Star-Crossed

Chapter 50

Beuren sat outside, watching the enormous honey bees bumbling around, nothing to worry about, not a care in the world. How she wished she could be like that. Now, all she feared was the wrath of Thorin coming down on her, back to square one, she thought silently. 

Ten minutes or so passed before she heard anything. A heavy sigh resounded behind her. She let one out too, keeping her eyes focused on the step she was sitting on. They sat behind her, only when they spoke did she realized it wasn't who she thought it was. 

"May I ask what happened?" Bilbo spoke. She turned to face him. "You wouldn't have been that angry if something hadn't happened."

"It's a long story." She muttered, turning her gaze out towards the fields. 

"I have a while." The kindness of Hobbits, she thought, will never cease to amaze me. 

"You already know the tale of the king, how Azog killed him." Bilbo nodded. 

"Yes." 

"The story was not told right, it never is." She breathed. 

"Then tell it right." He said. Smirking she scooted over, patting the step beside her. He shifted so he was sitting beside her. 

"We lost Erebor sometime before." She began. "We'd taken up in the Blue mountains, south near the sea. Thror got the idea that we needed to take back Moria, speaking there wasn't any possibility that Erebor could be reclaimed, what with Smaug still sitting pretty inside.

Dwalin and I had begun training youngsters after the fall of Erebor, Thorin was the head of the Guard, and Balin was a tutor. My job was to help the trainees get used to life in the Army, which I hated. For years I had been head of the Guard, all my life practically." She looked over at Bilbo. "Thror, Thrain, Thorin, and Dwalin met me at my home, asking if I would lead their Army into battle, like I'd done many a time before. Stupidly I agreed, but only because Thorin, Frerin, Dwalin, and Balin were all going, and I trusted no one but myself to watch over them.

"While we were at war, I was knocked unconscious by Azog. Frerin, Thorin's brother, was able to get to me first. He put up a fight, however, Azog was better. He disarmed Frerin and used his own sword to kill him, again coming after me."

"Seeing Frerin down, Thror leapt into action, he was beheaded. Thorin came next, chopping off his arm. I woke up a while later, staring into the eyes of the dead King. Frerin was lying beside me, choking on his own blood, I held him till he died. 

"Years later, Kili and Fili were just Dwarflings. We were attacked outside the Blue Mountains, Thorin had just proposed to me, and the Orcs attacked. He and I held them off until Dwalin and Dosdrat, Fili and Kili's father, came to our aid. We were the best the Mountains had, we needed no one else. 

"I had been wrestled to the ground, how I still haven't the faintest idea, but Dosdrat threw a knife-that's where Fili gets it, you know-he killed the beast and the next thing I know, I hear a wretched scream, and Dosdrat is dead. I lost it. I cornered one of the Orcs and was able to get out of him who sent him."

"Azog." Bilbo interjected. 

"Yes. I was banished from the Blue Mountains that evening." She nodded. "Twenty years ago, well, twenty-one now, my brother Arathorn and I were in a town outside Dunland. Half the town was ablaze, most of the townsfolk were dead. Only we and about thirty people were still alive. Orcs, again. I had the door jammed with my hammer, keeping them at bay. It didn't last long.
"Arathorn drug me out the back door. We ran like bats out of hell. I was shot by arrows-twice-but they hit Arathorn in the calf. It stopped us in our tracks, he was unable to run, walk, or anything. We were trapped.