Days of Agony [Featured]

Sealed with Fire

The world was certainly not ahead. It was all around him, spinning madly, and making him sick. Bilbo got up as best he could on wobbly legs and fighting a burning ache in his head. Even if his vision was slightly blurred and his eyes hurt from the glowing sun, he was able to determine that he was still on Ravenhill, where he had chosen to take his stand, with the Elves. He was alone, however, and very cold.

Down in the valley, there was little activity and much silence. He could discern no moving enemies, but just to be sure, he drew his sword half out of its sheath and peered at it. Indeed, the blade was shiny silver, no longer haloed in blue, a clear sign that there were no live orcs or goblins nearby. Putting Sting back, Bilbo sighed in relief and his gaze returned to the devastation before him. There were still a few sheared banners fluttering earnestly over the field of dead warriors. Victory seemed assured, but at no small price. Relief faded quickly into a heavy heart, and Bilbo's thoughts flew to the ones he still called his friends.

He could make out a camp in the distance and there was some commotion at the Gate of the Lonely Mountain. Dwarves were hard at work, removing the fortified wall that Thorin and his companions had raised to defend their treasure. Even if his last conversation with the dwarf king had been tainted with venom and threats, Bilbo wondered and worried, about Thorin, about young Fili and Kili, about the wise Balin and the brave Dwalin, about Bifur, Bombur and the kind-hearted Bofur, about Dori, Nori and Ori, and about Gloin and Oin.

Just when he was starting to doubt that he was able to walk all the distance that would have allowed him knowledge of their fate, Bilbo heard steps climbing the rocks below, and coming towards him. His hand went out of instinct to his sword, but he was once again relieved to see that the intruder was a man, who explained that he had been sent by Gandalf the Wizard to look for the hobbit, as he was needed at once. The man offered to carry Bilbo down to the camp, and Bilbo was grateful for it, as the grim journey through the mangled remains of the Five Armies convinced him that he could not have done it himself.

By the time they got to Dale, Bilbo's nausea had acquired vicious new zeal. He struggled to keep himself upright as the man put him down before a tent, where Gandalf was waiting with gloom on his face and an arm in a sling. He brightened quickly at the sight of the hobbit and ran towards him, his healthy arm spread out in welcome.

"Bilbo!" he cried, as he came close, smiling and laying his hand affectionately on the hobbit's shoulder. "You are alive and well after all! I am much relieved!"

Feeling a little better at seeing a familiar face again, Bilbo smiled in return. "Yes, yes, I seem to be in one piece. I am glad to see you as well."

Gandalf studied him, shaking his head in some awe and a bit of concern as he eyed what was no doubt a visible wound on the side of Bilbo's forehead, where it hurt the most. "We will have to take care of that," he grumbled.

"How is everyone else?" tried Bilbo, not without a pause in his breath.

Gandalf's expression clouded again. "Come, Thorin wants to see you," he said, moving his free arm around the hobbit's shoulder and nudging him gently towards the tent.

"Is he all right?" asked Bilbo foolishly. Of course Thorin was not all right. That much was obvious from the wizard's growing frown and his silence.

A sudden hollow in his gut, Bilbo glanced ahead towards the entrance to the tent. It was a black hole of uncertain shape into a territory yet unknown but terrifying. He walked towards it more under the wizard's guidance than out of his own will, and he had to be nudged again to enter.

The inside of the tent was barely lit by a failing torch and it took some time for Bilbo's eyes to adjust from the abundant light of the cloudless day outside. His nose, however, immediately smelled blood and metal and mud. His already upset stomach turned inside him, but he endeavoured to focus on retrieving his eyesight.