Torn Between

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Amariel's POV

Thorin makes us search for the Arkenstone nearly half the day, while he stands before the throne of the king, looking up into the cracked stone that had once held the King's Jewel. Balin, Dwalin, Bilbo and I stand before him, looking on with sad and angry eyes when we think Thorin isn't watching.

"It is here in these halls, I know it," Thorin breaths, repeating the words he had spoken to all of us numerous times.

"We have searched and searched--"

"Not well enough!" Thorin spits.

"Thorin, we all want to see the stone returned, yet it's still not found!" Dwalin growls. His words echo throughout the hollow mountain, bouncing off the mounds and mounds of gold that Thorin will have us sift through lest we find his precious Arkenstone. Yet I know that he will never find it. Not in these halls, not in those halls.

Only in Bilbo's pocket.

"Do you doubt the loyalty of anyone here?" Balin questions. He is the wisest of us all, and I know for certain that he will not fall under the dragon spell as some of us are. We all look at Thorin, who walks down the steps leading up to the throne, his majestic robes moving about him.

"The Arkenstone is the birthright of our people," Balin continues.

"It is the King's Jewel," Thorin says lowly. "Am I not the king?"

My eyes peer over to Bilbo, who has been avoiding all eye contact with Thorin all day. He stares at the ground now, and I can see in his eyes how hard it is to betray his friend and king.

"Know this," Thorin says through clenched teeth, "if anyone should find it, and withhold it from me, I will be avenged."

He walks past Bilbo, who is trying to keep himself from shaking and looking suspicious. Thorin curves around the throne and stalks deeper into the mountain, leaving us alone. Dwalin and Balin walk away from the throne, parting ways at a staircase. I glance at Bilbo, who meets my eyes and gestures we follow Balin.

We find him in an old storage room, the shelves dusty and full of cobwebs, though untouched by Smaug.He takes a deep breath before he hears us, and he is quick to speak.

"Dragon-sickness. I've seen it before. That look. A terrible need. It is a fierce and jealous love, Bilbo, Amariel. It sent his grandfather mad."

"But, but if Thorin... had the Arkenstone," Bilbo stutters, unsure of what exactly to say without telling Balin the truth. "If it was found. Would it help?"

We both look to Balin for an answer.

"That stone crowns all. It is the summit, of this great wealth. A stone of power, upon he who bears it. Would it stay his madness? No, lads. I fear it would make it worse."

The exact opposite of what we wanted to hear.

"Perhaps it is best that it remains lost."

Bilbo's POV
With Amariel gone to find Kili and Fili, I sit behind one of the great pillars and feel a lump in one of my pockets that is not the Arkenstone or the ring. I reach into my coat and pull out something I completely forgot about in all the hecticness of the past weeks.

"What is that? In your hand?" I hear Thorin's voice and it startles me from my daydreams, and he whips around the pillar, that look of greed and insanity in his eyes.

"It's-It's nothing," I manage, not particularly wanting to show him, and most definitely not wanting him to get rid of it.

"Show me," he demands, and after some hesitation I open my hand to reveal the object.