A furious Dwalin stomped down the path leading to the throne Thorin sat upon, adorned in his kingly attire with a dark expression on his face. The Company had been outside the entire time, watching the battle take place right outside the walls of their mountain. They watched as Dain's army and the half of Thranduil's army that hadn't followed the lakemen to Dale struggle against the legions of Orcs. They watched as a familiar head of crimson hair weaved her way through the chaotic battle herself, fighting against the dark creatures that threatened Erebor.
Seeing Davina, the woman that the dwarfs had truly come to consider their Queen, out there fighting a war Thorin had forbade the rest of them to join... it pissed Dwalin off. And as more and more of their kin died at the hands of these orcs, he'd had enough.
"Since when do we forsake our own people?!" He demanded of the dwarf that sat upon the throne. "Thorin... they are dying out there!"
"There are halls beneath halls within this mountain," Thorin said, but his voice was dark, distant... cold. The sickness had completely captured his mind, and all he was worried about was the treasure that lay within Erebor. "Places we can fortify, shore up, make safe." He abruptly stood from his seat. "Yes! Yes. That's it... we must move the gold further underground, to safety."
"Did you not hear me?!" Dwalin snapped, storming after him as he turned away from the warrior. "Dain is surrounded... Davina is surrounded! She is out there, fighting this battle alongside your kin, while you hide away in here! And they are being slaughtered, Thorin!"
The dwarf king turned to face him. His expression only faltered for the briefest of moments before his eyes clouded over again. "Many die in war. Life is cheap," he said. "But a treasure such as this cannot be counted in lives lost. It is worth all the blood we can spend."
"Even your One's?" Dwalin asked him. "Davina may very well die out there!"
Thorin blinked rapidly, his mind at war with itself at the thought of the spitfire of a woman out on that bloody battlefield. But the sickness won again, and his jaw clenched. "She can see the future. She will be fine," he grunted.
"It is precisely because she can see the future that proves she is not fine!" Dwalin argued. "You know as well as I, that when she gets a vision, she is blind to the world around her!"
"Enough!" Thorin roared. "I will hear no more of this!"
Dwalin shook his head, unable to believe that this had been what became of the great Thorin Oakenshield. "You sit here in these vast halls, with a crown upon your head... and yet, you are lesser now than you have ever been."
"Do not speak to me... as if I were some lowly dwarf lord. As if I were still Thorin Oakenshield." The name left the king's lips breathlessly, as if it brought him great pain to speak it. "I am your king!" He shouted angrily, pulling his sword from its sheath.
"You were always my king!" Dwalin told him, his eyes sad as he looked at the dwarf before him. "You used to know that once... But you cannot see what you've become."
"Go," Thorin hissed. "Get out. Before I kill you."
Dwalin left, vastly disappointed as he returned to the rest of the Company to tell them how it had went.
Thorin was left to himself and the war raging within his mind, and he found his way to the Gallery of Kings.
The floors were made of gold now, due to it having cooled after their attempt at attacking Smaug when they first returned to the mountain. Thorin walked across it, his eyes dark and expression twisted into a deep scowl. Voices rang inside his head, memories of conversations he'd had and the things people had said to him, things he had said, repeating over and over.
"You sit here with a crown upon your head.... You are lesser now than you have ever been."
"But a treasure such as this cannot be counted in lives lost."
"A sickness lies upon that treasure!"
"The blind ambition of a Mountain King."
"Am I not the King?!"
"This gold is ours... and ours alone. I will not part with a single coin!"
"He could not see beyond his own desire!"
"As if I were some lowly dwarf lord.... Thorin Oakenshield."
"A sickness which drove your grandfather mad."
"This is Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror!"
"I am not my grandfather."
"You are the heir to the throne of Durin."
"They are dying out there!"
"Take back Erebor."
"Dain is surrounded -- Davina is surrounded!"
"Take back your homeland."
"You are changed, Thorin."
"I am not my grandfather."
"Is this treasure truly worth more than your honor?"
"I am not my grandfather."
"This treasure will be your death!"
Dwalin, Balin, Bilbo, Bard; even his own. Countless voices haunted Thorin's mind... but none more so than the fierce Viator who was currently fighting alongside his cousin, out on a battlefield painted with blood and riddled with death. Her voice rang within his mind, countless things she had told him thudding inside his head as he fought against the dragon-sickness.
"Your heart is pure and your will is strong."
"You have something to live for, Thorin. You have people who will follow you to the ends of this earth; you have a home capable of being reclaimed, a kingdom waiting for you to rule it."
"I want you to wear this.... you will have a piece of me with you.... and think of it as a promise; that I will see you again, that this is not goodbye."
"Do not forget who you are once you reach the mountain, Thorin Oakenshield. You are stronger than the sickness that claimed your grandfather's mind."
"Pull your head out of your arse, Thorin!"
"Would you have cared? If I'd have died... would you have cared?"
"I had been so sure of you.... so sure that you would be strong enough to fight off this sickness...."
"Do not forget who you are...."
"Menu tessu.... I love you, Thorin Oakenshield. I need you to know this."
"Would you have cared? If I'd have died... would you have cared?"
"But you are changed, Thorin! You're not the same dwarf I fell in love with."
"Menu tessu.... Men lananubukhs menu."
"Do not forget who you are...."
"I love you, Thorin Oakenshield."
"If I'd have died... would you have cared?"
"Menu tessu."
"I love you."
"If I'd have died... would you have cared?"
"Of course I would care!" Thorin shouted into the silence of the Gallery of Kings. His voice reverberated through the room, echoing back at him as his mind finally cleared and tears filled his eyes. Memories of what he had done only hours ago flooded his thoughts; the argument with Davina, the dreadful things he'd said to her, how he had yanked the bead from her hair and ruined the braid... how he had almost killed her.
"Davina," he choked out in despair, yanking the crown off his head and throwing it across the floor with disgust. "What have I done?"
⇜ – ⇝
Davina was running on pure adrenaline at this point. She wove through the countless number of orcs, decapitating some, slicing others' throats, and stabbing a few through the chest as quick as she could. Although she and Dain had clearly not gotten off on the right foot, they had proven to be good allies; but somewhere along the line, they'd been separated by the orcs. The filthy creatures had recognized that they were better at fighting together than they were apart, so they had cut them off.
Not that it really mattered to her. She wouldn't give up easily, not with so much to fight for. Never would she have thought, before she joined the Company all those months ago, that she would have something to fight for so fiercely. But Davina had grown to love all of those dwarfs inside that mountain, as well as the hobbit currently in Dale.
The sudden blaring of a horn rippled through the air, drowning out the sounds of clashing swords and guttural sounds of pain and anger. Davina plunged her sword through the chest of the orc running towards her, then yanked the blade back out and turned just in time to see the wall guarding Erebor be torn down... from the inside.
Thorin was a welcome sight to her as he led the Company out onto the battlefield, for Davina knew that his mind had been cleared by the dragon-sickness by then. If it hadn't, he'd have never left that treasure hoard unguarded.
"To the King!" Dain shouted as the dwarfs regained their hope once more. "To the King!"
Davina tried her best to keep Thorin in her sights as they all rallied against the oncoming orcs, goblins and ogres. But it proved a difficult and near-impossible task as she fought against the multitude of creatures trying to attack her. Her eyes widened when an ogre began barreling toward a few members of the company.
"Bofur!" She shouted, running right between Thorin and Fili on her way over to them. Thorin whirled around with wide eyes, fighting off another orc as he watched Davina. "Nori! Gloin!"
They all turned to her, and somehow understood what she needed. Bofur knelt down on his hands and knees; and behind him, Nori knelt with his shield up, with Gloin bringing up the rear as he held his shield higher. Davina jumped off Bofur's back, then off of Nori and Gloin's shields. She grabbed onto the ogre's arm as hard as she could, trying not to fall as he swung it around.
Thorin watched with bated breath as he kicked a goblin away from him almost absentmindedly. He was terrified for her, but she didn't even seem afraid at all. Maybe she wasn't.
Davina grabbed onto a spear that had lodged in the ogre's arm, swinging her body back and forth until she grew enough momentum to jump onto the creature's back. As soon as she landed, she stabbed her sword into the heart of the orc controlling the beast, then threw him off once she pulled the blade out of him. Without missing a beat, she jumped up and plunged the bloody sword into the ogre's head, twisting it roughly. The large creature fell to the ground harshly, killing a handful of orcs and goblins by crushing them.
She grew distracted as she attempted to yank her sword out of the ogre's thick skull, which was not an easy task. Thorin tried to make his way to her, but with all the orcs attacking him he couldn't. "Davina!" He shouted desperately. "Davina, look out!"
The Nymali whirled around, finally having retrieved her sword, but it seemed to have been too late. The approaching orc had already gotten too close, and she hardly had any time to full turn around when he was thrusting his dagger into her chest. The force of his lunge caused both of them to tumble onto the ground.
"Davina!" Thorin cried out, thinking only the worst as another ogre barreled through and blocked his view of her. He had forgotten the mithril vest he had gifted her with, his mind too overwhelmed with everything happening at once. "No!"
"If I'd have died... would you have cared?" Her earlier words haunted Thorin, but a fierce anguish flooded within him and made him fight harder, stronger than he had before. He would not let Davina's supposed death be in vain.
The Viator in question couldn't even hear his shouts as her heart thudded in her chest. The mithril vest had prevented the dagger from piercing into her heart, but the impact still hurt. She struggled against the orc on top of her, kneeing him in the groin and then throwing all her weight against him. They rolled to the side just enough for her to reach the sword she had dropped, and Davina's bloody knuckles clutched onto the hilt as she grabbed it and swung it violently at the orc. It cut into his neck mercilessly, blood spurting from it as she pushed the creature off of her and stood to her feet.
She tried to find her way to Thorin again, but it felt like forever until she saw him in the far distance, taking off on a warthog; alongside Fili, Kili, Balin and Dwalin, who were all on a machine-type wagon.
They had taken off to Ravenhill, and she was already behind.
Davina decapitated a goblin, stealing his dagger and throwing it straight into the head of an orc astride a warg. The orc fell off of it and she immediately took his place, yanking on the back of the warg's neck fiercely to make it go where she wanted to.
On her way through the raging battlefield, she caught sight of Bofur now atop of another ogre, directing it this way and that so it would attack the orcs and goblins trying to enter the mountain.
"Bofur!" She shouted up at him.
He looked down to her with wide eyes. "Davina?! We thought you were --"
"Wouldn't be the first time!" She offered him a brief smile, then tapped her chest. "Mithril, remember?" His face dawned in recognition. "Anyway -- this isn't the time! I need you to scout ahead and help make a path for Thorin and the others!" Davina gestured in the direction they had went, revealing another ogre that was chasing after them.
Bofur took off without question, fighting to steer the ogre he sat upon. He was gone within seconds, as the large creature covered more ground faster than the warg Davina was on did.
But she would not be deterred.
After all, she had three lives to save.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
A/N:
"Menu tessu," means "You mean everything to me."
"Men lananubukhs menu," means "I love you."