Hey guys, it's time we join Caladwen on her quest with Bilbo and the dwarves. Let's see what happens in Goblin Town with them today. Oh, and another note, if you have read this story before I change it before, from now on you may see some differences between what I did then to now. Hopefully, I've made them better with the changes. Those that have just started reading this now, please enjoy xx
Review responses;
Likarian – The romance will come along lol
Dragonett8 – Thank you! And don't worry, I hope you enjoyed the three chapters I left you with xx
Goblin Town
After falling for quite some time, and getting bruised by knocking against the rocks, we finally land in a pile in the middle of a cage which look to be made of rotten wood.
"Look out!" Dori suddenly yells.
Looking up, I see a horde of Goblins rushing towards us.
Thorin, who I landed beside, quickly reaches up and pulls my hood over my head, making sure it covers my face. "Do not let yourself be seen, Caladwen." he warns me.
I nod just before we are all grabbed by the goblins, struggling as they lead us all away. We are lead through a vast network of tunnels and wooden bridges, until we come out into a large open cavern with many more wooden bridges and the small horde of Goblins with us soon turn into hundreds of them, which scatter among the bridges, watching as we are pushed and shoved forward towards the throne room and platform of the Great Goblin.
The Great Goblin is a massive Goblin, maybe even taller than Gandalf. He is far larger than any other goblin, just as pale as his minions and is also covered in boils and warts which look to be festering, however they don't seem to bother him. He also has a large swinging chin, which reaches his chest.
As he sits, music starts, the Goblin King says, "I feel a song coming on!" and then, to our horror, he begins to sing;
"Snip snap, the black crack,
Grip, grab, pinch, and nab.
Batter and beat,
Milk 'em, stammer and squeak!
Pound pound, far underground,
Down, down, down in Goblin Town!"
"Down, down, down in Goblin Town!" the other Goblins join in.
"With a swish and smack
And a whip and a crack
Everybody talks when they're on our rack
Pound pound, far underground
Down, down, down in Goblin Town!"
We are all brought forward and huddle in a group in front of the Great Goblin. The dwarves make sure to put me right in the centre, Thorin right in front of me, taking my hand in his as he does.
"Donw, down, down in Goblin Town!"
"Hammer and torch, get out your knockers and gongs
You wont last long on the end of my prongs,"
At this line, he stabs one of the goblins with his stick and swings it around before flinging the goblin over our heads, causing us to duck.
"Clish, clash, crush and smash.
Bang, break, shiver and shake.
You can yell and yelp
But there aint no help
Pound pound, far underground
Down, down, down in Goblin Town."
As he draws out 'Town' he spins around a few times and we have to duck to avoid getting hit by his stick. He moves back to sit on his throne.
"Catchy, isnt' it?" says the Goblin King, "It's one of my own compositions"
"That's not a song, it's an abomination!" cries Balin, a few of the dwarves agreeing.
"Abominations, mutations, deviations…that all you're gonna find down here", the Goblin King replies.
The goblins begin searching us, our weapons thrown into a pile in front of us. Luckily, they don't get overly touchy with me, just managing to take the weapons they can see, the dwarves not given them much choice to get too close, which I am thankful for.
The Great Goblin jumps up and leans towards us. "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"
"Dwarves, Your Malevolence." one of the goblins answer.
I am so lucky that I am small enough to pass myself off as a dwarf. Not for the first time, I am thankful for my stunted growth.
"Dwarves?"
"We found them on the front porch."
"Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice."
The dwarves gather tightly around me as the goblins search them thoroughly, throwing away whatever they find. Oin's hearing trumpet is thrown on the floor and crushed underfoot. One of the goblins empty out a large bag of what appears to be Elvish cutlery and candlesticks.
The Goblin King examines a gold candelabra, which has been passed to him by the goblin, saying we have been in league with elves. . .which in truth, we have, and turns it over.
"'Made in Rivendell?'" he says "Bah – Second Age, couldn't give it away!" he exclaims, and tosses it aside.
Nori has a guilty expression on his face as Dori turns to look at him.
"Just a couple of keepsakes." Nori explains to his older brother.
"What are you doing in these parts?" the Goblin King asks.
Thorin goes to step forward, but Oin stops him, stepping forward himsel. "Don't worry, lads, I'll handle this"
"No tricks! I want the truth! Warts and all!"
"You're going to have to speak up," Oin says as he holds up his bent trumpet, "Your boys have flattened my trumpet."
"I'll flatten more than your trumpet!" the Goblin King roars as he strides towards Oin.
Oin is quickly pulled back as Bofur steps forward,
"If it's more information you're wanting, I'mm the one you should speak to!" The Goblin King pauses. "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. . ."
I rub my head. "Get on with it, Bofur." I mutter, causing Thorin to squeeze my hand tighter.
"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."
"Visiting relations!" Dori puts in as he stands next to Bofur.
"Some imbreds on my mothers side."
"SHUT UP!" the Goblin suddenly roars, making the goblins jump violently. "If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker! Start with the youngest."
The Great Goblin points at Ori.
"Ori. . ." I breath out in fear, gripping hold of Thorin's hand.
"WAIT!" Throin suddenly calls out.
I look to him in horror as he squeezes my hand in comfort before he walks forward. I immediately take Dwalin's arm as he steps closer to me for protection.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain." The Great Goblin bows exaggeratedly to Thorin. "Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody, really. I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak, an old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc astride a White Warg."
I look up at this, my face paling and my stomach dropping. I can feel myself trembling slightly, causing Dwalin to glance at me but I take no notice. I only hope and pray we do not come across the Pale Orc soon.
I don't have to see Thorin as he looks up at the Goblin King to know how he feels, having believed him dead for over a hundred years.
"Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Great Goblin laughs, as he turns to a tiny goblin sitting in a basket. "Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize."
The tiny goblin writes down the message on his slate; cackling, he then pulls a lever, causing his basket to start sliding down a system of ropes and pulleys into the darkness.
The Great Goblin begins to sing once again as his minions around us begin searching through the weapons they took from us. I silently seethe as one of them grabs my bow roughly, it having been a gift from Arathorn many years before. Other Goblins are carrying massive instruments of torture on their shoulders, bringing them towards us.
"Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung. You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin-town."
I suddenly hear one of the goblins shriek in horror. Looking back, I see he had taken Orcrist out of its sheath a few inches and recognised it for what it is. The other goblins howl in fear and rage as they retreat from it; the Great Goblin runs rapidly to his throne, trampling many goblins on his way. He speaks loudly, pointing at the sword.
"I know that sword! It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks!"
As he speaks, the Goblins begin whipping the dwarves and I with ropes and leaping upon us, biting and slashing.
"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!"
My eyes go wide as I look up to see the goblins hold Thorin down, and one of them pulls out his knife and prepares to behead Thorin.
"Thorin! No!" I yell out, struggling to try to get to him.
Suddenly, there is a massive explosion of bright light; the sound goes muted as a shock wave rips through the area, flinging goblins in the air and destroying the torturing machines. We are all knocked down, including the Great Goblin.
When the force of the explosion has passed, most of the lights in the area have been snuffed out; in the background, a shadow with a tall pointy hat walks up. I breathe a sigh of relief as I see Gandalf, holding his staff in one hand and his sword, Glamdring, in the other. Light slowly returns to the area as the goblins and the dwarves slowly look up, recovering from the shock.
"Take up arms. Fight. Fight!"
I quickly stand, throwing off the goblins and punching them out of the way before Kili tosses my blades to me. As goblins run at Gandalf, he kills them with his sword and staff. The Great Goblin, still lying on the ground, sees Gandalf's sword and points at it, crying aloud to his goblins.
"He wields the Foe-Hammer, the Beater, bright as daylight!"
Some of the dwarves reach their pile of weapons and begin tossing the weapons to each other; they use their weapons to defeat the goblins around them. Oin manages to reclaim his hearing trumpet, although it has been quite flattened. Nori, while fighting, lands on the floor; the Great Goblin runs at him and swings his mace.
"Nori!" I yell out.
Thorin jumps forward and deflects the Great Goblin's blow, causing the Great Goblin to stumble backward and fall off the edge of his platform, falling to the depths below. The rest of us continue to fight.
"Follow me. Quick! Run!"
I manage to quickly strap on my bow and quiver before following the others, cutting down the goblins around us as we run along a pathway leading away from the throne room.
We're all running across the suspended passageways of Goblin Town, with hundreds – maybe thousands – of goblins running after us.
"Quickly!"
"Faster!" one of the dwarves cries out.
Dwalin sees several goblins running at us from in front
"Post!"
He and some of the dwarves cut a guardrail post from the side of the path and they hold it out in front of them like a massive spear.
"Charge!"
They then charge at the oncoming goblins and sweep them away with the long rail. Dropping the rail, Dwalin pulls out his axes and begins knocking aside goblins. The rest of the company do the same. Gloin hits one goblin who falls and lands on another suspended path, breaking the path and dropping all the goblins on it into the darkness below. The rest of us also fight the goblins around us with our various weapons and fighting styles. Several goblins snarl as they swing on ropes toward the dwarves.
"Cut the ropes!" I hear Thorin yell ahead of me.
Looking up, I see some goblins swinging on ropes. I cut a rope with Thorin and a few others, the goblins end up entangling with some raised platforms. I jump down onto the bridge below in time to see Kili grabbing a ladder nearby and dropping it on the oncoming goblins. He, Bombur, Bofur and Bifur run forward, pushing the ladder and trapped goblins along with them. As they approach a missing area of the path by us, the goblins fall down into the chasm, the ladder acts as a bridge for the dwarves to cross to us. As soon as they do, Dwalin kicks it off, preventing the goblins from chasing after it.
"Quickly!" Gandalf yells as we run along.
We continue running through the maze-like paths; we soon get on a section of the path suspended by ropes from above. Kili slice some ropes as soon as we all get on, and the pathway swings away from the rest of the path, approaching a different path.
"Jump!" Thorin yells.
Several of the dwarves manage to jump to the other path; however, before the rest of us can, the suspended path swings back like a pendulum to where it started, and several goblins leap on. As the path swings back again, I make sure the rest of the dwarves and Gandalf manage to jump to the new path as well, before following and cutting the rope so it falls. Dwalin manages to catch me before I fall and I nod my thanks to him before we continue to run.
As we continue to run and kill goblins that get in our way, Gandalf strikes a rock above us with his staff, causing the rock to fall down and begin rolling in front of us, squashing all the goblins in their way.
Soon, we approach a bridge between two walls of the cavern. As we try to cross it, the Great Goblin suddenly breaks through from underneath the bridge and pulls himself up onto the bridge, in front of us. Gandalf jumps in front of us as hundreds of goblins approach them from all sides.
"You thought you could escape me?" The Goblin King asks.
He swings his mace twice at Gandalf, causing him to stumble back and almost fall, Gloin and Dori manage to keep him up right.
"What are you going to do now, wizard?"
Gandalf leaps forward and strikes the Great Goblin in the eye with his staff. The Great Goblin drops his mace and clutches his face in pain.
"Ow, ow, ow!"
Gandalf then steps forward and slices the Great Goblin in the belly; the Great Goblin falls to his knees, clutching his belly.
"That'll do it."
Gandalf again swings his sword and slices the Great Goblin's neck, causing him to fall down dead.
His weight causes the bridge to start shaking; suddenly, the section of the bridge on which the company is standing breaks away from the rest of the bridge and starts sliding down the side of the cavern. I hold on tight as the bridge slides at a terrific speed down the cavern's wall, demolishing everything in its way; the dwarves clinging on, screaming in terror. The bridge slows down and lands at the base of the cavern, breaking apart and burying the dwarves in the timber and wood. I manage to slide out as Gandalf gets up from the pile of wreckage and inspects the rest of the dwarves, who are still stuck in the wreckage.
"Well, that could have been worse." Bofur says.
Not one second later, the heavy corpse of the Great Goblin lands on the wreckage, squishing the dwarves further. They cry out in pain.
"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin shouts out.
I admit. I did find that quite comical. But, I push my amusement aside as I move forward and start to help free the dwarves.
"Gandalf!" Kili suddenly exclaims.
I look to see what he's looking at and see thousands of goblins heading our way, looking like tiny spiders crawling down the wall.
"There's too many! We can't fight them." Dwalin states.
"Only one thing will save us; daylight! Come on! Here, on your feet!" Gandalf says.
Gandalf and I help the dwarves out and we run away, following Gandalf out. I smile as we soon see light at the end and run out into a small forest. We run down the hill until it finally levels out at the bottoms. Gandalf pauses to count how many of us are with him. The and I also stop to catch our breath.
"Five, six, seven, eight...Bifur, Bofur...that's ten...Fili, Kili, Caladwen...that's thirteen...and Bombur - that makes fourteen. Where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit? Where is our hobbit?!"
I look around in dismay and see that he is not with us.
"Curse the halfling! Now he's lost?!" Dwalin exclaims.
"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin speaks up.
"Don't blame me!" Dori defends.
"Well, where did you last see him?" I speak up.
"I think I saw him slip away, when they first collared us." Nori replies.
"What happened exactly? Tell me!" Gandalf exclaims, worry for the little hobbit clear in his voice.
Thorin steps forward. "I'll tell you what happened. Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone."
I look to him and open my mouth to say something, but am stopped by a voice;
"No, he isn't."
Bilbo steps out from behind the tree. We look up in shock and relief. Gandalf laughs as he speaks.
"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!"
Bilbo strides forward into the group; he pats Balin affectionately on the shoulder.
"Bilbo, we'd given you up!" Kili exclaims.
"How on earth did you get past the Goblins?!" Fili asks.
"How, indeed." Dwalin says suspiciously.
I look to Bilbo as he gives a nervous laugh and watch as he slides something in his pocket.
I shake my head and smile. "What does it matter? He's back!" I am just relieved to see him alive.
Thorin glances to me before looking back to Bilbo. "It matters! I want to know: why did you come back?"
Bilbo turns to Thorin. "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 armchair. 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."
I smile, my whole body full with pride at this. Bilbo really did have a caring heart. Looking around, I see that Gandalf is also smiling and the dwarves have been stunned into silence, even Thorin.
Before any plans to move forward can be made, we all look up as we hear howling, in the direction we had just others look up as well as we recognize the howls of wargs. And jut after meeting the Goblin King and having him sending a message to Azog. . .I fear we are about to see him a lot sooner than I had hoped.
"Out of the frying pan. . ."
". . .and into the fire! Run! RUN!" Gandalf yells.
Here we are. Azog next and that will be last chapter for the first movie. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please keep your lovely reviews coming xxxx