Bring Me With Her

Empty

It took Thorin longer to fall asleep than he thought it would. When he finally made it up the stairs to Talia, he could barely stand. His limbs were numb, and his eyelids felt like they weighed that of his mountain itself. The Dwarf king took one mere glance at Talia, and didn't even have to tell her that they would be taking another rest period. They both flopped to the ground, unable to fight themselves anymore. But Thorin couldn't take his eyes off Gollum.

When he was reaching for Talia back there...he was reaching for the Ring. Thorin knew it. He saw that look in Gollum's eye, and he knew it all too well. It was the exact same look his grandfather had as he admired his treasure. Gollum wanted it, no, at this point Thorin was sure the creature convinced himself that he needed it.

It won't be long now. Thorin thought. It won't be long before Gollum will no longer be able to resist. He was going to try to take the Ring, and do anything and everything he could to get it back into his grasp. Thorin continued to stare at the sleeping creature with half-open eyes. He vaguely remembered when he needed to take various moments to close his eyes, but not when he finally succumbed to his exhaustion.

He wasn't sure what it was that woke him from his sleep, especially since he did not wake up feeling well-rested. But Thorin opened his eyes anyway...only to find Gollum standing right in front of him, looking down over the ledge.

Thorin shot up from his place. How long was he asleep? How long had Gollum been awake? And what could he possibly have been up to? "What are you doing? Trying to sneak off, are you?" Thorin hissed quietly, trying not to wake Talia with his questions.

The creature jumped at the sound of his voice, but quickly collected himself. He actually had the nerve to form a smirk. "Sneaking? Sneaking? Dwarfses is always so polite." he mocked, climbing up a rock so he was matching Thorin's height. "Smeagol shows them secret ways that nobody else could find, and they say sneak? Sneak! Very nice friend. Oh yes, my precious, very nice, very-"

"Alright." Thorin cut off his rambling. "I just wasn't expecting you to be awake. What were you doing?" he continued to interrogate.

Gollum's smirk fell. "Sneaking." he leered.

Thorin narrowed his eyes. "Have it your own way then." he snapped.

The Dwarf king took the time to look at his surroundings. He couldn't tell what hour it was. The skies were constantly black, making it impossible to tell whether it was night or day. Judging by the way his body felt, Thorin figured he got in a minimum of three or four hours of sleep. They really should keep going at this point. Thorin wanted to get off of these stairs. Worrying about the possibility of falling to their deaths had taken far too big of a toll on them.

Thorin knelt down next to Talia, reluctantly placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked so innocent, like she should be in a warm bed, not on a rocky surface in the middle of nowhere. He briefly stroked her with his thumb before he began to mildly shake her. Talia opened her eyes, but remained completely still. Thorin removed his hand, trying to be mindful of her discomfort. "I am sorry. I didn't want to wake you, but we have to keep moving." he told her gently.

Talia let out a groan as she sat up. "It's still dark out." she yawned.

Thorin sighed, staring up at the sky. "It's always dark here." he reminded her, turning to his pack to get out some food. Thorin reached in, and his eyes widened instantly when he felt that the bag was empty. "It's gone. The Elven bread, it's gone!" he exclaimed.

"What? Are you sure? Check again!" Talia insisted. Thorin flipped the pack upside down. Talia widened her eyes in complete alarm when nothing came out. "Thorin, that's all we have left." she fretted.