She wasn't sure which was louder, her screams or the screams around her as they went flying down into a pit, barreling against the sides of the hole before coming to a stop. Athena was grateful that she had been the last to land, the Dwarves softening her fall as she collapsed into what appeared to be a cage with no door. Spiked iron tendrils encased the company and she couldn't help but wince at the thought of what could have happened if either of them had fallen just a little further away.
A horde of Goblins descended upon the company within seconds, shrill cries leaving them as their hands grasped onto the writhing Dwarves and woman. She fought back against their captors, trying to hit and kick at anything that touched her. Struggling against the hands that had grabbed her arms she was dragged away with the others, no amount of fighting could deny the fact that they were heavily outnumbered and the Goblins had left no room for them to draw their weapons. Her bow and quiver were snatched from her back, much to her dismay, and her sword was pulled from its scabbard.
"Give that back!" She yelled, trying to reach her weapons but no amount of kicking or screaming was helping her get any closer to the Goblin who had taken her belongings, her just being dragged along continuously with the others.
They were led through the Goblins' dwelling, across rickety bridges that looked like they could snap at any moment but somehow remained solid and able to carry the extra weight that the captives brought. The passages soon opened up into a spacious and well lit opening, if it weren't for them being held prisoner she may have decided to admire what was around her. Her pupils darted around in confusion when a tune filled the air around them, it was harsh and metallic and it did not please her ears in the slightest.
They were pushed to stand before a Goblin larger than the others in both height and width, his grotesque feet using the smaller ones as a footrest while he perched atop his disordered throne as they approached. As if the tune wasn't bad enough, he began a song to accompany it, his voice was enough to make her want to rip her eardrums away so she wouldn't have to hear it continue.
"Clap, snap, the black crack. Grip, grab, pinch, and nab. Batter and beat. Make 'em stammer and squeak! Pound pound, far underground. Down, down, down in Goblin Town," what she assumed to be the king bellowed out, less singing and more yelling the words.
As she listened to the lyrics she looked around at the cavernous location around her. It looked more like a mine than a town.
"You can yammer and yelp. But there ain't no help. Pound pound, far underground. Down, down, down in Goblin Town." He finally finished the number, her refusing to pay attention to the lyrics that were performed between the start and the end as she was too busy flinching away from the goblins that chorused some of the lyrics, as well as ducking underneath the king's skull mace when he decided it was a good idea to spin around.
"Catchy, isn't it?" He asked them, "it's one of my own compositions."
'That's not the word I would use' she thought to herself as she stared at their host with a humourless expression that matched those around her.
"That's not a song, that's an abomination!" Balin cried out which only angered the Goblins that roared out in rage at the insult he had offered.
"Abominations, mutations, deviations, that's all you're gonna find down here," responded the Goblin King, taking little to no offence at the older Dwarf's words.
The Goblins that had previously taken their weapons threw them to the floor before the king, him rising from his chair and stepping towards the company. Nausea bubbled in her throat each time his dangling chin swung to the side. The Orcs were more horrific in nature, but by looks the Goblins out dimmed everything else that resided in Middle Earth.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"
"Dwarves, Your Malevolence," one of the Goblins informed him.
"Do I look like a Dwarf?" Athena objected while she stared at the Goblin who had inserted her into the group despite the very obvious differences between her and the others.
"And a woman," he added on with a sneer before turning back to his king.
"Dwarves and a woman?"
"We found them on the front porch."
"Well don't just stand there, search them! Every crack, every crevice!"
At his order they were swarmed with Goblins once more, Athena trying to stay as close to Kili as she could while the Goblins reached out to search all of them despite their complaints to the manhandling.
"Don't touch her!" She vaguely heard Kili yell from beside her as a Goblin pulled a dagger out of her boot, a frustrated growl emanating from her throat when her back-up weapon was taken from her.
The Goblins backed up a little once they were content with their search, one of the Goblins pulling a sack from Nori and emptying it to reveal a multitude of belongings from Rivendell, Athena widening her eyes at the revelation before turning to the Dwarf.
"Seriously, Nori?" She asked him exasperated, him only shrugging at her in response with not an inkling of remorse on his face.
"It is my belief that they are in league with Elves!" The Goblin exclaimed while he handed a candle holder from the pile to the king.
He glanced at the trinket in his hand before finding a carving on the bottom of the stick, reading it aloud for the others to hear, "made in Rivendell. Second Age, couldn't give it away," he stated before throwing it to the side and off the edge of the platform where they stood. "What are you doing in these parts?"
Thorin stepped forward but a hand clasped his shoulder before he could, Óin stepping out in front of the company in his stead. "Don't worry lads, I'll handle this."
"No tricks, I want the truth! Warts and all."
"You're going to have to speak up, your boys flattened my trumpet," he responded, holding up the hearing trumpet that was now a flat piece of metal in his hands.
"I'll flatten more than your trumpet!" The Goblin King hollered as he stepped towards them again, the ground shaking underneath his weight.
Athena quickly pulled Óin back into the group by his shoulders to protect him from the wrath of the king.
"What did he say?" He asked Athena, looking up at her once she had pulled him back to the formation, her only patting his shoulder once as Bofur decided to take the lead this time.
"I'm the one you should speak to," is all she caught him saying as he spread out his arms to protect the others, the Goblin King hummed which gave Bofur the signal to explain. "We were on the road. Well not so much a road as a path. Actually, it's not even that come to think of it, more like a track. Anyway, the point is we were on this road, like a path, like a track, and then we weren't. Which, is a problem because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday," he rambled on, turning around to the Dwarves as if to gather some help which Dori decided to oblige to.
"Visiting distant relations."
"Some inbreds on my mother's side-"
"Shut up!" The king yelled, clearly having enough of the lies the Dwarves were giving him. The Goblins shrunk back in fear whereas the company stared at him in acceptance of his reaction, "well then, if they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker!"
"I'm sorry, the what?" Athena asked, hoping that she had misheard the names of whatever contraptions he planned to use on them.
"Start with the youngest!" Pointing towards Ori he finished his orders, although Kili was the youngest it wasn't hard to see how he would think it was actually Ori — he held an air of innocence around him that the others didn't have.
"Wait!" Thorin called before stepping out of the cluster of Dwarves, Goblins, and one woman. He would not allow his people to suffer needlessly to protect him if there was anything he could do to help.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain," he greeted with a bow of mockery, "oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody, really. I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak, an old enemy of yours. The Pale Orc astride a white warg."
The tension shrouded not only Thorin, but all those who knew they'd be fighting the same battle if they managed to worm themselves out of this disaster.
"Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" He rhetorically asked, ridiculing him further with the dark chuckle that left him, approaching one of the smaller Goblins that hung on a pulley used for transportation, "send word to the Pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize."