Finally we reach the chapter of Goblin Town. This one will have some of the deviations.
Enjoy.
The entire cave was quiet, the silence only occasionally broken by a loud dwarven snore. Towards the back of the amassed jumble of sleeping dwarves, a single hobbit opened his eyes.
After looking around to make sure no one else was awake, Bilbo slowly sat up and began to gather his things back together.
He's been lost ever since he left home.
The words of Thorin blazed within the halfling's mind like a burning flame. No matter how hard he tried he could not get them out.
Bilbo belted his sword back to his waist and picked up his walking stick. It was time to go.
The hobbit slowly made his way across the sleeping dwarves. He needed to be careful. If he woke one of them up, he was not sure he would have the courage to do what he needed to do.
Leave.
Every step of the way, the words of Thorin continued to scorch his mind.
He should never have come.
"Where do you think you're going?" He was almost to the mouth of the cave when the whispered voice startled him.
Bilbo almost let out a curse. He had forgotten Thorin had left Bofur for the first night watch.
The halfling took a breath and turned around to face the dwarf. He mustered as much strength into his voice as he could while keeping quiet. "Back to Rivendell."
"No, no, you can't turn back now, eh?" Bofur jumped up, almost in alarm. "You're part of the company. You're one of us." Of course, just Bilbo's luck if was Bofur. He would be one of them to try the hardest to stop him without using force to keep him there.
He has no place amongst us.
Those were the words that probably hurt the most. "I'm not thought am I?" Bofur's response was a confused look. "Thorin said I should never have come and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins. I don't know what I was thinking. I should never have run out my door."
"You're homesick. I understand." Bofur was not going to give up easily. This was why he wanted to sneak out while the others slept.
"No, don't!" Bilbo did his best to keep quiet, lest he wake the others. "You don't understand. None of you do. You're dwarves!"
Bilbo was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not think his next words through before he spoke them. "You're used to this life. To living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere."
At the look of hurt on Bofur's face Bilbo realized what he had just said to the kind dwarf. He tried to apologize almost instantly. "Oh, I am sorry. I didn't..." Bilbo could not finish the sentence. He tried to clear his throat to try to force the words out but they would not come.
"No, you're right." The usually cheery dwarf had never sounded so sad before in all the time Bilbo had known him.
"We don't belong anywhere." Bofur whispered as he looked over his shoulder at the sleeping company behind him. The dwarf turned back to face Bilbo before taking a breath.
"I wish you all the luck in the world." Bofur let his lips turn up in a small smile as he placed a hand on Bilbo's shoulder. "I really do."
Bilbo was taken aback by the words. He had just made one of the biggest insults he had ever done to the entire company and here was Bofur still being that same kind dwarf he always was.
It made Bilbo feel even worse than he already did. He really needed to just leave already so the company would not be bothered by him any longer. It would be better for everyone.
The halfling lightly touched Bofur's forearm and turned to leave.
He did not get two steps before he was stopped by Bofur's curious voice. "What's that?"
After turning around, Bilbo followed the dwarf's eye to his own belt. There was a soft blue light emanating from his sheathed sword. Pulling the weapon free a little, he saw the entire blade was lit up with a blue hue.
Something about that glow seemed very familiar...
All of a sudden there was a quiet rumbling noise from beneath their feet along with a creak of wood.
"Wake up!" Thorin shouted as he sat up. "Wake up!"
Bilbo felt the floor beneath his suddenly shake slightly. Before he could say a single word, the stone beneath the entire company gave way.
Almost everyone was screaming as they tumbled down into a previously unknown tunnel.
They slid down the tunnel for several minutes, no one able to even slow their descent let alone stop. The ride continued until they fell from a large hole. Bilbo was thankfully among the last, Bombur was as well. Most of the company softened the fall of the larger dwarf, much to their chagrin.
The portly dwarf was going to be getting an earful for this later.
The halfling landed soon after Bombur did. He landed upside down on a pile of sacks, at least he thought it was sacks. It could have easily been a mass of grumpy dwarves.
He got a good upside down look at their surroundings for a moment. They were still in a cavern, but had landed now on some kind of plateau of rock. All around them, the ledge was blocked with crude wooden posts and fencing.
Another look around showed something else.
Endymion was not among them.
Before Bilbo could say a word about where the other wizard was, the company was being rushed by a mass of writing creatures.
"Look out!" Bilbo was not sure who yelled it.
Before they could even rise to their feet, Bilbo and the dwarves were attacked by a horde of crudely armored beasts. Their weapons were just as poorly made as their armor. They ran while hunched over and were covered in disgusting warts and boils.
Bilbo had never seen such things before but he knew goblins when he saw them.
With a collections of hoots and snarls they were upon the company. Oddly enough, instead of killing them, they only pushed them along further into the cave. Most of the dwarves tried to put up a fight but they were simply overwhelmed. The goblins outnumbered them easily a dozen to one.
Unable to fight back against so many, Bilbo allowed himself to be pushed along by the foul beasts.
He tried his best to control the horrible sense of fear that arose in his stomach. It was either fear or his previous food about to come back up. This cavern had a stench like nothing he had ever smelled.
The company continued to be pushed along surprisingly durable rope bridges. On multiple occasions, the dwarves tried to shove off their captors but to no avail.
An idea suddenly occurred to Bilbo. Since goblins were not the smartest of creatures...
He ducked to the floor.
To his infinite surprise, all of the goblins passed him over. Not a single one stopped for a moment to look down. He waited for a few moments to make sure they all passed over him before he crawled over to the side to hide in the shadows.
As he watched, the rest of the company was led away.
Bilbo hoped his companions noticed his escape.
The hobbit took another moment to look around to make sure it was clear. Bilbo moved back to his feet as he drew his sword as silently as possible. The blade was still glowing brightly.
He followed after the mass of goblins and dwarves, still not sure what he could do. He may have slipped away but he was only a single hobbit. What could one hobbit do against a group of goblins that large?
Out of nowhere a shape dropped to the wooden planks directly in front of Bilbo. The goblin let out a roar as it charged the halfling, sword in hand.
Bilbo had been telling the truth to Gandalf when he said he had never used a sword before. On reflex alone, he lifted the blade up to parry the goblin's clumsy slashes.
He managed to knock the beast down repeatedly but it was anything if not tenacious.
The goblin landed a heavy punch to Bilbo's jaw and knocked the hobbit down to the floor on his back. The glowing sword clattered away out of Bilbo's reach.
Bilbo's eyes shot open in pure terror as the goblin lifted his blade to deliver the finishing blow on the stunned halfling.
The hobbit never would have thought he would die like this. Alone in some filthy cavern, killed by a goblin.
Just before the sword came down, a jeweled dagger sailed through the air to bury deep into the goblin's chest. It stared at the weapon protruding from its chest for a long moment, long enough for Bilbo to think that it was still going to run him through. Then slowly its own blade dropped to the ground, the goblin soon followed seconds later.
Bilbo was trying to get his breathing under control, never had he come so close to death. His eyes could not leave the dead goblin before him.
He was snapped from his trance by strong hands beneath his arms lifting him back to his feet. "Come now Master Baggins. Now is not the time to be laying around."
Once on his feet, he wheeled around to see his rescuer so fast his neck almost got whiplash.
He was met with the gaze of Endymion.
The man sunk down to one knee and appeared to be looking the halfling over. "You hurt anywhere?"
Bilbo shook his head as he sucked in a breath. "No, I'm... I'm fine." He was still trying hard to calm the adrenaline pulsing through his veins.
Endymion lightly touched his arm, just as Bofur had. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be alright."
With that, Endymion walked over to the goblin and tore his dagger free. Strangely enough, not a drop of blood clung to the blade despite the gaping wound in the goblins chest. The weapon disappeared beneath Endymion's coat before Bilbo could ask about it.
"The others?" Endymion turned back to Bilbo.
"That way." Bilbo pointed to where the company had been led off to as he retrieved his own weapon.
Endymion nodded. "They're going to need help. Come on."
Bilbo stared at the wizard in disbelief. "Uhh... there's only two of us, wizard or no I don't think that is such a smart idea."
Endymion smiles slightly as he faced Bilbo again. "Trust me, but we have to get to Thorin and the others. We are their only chance."
Bilbo wanted to argue further, this was going to be suicide.
"How fast can you run?" Endymion asked out of nowhere.
"Uhh...fairly fast?" Bilbo did not know how to answer. He had been fast enough to catch up to the company when they left The Shire. It was the fastest he had ever run for something.
"Fast enough to outrun a mass of angry and hungry goblins?" Endymion questioned while he looked to the path Bilbo had pointed out. .
"Fast enough." Bilbo said before even putting any thought into the words.
The man's smile grew slightly. "Good, now come on. It's time for a rescue. When it starts, you will have to run as fast as you can to keep up. Don't worry about fighting too much, I'll look out for you."
Bilbo sighed. He did need to something, the company was in great danger. Endymion was a wizard though, that should make a world of difference at least right?
Just as man and hobbit moved to follow the goblins, another of the disgusting creatures fell from above right on top of Bilbo.
The halfling screamed as he tried to throw it off, but its grip was like iron. The two lost their balance and began to fall from the edge of the railing.
Hobbit and goblin had already fallen from Endymion's reach before he could have ever had a chance of reaching him.
"Bilbo!"
The pair hit the rocks below the wooden platforms with enough force for the two to be shoved apart. In the process, Bilbo lost his grip on his sword. It clattered into the inky darkness below just as the halfling hit his head and knew no more.
At the same time, the rest of Thorin's company were led further ahead. The cave soon opened up into a much larger cavern that housed hundreds of goblins in poorly made wooden structures all over the cave walls. Kili could not tell exactly how many goblins there were. Their cackling faces were everywhere the young dwarf looked.
As they moved on, they began to hear loud music playing, if it could be called music that was. It was almost as if a group of goblins were just smashing things together and blowing in a horn.
Looking up at a nearby platform, Kili saw that his thought was not very far from the truth.
More than a few of the dwarves were holding their hands over their ears in an attempt to block out the horrible sound.
It did not work for anyone.
Then came the singing. The horrible singing!
"Clap, snap!"
"The black crack!"
"Grip, grab, pinch, and nab!"
"Batter and beat!"
If Kili had his knife he would seriously be considering cutting his ears off.
"Milk 'em, stammer and squeak!"
"Pound, pound!"
"Far underground!"
"Down, down, down, in Goblin-Town!"
"Down, down, down, in Goblin-Town!"
Perhaps he would have Fili do the ear cutting, to make sure he got both all the way.
"With a swish and a smack and a whip and crack!"
"Everybody talks when they're on my rack!"
"Pound, pound, far underground!"
As if it could get worse, the singing grew louder and louder until Kili and the dwarves were brought before the source. He was a goblin, a huge goblin. Covered in sores like all his kin, unlike the others who were short and gangly, this one was large and fat. Clutching a skulled tipped stick in one hand, he continued his foul song.
"Down, down, down to Goblin-Town!"
"Hammer and torch, get out your knockers and gongs!"
"You won't last long on the end of my prongs!" With that the goblin stuck one of his minions through and hurled him through the air to where the company just came from.
"Clish, clash, crush and smash!"
"Bang, break, shiver and shake!"
Fili's help or not, he really wished he still had a knife.
"You can yell it and yelp but there ain't no help!"
"Pound, pound, far underground!"
"Down, down, down in Goblin-Town." The huge goblin, which if Kili had to hazard a guess was a goblin king, if such a thing were possible, did a spin as he sung the final verse. His stick barely missing hitting the group of dwarves and the goblins both in the head.
The goblin king did a shake of his arm as he stepped on some of his minions to sit back in his throne. "Catchy, isn't it? It's one of my own compositions." The goblin king sounded smug.
"That's not a song. It's an abomination!" Balin called out from behind Kili. Several of the others, even a few of the goblins murmured an agreement. For the first time in the history of Middle-Earth, goblin and dwarf agreed on something.
Kili thought this day should be marked for a yearly celebration.
"Abomination? Mutations. Deviations. That's all you're going to find down here."
The goblins carried forward all the possessions they took from the dwarves and threw them into a large pile before their kind.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" The goblin king demanded as he jumped up from his throne. Kili was amazed he was able to stand he was so portly. He made Bombur look like he was starving. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"
It was one of the lesser goblins that answered. "Dwarves, your malevolence."
"Dwarves?" The goblin king seemed surprised.
"We found them on the front porch." The same minion came forward to speak to his king.
That cave was the front door to this goblin den!
"Well, don't just stand there! Search them." Within seconds, the goblins were all over them again. Their hands reaching into every pocket and gap in their clothes. "Every crack! Every crevice!" Even Oin had his trumpet taken away and stomped on.
A sack was suddenly emptied before everyone. the candlestick and silverware fell out with a loud metallic clatter.
"It is my belief, your great protuberance that they are in league with elves!" The minion held up a candlestick for the goblin king to examine.
He turned it around for several moments before reading something from the bottom. "Made in Rivendell." He scoffed. "Ah. Second Age. Couldn't give it away." He tossed the item to the side and off the platform.
Almost all eyes turned to Nori. "Just a couple of keepsakes." The dwarf tried to defend himself.
If they were not surrounded by goblins, Kili was unsure what the dwarf's fate would have been. He would have definitely been throttled, but the only question was who would get to him first.
"What are you doing in these parts?" The goblin king demanded. "Speak!"
Everyone was quiet until Oin put a hand on Thorin's shoulder. "Uh, don't worry, lads. I'll handle this."
Kili wished he could have told the old dwarf to shut up before he opened his mouth. With a single comment about his trumpet getting flattened, the goblin king was jumping to his feet as if ready to club them all.
Of course it was right then that Bofur decided to jump forward. "If it's more information you want, then I'm the one you should speak to."
That seemed to have calmed the goblin king down but then his expectant gaze turned to Bofur, the dwarf obviously had not planned to be put on the spot like this.
Kili planned on slapping his hand over the other dwarf's mouth to make him shut up too before his ramblings also angered the huge goblin whom was already prepared to start cracking heads.
"Shut up!" The inevitable spell of anger came before Kili could act. The resulting yell made all of the goblin cover in fear and the dwarves go quiet.
"If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk." The goblin king called out to all his servants all over the cavern. Many cheers met his words. "Bring up the mangeler! Bring up the bonebreaker!"
Torture devices, made by goblins. The entire situation just got much, much worse. Goblins were always somehow ingenious when it came to such equipment.
"Start with the youngest." The goblin king's fat finger pointed directly at Ori. The look of terror on the young dwarf's face was almost scarier than the thought of goblin torture.
Kili was not about to let Ori be the one to be tortured in their place. He was about to move up to say something, but once again Thorin beat him to it.
"Wait!" Thorin stepped forward toward the goblin king, he would not be intimidated by a goblin. No matter how large it was.
"Well, Well, Well... look who it is." The goblin king seemed... excited. "Thorin, son of Thrain, son of son of Thror, king under the mountain."
Thorin was as stoic as ever while the goblin king spoke.
"Oh, but I'm forgetting... you don't have a mountain, and you're not a king, which makes you nobody, really."
The only thing that stopped Kili from coming forth to yell at the stupid creature for insulting his uncle was Fili's grip on his arm holding him back. His older brother would have known exactly what he was going to do. He probably wanted to do it himself, but there was a time and place for anger and this was neither.
"I know someone," the goblin king spoke with glee for some reason. "Who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just a head. Nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours."
Kili did not understand what the goblin king was talking about until his next words made the young dwarf's heart skip a beat. "A pale orc, astride a white warg."
Kili knew only one enemy of Thorin who matched that description.
"Azog the Defiler was destroyed." Thorin almost growled the words as he spoke firmly. "He was slain in battle long ago."
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?
Kili's mind was spinning. Azog the Defiler was alive? That could not be, Thorin had slain him during the battle of Moria. If he was alive... orcs were nefarious for their grudges.
The goblin king let out a laugh as he turned away to one of his smaller minions. "Send word to the pale orc." The tiny goblin scribbled something down on a piece of wood it held. "Tell him I have found his prize."
After being given the command, the goblin pulled a lever and went zipping along a rope as it cackled in glee.
After the smaller goblin left, not much changed. The company remained stuck where they were while the goblin king sat back on his throne. The wicked grin never leaving his twisted lips.
Except for keeping them where they were, the goblins did not do much else. They were likely waiting for their torture equipment to arrive.
They needed to figure out something soon or this was not going to end well. Being tortured to death by goblins while Thorin's head was taken by Azog was a poor way for this quest to end.
"Fili... still got your hidden knives?" Kili whispered to his brother beside him.
Fili responded with a shake of the head. "Nah, goblins got almost all of them. Surprisingly thorough."
Kili cursed their luck.
Taking another look around, Kili tried to come up with a plan for an escape. If they could get their weapons then they would have a chance. There were far too many goblins for a stand up fight but they could make a run for it.
It took a couple minutes for Kili to see the missing element to this puzzle.
Bilbo was not among them.
The hobbit must have either avoided the trapdoor, or slipped away when the goblins jumped them. Either way, Kili truly hoped the halfling had escaped and not just been dragged off to be eaten as soon as he was captured.
After a while of waiting, the goblin king broke into song again. Much to the horror of the entire company.
"Bones will be shattered!"
"Necks will be wrung!"
"You'll be beaten and battered!"
"From racks you'll be wrung!"
The goblins torture equipment had arrived. Now they were pushing the dwarves closer together to make room for it.
"You'll die down here and never be found!"
"Down in the deep of goblin town!"
Kili was seconds from attempting the craziest escape of his lifetime when a loud clatter send all the goblins scrambling in terror. One of the goblins had unsheathed Thorin's sword Orcrist. The creature let out a squeal before throwing the weapon down.
The goblin king completely panicked. "I know that sword!" He climbed back into his throne like he was trying to hide from a tiny mouse. "It is the goblin-cleaver!"
At these words, the rest of the goblins went berserk. Those who carried whips used them extensively while the others decided it was time to attempt to beat the company to death.
"The biter!" The goblin king was still clutching to his throne. "The blade that sliced a thousand necks!"
"Slash them!" Several of the goblins tackled Thorin to the ground. "Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!"
The dwarves were being overwhelmed fast. This time the goblins were not content to simply take them prisoner. They wanted blood.
"Cut off his head!"
The goblin king's words stopped Kili dead in his tracks. He looked over from the goblin he had just thrown off himself to see Thorin pinned down beneath several, while another held a blade poised to deliver the fatal blow.
He needed to reach him now.
Kili brought his fist up to punch the goblin directly in his path, likely breaking his jaw on impact. Two more goblins instantly took its place.
There were too many of them between him and Thorin.
Before the blade could come down, a single voice thundered through the cavern. "Enough!"
This one felt a little like it dragged on and on. As I said before, I am using footage from the extended edition of the movie. Due to the length, I decided to split the goblin town scene.
Also, this story will not have the riddles in the dark scene. I personally don't feel like writing it since it will happen exactly as it did in the movie and Kili is meant to be the primary character of this.
Now a question to my readers, would you rather have this story follow closely along the movie or make heavier deviations?
