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Chapter Four
Bella's scream came to an abrupt end when her body slammed into wooden floor. Kili landed a moment later, half on top of her. The rest of Company landed around them with Bombur landing last on top of them all. Bella barely had time to register that they all in some kind of cage before someone yelled. "Look out! Look out!"
Bella's head snapped round to see a horde of Goblins running towards them. They had nowhere to escape to. The Dwarves were extremely quickly over run by Goblins. Bella gagged at the smell as one grabbed her yanking her away from Kili. They ferried them away from the cage and down the drawbridge. There were enough of them that the Dwarves got passed along quickly. Bella fought all the way down but it didn't do any good there were just too many.
The noise level suddenly increased but Bella could not see anything until the Goblins suddenly stopped pushing the Company together and surrounding them. The first thing Bella did was find Kili. She pressed her face into his chest and Kili held her there for a moment until a booming voice had Bella turning her head.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" Bella looked disgusted into the Goblin King's face. His skin looked like it was rotting away and some hung loose, swinging beneath his chin. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"
"Dwarves, Your Malevolence," said one of the Goblins.
"Dwarves?" The Goblin King questioned.
"We found them on the Front Porch."
"Well don't just stand there. Search them!" The Goblin King ordered. Goblins easily over ran them again to search them. Bella clung tightly to Kili determined not to be parted from him again. "Every crack, every crevice! What are you doing in these parts?" He questioned once the Goblins were done. The Dwarves stared at him in stony silence. Kili and Bella had moved out of their embrace now, they simply stood beside each other holding hands. "Speak! Very well. If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk. Bring up the mangler. Bring up the bonebreaker. Start with the youngest." Kili pushed Bella behind him, the King would have to go through him before he tortured Bella.
"Wait!" Thorin said, stepping forward.
"Well, well, well," the Goblin King began. "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."
"You're wrong," Bella said, stepping forward away from Kili to stand beside Thorin. "He has a people in the Blue Mountains, and I cannot speak for everyone here but I know I would be proud to call him my King!" The Dwarves behind her all agreed, cheering her on.
Thorin smiled at the brave young She-Dwarf in front of him before turning to Kili and giving him a nod. Standing up to the Goblin King, she may have just won his approval.
"A She-Dwarf! And would might you be?"
"Lady Isabella of Rivendell," Bella told him jutting her chin out.
"A Dwarf a Lady of Rivendell?" The Goblin King roared with laughter as he turned away. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head," the King said to Thorin. "Just a head." Bella moved back to stand beside Thorin as the Goblin King moved closer, the smell of his breath was overwhelming. "Nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours. A pale Orc, astride a white Warg."
"Azog the Defiler was destroyed," Thorin said with deadly calm. Bella flinched at the name of the Orc who had murdered her family simply because they were Dwarves. "He was slain in battle long ago."
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The King chuckles, stepping to his right where a small Goblin sat on a swing. "Send word to the pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize." The little Goblin yanked on a rope and disappeared off into the depths of the cave.
A short while later Bella was stood back between Kili and Fili looking on in distaste as the Goblin King was singing while the Goblin's carried different devices for torturing them closer and closer. "Bones will be shattered, Necks will be wrung, You'll be beaten and battered, From racks you'll be hung. You will die down here and never be found, Down in the deep of Goblin town."
As the King sung one of his Goblins picked up Thorin's sword. He pulled it just a little from its sheath before throwing it away from himself in horror, it clattered loudly as it hit the ground. The Goblin King jumped back, crushing Goblins in his attempt to get away from the sword and back to his throne. "I know that sword!" he cried. "It is the Goblin-cleaver! The Biter!" The Goblins began attacking the Company, shocked at the sight of the sword. "The blade that sliced a thousand necks! Slash them! Beat them! Kill them!" Thorin over threw one Goblin, only to have three more jump on him knocking him the ground. "Kill them all! Cut off his head!" Two of the Goblin's held Thorin down while the third raised his knife ready to obey his King's command.
Bella elbowed the Goblin that held her. When he doubled over in pain she stepped on his back propelling herself into the air, pulling an arrow from her quiver as she landed. She didn't even paused before shooting the Goblin in the back of the head. Bella didn't watch him fall over the edge as she quickly dispatched the two that were holding Thorin down. She helped the would be King to his feet but before he could offer her any thanks a blast of blue light appeared, too bright to see what had caused it, knocking a significant amount of Goblins off the bridge. When the light vanished and their eyes adjusted the Company and the Goblin's around them looked up to see Gandalf standing over them.
"Take up arms!" Gandalf ordered, calmly. "Fight! Fight!"
Everyone seemed to move at once. Bella barely had time to load one arrow after another the Goblin's were coming at them that fast. Thorin grabbed his abandoned sword and stood beside her fending them off. Only moments later Fili and Kili appeared backing them up. Kili and Bella shared a quick smile before throwing themselves back into the thick of things.
A few brave Goblins ran at Gandalf but he quickly cut them down. "He wields the Foehammer!" The Goblin King shouted. "The Beater! Bright as daylight!"
Bella fought back to back with Kili, she let out a laugh when she watched Bombur knock aside a Goblin with his stomach. The Goblin King moved to hit Thorin but Nori called out to him in warning and Thorin knocked him over the edge slashing his sword at him.
"Follow me. Quick!" Gandalf told everyone, leading them away from the Goblin hordes. "Quickly!" The Goblins had begun chasing them again and were advancing quickly.
"Faster!" Dori cried in panic. Dwalin slashed at a Goblin that appeared in front of him knocking him off.
He let out a noise of despair as they move over the top of a rise in the bridge more Goblin's were in their way running at them. Dwalin looked around seeing a loose post to his left. "Post!" he shouted, cutting it loose. "Charge!" The Dwarves grabbed it and with Dwalin at the front they ran at the oncoming Goblins knocking them off. Once the majority were gone they cast the post aside, hacking their way through the rest as they continued to make their way to the exit.
They seemed to crawl out of the very walls. Bella cut down a Goblin but was distracted momentarily when she caught sight of Kili wielding a sword. Entranced as she watched him move gracefully as he fought she didn't notice the Goblin climb down the wall until he was on her back. Bella cried out when it drove a knife through her shoulder, catching Kili's attention but he was unable to get to her as multiple Goblins stood between them. Bella wretched the knife from its grip tossing it into the darkness below. The Goblin let out a cry of outrage and wrapped his foul smelling hands around her throat silencing her.
Fili appeared seemingly from nowhere and stabbed the Goblin before pulling him off Bella. "Thank you," Bella wheezed, holding her throat.
"Lady Isabella," Fili said in a teasingly disapproving tone as they continued fighting. "Did you just get distracted watching my brother?"
Bella didn't respond taking her frustration out a nearby Goblin. "Come on," Gloin called out as they headed over the last bridge. They didn't even make it half way when the Goblin King jumped up through the middle breaking the bridge and landing in front of them.
"You thought you could escape me?" he shouted, swinging his club sending Gandalf stumbling back. "What are you going to do now, Wizard?" Gandalf stepped forward hitting him in the eye with his staff, the Goblin King grunted in pain staggering back. Gandalf swung his sword at him cutting his stomach open. Bella turned away from the scene gagging a little at the sight. "That'll do it." Gandalf swung his sword again, slitting his throat. The Goblin King crumbled at his feet, definitely dead this time.
The force of him falling cause the wooden bridge to give way, sending them crashing down. Bella staggered sideways but was steadied by Thorin who wrapped an arm around her waist. Bella squeaked in shock and Thorin and Kili shared a look over Bella's head. Bella had proven her loyalty to Thorin, he would keep her safe for Kili.
The bridge fell quickly before getting trapped in a narrowing chasm stopping just inches from the ground abruptly tossing everyone around. Bella was wretched from Thorin's hold and thrown squarely onto his nephew just they came to a stop. The world seem to continue to spin around Bella and she gripped Kili's leather coat in her hands.
Bella slowly opened her eyes as her head settled, she pulled away abruptly when she realized she had landed on Kili. "I'm sorry," she told him, standing up and dusting herself off.
"Well that could have been worse," Bofur said, just seconds before the Goblin King came crashing down landing on the Dwarves that were still trapped in the wreckage of the bridge.
"You've got to be joking," Dwalin said in a pained voice. Bella immediately stepped forward, she reached out helping Kili pull himself out. Kili froze in the middle of getting free, looking up in horror.
"Gandalf!" he shouted. Bella looked up following his gaze to see hundreds of Goblins crawling rapidly down the walls towards them.
"There's too many, we can't fight them," Dwalin told Gandalf as he helped Nori up.
"Only one thing will save us now, daylight!" Gandalf stated. "Come on! On your feet!" Gandalf pulled Oin up, pushing him gently passed him as they all broke into a run. They quickly made it out of the cave, running straight out onto the decline of the mountainside. They carried on until they were safe distance away in the cover of the trees before stopping. Gandalf counted to check everyone was there as they finally came to a stop. Bella leaned against a tree catching her breath. She watched across the clearing at Kili and Fili put their hand on each others shoulders, clearly relieved they were alive. Kili, as if sensing her looking at him, turned her way. The smile that he directed at her had her insides fluttering and her legs feeling weak beneath her.
"Where's Bilbo?" Gandalf asked. "Where is our Hobbit? Where is our Hobbit?"
"Curse the Halfling!" Dwalin said. "Now he's lost?"
"I thought he was with Dori," Gloin said.
"Don't blame me!" Dori told him.
"Well, where did you last see him?" Gandalf asked.
"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us," Nori told Gandalf.
"And what happened, exactly?" Gandalf demanded. "Tell me!"
"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin said, stepping out from behind the tree Bella was leaning against, startling her. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped foot outside of his door. We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone."
Bella watched Fili and Kili shared a concerned look before Kili met her gaze again. There was no knee-weakening smile this time only concern, for Bilbo and for the future of the quest without him. "No, he isn't," Bilbo said, stepping out from behind a tree suprising them all.
The Dwarves, besides Thorin and Dwalin all smiled in relief at seeing Bilbo. "Bilbo Baggins," Gandalf began stepping forward. "I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life."
"Bilbo," Kili said with a smile. "We'd given you up."
"How on earth did you get past the Goblins?" Fili asked.
"How, indeed?" Dwalin murmured.
Bilbo chuckled uncomfortably and Gandalf eyed him a little suspicious. "Well, what does it matter?" Gandalf asked. "He's back."
"It matters," Thorin stated. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"
Bilbo turned looking at Thorin for a long moment before he spoke. "Look, I know you doubt me. 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."
Bella smiled at Bilbo and his brave words. No one said anything as everyone contemplated the Hobbit. Bella smiled at the Hobbit but swayed on her feet as a wave of dizziness swept over her. Kili was deep in conversation with his brother so he didn't notice. Thorin did. He stepped quickly towards her and caught her just as she fell. "Oin," Thorin called out as he wrapped an arm around Bella's back and swept the other under her knee, curling her into his chest. Kili and Fili rushed forward with Oin as Thorin laid her down on a rock.
Oin attempted to examine her wound through the cut in her shirt. "The blade passed all the way through her shoulder," Oin said. "Kili, Fili, give us some privacy. I need to remove her shirt to get a better look at the wound."
"I don't want to leave her side," Kili protested.
"I know," Oin said. "But she'll be fine. I just need to clean it and bandage it up." Kili opened his mouth to argue again but Fili put his hand on his brothers shoulder and guided him away. Oin worked quickly cleaning the wound as Bella passed in and out of consciousness. Kili flinched when Bella's scream of pain echoed through the trees as Oin cleaned her wound. He strapped it back up then managed to bring Bella round to full consciousness so she could ger dressed.
"How bad is it?" she asked Oin.
"It probably looks worse than it is. Keep it clean to avoid infection and you'll be fine."
Bella nodded and rolled her shoulder experimentally wincing at the movement. Oin and Thorin led her back to the rest of them then. Kili was on his feet the moment Bella stepped back into the clearing. "I'm okay, it was a just a stratch," she joked. Kili smiled with relief and Fili crossed to where she stood wrapping her in a hug. "Do not scare by brother like that again, Bella," he said in a half teasing, half serious tone but speaking so only Bella would hear. Bella pulled back looking into Fili's eyes for a moment before she nodded. The sentimental moment was broken when the sound of Warg howls filled the air, floating down the mountainside. "Out of the frying pan," Thorin began.
"And into the fire," Gandalf finished. "Run. Run!"
Bella didn't hesitate, falling into step beside Bofur she was running again wondering if she would ever get chance to talk to Kili alone.
A/N: Posted on 13/05/2015. All outfits are on my profile. Violet x.
