onto her.

Now as she walked down the dark corridor towards a dragon she knew what that feeling was.

Betrayal.

It was a freezing, sick sensation and although she told herself she was being ridiculous she couldn't rid herself of it.

They had looked at her as if she was nothing more than a hammer or an axe.

"This is why you are here," Thorin's words echoed through her mind.

No one had said a word to her. Bofur had clapped her on the back and the younger Dwarves had smiled at her sadly.

They thought they were sending her to her death and all she got for her trouble was a probably bruised shoulder – the Dwarves didn't know their own strength – and some sad looks.

Yes, betrayal was definitely the feeling coursing through her veins.

She had thought she had come to mean something to them over their months of travel and to have them all look at her as they had was a shock.

But Thorin was right. It was why she had come and she told herself that she was being stupid.

Dear Balin had told her she did not need to go into the mountain. Bless his heart out of the whole company he had been the only one to speak a word to her as he escorted her down the tunnel…

But she was a Baggins and she had given her word.

Besides, if she survived she would have a story wilder than that of her Took ancestor to tell.

She gulped.

She did so wish that Gandalf was here though.

Nightmares of Smaug haunted Bilbo's sleep during the few times she grew exhausted enough for her body's need for rest to overrule her panic at the changing attitudes of the Company. She hated sleeping, knowing that the giant lizard's warm breath and deep hissing voice waited for her in the depths of her mind.

"I smell you,"

She couldn't move, frozen as the beast passed over her. She couldn't move. She couldn't move. The monsters face was inches from her own, his teeth so close, his rancid breath blowing against her face, she could feel the heat of his massive body scolding her skin.

"Where are you?"

Smaug's open mouth lunged at her.

Bilbo woke in a cold sweat, panting for breath, her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

She looked around in a panic, her eyes growing accustomed to the dimness of the corridor she had found to rest in.

She staggered to her feet after crawling on her hands and knees for a few feet, fighting the urge to vomit, her stomach rolling in fright.

She groped along the wall to the entrance to the treasure room and peaked in before ducking back and leaning against the wall.

The sweat shimmered on her forehead and she turned to face the cool wall, pressing her face against the stone.

They were still looking…

He was chasing her. His giant body causing ripples in the sea of gold and making her lose her footing as she tried to run. To hide. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from crying out as she fell forward and tumbled down the hill of jewels. Head over heels she tumbled until she rolled to a stop. Stunned, her head spinning and not knowing what way was up she swayed drunkenly as she clambered desperately to her feet and ran.

A pillar.

She gripped at it, falling against it in her dizziness before she flattened herself against it, willing herself to vanish into the stone.

"Don't be shy. Step into the light,"

Her heart beating violently in her chest Bilbo's eyes flew open.

She was alone in the dark and the cold.

Bilbo turned onto her side and curled into a ball. She sobbed into the silence.

She couldn't breathe. Her throat was closing up. The ring was in her hand and no longer on her finger.

The dragon was staring her in the eye.

Why had she taken it off?

She couldn't remember.

Why?

She was going to die. She was looking into the cat like eyes of an almost gloating Smaug, she could almost see her reflecting in his glowing gold eye as he peered at her.

"There you are, thief in the shadows,"

Bilbo awoke with a small cry, tears of despair and terror falling from her eyes. How long had she been crying. She could taste the salt on her lips and despite the chilliness of the corridor that she had come to call hers she could feel the grittiness of sweat upon her forehead.

She struggled to calm herself.

The dragon was dead, someone in Laketown had managed to bring him down.

And how many died in the flames?

A fresh wave of sobs broke from her chest.

Just how many had died because they had failed to kill the dragon. She had not seen much of Laketown during her short time there but she had seen enough to know that the people could not survive without their homes with winter so near and the snow already falling.

Thorin could offer them shelter in the mountain but he had been growing unpredictable and easily angered of late and she doubted he was willing to think of anything at the moment other than the gold and the damned stone.

She felt her pocket, her hand closing in on the hard lump that was the Arkenstone hidden in its depths.

Had she done right by keeping it hidden?

She didn't know anymore what was right and what was wrong.

But then again, she hadn't known for a while if she was to be honest. Nothing was clear anymore.

Bilbo had thought helping Thorin and the others reclaim their homeland had been right when she had left Bag End, but never at the cost of the lives and homes of others. That was a cost she thought too high. Would she have said no all those months ago if she had known what this adventure would have led to?

She removed her hand from her pocket and curled in on herself.

"Watch it corrupt him,"

She shivered at the memory of Smaug's words.

"Watch is corrupt his heart-"

Bilbo curled tighter in on herself.

"-and drive him mad,"

She couldn't let that happen. She had not liked Thorin for a great deal of the journey and they had had their share of disagreements during months of travel but even then it had been clear that he cared for his people. That much had been obvious from the way that he looked after the Company.

And what about now?

Now he was still little better than a stranger to her compared with his relationships with the others in the company but that did not been there was no bond there.

She liked him in a way.

When he wasn't scowling and growling at her he had turned out to be quite the gentleman - in his own way. And even when he had been at his most surly she had known he would never truly hurt her outside of his hard words.

But now she wasn't even sure of that and it was terrifying.

Bilbo had seen the glint in his eyes when he had come to help her in the treasury. When he had held the sword to her chest just at the thought of getting the stone, baring her way out with the blade and making her walk back into the mountain when she had been so close to freedom.

Echoes of sound drifted to her from the treasury as the fruitless search continued and she raised her hands to her ears to block out the sound.

I wish I had stayed with Thranduil.

Bilbo was freezing, all of the way through to her bones and she curled tighter into herself, the clothing she had been so grateful for on the journey from Laketown was offering little protection against the cold that now surrounded her.

It had been years since she had been this cold and she did not like the memories it brought back. Visions of snowdrifts twice as tall as Dwalin, hunger, howling…blood.

No!

She bit firmly into her cheek, drawing blood. The taste of copper in her mouth grounded her and stopped her from drifting away into her thoughts. She couldn't do that. Not now.

The sounds of the Company sorting through their own claimed piles of treasure continually filled the air. She could not tell night from day deep inside the mountain but she was sure it had been days since any of them had slept or looked up from the golden hills and valleys of the treasure room.

No, she couldn't lose herself to her memories because there would be no one to pull her from them.

She forced her mind to more pleasant things as she slipped a hand into her pocket and played with the plain gold band hidden there. It offered her a hollow sort of comfort, the knowledge that if she wanted she could just place it on her finger and vanish so no one could find her.

As she felt the smooth metal beneath her fingers she thought of warmth and safety. A warm bed, flowers, food…sunshine. Surprisingly the image of a bee danced behind her eyes and she smiled at the memory of Beorn's hives and his giant home. It had taken a little getting used to but she had quickly grown accustomed to the giant house and their host. His initial hostility and natural gruffness aside he had been a generous host and had offered up enough food to make any Hobbit happy.

There was a shout from the treasure room and Bilbo stiffened involuntarily at the harshness in Thorin's tone as he demanded a report from his fellow Dwarves.

She shivered.

Had the Skinchanger been right in his distrust of Dwarves?

Things were reaching a terrible breaking point and a cold stone of dread – about the size of the one nestled in her pocket - settled in the pit of Bilbo's stomach as she stood behind the Company and listened to Thorin refuse compensation to the men of Laketown.

She had thought it would go this way but she was still shocked by his actions. How could he?

It was their fault the lakemen were homeless.

How could he do this when he had once been in their position?

He was refusing aid to those in desperate need of it and there was no remorse in his tone or his look.

"We cannot rely indefinitely upon the charity of the Woodland Realm. We only ask for what was promised to us?"

Her legs had quacked with relief when she had first heard Bard shouting up to the wall and she only hoped that the girls and his son had survived the dragon also.

She clenched her fists and thought in a panic for some solution as Thorin refused them their claim, saying that he would give nothing when there was an army at his gates.

"I have nothing to thank Thranduil," he spat the king's name, "for and you shall receive nothing from me with his archers at your back,"

How dare he! Anger flooded her at his words and she knew now that he was surely grasping at straws and looking for any reason to not part with any of his treasure.

The wretched stuff had enchanted him.

Thranduil had treated them well during their weeks there – being kept in cells aside that is. When she had met up with them in Laketown it was plain for all to see that they had been fed well and all of them were heathy. Thorin had no just cause for his words and actions. Nothing but a century old grudge.

"You will have war should you refuse us the means to keep our women and children safe for the winter. Is that what you want King Under the Mountain?"

There was a pause and Bilbo held her breath.

Please Thorin, give them what they want. Prove Smaug wrong. Please.

"Then let there be war," Thorin snarled down at the man, "You will have nothing from me,"

Bilbo retreated to her corridor and began to pace.

This was not good. This was not good at all. She had kept the Arkenstone from Thorin to stop this from happening but it had happened anyway. Why was it happening? Surely it was not in the Thorin she had travelled with to deny the means of food and warmth to children? No, it wasn't. She was sure of it. And yet here he was, willing to go to war over a few bits of shiny metal. Bilbo feared she would never understand other races.

But Thranduil was providing aid for the Lakemen at the moment and for that she was grateful.

She continued to pace.

How could she fix this?

Her nose was beginning to run from the cold and she reached into her pocket for one of the handkerchiefs that she had brought with her from the Greenwood – it had been awfully kind of Thranduil to provide them for her.

Her fingers brushed against the hard coolness of the Kings Jewel and she froze.

The Arkenstone…

Could the wretched gem be the way out of this mess they had found themselves in?

She had only kept the rock from Thorin to try and prevent Smaug's words from coming true but that had happened all the same. So what difference would it make now if he had the cursed bit of coal?

Her fingers danced along the cold surface.

She couldn't just give it to him. That would hardly change his mind and make him charitable towards the lakemen.

No, she needed to think of something else, something that would make him help the people outside, something that would-

She removed her hand from her pocket and nodded her head in agreement with her thoughts.

Yes that was what she would do. It was the only way she could see.

As soon as night fell she would slip out and find the camp below.

She was about to earn her title of Burglar.

Hi everyone,

I cannot apologies enough for how long it has taken me to get this chapter posted.

I hit a bit of a downer the past few weeks and have been doing a lot of sleeping or I would have had this up last month.

Anyway, chapter 8 is finally up YAY!

I really hope you enjoyed it and I will try not to be so long with the next chapter.

Take care :)