When she opened her eyes again Hannah found Legolas staring down at her with great concern. He had been holding her and calling her name to rouse her.

"Hannah!" he called again anxiously when she did not answer right away. Dazed and disoriented, she groaned lightly against a splitting headache as she stared up into the sky. The clouds were torn by the wind, and a red sunset slashed the West. Seeing the sudden gleam in the gloom, Hannah blinked while her eyes adjusted to the light. And then she saw a sight that made her heart leap, dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow.

"Eagles..." she breathed.

"What?" said Legolas, staring down at her and furrowing his brow with concern.

"The Eagles!" she said louder, raising a hand to point to the sky. "The Eagles are coming!" Legolas's eyes widened in amazement when he looked up and saw that she was right. The Eagles were coming down the wind, line after line, in such a host as must have gathered from all the eyries of the North.

"The Eagles! The Eagles!" they cried together. If the Elves coming up the hill could not see them they heard them. Soon they too took up the cry, and echoed across the valley. Many wondering eyes looked up as the Eagles descended upon the battlefield and swooped down upon the legions of Orcs and Goblins and war-beasts, rending them with their claws.

When Bilbo came to himself, he was literally by himself. He was lying on the flat stones of Ravenhill, no one was near. He was shaking, and as chilled as the stone, but his head burned with fire. Bilbo blinked in confusion and was just beginning to wonder what had happened, when he saw them.

"The Eagles are coming," he said aloud, gladdened by the sight, and soon became aware that similar cries were already echoing throughout the valley. "Now I wonder what has happened?" he said to himself. "At any rate I am not yet one of the fallen heroes; but I suppose there is still time enough for that!" He sat up painfully. Looking about he spotted Thorin standing over Azog's corpse a fair distance away.

Thorin had finally defeated his most hated foe. With labored breath the Dwarf dragged himself away to stand near the edge of the fall and look out upon the rest of the valley. With the death of their leaders and the arrival of the Eagles and Beorn, what the Orc legions had become panicked and disorganized, and they were scattering and fleeing the land in a hasty retreat. They had done it. Against all the odds, the Dwarves, Elves, and Men had achieved victory. In relief Thorin allowed himself to collapse. Bilbo, who was startled to see the Dwarf fall so suddenly, quickly scrambled up and rushed over to his side.

"Thorin!" cried the hobbit, kneeling down beside him. There indeed lay Thorin Oakenshield, wounded with many wounds, and his armor rent.

"Bilbo! Where are you?" gasped Thorin, struggling to look round for him.

"No, don't move! I am here!" Bilbo said, removing his ring in a hurry when he realized that he was still wearing it. "Don't move. Lie still. Oh!" he cried when he saw how grave one wound in particular was.

"I'm glad you are here," said Thorin weakly. Bilbo tried to shush him, to make him preserve his energy, but Thorin would not be silenced. "I wish to part with you in friendship." He continued.

"No! You are not going anywhere, Thorin, you are going to live," said the hobbit stubbornly. Bilbo did not want his friend to die. He couldn't bear the thought of it.

"I would take back my words and deeds at the Gate. You did what only a true friend would do. Forgive me. I was too blind to see. I am so sorry that I have led you into such peril," said Thorin, choking in pain.

"No, I... I am glad to have shared in your perils, Thorin. Each and every one of them. It is far more than any Baggins deserves," said Bilbo earnestly. Thorin looked at him with a smile.

"No!" said he. "There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. Farewell, Master Burglar. Go back to your books and your armchair. Plant your trees, watch them grow. If more people valued home and food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, this world would be a merrier place. But sad or merry, I must leave it now." And with that, Thorin Oakenshield breathed his last.

"No! No, no, no, no! No! Thorin! Thorin, don't you dare..." cried Bilbo as the light in his friend's eyes faded away. "Thorin? Look, Thorin. Thorin, hold on. You hold on. You see, the Eagles... the Eagles, the Eagles are here. Thorin...the Eag..." Bilbo's voice caught in his throat, thick with grief, and whether you believe it or not, he wept until his eyes were red and his voice was hoarse. He was a kindly little soul. Indeed it was long before he had the heart to make a joke again.

"A mercy it is," he said at last to himself, "that I woke up when I did. I wish Thorin were living, but I am glad that we parted in kindness. You are a fool, Bilbo Baggins, and you made a great mess of that business with the stone; and there was a battle, in spite of all your efforts to buy peace and quiet, but I suppose you can hardly be blamed for that."

"I know this may seem strange to you..." said Hannah to Legolas, dropping to her knees beside Kili's cold body, "but he was my friend, too." She stared mournfully at the young Dwarf and reached out a hand to close his eyes. Her lower lip trembled, a tear escaped from her eyes, and Hannah soon broke down into a sobbing mess, wailing like a lost child. She didn't mean to. Hannah knew she must look a fright, but once she started she just couldn't stop. She was exhausted and tired, tired of watching people she cared about die in such painful ways. Like Bilbo, Hannah was a kindly soul, and she blamed herself for Kili's death. She felt completely useless. If only she could have reached him in time!

Many things were on the mind of Thranduil as he followed the echoes of Hannah's cries to her and Legolas. There were many things he wanted to do and say to them. But when he saw his son standing unharmed with that concerned and disconcerted expression while he stared down at Hannah's anguished tear-stained face as she cried over the dead Dwarf, the Elvenking could only think of one.

"Legolas!" he said throwing his arms around his son, holding him in a tightly. "Your mother loved you, more than anyone, more than life. As do I." Legolas was stunned. For a moment, he was not sure how to react. It had been so long since his father last held him in such a way that the memory had all but faded and nearly disappeared forever. But now old memories of his father holding his hand and guiding and caring for him were resurfacing. Slowly, Legolas lifted his arms, and returned his father's embrace.

"Father..." he said after a while. "I do not know what to do... She won't stop crying." Thranduil took a breath and released his son. The Elvenking turned to face the sobbing girl. He regarded her carefully for a moment, and then leaned down and gently placed a hand on her head. Hannah was so surprised that her breath caught in her throat, and she stopped hiccupping, though the tears still flowed freely as she looked up at him.

"... I couldn't save him..." she said sadly.

"Did you try your best?" asked the Elvenking.

"O-Of course!" said Hannah.

"Then I suppose you can hardly be blamed, can you?" said Thranduil seriously. "You cannot save everyone, Hannah. He was better built for war than you, so do not insult his dignity as a warrior by pretending one small girl was the only thing standing between him and death. It just happened to be his time. If you cannot accept that, then you must carry his memory with you for the rest of your life and make it your business to live enough for him as well. That is our duty as survivors."

"Yes... you're right..." said Hannah, sniffing, as she finally pulled herself together. "Thank you," she said with a wan but grateful smile. The Elvenking stared down at the young girl with calm eyes. Though she was still but a child, he admired her inner strength.

"Your nose is running, by the way," he said after a moment with a small frown, causing her to gasp and flinch in shock as her cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment, and Hannah hurriedly made it her business to find a handkerchief as well.

"Father!" said Legolas, appalled that Thranduil would say such a thing to an already distraught little girl. But Hannah blew her nose and laughed.

"Sorry! And, thank you, really," she said gratefully, wiping her nose clean. When Gandalf arrived and saw Kili's corpse his expression was grim, but he was delighted to see that the others were all right, especially his young apprentice.

"Hannah!" he exclaimed. "Well I never! Alive after all—I am glad! I began to wonder if even your luck would see you through! A terrible business, and it nearly was disastrous. But other news can wait. Come!" he said more gravely. "Victory may be within our grasp, but there is still much to be done.

"Indeed. We must take precautions to ensure the enemy cannot regroup," agreed Thranduil.

"Yes," said Gandalf. "By the way have, I don't suppose any of you have seen Bilbo or Thorin?"

"Bilbo?" said Hannah. She could have kicked herself for forgetting! She tried to stand on her own, but found it difficult and winced in pain.

"Are you much hurt?" asked Gandalf with concern.

"Only a nasty knock on the head and some bruised ribs, I think," she said. "I have a hard skull, but all the same I feel sick and my legs are like straws."

"Oh, it sounds to me like you had best get yourself to a healer," said the wizard. "Not to worry, you leave finding the others to me."

"I will carry you down to the camp in the city," said Legolas, and picked her up lightly. "As for Thorin, I last saw him at the top of the falls. You may try there, if you wish."

At the top of the falls Gandalf found Bilbo sitting on some stone steps not very far away from Thorin's body, starring off into the distance. The hobbit's eyes were raw and he had a nasty bump on his head, but other than that he looked fairly well, all things considered. The wizard was very glad to find Bilbo alive, and very sorry about Thorin. Gandalf joined the hobbit on the steps. Bilbo looked at the wizard when he started lighting his pipe and making some noise, and Gandalf gave him a small but comforting smile. Together they sat and watched the surviving Dwarves gather round Thorin's body and kneel before him to pay their respects.

All that happened while they were stunned, he and Hannah learned later; but it gave them more sorrow than joy, and they both were now weary of their adventure. Bilbo was aching in his bones for the homeward journey. That, however, was a little delayed, so in the meantime I will tell you something of events. The Eagles had long had suspicion of the goblins' and orcs' mustering; from their watchfulness the movements in the mountains could not be altogether hid. So they too had gathered in great numbers, under the great Eagle of the Misty Mountains; and at length smelling battle afar they had come speeding down the gale in the nick of time. They it was who dislodged the goblins and orcs from the mountainslopes, casting them over precipices, or driving them down shrieking and bewildered among their foes. It was not long before they had freed Ravenhill and the Lonely Mountain, and elves and men on either side of the valley could come at last to the help of the battle below.

But even with the Eagles they were still outnumbered. In the last hour Beorn himself had appeared—no one knew how or from where. He came alone, and in bear's shape; and he seemed to have grown almost giant-size in his wrath.

The roar of his voice was like drums and guns; and he tossed wolves and goblins and orcs from his path like straws and feathers. He fell upon their rear, and broke like a clap of thunder through the ring where the dwarves were making a stand still about their lords upon a low rounded hill.

Joining with them, his wrath was redoubled, so that nothing could withstand him, and no weapon seemed to bite upon him. He scattered the orcs and crushed their generals himself. Then, with the spreading of the news that Azog and Bolg had both been slain, dismay fell on the Goblins and Orcs, and they fled in all directions. But weariness left their enemies with the coming of new hope, and they pursued them closely, and prevented most of them from escaping where they could. They drove many of them into the Running River, and such as fled south or west they hunted into the marshes about the Forest River; and there the greater part of the last fugitives perished, while those that came hardly to the Wood-elves' realm were there slain or drawn in to die in the trackless dark of Mirkwood. Songs have said that three parts of the goblin and orc warriors of the North perished on that day, and the mountains had peace for many a year.

Victory had been assured before the fall of night, but the pursuit was still on foot, when Bilbo returned to the camp; and not many were in the valley save the more grievously wounded.

"Where are the Eagles?" he asked Gandalf that evening, as he sat wrapped in warm blankets by a fire with Hannah (who was so exhausted that she had already nodded off almost as soon as she was off her feet) while they waited for the return of Thranduil and Legolas and Bard, and all those who had gone with them.

"Some are in the hunt," said the wizard, "but most have gone back to their eyries. They would not stay here and departed soon after the battle was won. Dáin has crowned their chief with gold, and sworn friendship with them for ever."

"I am sorry. I mean, I should have liked to see them again," said Bilbo sleepily; "perhaps I shall see them on the way home. I suppose I shall be going home soon?"

"As soon as you like," said the wizard.

Actually it was some days before they really set out. They buried Thorin deep beneath the Mountain, and Bard laid the Arkenstone upon his breast.

"There let it lie till the Mountain falls!" he said. "May it bring good fortune to all his folk that dwell here after!"

Upon his tomb the Elvenking then laid Orcrist, the elvish sword that had been taken from Thorin in captivity. It is said in songs that it gleamed ever in the dark if foes approached, and the fortress of the Dwarves could not be taken by surprise. There now Dáin son of Náin took up his abode, and he became King under the Mountain, and in time many other Dwarves gathered to his throne in the ancient halls. Of the twelve companions of Thorin, ten remained. As you already know, Fili and Kili had fallen in battle. The others remained with Dáin; for Dáin dealt his treasure well.

There was, of course, no longer any question of dividing the hoard in such shares as had been planned, to Balin and Dwalin, and Dori and Nori and Ori, and Óin and Glóin, and Bifur and Bofur and Bombur—or to Bilbo. Yet a fourteenth share of all the silver and gold, wrought and unwrought, was given up to Bard; for Dáin said: "We will honor the agreement of the dead, and he now has the Arkenstone in his keeping."

Even a fourteenth share was wealth exceedingly great, greater than that of many mortal kings. From that treasure Bard sent much gold to the Master of Laketown; and he rewarded his followers and friends freely. The gems of Lasgalen had been of the many prizes included amongst his share, and these Bard gladly returned to Thranduil, their rightful owner. To the Elvenking he also gave in friendship the emeralds of Girion, such jewels as he most loved, with which Dáin had restored to him.

Hannah Bard also wished to thank for her bravery and aid in battle; so remembering her words at the Gate, when she said told Thorin that she would rather have a crown of flowers over one of jewels, he gave to her a very beautiful diadem of silver and gold that had been wrought in a delicate design to resemble a wreath of flowers. At first Hannah very politely refused and would take nothing, but was eventually (very kindly) forced to accept when he threatened to heap more riches upon her if she did not. And he placed it upon her brow with the blessing: "Like these flowers, may your courage and spirit never wilt."

To Bilbo he said: "This treasure is as much yours as it is mine; though old agreements cannot stand, since so many have a claim in its winning and defense. Yet even though you were willing to lay aside your claim, I should reward you most richly of all."

"Very kind of you," said Bilbo. "But really it is a relief to me. How on earth should I have got all that treasure home without war and murder all along the way, I don't know. And I don't know what I should have done with it when I got home. I am sure it is better in your hands."

In the end he would take only two small chests, one filled with silver, and the other with gold, such as one strong pony could carry. "That will be quite as much as I can manage." said he.

At last the time came for him to say goodbye to his friends. "Farewell, Balin!" he said; "and farewell, Dwalin; and farewell Dori, Nori, Ori, Óin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur! May your beards never grow thin!" And turning towards the Mountain he added: "Farewell Thorin Oakenshield! And Fili and Kili! May your memory never fade!"

Then the Dwarves bowed low before their Gate, but words stuck in their throats. "Good-bye and good luck, wherever you fare!" said Balin at last. "If ever you visit us again, when our halls are made fair once more, then the feast shall indeed be splendid!"

"If ever you are passing my way," said Bilbo, "don't wait to knock! Tea is at four; but you are welcome any time!"

Then he turned away.

The elf-host was on the march; and if it was sadly lessened, yet many were glad, for now the northern world would be merrier for many a long day. The dragon was dead, and the goblins and orcs overthrown, and their hearts looked forward after winter to a spring of joy.

Beside Thranduil rode Legolas, and beside him rode Hannah. Behind them rode Gandalf and Bilbo, and beside them strode Beorn, once again in man's shape, and he laughed and sang in a loud voice upon the road. So they went on until they drew near to the borders of Mirkwood, to the north of the place where the Forest River ran out. Then they halted, for the wizard and Bilbo would not enter the wood, even though the king and prince bade them stay a while in his halls. Hannah would have liked to spend more time with the elves as a proper guest, but she was bound to go with her guardian. They intended to go along the edge of the forest, and round its northern end in the waste that lay between it and the beginning of the Grey Mountains. It was a long and cheerless road, but now that the goblins were crushed, it seemed safer to the wizard and hobbit than the dreadful pathways under the trees. Moreover Beorn was going that way too.

"Take care! My dear friend! Farewell! Your Majesty!" said Hannah to Legolas and Thranduil, gracing them with a bright and affectionate smile.

"Farewell! O Elvenking!" said Gandalf. "Merry be the greenwood, while the world is yet young! And merry be all your folk!"