Hey guys! A day late this week. I have no excuse other than it completely slipped my mind to update yesterday, what with me going through stress and depression. Sorry for the lateness and hope you can forgive me and enjoy this chapter! Stay safe during these uncertain times xx

Review responses;

Guest Palacegirl – Thanks, glad you enjoyed them! And yes, Thorin has finally admitted it, curse the stubborness of dwarves! I hope they find a cure too. Stay safe xx

Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967 – Thanks! Stay safe xx


Chapter 22

It has been a week since Aiden and I first visited the dungeons, and since then I have kept my promise. Everyday after, we would go back to see them all, sometimes with Tauriel and sometimes we would go alone, the guards hesitantly allowing us to enter.

Ever since we returned from our first visit, I can't help but keep thinking about the conversation I had with Thorin, and the disappointment I felt from him when I mentioned Aiden and I would be returning home. It was almost like he didn't want us to go back. Truth be told. . .I didn't want us to go back either.

I had no idea what would happen once we did go home, and I certainly didn't want to put Aiden through that again. He had come so far since then, he had warmed up to Bilbo and the dwarves so quickly that it even surprised me. At home, he would not allow any males to come anywhere near him. It was a nightmare when going to the doctors, we'd have to keep changing to a female doctor, as Aiden would scream and hide behind me whenever a male doctor entered the room. I was also scared of when he would start school, we wouldn't be able to change teacher's because of his fear. That is why I began homeschooling him.

I sometimes wonder whether we could make a home for ourselves here. But, where would we go? I suppose we could go back to Rivendell, he would have a playmate in Estel then, or maybe Bilbo wouldn't mind us returning with him. . .nah, maybe not. As peaceful as the Shire felt, the Hobbits are extremely suspicious of strangers, from what Bilbo told me anyway. And as much as I could believe we could be happy in the Shire, we probably wouldn't be able to walk ten feet without getting suspicious and hateful glares from most of the Hobbits, especially the Sackville-Baggins. I have only heard of them through Bilbo, but already I wanted to slap them, especially Lobelia. Always causing the poor man trouble.

We could always find a town of men to stay in, maybe Esgaroth since it is so close to Erebor. No. . .Aiden wouldn't be able to walk without looking over his shoulder or whimpering in fear. And then there's Erebor. . .Thorin did say about having dwarven clothing made for us, is that his way of accepting us into his home? It would be great, because then we wouldn't leave the dwarves and Aiden would be comfortable being in a place he knew people, where he knew the Company.

He had become so much closer to the dwarves since leaving Rivendell, even to those that he was hesitant in being around. He had brothers in Fili, Kili and Ori. Balin quickly became the grandfatherly figure I wish he had with my own father. He had uncles with all the rest, even Dwalin, which I was surprised with, but he's even becoming a brother to me.

As for Thorin, the one Aiden was the most hesitant with, taking one of the longest to get used to, he had admitted to me just a few days ago that he had become like a father to him, a father that his own never was. He had told me, after he saw how gentle, loving and caring he was to Fili and Kili, he wanted that too, which is when he began going to him more when we were at Beorn's.

He knew that he would always get that from me, but even I knew there was a difference between a mother's love and a father's love. Every boy needs their father, and even though Aiden had a father, he never got that love and affection he needed from him.

So, he clung onto the one who he did get it from. Thorin. I had seen it, after the Goblin tunnels, when they were resting at Carrock and he woke up crying from his nightmare, he had comforted Aiden with me, stroking his head soothingly and Aiden leaning more into him. Just knowing this had made me smile, knowing that Aiden could possibly have a father after all.

Yes. . .maybe that could work out. We'd be the only humans living in Erebor. . .but maybe we could make a home there. . .we'd need to get out of here first before any thoughts of our future came to mind.

That's when, a week and a half after we first came into Mirkwood's walls, Bilbo and I had come up with the perfect way to get the dwarves out. There was a celebration held the night before, one where every elf, but the guards, would be attending. So, there shouldn't be any elves inside the dungeons, but just standing guard outside, especially if they indulged a bit too much. Bilbo managed to get the keys the night before as some guards had passed out drunk, unfortunately in the cellars, but hopefully they would still be out by the time we got there. In an hour, when I wake Aiden, the three of us will make our way to the dungeons, the guard at the door would give us entry, we release the dwarves get in the barrels and then drop down into the rive that runs underneath and away from Mirkwood.

Once an hour had passed I quickly got Aiden up and ready, with him dressed in green leggings, a green tunic top, a coat and brown boots. I'm dressed pretty much the same, except where he's wearing green, I'm wearing blue. Another thing I'm thankful to Tauriel for, finding me something other than dresses to wear.

We leave the room, Aiden holding onto his new toy, and although we don't see him, we know Bilbo is there, especially when I feel his hand graze my own to let me know of his presence. And so, the three of us walk down the now quiet halls towards the door to the dungeons, where a guard is still standing. This guard I know to be named Alyan, we've even grown an acquaintance with each other since he's usually the one to let us in.

He smiles as he sees us approaching. "Lady Sophia, you are up early."

I smile back. "Aiden and I just wanted to visit out friends before we had some breakfast. May we enter?"

He nods, especially at seeing Aiden's pleading face. She knew he couldn't say no to him, having an elfling of his own. He turns and opens the door. I stop to talk to him, giving Bilbo a chance to slip by.

"We won't be needing you Alyan, I will knock on the door when I am ready to leave."

He nods. "Of course."

Aiden and I slip through as the door shuts behind us, Bilbo pulls off the ring, appearing beside us grinning and giving us the thumbs up. We make our way down to the cells, and from here I could hear Bofur talking.

"I'll wager the sun's on the rise. It must be nearly dawn."

"We're never going to reach the mountain, are we?" Oin asks, sounding crestfallen.

"Not stuck in here, you're not." Bilbo and I say at the same time as we rush over.

The dwarves jump up in surprise, all of them rushing to the doors.

"Bilbo! Sophia!" They all call out in surprise.

"Shhh! There are guards nearby!" I hiss out to them all.

They all quiet down as Bilbo runs around freeing all the dwarves. Once Thorin is freed, I do smile as he instantly makes his way over to Aiden and I. Aiden instantly wraps his arms around the dwarf, a move which causes Thorin to give a wide smile as he holds the boy back.

"I am happy to see you too, Aiden."

Aiden gives a wide toothy grin before running over to Fili and Kili, the former picking him up into his arms.

I smile as Thorin turns to me. "I told you to trust us."

He smiles back. "I never doubted you."

Once all the dwarves are free, they instantly go to go up some stairs, the ones we came down from.

"Not that way, down here. Follow me." Bilbo says before walking down some stairs.

We all follow him, Thorin and I at the back and we soon find ourselves in the wine cellar. The elves Bilbo spoke about, are thankfully, still asleep around a table, severa; empty bottles of wine in front of them. Bilbo leads us further in.

"This way."

"I don't believe it; we're in the cellars!"

"You were supposed to be leading us out, not further in!"

"Kili! Bofur! Be quiet, he knows what he's doing!" I hiss at the dwarrows.

They look to me before following Bilbo further in to where the empty barrels are stacked on top of each other in a pyramid.

Bilbo turns to the dwarves. "Everyone, climb into the barrels, quickly!"

"Are you mad?! They'll find us!" Dwalin hisses.

"No, no, they won't, I promise you. Please, please, you MUST trust me!"

The dwarves mill around, muttering among themselves, as they try to decide. Bilbo and I look to Thorin, who is watching us both. As he turns to me, I just nod, letting him know he can trust us, like he did before.

Thorin nods before turning to the others. "Do as he says!"

Each of the dwarves climbs into a barrel. Bilbo walks along, counting to make sure all the dwarves have been accounted for. Once we realise there aren't enough barrels for Aiden and I, I get Aiden to go in with Fili and Thorin gets me in with him. As he moves aside to make room, I kneel down and crawl in, blushing slightly at the tight space. Looking up at Thorin, I instantly pull back as I notice how close we are. I swear I can also see a pink tinge to Thorin's own cheeks.

"What do we do now?" Bofur asks, thankfully distracting me from my situation.

All the dwarves stick their heads out of their barrels and watch Bilbo as he walks toward a lever in the ground.

"Hold your breath."

"Hold my breath? What do you mean?"

"Fili, keep hold of Aiden." I manage to get out just as Bilbo pulls the lever.

The part of the floor that the barrels are on tilts downward into an opening; the barrels roll out the opening and fall several feet into a river that runs beneath the Woodland Realm. We al yell as we fall. As the barrels hit the water, they sink a little sending us under for a few seconds before rising. I cough out some of the water I had managed to inhale, Thorin gently patting my back. I spin around to look for Aiden, and find him wrapped closely in Fili's arms.

"Aiden, are you alright, sweetie?" I ask worriedly.

He turns to me, his wet hair whipping Fili in the face slightly, a large grin on his face and his eyes shining in excitement.

"That was fun! Let's do it again!"

This causes us all to chuckle. As our barrels begin to float off, Thorin holds onto some rocks to stop us as we realise Bilbo is not with us yet. Just then, the ramp tilts back and Bilbo falls through with a cry, landing into the water. Nori reaches out and helps Bilbo to grab onto his barrel.

"Well done, Master Baggins." Thorin compliments him.

Bilbo, half drowned, waves his hand in thanks and manages to splutter out a word.

"Go."

"Come on, let's go."

We paddle with our hands as the river pulls the barrels along; I can see and hear the elves rush along passages in the Woodland Realm as they follow us. We emerge into the sunlight, and my eyes go wide as I look ahead.

"Thorin!"

He looks beyond me and sees the waterfall.

"Hold on!" he calls out to the others as he wraps his arms around me.

That's when we plunge down it and through the rapids, then floating swiftly down the raging river. Looking back, I see Fili still having a tight hold on Aiden.

As I hear a horn from behind, I look down the river as we turn a corner and see a guardpost built above the river. The heavily armoured elves standing guard there hear the horn and come to attention; one of them pulls a lever, causing a heavy metal sluice gate to block the river. The barrels come to a stop at the gate, unable to float further, some of us under the bridge, others out.

"No!" Thorin exclaims as we are the first to hit the gate.

I turn to him. "What do we do now?"

He looks around for a moment in thought. "I don't know. . ."

That's when we hear a commotion coming from above us.

"Watch out! Those are orcs!" Bofur exclaims, just as there's a splash as a body falls from above.

I then hear the orcs growling and snarling away, another one speaking in the same tongue Azog did before. Hearing Aiden crying out, I whip my head around to see him and Fili still out in the open, Fili fighting off the orcs.

"Aiden!" I yell out, worrying for my boy.

As Aiden looks to me, fear on his face, Fili reaches out and gently pushes the lad down into the barrel, keeping him out of sight. I share a thankful look to Fili, receiving a nod back as he continues to fight the orcs. I then see Kili getting out of his barrel and onto land. Where he is going, I don't know, Dwalin throws him a sword. As Kili is no doubt fighting, Fili throws his sword, aiming to kill an orc. It's then I hear a whizzing sound and then a gasp of pain from above.

"KILI!" Fili screams out.

We then hear a loud groan of pain. My heart drops as I grip onto Thorin's arm.

"Kili. . ." Thorin breathes out in worry over his nephew, causing me to take his hand reasurringly.

A couple minutes later, the gate opens and we're suddenly sent down a waterfall and into more violent rapids than before, the orcs chasing after us. Looking back, I see the others have followed, Kili back in his barrel, though he looks pale from pain. Looking over to Fili, I panic as I don't see Aiden. Fili, noticing the panic as he catches my eye, points into the barrel, letting me know he is safe inside.

Thorin gets me to duck down into the barrel as best as I can so he can fight without causing me injury. I manage to kneel down with my head still sticking out as I watch the fight. I quickly duck down as an orc jumps for us, but Thorin takes him out with a sword he took from another fallen orc. I see the Mirkwood elves following alongside us as they also take out the orcs we can't as they shoot them.

"Cut the log!" Thorin suddenly calls out.

Looking up, I see a low-hanging tree branch stretched across the river in front of them, with several orcs on it. As we float under it, Thorin hits it with his sword, then Bofur and finally Dwalin, breaking it and causing the orcs on it to fall into the river. I see Bilbo managing to climb atop a floating barrel.

"Bombur!" Dwalin yells as he tosses his axe to him.

Bombur kills an orc that had just jumped onto his barrel. The Orc's spear ends up pinning it to an overhanging tree branch; the other end of the spear catches onto Bombur's barrel and catapults it through the air and onto the riverbank, where the barrel rolls and tramples multitudes of orcs. The barrel flips through the air to the other side of the river, where it tramples more orcs. Eventually, the barrel comes to a stop, and orcs surround it; however, Bombur kicks out the bottom, then sticks his arms holding axes through the sides. He starts spinning rapidly with the axes extended, mowing down all the orcs around him. He then runs toward the river, tosses his axe to one of the floating dwarves, then gracefully jumps into an empty barrel. I must say I am impressed by that. Bombur is just full of surprises.

As I watch the elves, Legolas suddenly leaps off and lands on top of Dwalin and Dori, a foot on each head. I hold back a laughter at the disgruntled look of the dwarves, watching as Legolas balances on them while shooting the orcs, even balancing on one leg as he avoids getting hit in the crotch by a large boulder as the paths differ. His foot soon going back on Dwalin's head, before he then leaps off, jumps onto Nori and onto land where he slices an orc, using it as a surf board as he goes down a small incline before killing two more and then leaping onto the dwarves heads again, first Oin and then Gloin, Fili and Kili before landing back on shore once again.

While he is preoccupied fighting an orc, another orc runs up behind him and raises its sword to kill him; just as I'm about to scream a warning, behind me, Thorin throws his sword and manages to kill the orc behind Legolas. Legolas and Thorin look at each other with some sort of understanding; Legolas stops pursuing us as we continue floating down the river, leaving Mirkwood behind us.


Well, there we have it. They've escaped from the dungeons and are now on their way to Lake Town, which we will see in the next chapter. I'll try and not be late next week, but we'll see what happens. Again, stay safe everyone, I love you all xx