A Mercenaries Love (A Hobbit Fan Fiction)

Chapter 28- Barrels, really?

Adisa's Pov

We follow Bilbo as he leads us out of the dungeons, except he seems to be leading us further into the depths of Mirkwood. I lose count of the amount of stairs we go down when in reality we should be going up and getting out of this place. I glance up at Fili who is walking beside me and his unsure gaze matches mine, I hope Bilbo knows what he is doing. The words that Raineth passed on from Ava quickly come to mind "have faith in Bilbo". Off course Ava would have thought of a way for us to escape, she wouldn't have left us no matter what unless she had a plan.

Being trapped in that dungeon made me realise how much me and Fili need to talk. We haven't really talked about our kiss in the goblin cave. I don't know where we really stand in each other's lives. However now is not the best time for us to talk, our priority needs to be with escaping and to do that we need to be quiet.

Bilbo continues taking us down the paths until we reach a room which I recognise as a wine cellar. The sound of our footsteps are luckily drowned out by the sound of a couple of guards snoring as they sleep, I wouldn't be surprised if Bilbo had something to do with that. The hobbit never ceases to amaze me. I glance around me and catch Thorin's eye, he seems to have noticed that Ava is missing and I see the worry in his face. I had been so caught up in the excitement of being freed and seeing Fili again that I forgot to tell the dwarves about Ava, they must not know what to think.

"It is alright, Ava has managed to escape but I will inform you of the rest later. We must focus on our own escape" I whisper and Thorin nods in relief, it seems that Thorin is actually beginning to like Ava, something must have happened when they were both taken to be questioned by the king. I will have to ask Thorin later, but now is not the time for that.

"This way" Bilbo whispers as he creeps over to where some barrels are stacked up on top of each other. The rest of us dwarves try to follow his quiet steps as best we can but we are not built for stealth. Luckily I grew up with Ava and caught on a bit with her silent movement.

"I don't believe it, we're in the cellars" Kili grumbles and I send a glare his way. He knows just as much as I do that Ava said to trust Bilbo.

"You were supposed to be leading us out, not further in!" Bofur says unhappily and I just roll my eyes. They don't even know what he has planned yet, although neither do I. I just hope that whatever it is, it will help us to escape. 

"I know what I'm doing" Bilbo scolds him, relief floods through me as I realise that Bilbo actually does have a plan and my faith in him was not misguided.

"This way. This way" Bilbo continues to guide us further into the cellars and over to the barrels I noticed earlier. I look up at Fili again who has remained by my side ever since we were let out of those dungeons. He's also close to Kili and I can tell he doesn't want to let either one of us out of his sight. My heart warms at the thought even though I can handle myself.

"Everyone climb into the barrels quickly!" Bilbo instructs quietly and my eyes widen in surprise, this is his plan. . . really? Dwalin brushes past me as he stalks quietly over to Bilbo, he seems about as happy to be getting in a barrel as I am.

"Are you mad. They'll find us" Dwalin grumbles.

"No, no. They won't. I promise you! Please, please you must trust me!" Bilbo replies with a desperate shake of his head, although the last part he directs to all of the company. No one seems to be listening to him though and I sigh in annoyance, I don't fancy getting into those barrels either but I trust Bilbo and the other dwarves need to as well.

Bilbo looks at Thorin with a rather desperate look on his face, Thorin then quickly turns his head to look at the company. "Do as he says" he orders and the dwarves instantly move into action. Glancing around at each other warily as if they are all in agreement that these barrels are not for climbing in, but nonetheless we all move to follow Thorin's order.

I grab hold of the rope around one of the top barrels and swing myself up. I can see all the other dwarves below me following my lead and I smile to myself, glad that they are finally doing what they are told. If Ava was here she would have gotten into the barrel without having to be asked.

Once everyone is in a barrel, except for Bilbo who remains a few feet away. I look around me to see what the next step of his plan is. Surprisingly the barrel isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. Not exactly something I would plan to stay in all day but it beats the dungeon, at least I am near people I care about here. Although saying that I was next to Kili and he is beginning to feel like a brother to me.

Bilbo walks along in front of all the barrels and seems to be counting us all off, making sure we are all here. He looks at me worriedly as he notices that Ava is not here and I scrunch my face up in confusion. Does he not know. I thought that they had talked before Ava escaped. How else would she know that Bilbo was going to help us escape. Bilbo continues on with his counting after I nod back at him to tell him it's ok, he seems relieved and I smile knowing how much they have become good friends over the journey.

"What do we do now?" Bofur asks as all of the dwarves stick their heads out of their barrels, me included, I'm just as curious as they are about how Bilbo plans on using these barrels to help us escape.

"Hold your breath" Bilbo says as he grabs onto a lever and forcefully pulls it down. I cry out in surprise as the ground beneath the barrels begins to move. The floor opens up to reveal our way out. I duck inside my barrel as it begins to roll and manage to take a quick breath in as I realise what Bilbo meant. Not a moment too soon either as the unmistakable sound of water is soon heard. I hold on to my barrel as it falls into the water with a loud splash. My head goes under water and I'm glad I listened to Bilbo. Once my barrel resurfaces I release my breath of air and look around me, I don't see Bilbo.

"Where is Bilbo?" I ask worriedly as he hasn't yet followed us out of the wine cellar.

"Everyone grab hold, we wait for Bilbo" Thorin orders as we gather up in a group to stop us from being separated. I breath out a big sigh of relief as Bilbo's form follows us down from the cellar. He grabs onto one of the barrels with some help.

"Well done, Master Baggins" Thorin praises and I smile, well done indeed. We all let go of each other and let the stream pull us further down, although we have not escaped yet.

Authors Note:

I'm sorry guys I have been through a lot these past couple of months. My horse was sick and had to be put down as well as one of my best friends moving away, I've also had a ton of work and I just haven't had the motivation to write. But I have now, even though it is shorter than normal.

That's all for now, hopefully I can update soon. Thanks for sticking in there guys (if you have anyway).

Bye! :)