Calm The Fire

28

"Hello, Bard. What are you after?" The old man called out and questioned as the motion blur of the bargeman came charging into his little establishment.

"There was a tapestry, an old one. Where's it gone?" Bard said sounding a little breathless from his run. A small realisation had slowly dawned on him, and there was but maybe one way of finding out if his realisation was true or not.

"What tapestry are you talking about?" The old man questioned looking at Bard oddly. Bard in return turned away and looked over the many lines of materials in front of him. On either side, rich tapestries sat folded neatly up. Running his fingers along them, he frowned lightly and pulled one out. It was slightly heavier than it appeared and that became more obvious when he placed it on the table and it landed with a loud thud.

"This one," Bard pointed a finger to it and opened the blue tapestry and smoothed it out to better read the text which was on it. Tilting his head to the side, Bard could hear the whisperings which were happening outside in the town.

"They were dwarves I tell you. Appeared out of nowhere; full beards, fierce eyes. I've never seen the like." One woman's voice said.

"What are dwarves doing in these parts?" A man questioned sounding truly confused.

"It's the prophecy." Another man said, easily answering this question.

"Prophecy?" More confusion ensued.

"Prophecy of Durin's Folk."

Bard had only been half paying attention to these voices. But as he stumbled across Thorin's name, he suddenly realised that his earlier realisation was partially true. "Prophecy?" He whispered confused while putting a hand to his mouth in thought.

"The old tales have come true."

"Vast halls of treasure!"

"Can it really be true? Has the Lord of Silver Fountains returned?"

"The Lord of Silver Fountains. The King of Carven Stone. The King Beneath the Mountain, shall come into his own." Bard said quietly to himself, his dark eyes looked up to the doorway as the whisperings continued outside. "And the bells shall ring in gladness at the Mountain King's return. But all shall fade in sadness. And the lake will shine and burn." Bard said while turning and running out of the small building. He was making his way quickly back to his home. When he returned he watched as his children were tidying up the place.

"Da! I tried to stop them." Bain said while walking forwards.

"How long have they been gone?!" Bard asked seriously while looking to his son for an answer.

—

Hiding behind some docked boats, the company all peeked out and looked around. They had found the armoury, and now they were going to try and break into it. "Shh! Keep it down." Dwalin said when there were murmured voices from behind him.

"As soon as we have the weapons, we'll make straight for the Mountain. Go, go," Thorin said and then turned to Nori and ushered him to move forwards. Nori turned and ran down the planking path towards the armoury window. On the floor the rest of the company had managed to kneel and create some sort of steps for the others to run up. Nori managed to lightly jump and climb through the window, when he was inside the others followed. "Next," Thorin looked to Bilbo who didn't look overly confident here. Yet he ran along the planking, his feet not making a sound as he went. With a good run up, he managed to jump from one back to the other and then climb through the window, just like Nori.

Being the only one with weapons, Náriel opted to stay outside and keep a watch in the shadows. She had no need to steal weapons, if she had anymore she wouldn't be able to move. Not only that, these weapons were specifically made for her, and her size. Weapons forged by men made for men weren't going to be of any use to her. They'd be heavy, and large. The dwarves wouldn't struggle with this, she certainly would.