Five nights and six days had passed since we left Rivendell. We walked for as long as we could manage each day, though it usually seemed to be either Josh or I who was completely exhausted and needed to rest, and not the Wizard.

The scenery surrounding us changed from beautiful green valleys and cliff faces that were covered in mosses and flowers, to forests and then to sloping rocky paths atop the highest mountains I had ever seen in my life. The further we got away from Rivendell, the less at ease I felt. I remembered Bilbo and how he spoke of the magic that he had felt within the walls of the Elvish home, and I assumed that their magic was thinning out as we continued our path.

Josh and I discussed and speculated a lot about what Galadriel and Elrond had said to us. We had been offered the chance to get back to our world, and we both denied it. Even if I had desperately wanted to go back, I would have stayed in Middle Earth if Josh had decided to stay.

We also wondered about why the company kept Bilbo with them and left us; it wasn't that we didn't believe in him, but we knew Thorin didn't. Gandalf answered that question for us. Apparently, Bilbo was still tied to his contract until Thorin and Balin released him from it, and they still needed a burglar. I felt so bad for the Hobbit who had confided in me back in Rivendell, telling me that he didn't feel like he was accepted as part of the company.

Even though I felt like we had made the right decision, I still felt nervous. I fully expected Thorin to try and make us leave, though I knew Gandalf wouldn't let him do that. It would be a large blow to my determination, but I tried to prepare myself for what I thought he would say.

I felt more anxious about the way Gandalf was acting though. He had some input into our discussions, but was otherwise mostly withdrawn and gazed in all directions around us constantly, as if searching for something within the shadows. I decided to ask him what was wrong on the sixth morning as we ate portions of fruit and bread for breakfast.

"Gandalf?" I queried, looking across at him as we sat on thick, fallen branches that had started to grow green with moss. He simply hummed in acknowledgment but didn't look up at me.

"Gandalf, is something wrong?" He finally looked at me, his eyes peering into the depths of my own. I shifted a little uncomfortably under his gaze, but he quickly glanced towards the sky and replied after a little while.

"There is something stirring, Miss Amelia. I can feel it in the air around us." He looked ominously into the surrounding forest. It had begun to thin, as we were now treading up another steep mountain.

"Does it have something to do with Radagast and why he came looking for you the other day?" As always, Josh had mirrored my own thoughts. We both looked at the Wizard expectantly, and he sighed at us, furrowing his brows together in a frown.

"Yes, Master Joshua, it does. Though you should not let these matters concern you." He looked away from us again, obviously trying to end the conversation. I, on the other hand, wanted to know what was going on.

"Of course it concerns us Gandalf. It's worrying you and you're a Wizard, for Christ's sake. What the hell could scare you?" Again, he sighed, but he finally answered my question after a few moments in deep thought.

"An evil is awakening within this world, my friends. Something that has not been felt for an age, and we must be prepared, for it may be the downfall of us all." And with that, he collected his rucksack and begun walking along a path that lay in the sloping ground.

Suddenly, the idea of going back to our world seemed a lot less daunting. What sort of evil was Gandalf talking about? I started to wonder if Galadriel's help was a standing offer. It's too late to turn back now, I thought, scolding myself for being such a sook. Your friends need you.

We continued to travel along the path, until the trees cleared completely. We stopped, looking at the jagged mountains that lay before us. I gulped at the terrifying sight, realising that the rocky path that we were on led straight along the face of the mountain.

"Do we have to go up there?" Josh wondered aloud to Gandalf.

"We will meet Thorin and the company through these paths. Tread carefully and stay close to each other. The Misty Mountains are treacherous." Gandalf led the way, and after a grim look shared with my brother, we followed him. The path wasn't too bad at first, but it got harder as we went along as the ground beneath us became looser and more slippery.

As if I thought that was the worst part, I had severely underestimated how high we were going to get. The other mountains we travelled across were fine because we mostly walked along paths and across plateaus. On this mountain though, we were walking along a narrow ledge that snaked around the mountain face. It felt like a chasm had opened in the valley below us, swallowing all light that shone close enough.

We travelled through to late afternoon without stopping; Gandalf had become increasingly anxious, and he had refused our pleading to stop for lunch. Even when we finally stopped, we couldn't even sit down to eat our food. The path had become way too narrow, so we quickly scoffed small amounts of fruit and moved on.

I felt like we were going to have to keep walking the entire night; there was no way that we would be able to sleep up here without rolling off the damned edge to our deaths. I was trying to work out how far the fall would be, when something wet dropped onto my nose. I looked above me, and what I saw filled my entire body with dread.

Black and grey storm clouds had gathered above the mountains, threatening a downpour at any moment. I had a moment to wonder if this was what Gandalf had meant by something stirring in the air before the heavens rained downed upon us.

"Keep moving!" I barely heard Gandalf yell through the deluge. Within moments I was utterly and thoroughly drenched, and the evening light was quickly extinguished. The wet path beneath me began to affect my footing, and I almost took a swan dive over the cliff. The only thing that saved me was the fact that I was clinging onto the rocky mountain beside me for dear life.

We moved slowly, but fortunately came to a larger area on the cliff face just as we heard the roaring of thunder and were nearly blinded by flashes of lightning. The area Gandalf had moved onto had a jagged rock protruding from above us, and we cowered beneath it away from as much of the rain as we could get.

It didn't make a significant difference, but the fact that we were well away from the hazardous cliff face was a sigh of relief. Josh and I huddled close together and Gandalf was hunched down beside us. He held out his cloak in front of all of us, helping to protect us from the wind and rain.

I shivered under the hood of my cloak, wrapping my arms around my knees in a desperate attempt to keep warm. Even though the rain wasn't freezing cold, the wind made my teeth chatter and fingertips numb. The mountain seemed to shake in the storm, and I prayed that the ledge didn't collapse beneath us.

We stayed like that for a long time, probably most of the night; the wind roared against the rocks and howled through each crook and crevice in the mountainside. There were many times that the mountain quaked under our feet and I closed my eyes tight, trying to think of anything but the terrible situation we were in.

Even if we continued on after the rain stopped, the slippery rocks could cause us to fall. I doubted any experienced climber would attempt this feat, even with safety equipment. We remained huddled together, almost like penguins, until the thunder and lightning stopped. The mountain stopped rocking, and even the wind and rain died down.

"Make haste, we must keep moving. We must reach the company." Gandalf hurried back to the ledge, following the precarious path around the mountainside. Josh followed him, and I just shook my head in disbelief, following slowly after several moments.

Despite the risk of falling due to the slippery path, Gandalf didn't slow. In fact, he probably moved faster than he had before, and I inwardly cursed the damn wizard. He was going to get us killed! It was just as well that it didn't continue to rain, and we managed to get on without injuring ourselves or falling to our deaths.

My hands were getting cut though, from holding on so fiercely to the jagged rocks. I didn't know if the sensation of wet hands was from the rain dripping down the mountain face or blood from my hands that were raw and scratched. The only respite I had was the cool sensation of the rocks I grasped onto; besides that, we continued on.

It felt like hours since we had found refuge under the cliff face, and it probably had been. I was shivering under my wet clothes and my body ached. My shoulder was stiff, and my ribs had begun to sting, despite the fact they were mostly healed and I hadn't had any problems with them since Rivendell.

We continued for a while longer, but finally Gandalf came to a slow in front of us. He looked to the sky above us and mountains surrounding us, before moving around a bend in the path. I rounded the corner and found a large area, even bigger than the last ledge. I quickly moved away from the edge, as did Josh, and moved in closer to Gandalf.

He was still searching around him, a frown etched into his face. Before I could even ask what was wrong, he moved further across the ledge towards the face of the mountain, and ducking down, he peered into an area that I couldn't quite see.

"Miss Amelia, Master Joshua, move over here, quickly. Do not move inside until I inform you that it is okay to do so." He disappeared, and I finally saw what he had looked into; it was a cave opening, only about as tall as I was though quite wide. I looked inside to see Gandalf using his staff as a light; quite literally the end of his stick glowed and lit the entire space.

The Wizard was close to a far wall when he yelled for us to enter.

"Stand on the rocks close to the walls, and do not step on the floor!" Josh and I both moved in cautiously, worried about what we were going to find. It wasn't what I was expecting, but when I realised what it was my stomach heaved.

There were several rucksacks close to the walls where we were standing, on the rocks that were there. My first thought was 'that's weird, why would anyone leave their things behind'. My second thought was then 'they wouldn't have left it here by choice', and my final realisation was 'fuck, they are the Dwarves' bags.'

I moved carefully towards them, treading on the rocks that Gandalf had told us to step on. I opened the one closest to me, looking to see whose rucksack it was. I almost cried when I pulled out Ori's sketchbook. He never went anywhere without it, and I turned to face Gandalf.

"Where are they? What's happened to them?" He was examining the walls surrounding us, carefully feeling each surface with his hands. He glanced at me quickly and replied in hushed tones.

"They have been taken. This is a goblin trap, Miss Amelia, and we must find their entrance into the mountain to find our company, as they are in grave danger." Goblins, kidnapping, danger. Fuck. With shaky hands I tucked Ori's sketchpad into my own rucksack and begun to search the walls around me for some sort of door I supposed. Josh did the same thing from where he was standing, after a few long minutes of searching, he spoke.

"Gandalf, this feels like something here. It's not solid like the rest of the cave." Gandalf quickly moved to my brother, feeling the area with his own hands.

"Keen spotting, Master Joshua," he said as he placed the end of his staff to the door. He begun to mutter something under his breath and from what I managed to make out, it wasn't English.

Suddenly, the area of wall at which the two were standing shuddered and moved to reveal an entrance slightly smaller than the size of a normal door. The wizard turned to us both as I moved closer and whispered to us.

"You must be quiet, as quiet as you've ever been in your life. We must find and rescue the company. Do not make any foolish moves and do nothing until I tell you to. Now, follow me." He ducked as he disappeared through the entrance, and Josh and I followed suit.

As soon as we entered, I felt suffocated by the stench that sat stagnant in the air. It smelt old and rotting and dusty, and I had to resist the feeling in the pit of my stomach that told my brain I needed to be sick. We were inside an enormous cavern; there were bridges made of wood and rope connecting areas below us, and primitive paths that had been dug into the walls.

We followed one of these paths, moving slowly downwards. There was little light where we were, but Gandalf didn't light his staff to keep us hidden. The whole space was so backwards; while there were bridges and paths built, it didn't have anywhere near as much elegance and ageless beauty as Rivendell.

What scared me most was the fact that it was dead silent; I couldn't hear anything at all. We walked for a long time before I heard anything other than the breathing of Josh and myself. At first, they sounded like echoes of someone yelling, and the closer we got, the more I missed the silence.

I could hear shrieks and screams, chortling and cackling, horrendous howls and wails that sounded animalistic. The noises bounced off the walls and sent chills up my spine, and with every cell within my body I did not want to get any closer to the source of the terrifying sounds.

We had no choice though and following closely to Gandalf beat any idea I had of running in the opposite direction and more than likely getting lost in this nightmare.

I remembered then that I had forgotten about my weapons. I pulled out my dual blades, wielding them just how Fili showed me. I also realised that Josh only had his bow and arrows, and mentally kicked myself for not getting him a weapon that he could use in close combat.

I guess Dwalin had been right, I thought bitterly.

The next time Gandalf stopped to survey the situation I tapped Josh on the shoulder. He turned around quickly, seemingly expecting something to be wrong by the frightened look he gave me. I gave him a reassuring smile and held out one of my blades, not speaking in the chance that something could hear us.

He looked at the blade, but grinned at me and pulled a long, sharp dagger out of the belt where it was hiding at his back. He nodded at me, a smirk on his lips as I gave him a questioning look. I was sure he mouthed the words 'stole it', as he turned back around to follow Gandalf who had begun along the paths again.

Someone had picked up a thing or two from Nori, it seemed.

We hid in the shadows of the paths that we moved quickly along, as light begun to fill the vast cave. I could hear a large booming voice over the other shrieks that sounded out towards us, before I saw who the voice belonged to. When I did see the creature, I wished that I hadn't.

The thing was huge and round; I could only partially see it from where we were from, but the way its body jiggled around made me feel sick. The only thing that stopped me from throwing up the little food in my stomach was the fact that behind the creature, I could see the faces of those I had missed so dearly. I could have cried out in happiness, but I contained myself and tried to count them. It was nearly impossible though; there were smaller versions of the big bulging creature skirting around the group.

They were poking and prodding at the Dwarves, and it made me so angry. I wanted to help them, but heeding Gandalf's words, I didn't move. I felt Josh tense next to me though, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. The Wizard moved in close to us, whispering so only we could hear.

"We must move closer. Stay as near to me as possible, as the goblins are covering the area in anticipation of the Goblin King's orders." If I wasn't freaking out before, I was now. What orders did this fat, round creature plan on giving the other goblins? What was he going to do to our friends? We crept close to the cave walls, still staying within the shadows.

We came so close to the disgusting creatures that I could smell the odour wafting from them, causing my stomach to churn. They were absolutely hideous, with grotesque, misshapen faces that held sharpened teeth and yellowed eyes.

I almost missed the trolls after seeing how horrible goblins were.

We were backed against a wall that lay behind the Goblin King, huddled close to Gandalf's side. There was a large wooden platform that connected the ground where we stood to where the Goblin King was now sitting atop a large throne, and where the company were standing.

We were so close, but so far away at the same time. The obnoxious large creature begun singing loudly, receiving an even louder chorus of howls and shrieks from above us.

Bones will be shattered,
Necks will be rung!
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!

I was frozen where I stood. They were not only about to be killed but tortured by these things. I looked up at Gandalf. He had his eyes closed and his lips were moving slightly as if he was speaking under his breath. I was about to beg the Wizard to do something when several things happened at once.

There was an ear-piercing screech from where the company was surrounded, and the Goblin King began to roar orders to kill the company just as Gandalf opened his eyes and uttered two words.

"Arm yourselves." The air became thick with shrieks and howls, and Gandalf jumped abruptly from out of the shadows where we had been hidden. I was about to follow the Wizard when an incredibly bright light permeated the darkness we were enclosed.

My vision blurred, and I staggered forward in my loss of sight. Blinking against the intensity of the white light that had filled my vision, I could see clearly after a few moments.

There was silence again, and I saw that every single creature that had stood before us was now lying on the wooden platform in front of Gandalf. I looked next to me, seeing that Josh had just gotten his own sight back. Realising that any second the shit was going to hit the fan, I pulled Josh by the arm and we ran towards the Wizard.

Both of us had our weapons drawn, and we reached Gandalf as he was yelling orders to the Dwarves who were only just regaining consciousness.

"Take up arms. Fight. Fight!" The Dwarves looked dumbfounded, glancing between Gandalf, Josh and I with bewildered expressions. They quickly begun to move though; yelling, they pushed away the goblins that lay atop them. I didn't have any more time to focus on the Dwarves; goblins had begun to charge for Gandalf, and in effect, Josh and I as well.

The Wizard used his sword and staff to cut down and knock aside the offenders that came at him like ravenous dogs. Again, I felt as though I needed to be sick. I could not only see the impact of steel on flesh, but I could hear it as well. The wails of pain that accompanied each blow made my skin crawl and I fought to bite back the bile rising in my throat.

Everything progressed fast from there, almost in a blur. We quickly moved to the company, who had gathered their weapons and were passing them along to their correct owners. Josh was at my side the entire time, and I was glancing in every direction I could to make sure that none of the goblins were aiming for him.

Unfortunately, we must have still been considered threats, especially after Gandalf's theatrics. A goblin was running towards me to my right, and I almost panicked. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that my little brother was right next to me, and in doing nothing I would get him killed.

The goblin attempted to bring his weapon down on top of my head, but I blocked it with one of the twins, while using the other blade to dig into its stomach. I would never forget that moment; the look of fear on his face and in his eyes, the feel of wielding a weapon as it sliced through skin and muscle and bone, and the absolute horror of taking another living creatures life.

Disgusted with myself, I was only pulled out of the spiralling self-loathing I was feeling by Gandalf's words.

"Follow me. Quick, run!" I had an absurd moment of realisation that the Goblin King had disappeared within the chaos before Josh and I were running with the company.

We ran in single file across wooden bridges, sprinting as fast as we could away from the shrieks that echoed and bounced off the walls around us. It took all of a few minutes for the goblins to swarm us again. The Dwarves slashed and stabbed at any creature that got near us, and I tried to avoid doing the same unless I had to.

It was much more often than I liked.

A goblin appeared at my side while we were running, swinging a large axe weapon in our direction, attempting to land a blow to anyone it could. I narrowly avoided the end of its weapon, but sliced its neck open so that it didn't hurt any of the Dwarves running behind me.

I felt absolutely sickened. Adrenalin pulsed through my body, and I guessed that was the only reason I was still able to continue. All I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball in a warm bed and never emerge. I kept slashing at anything that came too close to us, as tears streaked my face and blood dripped from my blades.

The Dwarves in the front of the group managed to get hold of a large wooden pole and were using it to barrel goblins off the side of the pathway. Goblins continued to jump onto the bridges next to us, giving us but seconds to react and cut them down before we were killed ourselves.

Josh was in front of me and was luckily able to duck away from blows aimed for him despite being tall and lanky. He struck goblins down with the long dagger he had stolen from Rivendell, whenever the creatures got too close to him.

I began to lose count of how many goblins I had stabbed and sliced and cut, and my arms felt like lead from the physical exertion. The tide of goblins never ended, no matter how fast the company killed them. The Dwarves at the front had again found some wooden object to bowl the goblins into the chasm below us. I realised it was a ladder once they laid it down to use as a bridge to get to another platform. The goblins seemed to be cutting down their own bridges to stop us.

I only just made it over without falling through one of the holes, but it was a close call. We ran for what felt like ages and came to a platform that looked as though it had come under more sabotage in the goblins attempts to trap us.

We all stopped, standing upon this wooden plank with nowhere to go. That is, until the plank begun to swing away from the goblins in pursuit of us. It was a blur; I had no idea what was going on, and the next thing I heard was 'jump!' and someone pushed me from the platform.

I felt as though I fell a few metres and landed on my back. I was quickly picked up by a blonde Dwarf with a braided moustache, and relief collided with the fear I felt, temporarily clamping it within my chest. We continued to run, Fili close behind me as the fear begun to crawl its way back up my throat.

It felt like there was no end to this. I didn't know how long I could hold out, emotionally and physically. I was having a hard time coming to terms with what I was doing, and I wanted to try and distance myself as far from my actions as I could while we were still fighting for our lives.

Suddenly, the swarm of goblins seemed to disappear. We came to a wooden platform-type bridge that wasn't covered in goblins or damaged to trap us. I saw hope in the situation in the exact moment our only hope of escape was extinguished.

We had run about halfway across when from an explosion of wooden splinters from the floor of the platform, erupted the form of the enormous Goblin King. Dori and Gloin were at the front of the group, and hastily backtracked behind Gandalf when the creature lumbered towards them.

I was quickly pushed into the middle of the company by Bofur and Bifur, as the Goblin King begun to speak.

"You thought you could escape me!" He bellowed, swinging a large mace down on Gandalf, who only narrowly missed the blow. The creature quickly swung his weapon back across at Gandalf, and the wizard just about fell over through trying to avoid the mace. He was caught by the Dwarves at the front of the group, who were able to steady him back on his feet.

"What are you going to do now, Wizard?" The Goblin cackled, taunting Gandalf. Apparently, that was the wrong move to make.

Gandalf used his staff to poke the Goblin King in the eye and slashed his sword across the creature's enormous stomach. I heaved at the sight of the terrible wound that gave show to layers of fat and muscle beneath the monsters' skin. The Goblin cried out in pain, landing heavily on his knees while clutching at his stomach.

Gandalf waited only a moment before he sliced open its disgusting goitre that drooped down near its stomach. The Goblin then collapsed forwards, causing the platform we were on the shudder and crack under the weight.

Goblins screamed from all around us, as the wooden boards finally collapsed under the pressure and we fell downwards. The company yelled and cried in fear, and I screamed until there was nothing left. We held onto the platform that was under our feet, holding onto each other as well in an attempt to stop any one of us from falling from the wood that was plummeting downwards through the chasm.

We crashed into other bridges and pathways and platforms alike, not stopping but instead gathering momentum. The chasm seemed to become smaller, as the platform begun to catch on the cave walls, finally slowing us down until we had almost stopped, and then we dropped to solid ground. I was sprawled in amongst the Dwarves, but quickly rolled off them onto the rocky floor.

I just about collapsed in relief, and thought it was a miracle that I still had my blades in my hands and hadn't stabbed myself or any of the company in the process of that fall. The Dwarves began to remove themselves from the rubble and debris that they were amongst, when Bofur spoke.

"Well, that could have been worse!" He said almost cheerfully, and as if the universe wanted to prove him wrong, the body of the obese Goblin King fell through the air and landed atop the Dwarves that remained amongst the pile of wooden scrap.

The Dwarves cried out in pain, and I realised that I couldn't see Josh. I moved around the other side, calling his name and frantically trying to find him amongst the rubble. I was starting to panic, when I found him under some wooden planks, trying to get out from underneath. He hadn't been crushed by the body of the Goblin, and my relief was only momentary.

Josh and I realised together that his leg was trapped, stuck underneath a large wooden pillar that he couldn't move by himself. I sheathed my weapons and tried to move it off him, but I couldn't lift it high enough for him to move his leg out. Suddenly, Kili yelled out Gandalf's name, and I glanced upwards to where he was gesturing.

From above, hundreds upon hundreds of goblins were swarming down the sides of the chasm straight towards us.

"There's too many! We can't fight them!" Dwalin yelled, helping Nori from out of the debris.

"Only one thing will save us now; daylight!" Gandalf responded, yelling at the company to move. I was about to yell to one of the Dwarves to help me get Josh out, when Thorin moved beside me and planted his hands underneath half of the wooden pillar. He looked at me and without a hint of anger or rage in his eyes, he spoke.

"We lift on three," he said to me, and I quickly gripped the other side of the pillar. He yelled three, and we both lifted, leaving more than enough room for Josh to slide his leg out from underneath. We both helped Josh to his feet, and quickly began to move after the company who were running behind Gandalf through a tunnel.

We all ran, rapidly working our way through a dark tunnel that Gandalf was leading us through. I couldn't see the faces of the company, but I hoped that everyone was there and was alright. After only several minutes, I quite literally began to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

We ran even faster then, realising that we were almost away from the danger. Gandalf stopped, making sure that we all got out first, and we burst into the light of the sun.

We stopped for only a few seconds before we continued running, making our way down a steep slope dotted with large pine trees. Gandalf continued to encourage us forward, and I realised that the sun was beginning to set. We had been in the mountains an entire day, and my legs began to tire in realisation that it had been a full day since we had eaten or slept.

We then came to a slow, as Gandalf begun to count the company, naming each member as he went along.

"Five, six, seven, eight… Bifur, Bofur, that's ten... Fili, Kili, that's twelve… and Bombur, Amelia, Joshua... That makes fifteen... Where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit?" I gaped at Gandalf and looked all around me, sure that there had to be a mistake.

For the hundredth time today, I felt like I was going to be sick. Bilbo must be back in the mountains, taken by the goblins. I couldn't even think about what they would do to him. He must be terrified, and I started to tear up at the thought of him being in those horrible caves alone.

"Curse the Halfling! Now he's lost?" Dwalin yelled.

"I thought he was with Dori!" exclaimed Gloin, to which Dori protested.

"Don't blame me!"

"But where did you last see him?" Gandalf pleaded to the company, and Nori replied.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us." Maybe he had managed to escape, I prayed. Maybe he was able to get away from the goblins. Even if he did though, he was still stuck in the maze of caves and tunnels in the mountain.

"What happened exactly? Tell me!" The Dwarves looked around at each other, before Thorin spoke up.

"I'll tell you what happened... Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our Hobbit again; he is long gone."

I couldn't believe that after everything, Thorin was still discrediting Bilbo. The Hobbit had willingly given up everything he felt comfortable with to help the Dwarves, and it still wasn't enough for Thorin. I had opened my mouth to say something, but a small voice from behind me spoke first.

"No, he isn't." I spun around to see the blonde-haired Hobbit standing rather awkwardly near a tree close to us. I had no idea when he got there, but I was overcome by relief and happiness to see him alive and okay. Most of the company mirrored my thoughts by shouting in delight, especially Gandalf.

"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Bilbo moved into the presence of the company, and put a hand on Balin's shoulder, who looked overwhelmed with relief at seeing him.

Kili, Fili and Dwalin began to question Bilbo, wondering how he had gotten past the goblins and out of the mountain. I noticed him become nervous and a bit fidgety, laughing the questions off and not answering. I began to wonder; how did he find his way out of the tunnels?

"Well, why does it matter? He's back!" Gandalf exclaimed, looking at Bilbo suspiciously. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Thorin again decided to speak.

"It matters, and I want to know. Why did you come back?" Thorin's tone of voice had changed; it wasn't accusing or angry, but he sounded truly curious. Bilbo just looked at Thorin, and his whole demeanour changed before my eyes. He stood up a little straighter and found his voice which was filled with a confidence I hadn't heard before.

"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."

I could have kissed him for finally standing up to Thorin, and for being so brave. Thorin nodded his head in what looked like respect for the Hobbit; it was almost like I could feel the change in the air. It felt as though Thorin had finally seen the loyalty that Bilbo had been showing, and he had finally accepted him as one of the company.

I saw each of the Dwarves look at Bilbo with expressions of pride, respect and happiness. Even Dwalin looked at him with a hint of a smile on his face. Bilbo was an incredible being, and I swelled in pride at his courage. The Dwarf-King then turned to Josh and myself, his eyes free of the anger that I had seen as an inherit part of Thorin, as his arms or legs were.

"And you two. Why did you come back, even when I left you behind?" I recognised that he was taking sole responsibility for abandoning us, but I didn't know how to sufficiently sum up all my thoughts and emotions and feelings about why we came back to help them. Luckily, Josh answered for both of us.

"Thorin, our home was taken away from us, just like yours was. You have lost loved ones and we have as well. There is more in common between us than you know. Amelia and I want to help you because what you haven't realised, is that you have become not only our friends, but... You've become something like a family in the time that we have known you." I beamed at my brother in pride; I couldn't have said it more simply or beautifully if I had tried.

Thorin nodded at Josh. He was about to say something to us, but before he managed to get even a word out, a howl sounded from the mountain above us. Déjà vu washed over me in remembrance of when we were in the forest with Radagast, and my blood ran cold.

"Out of the frying pan," Thorin muttered, to which Gandalf finished, fear filling his voice.

"…and into the fire."

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