A/N: Thanks for all the comments and support :) I think this has to be my fastest update yet.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Hobbit. I write this work of fanfiction solely for my own amusement and that of others.

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

-Edgar Allan Poe

Thanks to Oin's attentiveness, Holly's asthma did not grow worse as they continued to climb. Which she was thankful for when on top of the other miseries of traveling she once again got her period.

The powder and honey mixture the elleth had given her to treat her pain was disgusting. The sweetness of the honey did little to mask the bitterness of the medicine, but it did work so she suffered little in the way of cramps. It did not however improve her mood.

The dwarves continued to coddle her and steer her away from the side of the paths they traveled. Even light tasks were taken from her hands. Not that there was much to do. The chill and close quarters had everyone in poor spirits again. It was high summer and yet nobody felt like it.

Her period was also an unwelcome reminder. It marked the passage of time. She felt overwhelmingly homesick again and combined with feeling breathless from the thin air, consequently left her more quiet than usual. Her silent embarrassment over washing her cloths out with little privacy did not help. Water was plentiful, but unlike when they crossed the lone lands, she could not easily slip out of sight between the trees. There were none. Just bare rock as far as anyone could see.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. Even she had to admit that. Being so far up meant that they could see many leagues away. The rolling hills and green countryside below were gorgeous. You could even see clouds passing below in the valleys. Which meant that they were very high up indeed.

Yet they still climbed day after day.

Once again wrapped up in her own misery, Holly did little to mark the passage of time. Until it became apparent a great storm was rising below and around them one day. The sky grew dark, the wind bolder, and the clouds rumbled ominously in the distance.

They sought shelter immediately, though all they were able to find was an overhang on the narrow path. They were quite high up and the path was so narrow that they dared not continue as the first crack of thunder and flash of lightning lit up the valley below.

She ended up huddled next to Bilbo, though nobody was sleeping. The terrific noise was louder than she could ever have imagined. Lightning struck all around repeatedly and the echoes magnified the noise as it bounced along the rocks.

The hobbit tugged her hand at one point and pointed down in the valley. His words were lost to the shrieking of the wind but when the light flashed again she could see enormous giants made of stone throwing boulders at one another below.

She watched stunned as the behemoths chucked mini-van sized rocks around with ease and shattered against the mountains like fragile glass. She watched a tree explode beneath the force of one throw.

Immediately her eyes sought Thorin and Gandalf who were huddled to one side still awake and discussing something in voices too low to hear.

This was another night she had feared for so long. She began to feel nauseous and she wished she had not eaten earlier. The night of the stone giants was the night they would encounter the goblins and she was so very afraid. She had no plan other than to go with the flow. But she knew her luck with the trolls had been a fluke. There was no guarantee that the encounter with the goblins would go as well.

The wind grew more fierce and began pelting their shelter with rain and hail. The company huddled miserably under the lashing and Holly couldn't help the tears that rose to her eyes. She buried her face in Bilbo's tiny shoulder and felt him hesitantly pat her hair.

"There there Miss Holly! It's a bad storm but I think Thorin just sent Fili and Kili to look for somewhere better!" He said near her ear.

Holly looked up startled. Indeed, she could see no sign of the brothers. She fumbled and found Bilbo's hand which she clutched tightly. The hobbit squeezed back reassuringly.

"They'll be blown off the mountain!" She cried, wincing as the wind whipped around them.

"They'll be alright lass!" Dwalin said from nearby. "Those two have the best eyes of all of us!" Ori shuffled a bit closer to her, "They're good scouts. Don't you worry none."

It turned out that Fili and Kili had found a better cave. Just around the corner. Together the company quickly braced themselves and headed out into the storm.

A few minutes later they were entering a cave that was just big enough for them all and the ponies. Holly warily entered, knowing full well it was not as safe and empty as it seemed. Try as she might however she couldn't see any sign of it being the gateway she knew it was.

"Did you thoroughly explore it?" Gandalf asked, now easily audible. The storm still raged on outside but the noise was less in this cave. He shook some water off of his hat as the rest of the group tried their best to shake off the water and the cold.

"Yes!" Said Fili. "It's not so large but it's dry and it doesn't go very far back at all."

Gandalf harrumphed and waved a hand before his staff which lit up enough so that they could see more clearly and set off to check out the cave.

Kili, Ori, and Dori busied themselves with making the ponies comfortable. They steamed wetly in the air as they were fed but were too tired to be troublesome.

Holly ducked around a corner and changed clothes quickly. Her bag had luckily not absorbed much water and she had dry things to wear, unlike most of the others. She kept her jacket on and hid some food and her notebook in the inside pockets along with her knives and a few other things.

Instead of laying her backpack aside she kept it close by her as she returned to sit in the main area of the cave. Bilbo gave her a funny look when she returned, but said nothing.

She knew she probably looked a fright. She kept darting glances at the back and she felt sick to her stomach. She combed her wet hair out as she listened to the dwarves bicker.

Oin and Gloin were arguing with Gandalf over a fire to warm them up and dry some of their things but in the end it was decided against because of the chance someone unfriendly might notice it.

Holly continued to sit by herself until she noticed that while the others had withdrawn clothes to change into, they hadn't done so yet. There was some shuffling and awkwardness as Holly realized the dwarves wanted to change but didn't dare do so in front of her.

She blushed and turned her back on them, which was as much privacy as she could give. Dori came over a while later to share some wine and she turned around to find most of them huddled in blankets and breaking out pipes. Their wet things laid out on the rocks.

Gandalf amused them for a time by blowing strange shapes and colors in the smoke from his pipe. Holly relocated closer to the group but as far away from the back wall as she could get.

"You alright lady?" Gloin asked to her right, and she realized her hands were shaking in her lap.

"I don't like this place." She answered honestly, which made quite a few of the group pay attention. Balin's eyebrows furrowed and Gandalf looked at her sharply.

She grimaced. She hadn't meant to put them on guard. "It's probably nothing, thunderstorms freak me out and I've never seen stone giants before." She said, trying to deflect attention.

"We'll set a watch." Thorin said, which immediately garnered protests and complaints. Everyone was cold and exhausted and nobody wanted to stay up longer than necessary.

As they continued to argue, Holly sighed and wrapped her blanket around herself more tightly.

Suddenly Nori sat down next to her and took out a beautiful and delicate silver flask. She raised an eyebrow as she realized it could be nothing other than elvish make. The delicate forest scene inscribed on the side and the elvish script along the top made her smile.

He held it out to her and she took it. A fruity smell rose from the depths and she took a small sip.

Immediately she knew what it was, though she had not seen or tasted it before. A calm settled over her and a warmth filled her body. She took another small sip and passed it back to him with a grin.

"You stole miruvor?" She asked, amused and also a bit incredulous.

Nori shrugged and took a sip for himself before tucking it away. "Weren't that hard. It was just sitting there begging to be taken. Worth more to sell of course, but I thought you looked liked you could use a nip."

"Don't let Oin see it or he might confiscate it." She whispered. Nori snorted and shrugged, "I'd like to see him try." Then his eyes got sharp and he looked more closely at her face, "You got that knife on you?"

Holly nodded and unzipped her jacket to pull out the elvish knife she'd gotten from the troll hoard.

"Nah, don't keep it there lass." Nori chided, "How will you reach it quick enough if it's needed? Keep it at your waist or secured around your ankle."

She nodded and bent to roll up her pant leg to her knee, but to her surprise he cleared his throat and looked away.

She could feel several gazes suddenly upon her and she rolled her eyes. She quickly secured the buckle around her leg and yanked the denim back down in a hurry.

She noticed Kili looked quite pink and several faces were turned obviously away. To her surprise, even Thorin looked a bit pink around the ears.

"It's just an ankle!" She hissed, her own face warming. How ridiculous! There was nothing alluring about her pale and cold blotched leg!

Nori snickered and patted her arm. "You really are quite young, eh?" He asked rhetorically.

Holly huffed, "I don't see what that has to do with anything. I'm not a child. I'm an adult!"

"That's precisely the problem." Nori snickered again but then pulled out a pipe nonchalantly from a pocket and started filling it with pipe weed.

"I'm not even the same race!" Holly grumbled still feeling quite embarrassed. Nori simply lit his pipe with a match and regarded her with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I'm sure it came up before, but there aren't a lot of dwarrow women lass. It's not common, but it's also not uncommon, for people to look for a bit of comfort elsewhere. And you're far from hard on the eyes." He said pragmatically and matter of factly.

Holly looked at him dumbfounded. She wasn't unaware that Kili had a bit of a thing for her. But she'd written it off and ignored it because otherwise it was just uncomfortable. He just acted so much younger than her. More like a teenager.

She had no idea others in the group might find her intriguing. Unwittingly, her eyes were drawn back to Thorin, who was scowling again.

Nori eyed the slight flush on her cheeks and knew his suspicions were correct. The lady definitely felt an attraction for their leader. Which could cause troubles in the long run, because it was equally as clear Thorin couldn't keep his eyes off of her. He shifted ever so slightly so his arm brushed Holly's and watched in amusement as Thorin scowled more heavily at him while she appeared to notice nothing.

It was funny how things like this happened. The two couldn't be more different and yet they were drawn to each other. It would probably come to nothing but it was still amusing to see.

Something had gone down in Rivendell between the two of them. That had been apparent to everyone. First they had been avoiding one another like the plague and then suddenly Thorin couldn't keep his eyes from her form wherever it went, and it was merely idle curiosity. He had softened toward her somewhat, that was clear. Whatever had been said between the two of them had caused the king to keep a much closer eye on her.

And she was pretty, in her own way, Nori could admit. Despite being so tall and beardless, she had her own charm. Especially her hair, which was an unusual shade of brown that glinted with bits of gold, auburn, and chestnut. It was a shame she covered it up so much. It had grown into curling waves that hung about her face fetchingly and he'd noticed more than one eye had been drawn to it.

But it was the non-physical characteristics she had, the perseverance, the determination, and the spark that caused so many in their group to like her. She was also very smart, learned, and had a wicked sense of humor, though she rarely let it out. She had a guilelessness and an innocence to her as well, though she never let that stop her from moving forward. He could admire that.

Holly was also quite clearly heartsick in some way. She was a self-reliant sort, and the kind to suffer in silence. She quite obviously needed others to lean on, though she seemed to hold back even from the friendliest of their group.

Nori quite liked the lass. She didn't judge him, nor was she afraid of him. She was also kind to Ori and that went a long way towards him liking her in his book. He knew Dori disapproved of her, but that was all to the better in his mind. His brother was far too fussy.

Thorin was still scowling at him, he noted in amusement. There was nothing to be jealous of, and he doubted his king yet realized his own feelings in the matter. But he was enough of a mischief maker to take advantage of it.

Suddenly Bifur blocked his view of the king and sat down. He scolded Nori and leaned over to say something to Holly.

"Thanks Bifur." Holly replied, not sure of the exact meaning of his words but she got that he was trying to reassure her of something. She still looked a little pale, even after the elvish spirit. Bifur nodded and threw Nori a sharp look.

"I'm not causing trouble." Nori disagreed. Bifur huffed in amusement and wagged a finger in his direction.

Nori smirked and got up to rejoin his brothers. Dori was also looking at him unamused and he didn't want to sit through a lecture tonight.

"Nori will take the first watch." Thorin declared suddenly, interrupting the small conversations going around the cave.

Holly glanced at him uncertainty. He was giving Nori the evil eye, though the other dwarf seemed unruffled by it. She wondered what had brought that on.

Bifur remained quietly at her side as the discussions turned towards what everyone planned to do with their share of the treasure.

Bifur nudged her and gestured around with some inquiring sounding words. Though they had no translator this time, it wasn't hard to glean the general meaning of his words.

"I don't know." Holly admitted, "I know I signed the contract for my share but I have no idea what I'd do with all of that gold. Retire and live off the savings maybe. I think I have had enough of traveling to last me a lifetime." She added with a wry smile.

Bifur nodded and smiled down at her. Then he launched into telling her what he planned to do with his share. He had plans to start a business with Bofur and Bombur. Mining was difficult physical labor and already his and Bofur's hands had suffered from the hard life eking out a living in the Blue Mountains. Though Erebor probably still contained a multitude of rich minerals and germs, Bifur much preferred making toys and other amusements with his hands.

Holly listened, even though she didn't understand a word. He mostly rambled on in order to take her mind off of her unease. He knew she had a touch of foresight, they all knew. It would be foolish to ignore anything she was wary of. However, they didn't need to add to her unease. Nori has sharp eyes and would keep a good watch.

The cave seemed safe enough, but one couldn't be too careful. Nice caves such as this one were rarely unoccupied for long.

She watched as he pulled out a block of wood and a knife. He shaved and whittled slowly as he talked and she let his words lull her into complacency.

Eventually the conversations petered out and Bifur left her on her own to lean against the wall and seek his own bed. Even Gandalf was snoring quietly, the brim of his hat pulled low over his eyes.

She was very tired. The miruvor had relaxed her and given her a bit of a lift, but she was now warmer than she had been for over a week. It was hard for her body to remain alert when she felt more comfortable than she had for ages.

Before she forgot, she took off her jacket and put her backpack on and refastened the jacket over everything. It was not comfortable in the least but she wished to hold on to as much of her stuff as possible.

She knew she ought to stay awake. She had to be ready! But as the rest of the group dropped off to sleep one by one, she felt the call of rest leading her eyes to close. Despite her anxiety and fright she felt herself drifting off.

She woke with a start and pinched her arm harshly. She forced herself to sit up straighter and looked wildly around. There was nothing to be seen however, just sleeping dwarves in every direction. Even Nori had unwittingly dozed off, much to her alarm. A slight noise made her squint into the darkness, but she relaxed when she saw it was just the ponies moving in the darkness.

What to do? She wasn't sure. Should she wake Nori? She hadn't been sure of anything since she'd found herself in this time. She couldn't run off on her own now. She had to keep her wits about her to make it through this ordeal.

Holly consoled herself with the thought that at least she'd have the company with her. She pulled her other knife out from her jacket and hid it up her sleeve.

And not a moment too soon.

Suddenly the floor began to tilt and she froze in horror as Bilbo gave a shout that woke everyone up.

She had been at the wrong angle to see and it was quite dark but now it was apparent that there was a black crack opened at the back of the cave. Immediately dark crouching figures sprang from the hole and started seizing the dwarves.

Holly fumbled and pulled the knife out just a moment before the first of the figures reached her. It had bulbous eyes and pale slimy looking skin. Sharp teeth and clawed hands that reached for her.

She waved the knife wildly before her and the creature snarled as the blade made contact and ripped into its' flesh, but it was only a glancing blow to its' arm and then the goblin darted forward and wrenched the knife from her hand and punched her in the gut.

Holly doubled over in pain, breathless as the disgusting creature pinned her arms and started carrying her towards the dark hole.

All around there were shouts of fright and pain which added to the confusion and the mayhem. A huge flash and bang sounded and caused the one carrying her to hurry faster towards the doors. She got a glimpse of Gandalf's furious visage before the crack slammed shut

"A wizard!" A rough voice shouted in panic.

"Come, let's get this scum below!" Shouted another.

Holly was flung from her captor's shoulder into the midst of the dwarves and she met the ground with bruising force. The goblins had no problem in kicking, pinching, and beating the dwarves in the direction they wished them to go, and Holly unfortunately found herself at the edge of the group.

She winced as claws snagged her hair and cried out in pain as another set shoved her harshly forward when she did not move fast enough to please them.

Holly did not have time to yell as she fell, and the cruel laughter of the goblins followed her down along with the cries of anger and alarm from her companions.

She hit the ground roughly, scraping her hands and knees along the rough rock. Someone kicked her in the side viciously and she cried out in pain. Another blow to her shoulder had her trying to scramble out of the way. The confusion of bodies in the flickering torch light all around her made her lurch unsteadily.

Someone reached down in the thick of it all and yanked her roughly back to her feet. Her eyes met blue-gray ones and despite the frightening nature of their predicament, she felt less scared in that moment.

Then Thorin none too gently shoved her towards the center of their group and quickly moved to block another callous blow towards her with his own body. Holly had no time to thank him as they were hustled forward all together. She found Nori suddenly at her side and Dwalin on the other. Both were pale-faced and as grim as she had ever seen them.

She went to reach for her knife but Nori's hand stopped her. She looked down at him in fright. "Not now!" He hissed, and she nodded and continued on as best she could.

It was impossible to keep track of where they were going. The paths before them criss crossed in all sorts of strange and confusing ways, even if they could concentrate through the continuous physical violence and verbal threats the goblins casually doled out.

Their laughter was like stones grinding together and when they began to sing the noise echoed strangely across the rocks in a croaking cacophony of malice. The song was about crushing, smashing, beating, and pain. A few had whips and had no compunction about cracking them at the group. Ori suffered a particularly nasty lash to the shoulder.

Not a one remained unscathed as they were herded deeper into the mountain. The goblins took great pleasure in beating on them and drawing shouts of pain from whom ever got too close to the edge of the group.

A red light ahead illuminated a great cavern with a huge fire and torches along the walls.

A horde of goblins jostled one another to get a better view as the group was shoved and pushed into the center of the room. They jeered and shouted malicious insults at the group as they shoved into the room and their hands bound with rope.

The ponies and all their baggage were thrown haphazardly into one corner and the goblins were going through and fighting over everything. She shuddered at the casual violence they doled out to the items and their fellows as well as the dwarves and Bilbo. She was cuffed several times herself until her head was reeling and she was forced to her knees.

Holly's eyes widened in horror as she saw a goblin take an axe to a pony's neck. The others shrieked with unholy glee and fair ripped the animal apart. Her eyes sought out poor Clara and she felt tears rise to her eyes at her animal friend's plight. All the ponies looked terrified and were being roughly handled by the goblins.

A goblin in front of her laughed, "They'll make good eating!" He sneered at her and she tore her eyes away from the horrific sight.

"Now who do we have here? What wretched people have trespassed in our lands?" A thunderous voice brought her attention to the front of the group. A giant goblin with a huge misshapen head sat upon a flat stone flanked by several other large goblins with axes and strangely shaped swords.

"Dwarves, a man, and this!" A goblin replied, shoving Bilbo and gesturing toward she rest. "We found them on the Front Porch! Thieves, spies, and murderers most likely my lord!" The creature sniveled.

The goblin king sneered and waved one fat hand in the air, "Elf friends no doubt! Up to no good I'm sure! Who are you?" He demanded.

A man? They didn't recognize she was a woman. Holly felt unexpected relief course through her and ducked her head lower. She was wearing a bulky coat so she guessed not much or her figure was visible. She was quite hot in it actually, and sweat dripped down her face as she huddled closer to Dwalin on one side. He carefully angled his body to hide her from the goblin King's view, though the monster seemed more interested in Thorin who was even now giving a reply.

"I am Thorin and we are simple travelers through these lands! We did not mean to trespass on your territory. We simply sheltered in what we thought was an unoccupied cave from the storm. We have no wish to spy on goblins!" He spat.

"I know who you are Thorin Oakenshield! I know plenty of your folk and I do not think you speak truly. What are you doing in these parts? Durin's folk have not been seen here for many years."

"We're merely traveling to see relations in-"

"Liar!" Shrieked one of their guards, "Great One, the dwarf is a liar! Several of our group were struck down by a wizard and he carries this!"

The creature tossed Orcrist at the goblin King's feet. Who hissed and snarled at the sight of the sword. A great amount of noise rose as the goblins showed their displeasure at the sight of the weapon.

"I know this blade!" The goblin king snarled, "The Goblin Cleaver! Elf lovers! Murderers! Slash them, bite them, beat them! Take them away and hide them in the darkest pits so they may never see light again!" He commanded, and immediately the goblins sprang to do his bidding.

However, suddenly the lights all extinguished and a great towering plume of smoke rose in the air and beams of light shot out from it at the goblins. Soon cries of anger and pain came from the goblins and Holly immediately tried to loosen the ropes around her wrists. She saw that wherever the light touched the goblins it burned them and soon the air was so thick with the scent of burning flesh she started to gag.

The smoke was so thick that she couldn't see a thing but she could hear the screaming, cursing, shrieking, howling, and jabbering which continued on. Something bumped roughly into her and she shoved them back, finally managing to get the ropes off, though she scraped her hands in her rush.

"Follow me, quickly now!" She heard Gandalf's voice somewhere to the right, and she blindly stumbled after it, leaping over a writhing goblin in her path and nearly bowling over Bilbo who was running in front of her.

Together they followed the wizard and the dwarves out of the cave and through a dark passage. His staff was lit up again and he urged them to run faster.

Holly had a stitch in her side and she was wheezing and lightheaded from all the smoke. The last thing she needed was another asthma attack! Though she could feel her chest spasming uncomfortably. She simply pushed on as best she could.

They paused for a moment, though they could still hear the goblins shrieks behind them.

"Is everyone here?" Gandalf called, turning and scanning the group. "It seems so. That's more than I could have hoped for, despite losing everything else. But on we go now! The goblins will soon recover their wits and will come seeking vengeance." He turned again and off they took running.

Though Holly's legs were longer, she was hindered by her labored breathing and lagged behind with Bilbo and Bombur, who were both gibbering with terror and dripping in sweat.

They could hear the clash and steady thumping of the goblins gaining on them and as they rounded a sharp corner both Gandalf and Thorin halted and drew their swords, urging the rest of the group behind them.

The goblins rounded the corner at a run and ran straight into the biting blades of Orcrist and Glamdring. The goblins shouted in terror and turned to flee from their old foes Biter and Beater, retreating back the way they had come.

Thorin and Gandalf slew the rest, and then hurried the group on again, though no one had yet caught their breath.

On they ran. And on and on. Down the winding narrow dark passages that seemed to have no end, Gandalf's staff lighting the way. Bilbo's legs all but collapsed beneath him at one point and Dori scooped him up without a word so they could continue running.

Holly was in so much pain and so dizzy that she could barely keep up. She tried to shout but her voice was gone again. Instead she concentrated on moving, keeping her head down and trudging on as best she could.

Suddenly she realized that Gandalf's staff was much farther ahead than it had been and she was much further behind than she'd thought. She couldn't shout and her legs hurt badly and her muscles weighed her down like lead.

She tried pushing harder but it was like her limbs could no longer obey her and she stumbled in the dark.

Just as she started to trip, something whizzed by her head and she swiveled to see a single goblin had caught up with her. She was tackled from behind and she tried to scream but no noise came out.

A clawed hand yanked her head back by her hair as she flailed. She swung her fist out with all the strength desperation can lend.

It made contact with something soft but the grip on her hair didn't loosen.

"Bitch!" Snarled the goblin and a hand closed around her throat and started to squeeze.

Already a bit breathless, the pressure around her throat made her vision darken and bright spots dance before her eyes, she scrabbled helplessly at the hands that tightened around her neck and then started trying to dig into its' skin with her nails and she bucked wildly but the goblin slammed her head against the floor and stunned her.

The grip had loosened for a moment and she'd managed one breath before she was being choked again. With one last desperate hope she closed her eyes and reached for the knife still strapped to her ankle.

Her hands closed around the hilt and she drew it and slammed it into the side of the goblin as quickly as she could move.

The hands loosened and the creature gurgled a scream and fell off of her. The blade pulled out with a nasty squelch and she lay there stunned as the goblin writhed next to her.

But the creature wasn't totally out of commission yet and she barely managed to roll out of the way of its gnashing teeth. Its' claws slashed out and caught her leg as she scrambled away. She stabbed again with the knife, landing a strike on its arm. In pain, the goblin fell away howling and she managed to get to her knees.

It was still alive though, and with a sudden surge of hate she raised the knife and plunged it through the monster's neck.

The goblin's eyes bulged and dark liquid seeped out from its mouth. Holly backed away with a sob and huddled up against the wall of the tunnel as the goblin choked to death on its own blood.

The knife was glowing in the dark, but it dimmed considerably when the goblin stopped moving.

Holly shuddered and retrieved the knife. It continued to shine and she knew she had to move. There were still goblins after them.

But she could no longer see the light of Gandalf's staff and she could barely bring herself to move. She was in so much pain and she was still gasping for breath.

She pressed a hand to her heaving chest and tried to calm down.

The blade grew a bit brighter and she knew she couldn't stay there any longer.

Holly forced herself to her feet and started to run again, one hand along the tunnel wall and the other clutched around the glowing blade to light her way.

As she ran the bold grew dimmer and she faltered as it grew harder to see. She had hoped to catch up the Gandalf and the rest but she could see no glimmer of light ahead.

She came to a fork in the path and hesitated. She sniffed warily at the air at each entrance by detected no difference. However he knife seemed to glow brighter when she held it in the direction of the left hand tunnel.

She didn't think she could face those monsters again so soon so she immediately took the right and felt somewhat relieved as the light faded.

Holly continued on in the dark for who knew how long. It seemed to her that she was going down, not up, though she had lost her sense of direction in this place the moment she had been hauled through the doors.

She pushed panic aside and kept going, thinking that surely she'd run into her friends soon. She had stopped running now, unable to keep up the pace. Instead she walked as fast as she could.

However the light in her elvish knife grew fainter and fainter until it went out entirely. She knew that meant that the goblins were quite far from her, and she continued on despite being unable to see. The path had to go somewhere, she reasoned.

But it never seemed to end, and in the darkness she couldn't be sure whether she had taken another turn or not. She wasn't sure if she should try to make her way back and take the left hand turn after all.

She eventually stopped moving and tried to listen. She thought she might hear water somewhere far off but beyond her own breathing, there was nothing else.

She had never been someone afraid of the dark, but being in the pitch darkness all by herself was unnerving. It seemed to press in all around her. And she knew that despite her knife not glowing, that there could be other things other than goblins lurking about...the fear kept her moving far past what she thought she could do. Always she kept one hand on the wall and kept walking straight.

Eventually she could carry on no longer and she leaned against the tunnel wall.

She still had her backpack with her, and she was quite warm from all her exertions so she removed her jacket and fumbled out her water bottle. The cold water was refreshing, and she carefully only swallowed two mouthfuls.

She sat there, too tired and too much in pain to even think. She wrapped herself up in her coat again, and soon, despite all her fears and worries, was fast asleep.

A few notes on the chapter:

At last Holly's path diverges from the company's. At least for a time!

I went more with the book description of Goblin Town than the movie one, obviously, though I had fun with the goblins. It struck me as I was writing this that the goblins have more character in the books than they do in the movies. They're still awful monstrous creatures but they've got a leader and they supposedly have slaves and can build "clever" things.

How ever will she find her way out of the mountains? :3I'm