Chapter Eleven

"Wake up, little halfling," a voice woke Bilbo from his comfortable sleep.

Bilbo started, eyes snapping open to see the servant of the elf-lady Mirilas standing over him. The elf stood up straight as the hobbit peered at him as if waiting for him to be fully awake.

"Good morning, Bilbo," a lyrical, soothing voice called from the other side of the room. Sitting beside a table was the elf-lady from the night before, calmly nibbling on an apple.

"Good morning, my Lady," Bilbo said in return, sitting up to regain his bearings.

"Everyone should still be asleep from last night's festivities. We should be able to get you to the dwarves with few difficulties," she said, standing to walk over. Rest had clearly done the elf-lady much good as she could walk unaided this morning, though her gait was slow and seemed to be tiring her quickly. She certainly seemed to recuperate quickly.

"We?" Bilbo asked as he realized what she had said. Did she intend to take him to the dwarves?

"Feren and I," Mirilas clarified lightly as she handed him another apple from the table beside her. "This way."

The two elves led Bilbo through the corridors deeper into the caverns, keeping a slow enough pace that the much shorter hobbit could easily keep up and not tire out Mirilas. In less time than the hobbit would have thought, they had reached the end of the stairs. This was not, however, the cells.

The two elves paused on the stairs, ushering Bilbo forward into the room. Racks and racks of wine lined the walls, suggesting that this was the cellar. At a table in the middle of the room, four elves were passed out, each smelling heavily of wine.

Bilbo glanced back to the elves, unsure of why he was in the cellars rather than with the dwarves. In answer, Mirilas pointed silently to a hook on the far wall. The keys to the cells were hung on that hook as though waiting for Bilbo to come and take them. How could this be so easy?

Feren shot his lady a knowing look upon realising that Elros, the Keeper of the Keys, and Galion, the steward were drunk. She had known that Galion would convince Elros and the two guards of the cells to drink for Merethen Giliath. This would make the dwarves' escape much easier.

The keys clinked as Bilbo crossed the cellars back to the stairs, drawing Feren's attention away from his lady briefly. He nodded to the hobbit and gestured back up the stairs before beginning to help his lady climb the stairs.

Feren and Mirilas led Bilbo up the stairs to the only passage leading to the cells. There, they stopped. The hobbit stopped behind them, thinking someone was coming. Before he could dig the Ring out of his pocket and slip it on, Mirilas placed a soft hand on his shoulder and said quietly though resolutely, "Your dwarves are up there."

Bilbo nodded and said gratefully, "Thank you, my Lady, for all you've done."

"It was no trouble, Bilbo. Now, go. Free them," Mirilas said, urging the hobbit onward. Mirilas took Feren's arm again, thinking to begin the trek back to her room for a few more hours of rest.

"Wait," Bilbo said suddenly, stopping them.

Mirilas turned to peer at the hobbit expectantly.

"How do we get out?" Bilbo asked as his anxiety showed on his face.

"There is a lever in the cellars. It opens a hatch to the river. The river flows out of the forest to the lake. From there, you will see the Mountain," Mirilas explained patiently.

Bilbo nodded again and said, "Thank you."

"Go free your friends, Bilbo. Good luck," Mirilas said gently, offering the hobbit a reassuring smile.

Bilbo nodded at the two elves. Then, he hurried up the stairs to the cells and began to unlock them one by one.

Feren could hear the dwarves' whoops and hollers of joy as he began to help his lady back up the stairs. He sighed, hoping this whole affairs could be put behind them so that life in the Woodland Realm could return to normal.

Before they had gone far up the stairs, they heard heavy footsteps tromping down the stairs toward him. Feren immediately stopped, laying a hand on Mirilas's arm to stop her. If they did not move, the dwarves would likely not notice them. Soon enough, a young dwarf appeared from the passage to the cells. The dwarf glanced down the stairs before turning to make his way up the stairs, right toward them.

The young dwarf stopped, staring wide-eyed at the pair of elves that had been standing just around the corner from the Company. "Who are you?" he asked timidly, sounding confused.

Two more dwarves came running, having noticed their brother's error in direction and wishing to keep him from getting lost and revealing their escape to the elves. As they, too, saw the pair of elves, the red-haired dwarf called back to the Company, "Thorin!"

Feren turned to his lady in worry. She shook her head at him with wide eyes, hoping to communicate that they could not call the guards. Not only would this situation be much too hard to explain, but the dwarves would not escape.

Meanwhile, more dwarves came down the stairs to find the elves. A couple demanded such things as, "Who is she?!" and "What do we do?!"

Hearing this, Bilbo hurried back down the stairs. The dwarves must have found the elves! If he could get to them, he could stop the dwarves from doing something irrational. "She's-" he began to call from the back of the group of dwarves.

"Take her!" Thorin commanded over all the fuss.

"What?!" Bilbo nearly shrieked, not believing what Thorin was doing. She was an elf lady! They were unarmed! They posed no threat to the dwarves' escape! What were they doing?!

"Uncle-" Kili tried to protest as Dwalin stepped up the stairs toward the elves to grab the elf princess.

Just as Dwalin's hand closed around the elf lady's forearm, a flash of light burst out from Mirilas' hand, sending Dwalin flying away from her into the other dwarves. Feren took this opportunity to step in front of Mirilas, pulling a long dagger from a hidden pocket of his robes.

The dwarves that had not been bowled over by Dwalin's descent stepped back from the elves warily. Despite not having weapons, they would attempt to do as Thorin had commanded.

Behind her servant and defender, Mirilas slumped on the stairs, having used all the energy she had regained in these last days in that spell. She could no longer stand, let alone run from the dwarves. She would just have to wait and hope.

Bofur tried to push his way toward the head of the Company, hoping he could stop his fellows from hurting the two elves. He had noticed that neither of them had taken action until the dwarves had threatened them. He hoped that if they just left, the elves would not do anything to them, like call the guards.

Standing along the far wall, Balin surveyed the scene grimly. This was unexpected. He had hoped that Bilbo would turn up and help them escape, but having Thranduil's daughter turn up was not a situation he had considered, let alone Thorin deciding to kidnap her. The Thorin he knew would not have done this, regardless of him thinking she was his One.

Within a minute, the dwarves had wrestled the dagger from the elf servant's hand. As Feren continued to struggle against them, Fili grabbed the elf's shoulders and shoved him down the stairs. The elf went tumbling, hitting his head as he hit the landing. Feren slumped at the feet of Thorin, clearly unconscious.

Mirilas looked down at the dwarves in terror. There was nothing stopping them from taking her with them against her will.

The large, muscular dwarf that she had knocked down the stairs moved toward her again, this time throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before brushing the fabric of her grey gown out of his face. She was too weak to do much more than lay there helplessly.

"Which way, Bilbo?" the leader demanded.

"Th-this way," Bilbo stuttered out, still watching the elf lady over Dwalin's shoulder with guilt flooding through him.

"Lead on," Thorin said, clapping his hand on Bilbo's shoulder.

Bilbo sighed in resignation and led the dwarves down to the cellars and the hatch to the river.