An Unexpected Addition (Thilbo - Bagginshield)

Traitors

"Do you see anything?"

The King Under the Mountain was currently living up to his royal title, carefully moving through some of the deepest and oldest mines of Erebor in search of the traitors who'd threatened his kingdom. His dwarven eyes surveyed the darkness that appeared to rule this level of the mines, the pitch black a small obstacle to someone who had spent a large portion of his life deep in the bowels of the earth. The shadows were a familiar and comfortable place for Thorin, a welcome reminder of his early childhood and the various adventures he'd once had with Frerin and Dís in Erebor's mines. Thorin was finally in the element of his people again.

"Nothing yet," whispered the King.

His nephews were a short distance behind him, their footsteps as silent as possible in the eerie darkness of the lower tunnels. They were now in areas that had open shafts on the floor, most of them left uncovered seventeen decades ago by terrified miners who had been fleeing Smaug's wrath. The hobbit was a short stretch ahead, invisible to anyone not aware of the ring's magical powers.

"Wait, wait," whispered Fíli. "I think I heard something. Over here."

Keeping his movements slow and cautious, Thorin followed his oldest nephew to the right side of the tunnel, Orcrist ready to run through any traitors that might emerge or pop out of a hidden shaft. Remaining completely silent, Thorin concentrated on the quiet sound that was coming from the wall.

"Is that water?"

"Well, yeah, but that's not the sound that I heard," said Fíli. "It sounded more like a scritchy-scratchy sound, you know?"

Thorin shook his head. "I don't hear anything besides rushing water. And that's coming from the open chutes beneath the floors."

"I know I heard something. And it was over here."

The oldest prince kneeled down and stuck his hand out, feeling around the wall to find the source of the scraping he'd heard moments earlier. His uncle sighed, accustomed to the unnatural instincts of his blond-haired nephew, which were pretty accurate most of the time.

"Hey, there's an opening here," said Fíli. "It's kinda small, but I think...owwww! Something bit me!"

Without a second's hesitation, the prince lunged back into the hole and pulled out a small, wiggling creature that was hissing and snarling at him. Holding it tightly around the neck, Fíli raised it up for his uncle and the others to examine, internally hoping that it wasn't venomous or anything.

"It's a dwarfling," said Bofur.

Bifur mumbled a few words in Khuzdul, the little girl instantly going still when a particular phrase was spoken. She hung limp in Fíli's hand, dark brown eyes watching all of the adult dwarves with suspicion.

"Who told you that?" demanded the little dwarf. "No one's supposed to know that or talk about it. It's a secret."

"Tur gëmil."

The little girl paused at Bifur's words. "Well, that makes sense, I guess. Where is she?"

The axe-ridden dwarf explained the situation to the little girl, assuring her that all of the good dwarves were either safe at the surface levels or searching the tunnels for the other children. The last statement had an immediate effect.

"They're behind me."

That caught everyone's attention, including the King. "What? Who?"

"That other dwarflings and the boy with the hairy feet," explained Dwina. "We'd been hiding in the tiny tunnels, Harak and me, when the side of one of the tunnels started to shake like this. And then it just broke and they toppled in on us."