I HOLD NO CLAIMS TO ANY MEMBER OF THIS STORY. Only Miriel, the female dwarves, Ammie, and the female elves are mine :)

In Memory of Christopher Lee. R.I.P.

Chapter Ten

I hate goblins

Ammie thought that she was going to die. The moment the ground opened up beneath them she grabbed ahold of the closest thing to her and scream as loud as she could. Poor Bofur wasn't going to hear right again for a few weeks, he felt. The hole turned out to be a trap that the Goblins in the mountain had laid for unsuspecting victims and the moment the group landed on the ground they were jumped. As the group struggled, Ammie lost track of both Bilbo and Drake as Raniel, Durila, and Lola decided to box the little female hobbit between the three of them. She knew that Bilbo had fallen down with them but to be honest, she hadn't seen Drake since they found the cave. He had been extremely angry after Thorin had hit Raniel; perhaps he had left the cave to get some cool air and calm down. If he had, she prayed that he could find Gandalf and Miriel and come to their rescue once more.

The Goblins were vile, disgusting creatures covered with a thick slime that just made Ammie want to puke as one of them grabbed her and dragged her off behind the dwarves. She had no idea where they were being taken but she got her answer soon enough when he eyes landed on their king. He was even worse than his subordinates. He should have been put out of his misery a long, long time ago.

He sat in the middle of the area, surrounded by thousands and thousands of other goblins; the smell was so strong that Ammie was sure she was going to puke.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" He had moved forward and stared at the dwarves. They all stared back at him. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"

"Dwarves, Your Malevolence," One of the smaller goblins answered him.

"Dwarves?"

"We found them on the Front Porch."

"Well, don't just stand there. Search them! Every crack, every crevice." Ammie didn't like the thought of those Goblins touching her again but Raniel told her to just stay calm and comply. "What are you doing in these parts?" No one moved or answered. "Speak!" Not a sound. "Very well. If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk!" The crowd cheered. "Bring up the mangler! Bring up the bonebreaker! Start with the females!"

Thorin felt a burst of anger pass through him at the sight of one of the creatures laying a hand on Raniel; an anger that he had not felt in quite some time. The thought of any male creature but himself laying a finger on his wife…"Get your hands off of her!" He rushed through the group and landed a fist in the creatures face before turning back to the Goblin King.

The king recognized him right off the back. "Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror…King Under the Mountain." Ammie pulled as face. The goblin was mocking the dwarf. "Oh, but I'm forgetting. You don't have a mountain. And you're not a king…which makes you nobody, really."

"I disagree," Raniel's voice drew the goblin's eyes to her. She hadn't moved from her spot, her foot resting heavily on the face of the goblin that had touched her as she pinned him to the floor beneath them. "Though our castle is no longer ours, our people have made a new home. They still follow me, their queen, and as long as that dwarf there is married to me, he is still king, and your words will do nothing to change that."

"Ahh, Raniel, I should have known that you would be here as well. After this little parasite ran off, leaving you alone, I had thought you had learned your lesson; it seems not. How foolish you dwarves can be…" An idea then popped into his head and broke his face out into a grin. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head; especially for both of yours. Just your head, though, Thorin. I'm afraid he may be more interested in the whole body of that pretty thing there," He grinned at Raniel. He watched as her foot pressed harder, smashing the goblin's head, killing the poor thing. "Such ruthlessness. Yes, a pretty price indeed." His eyes turned back too Thorin, completely ignoring the fact that one of his people were now dead. "Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours. A pale Orc, astride a white Warg."

Ammie watched as both anger and fear passed through Thorin's face. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."

Ammie remembered the story from Moria; hadn't he only cut the Orc's arm off?

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Goblin King grinned and turned to one of the other goblins. "Send word to the pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize."

Ammie watched as the little goblin took off down a rope and glanced at Lula. "What are we going to do?"

"Be patient," The dwarf told her as the Goblin King began to sing while his people brought up the machines he had ordered for earlier. Ammie felt her face grow pale. "Drake will be here soon; get ready to lunge for the weapons, hobbit. We're going to have to fight our way out of here."

Ammie was nervous, yes, but with the announcement that Drake would be back soon she felt better; and he most likely had Gandalf and Miriel with him as well. Now all her worry was left on Bilbo; where had he gone?

Ammie stayed silent as the goblins quivered in fear at Thorin's blade. She gave a cry when the Goblins all jumped on them and began to attack. The whip hit her in the face and she could feel the blood start to drip. With a roar she jumped on the little bastard that had hit her and tried to replay Raniel's foot crush technique but wasn't strong enough; she just pinned it to the ground. Thank God he was such a small little bastard. If it had been one of the bigger ones then there was no doubt in her head that she would have died.

A bright, white light went off from behind them, knocking all the goblins away, revealing just one form standing there.

"Gandalf!" Ammie cried in relief! They were saved!

The wizard gave the Hobbit a nod. "Take up arms. Fight. Fight!" He roared.

Raniel wasted no time and grabbed her sword, whipping out another elven blade that made the Goblin King cry out. Ammie ignored his words as she ttook her own small blade from Bofur and immediately shoved it through the head of the little bastard she had pinned down.

Her hands shook; she had just take a life. It wasn't a bug like in the Shire. This was an actual thing that could talk and…

"Don't zone out now, sweetheart," At the voice she turned to see that Drake had arrived as well, a smile on his face, like always, as he knocked another goblin off the side of the cliff they stood on. Miriel could be seen with her own blade, helping Kili and Lula. "You'll be killing a lot more than just goblins by the time all this is over."

She knew she was right; she could think about this later. They needed to get out of here. As Gandalf began to lead the others away from the Goblins, Ammie felt herself lagging a bit behind the others but Drake stuck firmly by her side, making sure she wasn't attacked.

"I'm not…cut out for this," She breathed, watching ass the dwarves ahead of her laid waste to goblins left and right.

"I disagree," Drake told her, slashing one in half. God, it was like that smile was glued to his face. "The dwarves had been fighting and running like this for years, my dear. You've been doing this for little over a month; you're holding your own quite well. By the times this is over you'll be bragging to everyone back in the shire how great you are and-"

The rest of his words were lost as the Goblin King dropped down in front of the group, halting their path. They were surrounded.

"You thought you could escape me?" He slammed out at Gandalf with his staff, making the old man jump back. "What are you going to do now, Wizard?"

With a growl, Gandalf jumped forward, stabbing the goblin in the eye with his staff before taking his sword and slitting his stomach; the goblin collapsed to his knees. "That'll do it." Gandalf gave a roll of his eyes before slicing the goblin's throat.

The bridge they were on was beginning to collapse under all the weight. Ammie gave a cry aas they fell, sliding on the wood as they traveled down the walls of rock.

"Hang on," Drake laughed, grabbing the hobbit. At cries to their left, Ammie saw that Kili and Lula had grabbed hold of each other as Durila wore a face of fear that mirrored Fili's own. Raniel was at the front of the group with Thorin and Gandalf as Miriel was in the middle with Gloin and Balin.

Still no sign of where Bilbo could be.

As the wooded beams came to a stop, Drake wasted no time in getting Ammie off of them, "Well, that was delightful, wasn't it?"

"Only to you," Durila shot, stumbling off after them.

"Well, that could have been worse." Bofur grunted. Moments later the king body fell ontop of the beams, smashing down onto all who were still on them.

"Haver!" Dwalin cried out among the moans, "You've got to be joking!"

"You just had to say something, didn't you, Bofur?" Lula groaned at her brother.

Miriel shook her head as she and Gandalf shared a laugh.

Kili shouting out Gandalf's name wiped the smiles away. The Goblins were crawling down the wall towards them, clearly wanting revenge for what had happened to their king.

"There's too many," Dwalin said, helping Bifur up. "We can't fight them."

"Only one thing will save us; daylight!" Gandalf told them. "Come on! Here! On your feet!"

Raniel moved after them but a sting in her left leg made her stop. After all of the rock sliding, a damn piece of the wood had decided to pierce through her leg under the goblin king's weight. Go figure.

"Are you alright?" Thorin's voice sounded in her ear; she refused to look at him.

"I'm fine," Gripping the wood she ripped it out of her leg. She would have to deal with the wound later. Going to stand again, weight made her leg throb worse and she stumbled; Thorin caught her. "Let go."

"Hush and let me help you." Raniel chanced a look at his face before glancing away again. Taking that as her agreement, Thorin pulled her arm over his shoulder, wrapped one around her waist, and helped her after the others.

Raniel's mind went blank. She hadn't seen Thorin in years and yet his touch still set fire to her, body and soul. She wondered if she did the same to him…

The sunlight felt wondrous on Ammie's face and as they finally came to a stop she watched as Miriel went to work on Raniel's leg after Thorin nad set her on a boulder. Gandalf set to counting the dwarves before she rushed right to him in panic.

"Gandalf! It's Bilbo! We lost him after the Goblins captured us! He could still be inside!"

"Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it," Thorin growled. "He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing that Hobbit again."

"Well, with the way you treat him it's not hard to see why. What else did you expect him to do?" Drake asked the dwarf. "Especially after seeing how you treat Raniel there."

"No!" Ammie shook her head. "Bilbo didn't leave us. He wouldn't leave me here alone!"

"No, he wouldn't." A voice greeted them and they turned to see Bilbo standing there, breathless from running.

"Bilbo!" Ammie dove into her friend, gripping him tightly. She could feel the tears swelling up but held them in. "I was so worried!"

"Sorry, Ammie," He smiled, gripping her back. "I tried to find a way back up but I ran into a few problems myself."

"Bilbo," Kili smiled. "We'd given you up."

"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked him.

"How, indeed." Dwalin commented.

"The hell guys, who cares! He's safe!" Lula stretched her arms out and shot Thorin a look. "And I believe that someone owes him an apology."

Bilbo waved a hand. "Oh, that's not…not necessary." Gandalf watched as he let go of Ammie and shoved something in his pocket; he gave a frown.

"It matters," Thorin told them. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"

"Several reasons, really," He glanced at Ammie for a moment before looking back at the dwarf. "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," He glanced at Ammie again. "Where we belong. That's home. That's one of the reasons 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. We both will." He smiled at the other Hobbit beside him. Ammie's face shone with a huge smile as all the dwarves looked at them in silence. Gandalf and Miriel exchanged a smile. Lula hurried forward and pulled Bilbo into a tight hug, trying not to cry.

Drake was smiling too. "Not bad for a Halfling."

This merry little moment was brought to an unwatned end, though, at the appearance of Wargs and Orcs. They could hear the howls and growles but the creatures weren't upon them; yet.

"Out of the frying pan," Thorin cursed.

"And into the fire," Gandalf sighed. "Run!"

Slaying a few here and there, the group found themselves stuck to climbing trees on the cliff. Drake, taking a seat on one of the lower branches, began shooting off arrows into the Warg's heads with a chuckle here and there.

"Miriel," The man called to the woman above him. "I don't suppose you could call your brothers this time, do you?"

"Only if we can keep these bastards distracted for a short while," The witch replied.

Drake felt his grin widen as the Orc Riders came into full view. "Leave it to me."

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