A/N: Guys, I'm a bit overwhelmed by how much traffic this fic is getting. Much more than I ever anticipated, thank you. Keep commenting :). This chapter was kind of difficult to write because so much happens and I didn't want to just blindly follow the movie the book but I hope you enjoy it anyway. A couple of things before we start:
So in the original fic, I never really paired Riley with anyone and I've realised recently that Riley is bisexual, with a preference for men. I've been considering who to pair him. What do you guys think?
This is my first proper attempt at writing fanfiction with graphic and sometimes adult content, so bear with me.
This is going to be a LONG chapter. So you've been warned. I am and have always been absolutely terrible and writing combat and action, so my sincere apologies if this chapter isn't as great as the others. Also it's very long which I hope you'll enjoy!
Finally:
Khuzdul Words:
Thundanûd: Small one, (literal translation is more akin to tiny arms, but I'm using this as the elves would use "penneth" or "aier ``
Nithul: Girl/Young Girl.
Black Speech words:
Lat liwo ukuffas: You will suffer.
Shara kurv: Human-whore/slut.
Labish dab: You are mine.
Chapter Thirteen: Of battles and lots of running
"Oh this can't be good." Maggie whispered
"Yet another astute observation." said Thorin
The goblins pushed the company along the rope bridges, which Maggie seriously doubted was designed to hold all their weights. She hated the awful creatures, they were literally the stuff of nightmares and she recalled being frightened of them when her father had first read them the story all those years ago. The tunnel seemed to go on forever and as they were pushed forward Maggie glanced around for any sight of her brother or Bilbo, neither of whom were anywhere to be seen. She hoped that it was a good thing. As they walked further into the tunnels, Maggie began to hear a strange noise in the distance, a deep voice and thudding. That's when Maggie saw it. A huge creature, not unlike the other goblins in appearance but much, much larger. He was also where a crown and seemed to be...dancing.
"What...who...is that?"
Maggie realised it must be the goblin king. He then said. "I feel a song coming on."
"Umm...okay what is happening right now?"
Maggie's question answered itself when the Goblin king began to sing, and dance. All the company could do was stare in confusion.
"Clap snap the black crack!
Grip grab pinch and nab. Make them stammer and squeak! Pound pound far under grounddddd…Down down down in Goblin Town…With a swish and a smack and a whip and a crack! Everybody talks when they're on my rack! Pound pound far underground…Down down down to Goblin Town… down down down to Goblin Town…Hammer and torch!You won't last long on the end of my prong! Clash crash crush and smash! Bang break shiver and shake! You can yell it and yelp but there aint no help! Pound pound far underground…Down down down in Goblin Townnnnnnnn!"
"What in actual hell.."
It was possibly the most surreal thing Maggie had witnessed in her entire life. And she'd seen Bombur attempting to riverdance. Maggie was sure she was supposed to be afraid of the giant Goblin and she was but she was also confused. In fact, she didn't know what to make of the whole thing and she felt like someone had spiked her drink at a party or a pub. At least that was something that would make sense. First stone giants, then goblins singing songs and dancing. This must be what going mad feels like, she thought. The dwarves seemed to be just as astounded as she was.
"Okay." Maggie said "This is officially the bloody weirdest day of my life."
The Goblin King heard her and then swung around, his giant head and wide eyes focusing all their attention on the company. Fili and Kili protectively stepped in front of Maggie. Her heart was beating as the enormous creature
"Catchy isn't it?" The Goblin King asked "It's one of my own compositions."
"It's not a song!" Balin shouted "It's an abomination."
"I've heard worse." Maggie mumbled. "You should see Britain's Got Talent."
Thorin rolled his eyes. "Now is not the time, thundanûd."
They stripped the company of all their weapons. Still no sight of Bilbo or Riley and the whole situation deeply unnerved Maggie. She also worried about Riley because she knew her brother wasn't fond of dark spaces and caves. If anything, this was her idea of hell. Fili must have sensed her worry because he gently squeezed her shoulder, as though to let her know it would be alright. After the search was over, the goblin asked another question.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed in my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"
"Dwarves, your malevolence." said a smaller goblin." Found them on the front porch."
The goblin king then turned to Maggie. He examined her, far closer than she was comfortable with. The goblin king grabbed her hair, which tossed into the air like she was a doll. He then poked her so that she nearly fell over, but Dwalin grabbed her. "This one doesn't look dwarfish to me." The goblin king said. "She smells too nice. I don't often see humans here."
"Is that a compliment or an insult?" Maggie asked. Thorin rolled his eyes. Humour, it seemed, was Maggie's way of dealing with these kinds of situations. She did a good job at hiding it, but Thorin could tell how frightened she really was. Sometimes, even Thorin forgot that this was not her world and that things such as magic and goblins didn't exist in hers. At least, that's what he had understood from the stories Maggie and Riley had told them over the past few weeks. Thorin imagined that if roles were reversed and he found himself in their strange world, he would feel the same. Despite their arguing and their feud, the tension seemed to have settled a bit between the two of them. Thorin wanted to tell her that it would be alright and that they would get out of there alive, but the truth was he wasn't even sure he believed it himself.
"Well don't just stand there! Search them!" the goblin king commanded
The smaller horde of goblins searched them again and Maggie felt extremely violated. Their filthy and vile hands touched her, not caring much about where, they reached inside her pockets and for a moment Maggie thought they would grab the journal, but thankfully they left it alone. She was pretty convinced they wouldn't be able to read it anyway.. The whole even was awful and she wanted the nightmare to be over as soon as possible.
"Are there any more non-dwares here?" asked the Goblin king. "Speak! There is no point in lying to me, girl!"
Maggie caught Thorin's eye and knew that he'd also noticed the two missing members of their company. Maggie had absolutely no idea where her brother was and this was not how she thought things would go. Maggie tried to recall the events of the goblin tunnel in her mind from what she knew, but things had already changed so there was little point in trying to predict the outcome. All she could do was hope that Gandalf would find them. Finally, Maggie spoke, a somewhat amended version of the truth.
"No." she said "Just me."
The goblin king searched Maggie's face for any hint of a lie. Eventually, he barked another order at the smaller goblins "What are you doing in these parts then!" the goblin king then demanded. "No tricks! I want the truth!"
A moment of silence fell amongst the company and Maggie felt nervous. If the goblin king for one second believed they were playing him, they would be dead in a heartbeat. Finally and to everyone's surprise, Bofur was the one who stepped forward spoke up. Maggie once again caught Thorin's eyes as he gestured for her to remain calm.
"We were on the road…well, it's not so much a road as a path…actually, it's not even that, come to think of it, it's more like a track. Anyway, the point is we were on this road, like a path, like a track, and then we weren't! Which is a problem, because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday."
It surprised Maggie how quickly the other joined in on the obvious lie. She didn't think the Goblin king was very bright, but she also didn't necessarily think him a complete fool. If they weren't careful, they might well not make it out alive. Where are you Gandalf? Maggie thought, We need you. It was true as well. Without the Grey Wizard, there was no way in hell they'd get out of that tunnel with all their limbs intact.
"Aye, visiting distant relations." the other dwarves added.
"On my mother's side." Bofur said and then he whispered and then nodded at Maggie. "Hence the human, between you and me, the rest of the family aren't too impressed about the whole affair.."
Oh my god, Maggie thought and rolled her eyes. We're going to die. Where are you, Riley?
"I am getting really tired of these bloody caves." Riley grumbled as he pushed himself up and brushed the dirt off his clothes."And of falling."
Riley wasn't sure how long he'd been out of it by the time he'd finally woke up. He and Bilbo had both taken quite the tumble and were now even further down into the depths of the goblin tunnels. It was much darker down here than up above. Riley looked around him, though it was difficult to see in the dark. He was neither a hobbit nor a dwarf so his night vision was pretty much non-existent. What he could make out though, was that they seemed to be surrounded by rocks and small pools of whatever. After some searching, Riley found Bilbo lying unconscious on the ground. Immediately, he rushed to his friend and checked his breathing. Still alive, Riley thought and sighed with relief. He carefully nudged Bilbo who still unconscious.
"Bilbo. Bilbo wake up."
Riley worried for a moment, Bilbo wasn't moving at all. The knot in Riley's stomach began to tighten and he searched around for something, anything that could somehow help him. No, no, no, no, Riley thought. Finally to Riley's immense relief, Bilbo Baggins slowly opened his eyes and seemed confused at his surroundings. He looked up at Riley who sat next to him and then the hobbit recalled the events that had just occurred. They'd been fighting a goblin and then taken a tumble off the edge of the cliff, because Riley had saved him. If it wasn't for Riley, Bilbo would surely be a dead hobbit.
"Why on earth did you do that?" Bilbo asked. "Riley, that was careless, you could have been hurt or worse!" It was becoming exceedingly clear to the hafling, that more people cared about him than he first thought. Riley and Maggie had done nothing but defend him since their first meeting.
"Well, I can't exactly let you die on me, now can I, Master Baggins?" Riley teased. "Can you imagine what Gandalf would say if he knew I'd lost our burglar? Not to mention the hell I'd get from my sister. No. If I have anything to do with it, you are staying very much alive."
"Thank you."
"You can thank me later." Riley said and gestured for Bilbot to get down. "We have a new problem."
Riley and Bilbo crouched and Bilbo saw what Riley meant. A strange creature was in the tunnel with them. He wasn't a goblin or anything else that Bilbo had ever encountered. It had wide, bulging eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. As they watched the stranger creature. Riley didn't have to think twice about who it was. Ever since a child, Gollum had terrified Riley and often visited his nightmares. Seeing him in real life, was much, much worse. There was something unnatural and sinister about him, even from a distance. Gollum mumbled incomprehensible words and then dragged off the goblin who woke up and fought Gollum but Gollum clubbed him with a rock and Goblin died instantly. Then something fell out of Gollum's pocket, a small golden ring, which landed on the ground with a thud.
"Oh my god." Riley whispered. Here we go. In that moment, two things struck Riley: the first being that he was actually standing in Gollum's cave watching a very significant event take place. If Riley had been as terrified as he was, would probably be a little excited. The second that struck was how powerless he suddenly felt and he was reminded of Gandalf's word of warning. As much as he wanted to help Bilbo and figure out a fast way out of there, he couldn't. A small part of Riley even wondered what would happen if he somehow found a way to take the ring out of the equation entirely. He stopped those thoughts as soon as he entered his mind because as Elrond had said back in Rivendell, it was nobody's job to redraw the map of Middle-Earth. Besides, any time-travel movie Riley had ever watched, would agree that changing history was a terrible idea. Even his and Maggie's history were tied to the ring in some ways, if he changed things here, there might even be a chance the fate of him and his sister would be completely different. As all these thoughts became a whirlwind in Riley's mind, he watched as Bilbo Baggins of the Shire picked up the small ring, without Gollum seeing it.
"Bilbo." Riley whispered."Be careful."
The hobbit picked up the ring and seemed fascinated by it. Riley still wondered if he should have stopped him. Perhaps if he did, things would change but Riley also decided to stick to reason. It wasn't his place or his story. He became very much aware though, that he now knew something that the other didn't and would have to deal with the consequences of that much later. Riley and Bilbo carefully watched as Gollum went about his strange business. He seemed to be singing, or at least his own version of singing. It certainly wasn't very melodic.
"Splashes and splashes."
Riley and Bilbo hit, watching Gollum going about his business. Bilbo had drawn his sword there they waited. Riley wondered what his sister was up to, how were the goblins treating them. He hoped that being in the others' company,, meant that if anything Maggie was far safer than they were. As Riley glanced around him, he realised that Gollum was nowhere to be scene, Bilbo had noticed it too. He couldn't have gone far but once more Riley felt panic, until Bilbo tugged his shirt and the oldest Spencer turned around. Gollum was right in front of them, crawling creeping forward, a sinister gleam in his eyes. It was Bilbo who protected them now. His sword touching Gollum's chest.
"St….stay back." Bilbo stuttered and got up on his feet. "I'm warning you. Don't come any closer."
"Yeah," Riley agreed "I wouldn't."
Gollum seemed puzzled, like he didn't know what to do about the two of them."It's got an elvish blade." Gollum said, "But it's not an elf. What is it?"
"My name...is Bilbo Baggins. This is my friend Riley."
"Bagginses? Rileyses...ugh." Gollum seemed appalled "What is a...Bagginses precious?"
"I'm a hobbit...of the Shire." "
While Riley admired Bilbo's bravery, he was uncertain about his forthrightness. "Uh, Bilbo." Riley said. "hould we really be telling him everything?"
Gollum ignored Riley but circled around Bilbo, like a vulture circling its prey in the sky. Riley didn't like it at all. "We haven't tried hobbitses before. Is it soft? Is it juicy?"
"I'll use this if I have to." Bilbo waved the sword around, really having no idea what he was doing. It seemed to work on Gollum though, the creature kept his distance and continued talking to himself. Riley wasn't so afraid now, as he was baffled. In one way, a part of him felt sorry for Gollum. How had he come to banished into living in these caves, so far from anything he knew? It became very clear to Riley how much the ring had poisoned him, and turned him so far from his original self. Riley wondered, how much Gollum remembered of his old life. Maybe that's why Bilbo intrigued him, one part of maybe even remembered hobbits.
"Look," Riley finally said and the creature turned around to him. "We just want to get out of here. Do you know the way?"
"Is it lost?" Gollum mused, as if it was a ridiculous thing.
"Yes." Bilbo said. "And we want to get unlost as soon as possible."
Gollum got excited now, his schizophrenic personality seemed to fluctuate again. What part of Gollum were they talking to now, Riley wondered. "We know a safe path out." Gollum pointed towards something that seemed like a tunnel leading east. "Shut up." Gollum snaped again
Bilbo raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say anything."
"I don't think he was talking to us, Bilbo." Riley replied.
The whole thing was bizarre really, and Riley felt completely out of place. Like he wasn't supposed to be there at all. Yet he was, although possibly not for much longer if things didn't change in their favour.
"I don't know what your game is..." Bilbo started by Gollum immediately interrupted him.
"GAME!" he cried out excitedly and jumped around. Riley wondered if this is what being a teacher sometimes was like. "We love games! Does it like to play?"
"Uh...maybe?"
Riley groaned. "Oh god...I got away from my family because of all the games."
Bilbo had no idea what RIley was on about but he dsense his friend's frustration. Suddenly, Gollum jumped up on the rock and began to say what sounded like a riddle.
"What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up, up it goes, and yet, never grows?"
"Oh great. I hate riddles.." Riley muttered
"The mountain." Bilbo said matter-of-factly
"Do it again!" Gollum was excited now, the only one out of the three who was."Ask us!"
The creature grew impatient and Riley had a feeling that when Gollum finally ran out of patience, he became unpredictable. As much as he hated riddles, this was a blessing in disguise for them. For a moment, Riley caught Bilbo's eyes and he knew that the hobbit had been thinking the same thing.
"We want to play. We do. I can see you are very good at this." Bilbo said, his voice had gone from being frightened to being serious. "So why don't we, have a game of riddles. Just you and me."
Gollum perked up. "Just us? Not...ugly one." he sneered and pointed at Riley.
"Hey!" Riley felt surprisingly offended.
"Yes." Bilbo agreed. "And if I win, you will show us the way out."
"Yes! But what if it loses?" Gollum's voiced turned into a growl and neither Bilbo nor Riley Spencer could hide their fear. "Then we eats its whole and its friend."
Bilbo pondered the question for a while. "Fair enough."
Oh god, Riley thought. I hope you're having better luck than I am, sis.
"SHUT UP!"
The goblin king had had enough and he was furious "Bring up the mangler." Maggie's pulse began to race again. What the hell is a mangler? She thought "Bring out the bonebreaker. Start with the girl. She's only human after all, I want to hear her squirm."
Maggie's palms were sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through her system was shutting down his ability to think logically. She wanted to run but she stood frozen as some of the goblins grabbed her and pushed her forward to the goblin king. Maggie was certain she was going to die before a familiar voice shouted from the midst of the company.
"WAIT!" Thorin bellowed. He was angry and stepped in front of Maggie who was also shielded by Dwalin, Kili and Fili. "You will not touch her."
As Thorin stepped in front of the company, the Goblin King's expression changed. A sinister smirk spread across his ugly, malformed face. Maggie hated the creature. "Well, well, well. Look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror. King under the mountain." The Goblin king bowed in mockery. "Oh, but I'm forgetting. You don't have a mountain."
"This guy is really starting to piss me off." Maggie clenched her fist but
"You're not a king." the goblin continued. "Which makes you nobody really."
Silence. "Okay, that was uncalled for." Maggie said. "I mean, he's annoying sure but still a…" Maggie saw Thorin's glare and quieted down. It seemed, Thorin thought, that the talent of rambling was something of a family trait for the two siblings.
The Goblin King seemed unbothered by and continued his talking. What he said next though, caught the whole company's attention. "I know somebody who would pay a pretty price for your head. And for the girl, you should hear the things he plans to do to her."said the goblin "Just the head for the dwarf though Nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours."
Something then changed and Thorin's eyes darkened. Maggie saw both confusion, fear and anger in the dwarf's king icy blue eyes. To her surprise, Maggie also found herself squeezing his hand, as though to comfort him but Thorin pulled it away and stepped forward. "The pale orc astride a white warg."
"Azog the defiler, was destroyed." Thorin said sharply. "He was slain in battle long ago!"
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?"
The Goblin king chuckled maniacally and then turned to a small goblin who sat on a swing, scribbling notes on parchment. "Send word to the pale orc." the king said "Tell him I have found his prize. Both of them."
In an instant, the small goblin set off on the swing, yet another of many bizarre things Maggie had witnessed in the past twenty-four hours alone. It wasn't long before the Goblin King started singing again, this song even more awful than the last and the lyrics all the more disturbing. Maggie was beginning to feel hopeless and there was still no sign of her brother and Bilbo. All their weapons were still on the floor and the smaller goblins tossed them around like they were toys. The goblins whipped them with ropes that sung every time it hit Maggie's skin. Tears streamed down her eyes and she just wanted it all to end. Suddenly, one of the goblins screeched loudly, and Orcrist fell to the floor in front of them. There was more silence and the Goblin King looked absolutely horrified.
"I know that sword!" he bellowed and even Maggie could hear the fear in his voice. "It is the Goblin Cleaver! Kill them all! Cut off his head!"
"Fili." Maggie whispered and felt fear once more as she was being pulled away. The goblin king ordered his horde to kill them and Maggie found herself on the floor, a goblin on top of her and another holding her down. She saw Thorin being threatened with a huge and sharp. Even Thorin Oakenshield looked terrified. The company was ready for the worst to happen, Maggie in the middle of it all when suddenly, a shockwave of blindingly bright white light sent the goblins flying. Maggie had never believed in miracles until that moment, when a silhouette stepped out of the shadows. A familiar face, carrying a sword and wearing a pointy hat.
"Gandalf" Maggie threw her arms around the wizard. "Oh thank god you're here!"
"It's alright make. Now take up arms!" said the wizard and passed her a second sword. "Fight." He turned to the dwarves and bellowed. "FIGHT!"
The dwarfs really didn't have to be told twice. In seconds, they were fighting the goblins with every fibre of their being. Even Gandalf joined in the battle, and to Maggie's surprise, was amazing at it. She watched as a goblin came towards him and the wizard simply cut off his head mid-air and sent him flying, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Maggie's survival instinct and adrenaline had kicked in now and as each goblin came towards her, she swung the swords, cutting of an arm here and a leg there. She was certainly no killer but she was going to her damndest to defend herself. Thorin appeared at her side, Ocrist in one hand and his battle axe in the other. In a long line of bizarre events, Maggie could never have thought she would be fighting side by side with Thorin Oakenshield. The other dwarfs were all skilled in combat, Kili used his bow and arrow effortlessly and fired at the goblins one by one, who stood no chance.
"Remember your lessons?" Thorin teased.
"Consider your footing." Maggie replied as she stabbed a goblin. "Trust your instincts." as she said that final word, Thorin noticed she had been able to decapitate a goblin, as if she had been born with a blade in her hand.
"Where's your brother?" Thorin asked as they quickly moved. Bombur used the weight of his entire body as a weapon.
"Nice work, little sister." Fili said as he appeared to her left and then cried out. "THORIN!"
The Goblin King clumsily stumbled towards Thorin, who in one swift movement used Orcrist on the goblin's staff and he tumbled off the bridge.
"Follow me!" Gandalf commended and they ran.
In the Goblin tunnel, things had taken a turn for the worst. Sure enough, Bilbo had won the game of riddles with Gollum, but once Gollum realised that Bilbo had stolen something from him, the creature got angry. Once a window of opportunity had presented itself to them, Riley and Bilbo had made a run for, Gollum's outraged cries not far behind. The goblin tunnels were narrow and treacherous, Riley felt his claustrophobia slowly but surely grab hold of him and his breathing became more difficult.
"Bilbo." Riley stopped, put his hands on his knees with his head between his legs. "I can't do this."
Bilbo stopped and ran up to Riley and searched friend's eyes for an answer or a hint as to what was wrong.
"What is it? What's the matter?" Bilbo asked. "What can I do?"
"It's these tunnels, this place."
"You're scared of small spaces." Bilbo realised. It was a strange thing to Bilbo, because that kind of fear wasn't something hobbits felt, what with living underground. But seeing it affect Riley made him feel a bit helpless. The hobbit helped Riley back up on his feet and they continued through the tunnel, Bilbo was almost certain he could see the light. Gollum's cries continued to echo in the background
"I'm just going to draw him off." Bilbo said. "I will be right back."
"Bilbo!" Riley called after but he was too late. Riley knew exactly what was going to happen and he knew in that moment that he had to find his own way out of the tunnels. And just like that Bilbo Baggins had disappeared and Riley was alone.
They were hundreds, if not thousands of Goblins chasing after than. Maggie ran faster than she had run in her entire life. Led by Ganadlf, they made their way through Goblintown, across questionably stable rope bridge. Fili sliced his way through the Goblins, Kili shot them. Ori used his slingshot with impressive accuracy. Thorin fought to, using the sword like he had been born with it. Maggie managed to kill a goblin or two in her path but compared to the others she was way out of her depth.
"Gather round!"
"Maggie help me with this."
She pushed the ladder forward with Kili. "This fun isn't it?" Maggie wasn't sure if fun was the right adjective use, but she certainly wasn't going to go all teacher on him. The tunnels seemed to go on forever. A group of goblins had jumped onto Bombur who used his weight to get rid of them. Using his staff, Gandalf created obstacles for the goblins and allowed the company to run as fast they could over the many bridged that connected the tunnels to each other. Maggie wasn't sure how she hadn't freaked out completely yet, but at best guess, her adrenaline was keeping her going and for that she was thankful. Dwalin and Thorin were in the front, slicing the head off one goblin after another but Maggie thought it was like fighting a hydra, if you cut off one head, more seemed to appear. On the level below them, Dwalin, Bofur and some of the younger dwarfs used a giant log to push the goblins off the bridge. If Maggie hadn't been absolutely terrified, she would have had time to admire the dwarf's pure skill in combat. Thorin was relentless, wielding Orcrist like he had never possessed another sword in his life.
"Forty-three." Maggie counted as one goblin fell in front of her. She swung around, finding herself back to back with Thorin and pushed her sword through another goblin coming towards here. "Forty-four."
"What on earth are you doing, nithul?" Thorin asked. A third goblin jumped on top of him but he kicked it, cut off its head and pushed it off the bridge.
"Forty-five." A fourth goblin came from Maggie's left and all she head to do with swing the sword from right to left, decapitating it as it also fell off the edge of the bridge. "Counting how many I kill. Just so I what to tell my brother. Thorin was about to reply but was interrupted by the Goblin King who crashed bridge with his enormous body. A swarm of goblins continued to gather around them and as far as Maggie could see, there was no escape. All the fighting, it appeared, had been for nothing.
"You thought you could escape me." The goblin king mocked.
"Well yeah." Maggie said.
"What are you gonna do now wizard?" Gandalf literally poked him with his staff and sliced through his stomach. "That'll do it." Then he sliced his head and the goblin king fell dead.
The victory was short-lived when the bridge collapsed and they fell into the depths of the tunnels. Somewhere along the fall, Maggie emptied the contents of her stomach, a reminder of how much she hated rollercoaster. They landed finally, one on top of the other, Kili helped Maggie up and after a short while, her head stopped spinning. Her body still ached from the whipping scars.
"I'm so fucking tired of falling!" Maggie said and breathed out.
"Well." Bofur said "That could have been worse." He spoke to soon though because as he did, Bombur was the last dwarf to fall on the pile, making everyone else swear.
"You had to didn't you?"
"Gandalf!" Kili called out.
Maggie saw what he was afraid of, a swarm of thousands of goblins, closing up on them, Maggie helped Kili up on his feet. "Does it never end!"
Even Gandalf was getting worried now. "Only one thing will save us. Daylight! Here! On your feet!"
They ran again and Maggie wasn't sure how her feet were physically able to carry her much longer. They ran through a set of tunnels and she hadn't realised just how deep under the mountain they'd been until then. Gandalf took them down a narrow pathway and at the end of the path, to her relief she saw daylight.
"Maggie!"
Maggie jumped at the sound of her brother's voice. Somehow, he'd managed to catch up with them in the tunnels. Had he been all the way down here all along?
"Riley!" she threw his arms around him. "Where have you been? Where's Bilbo?"
"Long story." Riley said, panting heavily, in an attempt to catch his breath. "Escape death now. Catch up later."
"Yeah, that's fair."
"Good to see you again Master Riley!" Gloin called out
"Bifor, Bofur..that's ten." the wizard counted. "Fili, Kili and Bombur. That makes thirteen."
The wizard looked around. "Maggie, Riley. That makes fifteen. Where's Bilbo?"
As Maggie watched Gandalf count to make sure everyone in the company were accounted for, Maggie couldn't help but feel like he was a school teacher and they were all students on a trip. Such as she had been herself many times, so she did empathise with him. They had finally stopped running and made their way to a small forest clearing. Maggie had lost all track of time in the goblin tunnels but it was broad daylight outside, and the goblins were not in sight. Nor for that matter, was Bilbo and the wizard suddenly realised that their burglar wasn't there.
"Where is our hobbit!" he called out
"Curse the hafling!" said one of the dwarfs "I thought he was with Dori!"
"Don't blame me!" Dori said
Gandalf walked up to the young dwarf "Well where did you last see him?"
"Gandalf!" Riley spoke up and Gandalf turned to him. "I was with Bilbo. We got separated in the tunnels, Gandalf." Riley explained. "I'm sorry."
"What happened exactly?" Gandalf pressed. "Tell me!"
"I'll tell you what happened." Thorin said "Master Baggins so his chance and he took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm house since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is wrong."
"You're wrong." Riley snapped.. There was no guarantee they would see Bilbo again but Riley had a feeling they'd all be surprised. "Bilbo saved my life today in that tunnel." It was true, Riley thought. If he hadn't won that game of riddles with Gollum, Riley was pretty confident he'd die in those tunnels. Bilbo had been there, helping him face his phobia and never once judged him. There was so much more to the hobbit than the others, especially Thorin, could understand. Although, Riley didn't tell anyone about the ring, though.
"No. He isn't long gone." said a familiar voice. The company couldn't believe it and Riley was beyond relieved to see his friend well and alive.
"Bilbo Baggins." Gandalf chuckled and walked up to the hafling as if he was greeting a very old and dear friend.. "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life."
Bilbo smiled and then turned to face the company. "Bilbo. We'd almost given you up." said Fili
"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" someone else asked
Bilbo exchanged a quick glance with Riley and then Gandalf.
"What does it matter?!" said Gandalf "He's back!"
"It matters. I want to know. Why did you come back?"
"Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have." Bilbo sighed "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, that's home. That's why I came back... 'cause you don't have one, a home. Maggie and Riley, they've been taken from theirs against their will too and dropped into this strange world where nothing is familiar to them. And your home was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."
Thorin's eyes softened and Maggie felt him grab her hand. Their fighting and bad blood, it seemed, had stopped.
"Riley are you crying?" Oin asked.
"I can't help it." Riley sniffed and Maggie put an arm around her brother.
Although Riley's crying stopped though when a new sound interrupted the peace. Maggie recognized that snarl and howling anywhere. The orc pack had found them and their leader called out a battle cr
Thorin sighed. "Out of the frying pan…"
Gandalf filled in the rest. "...and into the fire. Run. RUN!"
"I am so sick of running."
But Maggie ran. She ran faster than she had back in the tunnels. At least here, the terrain was clearer and there was more space. Despite how fast her carried her, Maggie felt the sting of the scars on her back and they made it difficult to focus. Before she realised she had fallen far behind the others and couldn't really see them. It was dusk now and the darkness made the terrain more difficult to navigate. She wasn't sure how it happened, but her foot got stuck in a root, much like that first day when she'd met the dwarves. A giant warg and its master jumped out from the bushes in front of her. She recognized the orc as the one who had tried to kill Balin. He dismounted the warg, dragging his weapon, a giant blade as he marched towards her, muttering words in the black speech. Maggie couldn't understand the words literally but she could figure out the sentiment well enough.
"Labish dab, shara kurv. Lat liwo ukuffas." The orc hissed as it jumped off the warg. Maggie crawled backwards and found herself against a tree. The orc sniffed her hair. His coarse tongue licked at her skin, stubby fingers curled in her hair. Hot, burning tears streamed Maggie's face as the creature's sharp blade pressed into her skin, a fresh trickle of blood dropped and Maggie cried out in pain. Again the orcs blade pressed into her her neck, his disgusting fingers grabbing her hair and tugged it back, another hand wandering elsewhere, as if she was just a toy for him to play with.
"MAGGIE!" The voice belonged to Thorin. Rather than running away with the others, he had run back for her, sword in one hand and his axe in the other, followed suit by Fili and Kili. Thorin kicked the orc to the ground and the princes slew the other wargs around them. Then, Thorin turned around to Maggie, picked her up in his arms and ran until they finally caught up with the others, at the very edge of the cliff.
"Up into the trees!" Gandalf commanded "All of you. Come on climb! Bilbo! Riley! Climb!"
"Oh hell no!" Riley said, but he knew they had to. Thorin, Fili and Kili helped Maggie up the trees and kept her steady. They watched as the wargs and orcs surrounded them and Riley was beginning to feel helpless. He watched his sister and felt anger stir within him, these creatures and their relentless evil was just taking so much from them. The dwarfs were surprisingly quick getting up into the trees, Riley thought, even Bombur with all his weight was able to hold on tightly to a branch. It didn't stop the wargs though, and the foul creatures with their stench jumped at the trees, trying to climb without success. Riley grabbed hold of Bilbo and pulled him up onto the branch. Just as Riley thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, the pale orc appeared on his white warg.
"Azog." Thorin whispered.
"I remember your father reeked of it. Thorin son of Thrain. I will kill your human whore too, and I will take pleasure in it."
"It cannot be." The pale orc ordered something in the black speech, pointing at Thorin and the remaining wargs charged at them. The wargs surrounded them. Jumping at them, soon the trees began to collapse as the wargs figured out how to tear up the roots. Fili held onto Maggie as tightly as he could, not letting go as the trees fell onto each other, until finally there was one tree left they could hang on to. Maggie looked up to see what was happening, when she caught Gandalf blowing fire into a pine-cone.
"Fili!" Gandalf called out and threw him the literal cone of fire. Soon, the other dwarfs were holding a pine cone, throwing them at the wargs. Small flames sparked around them and they soon turned into large flames but it worked, the wargs finally fled. The dwarfs cheered at their success, but too soon because the tree began falling backwards. Maggie found herself hanging onto a branch, the depth of the world below her. As she hung on and as things couldn't possibly get any worse, Maggie saw Thorin locking eyes with the pale orc. Thorin stepped off the trees, full of rage and walked through the flame. Maggie was both terrified and terribly impressed. He ran towards the pale orc, Ocrist in one hand, his oak shield in the other. The warg jumped him and Thorin fought him.
"THORIN!" Balin cried out!
"No, no, no!" Maggie called out.
The foul creature took a bite of Thorin. Maggie was about to jump off the tree and go after him but Dwalin stopped her, pulling her back and up off the branch. As the sword rested against Thorin's neck and he was about to face his fate something completely unexpected happened. Bilbo Baggins jumped out, seemingly from nowhere and pushed the orc aside just as his blade was about to cut off Thorin's head. Maggie watched as Bilbo fought the other orc and to her amazement, killed him with Sting. The orc fell lifeless to the ground, which naturally angered the pale orc and he said something else in the black speech. Maggie knew Bilbo was in trouble as the wargs moved towards him. But he was not alone. The other dwarves were not far behind him. Fili and Kili were filled with anger as they used every last bit of their strength to fight the wargs
Maggie saw her chance and jumped off the tree, through the flames and to Thorin.
"Thorin!" Maggie rushed up Thorin. His eyes open but lifeless, she listened to his heart and his pulse which were both faint. She tried shaking him, tried CPR but nothing worked. "No, no, no, no."
"Maggie!" It was Riley's voice who got her attention."Look!"
Just when Maggie thought she had seen everything, she saw a flock of giant eagles approaching them. Before Maggie could react, one of the Eagles grabbed Thorin's body and took off. Then, a second eagle grabbed Maggie, followed by Bilbo. As she clung onto the eagle's talons, Maggie screamed when the giant bird of prey, dropped her and she landed on top of another one. That's when Maggie Spencer collapsed.
"THORIN!" Fili cried out.
Maggie had no idea how long they'd been flying when she finally woke up. Seeing as they were mid-air, she panicked at first but the eagles were surprisingly gentle and Maggie was able to relax. They flew for hours, over mountains and across valleys. All the while, Maggie kept her eyes on Thorin who was lifeless in the grasp of one of the eagles. She assumed the eagle carrying Thorin was in charge, simply because of his size. Eventually, the eagles dropped them off on top of a mountain, which Maggie found later was called Carrock. The second thing she learned that day was the Eagles could, in fact, speak. Gandalf thanked them for their rescue and the eagles took off again. Once they did, Gandalf was the first to rush up to Thorin, who was still lifeless on the ground..
"Thorin! Thorin!" The wizard put his hand over his face and muttered words in a strange language Maggie couldn't understand. It was neither common tongue nor Elvish or Khuzdul. Within a few moments, Thorin began to move, slowly at first and his eyes opened.
"The hafling." he muttered.
"It's alright." Gandalf said calmly. "Bilbo is here. Quite safe."
Upon hearing this, Thorin managed to get up off his feet and marched right up to Bilbo, who took cover next to Riley. There was some tension and Maggie wasn't quite sure what to expect, but Thorin was angry.
"You!"Thorin barked "What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden, that you would not survive in the wild and that you have no place amongst us?" suddenly Thorin's face relaxed in a way that Maggie had never seen before. "I've never been so wrong in all my life." To everyone's surprise, he embraced Bilbo into a hug. Nobody was more surprised than Bilbo but eventually even the hobbit returned the hug and they stood there for a while.
"I am sorry I doubted you." Thorin apologised.
"No, I would have doubted me too. I'm not a hero, or a warrior." Bilbo faced Gandalf. "Or even a burglar."
"Could've fooled me." Riley teased.
"And you." Thorin turned to Maggie now and she felt her heart flutter a bit. In one movement, he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her up close against his chest. His hand gently glided through her hair, as he looked at her in a way he had never looked at a woman before. Then he kissed her, deeply with every fibre of his body. This was followed by more cheering from the dwarves. "I thought I'd never see you again."
Maggie smiled. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Thorin Oakenshield."
"Indeed."
In what had been an intense couple of days, the imminent danger seemed to be over and for the first time in a long while the company was able to relax. The sun was even shining for once and the air felt fresh. As they stood on top of Carrock, Maggie looked out over the great vastness that was Middle-Earth and saw something far off into the distance.
"Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo asked, he had spotted it too.
A mountain on the horizon. An enormous, beautiful mountain. Maggie had never seen anything like it before in her life. It seemed so close, yet so far away at the same time. But in that moment, she realised how far they'd come.
"Erebor. The lonely mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of middle-earth." Gandalf said
Thorin his arm around Maggie's waist and pulled her close. "Our home."
"Look!" Riley called out. A small bird flew over them and
"A raven. The birds are returning to the mountain."
Gandalf briefly grabbed the bird. "It's not a raven, it's thrush." the wizard released.
"We'll take it as a sign." Thorin said . "A good omen."
"You're right." Bilbo agreed. "I do believe the worst is behind us."
A flicker of hope shone in Maggie's eyes as she realised something she had been excited about for a very long time.
"Does this mean we can stop running for a while?"
To be continued….
YIIIIKES! That was a monster of a chapter. To those of you who made it this far - congratulations! I promise you that not all chapters will be this long! There was just no decent place to stop, so please forgive me. We're moving into Desolation of Smaug next, but not immediately, there'll be some time for our heroes to breathe and relax. What did you think?