Stay With Me [Thorin Oakenshield]

Chapter 12: One of the Dúnedain

It had been almost a week since their confrontation with Azog.
They had continued their journey, slowly but steadily trekking towards the lonely mountain in the distance. This particular night, they had set up camp by a river, thankful for the opportunity to refill their water stocks and have a proper bath.

As soon as Gandalf had offered to keep watch, the dwarves and Bilbo had sprinted towards the water with hoots of laughter, stripping as they went, causing Louisa to shriek as she covered her eyes quickly in embarrassment. "Not again!", she had exclaimed exasperated while Gandalf, who had settled next to her, chuckled in amusement at her awkwardness.
"My god Gandalf, by now I've seen enough naked dwarves to last me a lifetime. I'll never get that image out of my head! They could at least warn me before they do stuff like that. Is that really too much to ask?", she complained to him as she turned her back to the river and faced the smiling wizard instead.

"Well, I would have thought that you would eventually get used to it.", he mused, earning himself an unamused look from the hobbit. "There is no getting used to the sight of fourteen grown men running around buck naked like little children.", she denied with a deadpan expression.
Gandalf huffed a breath as he fetched his pipe and lit it up with the tip of his fingers. "No, perhaps not.", he admitted, taking a drag from it. A comfortable silence settled between the two friends until Louisa eventually decided to break it.

"I've been wondering Gandalf...", she trailed off, not quite knowing where to start as she caught his attention. "Why would Azog only now decide to chase down Thorin? It has been years since the battle of Moria and nobody heard from him since and now, all of a sudden, he has decided to reveal himself, just like that? I don't believe this to be coincidental. Something must have changed.", she thought aloud, sharing her concerns with him. The wizard couldn't help the sigh that escaped him as he weighed his options of what to say to her. He had already suspected that she would address this eventually. Louisa glanced at him, not missing his reaction. "You know something, don't you?", she pressed, feeling somewhat confirmed in her suspicion.

The wizard looked at her with a solemn expression as he decided to share what he knew. "Louisa you must understand that I know very little. Too little if you ask me. But yes, there is a concern I have not yet shared with the company.", he admitted. Louisa looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. "When I spoke to Radagast he told me of what he had discovered in the old fortress of Dol Guldur.", he began his explanation.

"Dol Guldur? Hasn't it been abandoned for centuries?", Louisa questioned confused. Gandalf nodded. "It should have been, yes. But Radagast told me of a dark power dwelling within the ruins. He claims to have seen a necromancer, one who can summon the dead.", he answered. Louisa grew increasingly concerned, fear creeping in on her. She realised now just how warranted her concern was. "But Gandalf...", she muttered. "There has only ever been one necromancer. Has there?"

The wizard took a deep breath before responding cautiously. "As far as we know, yes. I didn't want to believe him, thinking that it might just be a sorcerer and he was mistaken, but he carried a blade. A Morgul blade, made for the Witch-King of Angmar. It was buried with him, deep within the high fells of Rhudaur and a powerful spell was placed upon the tomb. Nobody could ever open it.", he retold what the lady Galadriel had said. "I spoke to Saruman the White and the lady Galadriel in Rivendell. Saruman has declared it impossible for our enemy to have returned. The lady Galadriel seemed less certain.", he concluded, staring off into the distance, lost in thought.

Louisa remained quiet for a moment, taking in the new information. "I had my worries, but I would never have suspected this. If Azog is working with the enemy...", she trailed off, not even wanting to think of the places this train of thought would take her. She hesitated before posing her next question. "That is why you are helping Thorin reclaim Erebor isn't it? You are worried about what might happen if the enemy were to return and utilise Smaug.", she stated. Gandalf returned his gaze to her and nodded. "Yes, but you mustn't forget that we know nothing for certain as of right now. We may yet be wrong.", he tried to reassure her a little.