"Wake up!" Thorin's voice jolted Thraya out of her dream. Before she had time to process anything or move, suddenly she was falling.
They landed in a heap in a horrid looking cage crafted out of bones. She let out a small shriek at the sight of the creatures surrounding them.
Goblins.
Oh, the stories never truly did justice to just how repulsive the maggots really were. Thorin found her hand and pulled her close.
"Don't worry, Thraya," he whispered. "Keep out of sight."
She gave a little nod and moved slightly behind him. The group was shuffled along several rickety wooden bridges and roadways to the main platform.
"Oh, merciful Valar," Thraya muttered, immediately burying her head in Thorin's shoulder. "That is the most disgusting creature on the face of Middle-Earth."
Thorin would have smiled if it weren't for their predicament. He stepped slightly in front of her as the goblins started groping around for the weapons and tossing them into the pile.
The Great Goblin, in all his hideous 'glory', stood from his throne and fixed the company with his beady stare. "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" he demanded, the extra bag of flesh on his chin waving wildly.
"Dwarves, your Malevolence," one of the goblins pointed out. "We found them on the front porch."
"Well, don't just stand there," the 'king' roared. "Search them! Every crack, every crevice! What are you doing in these parts? Speak!"
Thorin subtly pushed Thraya back towards Kili who stood in stoic silence. Thraya's small form came in handy as she slipped unnoticed behind the taller dwarf. Kili's glare remained fixed on the Goblin King, but he squeezed her hand comfortingly.
"Very well," the creature said after a moment of silence. "If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk!" the crowd cheered in response. "Start with the girl!" he roared, pointing right at Thraya, who froze in fear.
"Over my dead body," Kili hissed. A pair of goblins moved forward to seize Thraya but Fili and Kili knocked them back.
"Wait!" Thorin shouted, stepping forward.
"Well, well, well! Look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror. King Under the Mountain. Oh, but I'm forgetting! You don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody really."
Thorin refused to rise to the Goblin's bait and instead settled for a stone-cold glare.
"I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head," the Goblin continued. "Just the head, nothing attached."
No...
Something between rage and fear had filled Thraya with energy. No one was going to touch her father. Not while there was life in her. Her hand made her way to her boot, clutching the dagger the goblins had overlooked.
"Perhaps you know of whom I speak," the Goblin said, an evil twinkle in his bloodshot eyes. "An old enemy of yours. A pale orc astride a white warg."
Thorin's face was set with fury. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed," he spat. "He was slain in battle long ago."
"So, you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Goblin asked with a smirk. "Send word to the pale orc. Tell him I have found his prize."
As the tiny goblin scribe sped off in his little contraption, the other goblins began carting all sorts of lovely machinery up the rickety paths.
Then the Goblin King decided to 'sing,' if you can even call that music.
Thraya grit her teeth against the painful sound, trying to tell herself that the horrid lyrics were highly exaggerated. She held her dagger in her hand, but she wouldn't get a chance to use it with how close Fili and Kili were standing. Fili was right behind her and Kili stayed in front of her, blocking her from the sight of the Goblin. His mind was elsewhere at the moment and they didn't want him to remember her, lest he targeted her again.
Suddenly, he let out a shriek. "I know that sword! It is the Goblin-cleaver! The Biter! The blade that sliced a thousand necks!"
They must have found Thorin's sword.
"Slash them, beat them! Kill them all!" the Goblin roared. "Cut off his head!"
A few goblins tackled Thorin to the ground, bringing a knife close to his throat.
"No!" Thraya shouted, leaping out of her cover at the goblins.
"Thraya!"
She ignored Fili and launched herself at the goblins, knocking them off her father. Pain erupted in her shoulder as the knife sunk into her flesh.
"Thraya!" Thorin bellowed, seizing Orcrist. Before anyone could react, a bright flash of light exploded into existence and they were all knocked down.
"Take up arms! Fight! Fight!"
Gandalf.
Thraya used her untouched arm to elbow a goblin off of her and tried to get to her feet, only to be stopped by her wounded arm.
Someone's arm curled around her back and helped her to her feet. Kili.
The rest of the dwarves were seizing their weapons and fighting off the goblin hoards. Thraya inhaled sharply, pulling the goblin's knife out of her shoulder and flinging it with deadly accuracy at a goblin fighting Fili. Kili and Thraya made their way to the weapon pile, putting theirs back on and tossing the rest to the others.
Adrenaline hid the pain for now. Thraya vaguely heard the Goblin King wailing about Gandalf's sword.
Really, he should have been more worried about the wielder than the sword, but either way, he was distracted.
"Follow me. Quick! Run!" Gandalf ordered.
Kili handed Thraya off to Fili and covered them as they made their way through the tunnels. Fili carefully, but quickly, draped her injured arm over his shoulder so she could use her other arm for her sword.
"Cut the ropes!" Thorin ordered. Fili tightened his grip around her waist, bracing himself against the platform they severed. They got their balance back and continued. Thraya concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, swinging her blade at anything creepy to appear in her line of sight.
She couldn't see much of where they were heading, but Fili led her along with the party. The ground began to move again. The dwarves had severed the ropes holding it and it swung across a chasm.
"Jump!"
Before Thraya could take any initiative to move, she was suddenly flying through the air.
Fili had tossed her.
That was only slightly terrifying. She stuck her blade into the wooden planks that made up the ground and pushed herself to her feet, wincing slightly at the movement in her wounded shoulder. Soon enough, Fili had appeared at her side again and tried to help her again.
"Fee, I'm fine! My shoulder is hurt. My legs work just fine."
She pulled her arm away from him and they continued down the path. Suddenly, the floor in front of the company exploded and the Great Bag of Diseased Flesh burst forth.
"You thought you could escape me?" the Goblin demanded. "What are you going to do now, wizard?"
Gandalf was unimpressed. He poked the Flesh Bag's eye and swung Glamdring across the gelatinous stomach.
The Goblin let out a pathetic cry of pain and fell to his knees.
"That'll do it," he mumbled, just before Gandalf brought Glamdring down on his neck.
The giant corpse collapsed on the bridge, the added weight causing it to give out.
"Hold on!"
The section of the bridge went sailing down, occasionally scraping against rock walls or other scaffolding. Thraya found herself tightly enveloped in Thorin's arms as they skidded to a halt, wooden debris crashing on top of them. The steady throb in her shoulder was starting to dull her senses.
"Well, that could have been worse," Bofur said cheerily, just as the Great Goblin Flesh Bag crashed onto the pile.
"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin growled.
Thorin got up, pulling loose debris off of Thraya.
She winced in pain, getting to her feet. "Never say that again, Bofur," she hissed through gritted teeth.
The others wriggled their way out of the debris when suddenly Kili caught a glimpse of the walls above them.
"Gandalf!" he cried, bringing the company's attention to the swarm of goblins crawling down the rock walls.
"There's too many!" Dwalin growled. "We can't fight them!"
"Only one thing will save us! Gandalf announced. "Daylight. Come on!"
Thraya began running with the rest of the company, pressing her hand to the wound. Her head was starting to spin a bit from the amount of blood she had lost, but it wasn't important.
"Come on, namad," Kili murmured, curling his arm under hers and half-pulling her along.
"I'm..."
"You're not fine!" he interrupted. "Just keep moving!"
"Right," she breathed, stumbling along. "Keep moving. I...I can manage that..."
The company raced down a narrow passage and into the setting sunlight. Thraya took a deep breath of fresh air, at least, as best she could, running for her life, leaning on Kili and trying not to faint.
The group raced down the slope until the screams of the goblins were lost behind them. Kili set Thraya down on a rock.
"Alright, let's see how it is," he said, gently pulling her hand off the wound.
"Fili, Kili, Thraya," Gandalf was muttering. "That's thirteen. And Bombur, that makes fourteen. Where's Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?"
"Damn it," Thraya muttered. "We can't just leave him, we have to go..."
"You aren't going anywhere," Fili said, ignoring the conversation of the rest of the group. "Not until this is taken care of." He moved her quiver strap out of the way and ripped the sleeve off her tunic.
"I feel pathetic," she mumbled.
"Don't," Kili said. "When fights break out, people get hurt. And you took a dagger for Thorin. That was brave."
"Not that. It's that I...I just stood there for so long. And I hid. I was hiding behind you. That's not brave."
"Don't be ridiculous. We were playing it cautiously at the time. But once things got ugly, you were the first to jump in the battle," Fili said, his tone annoyingly matter-of-fact. He carefully wrapped the sleeve he had ripped around her shoulder twice before tying tightly. "That should do for now. Once we have a chance to stop, we'll get Oin to look at it."
"What happened exactly?" Gandalf was shouting, looking at Nori. "Tell me!"
"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin growled. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone."
"He couldn't," Thraya muttered. She was about to say something else about the disappearance of Bilbo when the very same hobbit stepped out from behind a tree.
"No he isn't," the hobbit announced, a bit of a smile on his face.
"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Gandalf declared.
"Bilbo!" Kili said with a smile. "We'd given you up!"
"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked.
There was a silence as Bilbo looked around, a bit uncomfortably, fiddling with his pocket.
"Oh, what does it matter?" Gandalf finally said. "He's back."
"It matters," Thorin said, his voice determinedly stern. Only Thraya who knew him so well could pick out a trace of awe and confusion. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"
Bilbo smiled wryly. "Look, I know you doubt me. I know...I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back. Because...you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can"
"That was so sweet, Bilbo," Thraya said softly.
The hobbit just gave her a small smile.
The heartfelt moment, however, was interrupted by the howl of a warg, sending chills down Thraya's back.
Here's an extra long one for you all! We've reached the part where I have a few pre-written chapters, so we get some frequent updates for now while I try to keep it going! I just finished my first year of college (yay!) and summer's a great time to catch up on the lovely plethora of stories that need my attention. After this one, which of my stories do you all want to see next? I have two Marauders era stories, a Harry Potter/Percy Jackson crossover, the AU with Draco's older sister, and my MCU Bucky fic.
Anyway, I'm glad you're all enjoying this so far and can't wait to see how you like my future plans!
~Dawn