Chapter Nineteen: The Goblin King

Falling was a supremely unpleasant experience. It was the main reason Emelia despised heights so much. Falling always seemed to follow the heights. And just as Emelia had always imagined falling from great heights to be, this fall was particularly bad.

Bombur kept a deathly tight grip around her middle as they tumbled further and further into the heart of the mountain, making it impossible for Emelia to get away. Not that she would have wanted to. The stout dwarf made it so that she didn't hit the side of the stony shoot nearly as much as the rest of the company. The majority of her impact was on Bombur's massive belly, making her pain level minimal. Minimal, but not nonexistent. About half down she somehow managed to bit her tongue so strongly, coppery, thick tasting blood sprung up into her mouth. Bombur did his best to shield most of the impact from her, but he couldn't stop everything. She still hit the sides of the rock wall occasionally, sending painful pangs through her already bruised skin.

She had never imagined that her life would flash before her eyes. It had always seemed like such a trite and cowardly thing to say. The concept that she would remember all of the things that had made her happy in her life just before she died had always depressed her. It was taunting and cruel. To show someone all that had made them happy just before they met their end was so undeniably wrong. As little stock she had put into the concept, she found that as they fell, she was seeing all of the things that made her happy, mixed in with all of the terrible.

She did see her brother, smiling up at her after he had lost his first tooth.

She did see her mother, kissing her resoundly on the check before leaning back with a large, smirking smile on her youthful face.

She did see her father, laughing in that booming laugh that had always comforted her, as he helped Hannah, his Hannah, Emelia's beautiful mother, prepare yet another one of their experiments with fish.

The images of her family flashed in front of her eyes briefly, almost too briefly, before they disappeared entirely, leaving her with nothing but the sight of a screaming Bombur and passing rocks. She could hear the sounds of the others screaming, making the entire situation that much more disconcerting and confusing. They tumbled and stumbled down and down, all screaming and shouting, until they finally came to a harsh stop at the bottom of what appeared to a giant ravine inside the mountain.

The sudden feeling of stopping all the momentum they had gained in their fall sent a jarring, painful headache shooting through her, centralizing and pooling just behind her now hazy eyes.

Her hair was thrown in front of her face and over Bombur's from his position underneath her, hands still gripped into her sides so tightly she thought she would have hand shaped bruises if she braved looking at herself naked for the first time since she had left Alaska.

He was breathing like he had just run a marathon, moving her body up and down as he refused to let go of her. It seemed he hadn't been lying when he said he hated heights. She lifted her head up just enough to see him sweating and twitching from the fear he had just experienced. She shifted slightly, trying to get off of him for a moment, before she felt a rather heavy object colliding with her back, making it crack painfully, sending her pushing into Bombur once again.

She supposed it was a good thing the hefty dwarf was so kind, or else she would find the situation horribly awkward.

The weight above her, which was now squirmy, let out a loud groan, rolling off of her and Bombur, relieving the pressure on her back. Bombur finally let go of her long enough to help her to sit up, offering her a tight smile as he did so. She managed to smile back slightly, hoping her appreciation showed through despite her current state. She hadn't the foggiest how far they had actually fallen, but she imagined it was quite far. It had felt like they were flying downward for an eternity; a terrifying, heart stopping, gut wrenching, eternity, before they had finally landed in a heap of dwarves, hobbit, and human. She could only imagine how hurt she would have been if it hadn't been for Bombur using his natural padding to soften her blow against the rocks.

"Emmy, are you hurt?"

It took her a moment to process the question, running a status check of her body, before she turned away from Bombur, sitting back onto her backside as she looked around wearily for the owner of the voice.

Fili was scrambling over to her, a large bruise covering his left eye and forehead, holding his hand gingerly to his chest. His brother wasn't far behind him, sporting a deep gash along his right cheek bone. It leaked thick, goopy blood down his cheek, pooling in the stubble that still covered his chin. They were supporting each other, shooting processing looks at their fellow dwarves as they went. They paused briefly at their uncle, placing heavy hands on his shoulder before seeing that he was relatively unharmed.

"Look for a way down." Thorin shouted to the dwarves that were already standing and moving about in the small cage. "Gather yourselves and remaining supplies quickly."

Emelia glanced over the bars, scooting herself gingerly over to them to peer over the edge. She felt her chest tighten when she finally looked over into the never ending blackness that spiraled out in front of her eyes. It looked as if it went forever. She imagined that she would lose herself so quickly in the darkness it wasn't even funny. They would all lose themselves in the darkness if they weren't careful. She placed her hands on the bars of the makeshift cage, using them to support her sore body.

"Emmy." She felt Fili, or Kili, place a hand on her shoulder from behind. "Are you injured?"

She wasn't sure if she was or not. Her old injuries mixed with her new ones, making it hard to determine her status. She glanced at her hands, taking in the dry mud and blood. She squeezed the bars tighter, turning her knuckles white.

She wasn't exactly sure where they were, or what they were doing in a cage that looked alarmingly like it was made of human bones, but she knew she didn't like it. Cages meant captivity, and captivity reminded her too much of her time spent with the trolls. Just being in the musty inside of the mountain brought back memories of her stint in the troll hole, making her shake slightly. She thought of her time there only in her darkest of moments, which happened more than she liked to admit. But this seemed worse. She felt like she was back there physically. The coolness of the mountain inside was just like in the cave, the dank feeling just as depressing and stifling.

"I'm fine." She said, not bothering to turn around to look at the two of them. "Although, I can't help but wonder if you dwarves ever have a quiet moment." The two brothers let out a laugh, pulling her back from the bars to turn around and face them. They both smiled at her, completely oblivious to the panic that was quickly beginning to fill her up to the brim.

"Not typically, no." Kili said simply, stretching his arms out in front of him, shoulders popping as he did. "Besides, where would the fun be in a boring existence? What's a little tumble through the mountain in the grand scheme of things?"

"Very true, brother." Fili said, smiling over at him as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Still sassy I see, Miss Emmy despite that fun little tumble."

He nudged her slightly before wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her into a tight hug.

"I'm only sassy when I need to be." She said into his chest.

"It must be a constant need for you then." Kili said with a loud laugh.

She found herself smiling, despite everything, at the two of them as they pulled her further away from the bars and over towards the rest of the company. Dwalin was cursing, glowering at the bars of the cage, attempting to break them with his war hammer. Balin was talking to Thorin in a rushed panicked voice, both gesturing wildly around them. The rest of them were nursing minor injuries, composing themselves as they glanced worriedly around them.

"I mean, what's so wrong with taking a nice relaxing holiday that doesn't involve falling down the damn ass cr…"

The company had just about gotten themselves back into sorts when they were all interrupted by a loud screech from deep inside the mountain. It echoed around them, sending shivers down all of their spines and silencing all of them within in a millisecond. Emelia immediately reached for her sword, fumbling like a small child, as she backed up towards the two brothers out of reflex. She felt one of them grabbing her roughly by the arm, pulling her behind them so quickly she barely had time to register she had moved. She held her sword, scanning around her with quick, jerky movements. She wasn't actually planning on using her sword. She was still afraid of cutting off her own limb.

The screeching and shouting began to come from all sides, sending the dwarves into a small heap, tripping over each other as they tried to face all sides at once. The cage beneath their feet began to shake as the calls became so loud it was almost deafening. Emelia stumbled slightly, struggling to right herself as the ground shook so violently, it made them lose their footing. The screams didn't cease with each second that passed, making all of the dwarves glance around at each other.

They seemed to know what was coming before she did, as they cursed in a language she didn't understand. She did understand why they were alarmed looking when the creatures came out of nowhere, however. They were pale, just like the ones on the side of the mountain had been, and sickly looking. They were covered in what looked like slime, making them appear much fouler and more disgusting.

Emelia barely had time to try and scramble away from them before she was being roughly grabbed from all sides. They grabbed her sword, wrenching it from her hand so violently, it twisted at an odd angle. They pawed at her, grabbed at her, squeezed her, until she knew her entire body was black and blue. That was the least of her concerns, however. The more pressing matter was the fact that they were dragging her along behind them. There were a least six of the creatures around her, all holding parts of her as they dragged.

She involuntarily screamed, emptying her lungs so quickly she was left with nothing but panic.

Emelia attempted to keep her eyes on the dwarves around her, just to know that she wasn't alone, but she found that the creatures were dragging her so roughly, she couldn't even look back without receiving a rather hardy slap to the face.

They pulled and tugged, not bothering to care when they grabbed her in places that sent painful shivers through her body.

She could hear the dwarves struggling and shouting around her, the sounds of struggled reaching her ears. They were saying foul things, throwing haphazard punches and hits as they attempted to free themselves from the grip of the creatures that were roughly pulling on them. She made the mistake of trying to look again, only to have them grab her hair violently, making her cry out in pain. Tears shot from her eyes as they traveled deeper and deeper into the mountain.

She wasn't exactly sure if they were from pain or fear. It was all running together in her mind, making the events around her that much more terrifying.

The farther into the mountain they got, the more the sounds from the creatures increased. The walls of the mountain were lined with walkways and ladders, all of which were covered in other pale, grotesques looking creatures. They jeered and stamped their feet at the sight of the struggling company, sending intimidating vibrations running through Emelia's body.

They kept pulling and pulling, making her arms feel like they were going to be ripped out of their sockets before they finally stopped, forcing her to the ground. Her knees bruised and blackened from the hard ground. She imagined they weren't even recognizable by this point, considering all of the abuse she had put them through over the last couple of days. They had hit the ground too much, slammed into things too much, to still be functioning at their highest level.

"Well, what do we have here?"

She regretted looking up almost as soon as she did. The man, if he could even be called that, was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. He was uglier than the trolls, which was impressive. He was covered in boils and blisters, some of which popped as he spoke. He had a goiter the size of Texas on his neck that waddled and swung as he spoke, making the bile that Emelia was staring to become familiar with rise back up into her mouth at the sight.

He stumbled down from a throne made of bones, a sickening smile on his face.

"Sneaking in to steal things I suspect. Or perhaps they are here to spy on us. Or maybe they are here to kill us all in our sleep." The man had the nerve to sound affronted as he looked at each of the members of the company. The creatures, goblins as she remembered Fili calling them, around him teemed and tutted in anger, stamping their weapons and feet onto the ground. Some snarled, some spit, and some, the more vulgar looking ones, gnashed their teeth like animals.

"They are dwarves, your malevolence." She heard the voice from somewhere near her.

The man looked over them again, anger marring his ugly face. "What would dwarves be doing in my kingdom?"

No one dared to speak as the man looked over them. Emelia could feel the goblins pushing her into the ground harder, making her knees scream out in protest at the increased pressure. As far as she was aware, she was the only one that was on the ground. All of the rest of them were still on their feet, able to escape if the opportunity came up.

"Well?" The man asked again, louder the second time. He paused again, taking in each and every one of them with a dark look before his gaze finally settled on her.

"Bring her forward." He gestured to her with a meaty hand, stepping back towards his throne. "Maybe they will talk once we make her squawk." He must have thought he was terribly funny, as chuckled slightly at the thought.

The goblins that were holding onto her grabbed her roughly by the hair, hauling her up from her position on the ground before they dragged her closer to the man who was apparently a king. They threw her in front of him, giving her a loud smack to the back of the head for good measure, before they back away, leaving her standing awkwardly in front of him, feeling like she was nothing but an ant waiting to be crushed by the coming boot.

She attempted to step back, only to be stopped by a sharp poke of a weapon to her back, forcing her to hold her position in front of the vile man.

"You're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" He leaned down, a horrible smile twisting his boil covered face.

Emelia knew better than to respond to him.

"I wasn't aware dwarves traveled with their women as a part of their company." He mused, reaching out a large hand to grab her roughly by her middle. He dragged her forward, ignoring the shouts of protest from the company behind her. "Where is your beard I wonder?"

Emelia thought she was going to burst into a soupy mess of tears, sweat, and panic, as she saw him reach up his other hand to her face. He ran one of his fingers along her jaw, not bothering to be gentle as he moved down towards her neck. He paused directly under her chin, smiling in a sick way before he looked over at the company of dwarves behind her. "Tell me, dwarves, do you bring her along for her face, or is it for entirely different reasons?"

Emelia felt her stomach squirm to the nth degree when he kept moving his hand lower and lower along her neck.

"Tell me. Will you talk before I make her scream or after?"

Emelia try to pull back from him, using her arms to push against his hand around her middle. He squeezed her tighter as she struggled to move away from him. She did not like the way he was looking at her, or what he was implying. She did not like the direction his grotesque looking hand was moving, and she didn't like the fact that none of the dwarves were speaking up. She had been through this same thing with the trolls and it made her entire body shake with the memories as her body felt it happening again.

"Stop touching me." The words were out of before she realized she had opened her mouth.

He paused in his movement. He looked down at her for a moment, studying her, before he let out a loud laugh. His log sized finger hovered just above her collar bone, pressing down on her. "Perhaps she will talk if you all do not."

He looked at her for a moment before he moved his hand down to her chest, twisting his hand so that his long, impossibly sharp nail hovered over her skin. He pressed slightly briefly, before he dragged it along at a diagonal on her chest, making her cry out in pain as his nail cut into her tender skin. She felt his ragged nail digging and cutting, making her cry out despite herself. He seemed to derive too much satisfaction from her cries of pain. He moved so slowly, so painstakingly slow that it felt like he was slicing her over and over again. She felt her warm blood spilling out over her chest from underneath the long, jagged cut. It stained her clothes and dripped all the way down over her stomach and over the brim of her black tights.

"Will you let her keep crying?" The Goblin King taunted, pressing his nail into her chest even further, causing her to gasp out in pain. "Will you not talk?"

Emelia couldn't even look over her shoulder at the group of dwarves as the king kept his grip on her. The thought of just telling the king why they were there crossed her mind, just to get him to let go of her. That thought quickly dissipated however. It was sad to say, but she found she feared the wrath of Thorin Oakenshield more than she feared the wrath of the Goblin King. The thought of what Thorin would have done to her if she spilled the beans made her more fearful that the thought of what the Goblin King was currently doing to her.

If that wasn't pathetic, she didn't know what was.

She felt herself slumping slightly into the king's grip as he held her, nail still pressing into the end of the cut he had made.

"Stop!"

The Goblin King looked up from her, the sick smile frozen on his face.

"And who are you, little dwarf?" Emelia could hear the taunting dripping off his words. He moved towards the dwarves, dragging her along with him. He stopped in front of them, sizing them up, before he threw her roughly to the ground, ignoring her cry of pain as she fell to the ground in a heap. "Who are you to speak for this pathetic company?"

She, finally being free of his grip, struggled to scramble back to the relative safety of the dwarves. The goblins around her reached their hands down, slapping and hitting her as she tried to find the safety of at least one of the dwarves. She had managed to make it about three feet before she felt a pair of strong arms reach down, smacking the rough hands of the goblins away, before lifting her up into a standing position. She was rather impressed that she wasn't even remotely close to the verge of passing out. Despite the blood seeping from her chest, she was far too afraid to let herself lose consciousness.

The person holding her reached out a shaking hand, tearing a bit of fabric from their shirt before pressing it against her chest.

"Emmy, hold this to your chest."

Kili kept one of his hands pressed firmly to her back, the other pressed against the fabric and her chest. His hands were shaking slightly as she held her, eyes glancing around as his uncle addressed the Goblin King with malice written all over his face and dripping from every word he spoke. She was shaking struggling to keep her breathing even despite the pain in her chest. He could see the red of her blood blooming out over the cream color of her top. He used his hand to push the top of her shirt down; ignoring the dry look she was giving him, to investigate the severity of the cut. It was shallow, but bleeding profusely.

"Em, take the fabric." He said again, forcing her to reach up a shaking hand to cover his own.

"I told him I wouldn't tell and I didn't." She said feebly, looking over as the Goblin King openly laughed at Thorin.

"What?" He asked, seeing her eyes raking over his own blood stained face. His cut still stung, but that seemed so small compared to the one on her chest.

"You made me come because you thought I would tell. And I didn't. I wouldn't."

He blinked rapidly, confused at her words for a moment before he remembered her words with Thorin back in Rivendell. She had been adamant that she wouldn't tell about their quest, claiming that it was safe to leave her behind. It seemed she had not forgotten that conversation. He had thought she was finally finding herself amongst them, but it appears he had been wrong. All she could think about was the fact that she was forced to be there.

He wasn't sure why, but that made his stomach twinge slightly.

"God, it stings like a bitch." She hissed out, squeezing his hand over her chest tighter.

He couldn't help but smile at her choice of words. She didn't remove his hand from her chest, which was odd considering it was currently hovering dangerously close to a place that would have him slapped if it had been in a different situation. He attempted to have her grab a hold of the fabric he was pressing into the cut, only to have her glare at his so thoroughly he felt his stomach clench up slightly. She felt so very small as he attempted to keep her in a standing position.

As he felt her breathing heavily beneath his hand, sending warm blood over the pads of his fingers, he couldn't help but feel the guilt from rising up in his chest. It had been hard for him, all of them, to stay silent as the Goblin King practically groped her in front of their eyes. He had felt the anger burning in him as he had watched his fingers trail over her, touching her in ways that she shouldn't have been touched. Dwalin had had to hold both him and Fili back from running to her aid when he had begun to cut her. He had seen her blood on the Goblin King's hands making it almost impossible for him to stop rushing forward.

He supposed it was his brother's care for her rubbing off on him that made him so undeniably angry at seeing her in so much pain. Or perhaps it was the fact that she had been rather kind to him over the last couple of days. Or perhaps it was the simple fact that she was the only female amongst them, and despite what she may jokingly think of him, he couldn't sit well with the thought that she was the one taking the brunt of the king's anger, rather than any of them.

"Kee, if we get out of here, remind me to get as far away from all of you as possible." She sounded drunk as she spoke. Her face looked pale, as did the skin on the top part of her chest. Her hair was sticking to her face on both sides, making her look similar to how she had when she was with the trolls.

"I think that seems fair." He pulled her closer to him as she stumbled slightly. "If we get out of here, I will personally see to it that you are safe and sound in a nice comfy place, as far away from us as possible."

She smiled slightly. "It hurts really bad Kee."

"I know. I know it does. But you have to keep looking at me. You have to stay awake and focused on me. I know I'm your favorite so this should be easy for you."

She smiled even wider for a moment at his feeble attempt at a joke before she hissed again as her cut twinged violently.

"Also…" She paused, eyes going out of focus. "I am no…" He felt her losing the ability to hold up her own weight. He could see her resolve slipping as she struggled to keep herself awake. He pressed the fabric into her even harder, feeling her cry out slightly at the pain from her gash.

"Emmy, look at me." Kili shook her, hearing the noise behind him escalating as the king taunted his uncle even further. "You can't fall asleep. Not right now."

He could hear the loud screaming behind him before he felt the whips from the goblins. They smacked across him, and Emelia, causing him to stumble slightly to keep her shielded from the hits. He could feel the dwarves around him fighting back, shouting things and curses. Emelia slumped even further, finally dropping his hand from on top of his. Despite the fact that he could feel the welts on his body from the whips, he still attempted to wake Emelia up.

He looked down at her, struggling to focus in the confusion, before he finally brought his hand up to her face. He shook her, speaking rapidly as he attempted to get her to focus on him.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery. You have to stand up." He snapped, feeling the whips bite at his back even more strongly. "You have to stand up."

"You have to fight it."

Reviews and PMs are like gold to me! :)

Lots of action next chapter as well as some major drama coming up between Emmy and Thorin, as well as some major jumps in a certain pairs relationship. I know I say it a lot, but reviews honestly make me write faster.

This chapter felt off to me, so I would love to hear concrit for it.