Spiders And The Elven King

A Helping Hand Part 6

It was surprisingly quiet around you, too quiet for your liking. You were walking around making sure the townspeople were alright. When you were certain that everything was fine, you walked toward the ledge, looking back at the mountain.

You still could not believe that things had turned out the way they did. The look on Thorin's face plagued your thoughts. Never have you seen such hatred on his face before. On a foe yes, but on you, it was heart-breaking to bare witness too.

'And now he wants war!' You thought bitterly to yourself, shaking your head.

"My lady." You heard someone say behind you.

You turn around and saw Fili heading towards you. You grace him with a smile, though it never quite reached your eyes.

"Please, call me Tatiana."

"Aye, I can do that," smiled Fili before it faded once more "I can not express my remorse for what Uncle did to you."

You shook your head.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just relieved that I was there. I really think he would have killed Bilbo if I hadn't of intervened," You sighed "a bruised cheek is nothing compared to what might have been."

"It's the dragon sickness that is doing that to him."

You furrow your brows at Fili.

"Dragon sickness? I thought it was called gold sickness?"

Fili smiled with sad blue eyes.

"It's the same illness Tatiana. I have heard tales of this sickness from Balin but I never thought I would witness it with my own eyes."

You nod, thinking back to what Thorin had described to you regarding his grandfather. Thorin had said that he watched his grandfather Thror quietly in the shadows of the treasury room, stay there all day. Touching the gold and gems like they were the only things that matters. You can still hear the bitterness in Thorin's voice as he explained to you that it would never happen to him.

You wished you could go back in time and help Thorin out, but this was real life. You knew that Thorin would only get worse and your heart clenched at the way things had turned out. In truth, you hated this and you only hoped that he would snap out of this gold sickness sooner, rather than later.

"Is that why you left?" You finally asked Fili, snapping out of your thoughts.

Fili sighed and glanced at the mountain. You closed your eyes thinking you should have kept your question to yourself. It was really none of your business, though you wished you could help in some way.

"I'm sorry," You whispered, opening your eyes "it is not my place for me to ask such questions."

"No, it's fine," replied Fili turning back to you "the truth is, I needed to escape for a while. Uncle is not himself as everyone knows. He even thought we had his precious Arkenstone," Fili sighed "I just had to leave."

You stepped forward and stopped and glanced down at the ground. You frowned. You were certain that you had felt the ground move beneath you.

"Are you alright Tatiana?"

You glanced back up once more, though your frown increased.

"I'm not sure," You admitted "I could have sworn-,"

You shook your head thinking you had imagined it. Though your eyes went back on the earth from under you.

"You could have sworn what?" asked Fili, now sounding a little alarmed.