"Do you still have the ability to turn invisible?"
The Dwarf-King and the retinue of loyal dwarves who'd be going down into the mines were assembled in the main entrance hall. They'd already been divided up into a series of groups, each of them designated for one of Erebor's ten primary entrances into the mines. Considering their closer position to the marketplace, it was assumed that almost all of the children had fled into the west-central and far west mines, but Thorin still wanted all of the other entrances and tunnels checked for explosives as well. And there was a good chance that the traitors were hiding in other places now, too.
"Of course," said Bilbo, unconsciously patting his jacket pocket. "And I've got the mithril coat on underneath my clothes. Just in case."
The King nodded in satisfaction. "You'll scout ahead of Bofur and Bifur after they have cleared each of the entrances and tunnels. Nori believes that the powders would only be effective at the larger entryways, so you should be safe in all other areas if they cannot see or hear you."
"If I could sneak past a fire-breathing dragon, then a couple of stupid dwarves won't be a problem," said Bilbo with a devious grin. "No offense, of course."
"None taken."
"Has Ori returned with the map yet?" asked Bilbo. "Because although I trust Bifur and Bofur's navigational skills, I'd really prefer to take a look at a layout of the shafts and tunnels before going down there."
"I gave him the keys to my room as well, so it might take him a few extra minutes to retrieve everything," said Thorin. He glanced over at the hobbit and noticed that he was reading a small piece of paper. "What's that?"
"A list of identifications for the children," explained Bilbo. "They probably won't come out even if we call for them. And none of them besides Frodo are familiar with any of our voices or appearances, so it's possible that they'll think we're a kidnapper trying to hurt them again."
"But that doesn't explain the list."
The hobbit released a low-suffering sigh. "This is a list of obscure facts that I have gathered from the children's parents. Absolutely no one outside the child's closest family members would know about these things. Most especially their attackers. So, if any of the children doubt our identities or won't come out, I'll recite one of these facts and tell them which parent gave me that information. I've supplied all of the other rescuers with the list as well, so make sure to memorize them."
"Rupert the stuffed bear is Frodo's fact?" mused Thorin once he had his own list.
"He loves that fuzzy lil' bear," said Bilbo. "And absolutely no one outside of you, me, and the rest of the Company knows about him. So, it's perfect. Work on remembering the others, though. They won't be like Frodo, who'll run to your voice as soon as he hears it."
"I've found one!"
Everyone turned around to stare at Ori, who'd just emerged from one of the upper walkways with a dwarfling clutched in his arms. The little boy was dark-haired and blue-eyed, which allowed Bilbo to instantly identify him as Ordin, the son of the mother who'd tried to carve out a traitor's eyes. He was wrapped up in a knitted blanket and holding several of the maps Ori had brought with him.
"He was hiding in the library," said a breathless Ori. "Said he ran there after a bad dwarf tried to snatch him. And I ran into the rather unpleasant fellows when I was looking for the maps. Found Ordin in a pile of books after that."
"Did they escape?" demanded the King.
"Of course not," said Ori with some indignation. "I knocked them out and soundly hog-tied them in the back storage room."
"Well, that's one dwarfling off the list," said Bilbo with great satisfaction. "Only five more to rescue now."
"You...hog-tied them?" said Dori in disbelief. "All by yourself?"
"Now why do you have to go and make it sound like that," bemoaned the younger brother. "I'm perfectly capable of...beating up a pair of dunderheads who can't tell either of their beards from their asses."
Ori handed the quiet dwarfling off to his mother when she came careening around the corner, shoving Dwalin and two other miners out of the way to get to her child. Heart aching at the sight of the other parent being reunited with her son, Bilbo's strong resolve to find Frodo merely increased tenfold, a similar feeling to his own being mirrored on the Dwarf-King's face as well.
"And I'll have you know that the traitors might be missing a couple of eyes, too," snapped Ori, whacking his middle brother over the head with a rolled up map in his rant. "Ended up on the sharp ends of my knitting needles, they did."
"I'm feeling kinda speechless right now," admitted Fíli.
"Me, too."
"I'm just feeling proud," said Bilbo. "Good for you, Ori."
The bookish dwarf gave him a shy smile. "And I retrieved all of the maps, too. A couple of them were stolen by the Rhûn dwarves, but don't worry, I made sure no blood got on them."
"Are you sure they're secure?" asked Thorin.
"Oh, yes," snickered Ori. "Aunt Dhola's keeping a close eye on them. Every time they make a sound, she smacks them over the head with her Khuzdul grammar book. It's rather amusing for her."
"More like the highlight of the century for her," added Nori.
"Bofur!" called Thorin. He handed the maps to each of the teams, anxious to head down and find the cowardly scum who'd invaded his home. "Show Bilbo the route you'll be taking in the tunnels. I don't want him scouting completely blind, so make sure he's at least semi-familiar with them."
"Aye, aye," said the pig-tailed miner. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do..."
It took several minutes, but Bilbo was soon very well-acquainted with the tunnels they'd be passing through in the west-central mines. He was warned that many of the left-oriented shafts were extremely narrow and dotted with ancient or illegal passages that had not seen dwarven life in centuries. With these conditions, Bilbo's smaller size would be a great advantage for the rescuers.
"Okay," said the hobbit, "I'm ready."
Thorin nodded, signaling for the other groups to start their descent into the rigged and traitor-filled mines. Bofur, Bifur, and two dwarf chemists were already surveying the primary entrance to the west-central mines, cautiously checking every hole or opening in the stone carvings that lined the entryway. They moved as fast as was safely possible, the air thick with tension when they gave the first signal to move into the mines. With a deep breath, Bilbo slipped the ring onto his finger and disappeared into the shadowy world that was a staple of it.
"We'll be right behind you," whispered Thorin.
The hobbit walked into the flame-lit tunnel, glittering crystals illuminating deeper parts where the firelight didn't reach. His footsteps were light and cautious, eyes and ears searching for any sign of the traitors in the branch-off tunnels and shafts. Once Bilbo was sure that no one else was in that stretch, he walked back several paces and opened a small bag of pebbles Bofur had given him. With a flick of his wrist, Bilbo threw one toward the entrance to signal that all was clear in the tunnel.
"One stretch down," murmured Bofur as he walked by to check the next branch of entryways, "Only dozens more to go."
Bilbo fingered Sting more and more anxiously with every new stretch they came upon, frustrated at the complete lack of traitors they'd found so far. He stayed up with the miners and chemists when he was waiting for new tunnels to scout, but the hobbit would occasionally catch a glimpse of Thorin, Dwalin, and his nephews further behind. All four of them looked just as tetchy as Bilbo felt, their weapons of choice permanently affixed to their hands as the miners checked for explosive powders. And despite his hobbit-y nature, Bilbo actually hoped that they'd have something to attack real soon.
"All good here," whispered Bofur.
Moving into the next series of tunnels, Bilbo noticed that the lighting was rapidly deteriorating and he wouldn't be able to see two feet in front of him by the time they arrived at the next entrance level. And then he heard something...
"We should've waited longer," said a voice to Bilbo's left. "And those damn kids just made everything worse."
Leaning close to the wall, Bilbo narrowly avoided a pair of Rhûn dwarves who'd just emerged from an especially narrow tunnel. If they hadn't walked out of it, Bilbo was almost certain that he wouldn't have even noticed its existence.
"They've probably fallen into the old, abandoned shafts by now," drawled another dwarf. "Those things are all over the place in the tunnels they ran into, so I'd be amazed if any of them were even still alive."
"But what if they—"
"Every one of those things have a thirty-foot or more drop. They're dead."
"What I was gonna say was," argued the first dwarf, "What if none of them have fallen into the lower shafts?"
"Kodos thinks they're hiding in those puny side-tunnels we saw earlier. It should only take a few blasts of fire to flush them all out. Bastards won't know what hit them."
"And the others?"
"The explosives will take care of them," snapped the second dwarf. "And even if one of the others squeals, Thorin won't be coming down here. He'll be more worried about his precious treasure than a couple of peasant whelps."
"I don't know, what if he—"
"Would you stop worrying," hissed the nastier dwarf. "And besides, you've heard all the stories about how Thorin reacted after he reclaimed Erebor. The asshole practically started a war just to keep his beloved gold all to himself."
"I guess you're right," sighed the first. "He is a selfish bastard with..."
Retrieving two pebbles from the bag, Bilbo edged his way back toward the tunnel entrance and threw them into the air exactly five seconds apart. Both of the Rhûn dwarves came to a sudden stop in front of another narrow shaft, allowing Bilbo to slowly make his way behind them.
"Did you hear that?"
Neither of the dwarves were able to say anything else before Bilbo surged forward and shoved both of them with every ounce of strength in his hobbit body. As soon as they yelped in surprise, arrows were flying through the musty air and into their chests. Without a moment's pause, Bilbo leapt onto the nasty dwarf and stuffed an old rag into his mouth, the hobbit's hairy feet smothering the other dwarf's screams until he could shove an icky-smelling sock into his maw as well.
"I've got them."
The King and his nephews emerged from the shadows, the chemists right behind as they continued forward to check the next branch-ways for explosive powders. Dwalin grabbed both of the traitors and dragged them back the way they'd came, Bilbo following to watch the inevitable interrogation.
"Should've kept your yaps shut," snarled Dwalin, viciously throwing the dwarves onto the ground when they'd reached a more well-lit shaft. "But this works out much better for me, so I'm not complaining."
"Answer our questions, and we'll kill you quickly," said Thorin while the miners bound their hands and feet. "Don't answer them, and I'll allow the children's parents to torture you for weeks if that's what they wish to do."
Neither of them responded in a definable way.
"Bofur..."
The friendliest dwarf of the whole Company stepped forward and brought his pick down with a gut-churning crunch onto the nasty traitor's right foot. Muffled screams were audible as the dwarf struggled, Bofur's usually jovial face a mask of stone as he glared at the traitor.
"Tell us where the lil' ones are," said Bofur with a nasty smirk, "Or I'll shove my ol' pick here right into your thigh. You'll bleed to death right slowly if my aim's true. Of course, my dear cousin's polearm may also like to see some action today. Aint' that right, Bifur?"
"Mahk nzuka-shah."
"You see," taunted Bofur in a tone far too congenial for the situation. "He'd like to slice out your intestines and feed them to the buzzards, too."
"And I'd like to rip these out and let you bleed to death," said Kíli as he took hold of his arrow and twisted it until the dwarf was writhing on the floor. "But that'd be kinda pointless, now wouldn't it?"
"Aye, it most certainly would, nadad."
Bilbo strode up to the Dwarf-King and impatiently jabbed him in the stomach, the hobbit's desire to find Frodo becoming more and more intense the longer they were down in the tunnels. If Thorin didn't figure out a way to get more information out of them, then Bilbo would just have to do it himself.
"Enough of this," said the King, gently squeezing the hobbit's arm to show that he had gotten the message loud and very clear. "Dwalin."
"With pleasure."
The warrior dwarf knelt down and pushed his fingers into the sides of the other dwarf's mouth, effectively preventing anything more than muffled sounds from escaping his mouth. Even without the smelly gags, neither traitor could scream for help with all of the weapons shoved up against their throats. The King Under the Mountain trailed the tip of his knife around the dwarves' eyes.
"Where are the children?"