A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I'm back with another update, so I hope you all enjoy!
The company tumbled over one another and rolled until they all hit something hard. Quin let out an oof as she felt someone fall on her, and she opened her eyes to come face to face with Thorin. He was breathing heavily and had landed with one of his knees between her legs. She was unable to move, held frozen by his icy blue eyes. His body was pressed flush against her in the small confines of the cage they had been dumped in, and she felt its warmth through all their layers.
He shifted to give her room to breathe, and his knee moved slightly, rubbing up against her. She let out an involuntary whimper as she shivered with the jolt of pleasure, and looked up to see Thorin's eyes darken. Quin blushed deeply but couldn't seem to look away.
"Incoming!" Dwalin shouted, shocking the both of them back into reality. They stumbled up just to be attacked by a horde of goblins. Quin tried to pull her sword, but there were too many of them, and they ripped her hand away before she could do anything. She kicked and screamed as they dragged her and the others away, down some rickety wooden bridge. Quin was panicking, looking for escape routes, attempting to strategize while a group of ugly goblins had their claws all over her. A few hands had wandered, and she immediately sucker punched one in its ugly face. That just earned her a hard smack in return, however, and felt her cut lip with her tongue, tasting blood.
Eventually, they came upon a large wooden platform that beheld a huge goblin with a makeshift crown. He bounded from his throne, causing the floor to shake from the weight.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" The Great Goblin's eyes bulged suspiciously at the lot.
"Dwarves, Your Malevolence. And a human woman." A shriveled goblin said with a whiny voice.
"Dwarves? Human?" The Great Goblin was having a hard time keeping up.
"We found them on the front porch."
"What kind of front porch opens up to a cage?" Quin muttered to herself.
"Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack," The goblin grinned lasciviously at Quin. "Every crevice."
Quin struggled as the goblins surrounded them, taking all their hidden weapons. So many hands were groping her, she couldn't tell who was doing it. She screamed angrily and flailed, trying to hit some of them with her feet. Thorin was yelling her name above the roar. Finally, they stopped, and Quin was held only by her hands and feet. She was breathing heavy and shaking, her heart pounding in her ears with her fury.
"Now, what are you doing in these parts? Speak!" The Great Goblin shouted. No one said anything, knowing full well it was better to keep silent.
The Great Goblin clapped. "Well then, if they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker! Start with her." The Goblin leaned down and got close to Quin's face, his putrid stench making her gag. He leered at her. "I bet she's a screamer." His lewd implications had the other goblins cackling.
She simply smiled and spat a globule of blood in his face, which she'd collected in her mouth from the cut. He roared and reared back, slapping her. However, his hand was so large, her head snapped back from the hit, her vision went black for a moment, and a trickle of blood came gushing from her nose. Over the ringing in her ear, she heard Thorin cursing loudly at the Goblin.
"Dwarf whore! You won't be so spirited when your bones are breaking!" The King made to hit her again, but Thorin roared.
"WAIT!"
The Great Goblin turned and grinned. "Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thrór; King under the Mountain." He mockingly bowed to Thorin, who simply glared with hatred burning in his eyes.
"Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody, really." Malice laced his laughter. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak? He's an old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc astride a White Warg."
Quin gasped and looked to Thorin, who just stared disbelievingly at the Goblin King. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago." He said through gritted teeth.
"So, you think his defiling days are done, do you?" He laughed again and looked Quin up and down. "I'm sure he's got a little bit left in him for you, whore."
She hissed at him, which he ignored. The Great Goblin turned to another puny goblin sitting in a makeshift basket and holding a writing pad of some sort.
"Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize." He bared his teeth at Quin. "And a little extra, if it pleases him. As I'm sure it will."
The goblin wrote this down and cackled, shooting off into the darkness on his rope attachment.
The Goblin King clapped his hands together. "Now then! Where were we?" He gestured to the goblins, who were rolling in massive structures that looked to be torture devices. Quin was having a hard time seeing out of her left eye, as it was swelling rapidly from the strike earlier. She knew it would be a black eye, and cursed the Great Goblin out loud. He was singing about their deaths. She looked to Thorin who was staring at her with great distress.
At that moment, one of the goblins picked up Thorin's sword from the ground and unsheathed it a bit. At the sight of Orcrist, the goblin shrieked and flung it to the ground. All the goblins fled from the sight of it. The Goblin King looked terrified.
"I know that sword! It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks!" All the goblins began going crazy, attacking the company with tooth and nail, using any means to draw blood. Quin was screaming as she saw Thorin go down, and struggled fiercely to no avail as claw after claw sliced her skin.
"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!" The Goblin King pointed to Thorin, and Quin watched in horror as a goblin pulled out a long knife and approached the dwarf king to behead him.
"Thorin! NO!" She yelled and shouted, anything to prevent his death. Yet she could not reach him, no matter how hard she struggled. She was struck and bitten and groped, but she could feel none of it as her attention was only on Thorin. The blade was pressed to Thorin's throat, and Quin couldn't tear her eyes away.
Suddenly, a massive explosion of white light surrounded them, knocking all of them, company and goblin, on their backs. Quin opened her eyes and attempted to stand on wobbly legs, looking around frantically for the source. She nearly cried with relief as she saw the familiar pointed hat of Gandalf, who was running at them wielding his staff and sword.
"Take up arms! Fight! Fight!" He shouted.
Quin jumped up and spun around, spotting Frostfire laying underneath an unconscious goblin. She kicked the goblin over the edge of the platform and tied Frostfire around her belt. Looking around, she quickly gathered her other weapons and then unsheathed her sword, slashing at any who came near her. She was a foe to be reckoned with, fueled by the anger of seeing Thorin almost beheaded and being taken advantage of. The Goblin King shrieked, and Quin looked up from her killing spree to see him suddenly fearful of Gandalf's blade.
"He wields the Foe-Hammer, the Beater, bright as daylight!"
"We don't need the introduction, ugly bastard!" Quin surged forward and planted a swift kick to the Goblin King's groin, who doubled over in pain. She quickly turned around as more goblins came forward to defend their king, but she easily fended them off. What she didn't see was the Goblin King raise up behind her, giant mace in hand.
"Quin!" Thorin's voice to her right made her look up and see him race over to her, blocking the Goblin King's mace as it came down above her, aimed towards her head. Her eyes widened as Thorin knocked the Great Goblin over, causing him to stumble and fall over the edge screaming.
Thorin stood by her side with a nod, prepared to fight with her. Gandalf shouted above the commotion.
"Follow me. Quick! Run!"
They didn't have to be told twice, and soon the entire company was sprinting through the cavern pathways, slaughtering any goblin that chose the wrong day to take up arms. Quin was near the back of the line of dwarves, swiftly and effectively cutting down the goblins that got too close. Dwalin and some of the other dwarves picked up a long post of wood and used it like a spear as they ran, shoving off the goblins that charged. The company stopped and cleared a crowd of goblins that were waiting for them, but all looked up with dread to see more on the opposite side of the chasm waiting to swing over.
"Cut the ropes!" Thorin shouted, using Orcrist to cut one of them. The platform above them shook, and all the dwarves caught on to his plan, slicing through all the ropes. The scaffolding leaned and tumbled just as the goblins began swinging to their side, causing them to get tangled and wrap around the falling platform. Quin hardly had time to catch her breath before they were running again. Kili was in front of her and used his sword to deflect an arrow coming straight for her. He blocked another. She took out her bow and as the next one came toward her she caught it in midair, nocking it and firing it straight between the eyes of the goblin. Kili looked at her appreciatively before grabbing a ladder and forcing it over the heads of the goblins near them, using them as momentum to shove more away.
They neared a break in the path, but Kili and the other dwarves simply dropped the ladder to become the bridge, crossing over it quickly. Quin made sure to step lightly and efficiently, and got across without difficulty. They continued on, the last dwarf making sure to release the ladder so other goblins couldn't cross.
Suddenly Gandalf was leading them, and they stopped as the wooden platform ended into an open chasm. Quin looked up to see the ropes attached to a sort of pulley, and made eye contact with Thorin, who smirked before chopping the rope next to him, sending them and the platform swinging to the other side.
"JUMP!" Dwalin yelled, and Quin felt someone shove her onto the stable ground. She looked back to see Thorin watching her intensely as the platform swung away again, allowing more goblins to climb on. As it swung back toward the rest of the company, the dwarves made one last leap, Fili cutting free the platform as he jumped. The young dwarf landed on the edge and teetered dangerously. Quin caught him by the armor and yanked him away from the embankment.
He grinned at her. "Thanks, Quin." She smirked back.
"Just don't expect me to save your ass all the time."
Laughter followed as they began running again. Nearing a corner, Gandalf used his staff to dislodge a giant boulder from the stone ceiling above. The company began pushing it, running down any goblin in their path. Goblin after goblin they killed, and soon Quin was covered even more in their black blood. The goblins thinned out and she was surprised to soon see no one in their path. They neared a wooden bridge and made to cross it, but the wood splintered in front of them as the Goblin King reared his ugly head from the hole. Goblins began surrounding them, and Quin was quickly losing hope of escape.
"You thought you could escape me?" He laughed menacingly. He swung his mace twice, almost hitting Gandalf, who stumbled back into the arms of Ori and Nori.
"What are you going to do now, wizard?" He asked.
Gandalf glared and stepped forward, quickly jabbing the Goblin King in the eye with his staff, who cried out in pain. While distracted, Gandalf swung Glamdring, slicing open the Great Goblins belly, which instantly ran black as blood poured out.
"That'll do it." The Goblin stated calmly. With a shout, Gandalf sliced open the Goblin's neck, causing him to slump forward heavily. The bridge shook beneath them and suddenly gave way. They all yelled as they fell, and Quin lost her footing as the bridge met the cliffside. She tripped and almost fell over the side, but strong arms grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back. Quin looked and saw Thorin gripping her to him tightly as they fell. She thought they were dead, so she shut her eyes tightly.
They all landed on the hard stone, grunting in pain as they tried to rid themselves of debris. Quin had rolled a few feet away, and tried to get on her knees, only to cry out in pain. She looked down at her abdomen to see a long shard of wood sticking out of it. Quin knew pulling it out would mean blood loss, so she kept it in, groaning as she stood. The other dwarves were amidst piles of wood, grumbling to themselves.
"Well, that could have been worse." Bofur remarked. Suddenly, the corpse of the Goblin King fell on top of them, causing the dwarves to yell in pain.
"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin said between pants. Quin limped over and helped pull a few out, the others doing it themselves. Soon they were all standing and alive, dusting off their clothes.
"Gandalf!" Kili's shout caused them all to turn toward his line of sight, only to see a swarm of goblins coming down the cliffside toward them.
"There's too many! We can't fight them!" Dwalin yelled.
"Daylight, Gandalf!" Quin shouted, and the wizard nodded, gesturing to the others.
"Come on!" They were running again, but soon came upon a tunnel. Quin could see the light of day shining in small slivers and she ran impossibly faster, dying for a breath of fresh air. Finally, they broke through the door onto the mountainside, only stopping when they could no longer see the entrance to the goblin caves. She knew the goblins would not follow into day, for it burned their skin. The company was panting, and Gandalf began counting off the members.
"Five, six, seven, eight...Bifur, Bofur...that's ten...Fili, Kili...that's twelve...and Bombur that makes thirteen. Where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit? Where is our Hobbit?!"
Quin stood quickly, making her wince with the wood still in her side, but she ignored it as she searched around frantically. "Bilbo! I haven't seen him the whole time we were captured!"
"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin accused.
"Don't blame me!" Dori responded gruffly.
"Where did you last see him?!" Gandalf demanded.
Nori spoke up. "I think I saw him slip away, when they first cornered us."
"What?! When? Where could he have gone?!" Quin asked, a panicked look in her eyes. She feared greatly for Bilbo, for he was no fighter. She only prayed he would be stealthy enough to somehow sneak past the goblins. A tear slid down her dirty cheek as she worried for her friend.
"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." Thorin spat, not seeing the sorrowful expression on Quin's face.
She spun around instantly to face him. "Don't you dare talk about Bilbo that way!" She growled, making Thorin's eyes widen as he took in her fierce appearance mixed in with her tearful face. "He risked life and limb to help you take back Erebor! He could be dead for all we know and you would stand here and insult him?!" She got in his face, poking him with a firm finger. His jaw clenched but she could see the apologetic look in his eyes. Quin backed off, knowing if she went any further she would say something she regretted.
The dwarves looked between each other, a bit embarrassed at witnessing her outburst of emotion, towards their future king no less.
"Please, Bilbo, be alright. I swear if you're dead I'm going to kill you." She muttered to the sky.
"I'm not dead." Bilbo said as he stepped out from behind a tree. Quin let out a sob as she ran over to embrace him, but not very tight as she cried out in pain from the wood shard. Bilbo released her and looked up into her eyes.
"Quin! What's wrong?!" He questioned.
She tried to smile, but half her face was still swollen, so it made it difficult. "Nothing, Bilbo. Just a little sore is all." She hid her injury from the Hobbit, not wanting to worry him. She would mend it later, and all would be fine.
"Bilbo, we'd given you up!" Kili said from behind them, and some of the other dwarves voiced their agreements.
"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked. Bilbo laughed nervously and shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. Quin noticed him dodge the question and looked at him suspiciously.
"Well, what does it matter? He's back!" Gandalf said, clapping Bilbo on the back. Quin made eye contact with Gandalf, wondering why the wizard would help Bilbo avoid any interrogating, but the wizard simply shook his head. Ah. So, he knew something the others didn't about Bilbo. That made Quin worry, but she ignored it for now.
"It matters! I want to know. Why did you come back?" Thorin asked, much less menacingly after he cast a quick glance at Quin. So he was feeling guilty, Quin thought. Good.
"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." He smiled sadly. "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." Bilbo said genuinely, making Quin and the others smile. He was going to finish their journey. That thought made Quin happier than she had felt in a while, no matter the trauma they had just gone through.
Their joy was short lived as they all heard multiple howls fill the air around them.
"Out of the frying pan…" Thorin began.
"… and into the fire! Run! RUN!" Gandalf shouted. They all began sprinting down the mountain, but Quin was becoming slower. The adrenaline had all but left her body, and pain and exhaustion were setting in. The wood in her side twisted with every step, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from yelling. The Wargs were coming in close behind, but Quin dared not turn around to look, for fear of falling. She prayed to Eru they would survive, that they would live to see the morning.
A/N: Well, there was the goblin tunnels scene! I really enjoyed writing it because it was so intense, and it kind of establishes Quin's desperation and makes her realize how much she cares about the company. Anyway, enough of me chatting. Thanks for reading!