The Hobbit: An unexpected journey

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit, I only own Nàin.

Chapter 11

The cave they had found was quite large and didn't seem to lead further into the mountain, meaning that the Dwarves only had to stay alert at the entrance of the cave. If anyone was to attack them, it was going to be from there.

"Let's start a fire!" said Gloin, earning approving grunts from the rest of the company as everyone was tired and exhausted from their run-in with the Stone Giants, not to mention that it was late at night by now.

The rain outside had subdued but there still was an occasional vibration from the thunder that by now was far away from the mountains. Though this didn't help the company as they already were soaked. Where the Stone Giants were now, no one knew. Most of the company simply hoped that they were far away and that they wouldn't run into them the next day when their journey through the mountains continued.

"No, don't," said Thorin, his deep voice echoing against the cave walls. "No fire."

The company all looked at him with curious eyes. All they wanted and needed was a warm fire to warm them up before they got some well-deserved rest. Nodding his head, Gloin sat down again. Why not? wondered Nàin.

She slowly lowered herself to the ground next to Kili and Fili, wrapping her cold arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. "Are you hurt?" asked Kili, looking at her.

"No…" she said, shaking her head. "Just exhausted and… shocked."

"Tell me about it…" scoffed Kili. "I thought that was only a legend, the Stone Giants. Never even dreamed about it being true." A drop of water ran down his forehead and slid down onto his nose.

Nàin hummed in agreement before sighing as she shivered. "It's cold here and we're all wet. Why aren't we allowed to start a fire, Thorin?"

"The cave doesn't lead anywhere. There aren't any inhibitors," said Balin as everybody looked at Thorin for answers.

Though, they didn't get any. "Just… don't start a fire."

..::**::..

Nàin slept peacefully in between the wall and Kili. Her back was warm from Kili's body heat as their bodies almost touched. She was dreaming about Rivendell. A warm and relaxing dream about her simply staring at the Waterfalls, Bilbo next to her. However, she was awoken when a tiny stone fell down on her face. She gasped and was about ready to punch whoever had just awoken her in the face, when she realized that it had simply fallen down from the ceiling. She stared at it for a while as it lay next to her face, her eyelids slowly feeling heavier and heavier.

"Where do you think you're going?" whispered Bofur's voice from the entrance of the cave where he was seated, having the first watch.

Suddenly, a small flicker of light made her open her eyes widely again. It had come from the bottom of the cave wall where a small crack was now visible. But only because there now was light on the other side of the wall. It looked like the light of a torch, but she wasn't a hundred percent sure.

"Back to Rivendell," replied Bilbo's voice in a hushed tone.

She propped herself up on her elbow and shifted closer to the wall, accidentally kicking Kili on his butt which caused him to groan in his sleep, but not wake up.

"You can't turn back now! You're part of the company. You're one of us," said Bofur's voice, this time a little louder.

As she looked through the crack, she felt a draft and a horrible smell coming through it. The smell was familiar to her as it had been all over the cave earlier when they had arrived there. However, it hadn't been that horrible and she quickly retreated her nose from the crack. Instead, she watched the light flicker, a strange feeling of uneasiness filling her stomach.

"I'm not now, am I? Thorin said I should never have come and he was right," said Bilbo's voice, making Nàin turn her head and look at Bilbo instead, her heart dropping at his words.

Nàin saw that Thorin was awake. He stared straight at her with an unreadable look on his face.

"Should never have run out of my door," said Bilbo, almost turning around but stopped as Bofur continued talking.

"You're homesick. I understand-"

"No! You don't," said Bilbo, clearly not amused.

Nàin lay down again on her back this time, her arm pressed against Kili's back. She continued listening to their conversation, not noticing the light becoming brighter and brighter.

"None of you do!" Bilbo continued. "You're Dwarves! You're used to this! To living on the road and never settling in one place! Not belonging anywhere!" said Bilbo, his words going straight to Nàin's heart and making her wish that she hadn't been awake to hear that.

He was saying the truth. Dwarves barely knew what it was like to actually settle down somewhere for a lifetime as their home was taken from them. The younger Dwarves had never known what it was like to have a home that was completely theirs at all. They had never gotten the chance to know because of the dragon. This was their reason for taking back Erebor. Not because of the gold and the riches that was in there, but of the fact that it was their home. The one place where they belonged.

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't…" said Bilbo, his voice hushed and full of regret about what he had just said.

"No, you're right. We don't belong anywhere," said Bofur with a sad tone to his voice. "I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do. What's that?"

Curiously, Nàin opened her eyes and was about to look over Kili's body and at Bilbo and Bofur, wondering what Bofur had seen when her eyes caught something else. The flickering of a light. It came from the crack she had been looking at earlier however, the light was now much brighter than earlier.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking underneath of them, causing even more tiny stones to fall on Nàin's head. She started shaking Kili awake shouting loudly for everybody to wake up just like Thorin who sat up as well.

As something started to move the sand that lay over the ground of the cave, Nàin searched the cave for Fili, finding him as he started making his way over to Kili and Nàin with a worried look on his face. He stretched out his hand towards them as the ground opened like a hatch, letting them all slide down into a deep hole…

..::**::..

The landing would've been hard and painful for her if it hadn't been for Nàin falling on top of Nori. She apologized to him the moment she did but soon realized that it would've been hard not to fall on any member of the company as they had all fallen in a heap in some kind of giant basket placed at the edge of a wooden bridge located inside the mountain. Nori himself had in fact landed on some of the other members of the company too.

"Get up!" exclaimed Dori as he was the first one to notice a pack of ugly looking creatures running their way with torches and weapons in their hands.

Quickly jumping off of Nori and landing on the wooden bridge they had landed on, Nàin drew her sword. The others did the same as her, most of them shifting so that they were standing in front of her, Bilbo and Ori.

The moment those creatures reached them and the Dwarves started attacking, they were overwhelmed by the amount of them. They didn't hurt any of the company too much but they didn't waste any time on grabbing any weapon that the Dwarves were holding up before grabbing the company with rough and sweaty hands. As Nàin hadn't let go of her sword so easily, the creatures – that Nàin now easily could identify as Goblins now that they were closer to her – had slapped her hands with whips until she let it go. When she did, the Goblins didn't grab her sword but instead grabbed her arms and held her steady, her sword falling down the dark pit that was underneath of them.

The Goblins started pushing the company forward as they all, screaming and laughing, kept on holding them steadily and whipping them with their whips whenever they tried to get out of their grasp. The smell that Nàin had smelled earlier was explained as she looked around herself and noticed that they were in a Goblin Town.

As the Goblins kept pushing them forward over the wooden bridge, one of the Goblins that held her arms in a tight grasp got a little handsy and put its hand on top of Nàin's breast. A fiery rage, that Dwarven women were rumored to have, exploded inside of her as she took out one of her daggers that hung from the belt around her waist and stabbed it in the eye of the handsy Goblin before pushing it over the edge. It let out a loud scream of agony as she did and immediately the other Goblins reacted violently, punching her arms in order for her to drop her dagger. When she did, they ended with a blow to her stomach which left her doubled over before she fell to her knees. They lifted her shirt up and removed the remaining daggers from her body before forcing her up on her feet again.

"Let her be!" called the other Dwarves while they were forced to walk again, the Goblins paying no attention to their calls and simply pushing them forward more fiercely instead.

When a loud noise was heard, the Goblins all shushed a little with their screaming and laughing, but didn't stop their rude behavior. Some of the Dwarves covered their ears because of the loud noise and thus didn't hear the beginning of the song that was being played by the Goblins. It baffled Nàin that Goblins were civilized enough to actually sing together. She noticed that they now had indeed entered the Goblin Town as she saw multiple more bridges hanging over the dark pit. In the side of the mountain, homes had been made according to the Goblins and everywhere torches were lit.

When the Goblins stopped pushing the Dwarves forward, they noticed a larger Goblin standing before them. The Goblins still held them in place but let the Dwarves stand before the larger Goblin, making it clear that this was their leader. The leader had fat hanging from all around and he looked as though he had seen better days. His chin was a long piece of skin that dangled as he moved even the slightest.

"Clap snap, be black crack! Grib, grab, pinch and nab! Batter and beat! Make 'em stammer and squeak! Pound, pound far underground! Down, down, down in Goblin Town!" sang the Goblin King. The Goblins surrounding the Dwarves all repeated the last sung words of the king before he continued, dancing as well. "With a swish and smack and a whip and a crack! Everybody talks when their on my rack! Pound, pound far underground! Down, down, down in Goblin Town! Hammer and tongs, get out your knockers and gongs! You won't last long on the end of my prongs! Crash, clash, crush and smash! Bang, break, shiver and shake! You can yammer and yelp but there aint no help! Pound, pound underground! Down, down, down in Goblin town!"

As the song ended, the king walked up to sit on a wooden chair that resembled a Goblin throne. He held a stick in his hand with skulls placed on it and an odd looking crown was on his head. The few pieces of hair that were on his head were greasy and he used a pile of Goblins as a sort of ramp in order to get up on his throne. Once he was seated, he eyed the Dwarves curiously, causing the company to feel rather uncomfortable.

"Catchy, isn't it?" said the king, breaking the silence as he smirked at them. "It's one of my own, compositions."

"That's not a song… that's an abomination!" exclaimed Balin from behind Nàin, the rest of the company agreeing with shouts of "aye!"

"Abomination, mutations, deviations… That's all you're going to find down here," said the king, not bothered by the insult.

Two Goblins walked forward with all the Dwarves' weapon in their arms before they threw them on the floor in front of their king. The Goblin king jumped down from his throne again.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" asked the king, spitting slightly as he said these words.

"Dwarves, your highness," said one of the Goblins who had brought forwards the weapons.

"Dwarves?" repeated the king.

"We found them on the front porch," said the Goblin, causing Nàin to raise her eyebrows.

That was a door? she thought to herself.

"Well, don't just stand there. Search them!" said the king before the Goblins all started to search the Dwarves for any kind of jewelry.

The two Goblins that held Nàin quickly tore the necklace around her neck off of her along with the bracelet that Maybeline had given to her. She protested by trying her best to hurt the Goblins, either with punches, kicks or by scratching. However, none of it worked as the Goblins simply grabbed her arms and averted her kicks the best they could.

"Filthy creatures! Get of me!" said Nàin as she once again started kicking. This time, she managed to kick one of the Goblins on the shin before she pushed the other Goblin that held her away from her, causing her to stumble backwards and into Thorin. He quickly placed his arm around her waist and held her close to her, glaring at the Goblins who tried to move and grab her again.

"What are you doing in these paths?" asked the Goblin king, though nobody answered. "Very well! If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring up the Langler! Bring up the Bone Breaker!"

At this Nàin's eyes widened at the same time as Thorin's grip around Nàin tightened. Nàin knew that those were names for torture machines.

"Start with the female!" ordered the king, pointing his big finger at Nàin.

Thanks for reading! I will write more tomorrow or even tonight! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)