Erebor's Guardian

Chapter 5

Morning had come slowly over the horizon shining in my eyes. I woke up feeling warm and safe in Thorin's arms. He stayed with me all night with his sword drawn keeping all dangers at bay. I stretched, relieving some of the soreness in my body and Thorin cleared his throat at my movements.

"Good morning," I moved to sit next to him. "Thank you for keeping watch."

Thorin nodded slightly. "You're very welcome."

I glanced out at the camp where the fire had burned out leaving a small wave of smoke trailing up into the sky. "Shall I get the fire going again or are we leaving immediately?"

"After breakfast." Thorin glanced at the fire. "You might have to start a new fire."

I scoffed at him. "I doubt it." I got up and headed over to the fire and pulled kindling from the small pile Bofur gathered earlier in the night. I gathered small twigs and dried leaves from around the camp. I crumpled the leaves in one hand and dug down into the ashes where the warmth of the embers grew. Carefully I picked out a few embers and placed them into my crumpled leaves and blew gently bringing the fire to life. As the fire grew I caught a flame on a twig for the fire to consume before adding it to the small pile of twigs. "See? As long as there are embers a fire can be brought back."

"Well done lassie." Balin came over to inspect my fire. "You've spent time in the wild before?"

I nodded. "I went out hunting and camping in the mountains with my family when I was younger. It took them forever to get me to go home because I never wanted to leave." I fed the fire until it was large enough to cook a decent meal.

Everyone began to stir and start the day. Bombur started cooking breakfast while I helped Kylie untangle her hair that she disheveled in the night. She had me braid it back out of her face and then trail it down over her shoulder. Jenna surprisingly didn't need much redoing as only a few strands came loose and pulled a few more to frame her soft face. Kili had served us breakfast before settling down with us and his brother.

"So, what did you ladies do before coming here?" Kili asked, taking a bite of his food.

Kylie crossed her legs and set her bowl on her knee. "I was a physical therapist. Kind of like a healer to get their bodies stronger after an injury."

Kili's head tilted like a puppy. "So, kind of like Oin he is our village healer since before we were born."

Kylie nodded at the curious dwarf. "Yes, but I only work with muscles."

"What about you Jenna?" Fili asked the quiet girl trying to eat her food and hide her blush as well.

She swallowed hard. "Um...I healed animals."

"And you Lakota?" Kili asked me.

I gave a shrug. "Lots of things really. I mostly worked as a maid and in my spare time I wrote books and made our clothing." The two brothers gave me weird looks.

"You ladies have no fighting experience, do you?" Dwalin was standing over me, arms crossed.

"You mean formally?" Kylie asked, not liking his rude tone. "No, well Lakota has some."

Dwalin scoffed at me. "Nearly got herself killed yesterday."

I stood up in his face. "At least I did something unlike you standing near the ponies!"

"Hey, hey now!" Balin came and split us up. "Dwalin leave her alone; she did the best she could against four orcs. Lakota, Dwalin was following Thorin's orders."

I turned away from him and went to sit up on the higher boulder ignoring the bald dwarf's back talk. I laid back twirling my new dagger in my hand trying to resist the urge to knock him out.

Soon camp was packed, and we were off into the wild forest on the ponies. Thorin was flush against my back following Gandalf's horse as I drummed my fingers on my bracers.

"What are you doing?" Thorin's voice echoed around me.

I sighed. "Thinking about having Kylie kick Dwalin's ass."

Thorin chuckled lightly. "Why not fight him yourself?"

"So, I can watch." I growled.

Thorin let out a low throaty chuckle. "You have a bit of a dark side to you."

"You have no idea." I let out a huff drumming my fingers faster. "He had no right to judge me like that."

Thorin slowed his pony letting his company pass and took up the rear allowing us to have a private moment. "Lakota, Dwalin has been my general since Moria and has trained every male dwarf in the Blue Mountains."

"So, only male dwarves can fight?"

"You have to understand our culture. Women in our culture are very rare and mostly die in childbirth. To have them fight in our wars would put us closer to extinction, which is why they are treated like royalty no matter their bloodlines. They do learn how to defend themselves while their husbands or fathers are away." Thorin explained. "Back before the fall of Erebor women were encouraged to learn to fight."

I rolled my eyes knowing he was right. "But still."

"You will have your chance to prove your strength." Thorin's hand brushed along mine as he gave his pony a good scratch on the neck. "I remember when the elves who lived on our doorstep of Erebor would come to visit."

"Not the elves of Mirkwood?"

"No," Thorin's voice softened. "They were called silver moon elves and their kingdom of Celeb Taure."

"What?"

"Mhm." His voice hummed deep in his chest. "To be honest they were very... well how do I put this lightly... dangerous? They were easy-going and cheerful as if they lived in the clouds. Nothing could bother them. They were immortals that travelled all over middle earth before settling in our forest after Erebor was first established. Once my grandfather and their chief made an alliance the elves served as our front lines from invaders. They had powerful magic protecting the forest and themselves in battle that if they took any damage they would heal almost immediately."

"So, if you ran them through with a sword?"

"You would be better off leaving the sword in them or removing their head." Thorin's voice was a little unsteady. "Once in a meeting I met their general's bodyguard with my father and grandfather. His eyes were sharp on every detail of our kingdom, nothing went unnoticed. They were deep green and the markings around his eyes swirled around the corner of his eye and down his face was blacker than the best tattoo ink. Even though he was not very tall he was still fit enough to snap an orcs neck and he was always armed to the teeth. Him and the chief's daughter were the only two elves to have hair a white as moonlight, a sign of their pure bloodline and magic. His name was Sundriel, the personal guard to the chief's daughter who was their general. After the meeting, my father explained to me that the markings the elves bore were earned by slaughtering so many in battle and their magic makes the markings appear when they have achieved that goal."

"Wow."

"It also did not help when he told me I was to marry the chief's daughter and when I would court her Sundriel would be there."

"How romantic to have an assassin there to ensure you don't mess up." I felt a twinge of jealousy creeping up on me. "Did you marry her?"

"No." Thorin said flatly. "The day we were to be officially engaged was when Erebor fell. Her kin fought the dragon before it invaded Erebor. She and Sundriel were standing beside me when the dragon shattered through the gate smashing our army to nothing. She and Sundriel went and fought the dragon alone, giving our people time to escape."

"Did they escape?" I asked before thinking about my question.

Thorin was quiet for a moment. "No."

I gripped his hand in mine and squeezed it tightly. "I'm sorry Thorin."