Heart Of Stone

Chapter Thirteen

Fawn slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes gazed up into the cloudy sky, smoke and airborne debris filling her lungs. Her body ached and a dull burn coursed through her arm and back where Smaug'd singed her. She blinked and struggled to stand. It was like something was weighing her down. She could barely raise her arms.

Once Fawn stood—her body trembling as if something were pulling her toward the ground—she looked at her hands and gasped. The shimmered as if shards of gold lodged into her skin. The rest if her skin looked just like that.

She shook her head and dropped her hands, almost falling from the weight of her arms. She gazed around and saw that she'd actually landed in front of Erebor. She frowned and walked toward the exit Smaug created in his hast to leave the mountain.

The second Fawn entered she cried out as images assaulted her mind.

Thorin stood atop all the dwarf treasure, turning in a circle, gazing at every coin. Every jewel. His eyes were filled with a greedy spark that soon ignited into a flame.

Fawn shook her head and rubbed her eyes. What the hell was that? Fawn's ears perk and she staggers to the opening she'd entered from. Fili, Kili, Bofur, Fang, and Oin climb up the Lonely Mountain. As they approach the gates, they stop in shock and fear as they see the destruction caused by Smaug as he smashed through the front gate to fly out of the mountain. They then spot Fawn. Weak and tired she collaspes to her knees, cracking the stone from her weight. Fang rushes forth the dwarves look at each other, then run into the halls of Erebor, stopping shortly to pick Fawn up, Fili and Kili each slinging one of her arms of their shoulders.

Bofur calls out, his voice echoing in the silence. "Hello! Bombur? Bifur? Anybody?" They clamber through the halls, Kili and Fili staggering a little from Fawn's weight, looking for their kin. As they run down a staircase, Bilbo runs up toward them from another part of the city, calling out. "WAIT! WAIT!"

"It's Bilbo! He's alive!" Oin cheers.

Fawns smiles. "Mr.Baggins." Her voice was hoarse, her throat raw, and her voice sounded an octave lower.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

They meet each other in a corridor. "You need to leave. We all need to leave." Bilbo says urgently.

Bofur frowns "We only just got here?!"

Fawn looks around, hr gaze shit from the pain. "Where are the others?"

"I have tried talking to him, but he won't listen."

Oin frowns. "What do you mean, laddie?"

"THORIN. Thorin. Thorin. He's been out there for days. He doesn't sleep. He barely eats. He's not been himself - not at all. It's this - It's this place. I think a sickness lies on it." As Bilbo speaks, Fili looks past him and sees something that causes him to wrinkle his face in consternation. He eases Fawn's arm off him and has Bofur sling it over his shoulder.

Kili's brows bunch. "Sickness? What kind of sickness?"

Fili walks past the group and starts heading further down into Erebor, looking at something. Bilbo and the others head after him, trying to stop him.

"Fili. Fili. Fili!"

As they continue heading down, a golden light begins to be visible on the walls. They round a corner, and stop short at the sight of Smaug's treasure, heaped so high over the floor of the cavern that the ground is barely visible. As they stare, they see Thorin, dressed in ornate robes and covered in jewelry, stride slowly out of a doorway. Thorin begins speaking softly, apparently to himself. He looks strange, almost possessed, and they all look at him in surprise. Fawn pulls away from them and staggers onto the gold, her feet sinking a little, her gaze never leaving Thorin. "Thorin?"

"Gold - Gold beyond measure. Beyond sorrow and grief." Thorin looks up and sees the others standing there. "Behold - the great treasure hoard of Thror." He suddenly flings something high into the air to where the dwarves are standing on a stairwell landing, and Fili catches it. It is a giant bloodred jewel. "Welcome, my sister's sons, to the kingdom of EREBOR."

His gaze then lands on Fawn and he approaches her. Now getting used to her new weight a little she is able to meet him halfway without staggering too much. He takes her hand and places white gems onto her palm. "No elf deserves these more than you....vala."

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The newly-come dwarves and Fawn enter the room where the other dwarves are, and they greet each other warmly with massive hugs and pets for Fang.

"Balin!"

"Fang!"

"Kili!"

"Bombur!"

All eyes then move to Fawn and most of the group—who'd seen her drown in the gold—stare in shock. Balin approaches her. "Your skin...your eyes....there's gold within them...how..." Fawn holds up a hand and shakes her head. "Let's just be grateful I lived." Balin smiles and embraces her as well as all the others. Once she has some breathing room Bilno steps forth and places her eye patch over her blind eye. "I was afraid I was going to have to hold onto that for a long time."

They embraced each other like siblings who'd been apart for years only to be reunited again.

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Fawn watches as all the dwarves comb through the piles of treasure, searching for the Arkenstone, Fang standing beside her.

"Any sign of it?!" Thorin asks angrily.

Dwalin sighs. "Nothing yet."

"Nothing here."

"Keep searching!"

"That jewel could be anywhere!"

"The Arkenstone is in these halls - find it!"

Dwalin groans. "You heard him - Keep looking!"

"All of you - No one rests until it is found!"

Bilbo, hearing all this, looks awkward. Fawn looks at him and he looks at her, worry shining in both the eyes.

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Thranduil sat in his throne, twirling his dagger in his hand. Smaug was dead. Defeated by a human, with a black arrow. Was Fawn dead? The not knowing terrified him. He wanted—no needed answers. Where is Legolas? His absence only added to the weight on Thranduil's shoulders. I swear if they're dead I'll kill Thorin.

He just had to reclaim his mountain. Reclaim a treasure that was infected with greed and madness. Thranduil growled and tossed his dagger, embedding it in a pillar to the hilt. That's it, he's going down there.