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Chapter Twenty Six - The Barrel Escape

Maura was curled up against the wall of her cell. How did it come to this? What made Lord Elrond send word to this foul elf about what he saw that was to come of her. And then the way Thorin looked at her when he heard all of it. Never did she want any of them to know, especially Thorin. Most of them would have made her stay behind and well Thorin when she first met him, he could care less about her life, or have anything to do with her, but now she wasn't sure about him anymore. She never expected the dwarf prince to step in between her and the elf king. Tears continued to come down the healers face, not only could she still feel the sting of her cheek, or the fact that her own mind made her believe that her family was alive, when she knew the truth, but for her not knowing if Bilbo was alright, made the pit in stomach worse and she finally couldn't keep the tears muffled as they streamed down and every so often she'd let the low whimper escape her lips.

Once Thorin had been violently shoved into his cell, he shot the elf guard a hateful glare as his door shut. When Balin had asked him, if the king had offered them a deal, he could hear the immediate disappointment from his old friend when he didn't accept the offer, just so they could continue you on they're way to the mountain, but his pride got in the way as it always did and now they were locked up to rot. There only hope was the hobbit, but was he still alive, or was he already dead? At that, the prince then realized maybe he should have taken it, they could be out right now looking for their burglar, who could still be out there for all they knew. "Still think Elves are our friends? " The dwarf prince growled lowly. Thorin was cursing himself instantly, when he realized he spoke his thoughts out loud, but it didn't surprise him when the healer never answered him back and thats when he heard it. Coming from the cell beside him, was the soft crying of the woman.

"Maura. Are you all right?" Thorin asked, his voice no longer serious, but with a slight hint of concern and the sniffling stopped.

"Uh, I'm...fine." She choked on her sobs. " Don't worry about me."

"Maura. He'll be alright...I promise." The dwarf stated, knowing what was clearly on her mind.

"How can you be sure? Were stuck in here, and Bilbo's out there all alone. I just....I want him back. I can't lose him too." Her voice broke at the thought and she wrapped her arms around herself and buried her face in her tattered dress. Thorin knew well enough, that when it came to offering words of comfort to someone in great pain, he was terrible at it. He always said the wrong thing or ended up making the person feel worse then they already felt. But it threw him off when the woman had said 'I can't lose him too.' Who was she referring to, that she had lost?

"Maura...Bilbo is not the same hobbit he was when he left the Shire. He's smart, he'll figure out a way to stay alive. We will get out of here." The healer did not say anything, but took some sort of comfort in his words that, hopefully soon they would find a way out of this horrid realm and find Bilbo.

"And not all Elves are like Thranduil. Some are willing to help others in they're greatest needs, regardless of what the issue might be between them." Maura retorted, as she wiped the last few of her tears.

"How can you still defend the elves, after what he did?!" Thorin shot back at her, no longer speaking calmly.

"Because I would not be here now, if it wasn't for the elves!" Maura snapped back and the prince went silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"What's that suppose to mean?" He demanded, his tone getting more aggressive. Remember something that crooked Elf had said in the throne room.

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about it."

"Maura, I saw you're face when Thranduil mentioned Lord Elrond sent concerning news about you. What was he talking about!?"

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" The healer screamed at him. Maura put her face in her hand, feeling awful for yelling at the dwarf. The remaining company let out awkward coughs and sighs as they had all heard the intense conversation of their leader and healer. She knew he was just trying to help, which still seemed strange to her, since their only form of conversation was disagreeing or meaningless words on this journey. The woman crawled over to the dark corner of her cell and though she knew it was useless, she closed her eyes and laid her head against the hard ground.