Iron and Oak

Chapter Six

Thorin stood at what was left of the guard tower wall, looking up at the towering mountain and the ruined city in its shadow. He kicked absently at the dirt and ash that pervaded this place. More than a century and a half and still nothing grew on the mountain.

Fili and Kili had been sent back down by the river with the ponies. There was nothing to graze here on the arm of the mountain, nor even to drink. His nephews had done it without complaint, the eerie silence and utter devastation of such a city sobering them a bit.

Balin came to stand beside him and scooped a handful of ashy dirt, letting it fall through his fingers. "When we first arrived, I could smell the wild Jessamine," he said. 

Thorin gazed at the barren mountainside, "Our minds, doing their best to remind us, I suppose." 

Balin nodded, "I've come to ask, who to send to relieve the boys? They should come up for dinner." 

Thorin pulled his eyes from the towering mountain peak, "I'll go." he said, then shook his head as Balin began to speak, "I do not think I risk my safety here, in this dead place." 

After a moment, Balin agreed, "We are, strangely, probably safer here than we have been in all our travels." 

Thorin nodded his agreement and clasped a hand to Balin's shoulder, "We are home, after all." 

A short time later, Thorin sat on the shore near the upper shallows of the River Running. The ponies were hobbled behind him, grazing at patchy grass. He was caught by how the water rippled over the stones, then turned back to his map and view of Lonely Mountain. It had nothing more to tell him. He folded it and tucked it inside his shirt. Tomorrow they would begin their search of the mountain for the secret passage. His eyes burned from staring at that map, trying to decide where to begin. He stood and stretched his legs, wishing for the hundredth time he hadn't lost his coat in Mirkwood. As he stood, a movement in the trees across the river caught his eye. A hobbled pony came hopping to the water's edge and drank. Thorin turned and counted the ponies behind him. Sixteen. Slipping back into the cover of trees, his eyes scanned the other side of the river. A few minutes later, a second pony joined the first, and Thorin turned, heading quickly back up to the guard tower camp.  

*** 

Knowing that Thorin would send the ponies back down to where there was water and some sparse grass to eat, Esja decided to move her camp to the opposite side of the river. Staying in the ravines and crossing well above the shallows, Esja avoided detection and made camp near the upper shallows, far closer to Dale than Thorin would have thought wise. She watered her ponies and hobbled them near some sparse grass in a quiet glade. She found a shallow cave in a nearby ravine and stacked her gear inside it. Though by the look of the mountain, she was in no danger of being rained on. In the utter silence surrounding Lonely Mountain, Esja struggled to keep memories at bay. That she could imagine Thorin pacing the wall at the guard tower and staring at the mountain didn't help matters. After darkness fell, Esja skirted past Dale and found a spot deeply shadowed by the western wall's collapsed ruin. From here, she could see the old guard tower wall. Though the moon had not yet risen and she could not see him there, she was comforted. As she paced in the darkness at the base of the wall, she was reminded of one of the last times she had sought the comfort of Thorin's presence.  

Three nights before Smaug attacked, Esja had been pacing her room in Erebor. Her mother had brought her wedding robes to her, and they hung in front of her. They were made of a beautiful midnight blue velvet, lavishly embroidered with dwarven runes and precious jewels.  A long, hooded leather coat completed the outfit. The edge of the hood and wide cuffs were bound with a beautiful blue fox fur.  Indeed the entire coat was heavily lined with it. Set carefully in a nook in the smooth stone wall was an iron-bound box studded with large sapphires. Inside the box, an intricate collar of woven mithril, set with more sapphires.