Durin's heart

chapter one

23 years before Smaug will attack 

Derran Craghorn was riding on his horse when he suddenly saw a movement from the corners of his eyes. He stopped his horse, Angus, and looked around him. He heard that his companions also stopped, alerted by him looking around.

'What is wrong, Derran?' 

Derran turned around to face his prince, Thorin, and said: 'I don't know, I saw a movement.'

All the dwarves looked around them, trying to find what catched his attention. 

'I don't see anything', Narvi said.

But Derran saw it again and yelled to the others to follow him. A white colour was seen running away between the trees while the group chased it. Derran saw it was a wolf, his coat snow white, standing still while bright eyes watched them come closer. But when they stood still just a couple of inches from the wolf, it turned and began walking away. But after a couple of steps, it looked back to the group.

'It almost looks like he wants us to follow him', Derran heared Narvi say, he noticed Narvi was right. After following the wolf for a couple more minutes, it stood still again and waited for them to get closer. Derran saw something move from behind the wolf, without knowing what he was planning to do, Derran stepped off of his horse and walked slowly to the wolf. He hesitated and looked in the eyes of the beast, he saw kindness and that gave him the last push to look wat was behind the beast. He pushed the bushes away and there he saw a child lying on the ground. He walked closer and saw it was a human not older than 5 years, deeply asleep. He heard a gasp next to him and saw Thorin looking horrified to the child. 

'It is wounded, badly.'

That is when Derran saw the copper coloured blood the clothes of the child were soaked in. He rushed to the child and took it carefully in his arms, he then saw it was a girl. She was the same age as his Saga would have been, flashed through his mind. He looked at his prince with a questioning look, after a short hesitation he nodded his head giving permission to take the little girl with them.

At Erebor

Derran looked down at the girl who was lying in the bed, she looked even more smaller because of how big the bed was in comparison to her. Their healers had done what they could and all that was left was to wait till she woke up or died from her injuries. He saw the golden chains, one on each wrist, shining at the soft light of the moon. His eyes looked up to the bandage that showed under her clothes, he knew it covered most of her back and stomach. With a disgusted feeling he thought back at when they removed the clothes that were stucked to her back because of the blood that had dried up. When they finnaly managed to remove the clothes they saw her injuries, her whole back looked like it was teared up by the claws of an animal, deep cuts where made in lines and she had bruises all over her body. 

Derran heard a voice and he quickly looked up at the face of the little one, her eyes where opening. 

'Whe... Where am I?' Her voice nothing more than a whisper.

'In Erebor, the kingdom of Thror', Derran heard from behind him. The Dwarfen prince, Thorin,  walked in the room while his eyes where focused on the girl.

'What is your name, little one?' Derran asked  the girl with a gentle smile.

She looked at him with her big brown eyes, eventually said: 'Eleanor'.

'What where you doing in the woods all by yourself?' Thorin asked while he stood still at the bed end. Eleanor looked at them in turn, like she was asking herself if she could trust them. Derran gave her a nod to encourage her, hoping she would tell more about herself. 

'I was running away'.

'From what?' Thorin asked with a frown.

'Monsters', she whispered while her eyes where filling with tears.

Derran sympathized with her and took her little hand between his much larger one. 

'I was playing with my big brother when we heard our mother scream. We ran to her and there I saw them: big, brown monsters with huge teeth and yellow eyes, holding weapons in their hands and riding on beasts that looked like wolves but with demonic eyes. My father yelled to us that we had to run so my brother grabbed my arm and we ran into the forrest. But one of the creatures was chasing us, I heared another one yelling that he needed me alive. We tried to hide us but the creature somehow smelled us and he found us. He attacked us and we tried to fight him off but he was to strong. My brother died trying to protect me.'

Derran hearts shrank when he heared her story and saw her sobbing. He could not imagine the horror the little one had experienced. 

'Did they chained you?' He asked her with a soft voice.

'Chained me?'

'Yes, the golden chains around your wrists'.

'No, I already had them when my parents found me.'

'Found you?'

'My father found me in blankets near their house, I was abandoned there by my birth parents. They did not know where I was from, but they still raised me as their own'.

'You said one of them yelled he wanted you alive, did you recognized him?'.

'No, I have never seen them in my life before'.

****

'She doesn't have anyone left', Derran said in a soft voice to Thorin. The prince looked at him knowing what he wanted to ask.

'You have to ask the king', was his responce.

'But do you have any objections?'

Thorin sighed and said in a soft voice: 'No, I don't. But are you sure? It won't bring your wife or daughter back'.

'After I lost my wife in childbirth and when the child died after a couple of days, I thought I woud not survive the pain. But now it feels like I got another chance with Eleanor, she has the same age like my Saga would have if she had survived. I want to raice her as my own, the child I thought I would never have'.

'It never happened that the dwarves has taken someone from the outside in their homes'.

'I know, my lord prince'.

Thorin sighed again and eventually said: 'I don't promise you anything, but I will try to convince my grandfather to give you permission'.