Well, surely that last chapter received a warm welcome. I do wonder if I can get eleven or more reviews with this one and get to eighty, that would be lovely. I kind of have a rule of not posting chapters until I have at least one line of the next chapter, but Im having a really crappy night and maybe I'll have to go to emergencies tomorrow morning so dude, Valar knows I nerd to publish this.
Thankyou all of reading!
Beta reader: Madame Cross Marian (You have my thanks, for the rest of my freaking life)
Bilbo breathed in and out, in and out, and tried to remind herself to keep doing so every couple of seconds. In and out, in and out, easy enough to remember, easy enough to do it. Her right arm, even though it hurt from the impact against the ground, gripped Ori's side and her left one gripped Kili's shoulder, bringing both of them against her sides and at the same time avoiding been crushed by their bodies, but refusing to let go. By the corner of her eye she saw the goblin walking just beside them from among the giant mushrooms she had managed to hide them with, looking around for any intruders, looking around for them.
In and out, in and out.
He stood still for a moment, his eyes looking around. She could see his dirty and ugly nails just inches away from her face, but even if it was one of the most disgusting things she had ever seen in her life, the hobbit couldn't bring herself to even care about it, too focused on breathing.
In and out, in and out.
The goblin shrieked.
In and out.
And walked away with a loud groan, disappearing behind a rock. For a moment Bilbo remained like that, holding her breathe and still as- ironically since out of the three of them she was a hobbit and not a dwarf- a rock until she was certain the thing was not coming back. Releasing a breathe she was perfectly aware she was holding, the hobbit tried to close her eyes and figure what the hell had she done in her life to deserve something like that happen to her. Maybe it was Lobelia cursing her from The Shire after knowing that Bag End was not to be touched by anyone even if Bilbo disappeared for ten years, or maybe it was some old ancestor of hers from up above, punishing her for being too much of a Took. Or maybe all of them at once.
Sighing, she rested her forehead against Ori's shoulder, taking in calming breathes. It wouldn't have been a problem if the three of them had been ready to take care of the goblin, but the problem resided in the little fact that the two dwarfs, who were meant to be as strong and everlasting as rocks, were knocked out because of the fall, and really, how could Bilbo blame them? She had been lucky enough to land on top of the mushrooms, but they had not been so lucky. Lifting her head, she looked at their faces, mouths slightly open and blood reaching her cheeks, probably because of some injury hidden by their head and she felt herself be sick.
Some protector she was, most basically throwing herself after them and being the only one technically unharmed.
"Water" Her mind conducted her to think, sitting her body up and releasing the dwarf's bodies in the process. Bilbo's eyes travelled around her when she rose from among the mushrooms, noticing the different paths "I should find water to clean their wounds" The hobbit glanced at their faces one more time before standing up completely, shaking her body a little. Her arm hurt just a little bit now, and she believed it was a good thing her sword had been most literally tied to her body before the fall, because there was only one path that was inclined enough to suggest it conducted to where water would flow, and it was the same path the goblin had taken. She missed her bow, but it would have to do.
Thorin had said she had made a good job with her lesson.
Maybe it was foolish of her, but she held onto those words as she started to walk, preferring to ignore that lessons where not close to real life. As far as foolish things went, it was not the most Tookish thing she had done so far; she preferred to ignore as well the fact that she had not killed anything besides animals in her life, but goblins are not far from it. They don't need to be different right now. There was a raw voice whispering in her ear about protection, but there was a headache behind it so she chose to ignore it and keep walking, and even she could tell it was further inside the mountain.
It was not a long walk, and sure enough there was a water ahead. Unfortunately for her, erasing her smile as quickly as it had appeared in the first place, she found another thing inside that cave.
There was blood on the ground.
But that was not what had her frozen on her place. Of course it wasn't, because the last weeks she had seen many bloodied things, including her arrows. No, the thing that had her frozen on her place was the body of the goblin besides, or rather on top, of the small pool of blood. The same goblin as before. Just to make things clear she did not feel bad for it, but rather, her eyes almost mechanically set themselves on the bloodied rock near its head, where the pool of blood was coming from. It didn't take long to put two and two together.
It took even less time to notice the vicious hiss behind her and turn around.
"What is it, precious? What is it?" The strange voice that she has never in her life heard before, the way of talk that would haunt her for the rest of her days and the pair of wide, mad eyes that looked at her from behind the rock "We have never seen that it before" She took a step back when the creature almost crawled down from its place, moving closer to her. By instinct she took her sword out and pointed it at it, making it stop in its place before moving to the side "Not a goblin, not you precious, what is it? It has an elvish blade, but it's not an elf" How he would, in some strange and quite twisted way, make some sense with those words, she did not know. How could that creature possibly know what elvish blades looked like? In the middle of his coughing, the awful word 'Gollum' coming out quite a few times, Bilbo took a deep breathe.
"My name is Bilbo Baggins and I'm a hobbit. Now what are you?"
"It talks precious!"
It was like she had not been talking to him.
"Of course I talk, you see me doing it now"
"What does it says, precious? Its talks in riddles! We haven't tried hobbitses before. Is it soft? Is it juicy, precious?" When his voice became vicious it made her think about the goblin that laid lifeless between them, and it occurred to her that there was no way she was going to walk out of that place without a fight. But if that creature had taken a goblin down with a single rock, then what could she actually do besides try and knock it out? If anything, she could try and run but she did not want to get lost and the only path she did know lead to Kili and Ori and that thing was not going to get near them. Looking around as quickly as possible she spotted different materials lying carelessly near the edge of the water, and, among a couple of bones, there was a rope.
It was worth a shot.
"Do you like riddles?" Bilbo tried her best to use the tone that she used with her smaller cousins when she tricked them into leaving her in peace, a smile (a forced one, this time) appearing in her face. The creature –Gollum- stopped and sharply turned his head in her direction, smiling at her as well, if that could be called a smile.
"We likes it! We likes it!"
"Then shall we play?" If there was a chance to get enough time to reach the rope, then she could just try to knock the creature out and tie him up. Risky, yes it was, but it was maybe the only thing she could think about in order to keep him away from where the two dwarves were "Just the two of us"
"Yes, yes. Let's play precious!"
"Okay then, I guess you wouldn't mind if I start?" She took the first step towards her left, the creature moving right, almost as if they were circling each other. Well, it sure felt like he was circling her instead of the other way around. Bilbo tried to ignore that fact just like she had ignored a ton of others "What goes forth but does not go back?" Opening and closing… his... mouth, 'Gollum' frowned and moved around rather erratically, muttering under his breath and sometimes shouting at himself, coughing up the words time after time. Bilbo took care of moving as slowly and smoothly as possible, just to not startle the creature.
"Time?" She tried her best to muster a smile "Our turn, yes?" Gollum did not actually wait for an answer "What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees. Up, up it goes, and yet never grows?" The hobbit was left quite surprised at that one. Gollum was smarter than she had originally thought, and the riddle was so well done that it actually took her a moment to think about it; of course, a moment in which she still had her sword held in his direction, just in case.
"Up, up it goes…" She muttered under her breathe, frowning a little "The Mountain" And the hobbit grinned, because somehow her life went around dwarfs on the most random moments. Next thing she knows, she was going to ask something which answer was an axe, or better yet, a brooding king.
"Yes! Yes! Do it again, another one!" Bilbo moved again a little bit more, getting closer to the rope by every step.
"If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?"
This time something different happened when Gollum turned around to jump up and down, his head on his hands looking for the answer. A golden thing came out of his pocket in between the jumps, rolling down the rocks until it was almost touching her feet; she was not a dwarf, she did not love gold, but that golden ring was such a strange sight that she bent down a second and took it in her hand, feeling for a single moment that her body had moved on her own. It was a quite simple thing, but to look at it for a long moment was somehow heavy for her mind and to have it on her hand was rather uncomfortable. She brought her hand down with the ring on her palm just in time to see Gollum turn around.
"A secret!"
"Yes, yes, you are completely right"
"Our turn again! Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters" She felt sick to the stomach, holding that thing in her hand. There was a noise that continued to buzz inside her ears like someone was inside her brain, whispering something she could not and was not going to understand. If she had to put a word to it, it would be dark, and it was enough to make her want to throw it to the ground; but that would make him mad, and it was going to be a problem "Give up?" Gollum teased, and she did not miss the mad look on his eyes. The hobbit pushed to the back of her mind whatever was trying to take a hold on her and answered.
"It's wind"
Gollum was not quite as happy with that as he had been before, realizing that as much as he loved games, he maybe hated to lose.
"Very clever" Hissing, he took to many steps in her direction, and thank the Valar she was aware enough to bring up her sword against his chest.
"Ah, ah" She stopped him, taking deep breathes. That had been, too close for her liking, and she needed to focus if she didn't want to die inside a cave with a goblin and a mad creature, but there was something that changed her mind even before she could even think about another riddle "What…" The word was already out of her mouth and her hand felt heavy, sweaty, her mind almost dizzy due to the whispers she couldn't very well understand what meant or where they came from. Gulping, she almost, almost, whispered her question, closing her hand tighter around the small ring "What has fallen from your pocket?"
If she had thought about it before she asked that question, then she would have said another thing in order to avoid what happened right after the little creature searched his own pocket and found nothing.
"THIEF!"
He jumped on top of her and pushed her back, and she was too busy with not stabbing herself to notice that she was about to crash against the pile of bones until it was too late and she was already against it. Her eyes unfocused and focused again in a matter of seconds, but to her distress Gollum had already charged for her again. Somehow she saw as well the small gold band almost fly out in front of her nose. Later Bilbo would have blamed her actions to the powerful force that almost took a hold of her, but at the moment, she did not think of anything as she reached out of the ring that was going to be the dead of her. Even though it had seemed sometimes small, sometimes big, it slipped perfectly onto her finger.
And the world around her passed to be a blur.
It was as if everything had slowed down, like she was underwater, with almost the same pressure inside her chest but different at the same time. She could breathe, but she was not comfortable doing so; she could see clearly, but she wasn't sure shadows were meant to be so noticeable; she could hear, but the sounds were slightly lowered to her ears, for example the shriek the creature let out just in front of her, calling for her attention. 'Gollum' was bearing his teeth, his eyes open as plates as he looked around almost fanatically, almost as if… Almost as if he couldn't see her even though she was right in front of him.
He can't actually see.
This time she was able to put two and two together and figure that it was the ring that, apparently, made her invisible to the eye of others. Looking at Gollum's face she thought that if he thought necessary, he was going to get out of that cave and most probably find Ori and Kili, but killing him did not seem like the right answer for it, no matter how much she disliked the vicious look on his eyes, the one that at the moment was replaced by immense sadness. She didn't pretend to use it as an excuse to call herself courageous, and she was fine if Gandalf never got to know about her decision. Her hand took a hold of her sword, so tightly that her knuckles were white. And brought the hilt to the side of Gollum's head.
She breathed in new air when she took off the ring, enjoying the freedom she felt even though she still was inside a cave. Bilbo looked at the golden ring her hand, trying to remember if she knew something about a magic ring, or magic that could turn people invisible in dire situations. She was not a fool, she knew there was no way a normal ring would have slipped in her finger as easily as it had happened just a few seconds before, and she knew a normal ring did not whisper things into your ear. But this time it was quite clear what the words meant, even if she never wanted to find out.
We will kill him.
Kill who?
We will make him pay.
Who are you talking about?
Pay, pay, pay, pay, pay. We will make him pay. We will have revenge.
There was a big shadow on her mind, the one she had nightmares about when she was little. A great figure with weapon in hand, raised high above his head, the figure that had haunted her many years of her life. She was not going to go back to those sleepless nights, there was no way. Shaking her head, she stood up.
"I don't know what the hell you are talking about," she decided and tucked the ring inside her pocket, making sure it wouldn't get out. Gandalf had quite a few things to explain to her next time they saw each other, and if she had to bring that damned thing with her to show the wizard what she meant, she was going to do so. Besides, she had the feeling Gollum was best without it.
"But you will not have such thing as revenge."
"Ori?"
The named lifted his head at the sound of her voice, looking around the cage quickly so to find her fast. When he did spot her coming out of the path, Bilbo could perfectly see how tense his jaw was and how unsettled he looked, but at least he was alive and had no more injuries than the ones she had last seen. Kili was lying by Ori's side, still unconscious but looking the same as well, she guessed Orin must have taken him out when he woke up. Relieve filled her chest and a smile appeared on her face.
"Master Baggins?"
"Oh, thank the Valar, you are awake. Are you alright? Something broken? Are you in pain?" She walked closer to him, a piece of wet fabric in each of her hands.
"I… I should be the one asking that? Are you hurt, Master Baggins? Not to offend, but hobbits are… softer than we are, so…" The lad seemed disoriented, flurried with the situation as he sat there on his knees looking up at her face. To Bilbo he looked like a lost kid, but it took a moment to remind herself that despite everything and despite the differences of their races, he was not a kid like her cousins where; maybe younger than her, but not a kid at all "Where have you been? Is not safe to walk around this place" He frowned at her ever so slightly.
"I'm perfectly fine, believe me. And I was looking for water, found some nearby" Kneeling besides him, she slowly pressed the wet piece of cloth against the side of his head. He hissed, probably noticing for the first time the fact that he had a wound up there, but looked directly at her face nevertheless, quite bewilderedly "It was a nasty fall, and unfortunately you two took the worst of it" She tried her best to be gentle with her hands are she tried to take the blood off his face, but it proved to be a difficult task. Bilbo didn't know how much pain dwarfs could manage, but she was not going to test it nor was she going to count on it "I will just wait for Kili to wake up to do the same. Only god knows what could have gotten into that injury" It was like she had reminded him of the other person, the one that was still unconscious on the floor by his side.
"Kili!" Ori reached out to grab Kili's shoulder, moving him as if he were to wake up from a normal dream "Kili, come one, wake up"
"Don't move him" The hobbit stopped him, placing a small hand on his shoulder. The dwarf turned his head to look at her "I know dwarves are hard to injure, but I don't know how hard he hit his head, it can be dangerous to move him like he is now" There was a moment of silence in which Ori looked between Kili and Bilbo, and she let him do so for a moment before he brought his hand back. She smiled, and once again, he looked at her "Don't worry, everything is going to be okay, there is always a way to turn things around"
Or so I hope.
"Too loud…"
The mumbled voice made the two of them look down at the third person, finding that Kili was moving his head from side to side and opening his eyes slightly, just like he had been waking up on any other morning. It almost made her laugh, but she settled for teasing.
"And here I was worrying myself, I know now to not worry if any of you happen to hit your head with something. But would you look at that, the sleeping beauty is finally awake. Did you have a nice dream, Kili?" The dark haired dwarf looked up at both of them from his place in the ground, probably trying to figure out what was happening. Once the memories of the fall settled in his brain, there was a grimace on his face as he sat up, not minding at all the wound on his head.
"I do not appreciate waking up to so much sarcasm"
She blinked innocently.
"Why, if I had been sincere"
They both snorted.
"Where are we?"
"As you can see there are tunnels inside the mountain." Bilbo cleaned his head wound as well, taking her on not being too rough. After a moment though, she turned her head around and smiled at both of them, grinning even, trying to light up the mood now that she knew they were going to be just fine "I believe you two are better than me at navigating inside a mountain. We fell quite deep inside it, but if luck is in our side, it won't take much longer." Kili nodded a little.
But Ori was not better than before.
"It could have been worse." The scribe mumbled under his breathe, his hand grasping tightly the fabric of his pants. The hobbit blinked at him, sharing a look with Kili before nodding slowly, clearing her throat.
"Yes, I guess It-"
"No, I mean we could have been killed." He said a little bit louder, not yelling but loud enough to be close to it, and it was the first time in the whole journey that she had seen Ori –sweet, quiet, young and talented Ori- interrupting someone. She was so surprised that Bilbo could only sit there and stare at his face with her mouth shut, noticing that he was rather upset over the subject. "I saw it before falling, there was a sharp edge just under us. You pushed us enough to not fall on top of it, but you were so close yourself..." Ori looked at her face, almost daring her to deny it. So he had noticed, she thought, recalling the multiples edges she had been so afraid of as they started falling. Of course she remembered them.
"Yes, I know"
He almost broke down at that.
"Then why?"
The hobbit looked at his face, almost pained and very upset, and then to Kili's, that did not look as upset as Ori was but conscious enough of what had happened, deep in thought. The hobbit sighed. As an answer, she quickly pressed the wet piece of cloth torn from her shirt against the wounds on their heads, making them hiss both in surprise and pain, taking them with low guard and giving both a strong look, the one she remembered her father using when she became upset over other people's words about her name.
"You would have been found by a goblin if I had not been there to hide you both" The hobbit revealed and the two dwarves went wide eyed at her words. She did not chuckle, did not laugh, but smiled instead, a small smile that could barely be compared to some others she had directed to them through their journey "And if I had stayed up there, I would have had to see your family and friends worry over you and being left with nothing to do about it. I would have that fall every day, Ori. There are just so many things you can risk your life for, but I don't exactly have a list of them, nor I pretend to make one"
They looked at her like most of her cousins from the Baggins side looked at her, mostly when their parents whispered about how they should behave like she did just half of the time, because the other half she was nothing more than a trouble maker. Those kids had looked at her like they looked at the Tooks themselves, like they were another race not so different from them, like they were weighting the possibilities of playing together until an grown up came to bring them inside the house. Bilbo supposed it was the same look she had given books when she was younger, the books about adventures and about faraway places.
"You are a weirdo, Maser Baggins."
Yes, that just what her cousins had said as well.
"That I am, that I am. But you are stuck with me anyway!" This time, Bilbo did laugh and Ori did smile, and it was a pretty good moment until the three of them heard screaming –horrible screaming- coming from down the path she had come from, and the hobbit made a face while cursing mentally. She had expected Gollum to be displeased when he woke up to find he had been tied to a rock and many, many bones, but she had expected him to wake up after they got out of that particular part of the mountain. "It must be a goblin," she lied almost too easily, standing to her feet. "Let's move and find the others. Now!"
Even if you don't believe her, Bilbo had not expected Thorin to greet them with a smile.
She had expected him to sigh in silent relief as he saw them approaching the company, voicing that they were indeed alive. She had expected him to pointedly look at his nephew's head and the little bit of blood that Bilbo hadn't had the time to completely clean off, and then he would call for Oin to check them over, "just in case". She had expected him to stand a little bit closer to Kili as his head was examined, just like Fili was probably going to do, as Dori fussed over his little brother and Nori stood at his side. She had not expected Thorin to greet her in the same way, no matter how their relation had grown the last few days, maybe a nod and that was going to be about it and then they would keep going.
The three of them were cautious to get out of the mountain, keeping an eye out in case they heard steps nearby. At the end she had been right and the dwarves had had no problem in finding the way out of the tunnels, and it was fast enough to be greeted by the sun coming down slowly from the sky and into the horizon, orange light painting everywhere around them. Bilbo had been the one to spot, by the grace of the Valar, the company running down the side of the mountain and so they had followed the same path, careful with their steps as they ran as well.
Ori and Kili had taken it upon themselves to bring their attention to them. When the company saw the three of them, there were cheers even coming from the wizard she was so but so glad to see among them, smiles and embraces and pats on the backs even for her. And everything was technically good and temporarily peaceful until she came face to face with Thorin.
She was wrong, she got from him more than a simple nod.
But it didn't necessarily mean it was a good thing.
Could she say she preferred to go back and face Gollum again? Yes?
"Why did you do something so foolish!?" She pressed her eyes close, trying to block out how angry he had sounded and how loud the scream had been. She was pretty sure the birds nearby had gone away and everything. To his credit, Kili had tried to talk to his uncle, but the older dwarf had done as much as to shut him with a gesture and continue to glare at the hobbit in front of him. When was the last time she had been looked at like that? Had it been Lobelia? Bilbo was not sure aymore, but she knew she didn't like it. She had not risked her life to be treated like that, but he continued talking anyway "Both Kili and Ori are dwarves, they would have survived without your help! But you? You are but a Hobbit! It is a miracle you are alive! This is not your precious Shire anymore, Halfling! Look at you, still shaking because of fear." There was a vein pressed to his forehead, but the hobbit was not impressed by that at all. There was a frown on his face, his fingers twitching like he was stopping them from grabbing her shoulders and shake her "It's obvious you want to go back. I have more than half my mind set into sending you back where you obviously want to go!"
That hurt.
That actually hurt.
And it sure as hell was not necessary.
"Now listen here, Master Oakenshield," Gandalf, not amused at all by his words, frowned at the dwarf as he moved to stand behind him and the hobbit, most probably preparing a speech that would ending up making Thorin turn around and curse him; she could see from the corner of her eye how Balin was frowning as well, how Bifur was not smiling at it, and that made her a little bit glad but it was not enough. Bilbo took deep breathes, her hands opening and closing in fists, biting her lower lip in order to not scream at him, or maybe in order not to cry. She had done the right thing, she was sure she had, and even if Thorin didn't believe so. It wasn't his problem what she did with herself. Foolish? Of course she was. Just a hobbit? Well, sorry for being born in that race.
It was completely unnecessary.
"You are right"
Even if it was a whisper that sure stopped whatever Gandalf was about to say, or whatever Balin would have thought to say. Every single head turned in her direction as her eyes laid on the ground, on her feet, on his boots, on the roots of the trees. So different from what she was used to. Lifting her head, she looked at his eyes and there she saw her own face reflected. She was dirty and tired, but she even to her eyes, she was not weak.
"I miss my home. I miss Bag End. I miss my garden, my books and my arm chair- Damn it, I even miss my boring neighbors with their daily routine. Of course I miss The Shire, because that's my home" Bilbo pronounced every word from the bottom of her heart, because she could picture her smial inside her mind, and she could almost say by memory all the titles she had collected over the years. The arm chair besides the fire, but that particular memory triggered a sad song and deep voices, something about a beast, something about fire and death "And that's exactly why I will not go back"
Now he looked puzzled.
And she smiled.
Because she was good at it, because it was better to do so than to cry, because she had learnt that a long long time ago. She smiled because she knew he wouldn't really understand what a Hobbit would feel merely through words, because they were from different races from different cultures and were different persons with their own minds, but no matter how different there always was a way to convey feelings to other people
-So she took his hand and tried to smile. Fortunately, he smiled back-
"Because you don't have one, a home. It was taken from you, in the most horrible way that someone could ever imagine. You are fighting to give your people and your family a home, somewhere where they can be safe." Thorin looked like he didn't know what to do, or like he had prepared himself to be insulted in vain. He looked at her like she was about to throw him something at any moment, like he couldn't quite believe she meant what she was saying. But he was wrong, and she was going to make sure he realized that "I will help you take it back, if I can. So you are not going to see me going back Thorin Oakenshield, not yet."
