Bring On The Wonder[Thorin Oakenshield]

Chapter Twenty Six: Locked Away

The Elves led the Dwarves deep within the forest. Bella was personally being escorted by the elven prince. Her wrist's were bound together and he pulled her long by the end up of the rope, behind the others. The half-breed, didn't make it easy for the blonde elf, as she tried to resist him. They soon came to a bridge and Legolas pulled her behind him, passed the others to the front to speak to the guard in their tongue and she stopped beside Thorin. " Save your strength." The dwarf king hissed at her, having glanced behind him a few times to see her trying with all her might, using rocks, and the thick roots of the trees with her boots to prevent her from going any further, but it did little use, since the male blonde elf was three times stronger then her for sure.

The doors into the kingdom opened and the elf guards once again shoved their prisoners once more to get going. Legolas gave an order to the guard at the door before the door closed shut behind Bella. At first glance this home was indeed beautiful but it was not as impressive as Lord Elrond's home. She was surprised then anything to notice how dark and quiet this kingdom appeared. She thought elves loved the light? Obviously not these ones. The elves began shoving the dwarves into dungeons, searching them one last time to make sure they had been stripped of all their weapons. The elf prince had given Bella over to an elf guard who was leading her over to the next available cell.

"Wait..." Legolas ordered in elvish. " We take this one to the king as well."

Thorin had already been dragged up a different flight of stairs. Bella already didn't like the sound of this. Why would this elf-wit think she needed to come before his king? She was just a woman. Unless he thought the elf king could use her against Thorin if things didn't go well between them, knowing Thorin that would be for certain. She knew his hatred for elves and especially for the ones that turned their backs on him and his people when the dragon came.

The young woman was being dragged up the last flight of stairs to the throne room, just as Thorin was being released from the guards grip and shoved before the King. The dwarf glanced at Bella quickly as Thranduil walked by them both.

"Careful my lord; this one bits." The elf guard with brown hair pressed. Knowing from personal experience earlier on as he pushed the half-breed to stand beside the leader.

"Hmm, we have a wild one do we?" The elf lord hissed, scrutinizing her. " Bit odd for a dwarf woman to be traveling in such dangerous areas."

"If you say so." Bella grunted.

"Cheeky, isn't she?" The elf smirked, still watching her curiously and not failing to notice Thorin's glare. The Dwarf King wasn't so much concerned about Bella, but more what the Elf King would do to her if she were to truly get arrogant. Bella was a strong person and didn't take much to push her buttons, which Thorin had witness many times since this journey began. "What's your name?" He asked next.

"What's it to you?" The half-breed and Thorin watched as one of the elf soldiers walked up to the king and whispered something to him.

"Secretive aren't you...Bella?" The woman widen her eyes, realizing some of the elves must of heard the dwarves saying her name before they were captured. "Just like all dwarves, but you're not just a dwarf are you Bella? What else are you? Elf?Man? Possibly a Skin-changer or a Hobbit?"

"All you need to know Elf, is that I'm nobody important." Bella snapped.

"Why you arrogant little animal. You should address you're kings with more respect." Thranduil pressed.

"You're not my king!" The elf king was furious now and gave swift nod to his guard. The male guard left for a few minutes only to return with a bucket of water and splashed the young woman right in the face. Bella spat out half the water and whipped her face dry with her arm, while scowling at Thranduil.

"So nice to see you're face, now that your not covered in all that blood and my looks like you have been through a hellish time already." He stated, looking over her face that had been marked up by numerous different blade tips. Bella looked away, she couldn't take the intense stare of the elf's piercing eyes or anyone's eyes for that matter when it came to anyone staring at her face for an incredibly long time.

"Hmm, not so tough now are you." Thranduil declared.

"Leave her alone! What do you want?" Thorin snapped. He had enough watching the elf lord trying to intimidate the young woman.

"I suppose I'm done with you for now. Lock her away. In fact, keep her separated from the others she might come in use yet." Thranduil ordered. Thorin turned and looked at Thranduil, wondering what he was planning to do to her, if need be. The dwarf king watched two guards carry the struggling woman away, down a different path then the one he was brought up earlier.

" Some may imagine that a noble quest is at hand. A ques to reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon. I myself suspect a more prosaic motive: attempted burglary or something of that ilk." Thranduil said, looking at the dwarf closely. " You have found a way in. You see that which would bestow upon you the right to rule: the King's Jewel, the Arkenstone. It is precious to you beyond measure. I understand that. There are gems in the mountain that I too desire. White gems of pure starlight. I offer you my help." He told him.

Thorin smirked hearing this, but decided to humor the elf. " I am listening."

"I will let you go, if you but return what is mine." He offered, giving a look.

"A favor for a favor." Thorin scoffed, as if he was going to give in this easily. The dwarf turned around to think about this, though he didn't need to think at all he knew his response.

"You have my word. One king to another." Thranduil stated.

Thorin furrowed his eyebrows at that. " I would not trust Thranduil, the great king, to honor his word, should the end of all days be upon us!" Thorin roared and turned around and pointed a finger at him. " You lack all honor! I have seen how you treat your friends! We came to you once, starving, homeless, seeking your help, but you turned your back! You turned away from the suffering of my people, and the inferno that destroyed us! IMRID AMRAD URSUL!"

Thranduil was in Thorin's face before he even had a chance to blink. "Do not talk to me of dragon fire!" he hissed. "I know it's wrath and ruin." The elf king's face then began to become distorted. Scars on his face that weren't there before appeared from his past with beasts. " I have faced the great serpents of the North." He instantly back away, and his scars were gone.

"I warned your grandfather of what his greed would summon. But he did not listen. You are just like him." Thorin clenched his fist and gritted his teeth at the elf's mentioning of his grandfather. Thranduil moved with such grace up the steps to his throne and gave a discrete wave of his fingers and two guard grabbed Thorin from either side.

"Stay here if you will and rot. A hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an Elf. I'm patient. I can wait. Oh, and until we have a deal, the young woman who travels with you will starve until otherwise." He taunted, smirking to see he hit a nerve. The two guard dragged Thorin back down the stairs to where the rest of his men were still held and was shoved harshly into the tiny cell.

"Did he offer you a deal?" Balin asked, coming up to the bars of his cell.

"He did. I told him that he could go ish kakhfê ai'd dur rugnu! Him and all his kin!" Thorin shouted with such wrath.

"Well, that's that, then. A deal was our only hope." Balin stated lowly, his voice filled with disappointment that his king couldn't just for once hold his tongue and they would have been out of here by now.

"Where's Bella? She hasn't returned." Bofur asked, seeing the empty cell across from him where the young woman had briefly stood by before the elf prince decided to take her before the king.

"Thranduil has her locked up somewhere else." Thorin growled lowly and he slammed his fist into the stone wall, hoping she was alright and that the elf kings taunt was merely just him trying to shake him. Would he really starve her just to get him to agree on a deal?