Cheyanne!" Fili called to her through the downpour of rain coming down on top of them. "Pick up the pace!"
She realized she had fallen pretty far behind the company without meaning too. Maybe it was time to bring up what she had been worrying about to Thorin, meaning the stone giants that were scheduled to begin their battle soon.
Cheyanne pushed her way up the path to towards Thorin. "We have a problem," she said quietly when she reached him.
"What is it?" he asked, glancing down at her.
Before she could respond, there was a loud thunderclap. The mountain shuddered, and Cheyanne stiffened, pointing over her shoulder. "That's the problem."
"Giants! Stone giants!" Balin shouted.
"Bloody… Can we never get a break?" Dwalin demanded above the crack of thunder and rain that was pummeling down on them.
"Run!" Thorin yelled. "Look for shelter!"
The company hustled forward along the mountain path. It wobbled beneath their feet as three giants played dodge ball with rocks. Cheyanne swore she saw her life flash before her eyes as an arm broke off of one of the giants and flew directly at the company, hitting the mountain above them.
The mountain shifted and rolled, breaking apart as the stone giant they were on lost his battle. The path broke into two halves. "Jump!" Thorin ordered. Half of the dwarves leaped to the other side, but Cheyanne and the rest were left stranded. She looked up just in time to see part of the mountain collapse on top of them.
The force knocked her off her feet, and she thought she heard Bilbo scream. The rock above the group tumbled away, and she spots those that had managed to jump looking down at them with relieved expressions. The first group makes their way down to the second, and Bofur does a quick head count.
"Where is Bilbo?" he exclaimed after a moment. "Where is the hobbit?"
"There!" Dwalin shouted, pointing.
Cheyanne sprinted to the edge of the cliff and laid down over it. Bilbo was holding on for dear life a few feet down. She attempts to grab him, but falls a few inches short without going over the edge herself.
"Grab my feet!" she ordered. Someone did so, and she reached down further, trusting whoever it was to hold on tightly. Bilbo reached towards her hands, and their grips attach. "Pull!"
She and Bilbo are dragged back up the mountain and safely onto the ledge. Bilbo's eyes were huge in fear, and Cheyanne pulled him to her in a hug.
"It's alright, Bilbo," she said softly. "You're alright."
Bilbo nodded shakily, and Cheyanne held him closer as Dwalin let out a breath. "I thought we had lost our burglar."
Thorin stretched his arms out in front of him, and Cheyanne realized he had been the one to hold onto her. "He's been lost ever since he left home. He should not have come." The dwarf glared down at Cheyanne and Bilbo. "He has no place amongst us." He started to walk off down the path. "Dwalin!"
The dwarf glanced at Cheyanne before following. Fili helped her up, and in turn she pulled Bilbo to his feet. "Ignore him," she said to the hobbit. "He doesn't mean any of it."
"It sounded like he did," Bilbo mumbled in response. He broke off from her and fell to the rear of the group. Cheyanne sighed and bowed her head, but immediately lifted it again as she remembered what was coming.
"No," she said as Dwalin came back to the company. His steps faltered.
"No, what?" he asked.
"We… We cannot stay wherever it is you've found," she responded. She leaned around him. "Thorin, no!"
"I've about had it with your warnings, Miss Baggins!" Thorin called back. "Whatever happens will happen, and that's the end of it. Now come along, all of you."
"But- I- Ugh!" Cheyanne stopped arguing as he disappeared into the cave. "We're in trouble."
"At this point, I just want to get out of the rain," Oin grumbled, shuffling past her.
The company murmured agreements and slid by her towards the cave. Cheyanne, unable to do anything but follow, did so, unhappy.
She entered the cave with a flinch. The dwarves were already setting up their sleeping spots. Fili approached her, a concerned look on his face. "Are you going to be alright?"
"No," replied Cheyanne, "but I don't have a choice at this point." She plunked down on the first open area of sand she found with a huff.
"Try to get some sleep," Thorin advised. "Bofur, take the first watch. If giants or ents or goblins attack in the night, scream. Does that sound good to everyone?" No one answered, though Cheyanne shook her head at the irony of the last threat Thorin had named. "Good."
Everyone remained silent as they settled down. Shortly after, Cheyanne could hear quiet sleeping noises coming from the dwarves. She lay awake for a long time, listening to the snores and rustlings. The sound she was listening for, however, didn't come for a while. When it did, she bolted awake, having fallen into a light doze.
"Where are you going?" Bofur was asking.
"Back to Rivendell," Bilbo whispered in answer.
"No, no you can't leave! You're a part of the company. You're one of us!" Bofur exclaimed quietly.
"No I'm not," Bilbo said.
"You're homesick. I understand," Bofur said.
"No you don't!" Bilbo whisper-shouted. "You're use to this life, having no place to belong, never settling in one place. This is your life, not mine." There was a silence, and Bilbo stammered quickly, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't…"
"No, you're right. We don't belong anywhere," agreed Bofur, cutting him off. "But what about Cheyanne? She's your cousin."
"And I will miss her, just like I will miss all of you," Bilbo told him, "but I have to go."
"Well, if that's what you've decided, then I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do," Bofur said after a moment. Cheyanne saw a light reflect on the wall of the cave, and she rolled over in confusion. Sting was glowing inside the scabbard at Bilbo's hip.
The hobbit pulled the sword and gazed down at it in wonder. Cheyanne saw Thorin lift his head as strange noises like a machine came broke out throughout the cave. Cracks began to appear on the floor.
"Wake up," said Thorin. Then, more forcefully, "Wake up!"
Before anyone could react, the floor collapsed downwards. Everyone fell into the hole, and they slid through a tunnel before landing in a giant wooden cage. "What did I tell you?" Cheyanne muttered as the dwarves struggled to stand up.
Thorin shot her a look just as a horde of goblins attacked them from all sides. Weapons were ripped from their grasps, and they are all shoved into a group together. Cheyanne kicked and shouted, trying to break away from the goblins, but she couldn't.
The goblins half led, half dragged the company through a network of tunnels and wooden rope bridges to a giant throne room. Cheyanne blinked at the sudden light from the torches all over the place, and shuddered when she saw who they were being taken too. A giant, fat, ugly goblin sat on a throne near the center of the room on a platform. He was the ugliest damn thing Cheyanne had ever seen.
He jumped off of his throne and ran forward towards the company. "Who have you found inside my mountain?" he demanded. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"
"Dwarves, Your Malevolence," responded one. A second kicked Cheyanne forward, and the first glanced her over. "And a hobbit that smells like a human."
The Great Goblin appraised her through beady eyes. "Nice, this one is," he mused after a moment. "We won't torture her, but we will be eating her first."
"No!" Thorin said, stepping in front of Cheyanne. She gazed up at him in surprise, but he didn't meet her eyes. Instead, he glared up at the goblin king, who stared back in pleasure.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain." He bowed to Thorin in exaggeration, and then stopped. "Oh, but I am forgetting! You do not have a mountain. And you are not a king. Which makes you nobody, really. I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached to it. Perhaps you know him; the Pale Orc, astride a White Warg. An old enemy of yours, if I'm not mistaken."
Thorin glanced down at Cheyanne as the goblin spoke, and she nodded in confirmation. Thorin let out a breath and didn't say anything to the goblin.
The beast turned to a tiny goblin that was sitting in a basket. "Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize!"
The smaller goblin cackles as he writes the message down and the slides way on a system of ropes and pulleys into the darkness.
Cheyanne hid her face in Thorin's cloak as the Great Goblin looked back at the company. "Oakenshield and his hobbit are to be kept alive," he said. "Do what you will with the others."
Goblins shrieked happily, several tugging Thorin and Cheyanne away from the others. Cheyanne met Fili's eyes in fear as a mass of goblins marched across one wooden bridge, weapons of torture on their shoulders and in their arms.
The Great Goblin danced around and sang lustily, "Bones will be shattered and necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung! You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin Town!"
Goblins shoved and pulled at the dwarves. Cheyanne struggled to get to them as one pulled Kili's hair and another punched Balin in the stomach. Thorin, however, held her back. He turned her around to face him and lifted her head by taking her chin in his hand. "Look at me," he said. She turned her eyes, and his glowed brightly in the torchlight. "Everything is going to be alright."
Before Cheyanne could respond, the Great Goblin screeched and pointed at Thorin's sword on the weapon pile. "I know that sword!" he shouted, scrambling up onto his throne. "It is the Goblin Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that slashed a thousand necks!" The other goblins began to whip the dwarves with ropes, a few jumping onto the party, biting them and slashing them with daggers.
Meanwhile, the Great Goblin waved around his arms, screaming: "Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!" He pointed to Thorin. "Cut off his head!"
"No!" Cheyanne exclaimed, grabbing onto Thorin's arm. Goblins ripped her away from him and a few held Thorin down on the ground. One pulled out his knife and prepared to cut off Thorin's head while Cheyanne struggled against the goblins holding her back.
Suddenly, an explosion of light burst out all around the cave. It tossed goblins left and right as a shockwave goes through the area. Everyone falls over, including the Great Goblin, which sent out a shock of its own.
When the light had disappeared, most of the torches were out. Cheyanne saw a tall shadow, Gandalf, appear on a ledge, holding out his staff and Glamdring. The torches are relit, and the goblins and dwarves slowly look up and stare at him.
"Take up arms!" Gandalf shouted to the dwarves. "Fight. Fight!"
Immediately, the company got up and grabbed their weapons before beginning to battle the goblins. Cheyanne got away from the goblins that had been holding her back and she ran to Thorin as he slashed the head off of the goblin that had tried to take his. Their eyes met momentarily before Thorin had to turn away to fight another goblin.
Cheyanne ducked beneath one that jumped at her. She then stood up and shoved it off the ledge. "Chey!" She turned and Fili tossed her a sword he had taken from a dead goblin. She took it and held it, uncertain, in both hands. A goblin leaped towards her, and she held the sword out, stabbing the creature through the belly. She tugged the blade free and let out a breath.
"Right."
"Follow me, all of you!" ordered Gandalf, running towards a wooden bridge. "Quickly!"
The company hacked and slashed at goblins all around them as they raced after the wizard along a pathway leading out of the throne room. Cheyanne ducked beneath a blade swinging her way and swung her own. The goblin she struck fell over the side of the rope bridge he was on. Her sword, still stuck inside of the goblin, fell as well, almost taking Cheyanne along with it. A strong grip grabbed her, and she was pulled back into position running along the path.
"When your blade gets stuck, you let go!" Thorin said from behind her.
Gandalf led them over the suspended wooden bridges of Goblin Town. Cheyanne was well aware of the hundreds of goblins chasing after them, and she gasped when she saw a group running towards them as well.
"Post!" Dwalin shouted. He and a few others hacked at the guardrail of the bridge they were on and hold it out in front of the group like a spear. "Charge!" Dwalin and the others rush forward and sweep the goblins off the path with the rail. They then fend off the remaining goblins with their weapons.
Cheyanne hears snarls and looked up to see goblins flying towards them on ropes. "Thorin!" she exclaimed.
"Kili!" he shouted.
The archer raised his bow and released an arrow. It went through the ropes, cutting them all in half. The goblins fall into the darkness. A few of the dwarves cut down a ladder goblins were climbing down and shove it forward, trapping several creatures beneath it. They reached a broken area of the path and set the ladder down over it. The goblins beneath fall, and the company runs over the ladder like a bridge.
"Quickly!" urged Gandalf, pulling Glamdring out of a goblin.
They reached a section of paths that were hung up by ropes. Slicing a few caused the path to swing towards the other side. "Jump!" someone shouted.
Several of the company managed to jump off of the path to the opposite side, but half were left on the swaying section. It swung back the way it had come, and a group of goblins joined them. They fought the goblins off as they jumped onto the side the others were on. The dwarves were ready to cut the ropes, and the swaying path fell into the cavern below, the goblins still on it.
The company continued to run until they reached a system of tunnels. Gandalf strikes at the rocks above them, and a giant boulder drops down from the ceiling and rolls out in front of the party, squashing the goblins that were running towards them.
It seemed the company was home free, until the Great Goblin suddenly jumped out directly in front of them. The company pauses, and goblins bear down on them from all sides.
"You thought you could escape me?" the Great Goblin asked, stepping closer. He swung his mace at Gandalf, and the wizard stumbled back, almost falling. "What are you going to do now, wizard?"
Gandalf jumped forward and hit the goblin in the eye with his staff. The goblin dropped his mace and clutched his face in pain. "Ow!" Gandalf then stepped forward and slashed Glamdring through the Great Goblin's belly. The beast falls to his knees, holding his belly. "That'll do it."
Gandalf swung his sword again and cut the Great Goblin's neck, killing him instantly. The weight of the goblin became to be too much for the bridge, and it broke, sliding down the side of the cavern. Cheyanne gripped onto someone as it fell, and they landed on the bottom of the cavern, several getting caught under the wreckage of the bridge.
Cheyanne clambered from the rubble and reached down to help Thorin out as well. He took her hand and she pulled him free, receiving a grateful nod from the dwarf.
"Well," Bofur said from where he was still stuck, "that could have gone worse."
Cheyanne quickly pulled Thorin away from the rubble. The corpse of the Great Goblin lands on top of the wreckage, crushing the remaining dwarves. They all cry out in pain.
"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin shouted in anger.
They pull themselves out of the rubble, and Kili, who had made his way out first, looked up. Cheyanne followed his gaze and sucked in a breath.
"Gandalf!" shouted Kili, pointing.
Thousands of goblins were running down the side of the cavern towards them.
"There's too many, we have to go!" Cheyanne yelled over the screeches.
"Only one thing will save us, and that's daylight. On your feet!" Gandalf ordered.
The dwarves help one another out of the rubble and then the company races after Gandalf. Cheyanne glanced sideways at Thorin, who was running alongside her. "Why did you save me?" she asked him.
"You're one of us," he replied. "A member of the company."
Cheyanne looked away, grinning slightly to herself.
The company runs from the mountain passage at last and all race down the hill towards a clearing in the trees dotting the area.
Gandalf, who was leading the way, turned and counted as they all joined him. "Five, six, seven, eight, Bifur, Bofur… That's ten… Fili, Kili, twelve, and Bombur, which makes thirteen." He stopped, his eyes wide. "Where is Bilbo? Where is our hobbit? Where is our hobbit?!" he demanded.
"Curse the halfling!" Dwalin growled. "Now he's lost?"
"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin said.
"Don't blame me!" cried Dori.
"Where did you see him last?" Gandalf asked them all.
"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us," Nori said quietly.
"What happened exactly? Tell me!" Gandalf commanded.
Cheyanne glanced at the tree where Bilbo was hiding. "I'll tell you what happened," Thorin began from beside her. "Master Baggins saw his chance and took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since he first stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our burglar again. He is long gone."
Cheyanne rounded on him, furious. "Watch your tongue!" she shouted angrily. "Bilbo was attacked and separated from us, that's all!"
"He is gone!" Thorin yelled, meeting her glare.
"No." Bilbo's voice came, and they all turned to see him appear from behind a tree. "He isn't."
Cheyanne let out a breath of relief and ran toward him, flinging her arms around the hobbit. She hugged him tightly, and Bilbo returned the embrace while Gandalf laughed.
"Bilbo Baggins! I have never been so glad to see anyone in all my life!" the wizard exclaimed.
Bilbo pulled away from Cheyanne and strode forward into the group, head held high. The dwarves all pat him on the back, chuckling and exclaiming things.
"Bilbo, we'd given you up!" said Kili.
"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked, amazed.
"How indeed?" Dwalin agreed.
An awkward silence followed as Bilbo didn't say anything. Instead, he laughed nervously and placed his hands on his hips. Cheyanne saw him slide the Ring into his pocket.
A glance at Gandalf showed that he had seen it, too. He kept silent about it, however. Instead, he said, "Well, what does it matter? He's back!"
"It matters!" Thorin spoke up. He approached Bilbo, eyeing him. "I want to know: why did you come back?"
Bilbo sighed, and Cheyanne pushed her way into the group as he began to explain: "Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag-End." He glanced at Cheyanne. "I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that's where I belong." He looked back up at Thorin. "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."
Cheyanne smiled as he finished speaking, tears coming to her eyes. She brushed them away with a laugh and reached out to hug Bilbo again. "I knew you'd come around, coz," she said quietly.
Howling ripped through the air, ending the moment that came over the company.
"Out of the frying pan…" Thorin began.
"… And into the fire," Gandalf finished as Wargs appeared on the top of the mountain. "Run. Run!"
They all started sprinting down the mountain as fast as they could. Cheyanne had to pull Bilbo into action, but she lost him soon after they started to run. She was aware of a Warg snapping at her heels, but Dwalin turned quickly and killed it before he went back to running for his life.
The company was chased to a large outcropping of land with nowhere to go but straight down the cliff. "Gandalf, the trees!" Cheyanne said, pointing to a group of tall pines near the edge of the cliff.
"You heard her," the wizard exclaimed, gesturing with his staff. "Up into the trees, all of you!"
The dwarves all took different way to get up into the trees. Cheyanne glazed around at the group, and felt her face pale. "Where's Bilbo?"
"Cheyanne!" Gandalf shouted down at her. She glanced around desperately for another moment and saw Bilbo running towards her, Wargs on his heels. She boosted him up into the tree, and he pulled her up beside him. Warg teeth whispered around her legs as she barely made it up.
They worked their way higher into the tree until they were safely out of the Wargs' reach. The wolf-like creatures circled below the trees angrily, growling low in their throats.
Suddenly, the growling ceased. Cheyanne looked up and saw Azog approaching on the back of the White Warg. She heard Thorin whisper in surprise; "Azog?"
The White Warg halted, and the Pale Orc spoke. From what Cheyanne could remember, he was saying, "Do you smell it? The scent of fear?" He looked directly at Thorin. "I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin son of Thrain."
"It cannot be," whispered Thorin, his voice tight with pain.
Azog looked around at the other Orcs and Wargs, pointing to Thorin as he spoke. Cheyanne understood the gist of it: "That one is mine. Kill the others."
As soon as he spoke, rider-less Wargs jumped at the trees, leaping up as high as they could. Branches broke off of the trees in their jaws, and bark cracked under their claws. Cheyanne held onto the tree for dear life as it shook violently. Suddenly, her tree tilted and started to lean into the next tree. She, Bilbo, and the dwarves that were in the tree jumped into the next, which ended up tipping as well. They were forced to jump to the next tree, until all of the trees but the one closest to the edge of the cliff were toppled. Azog laughed wickedly as he watched all fifteen company members hide up in the same tree, the Wargs throwing all of their strength into knocking it over.
A flash of fire caught Cheyanne's eye as Gandalf threw a burning pine cone down into the Wargs. The creatures retreated in fear of the flames, and Azog growled angrily at this display. Gandalf began to light more pine cones that the dwarves supplied him with. Cheyanne threw one after another down onto the Wargs. She hit one square on the nose, and it yelped, scrambling backwards. The area around tree catches fire, and the Wargs are forced backwards a distance.
Everyone in the tree cheered. The cliff started to give away then, and the tree tipped over the edge. It stuck straight out over the canyon below. Ori yelped in panic as he lost his grip. Cheyanne turned around to see him grab Dori's leg just in time. "Mister Gandalf!" Dori cried. He lost his grip as well because of the extra weight, but Gandalf leaned forward quickly. Dori grabbed the end of his staff. "Hold on Ori!" he called down to his brother.
Cheyanne turned away from this situation as Thorin rose and began to walk towards Azog, fuming with anger and hate.
"Thorin!" Cheyanne cried desperately after him.
The dwarf didn't stop. He ran through the flames directly at the White Warg, brandishing his sword. He roared and started to swing, but the White Warg struck him in the chest with a forepaw. Thorin is smashed into the ground, and Cheyanne's breath caught in her throat. "Help!" Ori screamed.
Thorin managed to get back up. Azog was ready, however. He smashed Thorin in the face with his mace, and Thorin is flung to the ground once again. Cheyanne flinched at the impact, feeling it herself. She attempted to get to her feet, but the tree shook at her movement, and she stopped.
"No!" Balin cried out.
Azog roared in enjoyment as, beside her, Bilbo slowly stood up. Cheyanne ignored the hobbit, unable to see anything but the White Warg clamp his jaws around Thorin. He yelled in pain, and Dwalin struggled to get to him. The branches he was holding onto break, and he swung downward.
"Thorin, no!" shouted the older dwarf.
Thorin manages to hit the Warg in the head with the pommel of Orcrist. Roaring, the White Warg flings Thorin away onto a flat rock. Thorin lands with a thud, his sword falling from his hand.
"Bring me his head!" Azog commanded in Black Speech.
An Orc approached Thorin, blade drawn. Cheyanne watched this, not wanting to move for fear she would cause another dwarf to fall. She was unable to do anything as the sword lifted.
Bilbo leaped out of nowhere at the Orc and knocked him over, away from Thorin. The hobbit managed to kill the Orc and pulled his blade from it, standing in front of a now unconscious Thorin.
Cheyanne risked another standing motion, and this time made it to her feet. She hurried forward towards Bilbo and Thorin. Fili, Kili and Dwalin ran out in front of her, appearing like a beacon from heaven. They plowed into the Orcs and Wargs that were approaching Bilbo. Cheyanne went to Thorin and shook him, trying to wake him up. The dwarf didn't stir. She glanced upwards as a shadow fell over her, and saw Azog riding his Warg towards her and Bilbo menacingly.
To his credit, the hobbit before her didn't look terrified. He held his sword out in front of him bravely, not budging. Cheyanne reached down and picked up Orcrist, holding it out as well from where she crouched beside Thorin.
Just as she was sure Azog was going to knock Bilbo's head from his shoulders, she heard Ori and Dori cry out in fear. A giant bird, an eagle, swooped down on top of her and Thorin. It picked them both up in each talon and flew away from the cliff. She twisted in order to make sure Bilbo was saved as well, and saw him get dropped from his own eagle onto the back of another that flew below with a yell of panic.
She let out a relieved breath and turned back to Thorin, shaking him. "Come on, Thorin. Wake up," she whispered fiercely.
"Thorin!" Fili shouted down at them from the back of an eagle. Cheyanne looked up at the dwarf with wide eyes. Fili returned the look of fear and disappeared. Cheyanne reached over and touched Thorin's face lightly. "Thorin, please," she said softly. "It's not time for you to go yet."
The dwarf was unresponsive, and she let out a breath. They flew for a long period of time, and Cheyanne saw many different landscapes pass beneath them. After a long time, however, they approached a bear shaped rock, the Carrock. She and Thorin are set down gently on the stone and their eagle flew away.
Cheyanne shook Thorin again, pressing her ear to his chest. His heartbeat was there, though it was uneven.
"Thorin!" Gandalf hurried towards them. The wizard crouched down near him and placed a hand on Thorin's face. He whispered a spell and moved his hand away. Thorin's eyes fluttered open and he gasped for breath, gazing around. He met Gandalf's eyes.
"The halfling?" he asked weakly.
Cheyanne relaxed and winked at Bilbo, who merely raised his shoulders in response. Gandalf smiled. "It's alright," he said soothingly. "Bilbo is here. He is quite safe."
The others all approached Thorin, and Dwalin and Kili helped him to his feet. He brushed them off and went to Bilbo. "You!" he exclaimed loudly. "What were you doing? You could have been killed! Did I not say you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and had no place amongst us?"
Cheyanne held back a worried looking Balin as Bilbo gaped up at Thorin, eyes wide in fear. A silence passed. "I have never been so wrong in all my life!" Thorin said. He grabbed Bilbo and hugged him deeply. Cheyanne's heart swelled inside her chest as the dwarves all cheer happily.
Thorin released Bilbo. "I am sorry I doubted you," he apologized.
"No, I would have doubted me too," said Bilbo. "I'm not a hero or a warrior… not even a burglar."
Everyone laughed, and Thorin turned to look at Cheyanne. He approached her slowly and took her face in his hands gently. "Are you alright?" he asked her quietly, eyes not revealing anything.
She grinned wanly. "Yeah, I'm good."
Thorin didn't take his eyes off of her even as Bilbo stepped forward, his own eyes huge. "Is that what I think it is?" he queried, breathless.
Only then did Thorin look away from her, and he grinned. She turned to see for herself, and her breathing hitched when she saw the mountain in the distance, purple against the dark sky.
"Erebor- the Lonely Mountain," Gandalf confirmed. "The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth."
"Our home," Thorin breathed.
A bird chirped as it flew by, and Oin clapped happily. "A raven! The birds are returning to the mountain!"
"That, my dear Oin," said Gandalf as he glanced meaningfully down at Thorin, "was a thrush."
"We'll take it as a sign," Thorin said, placing a hand on Bilbo's shoulder. "A good omen."
"You're right," Bilbo agreed. "I do believe the worst is behind us."
"Let's leave that up to Cheyanne to decide," suggested Dwalin. Everyone laughed, and Cheyanne did too, though a sense of dread passed through her. The worst was far from behind them, for somewhere deep in the mountain that looked so welcoming from a distance lied Benedict Cumberbatch in the form of a dragon who had just been woken from his nap.
And dragons do not like to be woken up.
And so ends the first part of Maybe I Won't Go Back Again. I didn't pace the chapters like I wanted to, and so this was shorter than expected, but I figured that I might as well give another long chapter instead of a 2,000 word one. That would have just been cheap.
I'm gonna give a week in between this one and the first chapter of the second part, which takes place during Desolation of Smaug. Keep an eye out for that.
Also, thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited. It means a lot to me, and kept me uploading new chapters. It's up to you guys to keep me bringing a new one every time it's needed, so keep doing what you do.
I'll see you guys in two weeks. I'm outtie.
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