A/N: Hope you enjoy! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed last time, I really appreciate it! :)
How the dwarves had managed to get themselves captured yet again was beyond Bilbo. He followed the group trying to keep as quiet as possible, while at the same time somehow keeping up. Honestly, the lot of them… how they had thought they would make it to Erebor without him was beyond his understanding.
He was busy cursing them under his breath when his barefeet suddenly hit cool stone and he froze, confused. Then, belatedly, he realized that they were being lead into the kingdom and if he didn't move (quickly, quickly, he wasn't going to make it) the doors would be shut on him and they'd all be out of luck.
He thought, for just a moment, that the quest was going to end here, but he managed to duck around the elven prince, the one the fiery elf had called… Legolas he thought. Didn't matter. He'd gotten inside.
The door slammed shut behind him with a sense of finality.
And he realized...
He was inside.
Now what in the world was he supposed to do?
Eventually he followed the dwarves down the twisting and turning pathways, trying to blend into the shadows despite the fact that he was invisible. He had to keep reminding himself the the ring did not, in fact, make him unnoticeable, and he had to be careful of how much sound he made.
It still astounded him how he managed to discover this tiny gold circle held that much power. He'd escaped the first cocoon, was hiding behind a tree, when something whispered to him that maybe… maybe he should just try the ring. Wouldn't hurt if it didn't do anything, but a ring, that he'd found in the goblin tunnels… who knew who had dropped it there?
Luckily, he was a hobbit who was willing to try all options that could potentially save his skin, so he'd slipped it on his middle finger, stifling a gasp when the color had bled from the world and he'd realized that the spiders couldn't actually see him any longer.
Obviously that had been a huge advantage against a group of massive arachnids, and it proved to be useful now.
The company, none of whom would stop struggling mind you, were eventually led to what looked like a throne room. It was only after he did a quick head count to see if anyone had accidentally been left behind that he noticed Thorin missing from the group.
It would be just like him to get lost in the wood. His sense of direction was atrocious.
He noticed Bofur and Ori exchanging a quick flurry of conversation in which Bilbo recognized his name. They were probably worried about what had happened to him, and while that warmed his heart, he hoped none of the elves would wonder where he'd gotten off too. That could prove problematic.
"Why have you come here?" a regal voice drawled from a distance away.
The hobbit looked up, surprised to see a throne settled across the room from them, a tall elf cloaked in silver with a crown of branches on his head sitting in it.
"King Thranduil," Balin inclined his head a sign of respect, his voice dry and cracked from dehydration, "We were simply passing through."
The elf snorted, "Simply passing through they say… Search them and leave them with just their tunics, if you'd be so kind."
"What offense have we committed?" Balin protested as the small group of elves who had led them in began to snatch at jackets.
"Trespassing, dwarf," King Thranduil snapped, "Be thorough, I don't want them to have any means of escape."
Bilbo half expected Fili or Kili to shift and attach the elf, but both kept their heads down, fists clenched at their sides.
"Bring them to their cells. I'll question them individually when the time comes. For now, I'll be dealing with their leader."
"Thorin?" Dwalin snarled, "What've you done with him, you bastard?!"
"I have done nothing, and nor will I," the King straightened his robes, brushing invisible dust off his boots.
"You'd better not touch him!" Kili's head had shot up at the mention of his uncle, "We haven't done anything to deserve this treatment-"
"You've done plenty. Take them away."
The brunette's face turned thunderous as he glared at their jailer, lips pulled back as he growled.
Bilbo waited for Fili to grab his brother, to do something to get him under control, but the blonde kept his energy focused on hindering the elf guard who was still pulling daggers out from hidden places. He wondered why for a moment before he figured out that showing familial ties or friendship was not a good idea when you were faced with someone who wanted information from one of you.
With a flick of Thranduil's hand, the dwarves were being pushed and shoved down various hallways, deliberately separated. There was a brief moment of panic when Bilbo waited for Dori to start throwing punches as he was brought down a different corridor than Ori; Bifur was being ushered a direction all alone, and Fili and Kili were brought to completely opposite ends of the dungeon, but somehow the entire company stayed silent and uncooperative.
How in the world was he supposed to find all of them again? He couldn't follow everyone at once!
Eventually he just decided to follow the elf with the brightest hair- she was the easiest to see in the gloom. It took him a minute or two to figure out she and the other guard had been entrusted with Kili and Oin, the former blatantly flirting as they walked the short distance to their cells.
"Aren't you going to search me?" the brunette asked in front of his prison, "I could have anything down my trousers."
Bilbo almost groaned aloud if it hadn't meant he would have been caught.
"Or nothing," the female elf raised and eyebrow and slammed the door shut.
What was it with Kili and elves? His uncle must be furious.
As she walked away, a look that was both a smirk and resignation was on his face until she turned the corner and it collapsed into exhaustion. He seemed to only now remember how hungry he was, how thirsty, and it wasn't more than a minute later that he spoke up again.
"Oin?" he asked, his voice soft.
There was no answer, probably because the elves had taken the older dwarf's ear trumpet.
Kili hesitated for a moment, clearly wanting to make sure there were no elves in the vicinity before he called a little louder, "Fili? Thorin?"
Again, only silence. Bilbo wasn't sure where either of the other two members of the dwarf's family were, but they were too far away to be able to hear.
When the young dwarf settled against the rock wall with a despondent glare at the floor, Bilbo made up his mind.
"No, no, neither your brother or uncle is nearby, but I can try to find them and carry a message if you would like, " Bilbo whispered after he slipped the ring off.
"Bilbo?!" Kili's head shot up, and he stood, rushing over to the bars, "I thought you were… I thought…"
"I'm still alive Master Kili, no need to worry. Would you like me to find your brother and tell him something? I can find time to do that in-between finding a way for you all to escape."
"Tell him… tell him not to worry. That I'm fine and they won't find out," his face lit up at the suggestion of being able to communicate with the other dwarves, exactly as Bilbo had desired.
"Is that all?"
"And… that I bet him we won't be in here more than a weeks time before you get us out," Kili's grin was infectious, "three silver pieces, if he has that much left."
Bilbo nodded, "Alright. I'll let him know."
The brunette looked for a moment as if he wanted to reach through the bars for a second, but decided against it, "Thank you, Mister Baggins."
"You're very welcome, but it is my job after all. You did hire me as a burglar."
"And for that, I'm very thankful," Kili laughed, "You'd best be on your way if I'm to win this bet, Bilbo."
"I'll try to visit later today, but I'm not sure-"
The dwarf waved him off, "We'll be fine. Just find the others."
Bilbo ducked around a corner, slipping the ring on as soon as he was sure there was no one around to see. It wasn't a moment too soon, because the sound of elvish footsteps came shuffling towards him at that exact moment, only to stop in front of Kili's cell.
"Letting me out already?" the dwarf grumbled sarcastically as they forced him to his feet, "But I haven't even had time to enjoy the view!"
"King Thranduil requests your presence in the throne room for questioning."
"Will there be food?" he asked, hope slipping into his tone, but he received no answer.
Bilbo debated about following the elves or if he should simply start wandering around the dungeons for the others. When he realized that he wasn't sure how he'd even gotten down this way in the first place, he scurried after the group, staying just far enough behind that while he couldn't hear their footsteps, their words still echoed back towards him.
Sooner than the hobbit had thought, they entered the large open platform that held the elven kings throne. Thranduil was pacing the floor in front of someone significantly shorter… was that Thorin?
Kili seemed to realized it the same time as Bilbo, because he began to struggle in the grip of his elven guard, stumbling almost to his knees as they tossed him towards his uncle.
Thorin wouldn't even spare a glance for the dwarf who kept staring confusedly between the elf king and king without his mountain, obviously unsure why he was there.
"I noticed this one earlier… is there by any chance a blood relation between the two of you? There's an eerie resemblance…"
"None at all. He's one of the only archers in Ered Luin, and the best at that, so I hired him. Nothing else to be told. Can we now move back to the business of setting us free?"
"Setting you free? I think we need to come to an agreement first, don't you? About something I desire, inside that mountain. White gems, pure as starlight. Surely, one king to another, we can find terms…"
"Find terms?" Thorin's face twisted into one of disgust, "I would do no such thing. You compare us as kings… You turned your back on my people when we cried out for help! What king would do such a thing? I wouldn't trust you to honor even the most basic of contracts!"
Thranduil's face flashed from benign to confusion and vulnerability only to settle on resentment and anger, "You know nothing of-"
Thorin interrupted with something snarled in Khuzdul that made Kili's eyes widen. The elven king, having no idea what was said, simply gestured to his guards, the cool and collected expression back in place, "Stay here if you will and rot. A hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an elf. I'm patient. I can wait."
Essentially half his words were drowned out by the snarls of the king without his mountain as he struggled against his captors.
"I wouldn't fight if I were you. This fellow looks rather hungry, does he not? I'm sure he'd appreciate your silence in exchange for his dinner."
Instead of calming Thorin, that only seemed to make it worse, "You'd starve my people once again, and yet you claim to honor your word?!"
"Thorin, it's fine, really-" Kili's voice increased in volume and he ripped his arms away from the elves who were holding him still, "Thorin, no! You can't-!"
Before Bilbo knew what was happening Thorin was pushing the elves to either side of him and storming towards the throne, eyes yellow, teeth sharp, shrugging off his jacket-
"Thorin!" Kili shouted in warning, but it was too late.
A second later, after what was basically one loud snap and crack of Thorin's skeletal system, the large black wolf that used to be a dwarf was snapping at the hem of Thranduil's cloak. It was chaos, with elves shouting and trying to get the animal under control, Kili trying to stop their captors from injuring his uncle, and Thranduil holding his skirts daintily above the fray like a damsel in distress.
When it was over, Kili was being dragged down the steps with a bloody nose and glowing eyes, struggling to stay upright as the elves manhandled him away from the throne. Thorin was tied down, snapping at anything that came within reach, but soon they had fashioned some kind of muzzle around him.
"Bring him to a cell. I don't know what dark magic these dwarves have brought into our halls, but I intend to find out. Feed them all tonight, I'd prefer them alive for questioning tomorrow," Thranduil sneered, "And bring Oakenshield's clothing to his accommodations, we wouldn't want to damage anyone permanently by the sight of him if he ever regains his composure."
Thorin snarled in response, and then Bilbo lost sight of him.
This was going to be harder than he thought. Much, much harder.
Why was he the one who would be responsible for cleaning up this mess?
Oh right. The contract.
He really ought to have burned that the first chance he was offered.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Comments and reviews are much appreciated. Didn't get to the full moon in this chapter, but I promise, it's coming. :D More Fili next chapter! Also, this wasn't meant as offensive against Thranduil, he's totally BA and all, but I could just picture all the elves flipping out when Thorin shifts and I couldn't help myself. And sorry for any spelling or grammar errors, I don't always catch those. Hope you enjoyed!
