Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit.

So, it has come to the famous Riddles scene. Took me a while but I got there. I think I was distracted with trying to find footage of Richard Armitage in 'Cats' 1994.

Enjoy.

"Gollum ... gollum."

Marie's eyes would not open, it hurt too much. The most she could move was her head a quarter of an inch, but even that brought sharp jolts of pain.

A brief flash of memories hit her, the weight of the goblins pulling her backwards ... the frantic grabbing at nothing as they fell ... the burning of ropes as they tore the bandages off her hand ... the first impact with the rocks ... the tumbling ... the soft landing.

Soft?

When her eyelashes became unstuck from the flakes of chipped stone, her sight was filled with dark brown plants that resembled deformed mushrooms.

"Gollum ... gollum Aaahh!"

Marie tensed as the terrible choking bounces from wall to wall and every one of her sense came to life. Through the mushrooms, she could make out the second goblin that fell with her being dragged deeper into the unknown chasm, by what Marie did not wish to learn in a hurry. At first she thought it to be a fresh corpse but its bloody chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. It was still alive, but not for much longer.

"Nasty goblinses. Better than old bones precious ... better than nothing." The raspy voice of the unseen creature faded further into the dark.

The little hobbit held her breath as she waited until the sound was no more than a distant echo.

Marie willed herself to sit up, causing all her body to cry out as a choir of aching muscles. The rubbery surface of the mushrooms provided a soft enough surface to push herself up onto her shaky legs. She looked around at the high walls that entombed her, yellow and brass coloured moss grew in patches on black and silver stone. The ground was hard and slipperier, and not to mention covered with shattered bones and rotting flesh that made Marie's stomach churn as she stepped out of the mushroom patch. It was a world untouched by neither good nor evil, real life nor permanent death.

With a roll of a shoulder she felt a small crack at the junction between her shoulder and neck and the tension there dissipated. It was a stroke of dumb luck that she was alive after a fall like that, but luck it would seemed was favouring Marie for the time being since just beyond the patch of mushrooms she caught sight of her sword, dangling by its belt and sheath on the rocks.

'I must be in the running for a third stroke of luck now.' Marie almost voiced her thoughts but stopped, knowing any sound she'd make would attract the creature that lurked nearby.

A cold wetness ran down the side of her face. Marie immediately felt for any gashes or cuts that she had not aware of, yet couldn't feel anything other than what she thought was her blood. Her hand crept from her temple to her crown, still nothing but wet curls. She yanked her hand away and saw her fingers and the scraps of bandages stained black.

It wasn't her blood.

The realisation that her 'soft' landing may not have been just the mushrooms made Marie, against her better judgement, looked back at the landing site. The headless body of the other goblin was lying twisted and broken, bleeding out onto the cold ground and had cushioned Marie's landing.

She doubled over and fell to her hands and knees as her stomach gave painful convulsions that forced what little there was in her stomach up into her throat. The bitter acidic taste made her feel even sicker but she could ill afford to make any noise, so with a giant gulp she re-ingested the horrible bile.

Marie curled her fingers into balls to try and bare both pain and disgust.

'So much for luck ... wait ...'

Something pressed into her right palm when she clenched it. It could have been a rock, but it felt ... round. Marie sat back on her heels and raised her closed fist to inspect the unknown object. She opened her hand and beheld a ring. A simple golden ring in prime condition, no scratches or smudges, nothing. Just plain gold that caught in some unknown light as she turned it in her fingers. She was mindful not to stain it with blood as she brought it closer to her face.

An unexpected find in such a place and Marie's fingers closed around the ring.

She pulled herself to her feet and remembered her present situation. She needed to find her way back to the dwarves or at least a way out of the mountain. She slipped the ring into the right pocket of her waistcoat and tiptoed to retrieve her sword. The blue glow of the blade was visible through the thin slit between the hilt and the sheath, meaning that there were more goblins close by.

She carefully freed the leather belt from the rocks. The belt itself wasn't badly damaged and could still be used.

"Nnnnnooooooooouuuuuggghhh."

The hairs on the back of Marie's neck stood on end from the wailing coming from just around the bend and she instinctively grabbed the sword's hilt.

"Too many boneses precious, not enough flesh! Shut up! Cut its skin off."

Unlike the sensible hobbit she usually was, she went towards the danger on the grounds that maybe the way out of the cavern was that way. She quickly tied the belt around her waist in a crude not, pulled out the blade quietly and crept around the rocks.

What Marie saw was a huge cave that looked to span a kilometre wide and a kilometre high with a large black lake. Moonlight that found its way into the mountains offered some light in the darkness, reflecting off the still surface and onto the walls and jagged rocks rose out of the water, one of which the mysterious creature, whose silhouette of the creature resemble what Marie thought to be a goblin, sat with its prey, groaning and make choking noises as the goblin let out the occasional growl. Marie scampered behind a large rock to hide the glow of her sword, ignoring the piles of fish and bat bones, among other things.

"The cold hard lands, they bites our hands, they gnaws our feet.
The rocks and stone, they're like old bones, all bare of meat."

The creature struck the goblin across the head in time with its merry off key singing, like when the little old dwarf women at the markets would hum away when plucking poultry.

"Cold as death, without no breath is good to eat."

Tink.

Marie had let her hold on her sword grow slack and the tip had fallen to the ground. She pulled it back up and pressed herself into the hard rock, praying that the creature didn't hear the sword drop. The cavern went quiet and the glow of the sword flickered until it completely died. The goblin was dead, and the singing had stopped.

'Maybe it's eating now.' A horrible thought to have, but far better than the alternative of the creature coming to bash her head in with a rock.

It was still too quiet.

Marie breathed deep through her nose to calm herself, but stopped when she heard the ragged, congested sounding breathing that was coming closer, and it was coming from above.

She slowly looked up and saw a hand reaching up over the rock, followed by a head and a torso. Its eyes where glowing from the water's reflection and for a moment, Marie believed that they would be the last thing she would see. The creature leapt down and Marie came face to face with ... two wide eyes the colour of blue. The creature looked more human like than anything and appeared to be no bigger than Marie was. In fact she could swear that, for just a few seconds, she was staring at a sickly hobbit.

"Bless us and splash us precious. That's a meaty mouthful." It said with a large grin.

It took Marie a moment to recompose herself and process what it had just said. She didn't wish to be anything's next meal. Before the ... creature could come any closer she raised her sword between them, pointing the tip at the hollow of its neck.

"Gollum, gollum." It sounded like it was going to cough up something onto Marie's lap but it back off in fear of the blade. Marie pushed it towards the creature, forcing it further from herself as she got to her feet. "Stay back. Don't come any closer to me." Her voice did not sound like her own, it was too gravelly.

The creature crawled away to sit near another rock, its breath loud and sickly. "It's got an elvish blade, but it's not and elfes." It muttered. Marie got a better look at the creature as it had its back to her. It was so skinny that it might have been a moving skeleton with a thin layer of pale, blotched skin pulled over the bones while a few strands of grey hair stuck to its scalp and large ears. The only piece of clothing it had was a shredded loincloth hed together with thin sting and a tiny pouch. Its hands and feet seemed disproportionate from the rest of the body. It may have looked weak, but Marie's gut told her not to lower her sword just yet. "Not an elfes no. What is it precious? ... What is it?" The creature turned back to her, its face twisted with a mixture of disgust and confusion.

"My name ... is Marie Baggins."

The creature cocked his head and appeared more confused than before. "Bagginses? ... What is a Bagginses precious?"

"I'm a hobbit ... from the Shire."

"Oh, ohahahaha." The creature shook its head as it laughed, "We like goblinses, batses and fishes. But we hasn't tried hobbitses before." Marie didn't like to carefree tone it was taking, nor did she like the sudden intensity that filled its eyes, changing them. "Is it soft?" It crawled back to her, "Is it juicy?"

"Now just ..." Marie swung her sword back and forth clumsily to ward it off, "Just keep your distance. I will use this."

The creature screeched in defiance but stayed away from the swinging metal.

"I don't want any trouble. If you could just point me in the right direction, I'll be on my way." Marie pleaded.

"Why? Is it lost?" He, Marie guessed it may have been a he once before, pulled itself behind the rock.

"Yes and I want to get unlost promptly."

"Oh, we knows." He popped his head back up and pointed a long bony finger into the cave, "We knows safe paths for hobbitses. Safe paths in the dark Shut up!"

Marie jerked her head back in shock, "I didn't anything."

"We wasn't talking to you." He grumbled before ducking his head again, "Oh yes we was precious, we was."

The creature's constant flipping between emotions made Marie uneasy and unsure how to be, "Look I'm not quite sure what game you're playing at but I ..."

"Games?! Oh yes we love games." The creature jumped with glee onto the rock, "Does it like games? Does it? Does it like to play?" The look of excitement on his face almost deterred any fear Marie may have had and she answered with a shrug, "Occasionally."

His mouth formed noiseless words before something came out. "What has roots that nobody see, is taller than trees. Up, up, up it goes and yet never grows."

'A riddle?' Marie never expect to hear that come out of such a thing, but knew the answer all the same, "The mountain." The creature was pleased and let out another strange laugh that sounded like it was festering in the base of his throat. "Let's have another. Come on, do it. Do it again, come on No! No more riddles no!" He jumped of the rock and crawled to the water's edge, looking back at the hobbit with pinpoint eyes. "Finish it. Finish it now gollum ... gollum."

"I want to play." Marie blurted out quickly. "I want to play a game."

It was now clear to her that this being held two very different personas, one more violent than the other and in charge no matter what. If she could keep one at bay and satisfied, she may yet stall the other long enough to find the way out.

"I can see that you are very, very clever. Clever enough to fool a dozen men."

It was working. The sunken in face that was so full of rage dropped for but a second and a new one stared up at Marie. She had the passive side's attention, now she had to keep it. "How about a game of Riddles? You like riddles yes?" Marie moved the sword so that the blade faced away from him, showing that she meant no threat.

'Just stay calm Marie. Play to his needs and your strengths.'

"Yes, yes yes." He hopped like a frog over to her side. "Does it like riddles?"

"Yes. How about this? If I win, you show me the safest paths out of the mountain. Fair?"

He nodded, "Yes, yes mmmgghh." The other personality took over again. "And if it loses, what then? Well ... hehe ... if it loses precious then we eats it hehe ... if Bagginses loses we eats it whole, mm?"

'Oh dear.' Marie was having doubts about her plan, but it was her best and only chance. "Fair enough."

Marie took a step back from the creature to sheath her sword, and to put as much ground between them. Should this game turn sour, Marie wanted a head start in running. The creature's dominant half watched carefully as the silver blade slid into its casing before allowing the more diminutive half to resume control.

"Well Bagginses first." He rested his hands a head on the rock, looking up expectantly.

Marie cleared her throat and began the game. "Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."

The creature's face lit up as it processed the riddle. His eyes fluttered every second and his mouth moved up and down as he thought he had it but lost it in a second. Marie felt confident that she may yet win.

"Teeth?"

Then again she may not.

"Teeth!" The creature laughed and applauded his little victory. Marie forced a smile to play along but quickly dropped it when the creature said menacingly, "Yes, but we only have nine." He bared the nine rotten and chipped teeth at Marie, but they looked more like fangs to her.

"Our turn." He circled round the rock, letting his fingers slide on the jagged surface, "Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters. Ohh oohh, we knows, we knows Shut up!"

"The wind, of course." Maire said with a smirk which irked the creature. He growled through his nine teeth and blackened gums, "Very clever hobbitses, very clever."

Marie quickly came up with the next riddle before it could do anything. It just so happened to be one that everyone she knew got wrong. "A box without a hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid."

'Thorin's heart.'

That was the first answer that came to mind for the hobbit, but it was not the correct one nor was it the most appropriate one.

The creature twiddled his fingers like he was trying to open the unknown object. "A box ... a key ... no ... it's nasty ... a lid ..."

"Well?" Marie asked.

"Oh give us a chance precious, give us a chance!" He banged his fists on the ground and strained his face so hard, the thin veins rose like tiny mountains along his head as he tried to find an answer. Marie was sure that she made such a face a few times when she was a child.

"Eggses!" He screeched, "Wet crunchy little eggses. Grandma taught us to suck them yes."

Marie bit her lip in frustration, she felt so sure that he would not get that one. Unfortunately, she took her eyes off the creature for a second and allowed him the chance to slip into the shadows.

"We have one ... for you." Marie looked around herself to try and find him, but his voice was everyone at once. He could have been anywhere she had her back to, but no matter where she turned she was open to an attack.

"All things it devours, birds, beasts, trees and flowers. Gnaws at iron, bites at steel, grinds hard stone to meal."

Marie's breathing grew more erratic as she became more panicked, waving her arms behind her and in front to feel for anything. She hadn't heard this riddle before.

"Answer us."

"Wait just a moment. I gave you a good long while." Marie said, her voice sounded constricted from trying to hold it together. "Devours all things ... birds ... beasts ... trees? ... I don't this one ..."

"Is it taaaaasssstttyyyyy? Is it sccccrrrruuuumptioooouuussssss?" Marie felt cold fingertips reaching for her neck. "Is it crunchable?"

She jumped away just before the creature could close his fingers around her neck. He was crouched on another rock close to the high cave wall, his knees tucked right under his chin as he stared with evil in his eyes. The light reflecting off the water lit up his face until it was almost translucent.

"Now wait." Marie held up her hand to stop something, but what? The creature if he lunged at her? Any further disconcerting comments he made? Time itself?

"It's stuck. Bagginses is stuck."

Marie shook her head. "I said ... give me a moment."

'I told you, let me think.'

'It's really quite simple Mar.'

'But you never give me enough time.'

Devours all things. Can eat away iron and stone. Never enough of.

'Never enough ... time ... time ...' "Time."

The look of shock on the creatures face was all Marie needed to be sure. "The answer is time."

He gritted his teeth to suppress a growl, Marie had to jump back to avoid the flying gobs of saliva. "Last question precious. Last chance." The little hobbit did not see the large stone the creature had coiled in his hand.

Marie tried to pick a riddle, but the creature's impatience and her nerves were not making the choice easy. "Ask us. Ask us!"

She mimicked her father's habit of hooking her thumbs into her waistcoat as she thumbed through the mind's library, but she was distracted by her thumb brushing against something smooth. She had forgotten about the ring she had found. She resisted looking down at her pocket and pulling it out to admire, for an idea popped into her head. The creature wanted a question, then a question he will have.

"What have I got in my pocket?"

The creature blinked in surprise, turning up his nose and shaking her head. "That's not fair. That's not fair, it's against the rules!" He threw the rock hard onto the ground where it bounced off another and landed just off the water's edge. "Ask us another one."

"You said to ask you a question. That is my question." Marie said and moved her hands away from the waistcoat. "What have I got in my pocket?"

The creature launched itself off the rock and landed in pile of bones, "Three guesses precious, it must give up three." He demanded, holding up two fingers.

"Alright then, three."

"Handses!"

Marie held up both hands. "Wrong. Two more goes."

"Oooooohhhh ... fish bones, goblin's teeth, bats wingses, broken shells ... uuggghhhaaahhhh! Knife! No shut up." He belted his head in for that answer. Marie felt a grin creeping onto her face. "No. One last guess."

"String ... or nothing."

"Now that's cheating. But unfortunately for you, neither is correct."

Marie had won. The creature fell to its side and started sobbing like a child. Marie couldn't tell which persona was in control but still demanded her prize.

"Now, said you'd show me the way, so please do."

The creature stopped crying suddenly. "Did we say so precious?" The aggressive half said, "Did we say so?" He pulled his slim torso off the ground and looked menacingly over his bony shoulder, "What has it got in its pocketses?"

"A button." It wasn't technically a lie, she did have a button in a pocket. Something in Marie gut told her not tell the truth, for if she did she would regret it.

"Show us then. Show us the buttonses."

"You don't need to see anything. You lost."

"Lost?" He slowly crawled towards Marie, "Lost?" He reached around to the little pouch on his loincloth but something changed. His expression dramatically shifted from terrifying to worried. He reached with his other hand, but grew even more frenzied. "Where is it? Where is it?!" Marie could only watch in confusion and slight fear as both personas began searching frantically amongst the filth and waste for 'it'. "Where is it!? No, no no no no no no! Precious!" He darted across the water's edge and swiped his hands like a mad man. "No! Curse us and splash us, my precious is lost!"

Marie's hand slowly slid up her thigh to her waist, "What have you lost?"

"Mustn't ask us! Not its business! Gollum ... Gollum." He sunk down pathetically on the rocks and went deathly quiet. Marie took the chance to sneak the ring out from her pocket.

'Don't let him see it.' A voice with told her.

The creature mumbled to itself and Marie could see him shaking. It wasn't from the cold, it was with anger. "It stole it." The shaking got worse as his head turned.

Marie began to back off, slowly and clumsily, never taking her eyes of the creature. She squeezed her hand tightly to secure the ring, ignoring the pain from her previous wounds.

"It stole it!" The two side of the creature melded into one very angry being that was about to explode with anger.A horrendous scream erupted from him and he threw a rock at Marie.

'Run. Now.'

The rock grazed the side of Marie's head, but did not inflict too much damaged. She took off like a hound back down into the cave with the creature close on her heels.

That's when she heard a deep drumming, coming from above. Its steady, hypnotic rhythm matched Marie's heartbeat.

"Theif!"

So there we go.

I have a question for you guys. In the next chapter, Gandalf needs to be told that his burglar may be dead. Who should try and tell him?

Review and tell me who.