An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Sixty-One: The Lonely Mountain

Staring up at the entrance of the mountain, Thalia took a deep breath as she wondered what awaited her inside; it had taken her and Cornelia nearly a week to reach the mountain and they hadn't liked what they had seen. 

Not far behind them were the now homeless people of Laketown, there was no denying that something was in air that could only spell trouble for them depending on what waited for them in the mountain. 

Thalia shook her head before following after Cornelia, the two really hadn't said much to each other since Cornelia had fished her out of the lake; she wasn't sure what to say especially when she was worrying what had happened to the company. 

Smaug having come down to Laketown hadn't been a good sign and Thalia feared that the rest of the company had been killed before he had done so; she wasn't sure what she would do if they found them all dead. 

It didn't take long for the two cousins to reach the entrance and slip inside of the mountain, they both stood silently trying to hear any sound of the joyous dwarves that Thalia had become fond of. 

There were no sounds that greeted them and Cornelia stared a concerned look with Thalia before they moved further inside; they weren't sure what to look for and they couldn't help but worry. 

"Thalia," cried a voice making the two jump, they turned to find Bilbo rushing towards them like there was a dragon on his heels; he had a look on his face that made Thalia's heart drop a little knowing that something had happened. 

"Bilbo... it's wonderful to see you again," Thalia greeted trying to hide her fears, she didn't see any of the others and she hoped that everyone was okay after dealing with the dragon. 

Bilbo smiled up at Thalia, he was so relieved to see that she had survived the carnage of Laketown; the others had arrived yesterday with Paloma but had no news of Thalia for them.

It took a moment for Bilbo to release that Thalia wasn't alone, he looked to the woman that was stood next to her and swallowed knowing that he hadn't been expecting to see her again. 

"Cornelia?" Bilbo murmured a little curious about what had happened, he hadn't seen Cornelia since she had walked out of Beorn's house months ago; she had disappeared without a trace and no one had really thought much of it. 

Cornelia didn't say anything, she nodded her head while she peeked around trying to tell if there was any trouble brewing already and if they had arrived to watch all hell break lose. 

"Is everyone okay?" Thalia asked worried what might have happened, there was quite a bit of damage to the entrance where Smaug had burst out before he had travelled down to Laketown. 

It worried her that she was about to find out that someone had been killed during the fight that had clearly taken place, Thalia feared that they would have to bury friends that she had grown to care about or the man that she had fallen in love with during the journey here. 

"Everyone's fine," Bilbo reassured with a weak smile, he had no idea how he would tell Thalia what had happened and he knew that if Fíli and Kíli hadn't been able to snap Thorin out of it then there was no hope. 

Thalia furrowed her brow, she could sense that something wasn't quite right and she worried what Bilbo wasn't telling her; she peeked at Cornelia who had wandered a way from them a little bit. 

"It's Thorin... he's not himself," Bilbo mumbled knowing that Thalia wasn't going to like this, he shifted nervously before signalling for Thalia and Cornelia to follow after him so he could show them what was going on.

***

"Bilbo will you just tell me what is going on?" Thalia demanded not liking this one bit, she stopped walking and glared at the hobbit just wanting to know what was going on; it had been a long trip to get here and now she was being dragged around the corridors looking for someone. 

It didn't make any sense and Thalia wanted things to be straight forward, she looked at Cornelia who had yet to say anything; she had been pretty quiet since they had reached the mountain. 

"Thalia?" called a voice making them all turn around to see who was approaching them, the rest of the company seemed to appear from nowhere to greet the final member. 

They had all been worried when Fíli had told them what had happened, they had feared that Thalia had perished in the battle against Smaug that had destroyed Laketown leaving hundreds homeless. 

"We were so worried," Bombur said pulling Thalia into a hug, he held onto the blonde while others fired questions about what had happened at her. 

Cornelia watched the scene before her, she didn't know what to make of this welcoming and she knew that they had other things to worry about right now. 

Paloma peeked over at her cousin, she had no idea what to say to Cornelia after how their last meeting had gone; she doubted that they would ever truly get along. 

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Thalia pleaded noticing a very noticeable absence from her welcoming party, she feared what this meant especially with how Bilbo had been talking. 

Everyone was silent for a moment, this was going to be hard enough and they knew that Thalia needed to be prepared for what waited for her in the treasury room. 

Fíli and Kíli stepped forward and signalled for Thalia to follow them, they weren't sure how their uncle would react to seeing Thalia right now; he wasn't in the right frame of mind.

"Thalia it's bad... even we couldn't get him to snap out of it," Fíli murmured peeking to the woman that had become so important to his uncle, he couldn't imagine what was going on inside Thorin's head right now. 

They had tried everything over the last few days to get him to snap out of this, nothing seemed to be working and Fíli feared that he would be forced to deal with the fall-out of Thorin's actions when he became king. 

It was silent for a moment as they reached the treasury room, it had been filled with treasure by Smaug and Thalia felt her stomach turn at the sight of what lay inside. 

Thorin walked among the gold and jewels, he seemed to be counting everything as he went unaware that he was even being watched. 

Fíli and Kíli shared a look, they didn't know what to do and they feared that Thorin would forever be lost to them if he carried on down this path; they knew that this was far from over. 

The people of Laketown where making their way up the mountain to Dale and it wouldn't be long before they came knocking on the mountain wanting what had been promised to them. 

"Thorin," Thalia whispered looking around, she didn't know what to do and she could see why everyone seemed on edge right now; this wasn't the dwarf that Thalia had watched leave Laketown to retake the mountain.

Thorin slowly turned to face the people that were watching him, his eyes flickered over his nephews and Bilbo bored before they landed on Thalia; a smile tugged on his lips pleased to see her. 

"Welcome... my Queen... to the Kingdom of Erebor," Thorin called to Thalia, he didn't see the look of horror on her face as he waved his hands at the treasure around him. 

Thalia didn't know what had happened but she knew that this was only going to complicate things.