Of Dragons, Dwobbits and Dwarves

Chapter Fifteen

The five months following Fili's Coming of Age and Coronation were quiet. To most of Erebor's citizens this was a good sign, evidence Mahal was blessing the mountain and giving them a much needed respite from the trials they'd faced since the losses suffered at Moria.

To Dwalin the silence was unsettling, a suggestion the kingdom's enemies had found a new hole to crawl into and even then were plotting while he went about his business unable to find the threat.

The feeling of unease was compounded by the fact that Nori agreed. Erebor's Spymaster and her Captain of the Guard rarely saw eye to eye on anything. The last time had been over Moria. They'd gone to Thror together and pleaded with him to call off the attack. Let them go in, they'd offered, with a small force. They'd find Frerin and Quenth and get them out, or die trying.

Thror had refused. He'd seen the capture of his son as a declaration of war and believed anything short of a full out assault in response would weaken Erebor's image in the eyes of the other kingdoms.

So they'd gone and succeeded only in weakening Erebor in truth.

Dwalin had no idea if his and Nori's plan would have gone any better, though it certainly would have resulted in fewer deaths.

One thing he did know was that he and the Spymaster had been right.

Just as he had not doubt they were right again.

Particularly about who the threat was.

Nori's ravens had returned just at he'd predicted, reporting all of Nar's agents had vanished as soon as Fili's Coming of Age had been over. Beryl too had experienced a sudden recovery from her illness and had already started back to the mountain. She would have arrived already, in fact, if not for her sudden insistence on visiting Gondor. Dori had reported the change had been unexpected. Nori speculated Nar realized he'd painted himself into a corner by telling Fili she'd planned to make a stop there. If she didn't then Fili would know Nar had lied to him.

The fact Nar was apparently so arrogant he didn't seem to know anyone was onto him was one of the few things they had in their favor.

On Thorin's orders they had sent word to the other kingdoms, asking them about treasury break-ins and, specifically, about the status of the keys.

Word had come back.

No break-ins, or at least none that anyone had noticed.

All the keys were accounted for and undisturbed.

Which meant Nori's theory had been wrong.

At least about what Nar was up too.

Neither of them had any doubt he was up to something.

Whether Nar was behind the assassination attempts or not remained to be seen but there was little doubt his agents, and most likely his daughter, had been up to something, and had possibly succeeded at whatever it was. In the days following the Celebration Nar had been nearly giddy with excitement, a strange light in his eyes. He'd been nervous as well, constantly watching Dwalin and Nori as though waiting to see if they'd put something together.

The desire to arrest the bastard and beat the truth out of him was...difficult to resist.

Nar had covered his tracks well. The agents he'd sent out were gone, so completely Dwalin imagined they'd likely been killed by other agents, ones Nori had not yet identified. It was aggravating, Nar was constantly two steps ahead of them, possessing layers upon layers of intrigue. Every time Nori or Dwalin uncovered a chess piece he would simply destroy it and move to a new one, forcing them to start all over again. The only other avenue of investigation they'd had after the Celebration was the odd fascination Fili had reported Nar showing in a ring the girl had been wearing. At Nori's request she'd readily related the story of how she'd come by it and handed it over for examination.