The Queen Under the Mountain (Thorin)

The Battle of Azanulbizar

The next morning, the Company and Gandalf had moved out of Bilbo's house, packing their things and putting them on the ponies. They make sure to leave Bilbo's contract in case he changed his mind. All the while, Victoria followed suit, letting her own pony to flee and meet her to a forest a bit far from here. It was a bright early morning and some of the dwarves complained that it was a waste of time being in the Shire, and how it was absurd using a halfling.

"Wait! Wait!" Victoria heard a voice shout from the back of the forest and stopped.

The other dwarves shout "Woah!" and stop their ponies. Bilbo catches up to them and hands Balin, forwhat seemed to be the contract.

"I signed it!" Bilbo puffed.

Balin takes the contract and inspects it with a pocket-glass. He then smiles at Bilbo.Then he rolled it up. "Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield."

The dwarves cheer for having a burglar andThorin didn't look too impressed.

"Give him a pony." Thorin ordered, strring his pony ahead.

Bilbo, hearing this looked up and reasoned, "No, no, no, that won't be necessary. I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I- I- I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once - WAGH!"

Bilbo's speech is cut off as Fili and Kili ride alongside him and pick him up from behind to put him on a pony. And I began to move my own pony.

Bilbo was riding Myrtle and was looking quite terrified. Myrtle neighs and tosses her head, making him quite uncomfortable.

"Come on, Nori, pay up." One of the dwarves said.

Nori tosses a sack of money to to the other dwarf then sacks of money begin passing between the dwarves.

"What's that about?" Bilbo asked, looking quite confused.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up. Most of them bet that you wouldn't." Gandalf answered.

"What did you think?" Gandalf stayed silent until he catched a sack of money tossed to him and puts it in his bag, chuckling. "My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second." He smiled.

Bilbo suddenly sneezes loudly.

"All this horse hair, I'm having a reaction." Bilbo searches his pockets for his handkerchief. He begins to fiddle with his clothes and pockets, and he looks up in shock.

"No, wait, wait, stop! Stop! We have to turn around."

The entire company and Victoria comes to a halt, and the dwarves start objecting and asking what the problem is.

"What on earth is the matter?" Gnadalf asked.

"I forgot my handkerchief." Bibo answered.

Bofur rips a piece of his clothing and tosses it to Bilbo.

"Here! Use this."

Bilbo catches the rag and looks at it in disgust. The dwarves laugh and begin to continue their journey.

"Move out." Thorin ordered.

"You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead." Gandalf told Bilbo.

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The company has camped for the night near the edge of a cliff. As Gloin sleeps, tiny flying insects get sucked into his mouth every time he inhales, and they are expelled when he exhales. Bilbo watches in disgust, then finally gets up and walks around. Most of the dwarves are asleep; Gandalf, Fili, and Kili are awake. Bilbo walks over to his pony and gives her an apple, after checking to see that no one is looking. Victoria camped near them, her own pony tied to a tree, sleeping while she hid behind Thorin's rock.

"How are you, girl? That's a good girl. It's our little secret, Myrtle; you must tell no one."

Bilbo hears a screech in the night air and becomes worried. He runs over to Fili and Kili.

"What was that?" Bilbo asked.

"Orcs." Kili answered, faking his seriousness.

Thorin, who was dozing, jerks awake.

"Orcs?" Bilbo asked.

"Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." Fili told Bilbo.

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood." Kili said next, looking serious.

While Bilbo looks away in fright; Fili and Kili look at each other and begin chuckling.

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" Thorin said, angry, standing up and walking over to them.

The brothers then looked guilty by joking.

"We didn't mean anything by it." Kili said.

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin said gravely.

Thorin walks off to the edge of the cliff and looks out over the valley; Balin walks up to Fili and Kili.

"Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first." Balin had said, Victoria close to them, waking up.

Flashback of the Battle of Azanulbizar; thousand of dwarves and orcs fight in front of the gates of Moria.

"Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs lead by the most vile of all their race: Azog, the Defiler. The giant Gundobad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King."

"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us." Balin said, sadly.

"That is when I saw him: a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc." Balin admired Thorin in the distance.
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"He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armor rent, wielding nothing by an oaken branch as a shield."

"Azog, the Defiler, learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, nor song, that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived." Balin looked down, remembering everything.

"And I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow. There is one I could call King." Balin said proudly, finishing the story.

In the present, Thorin turns away from the view beyond the cliff; the entire Company awake and standing in awe, staring at him. Thorin walks between them toward the fire.

"But the pale orc? What happened to him?" Bilbo aksed.

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Thorin answered him, hatred for the pale orc evident in his voice. And after that, Victoria fell asleep.

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I am so sorry for not updating TQUTM and Torn! So much has happened the past few weeks, but I have good news....

I FINALLY GRADUATED! So that means it's Summer here and I can update frequently since I have 3 months of free time! :D so sorry guys! :)) p.s. This is not edited so sorry for grammar and punctuations mistakes. :)