The King And The Dragon

The Tale Of Moria

We ride on to the East, towards the mountain.

The whole way, Thorin asked me about my fighting experience and some of my past adventures. I did not tell him everything, though.

We stopped at a long shoulder on the trail. We ate and then went to sleep.

Or at least try to. Thanks to Bombor's avalanche like snores, I can not sleep.

Then I hear a familiar sound. An Orc pack.

"What was that?" Bilbo asks.

Apparently, Gandalf, Thorin, Fili, Balin, and Kili were awake, too. I go to sit by Thorin, who sits up and let's me lean on him.

"I'm cold." he says, tired, as he puts his right arm around my waist, sending shivers up my back.

"Orcs." Kili, who's sitting by Fili by the fire, answers.

"Orcs?" Bilbo asks, not wanting to believe Kili's answer.

"Throat cutters, there'll be dozens of them out there." Fili says, smoking his pipe.

"They come in the night, make no sound. And when they kill, there's no sound, just lots of blood." Kili tells Bilbo.

They're trying to spook Bilbo.

"Bilbo, don't listen to them. That's nothing like an Orc pack." I snap, bitterly. "Orcs come and they don't just slaughter people. They'll raid villages and butcher people. They kill without remorse and without mercy."

I've had my fill of Orcs, enough to make a sane man go insane, but I still fight.

Partly because they are monsters and I hate them. But, mostly because they hunted my kind, along with hunters.

Kili and Fili chuckle, deciding that I joining them on their little 'joke', which I am not.

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by Orcs is amusing?" Thorin says, angrily, as he stands up.

"We didn't mean anything by it." Kili says, guiltily, looking down at the fire.

"No you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin snaps, his fists clenched.

Thorin walks to the edge and stands there, staring at valleys and hills, apparently thinking of his past and the battle with the Orcs he had.

"It's alright, laddie. Thorin has more reason than most to hate Orcs." Balin says, trying to comfort Kili.

He told us of the battle at Moria. I listen to the story intently, unaware that I was listening to the story, I was slowly growing closer to Thorin in my feelings.

I listen as Balin tells the Company how Azog the Pale Orc killed Thorin's grandfather, Thror. Some grudge against the line of Durin and vowed to wipe them out.

So many of Thorin's people were killed, it angered me. As I listen, my anger grows and so does my admiration for Thorin. All alone and he brought Azog to his knees.

"...there is one I could call 'King'." Balin finishes the tale.

Thorin turns to look at us. Everyone of us look at Thorin, most of us with new eyes.