Alive - Fili Durin

14 || Out of the frying pan...and into the fire

Bilbo and Gollum exchanged various riddles as the sickly creature, and his stomach, began to grow impatient with the neverending game. Gollum decided he'd had about enough. "Last question. Last chance." He grasped a rock and held it behind his back as he prepared to soon take down the poor hobbit.

"Okay. Uh..."

"Ask us! Ask us!"

"Yes. Yes, alright." Bilbo began to feel more nervous as he could sense Gollum's patience wearing thin. The nervousness causes him to fidget with something made of cold metal in his pocket... "What have I got in my pocket?"

"Well, that's no fair. It's...it's no fair! It's against the rules!" Gollum hurled his rock away in anger. "You ask us another one."

Bilbo finally felt a small sense of hope at the mix-up. "No. No, no, no. You said, ask me a question. Well, that is my question. What have I got in my pocket?"

"Three guesses, precious. He must give us three!"

"Three guesses, very well, guess away."

Gollum thought for a moment before exclaiming, "Handses!"

Bilbo's hands shot up, "Wrong. Guess again."

"Uuh! Fish bones, goblin's teeth, wet shells, bat's wings! Oooh! Aaah!" Gollum hissed and writhed in frustration. "Knife! No, shut up!"

"Wrong, again. Last guess."

"String! Or nothing." Gollum hissed lowly.

"Two guesses at once. Wrong both times." Gollum cried out in frustration. "So. Come then. I won the game, you promised to show me the way out."

"Did we say so, precious? Did we say so?" Gollum got silent as he slowly turned to glare at Bilbo. " What has it got in its pocketses?"

"That's no concern of yours. You lost."

" Lost. Lost? Lost?"

Suddenly...THUMB, THUD, CLANK, POW. A series of noises rang through the cavern. It founded as if something had fallen like Bilbo had. Bilbo's head whipped toward the direction of the sound to notice that there was a gap in the cavern wall, it looked small but it was the only chance.

Gollum's distraction with the sound quickly subsided as he noticed Bilbo's eyes locked on the crack in the wall. Gollum reached and rummaged in his pockets only to come up empty-handed. What little color the creature held in its face disappeared. "Where is it? Where is it?!" He began to frantically search. "No! Aaah! Where is it? Nooo! Lost, lost! Curse us and splash us, my precious is lost!"

Bilbo made a sudden connection to Gollum's distress and the gold ring he found not too long ago. He moved the ring out of his pocket and into his hand behind his back.

Gollum stared at Bilbo with a look of hurt. "He stole it. He stole it! Aaah! He stole it!" He screamed and threw rocks in anger at the hobbit.

Bilbo ran for dear life.