Bring On The Wonder[Thorin Oakenshield]

Chapter Twenty Seven: Slipping Away

It's been over two weeks since the Dwarves and Bella had become permanent guest of the elves. The company was growing restless in their tiny quarters. They were only brought little water and a dry piece of bread that was to last them the whole day. No one knew the whereabouts of the hobbit or the condition their female companion was in. It bothered Thorin more than he liked, not knowing if Bella was alright or not.

The Dwarf king would never admit it out loud to anyone, but he couldn't keep pretending to himself that something wasn't there. He couldn't deny that he felt something for her and he didn't understand why. The half-breed got under his skin so easily, especially when she felt the need to question his decisions. It annoyed him even more that her response for everything was some sort of sarcastic remark. She didn't take things seriously when she should. Part of him knew the reasoning for her attitude was just her way of shielding herself from what ever it was she didn't want anyone to know. And yet he felt himself drawn to her. She was not like other women that had come and passed in his life. She was different. Bella wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in. It also didn't go unnoticed to him how Bella often turned away whenever someone stared at her face for a long periods of time, she would either turn away to look at something else or at the ground. Bella had even done it to him a few times. But Thorin didn't think her scarred face made her less beautiful then the first day he met her. In his eyes it made her even more beautiful. She was strong, a fighter and he admired that about her.

It took Thorin a long time on this journey to notice Bella was more similar to him then he thought. She was just as stubborn as him, though he was starting to think she might be stubborner then him. Bella also wasn't one to overshare her life story, she was very protective of that and Thorin knew better than anyone when one didn't want to talk about their past. And though it troubled him not knowing exactly everything about her. He remembered what Beorn told him and if the Skin changer truly trusted her, then he would to.

Thorin suddenly slammed his hands into the bars of his cell door. He was losing his mind being stuck here. The king couldn't believe he was thinking this, but all he wanted was to hear Bella's voice again. Even if it was just her saying her usual sarcastic marks, or teasing him with that recent nickname she started using.

Every day, Thorin and even some of the others would often asked the elves who were bringing them their water and stale piece of bread, where they were keeping Bella. Half the time they would barely get a response from the guards. Most times it was, quiet! Or shut up! when they were annoyed with the repeating question, which made Thorin now believe that they were starving the young woman to get to him. The Dwarf kicked the bars before going to sit in the far corner of his cell in the dark. He put in his face in his hands.

"We have to get out of here now!" Thorin bellowed.

In a deeper part of the kingdom Bella laid, propped up against the wall of her cell. The first few days in her cell with no food or water were manageable but once it became a week, Bella's body became weak, her throat dry. The Elf King had come to her cell many times offering to give her food and water and be reunited with the other Dwarves if she told him who she was, but she said no every time.

Thranduil had ruled out the possibility that she was part elf. Nothing about her seemed Elven no pointy ears for starters, her mouth was as ignorant as a Dwarf's can be. Her looks were soft and gentle but not as delicate as an elf's would be. So she was either part Man's blood or she could very much be part Hobbit. If she were a Skin changer, she would have morphed into her animal form by now. The blonde elf had offered her the same deal for a whole week and she still refused to give him the answer he wanted. And realized now she wasn't going to give in.

In the corner of her cell, small drops of water dripped into her cage. Feeling as week as she was, Bella was not about to die by starvation. With great difficulty, Bella crawled on her belly across the cold floor over to the dripping water that pooled in a puddle. It took everything in her to not let her whole body just drop before she reached the other side of her cell. She looked up exhausted, in her eyes, the dripping water looked like it was still so far away but she had at least 2 more crawls and she would be there. The woman crawled with her all might and rolled onto her back feeling the water hit her face, trickling down over her lips. When Bella felt she had enough liquid in her mouth she swallowed painfully as the refreshing water went down her throat. She continued to lay there for what seemed like hours. Sometime later on, Bella had no idea if it was night or day anymore she crawled back over to the wall near the bars of her gate and slouched against the stone wall, passing out.

More days went by, making it two weeks now that Bella hadn't eaten a thing, she still laid against the wall, her upper body slouching further and further from the position she was. The half-breed had grown quite thin and no longer had the strength to even push herself off the wall to land on her stomach and crawl over to the dripping water. Her throat was dryer then ever it hurt to breathe. Bella was at the point that she just wanted to die. Dying slowly was more painful then dying quickly. This was worse then being sliced a dozen times by goblins.

"Bella? Bella?"

The woman was hearing a faint voice calling her name, but she was sure it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

"Bella wake up." The voice called to her again. The person reached his fingers through the bars and placed them on the side of her cheek. "Bella...it's me."

Bella recognized that voice and her head twitched, feeling like it weighed 100 pounds and slowly opened her eyes as much as she could.

"Bilbo...?" She said in confusion.