Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. I only own the OC Liante.
"Bones will be shattered"
"Necks will be wrung"
"You'll be beaten and battered"
"From racks you'll be hung"
"You will die down here and never be found"
"Down in the deep of Goblin-Town!"
"I hate Goblins." Liante muttered as he and Gandalf had snuck through the caverns of Goblin Town after finding out that the Dwarves and Bilbo had settled into one of the caves that led to Goblin Town. Liante and Gandalf had to take another way around to enter, but Liante was old enough to know every entrance into mountains and the entrances into Goblin Town.
Liante noticed one of the Goblins with Thorin's sword and as soon as it saw the blade, it screech in fear and alarm, throwing it to the floor.
The Goblin King cried out and backed onto his throne. "I know that sword! It is the Goblin Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks!" The Goblins then started attacking the company of Dwarves. "Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!"
"Gandalf..." Liante said, giving the Wizard a look.
Gandalf looked at him with a small smirk before he raised his staff and created a great, bright white light, one that blew Dwarves and Goblins off their feet, blinding them as well.
"Take up arms!" Gandalf shouted as he and Liante stepped into the light, both with their swords drawn. "Fight! Fight!"
Liante and Gandalf charged at the Goblins as the Dwarves scurried and grabbed weapons to fight. A Goblin leaped at Liante only for the son of Morgoth to drive his sword through it's head then rip it out to slash another Goblin across the throat, followed by stabbing his dagger into the neck of a third and ripping it out, flicking the Goblin blood off his dagger and sheathing it.
"Move! Now!" Liante barked at the Dwarves, gesturing for them to follow and he led the way with the Dwarves and Gandalf following. Of course they were being pursued by the Goblins.
"Quickly!" Gandalf shouted, seeing the amass of Goblins coming after them.
"Faster!" Dori shouted.
Liante saw two Goblins up ahead and spotted a war axe, which he picked up and threw, striking one Goblin through the head with it, then impaled the other with his sword before ripping it out and spotted more Goblins up ahead. He looked at the wooden post next to him and slashed it with his sword before picking it up.
Dwalin and Kili, seeing what he intended to do, picked up the part next to them and charged fourth with him, Liante using the sharp end to either impale or knock the Goblins in front of them out of their way and off the bridge. Once they were across, they dropped the post and Liante continued to slaughter his way through Goblin after Goblin that was in his way.
They crossed more bridges, some which looked ready to snap and fall at a moment's notice, knocking off Goblins in their way. Three Goblins surrounded Liante, who spun and decapitated them in one single spin and he moved on as their bodies fell.
The next section of the maze-like Goblin kingdom was unfinished, and was suspended on ropes over a dark abyss. Nonetheless, the company pushed forward, and the back two ropes were severed, causing the platform to swing forward towards the other side of the ravine.
"Jump!" Liante shouted as he jumped with half of the company, making it to the other side. They watched as the platform swung back towards the Goblins, some of whom scrambled onto it. They didn't get far before the platform had swung back, and the rest of the company jumped off. Fili was able to cut through one of the remaining ropes, and the other snapped due to the sudden weight it had to support alone. The Goblins who had foolishly followed fell to their deaths.
"Keep moving." Thorin ordered quickly.
They continued to run, cutting down Goblins whenever and wherever they appeared.
It was difficult to judge how long they'd been fighting before the Company reached this particular bridge – but it felt like an age. It was definitely several hours, most of them spent in frantic combat, with just a few precious minutes in between where they had the chance to catch their breaths and try to find the way out. But it was at that moment that Liante suddenly realised that – finally – they were nearly free. He could almost taste the fresh air coming in from ahead. He could certainly smell it, what with his senses.
But when they were halfway across the bridge, their progress was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Goblin King; he burst up through the frail wooden planks from below, staff in hand and a grotesque sneer on his face.
"You thought you could escape me?" He swung at Liante, who had been at the front, but the son of Morgoth ducked it and straightened, a serious look on his face. "What are you going to do now, human?"
Liante took that challenge personally as he stabbed his sword into the Goblin King's belly, causing the Great Goblin to gasp and gurgle blood as he fell to his knees and Liante pulled his sword out.
"That'll do it," The Goblin grumbled, in a begrudgingly impressed kind of way.
With a smirk, Liante swung and slashed the Goblin king's throat open, causing the body to fall forward. However, the weight of the Goblin proved too much for the bridge they were on, and then it collapsed altogether.
They surged downwards, the cries of the dwarves filling Liante's ears.
With a tight grimace on his face, Liante mentally prepared himself and then leapt off the bridge at the last second, rolling to wear off his momentum. He ended up some two metres from the bridge as straightened back into a stand, barely a hair out of place.
The Dwarves were grumbling. As Liante and Gandalf glanced back at them Bofur said, in a light-hearted voice, "Well, that could've been worse."
The Goblin King's corpse landed on them right after that was said, causing the Dwarves to all groan out load from the crash of the corpse and the added weight.
"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin snarled in frustration.
Rolling his eyes, Liante stepped forward to help the trapped Dwarves, grabbing various arms and hands and tugging them loose.
Kili glanced up as he was freed, and his face paled in an instant. "Gandalf! Liante!" he cried.
Liante looked up to see hundreds – if not thousands – of Goblins scrambling down the cliff walls towards them, murder and a promise of vengeance in their eyes.
"There's too many! We can't fight them!" Dwalin said.
"We need to reach daylight, now!" Liante said seriously.
"Come on!" Gandalf said, helping the last of the company to their feet before they were running again, now through the caves of the Goblin-infested mountain and tunnels.
When the light of day was in sight, Liante stopped to let the Dwarves go past, before chasing them once more. he paused and glanced back though, so sure he felt something... familiar.
Shaking his head, he ran after the company. They soon stopped when they were sure they were far away from the cave and that the Goblins wouldn't come after them since they hated sunlight. Goblins thrived in dark places, and being out in sunlight wouldn't be their best option, even to come after a company that killed many of their kind and their King.
Seeing they were safe, for now, Liante sheathed his sword with a sigh. He did a mental headcount before he realized someone was missing.
"Where's Bilbo?" He said loudly, causing the Dwarves to look at him before they began looking around as well.
"Where is our Hobbit?" Gandalf demanded, looking like he'd be very angry if Bilbo had been harmed under the Dwarves' watch. He was fond of Hobbits after all, and obviously felt responsible for Bilbo being on this venture.
"Curse the halfling! Now he's lost," Dwalin growled.
"I thought he was with Dori," Gloin stated, and all eyes fell on the grey haired dwarf.
"Don't blame it on me!" Dori cried.
"Well, when did you last see him?" Gandalf asked, still catching his breath after their long run. Despite his large amount of stamina, he was still an old man, so all that running and fighting must have really taken it out of him.
"I think I saw him slip away when we were first captured," Nori said.
"What happened exactly? Tell me!" Gandalf demanded.
"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin interjected, his voice harsher than Liante had heard in a while. "Master Baggins saw his chance and took it. He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing out hobbit again. He is long gone."
Liante glanced around with a frown, that feeling he felt in the caves returning. What is this he was sensing? Why was it familiar? He was so sure he's sensed or felt this kind of feeling before...
"No, he isn't."
The son of Morgoth jolted in surprise at the sound of Bilbo's little voice, gentle yet still firm. His clothes were torn and beaten, and he himself was covered in streaks of dirt, but otherwise appeared no worse for wear. Liante pointedly ignored the trickle of relief he felt at seeing the Hobbit unharmed.
This quest was really making him soft and more open, or maybe it was the time with Arwen and... their morning of passion and love with each other.
"Bilbo Baggins!" Gandalf cried happily. "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life."
The Hobbit grinned, approaching the group with sure steps. Balin patted his shoulder when he was within reach, a smile on his aged face.
"Bilbo!" Kili cried, beaming. "We'd given you up."
"How on earth did you get past the Goblins?" his brother added.
"How indeed..." Dwalin murmured, his eyes narrowed and a deeply suspicious note to his words.
There was a moment of awkward silence, after which the halfling just laughed nervously and put a few fingers in his waistcoat pockets. Liante narrowed his eyes, so sure he saw something gold in the Hobbit's hand, and Liante could feel a faint whisper at the back of his mind, like something was calling to him, reaching out to him but he shook it off.
However, he took note of the feeling, and that it was coming from Bilbo for some reason. Suddenly, the Hobbit made Liante feel some kind of... familiar sense.
"Well, what does it matter?" Gandalf asked merrily. "He's back."
"It matters!" Thorin said sharply, taking a step forward and standing directly in front of Bilbo. For possibly the first time that Liante had seen, Bilbo didn't quail under the weight of the dwarf's stare. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"
Bilbo looked long and hard at Thorin, the cogs in his mind clearly turning. Eventually, his body sagged just a little, and he sighed. "Look," he said, "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. Because you don't have one; a home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back, if I can."
The tiniest of smiles made its way onto Thorin's face, but it was gone the blink of an eye later. Before any more could be said, however, a loud, feral howl rent the air.
Liante's gaze snapped in the direction it had come from. "Orcs." He growled.
"Out of the frying pan..." Thorin muttered.
"And into the fire," came Gandalf's quick response. "Run. Run!"
And that's it for this chapter. I think, being the son of Morgoth, Liante would feel and sense something like a Ring of Power, especially Sauron's, so though he hasn't quite connected the dots yet, he knows Bilbo's got something that is setting him off with a sense of unease, and already the One Ring tried to whisper out to him as it has a will of it's own.