Moon

Chapter 17: Dragon Sickness

"What do you mean?" Moon asked, shifting from foot to foot.

"You need to look for the Arkenstone," he said sternly, walking down the half demolished steps to stand in front of them. "You too, halfling."

"Can't I at least get a bath first? Thorin, I'm filthy," she said worriedly, looking a bit hurt.

"No! You will look for the Arkenstone," he growled, grabbing her arm and yanking her down the hallway. She gasped in pain, but was too weak to pull away.

"Go!" he yelled in her face, throwing her down into the gold. Moon cried out as she fell, and she crawled over to the corner of the room to search, her eyes watering.

She was sniffling slightly, and after several minutes she plopped down and delicately touched her neck before wincing.

"Not the welcome party you wished for?" hissed a familiar voice in her ear. She cried out and slapped her hands over her ears. "As if he could ever care for you."

"Go away," she whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut.

"You puny, pathetic, worthless lump! Did you really think you could kill me?" he yelled, his voice seeming to echo throughout her head.

"What do you want from me?" she cried, shaking her head, trying to make the voice of Smaug go away. She didn't realize all the dwarves now surrounded her, trying to bring her back to reality.

"I want your life!" he hissed.

"NO!" she yelled, leaping from her fetal position, only to be caught by multiple arms.

"Moon, are you alright."

"Dragon sickness," she whispered. "We need to get out of this mountain."

"Get her out! Take her to get a bath! Something away from this wretched gold!" cried Bilbo, waving his arms around.

Fili and Kili put one of her arms over their shoulders each, and helped her walk up the halls, Bilbo trailing behind nervously.

"This is your room, the tub is in there as well. Please be careful," said Fili.

"Yes, we don't need our favorite dragon hurt," said Kili.

"Thanks. I hate being in the way it's just- his very soul lingers over that gold. I can't stand it," she said, shaking her head.

"You aren't in the way! Maybe you'll knock some sense into Thorin," piped in Bilbo.

The brothers nodded in agreement before turning to leave.

"Wait! Have you got any bandages? I'm supposed to change these every hour," she said, pulling the tube from the folds of her dress and gesturing at her neck.

"Sure, we'll leave them on the bed," said Kili, and they walked off down the hall.

"Bilbo, do you mind staying? Just in case I lose it again?"

He nodded solemnly and she softly shut the door to the bathroom. Moon carefully slipped off the beautiful dress, which Nataleth had cut a large slit for her wings and sewn several buttons on to connect the fabric over them. She carefully unraveled the bandages, and winced at the sight of her ruined body. Pinkish burns stretched across nearly every inch of her skin, along with deep claw marks. Then there were the deep lines and puncture wounds on her neck, and she realized how lucky she was to be alive.

She ran hot water, and scrubbed the dirt from her skin, which the color was returning to. She drained the now brown water and poured more hot water to clean her blonde hair, which had grown several more inches since they had reached the mountain.

Moon drained that water, which had also turned brown, and then ran her favorite ice cold water. She did not pour bubbles in it like she had in Rivendell, she just let her wounds soak in the comforting cold.

After about twenty minutes of soaking, she drained the water and stepped onto the stone floor. She wasn't at all fond of being surrounded by millions of tons of rock, half of the barriers keeping the thousands of tons above her head demolished. She shook the thoughts from her mind, and began to gently apply the gritty substance on her neck wounds.

"Bilbo! Could you hand me the bandages?" she called, cracking the door. He handed her the wrappings with his hand over his eyes. "Thanks," she said, closing the stone door, feeling as if she was sealing herself into a tomb.

Moon had decided that she would not ask any of them to help her, so she wrapped the bandages tightly by herself. She triple checked that they covered all of her wounds before slipping the dress over her head. She buttoned the top button, and resigned herself to leaving the other.

She stepped out of the bathroom and tapped Bilbo's shoulder. "What is on your mind?"

"Thorin," he said automatically, and she sat beside him on the huge bed.

"Mine as well."

"Moon, I've found the Arkenstone."

She leapt into the air and grabbed his shoulders. "Bilbo, whatever you do, don't give it to him, or any of them."

"You think it might make it worse?"

"I know it will make it worse," she whispered, putting her head in her hands. Bilbo patted her pack awkwardly.

She let out a shaky laugh. "There is a curse on that gold, Bilbo, and you are now witnessing the effects of it."

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I don't know, Bilbo. I just don't know," Moon said sadly, running her fingers through her damp blonde hair.

That sat in silence for several minutes before her expression hardened, and she appeared to have made her mind up about something. "I'm going to talk to him," she said strongly, her tone was that of defiance.

"Moon," Bilbo said, grabbing her fingers. She turned around to look at him with kind blue eyes. "Please be careful," he whispered.

She smiled at him, before making her way to the gold room.

"Thorin!" she called, and he turned around to look at her.

"What?" he snapped, but Moon stood tall.

"I think the company needs rest. They've been at it for hours," she said, her tone soft and caring. "Maybe, maybe you should just take a break from the Arkenstone. This gold room is miles long and-"

But the back of his hands trunk across her face. "What makes you think you can talk to me?" he spat. "You're just a filthy animal that whines about being cursed, feeding on those that take pity on you."

She looked back at him, her blue eyes were glowing with anger. "Is that what you felt towards me? Pity?" she asked, her lips pressing into a thin line.

"I felt nothing towards a worthless lump like you."

This time, she was the one to smack him across the face. "You're not the man I fell in love with," she said, her voice thick with emotion. She launched off the ground and soared from the gold room, through the halls, and out the front entrance of the mountain.