The Dragon (Book Five in the Aerlinniel's Secret Series)

Chapter 8: The Dragon's Eye

Bilbo POV

"Anything?" Thorin asks. We are looking for the hidden door.

"Nothing!" Dwalin answers him.

"If the map is true, the hidden door lies directly above us." Thorin states.

As I look around for any sign of where the hidden door, I see Mallory and decide to ask her more of what happened with Aerlinniel.

"Mallory, what exactly happened with Aerlinniel?" I ask her.

"We were sneaking through Laketown when we saw a lot of guards starting to surround us. Imryll shouted for us to look out, but Aerlinniel was hit on the back of the head by this creepy looking man. Imryll and I tried to fight off the guards and get Aerlinniel back, but the creepy man took her away. We escaped the guards and tried to find Aerlinniel. We couldn't find her anywhere so we headed to the overlook. We were hoping she escaped." She explains to me.

As I walk around a part of the mountain, I see a massive statue of a dwarf carved into the side. I look more closely, and notice that there is a set of stairs built into it.

"Up here!" I shout to them.

"You have keen eyes, Master Baggins." Thorin tells me.

We make our way up the steep steps and, when we get to the top, find a small clearing in the side of the mountain. Thorin runs to the clearing.

"This must be it. The hidden door." I hear Thorin say. "Let all those who doubted us rue this day!"

Thorin holds up the key, the Dwarves cheer.

"Right. We have our key, which means that somewhere, there is a keyhole." Dwalin says.

He begins exploring the walls of the clearing with his fingers, looking for a keyhole. Thorin walks over to the edge of the clearing and looks out at the setting sun.

"The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole." Thorin recites.

The sun is starting to get lower and lower on the horizon. And they are not finding anything.

"Nori." Thorin shouts to him, frantically.

Nori runs to the wall and begins tapping it in different places with a spoon while holding his ear to a cup that he is holding up against the wall. Meanwhile, Dwalin tries to push against the wall.

"We're losing the light." Thorin tells us.

"Come on!" Dwalin shouts and begins to kick the wall.

"Be quiet! I can't hear when you're thumping." Nori tries to quiet him.

Dwalin, not listening to him, says, "I can't find it...it's not here! It's not here."

"Break it down!" Thorin commands them.

Dwalin, Gloin, and Bifur smash at the wall with their weapons, but it is not doing anything.

"Come on!"

"It's no good! The door's sealed. It can't be opened by force. Powerful magic on it." Balin says.

They drop their weapons and the sun disappears.

"No!" Thorin stumbles forward and re-examines the map, he reads out loud, "The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole. That's what it says. What did we miss? What did we miss, Balin?"

Balin tells him, "We've lost the light. There's no more to be done. We had but one chance. Come away; it's...it's over."

"Wait a minute!" I say to them. I did not come all this way to almost be eaten by trolls, chased by Orcs and Wargs, almost fall off of a cliff, captured by goblins, wrapped in webs by spiders, bust them out of the Woodland-Realm, ride down a raging river, sneak into Laketown, and finally reach the mountain, all for nothing.