On Thorin's command the company set out towards the only light emitting from the cavern's opening, fighting their way vigorously. Kara slashed her sword at the goblin who spoke for his fellow companions before stabbing his stomach hard, listening with a satisfied huff as he squealed and plopped onto the floor, just like the filth deserved. She whipped her head back and forth in search of Naomi who was nowhere to be seen, resurfacing the anger which distracted her for a moment until Fili yanked desperately on her arm, reminding her of their dire situation.

Gandalf led the whole time as Kara helped her fellow companions plunge a stick into the bodies of the goblins, knocking numerous amounts off the edge as the remainder got beaten with weapons. She tried to support her youngest brother who slashed when he felt he could but otherwise relied heavily on the weight of his siblings, acting as an unintentional burden, but Kara didn't mind.

What annoyed her was how she couldn't see over the top of the chaos and consistently had to move her head to look from the ground to the enemies to where to jump to above the crowd when she vainly attempted to see if she could see the tip of a familiar wizard hat somewhere. Oin swung his staff in circles to knock back the creatures surrounding him, Gloin and Bifur acted as the attackers for they ran at the front of the group (aside the wizard), knocking goblins off of the edge of the raised pathways with Bombur close behind, beating any goblins that slipped past them with his frying pan.

"Cut the ropes!" She barely heard the order at this point but in a daze threw a knife to Nori who had needed one and he used it to do said order as dwarves by him sliced their knives through the others, the goblins that had previously attempted to use them as vines didn't make it to the other side and twirled like a whirlwind around another falling bridge, supposedly dead.

The company ran away and she let go of Kili, letting him fall into Fili as she saw Ori alone facing a group of goblins. The princess ran over and assisted him, ultimately winding up in them shooting arrows at her with crossbows, most of which she deflected with her sword but when they kept coming in bigger amounts she decided she needed a different shield and did the first thing she could think of; she ran over to a wooden ladder which was conveniently right next to her and used it as her form of protection until her idea developed further and she lay it on it's side, ramming it into the goblins which knocked them off of the edge of squished them, or their heads got caught in the gaps and their eyes widened as they choked, their necks forcefully being pushed back.

A few company members helped her sprint with it and did this until they came to an edge and used it as a bridge which they knocked away once everyone was safely on the other side. They made it to another wooden plank which everyone jumped on, some company members managing to hop onto the other side though some had to wait for it to swing once again before being able to jump to relative safety themselves. Kili produced the energy to slice his sword through the rope which made the goblins that tried to jump to their location plummet down to the darkness below and die.

The hecticness didn't end though and Ori got into a fight with what he thought was a goblin and he began to slash wildly with his eyes closed at the girl who deflected his blows and shot him a scrutinizing glare once he came to the realisation that he was, in fact, fighting a princess. He meekly apologized and busied himself helping with pushing a bolder away so he had an excuse not to finish the conversation. They chased it down a steep slope where it crushed many a goblin and ended up a few levels down, which could be thousands or a just few levels up from the bottom. She hoped it was the latter so there was less chance of someone falling and dying.

As the dwarves reached their final bridge to freedom she found her eyes brightening immensely when she saw the glorious sunlight stretching through the large opening. Her excitement was short lives when the goblin king burst through the middle of the bridge, shattering the wood and abruptly stopping them in their tracks.

"You thought you could escape me?" He asked, bashing his weapon in the direction of the dwarves. Fili used his spare arm to clutch his sister's wrist, breathing in relief that she was ok. He had been yelling her name and she hadn't answered, presumably having not heard over the chaos. "The destroyer of all happiness? The seeker of precious jewels and the ruler of the dark? The king of ALL goblins?!"

"My, you think rather highly of yourself." Gandalf remarked confidently as he began to take measured steps towards the giant king.

The goblin king's yellow eyes locked onto the wizard, a furious fire blazing in his glare. "And what are you going to do about it?"

Gandalf lunged forward slicing his sword across the goblin's neck and stomach to create sharp slits which brought the creature to his knees. "That'll do it." He confirmed, somewhat in shock before another strike to his flabby chin knocked him onto his front where he dangled. His weight began to break the dwarves source of ground, however, and Kara whimpered in panic and returned the grab onto Fili.

The next event was an absolute blur and she was awestruck that all of them survived, but the wood they were standing on dropped and they fell with it, down down down...in goblin town. She cringed at her own thoughts but decided that in answer to her previous wonders about how many levels they were up she supposed it was a lot, for they fell extremely far before finally landing in a heap (with some of the wood still remaining) with startled grunts onto the rock hard ground.

She scrunched up her face in pain even though she didn't get the worst of the fall for she was on the top and delicately climbed down. Her delicacy turned into a scramble when she saw the shadow of something extremely large falling above her and her feet only just hit the ground when the great, deceased goblin king landed on top of them, giving them the sensation of being re crushed. Bofur moaned for it was just after he had attempted to lighten the mood with a positive 'well that could have been worse' and Dwalin cursed viciously in khudzal before turning back to common tongue. "You've got to be joking!" He hissed.

Kara walked over to assist him and pulled the planks off of his body to allow his grumbling to continue whilst he was stood up. She sighed and locked eyes with Fili who was staring in horror at something behind her. "Gandalf!" he yelled, putting everybody into high alert as they spun around to see what was troubling the blonde. Thousands of goblins were running down the stone in the near distance in their direction, weapons raised and angry expressions plastered on their mangled faces.

"There's too many! We can't fight them!" She said hastily as Gandalf nodded in agreement.

"There's only one thing that will save us now; daylight! Come on!" So they were once again running and she tried not to pant, considering everything that Balin used to teach her about anaerobic respiration which was definitely needed at this moment, though she wasn't sure her body was producing energy for by the time they broke out into the glimmering sunlight which she longed for so much she had practically collapsed onto the floor.

Gandalf ushered them with his hand though, willing them to continue to get as far away from any danger as possible. The exhausted dwarves took advantage of the cover of the trees and came to a halt, much to everybody's relief. Kara put her hands on her knees and panted as Fili swung Kili around and the archer slumped down against the tree, releasing a pained whimper that tore her heart in two and she made her way over as Gandalf counted to make sure everybody was present.

Her and her brother immediately began to check him over even though he batted them away with his hands, insisting he was ok. "Did those things hurt you?" He demanded to Kara who rolled her eyes.

"Not as much as they hurt you."

"Fili, put water on those burns." He ordered to the blonde, voice hushed and raspy, who caught a canteen that Thorin threw his way and poured it over her face. It felt amazing, the feeling of cool instead of constantly hot washing over face and she closed her eyes for a moment before glaring at Fili.

"What are you using it on me for?" She hissed as Fili rolled his eyes and brought the bottle to Kili's lips.

"What did they do to him?" Fili asked, pulling his sister into an embrace, stroking the back of her hair to reassure himself that she was really there.

"Whips." She muttered. "She scratched his arm, machine..."

Fili sighed and called Oin over who began to bandage Kili's whip lashes and pulled up his tunic sleeve, gasping at the mark that the knife had left.

Naomi had carved Blitz into his arm.

"What does this mean?" Oin questioned as Thorin, Fili and Kara gathered around in a circle.

"I don't know." Kara whispered.

Kili rolled his eyes and grabbed at his tunic sleeve, yanking it down. "Its fine." he muttered as the company around them shifted uncomfortably.

"Ok, if..." Kara began before the unmistakable drabble of the wizard interrupted her mid sentence.

"Where's Bilbo?" She felt her heart drop and looked around her, taking her attention off of everything else for a moment. "Where is our hobbit?!"

"Curse that hafling!" Dwalin yelled after a moment of silence. "Now he's lost?"

"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin accused.

"Don't blame me!" The dwarf fired back innocently.

"Well where did you last see him?" Kara asked.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us." Nori spoke up.

"And what happened exactly? Tell me!" Gandalf demanded, showing his first signs of worry since they first set out on the quest. Kara was relieved that he had this emotion; she was beginning to think that wizards spent their life knowing everything was fine.

"I'll tell you what happened." Thorin stepped forward, abruptly halting any suggestion that was ready to be tossed into the atmosphere. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since he first stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing out hobbit again, he is long gone."

Kara refused to believe this and wanted to tell her uncle so. He got captured with them and she was certain that even if he did try to escape he wouldn't have been able to. Goblin tunnels were like a labyrinth.

"No, he isn't." her thoughts were confirmed when the hafling stepped out from behind a tree and joined their crowd.

"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life." Gandalf chuckled in amazement.

Kara shook her head in awe. "Bilbo! We'd actually given up on you! But how in mahal's name did you get past the goblins?" She questioned, stepping forward and grinning at Bilbo who returned the gesture.

Bilbo chuckled and reached into his pocket for something. Kara narrowed her eyes suspiciously when Gandalf intentionally spoke to stop him from pulling out whatever was in there with a "Well, what does it matter? He's back."

"It matters." Thorin spoke up. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"

Everyone glanced expectantly at Bilbo who stammered in the beginning of his next sentence but the further he got to the end the more confident he became at admitting his thoughts and he raised his chin high. "Look, I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my arm chair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back, cause you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you, but I will help you take it back if I can."

The company pondered his heart warming words for a moment; Kara was slightly saddened at the realisation that she did not have a home but also felt her heart swell with pride - this hafling was risking his perfect and innocent life to help a bunch of strangers so that they could have one for themselves, even though he had absolutely no reason to whatsoever.

A couple of deadly howls in the near distance pierced the night and interrupted their silence. Kara knew that they were howls from the enemy. A curse spewed from her lips for she needed a break from moving but decided that it wasn't going to be given to her yet. She dropped hastily to her knees beside her brother and with quick fingers finished tying off the bandaged that Oin had put on Kili before glancing readily at her uncle.

"Out of the frying pan..." Thorin sighed.

"And into the fire." Gandalf finished for him. "Run. Run!"

The company jumped to their feet if they were sitting and spurred forward if they were standing and charged down the steepest parts of the mountain before they were forced to slow their pace when they were on level ground and certain that if they continued to sprint they would fall off some large drop to an impending doom. This was the right idea. Kara and Fili continued to drag their protesting brother down until they reached a large outcropping that opened up before their eyes when she finally released him with the knowledge that she would be forced to fight here. Some trees were randomly scattered around her, one of which towered over a huge cliff edge, hence why it was a good idea to stop their darting. The fall was so big that one who stood on the edge couldn't even see the ground at the bottom. They were trapped.

Kara threw a knife at a warg that was advancing on the hobbit which killed it, and she readed another when one more sniffed at the hafling but didn't need to use it for Bilbo held out his sword and it sliced straight through the head of the enemy when it pounced. Kara smiled with pride, even though she was fairly certain that it hadn't really been intentional.

"Up into the trees! All of you! Come on, climb! Bilbo, climb!" The wizard demanded.

"Quickly!" Thorin added, locking eyes with his niece who nodded. She spun around and saw the rest of the crew far too close for her liking. "They're coming!" She yelled as she helped haul Kili into a tree before jumping herself, her fingers slipping but the blonde and brunette caught her and pulled her up where she continued to climb as far away from their nasty claws as possible. She glanced at Kili to check he was ok; with the adrenaline rush and Oin's care he seemed to be functioning a lot better but she was still cautious.

The remainder of the enemy scampered below them, tearing at the tree trunks in an attempt to break them and pawing at the ground viciously.

They all stopped when a snow white warg threateningly snarled behind them as he climbed up a rock and sniffed the air. His rider put every member of the company into high alert and unease, aside the trio. They guessed who he was, but they had never seen him before so they were not seeing a ghost. They were seeing a famous calamity for the first time.

"Azog?" Thorin asked in shock, his countenance an expression of pure horror.

"Do you smell it? The scent of fear?" Azog asked his companions snarkily, glaring at Thorin bitterly. "I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin, son of Thrain."

"It cannot be." Thorin whispered.

Azog smirked, pointing to Thorin with his mace. "That one is mine, kill the others!"

At this command the company were forced to climb as high as possible whilst the wargs leapt in the air, biting and clawing at their branches at an attempt to break them. Kara kicked her foot into one, watching it squeal and fall before furrowing her brow; this was hopeless.

"Drink their blood!" The pale orc shouted from where he sat atop his pet, doing absolutely nothing to help. Coward, Kara thought as she grasped another branch after she felt hers snap and she almost fell. Suddenly she heard a creak, and then she could feel the sudden rush of a breeze and knew for certain that the tree was falling sideways. She whipped her head back and forth hastily for a tree branch when hers cracked and snapped with the tree, and she reached out a hand to meet Fili's which was reaching for her, but it didn't succeed.

She was falling.

Her fingers had curled around his own for a moment until they slipped and her body smacked into many of the broken tree branches until she landed with a thud on the hard ground, knocking the wind out of her. She was on her butt, back leaning against the trunk of a tree and she blinked, looking wearily above her where the trees played dominos and each dwarf was forced to bound from one to the next as they fell until eventually they were all on the one final tree towering over the cliff edge. She scrambled back, still not stood up properly as the wargs advanced on her and sprinted around the base of the tree until she was overlooking the cliff edge. The girl glanced above her to see if she could jump at all to any branches but they were all out of reach.

Fili and Kili desperately searched for their sister in the midst of it all, crying out her name but they couldn't hear her muffled response.

A warg was about to pounce on her although she had a knife at the ready but she didn't need to use it for flames erupted from out of nowhere from the ground which sent the wargs shuffling backwards, whining at the heat and danger that would be brought were they to do so much as touch it.

"Fili!" A voice above the blonde startled him from desperately searching the lower ground for a missing girl and his reaction time was so lousy that he barely caught the flaming pine cone in time, but when he did he bounced it up and down in his hands a few times before throwing it at the wargs when he was sure his sister wasn't there. He looked worriedly down the deadly cliff edge, hoping with everything he had in him that she hadn't taken a fall of a little tumble.

Kara, however, had not, but she was completely stuck by the side of the tree or on the cliff edge. She grasped onto any jagged bits of the trunk that she could hold onto for it was the only way she could stay alive; if moved any further forward she would sizzle to death from the flames and if she moved far back she knew she would clumsily fall off of the edge and she couldn't climb the trunk for it was too high.

She had no idea what to do.

The dwarves all yelled in triumph as the creatures backed away but their victory was short lived when the roots detached themselves, broke apart and made the tree tilt off of the edge. Kara squealed in panic at the thought that she was about to be crushed and just jumped. In a moment of swift luck she was hugging the tree trunk that was now lying on its horizontal side and she clambered ungracefully to stand on top of it.

The company behind her scattered on the branches yelled in relief at her re-appearance, aside Ori and Dori who were yelling at the wizard as the latter's grip began to slip. They had fallen earlier with the tree and had been in the position of Dori clinging onto the branch and Ori holding his foot desperately. Dori let go with a grunt and Gandalf was quick to thrust down his staff which Dori managed to grab, but now the position was a lot more dangerous although nobody could help them up.

Thorin found himself standing up, the adrenaline of all of this rushing through his veins and the anger he felt as he once more locked eyes with the pale orc was immense and he was slowly walking along the trunk and in that direction. Kara was just about to walk back and join the others when she saw him coming and she stared at him in horror. "Uncle?" She asked, beginning to panic when he completely ignored her. She wasn't even sure if he heard her. "Uncle? Uncle what are you doing?!" His focus, however, was on Azog, his death stare so angry that he could probably penetrate Smaug with it if need be. He ran straight past her and she stopped in her tracks, watching him pick up speed as he got more and more confident.

The moment was so tense she was surprised she didn't fall right off the tree trunk.

Thorin raised his sword as he neared his enemy as Azog's evil grin widened and he leapt his warg off of the rock and above Thorin's head, knocking the king straight onto the ground.

"No!" She screamed as she gathered herself and began to move forward.

Thorin regained enough strength to stand back up on shaky legs. He wasn't giving up that easy. It wasn't a good idea though for he was still slightly traumatized by the whole goblin ordeal and he was tired, whereas Azog was so full of energy that he barely needed to move his arm to strike the blow to Thorin's face with his deadly mace which knocked him forcefully back onto the ground.

Kara's eyes welled with tears and she heard a faint 'no' behind her which she presumed was on Balin.

Azog's warg clamped his jaws around Thorin's limp body who yelled in pain as Kara slid off of the tree trunk numbly and tried to figure out what her next battle move should be. Thorin swung his sword, knocking the teeth off of his body but he got flung onto a rock as a result.

"Bring me the dwarf's head."

The orc who planned on fulfilling this command placed his sword against Thorin's neck who writhed beneath him before raising it high, ready to strike the blow of a lifetime. Kara hurried her pace but she knew she couldn't make it and she cried out as the sword moved down, but in the next second the orc was on the floor and the hobbit was rolling on top of him, stabbing at his chest to kill.

"Bilbo!" Kara yelled in triumph as she entered the clearing in relief and placed herself as a shield in front of Thorin's body.

"Kill him."

Kara's eyes widened and she pulled out her sword and began to fight; fought for Erebor, fought for Bilbo, fought for herself, but most importantly of all, she fought for Thorin.

As much as she hated to admit it and despite her best efforts there was no doubt that her and Bilbo were losing this fight. She looked around hastily for help as she slashed at a warg in front of her as three other enemies surrounded her, growling threateningly. However, each one was taken back by an individual as Fili, Kili and Dwalin slammed into the battle with her and left her with one enemy to tackle which she was able to do with a little duck and a couple of stabs.

She noticed Azog advancing on Bilbo and recklessly ran after him, slashing her sword at the butt of the warg who roared in pain and spun around to face her, Azog still atop it and glaring at her. In that moment she was terrified but held her chin high all the same with her sword held out defensively.

The warg pounced and she ducked, surprisingly getting a very decent stab to its stomach and it rolled to the side, Azog falling off it in the process. The creature stood up and roared at her, snarking as it slashed with its paw before jumping over her again and she did such a Bilbo like move which was holding her sword out with no idea what to do and surprisingly watching it plunge into the pale warg's neck. Maybe it was luck or maybe it was a good decision.

Man, that hobbit is contagious, she thought to herself with a slight smirk.

Either way the throat of the creature was shattered and he rolled onto the ground next to her.

Dead.

Azog was angrier than words could say and raised his mace to strike a final blow and end the dwarf's life when an eagle swooped in and grasped her in its talons. She screamed for she didn't know what it was and when she looked up all she could see was a giant bird kidnapping her. It threw her and she soared through the air before landing on the back of another, soaking in the feeling of its warm feathers. She felt herself relax when this happened to her companions too as one by one they got picked off of the tree. The eagles knocked over a tree to crush the orcs and wargs whilst also throwing a couple of them straight off the edge.

An unconscious Thorin gently got scooped up in the talons of the lord of the eagles and carried away, Dwalin got lifted up despite his grumbling, followed by the hobbit who like the majority of them had no idea what was happening, then Gandalf who found himself jumping off of the tree as it was about to break until finally her brothers got grabbed by the same eagle from a ring of fire and were simultaneously dropped to land on the back of her eagle and she smiled in greeting.

"Kara?" Fili asked.

"Mahal, sweetie, we thought you were dead." Kili added from behind his brother, closing his eyes in relief.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, pressing her forehead against theirs briefly before looking back out to the eagles flying around her.

"Thorin!" Fili cried, trying to peer over the many heads to look at his uncle.

The majestic birds continued to fly, dipping down to follow stream creaks in rocks or soaring above bumps of many different greenery shades until eventually they made it to a large rock in the shape of a bear which Gandalf called the Carrok. Kara slid off of her eagle and rushed over to her uncle who was still unconscious and got carefully placed onto the ground before his eagle bowed and followed his companions away.

"Thorin!" Gandalf yelled as he slid off of his eagle and ran over to the king. "Thorin."

"Uncle?" Kara asked in concern from where she now stood with her arms wrapped nervously around her stomach as Fili held her close, Kili slumping onto his knees beside them as he tilted his head and stared numbly at Thorin, not really aware of his surroundings.

Gandalf hovered a hand above Thorin's face and muttered indistinctly to himself as everyone around him held their breaths and fidgeted in anticipation until eventually Thorin's eyelids fluttered and they cracked open.

Kara had never felt so relieved.

"The hafling?" were the first words out of Thorin's mouth.

"It's alright." Gandalf answered.

"Bilbo is here. He is safe, uncle." Kara assured him, grabbing Bilbo by the arm and spinning him to stand by her so he could see.

Fili released his sister and rushed forward to help Thorin who had a little trouble standing up and batted him and Dwalin away. "You." He accused, turning on Bilbo angrily. "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 you had no place amongst us?"

Kara couldn't believe her ears and blinked in shock, shaking her head to make sure she was seeing and hearing this right. If it wasn't for Bilbo you would be dead, Kara hissed to herself and opened her mouth to speak up but didn't need to make a sound after Thorin's next words.

"I have never been so wrong in all my life." He admitted, yanking Bilbo into a tight embrace who startled. The company cheered and applauded at the touching scene as Bilbo let himself smile and returned the gesture slightly until Thorin pulled away and held him at arms length. "But I'm sorry I doubted you."

"No, I would have doubted me too. I'm not a hero, nor a warrior. Not even a burglar."

Kili snorted from his position on the ground and Kara glared at him so he looked the other direction and let the breeze blow his hair back and sooth his thoughts for a moment as the company took their attention off of him and back onto the squawking eagles who flew past them and whatever Thorin was staring at fixedly in the distance.

When Kara laid eyes on it she was so in awe that she reached for Kili without looking at the ground and when she yanked him up he tripped over her foot and both would have gone tumbling down the hill had Fili not grabbed her arm and dragged her in the direction of the company who were ambling slowly towards the edge of the cliff to take a closer look.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo asked.

"The lonely mountain." Kara whispered, moving to stand next to her uncle who smiled approvingly at her and placed an arm around her shoulders as they stared out at the horizon.

"Erebor. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth." Gandalf elaborated.

"Our home."

This took me a while to write but the next chapter will be up sooooon I promise! Bold means the orcs are speaking in black speech, just in case you didn't catch onto that... I am gonna go back and edit this chapter cuz I wrote it in one sitting and read it through only once for if I'd read it again I wouldn't have been able to focus so I'm going for it! So sorry if it's a little lousy but I wanted to get something posted. Also good on Kara for killing Azog's orc with surprising ease am I right... :/ Maybe fighting like a clueless hobbit really works! What do you think? Lemme knowww and continue to DM me on here or AO3 :)

Hope you enjoyed! :)