The Rescue Mission

Bilbo Baggins staggered through the tight knit trees of Mirkwood, struggling to stay on his feet as the twisted roots of ancient trees pushed through the ground and conspired to trip him up. He, along with the thirteen dwarves he was travelling with, was starving, tired and close to collapsing. It had been many days since they had begun desperately chasing the lights of the Wood-elves through the forest in the hope that they would spare a drop of water or a morsel of food for them.

Walking unsteadily next to Bilbo was Bofur, the dwarf Bilbo had seemed to connect with most so far. There was something about the infectious smile and friendly demeanour of the dwarf that always drew Bilbo in, and it never failed to brighten his spirits a bit when he sought the company of Bofur. He always seemed to know exactly what to say or do to cheer Bilbo up, even if it was only to give him one of his trademark smiles. Cheer was not coming very naturally at the moment however, even to Bofur.

As the Company continued their slow and desperate struggle through the forest, they were suddenly surrounded by bright lights and the tall, unmistakeable figures of the Wood-elves they had been chasing. All of the elves had their bows and spears pointed threateningly at the dwarves, and they called for them to stop where they were. The Company didn't even put up a fight, weak and starving as they were. They merely collapsed to the ground and waited for the Wood-elves to make the decision of what to do with them.

With all of the dwarves and elves preoccupied with each other, Bilbo quietly slipped the ring onto his finger and waited in the background, watching as the elves lined up the dwarves and counted them. He silently watched as Bofur looked around, panicked, as if looking for someone. With a strange sort of flutter in his stomach, Bilbo realised that Bofur was looking for him. He felt touched that Bofur seemed so concerned for his well-being, and vowed that he would follow these elves and find some way to release their prisoners.

Breathing raggedly, Bilbo waited in the dark shadows of a hallway. He had followed the Wood-elves and the prisoners all the way to the underground kingdom, and he was currently trying to navigate his way through the labyrinthine tunnels and passages to locate the whereabouts of the prisoners' cells. Following his instinctual sense of direction, he hurried down a passageway that looked almost exactly the same as every other he had walked through.

He turned at the end of here into yet another tunnel, but this one seemed darker and more foreboding than any others he had seen yet. And there were several doors down each side, all separated by enough space to stop anyone inside them talking to each other. With renewed hope, Bilbo hurried to the nearest door and peered through the small barred window. Relief surged through him as he saw Kili sitting alone on the floor of the cell, a calculating look on his face. Bilbo guessed that he was racking his brains for a means of escape.

After a moment's hesitation, Bilbo took off the ring and became visible again.

"Kili!" He whispered softly, and the dwarf looked up immediately. A look of shock was on his face, and he scrambled to his feet at once.

"Baggins! How on earth did you manage to get in here without getting caught?" Kili sounded both surprised and awed, as if his respect for the hobbit had just grown an awful lot.

"Never mind about that! The important thing is to work out how to get you all out of here. I'm going to find all of the other dwarves and let them know I'm here, and then I need to work out some way of breaking you out."

Without another word, Bilbo slipped the ring back onto his finger and sneaked a little further down the tunnel, ignoring Kili's look of shock when he disappeared right in front of his nose. The next cell Bilbo looked into contained a frustrated Fili, who was pacing up and down. Bilbo noted that he looked stronger than any of them had been before they were captured, and thinking back realised that Kili had looked better too. At least it appeared the elves were feeding their prisoners. Bilbo made himself visible again and called to Fili.

"Fili! Over here!"

"Bilbo!" Fili cried softly, looking just as surprised as his brother had been. "What the...how did you get here?"

Bilbo repeated what he had said to Kili, also adding reassurance that Fili's brother was safe and well in the cell next door. This seemed to appease Fili a bit, he stopped pacing and dropped onto the floor to rest. With a last reassuring smile Bilbo hurried off down the tunnel, not bothering to make himself invisible this time. He repeated his words of comfort to Balin, Dwalin, Ori, Nori, and Dori, and was starting to become agitated. It was great to see his fellow comrades safe and well, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't just a little bit biased towards finding Bofur.

Finally, after what felt an age, Bilbo peered into the next cell and with a leap of his stomach he saw the familiar face of Bofur looking back at him. Bofur's face immediately split into a wide grin, and he walked up to the door to see Bilbo closely. After the panic of being separated from Bofur and the rest of the dwarves, Bilbo's affection for him seemed to have grown even more. He had a shrewd idea what the butterflies in his stomach meant, and he felt himself go a little red in the face as he pondered this idea. He was torn out of his reverie by Bofur's gentle voice whispering to him.

"Bilbo, I thought we'd lost you!" The relief was clear in his voice, and he reached his hand through the bars on the door to gently touch Bilbo's face, as if checking he was real. Bilbo immediately blushed even darker, but all the same he smiled broadly.

"You should know me better than that, Bofur, I'd be a poor burglar if I let myself get caught!" Bilbo teased, enjoying watching Bofur smile at him and listening to his deep laugh resonating. He managed to light up even this dank underground tunnel with his laughter and his cheerful disposition. Bilbo sighed softly, enjoying just looking into Bofur's eyes in a comfortable silence. He pondered his feelings for the dwarf, and what chances there were of Bofur returning them. Sure, Bofur had seemed worried about him when the elves caught them, and he was very happy to see that Bilbo was safe...but did that just mean Bofur valued him as a friend? Bilbo sighed. This whole romance thing was a lot more complicated than he had imagined when he was safely at home in the Shire. Who would have thought that he could have fallen for a rough, masculine dwarf in comparison to the small, soft little hobbit women at home? When Bilbo compared the two there was no doubt in his mind who he was attracted to though. He blushed yet again as his thoughts strayed to areas that were most definitely not becoming of a Baggins.

"Something wrong, Bilbo?" Bofur asked concernedly as he studied Bilbo's face.

"No, no, just...just thinking," Bilbo stammered, "I just want you to get out of here as soon as possible. I need to go and find the others, and let them know that I'm working on something!"

"Aye, you do that, Bilbo." Bofur smiled at him again, although now there seemed to be a bit of disappointment in his face. Bilbo nodded and hurried off, thinking hard about everything he had learned so far about the palace. Try as he might, he just couldn't come up with a plan yet, but his small reunion with Bofur had made him all the more determined to break those dwarves out of prison, no matter what it took. He felt strongly about all of the dwarves, and despite his feelings for Bofur there was definitely an element of trust and companionship with everyone else in the Company that was making him determined to free them too. With this fierce feeling in his mind, Bilbo headed towards his other companions with his head held high, resolute in the knowledge that his unwavering luck had got him this far and it would get him out of this situation too if it was the last thing he did.