Taming the Wolf (A Hobbit Fanfic)

Chapter 28

After that night with her father, Frellian had been distancing herself from the others. She had meant to leave once Canwrîf and the pack would arrive. They had been the closest to her when she had called out for them. Her howls had carried over the wind for any ferian within reach to hear. And to her luck it had been Canwrîf. Why he was this far away from home, she did not know, but she was glad he was.
But as she stood at the top of the blocked gates, she silently hoped the ferian was not too close by. Not with an army of elves standing in front of them and an angry dwarf king who came back on his words. Which meant there were also angry fishermen at the ruins of Dale, except for Bard, who stood before the gates of Erebor too. In his hand the kings jewel, the Arkenstone.
She feared a war would be unavoidable if there was to come back up of any sorts. Whether it be dwarf or ferian. That was the reason why Thorin had taken them to the armory, fitting armour and sharpening blades and axes. Even Frêllian was given dwarvish armour, which Dwalin had protested against of course. Yet Thorin had shouted out in anger that she was capable of fighting, so she should fight with them.
So now the ferian just stood by and watched Thorin as he claimed the stone Bard held in his hand to be false, a trick. Which she could honestly understand. How could the man hold the real stone, if he had never been here before? Had his ancestor taken it sometime after Smaug had fallen into a deep slumber? But how could that be possible? A dragon such as Smaug would have noticed any intruder stealing from him. He was even able to notice Bilbo!
So how did they come by the dwarven heirloom indeed?
'The stone is real. I gave it to them,' a voice from behind her spoke and Frêllian gasped in surprise. She heard the tremble in his voice, yet he stepped forth bravely. How far her little rabbit had come, the foolish, yet brave hobbit!
'You! You dared steal from me?'
Bilbo stammered at the sight of the mad king as Thorin glared at the small hobbit. His blue eyes filled with rage and betrayal. His hands shaking as he clenched them.
'Steal from you? No, no! I may be a burglar, but I'd like to believe I am an honest one. I'm willing to let it stand against my claim.'
The poor hobbit tried to reason with Thorin in vain. For instead of trying to get Thorin to agree with the terms, the dwarf king shouted out in anger. Stating Bilbo had no claim. But even as the angered dwarf stalked towards Bilbo, the hobbit stood his ground. Saying what had been on his mind for a long time. But unfortunately no words would reach Thorin as he shouted out to the others to throw Bilbo over the rampart.
'No, don't!'
Frêllian stretched out her hand to protect Bilbo, but no one complied to the king's wishes.
'Do you hear me,' Thorin shouted as he roughly grabbed Fíli by the arm. But the younger dwarf shook him off. 'I will do it myself then!'
With that, he lunged himself at Bilbo. Not even caring that the ferian stood in his way as she tried her best to keep Thorin away from Bilbo. He cursed out loud as he pushed Frêllian out of the way and held onto Bilbo. Struggling to drag him towards the rampart.
'No!'
This time it was Fíli. He still held onto Frêllian, having caught her before she had hit the ground. He had accepted the fact that his uncle had indeed succumb to the sickness and could do nothing about it. But as Thorin tried to push Bilbo over the rampart, the two of them sprung into action, along with others. To try and prevent Thorin from succeeding.
'Curse the wizard that forced you on this company,' the enraged Thorin shouted as he held Bilbos torso over the rock.
'Thorin, please,' Frêllian begged as she pulled his arm in vain. 'Just-just let him go.'
Suddenly Gandalf appeared next to Thranduil and Bard. His voice booming through the air as he spoke, amplified by magic.
'If you do not like my burglar,' the wizard started  before lowering his voice as he came to a stop. 'Then please don't damage him. Return him to me!'
Surprised by the sudden appearance of Gandalf, Thorin's grasp lessened, allowing Fíli and Dwalin to pull the hobbit away from the rampart.
'Never again will I have dealings with wizards,' the angered king under the mountain shouted as he watched the grey wizard, 'or Shire-rats!'
He was so fixated on Gandalf now, that Thorin failed to notice Fíli and Frêllian had helped Bilbo towards a rope, before the hobbit climbed down.
Now that her dear friend stood with the wizard, she felt a lot more comfortable. At least Gandalf would keep him safe. From where she stood, she could hear Thranduil suggest Bard to sell the Arkenstone to Ecthelion of Gondor, whom would probably pay a good price for it. But Thorin heard as well as he shouted he would kill them.
'By my oath,' the furious dwarf king shouted as he paced back and forth. A look of dispair in his eyes as he continued looking to the west and back.. 'I will kill you all!'
'Your oath means nothing,' Thranduil scowled with a glare, before turning his attention towards his elven army. 'I have heard enough.'
The elves took their position, their movement as one and Frêllian feared for what Thorin had brought upon them. With one last glance at the sea of gold and silver, she turned to the king. Dispair in her voice as she begged for him to listen.
'Thorin,' she began as she walked up to him. 'Please, we cannot win this fight. We are but a handful against an elvish army. You will send us to certain death.'
'No! We have to fight. Fight for what us rightfully ours. They cannot take this from me. I will not let them!'
'And they won't,' she continued, her voice as gentle as she would use when speaking to a child. 'Accept their trade. Let them have Bilbo's part of the share.'
'That Shire rat has no part of the share!'
At the sudden outburst, Frêllian stepped back, while an arm stretched out in front of her protectively. Turning Thorin's furious gaze towards his nephew.
'Frêllian is right though, uncle,' Fíli said without hesitation. His hand still outstretched as he moved closer to her. 'We cannot win this.'
'If your maiden fair wants a trade, then let her use her own part of the share,' grumbled Thorin darkly as his dark blue eyes shifted from Fíli to Frêllian and back to Fíli again. 'But they will never have that what belongs to us dwarves!'
'My share? But I don't have a claim on the treasure.'
Her voice was just a surprised whisper as she stared at the dwarf in surprise. And she really was surprised. While Fíli had hinted that she would indeed had her own share of the treasure. But never before had Thorin stated such a thing, nor had he ever given her a contract to sign. But if Thorin was indeed suggesting she had a share of the gold inside the mountain, she would gladly give it to the men of Lake Town. For she wouldn't even know what to do with all that gold. She had no need of it.
But before she could reply, a voice from down below them called.
'Give us your answer,' Bard demanded as he glared at Thorin. 'Will you have peace, or war?'
Right then a raven flew up to Thorin, cawing at the dwarf, before nodding its head slightly. Which could only mean one thing. Frêllian might not have the skill to understand the black birds, she did know dwarves could communicate with them. And she had seen the dwarf king communicate with the black raven the day before. No doubt he used it to send for help. And the look on Thorin's face as the bird cawed, could only mean one thing.
'I will have war.'
And just as the words have left his mouth, figures appeared at the horizon. Dwarves, Frêllian realised. Dwarves dressed for war! Dwarves by foot, dwarves mounting a battle pig, dwarves atop battle goats. The whole horizon was black with Iron Hills dwarves. The leader being Dain, Thorin's cousin.
'This is no good,' she whispered softly to Fíli. 'They are about to start a war that could have been prevented. Can you not talk some sense into your uncle?'
But he shook his head. Telling her his uncle was too far gone right now. Begrudgingly admitting he might even be lost to the sickness forever. She nodded, silently agreeing as the leader of the dwarves started mocking Thranduil. But before the elven king could say anything, the ground started to tremble and wereworms broke through the rocks in the distance.
Within a blink of an eye a fight had erupted between orcs and drawers and elves.
'I'm going over the wall,' Fíli announced. 'Who's coming with me?'
Shocked to see the massive worms crawl out of the rocky soils of the distant mountains, Frêllian looked at the dwarf prince next to her. This must be Azog, it had to be!
'I'm going to help,' she stated as Fíli waited for the others.
But before Frêllian could even begin climbing down, she heard Thorin shout for them to stand down. He would not even listen to his nephews as they started to argue.
'You heard the king,' Dwalin said gruffly as he faced Frêllian from his spot. 'We are not to engage in the fight.'
'He might be the king under the mountain,' Frêllian says crossly while not moving away from her spot. 'But you forget I am not just a dwarf, nor just a ferian. I am a queen! And he cannot order me!'
With that said, she turned to face Fíli. Mustering up all her courage, she slightly stood on her toes to press her lips against his. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but as she pulls back, she decided otherwise. She could not do that, for she wasn't certain whether of not she would survive. And she'd rather remember his surprised look he was giving her right now, than risk the chance of dealing with his rejection. So instead she just smiled at the shocked dwarf, before climbing down the wall.
Voices called out for her to return. Both in anger and fright, but she did not let let stop her. She could hear Fíli shout after her in surprise, while her father sounded furious. But the loudest of all, was Thorin as he shouted after her in pure rage. But she ignored him. She didn't care about being called a traitor, or a mutt. She'd rather be all the names he was calling her, than to sit back at let others fight their fight. No, she wouldn't be a coward! Never again! This time, she would face her enemies head on and take down as many of those bastard down as she could!
By the time she reached the battle line, the fight had already begun. Elves and men and dwarves fought side by side to fight off the orcs. Shouts of pain surrounded her and it frightened her a bit. This wasn't like anything she had ever experienced before.
With the orcs it was different. Orcs killing orcs. Ferien killing orcs. Orcs killing ferien.
But this, this was not a simple fight. This was war! This was fighting till the end, no matter the outcome. And this time she was participating! This time she could actually die!
Suddenly an orc stood in front of her and she reacted out of instinct. With a quick blow from her sword, its ugly head fell to the ground with a soft thud, followed by its body. Then she lifted her sword to block the attack of another orc, before kicking it down to the ground. She piercing its skull with her blade, before moving on.
As she fought her way over the battlefield, she silently thanks Lüna for the lessons her father had given her throughout their journey. A year before, she would have never lasted this long in a fight. Not without transforming into her wolf form.
'Ah, so you're the little ferian that had been traveling with my cousin, eh?'
Upon hearing the rough voice, Frêllian turned her head to see an auburn haired dwarf moving over to her. His battle hammer swinging around as he took down an enemy. The boar tusks he had braided into his beard swinging along as he sauntered towards her with a posture equally proud as Thorin.
'You're quite easy to spot with that silver hair of yours, lass.'
'You must be Dain, I take it?' The dwarf nodded. 'There is only one white warg and she is mine to kill! Be sure to remember that if you are to face her.'
'Oh, you're feisty,' he mused. 'I like that. You'll do just fine lassie. You'll do just fine. Especially if you're anything like yer father.'
He swung his battle hammer again as a ferian made his way over to the pair, while Frêllian moved out of the way just in time when the giant wolf jumped down.
'Speaking of which, where is your backup? Where's Thorin?'
She slashed at another ferian, her back now turned towards Dain as she answered him. She told him about the said dwarf's condition and how he had refused to fight. Instead he remained holed up inside of Erebor, surrounded by his precious gold. The weight of his longing and greed for the treasure heavy on his heart, that she had seen. But his mind not strong enough to fight it.
'We are on our own then,' Dain mutters sadly.
'No we are not. My people should arrive soon. The good ones, not the traitors.'
And with that said, she continues to fight off their enemies. Hoping that she was indeed right about Canwrîf arriving soon, before it was too late.