Revenge of a Huntress
-the one with the exiled king-
"Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows,
which the world knows not,
and often times we call a man cold,
when he is only sad."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Dwalin immediately let go of her, letting her drop to the floor with a grunt. Huntress looked around her at the wide-eyed dwarves that were all staring at the doorway with their mouths slightly open in awe. When she twisted her body to see who was there, she understood their awe completely.
A middle-aged dwarf was standing in the doorway of the living space her and Dwalin decided to brawl in, radiating power and strength. There seemed to be a regality in the way that he held himself, with his long raven hair with a few streaks of grey and the pair of braids that ran down the sides of his face, and the way his shoulders weren't slouched even an inch. This dwarf was certainly royalty.
It was then she knew she was in the presence of Thorin Oakenshield at last.
"What in Mahal do you think you are doing?" His booming voice questioned, breaking through the silence like a well-sharpened dagger.
Huntress quickly remembered herself and cut her gaze from him as she pulled herself into a standing position. Gandalf walked in between the two, obviously ready for discourse.
"Thorin, my friend, do you remember what I have told you about my acquaintance-"
The Dwarven King's eyes narrowed. "You spoke to me of a well-seasoned warrior, not of a woman you picked up on the road."
The Ranger glared at the King without a crown, setting her shoulders back and straightening her skirts to help compose herself. She knew Gandalf would have her head if she dared to make more of a fool of herself, however, she didn't take insults lightly.
Gandalf let out a sigh at Thorin's words. "She is not one I picked up from the road, Master Dwarf, and you will do well to remember that."
Thorin sneered. "If that's true then why was she rolling around with my General like some sort of wayward wonton?"
Huntress crossed her arms. "If you don't know the difference between those making love and those throwing fists, it's a wonder why you haven't any heirs."
The temperature seemed to cool a few degrees, as the Dwarf King stared down the Ranger, stalking forward like a Lion to its prey. "I do not believe you realize whom you speak to, woman."
As Huntress refused to take a step back, Thorin and she were now standing nose to nose, showing no difference in their height. "Oh, I believe I do, Master Dwarf."
Gandalf seemed to decide this was the right time to intervene, grabbing the Ranger's arm and pulling her back behind him. "That is enough, you two. If I have to play mother and make sure you both get along, then this will be a long quest, indeed."
She rolled her eyes at the wizard but calmed herself down as she knew he was right. This was not the place or time to be making enemies, after all.
Thorin seemed to make the same decision, however, Huntress quickly noticed he started to completely ignore her presence. At least for the ranger that was not really anything new to deal with. She was often never seen at all. Sometimes it even makes things easier.
"I thought you told me this place was going to be easy to find, Gandalf," Thorin spoke, taking off the cloak he wore over his clothing, handing it to the dwarf she believed to be named Kíli. "I lost my way, twice. I wouldn't have found it at all hadn't there been that mark on the door."
"M-Mark on the door?" Bilbo voiced. "There is no mark on the door, it was just painted a week ago!"
"There is a mark, I put it there myself," Gandalf admitted, looking to Bilbo somewhat sheepishly. Huntress had to hide a laugh behind her hand. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce you to the leader of our Company, Thorin Oakenshield."
Huntress soundlessly moved to grab her sword and place it in its sheath along with the dagger that was still embedded in the wall. She noticed a few of the dwarves looking at her with wide eyes, particularly the Blonde dwarf and the other young one, who she believed she heard was named Ori.
"So... this is the Hobbit," Thorin spoke, crossing his arms around his wide chest and started circling Bilbo like a predator. Would it be bad if I stabbed him? Just a little? "Tell me Master Baggins, have you done much fighting?"
"Pardon me?" Bilbo was quite obviously stunned.
"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?"
"Well, I have some skill at Conker's, if you must know," the hobbit mentioned smugly. "But... I fail to see why that's relevant."
"Thought as much," Thorin summed, looking back at the other dwarves who were enraptured by their leader. "He seems more like a grocer than a burglar."
The other dwarves started laughing, and Huntress was immediately frustrated at the smugness of the dwarves. However, the hobbit did indeed look more like a grocer rather than a burglar, but she knew that not all things were always as they seemed. This is one thing she and Gandalf had in common.
"Don't worry, Bilbo," She told the hobbit quietly as the dwarves moved to the dining room. "That is only the opinion of one who has just only met you."
Bilbo looked up at the ranger with big eyes, and Huntress was taken aback for a second at just how child-like hobbits could be. "Really?"
She nodded. "Of course. I've only just met you myself, and I've come to quite enjoy your company. I can see why you've chosen Bilbo for this quest, Gandalf."
Gandalf looked between the Dúnedan and the Hobbit with a small smile. "That is good, Lady Ranger. That is very good indeed."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Later that evening, the dwarves got themselves settled at the dining table once more, although the only one with food in front of them was Thorin. The company was a lot less rowdy and far more contained, which could only be due to the inclusion of the Dwarf King.
Thorin sat at the head of the table, with Gandalf to his left and the aged dwarf named Balin to his right. Huntress believed Balin to be some sort of advisor for Oakenshield with how often he has been giving the Dwarven king his opinions.
Huntress stood to the side of the room behind Gandalf, leaning against the wall with her arms and legs crossed. She had redonned her cloak and had her hood up to avoid the others as best as she could. She knew Gandalf wouldn't like her getting into any more precarious situations as she did before, and she didn't really want to deal with another raging dwarf, either.
"What news from Ered Luin?" Balin asked, making all the eyes turn towards the King in question. "Did they all come?"
"Aye, all voices from all the Seven Kingdoms were there," Thorin acknowledged between bites of his soup. All the other dwarves seemed to let out a cheer at that.
"What did the dwarves of the Iron Hills say?" Dwalin asked from his seat next to Gandalf. Just in spearing distance with my sword. "Is Dain with us?"
Thorin looked down at his bowl, and Huntress immediately knew his answer. "No. They will not help us."
The dwarves at the table seemed to let out a breath as a weight of a hundred of their kin had fallen onto their shoulders. "They say the quest is ours, and ours alone."
Bilbo popped in the doorway next to Huntress, spooking her. She hadn't heard him coming. "So, you're going on a quest?"
The dwarves and Huntress looked at Bilbo in question. Of course, the poor hobbit had no idea about any of this. Oh dear.
"Bilbo," Gandalf cut in, obviously to hide the fact that his burglar wasn't exactly aware of his being a burglar at all. "My dear fellow, let us have a little more light."
Bilbo immediately moved to grab a candle to illuminate the table, where Gandalf pulled out a map, laying it out in front of the company. "Far to the east, beyond ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."
Huntress pulled back the dark green hood to get a better look to where Gandalf was pointing. Erebor. And what was on top of the mountain? The picture of a single red dragon. She knew the story, she knew what they were going to face. But now it was real.
"The Lonely Mountain," Bilbo sounded out, reading the map in front of him.
One of the red-head dwarves spoke up at this point, "Oin has read the portents, and the portents say," groans could be heard throughout the room, "It is time."
"Ravens had been seen flying back towards the mountain as it was foretold," a grey-haired dwarf furthered. "When the barons of yore return back to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."
Huntress locked eyes with Gandalf, a trickle of doubt and fear washed between the two of them. The white orc was one thing, but dragons... a dragon was going to be something completely different.
"What beast?" Bilbo asked from his food store.
The hatted dwarf that Huntress had previously thrown her dagger at was the one to pipe up after taking a heavy swig from his pipe, "That would be mister Smaug the Terrible. The Chiefest and Greatest Calamity of our age."
Bilbo walked forward towards the table slightly, wringing his hands nervously.
"Airborne firebreather. Teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, extremely fond of precious metals-"
"Yes, I know what a dragon is," Bilbo cut in, somewhat unnerved.
Huntress was busy looking at Thorin's reaction to the hatted dwarf's description. She knew that Thorin had been in Erebor the day Smaug attacked and had seen the horror for himself. There was no way he had gotten over it, none at all. Not even after all these years. And from the way, his eyes looked down she knew that he still had nightmares to this day.
Suddenly, the dwarf named Ori stood up and proclaimed, "I'm not afraid! I'll give him a good taste of dwarvish iron right up his jacksy!"
"Oh, sit down!" The dwarf that must have been Ori's older brother pulled him down back into his seat as the others grumbled out their grievances to the young dwarf.
"I doubt we would be enough with an army behind us," Balin chimed in. "But we number at just 13. And not 13 of the best, nor brightest."
This caused the other dwarves to turn to Balin and give their retorts while Huntress had to hold in her laughter with a hand pressed to her mouth. When they weren't insulting her, she assumed that these dwarves could make for good company.
The blonde dwarf slammed a thick hand onto the table. "We may be few in number, but we're fighters. All of us!" he hit the table again jovially, "Till the last dwarf!"
"And you remember we have a wizard in our company, Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time!" Kíli, who sat next to the blonde dwarf, exclaimed.
"Well-uh-" Gandalf sure had gotten himself into a tough situation.
Huntress grinned at the wizard. "Yeah, Gandalf, how many dragons have you killed?" She goaded.
Gandalf turned and looked at her sheepishly. "You shouldn't be turning on me, Lady Huntress."
Thorin looked at her swiftly, and her eyes widened slightly when she met his eyes. She never noticed just how deep of a blue they were, much like the clear oceans of Dol Amroth.
"Well how many then?" Ori's older brother asked, causing Thorin to turn away from her gaze. "How many dragons have you killed?"
Gandalf breathed in his pipe, trying to avoid the question as best as possible. Thorin only looked at him knowingly. He started to cough from holding in the smoke, which made the other dwarves realize what Thorin and Huntress already knew. "Well go on," the dwarf continued. "Give us a number!"
The dwarves started raging at Gandalf from around the room, yelling back and forth at each other. This was the part about dwarves that Huntress had decided she did not like one bit. She simply leaned back and took Gandalf's pipe from the wizard's fingers and took a quick swig for herself. If she didn't have an ale, she'd need something to ease the madness.
"Enough!" Thorin roared as he stood, bringing the room to silence once more. Gandalf wrenched the pipe out of her hands, taking it back from her angrily.
"If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look east to the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lays unprotected. Do we sit back and let them claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor!"
The rest of the company let out cheers at their King's rightful speech, and Huntress had to admit that the influence he had over them, and over others was overwhelming. Thorin was without a doubt a son of Durin, she decided. Only a dwarf with that lineage could hold such sway and regality.
"You forget that the front gate is sealed," Balin cut in, causing the dwarves to quickly loose their glee. "There is no way into the mountain."
"Actually, Balin, you're quite wrong about that," Huntress cut in. All the dwarves looked to the ranger with widened eyes as though she had two heads. "From what I've discovered, there is another way in."
Gandalf nodded along. "She is right, master dwarf."
The wizard pulled out a key from his sleeve, a key that would unlock a side door to the Lonely Mountain, a key that only the Kings would possess of Erebor.
Thorin looked at the key, completely transfixed. "How came you by this?" he asked softly, as though it would slip from the wizard's fingers at a sound any louder.
Gandalf looked back at Huntress who took a few steps forward. "It was given to my brother by your father. By Thrain. My brother, in turn, gave it to Gandalf. For safe-keeping."
Thorin looked at Huntress as though he were seeing her clearly for the first time. "You knew my father?"
She bit her lip. "Briefly."
The other dwarves seemed to be trying to figure out how to process this new information, blinking in shock.
"How-when? When have you met with him, where is he?"
Huntress pursed her lips. "It has been many years since I have seen him last, Master Dwarf. I do not know of where he currently dwells. He disappeared from my village decades ago."
"Does your brother know of his whereabouts by chance?" Balin asked.
Huntress's entire body immediately tensed, and she heard Gandalf's quick intake of breath from in front of her. This wasn't a subject she liked to talk about. "My brother is dead, Master Dwarf. He has been so for many years."
The room went silent.
"Very well, this key belongs to you know, Thorin," Gandalf quickly spoke, moving on from the melancholy. "Use it well."
"If there is a key... there must be a door!" The blonde dwarf exclaimed. Huntress would have laughed had the situation been different.
Gandalf nodded at the dwarf. "These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls," he explained, pointing at the map with the end of his pipe.
Kíli's smile was one of hope. "There's another way in."
"Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed," Gandalf explained with a sigh. "The answer lies somewhere hidden within this map, and I do not have the skill to find it, but... there are others in Middle Earth who can."
Huntress took a step back to the wall and leaned against it casually; betraying the raging emotions she felt inside. She was going to go back to where she grew up... where the memories remain of her brother. For some reason, that pained her more than she could imagine.
Thorin looked up at Gandalf with a questioning glance, and Huntress knew that Gandalf hadn't been too open about his plans with the dwarves. Certainly, he hadn't been clear with her, and she was the one who had helped compile the things he was to need.
"I have a plan," Gandalf admitted. "And it will require a great deal of stealth," the dwarves looked toward Huntress, who slunk back into the shadows, "and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful, and clever, I believe it can be done."
"That's why we need a burglar," Ori revealed, pointing to the unknowing hobbit that was loitering behind Thorin.
"Uhuh," Bilbo agreed. "And a good one too. An expert, I would imagine."
Huntress rolled her eyes at the poor hobbit's blissful ignorance.
"And are you?"
Everyone turned to look between Ori's older brother, who questioned the hobbit, and the hobbit himself. Huntress could see it had yet to all click for Bilbo, who held onto his suspenders and looked behind him in confusion as to who was being questioned. "Am I what?"
The dwarf holding a hearing device to his ear exclaimed, "He said he's an expert! Hey!"
"Me-no, no, no I'm not a burglar! I've never stolen a thing in my life!"
The ranger found herself silently agreeing with the hobbit.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Mister Baggins," Balin admitted. "He's hardly burglar material."
"Aye, the wild is no place for gentle folk who cannot defend themselves, nor for women," Dwalin spoke, his words particularly filled with venom when he spoke of women.
Huntress decided to ignore the blatant jab and continued to listen on as the dwarves started talking amongst themselves, bickering and fighting about Bilbo's prowess as a burglar. Huntress knew there would be no way to change a hobbit in such a way, as Bilbo seemed to not want to change himself.
The air quickly seemed to drop in temperature and shadows casted around the wizard as he seemed to grow in size and his voiced echoed, "Enough! If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he is!"
Huntress tried to hide the smirk that loitered on her face after seeing the dwarves lean back from Gandalf's show of his sheer power. She hadn't moved an inch.
"Hobbits are remarkably quick and light on their feet, and Smaug is unaware of the scent of hobbits, so Bilbo could go into the chamber easily, which gives us a distinct advantage," Gandalf explained further. He turned to Thorin, "You asked me to find a fourteenth member of this company, and I've chosen Mister Baggins. There is a lot more to him than appearances suggest. And he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know!" Gandalf looked towards Bilbo. "Including himself."
Huntress sighed, realizing that Bilbo was most likely their best bet. She hadn't wanted the hobbit to face any danger, however, if he so choses she would defend him till her last breath.
"You said you'd only add a fourteenth member, Wizard," Dwalin spat. "You added a fifteenth as well. That woman has no place in this company."
The ranger had to resist the urge to behead him where he sat, but Gandalf tried to diffuse the situation.
"Now, now, no need to say that-"
"My brother is right, Thorin," Balin spoke, eyeing Huntress warily. "We know nothing about this woman, how can we trust her even if she says she has met Thrain! By Mahal, she'd hardly be old enough!"
"Yes, how can we trust her!"
"She is rather short for a human-"
"Her name probably isn't even Huntress!"
"She's a ranger, everyone knows you can never trust a ranger!"
The dwarves started peeling off at each other again, and Huntress let out a long sigh. There was no winning with these thick-headed dwarves. All they seem to be is a bunch of pack-minded fools!
Instead of creating a scene, she turned gave Oakenshield a hard stare. He was looking between all the dwarves, seemingly half-heartedly listening to their madness. Target the leader, she reminded herself. Persuasion starts from the top-down.
She knew that the Dwarf King could feel her stare. For Illvutar's sake, a bloody rock could feel her stare. Apparently, he was still playing the childish game of ignorance of his. Very well, she thought. I tried.
She unsheathed her dagger and made a show of stabbing it deep into the table to get their attention. The ranger heard a light whimper from the hobbit next to her and made a mental note to apologize for all the damages later.
"Will all of you just SHUT UP?"
The infamous glare of the Huntress of the Rangers stared down into the souls of each and every one of the dwarves. "I am not some meek, breakable lady who stays behind and doesn't fight! I fight for what is right, I have been trained by some of the greatest warriors of all Middle Earth, I have seen all corners of this world, and I will NOT be treated like this!"
She ripped the dagger out with a cry of anger. "I am the Chief of the Dúndain Rangers, and I will be treated like it!" Huntress turned to Dwalin with malice. "Whether I am female or not, or even if I am far shorter than I should be, I am a warrior and I will fight till my last breath to defend that hobbit and my dear friend Gandalf. The rest of you must prove your worth. I am not some primped-up, high-nosed lady! I am a Dúndain and you will treat me as such!"
The ranger stopped, looking around the room at the shocked dwarves and hobbit that surrounded her. The wizard, on the other hand, looked rather smug. "I am going with you on this quest. I know what it is like to lose everything, and I should like to help you all get it back."
The Dwarven King stood up from his seat and looked deep into her eyes. Something told her he knew just what she meant, and he believed her. Thank the Valar for that.
"Balin," Thorin spoke with his deep drawl. "Give them both the contract."
Dwalin went to disagree, but once Thorin held out a hand to stop his War General and his greatest ally, he stood down. Huntress let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding as she gripped the paper in her hand. Small victories.
She quickly walked into another sitting room and plopped down on the couch to begin to read what she was signing up for.
"Funeral arrangements?" Bilbo's shocked voice asked. Huntress chuckled to herself as she continued to read. Everything seemed to check out for her. However, there was just one little piece-
"Incineration?" Bilbo asked.
The ranger simply rolled her eyes.
"Aye, it'll burn the flesh off your bones in a blink of an eye," the hatted dwarf expanded. She pursed her lips at the smugness on the dwarf's face when Bilbo started to panic.
Huntress walked back into the dining room silently, causing Thorin to jump once he noticed she was now next to him. "Sorry," she mumbled without thinking.
He simply glanced at her with raised eyebrows, but quickly turned back to see Bilbo hunched over with his hands on his knees.
"Feeling a bit faint," Bilbo admitted, taking a few deep breaths.
Unfortunately, the hatted dwarf chose this moment to go in for the kill. "Think furnace, with wings. Flashing light, searing pain, and poof!" He waved his hands in the air, "You're nothing more than a pile of ash!"
Huntress looked at Bilbo, trying to figure out if she should go help steady him. However, it was too late.
"Nope," Bilbo said, before promptly passing out and falling heavily onto the ground with the contract still in hand.
"Good going, Bofur," Gandalf told the hatted dwarf, who finally had a name.
"Yeah," Huntress agreed. "Good going, Bofur."
Gandalf recruited a few other dwarves to help him bring Bilbo to the living room and lay the hobbit out on the sofa. The poor thing was bloody gone, if Huntress could say so herself.
Only a few remained in the dining room; the blonde, Kíli, Dwalin, Balin, and Thorin. The others moved to go follow the hobbit into the living room.
"Master Oakenshield, there are a few things with this contract that I would like to discuss," Huntress spoke with confidence.
"What?"
She felt the hairs perk up on the back of her neck at the sight of the other dwarves looking toward her menacingly. Apparently, males of all types of races were always the same.
"I would like to discuss my share of the gold-"
"You will be getting no more than promised!" Thorin snapped, his eyes darkening to a near black. Huntress swallowed, keeping her pang of fear beneath the surface.
"I was actually going to say before you so rudely interrupted me, Master Dwarf, was that I wanted no share of your wealth. I have no care for gold no treasure."
The dwarves seemed shocked at this. "Why is that?" the blonde dwarf asked.
Huntress shrugged. "I'm a traveler, Master Dwarf. I'm a ranger. I have no need for carrying around such things. I find value in food and water, and even shelter, but not that."
Kíli looked at her as though she had some sort of disgusting disease. "You are a strange thing, aren't you?"
She smiled softly at the young dwarf. "Careful, dwarf. Some females may take offense to comments such as that."
"What else do you have to discuss about your contract, lassie?" Balin asked.
"For the funeral arrangements, do not worry about those, if anything happens all shall fall onto Gandalf's shoulders."
They nodded. "As it should," Thorin agreed, and he took a step closer before speaking near her ear. "I am not responsible for you, and if anything happens or if your safety is breached it will not be my fault. Are we clear on that?"
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Why of course, Master Dwarf. I wouldn't want to burden you in all my wonton ways."
This seemed to surprise the Dwarf. Huntress looked at him smugly before handing the signed contract to Balin and said her goodbyes for the night before quickly taking her leave into the room Bilbo had placed her in before.
She was going to need as much rest as possible if she were going to be dealing with this lot.