Of Dragons, Dwobbits and Dwarves

Chapter Twenty-Six

The stench of orc hung heavy in the stagnant air of the tunnel. In Moria, Bilba had barely noticed. Now, only a few years removed from that life, the smell made her want to vomit. Her muscles were taut, her grip on the hilt of Frerin's sword painful.

It didn't help that this particular tunnel was unlike the rest in Erebor. There were no braziers to light the way, the walls weren't as finished and there were more twists and turns, her line of sight limited to only a few feet at a time. She understood the design, fleeing royalty was less likely to get an arrow in the back if they were always around corners but it didn't make traveling through it any easier.

She traced a hand along one wall only to snatch her hand away as the stone under her fingers seemed to shift, became cracked, wet with slime, sharp edges threatening to pierce the skin. The floor under her feet went from clean stone to covered in layers of dust, and she could swear she saw shadows darting around the corners just ahead of them. The collapse of the door into the mountain behind them had kicked up dust into the air. It irritated her lungs and she struggled not to give them both away by coughing, using the struggle to focus on the present and not the memories trying to drag her back into Moria. She was all Kili had at the moment.

He needed her, and she had no intention of letting him down.

Several feet ahead of her, Kili knelt at the juncture where the tunnel curved yet again. He leaned forward on a knee, resting the fingers of one hand on the floor to brace himself, and peered around. Bilba carefully moved to the opposite wall and copied him, rolling her head to the side until the she could see around in just the very corner of her vision. The tunnel straightened out, for only a dozen feet or so, and then ended at the back entrance to the Treasury. She could make out the flagstones leading out into the room and the edges of a few of the columns that shored up the ceiling.

She heard no sound. Orcs weren't exactly known subtlety but she wasn't dumb enough to just blindly trust that no sound meant none of them were present. There had been orcs heading into the tunnel up until just moments before Xalanth had cleared them and collapsed the door. Even if the creatures had run it was likely they were still in the vicinity.

Kili gave her a questioning look and she nodded. He rose to his feet, back pressed against the wall, and carefully nocked an arrow to the string of his bow. Then, in one smooth motion, he raised it to a ready position and stepped around the corner. Bilba came in behind him, sword at the ready.

They exited the tunnel and immediately crouched, trying to make themselves smaller targets to anyone who might be below on the main floor.

They saw no on and, after a moment of silence, started making their way down the stairs. As they reached the main floor Kili lowered his bow long enough to grab a quiver of arrows he'd spotted, Bilba covering his back. Dimly, she could hear sound echoing in the large room. They weren't alone but the noise was distant enough that, combined with the sheer size of the Treasury, they should be able to get out undetected if they were careful, and quick.

They made for the other side, winding around piles of treasure haphazardly tossed about and picked through. The orcs hadn't bothered to be careful as they marched through, knocking stacks of coins over, tossing priceless jewels about as if they were simple rocks. As she and Kili neared the doors, now cracked and damaged, one half out of its frame and balanced precariously against the other, they started to see signs of the battle that had raged there. Blood and ichor stained the ground, broken bits of arrows and other weapons were strewn without care and, as always, there were the dead.

Orcs and dwarves alike, the only peace between them coming in death, their bodies in heaps, twisted in unnatural shapes, the fighting so savage there had been no time to show respect to the fallen before the dwarves had been driven back.