Philophobia - Thorin Oakenshield - English version

Part 19

Everyone ran out of the mountain towards Dale's lookout. Dale too had suffered tremendous damage from the dragon's arrival. There too, everyone ran away from the city and the mountain in a panic. When Thorin saw Terwyn and his sister Dis and her family, he ran towards them.

"Where is father?" Asked Dis slightly panicked.

"He will come in a moment, he still had to drag grandfather out of the mountain with him, he didn't want to leave his gold and king's jewel behind." Thorin spoke hurriedly after which he took Terwyn's hand. "Are you all right?" He asked with Terwyn still looking at him half in shock and half nodding. Though she didn't know if this could be called okay. She had lost her home, all the dwarven people of Erebor had lost their home. Yet she felt she would lose just a little more. Namely her daughter Teylin, and husband Frerin. Their graves remained behind at the mountain, the many memories they had made here were all she had left. Thorin seemed to understand her saddened expression and pulled her close to him for a moment.

"We have to get out of here, follow me." He said softly before giving Farryn an affectionate stroke on his head after which Terwyn and Dis followed behind Thorin with the rest. Thorin led the people safely away from the mountain, away from the burning city of Dale and walked on until they reached the lake that led to Lake Town. There he waited until all the people who had survived the dragon's attack had gathered and until King Thror and Prince Thrain had also rejoined Thorin.

Thus these briefly deliberated what the plan would be to keep the people safe and warm. In the end, they decided to talk to the master of Lake Town in order to have a place to sleep for a short time after all.
King Thror and Prince Thrain left in a boat with two soldiers towards Lake Town. Fortunately, shortly after nightfall, they returned well and with the news that the master had agreed on the deal and that the people could spend the night in Lake Town for a certain time. Boat by boat, the dwarves were ferried there.

Upon arrival they were either taken to the armoury where there was a large room to sleep safe and sound, or they were housed in empty stables. These were not optimal conditions but no one dared to complain. All still too in shock from what had just happened and grateful that at least they had a roof over their heads, the people of Erebor soon went to bed. Not many did sleep, there was crying, plans were made about how to recapture the mountain or people angrily talked about the elven people not coming to their rescue.

Terwyn too could not catch sleep, she held her young son close to her to keep him warm while he slept. Tears rolled down her cheeks herself, she only now realised what kind of home Erebor had been for her, no matter how much Thror hated her, no matter how much too soon her little daughter died in that mountain. She was going to miss Erebor so much. Only towards the early hours did she herself fall asleep completely exhausted only to wake up by noon when Thorin brought her and Farryn some food. Silently but gratefully, the two ate everything before going for a walk around Lake Town.

Everything was so different from the mountain. People behaved differently, dressed differently, and even the wooden houses seemed so easy to destroy. Yet they persisted for so long on the turbulent waters of the great lake. After a long walk, Terwyn ran into Dis.

"Hey there, are you all right?" This one asked at which Terwyn sighed.

"As well as anyone here I suppose? It will take some getting used to I think." Terwyn replied quickly to which Dis nodded. "Farin and Thorin have gone to ask the blacksmith for work. Maybe we can also look for something that we are good at and can help in here?" suggested Dis to which Terwyn nodded. Some distraction would surely do her good, they would surely be here for a while before the people had recovered a bit and the king came to a better plan.

The days passed slowly in Lake Town. With difficulty did the dwarves find some peace, from the water they had a good view of the mountain. The mountain that had been their home for as long as they could remember. The mountain that had now been taken over by a monstrous creature.

Here they lived above the dangerously deep waters in fragile wooden houses, without their warm bed. Without the festive food. Without their riches. Divisions began to arise among the dwarves. Some believed that the arrival of the dragon was Thror's fault, that it was his possession of gold that had lured the beast. Others did not want to think about this and believed in their king anyway. They dared nothing else either; for them, that king was the only foothold they had left.

Dis and Terwyn had found work as seamstresses, this was not completely new to them, only the fact that they had to work to survive was quite different from what their life in the mountain was like.

If they did not finish several garments a day, they would not get enough money to support their family. Thorin and Farin worked at the blacksmith's. They too were used to working but not for the pittance they earned here.

King Thror and Prince Thrain spent their days making plans to move on. The people were restless and the king noticed this too; if he wanted to continue to be seen as a good king, he had to behave accordingly. Deep down, the idea of leading Smaug to the mountain slowly ate away at him. Consequently, making plans went anything but as planned. Thror often got stuck on the idea of recapturing the mountain. He wasn't thinking of the people's safety as much as he thought about the mountains of gold and the Arkenstone he left in there. Luckily Thrain was always there to put a stop to this. Thrain himself hoped to take the people to the Blue Mountains so that they could rebuild their lives there. Of course, Thror wanted nothing to do with this.

What if he could no longer be king, what if he had to bow down to someone else? He did not even want to imagine that.

So the two failed to come to an agreement, the burden on their shoulders was not one too light either. The people of Lake Town who once saw the dwarves as powerful people now seemed to look down on them. The fact that they still had riches in their hands thanks to years of trading with the dwarves soon seemed to be forgotten.

So it came to pass when the master of Lake Town came to ask Thror and Thrain if they could find another shelter soon. Food in the city was running out, there was not enough shelter or work for the dwarves. The people got scared and so this place too turned its back on the dwarves.

After barely 30 days in Lake Town, the dwarf people had to move on without an effective plan.