I'm back! Had the worst writers block but hopefully it's gone for now. Please leave a review. They make me so happy :) I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I only own Malakai, Malik and the Verdari race. My friend Stahly93 owns Asteria.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Elvish"

"Verrian"

"Khuzdal"

"Black speech"

Chapter 7- The Great Escape

"I'll wager the sun is on the rise. It must be nearly dawn", Bofur noted when all of the company were awake. They had just received their breakfast.

"We'll never going to reach the mountain, are we?" Ori said sadly. Malakai sighed and Thorin gently kissed her head, when she recognised a familiar scent.

"Not stuck in here, you're not." Bilbo peeked into Thorin and Malakai's cell, jingling the keys. Thorin ran to the cell door with Malakai.

"Bilbo", Balin smiled.

"What?" Kili shouted. The dwarves started to chatter.

"Shh. The guards are still nearby," Bilbo shushed them, as he unlocked the cell door. Thorin stepped out keeping Malakai close to his side. Balin had to chuckle when Bilbo let him out of his cell.

"Close the doors. It'll buy us more time", Thorin ordered. When all of them were freed, they wanted to go up the stairs.

"Not that way. Down here. Follow me", Bilbo told them. They followed the Hobbit into the cellars. They had to sneak quietly, as two of the guards were sleeping. They smelled of wine which made both Astera and Malakai wrinkle their noses.

"This way", Bilbo whispered, walking ahead. "Come on!" he urged when he saw everyone hesitating.

"I don't believe it, we're in the cellars!" Kili whispered.

"You're supposed to be leading us out, not further in!" Bofur complained.

"I know what I'm doing!" Bilbo snapped. "Okay, this way. This way." In the distance, the Verdari heard elves speak.

"They have found the empty cells", Asteria announced, understanding the elvish shouts.

"Everyone, climb into the barrels, quickly!" Bilbo urged.

"Are you mad? They'll find us!" Dwalin whispered.

"No, no. They won't! I promise you. Please, please, you must trust me!" Bilbo urged.

The dwarves started to mumble amongst each other and Malakai just rolled her eyes. Bilbo looked at Thorin in frustration.

"Do as he says!" he ordered. The dwarves climbed into the empty wine barrels, Thorin helped Malakai into one after climbing in himself. Asteria had a bit of trouble with her size but with her knees against her chest, she managed to climb in. Bofur stuck his head out.

"What do we do now?" he asked the Hobbit, who hadn't climbed into a barrel since none was available. Everyone, except Bombur who was the wrong way round, stuck their heads out of the barrels.

"Hold your breath", he said.

"Hold my breath?" Bofur asked. "What do you mean?"

'I have a bad feeling about this', Malakai thought, when she watched Bilbo pull a lever. Suddenly the floor began to open and tilt, all of the barrels rolling through a gap in the ground, into a small underground river. When all the barrels landed in the cold water, the gap closed. It took a moment for everyone to overcome the sudden shock but soon, all the dwarves held onto each other's barrel.

"Are you alright?" Thorin asked her.

"Yeah, just cold and wet", she groaned, making him smile.

"Where is Bilbo?" Bofur asked. They all looked around but he was indeed missing. Suddenly, the gap in the wall opened again and Bilbo fell head-first into the river. Oin pulled his head out of the water.

"Well done, Master Baggins", Thorin smiled only for Bilbo to dismiss it. They all let go of each others barrels and started to paddle.

"Go, come on let's go!" Thorin urged. They paddled when they saw daylight. And a waterfall.

"Hold on!" Thorin shouted to the others, holding onto Malakai. It was a very bumpy ride as the barrels were washed down the waterfall. An elven horn echoed through the forest and when they reached a small gater, it was closed by the elven guards.

"No!" Thorin shouted. The guards readied themselves to capture them when an arrow pierced one of them from behind.

"Look out!" Bofur warned when the corpse fell into the water.

"Orcs!" Asteria shouted.

"Slay them all!" Malakai heard an orc shout. She felt helpless without a weapon, being unable to protect her unborn baby and Thorin noticed it. He tightened his grip on her.

"Get over the bridge!" he ordered. Asteria nodded and tried to get out of the barrel, but was stuck.

"For crying out loud! This isn't the time to get stuck in a barrel!" she shouted. As the orcs start to attack the company, Kili climbed out of the barrel and onto the bridge. He was about to reach the lever when an orc shot an arrow into his thigh and collapsed with a cry.

"Kili!" Fili shouted at his brother who collapsed.

"Kili!" Thorin saw the fear in Fili's eyes, only guessing what happened to his nephew above him. Before another orc could attack him, he was pushed off the bridge into a barrel and the gate opened. Tauriel appeared, along with Legolas and a troop of elves, shooting arrows at the orcs. Malakai gazed back, seeing a face that she had missed.

"Malik!" she shouted after her brother.

The Verdari ran alongside the river bank, trying to kill as many orcs as he could.

"Hello dear sister!" he said cheekily. He knocked one of the orcs head off before jumping onto one of the barrels and with that, they left the cursed forest behind them.

"Anything behind us?" Thorin asked as he clutched Malakai tightly, his arms wrapped protectively around her bulging stomach.

"Not that I can see", Balin answered.

"I think we've outrun the orcs", Bofur said.

"Not for long, we've lost the current." Thorin rested his head on her shoulder and sighed.

"We almost half drowned!" Dwalin groaned.

"Make for the shore!" Thorin ordered.

"Aye."

"Come on, let's go!"

"I'm fine. It's nothing." Kili snapped at Bofur.

Malakai looked at the wound and slapped Kili in the face. This caught everyone's attention and she grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. She was angry, her eyes glowing gold.

"How did you receive this wound?" she asked him.

"An orc shot an arrow." he answered, confused.

"Indeed." she tightened her grip. "And do you know what orcs do with their arrows?"

Kili thought for a moment.

"No."

"They dip them in deadly poison, poison that can kill even the biggest of beasts." She let him go. "Asteria, can you do anything?"

"The Elves took my medical pouch. We will need to look for the right herb while we continue."

"There's an Orc pack at our tail." Thorin reminded them. "We keep moving."

"To where?" Balin asked him.

"To the mountain, we're so close."

"A lake lies between us and that mountain, we have no way to cross it." Balin explained.

"So then we go around." Bilbo suggested.

"The Orcs will run us down as sure as daylight. We've no weapons to defend ourselves." Dwalin gazed over to Kili and Malakai. "And we have and injured Dwarf and a pregnant lass."

"Bind his leg, quickly. You have two minutes." Thorin told Asteria.

She ripped off a bit of her shirt and tightly tied it around Kili's leg. He winced from the pain. "I can only slow the poison down."

Thorin walked up to Malakai, who had sat down from fatigue.

"How are you feeling", he asked her softly. Ori and Dwalin were by their side as well.

"Wet, exhausted, annoyed and I would gladly kill an army of orcs for a bowl of stew."

They chuckled.

"I'm glad that you are okay", he muttered and leaned his forehead on hers.

"You should care more for Kili. He is in a worse situation than I am."

"He will be fine. He is a dwarf. He is tough."

"Still."

While Ori was getting rid of the water in his boots a bowman named Bard comes up behind ready to shoot his arrow, as he does so Dwalin intervenes and the arrow hits the piece of wood in his hand, Kili goes to throw a stone at him and Bard shoots it out of his hand with an arrow

"Do it again and you're dead", the man growled as he pointed his arrow at them. Balin raised his hand and slowly approached him.

"Excuse me, but um…you're from Lake-town, if I'm not mistaken? That barge over there, it wouldn't be available for hire by any chance?" The man stares at the company before jumping to land.

"And what makes you think I would help you, dwarf?"

"Those boots have seen better days, as has that coat", Balin said with a small smile, hoping to defuse the situation. The man starts placing the barrels the dwarves were carried in onto his barge.

"No doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed? How many bairns?" Malakai sighed.

'Bargaining Our way ahead. Where has my pride to be independent gone to?' The man looks at them cautiously.

"A boy and two girls", he finally answered.

"And your wife, I imagine, she's a beauty?"

"Aye, she was." Balin's face falls, immediately regretting his words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Oh, come on, come on. Enough with the niceties", Dwalin mutters, losing his patience. The Verdari shook their heads. This wasn't going as they had hoped.

"What's your hurry?" the man asked curiously.

"What's it to you?" Dwalin glared at him, daring him to continue questioning them.

"I would like to know who you are, and what you were doing in these lands."

"Uncle, it makes perfect sense for him to want to know. Now stop acting like a child", Malakai scolded, feeling more and more irritated for little reason. Thorin squeezed her hand in reassurance and leaned his head on hers, making her sigh in content. Behind her she could hear Malik groan at their public show of affection.

"We are simple merchants from the Blue Mountains, journeying to see our kin in the Iron Hills", Balin lied smoothly.

"Simple merchants, you say?" he muttered, looking towards the dark skinned trio.

"We need food, supplies, weapons. Can you help us?" Thorin asked. When they had been in-prisoned, food hadn't been scarce but they served little meat and the dwarves were hungry. Malakai had been treated better than the rest of her group though and gotten small slices of meat a few times a week.

"I know where these barrels came from", the man said, ignoring the previous question.

"What of it?" Thorin growled. He was losing his patience.

"I don't know what business you had with the elves, but I don't think it ended well. No one enters Lake-town but by lead of the master. All his wealth comes from trade with the Woodland realm. He would see you in irons before risking the wrath of King Thranduil."

The man jumps on-board his barge once again and prepares to leave. Thorin gestures to Balin. Said dwarf sighs and tries again.

"I'll wager there are ways to enter that town unseen."

"Aye. But for that you would need a smuggler."

"For which we would pay double."

The man freezes. 'Finally.'

The plan was quite simple in the end. The dwarves would hide in the barrels and the verdari would sit with the man. As they climbed in, Thorin took Malakai to the side.

"WIll you be fine on your own? I can stay up with you otherwise."

"I'll be fine. Besides, I have Malik and Asteria. And in case you have forgotten, I have beaten you more times then you have beaten me. I can take care of myself." Thorin grumbled under his breath, before he kneeled down and lay his forehead on her large stomach, feeling his child kick in return.

When they had settled, Malakai turned towards the tall man.

"May I ask your name?" He turned to look at her, before he answered.

"Bard. And yours?"

"I am Malakai."

"What's he doing?" Dwalin muttered as he looked through a small hole in his barrel.

"He's talking to someone. He's pointing right at us. Now they're shaking hands", Bilbo said.

"What?"

"He's selling us out."

They hear footsteps approaching suddenly a pile of fish starts landing on top of the dwarves in each barrel, later as Bard continues their journey to Lake-town we see each barrel is filled with fish, Bard hears dwarves moaning in the barrels.

Asteria sat beside Malakai, while Malik checked the barrels.

"Are you guys getting enough air?" he asked, with a slight snigger.

"Malik, leave them be."

"Quiet! We're approaching the toll gate", Bard said harshly.

"Halt! Goods inspection. Papers please!"

"Oh, it's you, Bard!"

"Morning, Percy."

"Anything to declare?"

"Nothing. But I am cold and tired, and ready for home."

"You and me both."

He hands Percy his paper which Percy then stamps and offers it back to Bard.

"There we are, all in order."

"Not so fast", a slimey voice says. Greasy black hair, beady black eyes and dressed in black. 'Disgusting, vile man he is. I hope he never touches me. If he does, I'll cut of his hands. And maybe something else as well.'

He takes the paper from Percy and starts reading from it.

"Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland realm."

"Only they're not empty. Are they Bard? If I recall correctly, you're licensed as a bargeman. Not…"

He pauses and reaches out to take a fish from one of the barrels.

"…a fisherman."

"Can I rip his tongue out?" Malakai asked Asteira in a low voice.

"No."

"But why not?"

"I'll let you, sweet sister. On one condition." Malakai turned to her brother and waited for him to continue.

"You let me join." The twins giggled quietly, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

"That's none of your business", Bard said sternly, not phased by the disgusting man in front of him.

"Wrong. It's the Master's business, which makes it my business."

Bard was about to speak when Alfrid turned to the three Verdari, sitting in the boat.

"You know very well how we take to strangers", he eyed Bard with a curious suspicion.

"They need help. The younger one is pregnant", Bard informed him.

"Oh, is she now?" Alfrid spoke with disbelieve. "Stand up, girl." Malakai was more than tempted to stick out her tongue in the most childish manner.

"No", she refused plainly.

"Excuse me?" Alfrid seemed rather annoyed.

"I said no."

"I will have you thrown off this boat."

"I'm sure you know the burden of standing when you carry a lot of weight." Bard hid his smile and even the company in their barrels did all they could to withhold a chuckle. Even the guards had to strain themselves.

"How rude."

"You must excuse my sister. Pregnant women have the worst tempers", Malik sniggered and dodged Malakai as she attempted to hit him.

"You should keep her on a tighter leash." 'A leash. I'll show him leash if he speaks to me like that again'

"She isn't my slave, good sir. I would do anything to keep her from harm."

"And I hope you are good at it. Wouldn't you come to the masters good home?"

"I trust this bargeman a bit more. But thank you for the offer. I might look back at it." When He wanted to, Malik was the more level headed of the two. If it would keep Malakai safe, he would drop all of the dwarves, excluding Thorin who he would keep locked up, over a cliff. Family first.

"Raise the gate!" Percy shouted.

"The Master has his eye on you. You'll do well to remember, we know where you live." 'Is that suppose to be threatening?'

"It's a small town, Alfrid. Everyone knows where everyone lives." 'It's official. Bard is my new favorite human.'