A Stark Predicament

Chapter 82 Letters of Response and the Execution

"How were you planning to execute them?" Balin asks.

"I am not sure how we should execute them." Thorin says.

"May I make a suggesstion, I think you should use Rakhâsabzag (Slayer of Orcs) and behead them. It would be quicker than having them choke to death." Balin advises.

Thorin thinks for a moment, "Perhaps you are right. Then it is settled, the day after tomorrow Dimrund and the others will be brought forth in front of the entire mountain and executed."
With that, the meeting is adjourned and the council dispersed.

Later on that day Ori brings Balin the letters that he has received from the families of the traitors. Balin takes the letters, he goes to the the throne room to take Thorin the letters.

"My King, it appears the we have received the response from the families of the traitors." Balin informs Thorin.

Thorin nods, "Bring them here, please Balin. Let us see what they have written."

Balin makes his way towards Thorin and hands him the letters. Thorin breaks the seals on the letters and reads each one. After he reads them he hands them to Balin, who also reads them.

"Be sure to inform the traitors of the what their families have said."

Balin bows and leaves, heading for the dungeon.

Kili looks curiously at Thorin, "What did their families have to say, Uncle?"

"They have informed me that they want nothing to do with the traitors, they refuse to go see them. They say that they are a disgrace to their families and have dishonored them. They also have once again pledge their loyalty to me and the house of Durin and informed me that they had no idea what the traitors were planning."

"Do you believe them, Uncle?" Fili asks

"I am inclined to believe them though I will have Nori spy on them for a while, just to be sure."

As Thorin is discussing the contents of the letters with his nephews, Balin is in the dungeon delivering the news to the prisoners.

"I have received word from your families on whether or not they wish to visit you one last time," Balin informs them, "Each of your famlies has informed the king that they wish nothing to do with you."

The prisoner lunge for Balin, "You lie, Balin, my family would never abandon me." Dimrund tells him.

Balin bristles at the accusation, "I would never lie about something like that, in fact I have brought the letters so you can read them yourselves."

He begins to hand out the letters to each prisoner, they read the letter with a sense of desperation, Nalkon falls to his knees. He had honestly thought that his family would have come down to at least say goodbye to him. Instead they had called him a disgrace and they were disgusted by his actions. His father had said that Nalkon was not his son and that he would not mourn his passing.

After reading their letters, the prisoners were more dejected than they already were. Balin collects the letters from them and leaves them to their suffering. The guards go back to their positions of watching them to make sure the do not commit suicide.

All that day there were announcements that several executions were going to take place the following day, the inhabitants of the mountain were confused, some actually thought that it was going to be the humans that were residing in the mountain. The only thing they could do was wait.

The following day in front of the castle a stage had been built and there had been a decree issued that all were to attend the execution but that all dwarfling were to remain at home. The crowd gathered and they watched as their king stepped out onto the stage with Dwalin and Logan at his side. There was a murmur that ran through the crowd, was this the human that was going to be executed, King Thorin's betrothed's bodyguard?

At a signal from Dwalin the traitors were brought out. A collective gasp was heard from the gathered people. These Dwarves were members of the council, King Thorin's trusted advisors. The murmurs began to get louder, some of the Dwarves demanding an explanation as to what was going on. At that time Thorin chose to speak.

"Many of you may be wondering what exactly is going on and why these Dwarves are facing execution. The reason is quite simple, an assassination attempt was made on my life a few days ago that I barely survived. With the help of Master Logan the assassin and the conspirators were found out. With the confession of the assassin, Dimrund, Grogrim and Nalkon have been found guilty of treason. Therefore their punishment is death by beheading."

There was murmurs of understanding running through the crowd and they began to demand the heads of the traitors. With that the traitors were tied down with their heads over baskets.

Thorin unsheaths Rakhâsabzag and walks up to Dimrund. "Let these executions be a clear message that treason will not be tolerated and will be dealt with swiftly and deadly punishment!"

With one swift motion Dimrund's head was gone. Thorin moved on to the other three traitors without a word, making quick work of them. Once he was finished he made one more harsh announcement.

"The traitors' bodys will not be given a proper burial, instead they are to be burned like any other Orc filth." With that, Thorin walked off the stage and the crowd dispersed in silence.

The bodies were immediately gathered up and taken outside and thrown into a bon fire that had been set up earlier. No one stayed to watch the bodies burn, there were no prayers said for the deceased and no tears were shed by the families of the criminals. The day went on as if nothing happened.

**Okay, someone pointed out that this kind of sounds like Game of Thrones, but I swear I never saw the season where Ned was executed!**