Bring On The Wonder[Thorin Oakenshield]

Chapter Thirty Seven: The Ancient Beast, Still Lives!

The company stood on the small clearing. Thorin face lit up as he stared at the mountain wall. "This must be it. The hidden door." The king breathed, walking over to the wall and he turned around to face the others, holding up the key to the door. " Let all those who doubted us rue this day!" He proclaimed. Bella stood between the others as they cheered around her and she felt a smile tug at her lips. It had been a long time since she saw Thorin smiling the way he was now.

"Right!" Dwalin began as he marched over to the wall. " We have our key, which means that somewhere, there is a keyhole." And with that the warrior began feeling around with his hands for any where a key would fit in.

Thorin turned around to see the sun beginning to set. "The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole" He breathed taking in the sight for only a moment before turning back to see Dwalin having some difficulties in finding the keyhole and he stepped over to another member of his company. " Nori." he hissed and the Dwarf went over to the wall to assist Dwalin in search for the hidden keyhole.

Nori began taping on the stone wall with a spoon, which Bella thought was very odd indeed, but then again she never spent much time with her kin and learning their ways of doing things. She had always been...on her own, until this quest.

Precious moments were beginning to go by. Thorin glanced behind him to see the light starting to sink behind the mountains, causing the leader to become only more anxious. " We're losing the light!"

Dwalin only made matters worse when he starting kicking the wall with his boot. " Be quiet!" Nori hissed. " I can't hear when you're thumping!"

"It's not here! It's not here!" Dwalin shouted in frustration, which only caused him to kick the wall harder.

"Break it down!" Thorin ordered. Gloin and Bifur, pulled out their weapons and joined Dwalin at the wall and started banging on the wall with all the strength they had, barely chipping the stone. " Come on!" The king roared. Bella's heart was pounding in her chest as time was running out. Why wasn't the light revealing the keyhole?

"It's no good! The door is sealed! It can't be open with force!" Balin's voice bellowed beside the half-breed causing her to jump in her spot. " There's powerful magic on it." He informed as the last bit of light disappeared.

"No!" Thorin cried as he rushed right past Bella, just brushing her arm and stopped at the wall, pulling out the map and facing his company. " The last light of Durin's Day...will shine upon the keyhole." He read his voice breaking, looking up to see his men in silence. "That's what it says." Bella had never heard Thorin sound so defeated as he did now, and it pained her to see him like this. The king turned to the one person who would know exactly what went wrong. "What did we miss?" He asked lowly as he approached Balin. "What did we miss? Balin?"

The white bearded Dwarf just shook his head with a soft expression. "We've lost the light. There's no more to be done. We had but one chance." He told the leader. The young woman's head shot in Balin's direction when she heard his last words. What did he mean when he said 'we had but one chance'? was it over? Was this quest all for nothing? No it couldn't end just like that. Their had to be a way. "Come away, lads. It's over." Balin stated and the company started to slowly head back the way they came.

"Wait. Where are they going?" Bilbo questioned as he watched the Dwarves leave in silence with there heads down.

"Hold on a minute, all of you!" Bella shouted, but none of them stopped. " You can't just give up now!" She continued until she found Thorin who was behind the Hobbit. He held the key in his palm and tilted his hand and the key slipped from his grip and landed on the ground.

"Thorin..." Bilbo said lowly as the Dwarf started to head towards the stairs but not before he shoved the map into the Hobbit's hands in passing. Bella was standing a few feet behind Bilbo and wasn't about to let the Dwarf get by her so easily.