A/N: Hello everyone. If you read my note last week, I can understand if you didn't they tend to get long, you may have seen my note about my upcoming surgery. The first of them is scheduled for the 16th now and I apologize in advance if I am slow about updating anything after that. I will be on pain medication that, since I tend not to take anything stronger than aspirin and ibuprofen, will knock me for a loop. Then I will be healing for 4 months before I go back for my second which from what I understand will be the longer healing session. I will be trying to use my healing time to speed write but there's yet more! Yay... Not. My mother's new husband's brother (Confused yet? Me too. Why don't I just call him my stepfather? He isn't. That would dishonor my father who I loved and him who I care for quite a lot.) is dying of brain cancer. So pitching in to care for him and take care of everything that needs to be done is going to have to come first.

Now I'm exhausted and there's a wedding shower today that I have been pressganged into helping with. What petty things we can get involved with when the world is falling apart on the other side of the globe, or even right next door.

I pray you are well and if you are not I pray that you find strength and peace within yourself or from an outside source to handle the necessary things.

Post Summary:

Riddles in the dark and Golum loses it. Meeting the light.

Like, Subscribe, Favorite, Follow, Kudos and Review,

Much Love

JR

P.s. P-atreon and Ko-fi update: Why aren't there tiers and goals yet on either? Mainly because I'm trying to get used to writing regularly on them. I don't want to promise my patrons something and not be able to deliver. So I'm working on building slowly and getting my routine down, then I will be doing some patron-only content like polls for story design and personalized thank-yous and inspiration videos or packages that contain some of the things that inspire each story and other various things. Maybe even some world-building polls. I dunno. I'm winging it. So hang in there with me, I'm still learning, and sign up to follow me so that when the tiers and goals go live you'd be the first to know. (There are 3 tiers up on P-atreon now and a goal up on Ko-fi. I'm working on others.)

Supporter shoutout:

Thank you so much!

Nyx Thranduillion

Chapter 5 Escape Part 3

"Where are we going?" Bilbo hissed to the tiny light as it hovered at the level of his knees a few feet before him. The light flew to his lips and he felt the warmth there once more as it cautioned him again to be quiet.

Tired, frustrated, and more than a little scared, he tried not to think of his warm hobbit hole and bacon frying over the fire, for he knew it must be time for some meal or other but thinking of it would only make him miserabler he knew. With a determined set of his jaw, he nodded his understanding to the light and followed on again. After all the tiny light had not led him to the goblins and seemed to know where it was going amid the darkness and damp dripping sounds that seemed to echo off the walls.

Seeing a glimmer of something in the dirt inches from his toes, Bilbo stopped and knelt to pull it out. It was metal. Cool and hard, he brushed off the dirt and turned it over in the glow of the tiny light. "Do you know what this is?" He asked, voice barely above a breath.

The light bobbed in the way he had taken to mean yes as he turned it over in his palm. "What is a gold ring like this doing all the way down here?" He wondered, though the light had no way of answering. Feeling the heat of the light again he looked up and saw it ushering him on. Without any more thought, he slid the ring into his pocket and followed.

A skittering sound against the rocks was the first sign that Bilbo noticed that told him he wasn't alone with the resolute little light in the darkness. He had grown used to the whir of bats by his ears who were disturbed by the tiny light, fluttering in the darkness, finding them comforting after a time. At least there was still life down these passages.

Spinning, he saw two glowing orbs peering at him from the dark. Startled, he stepped back and jumped again when icy cold water closed around his heels. "Who's there?" He gasped, brandishing his small sword, not daring to retreat any further. He did not know if it was simply a small pool in the path or an underground river that crossed it. Or the bank of a deep, dark, subterranean lake.

In his hand, the sword hardly shone at all. Just enough to glimmer off the great spires of sharpened rocks that sprouted from the floor like great jagged teeth into the darkness above. Behind him, a drip drip dripping sound reached his ears, telling him that the roof too must have them. But no other sound reached his ears. No rushing water, even the skittering stilled.

So it is a pool or a lake, he decided, not an underground river. But still he did not move. He could not swim, and the very idea of what may be hiding or swimming in the water? Cold and slimey, with eyes like the ones that were before him? Staring unseeing at him as they wriggled? He shuddered at all the tales he had heard on his little jaunts of what swam into the caves long ago and never left. Nasty things that not even the goblins knew about but hid in the darkest corners of their tunnels, as they widened and joined them together.

Waiting...

The large bulbous orbs blinked, tilting to the side and he heard it come closer. "Bless us and splash up precious. I guess it's a choice feast. At least a tasty morsel." He heard it whisper before it gulped a horribly odd sound, half swallow half cough that sounded a bit like he had said golum.

The hobbit nearly jumped out of his skin at the almost guttural whisper, thrusting out his small sword. "Who are you?"

Instead of answering, the eyes only came closer. "What is he, my precious?" Came Golum, who always spoke to himself as he never had anyone else to speak to. For this was why he had come. He wasn't very hungry at the moment, but he was curious.

"I…" Began Bilbo, the sound hesitating on his lips. "I am Mister Bil-"

The tiny light flew to his lips and he felt pressure there, hard and steady. As he tried to move away the pressure followed until he nearly took a step back before it released him. The horrible creature before him shrieked at the tiny light, shielding it's eyes as it shrank back.

Did it not want him to say his name he wondered? Perhaps that was wise. "I am Mister Underhill." He offered. "I have lost the dwarves-" Bilbo continued as the light moved off slowly to one of the far walls where it seemed to be looking for something. Carefully it flew back and forth while he spoke to the Golum creature. He tried to watch it but it was soon out of his eye line.

Caelann, knowing that Bilbo could handle himself with Golum and that he had to for things had to be set in motion. She chuckled to herself in the unseen realm when Golum offered his deal of riddles for the way out. She had always loved his pragmatic nature when he said yes.

But knowing all these things must happen, she knew he would need the way out and need it quickly. So she searched each curve of the cave walls for the way out. Dipping in and flying back out to make sure that Bilbo still held his own.

"Is it nice, my precious? Is it juicy?" She heard Golum ask and her eyes grew wide. "It is scrumptiously crunchable?"

When Bilbo stuttered and asked for half a moment, she flew to the water behind him and dived underneath it sending a small fish jumping into the air in fright, and it fell on Bilbo's feet.

"Fish!" Bilbo cried, both in guess and in disgust.

With a sigh, both relieved and unseen, she returned to her search. Hearing the echos vibrate along the walls, she paused when the sounds changed as Bilbo cried "time! Time!"

"Ask us!" Golum yelled a few moments later and Caleann grinned, hearing echoes disappear beyond her into a tunnel and disappear into sounds beyond.

"Did we say so, precious?" Golum asked as Caelann turned back. She knew Golum would get into his little boat and go looking for his precious ring and that would give her time. As he slid into his boat, the tiny light appeared at Bilbo's elbow and beckoned him to follow.

Unwilling to wait, Bilbo hurried after the glowing orb as behind him Golum began to shriek. "Lost!" Faster he went, having a dreadful feeling that anything Golum wanted would be very bad for him. Suddenly the noises behind him stopped. "What has it got in its pocketses?" A hiss came in the sudden silence.

The question repeated again and again as he ran, following the light. Laying his hand over the small ring that he had found, he wondered the same question for the metal was cold as ice when he felt for it with groping fingers, though it should have been warm by now. Without realizing it, the ring slid itself onto his forefinger as the hissing question and pounding of feet grew closer behind him.

Turning he saw Golum's eyes shining in the small light cast by his sword and tried to run faster only to strike his toe on a stone and fell flat with his little sword under him. Before he could move or cry out or protect himself at all, Golum had reached him.

And then passed, not stopping.

Glancing up in confusion, Bilbow started when he saw a young woman dressed in the purest white kneeling by his side in the dark. About to ask who she was and what she was doing there, he opened his mouth only to have her lay her hand across it gently.

She smiled, kindness shining in her eyes. "Hello, Bilbo. I ken ye have questions but that ring ye wear will only hide ye from sight, not sound so please stay quiet until we reach yer party." Moving to stand, she looked down the passage Golum had run and reached to aid him. "My name is Caelann and I'm the light that was with ye earlier. Can ye move?"

Eyes widening in surprise at her name, he nodded.

"Then quickly follow me and keep that ring on fer now." She ordered taking his hand and pulling him along the suddenly lit tunnel. "Ye are in the Unseen Realm when ye wear that thing and though 'tis verra dangerous to, 'tis moreso no to at the moment. That's why ye can see me by the by."

Bilbo's mind spun in a whirl. He had heard of magic rings in old old tales, but for him to have found one? Such a thing was beyond belief. But still it must be for Golum had passed him by, not a yard to one side and had not seen him. And he had heard that the singer queen of Mirkwood was indeed trapped between realms and her name was Caelann so this must be she.

"Wait." She whispered as they came upon Golum as he bent and wept in the path, wailing about his lost birthday present and what it could do, confirming his theory of what the ring was. And then, as his voice went hard and woefully lost by turns, Golum made a decision to go to the backdoor. If the nasty hobbit was not there, he would search the mountains or follow him and take his ring back.

As Golum stood and turned to go, Caelann waved him to follow. "Come. We follow him. But silent if ye, please. He can hear ye as ye are still a part of this world but he cannot hear me without the ring if I choose. Come." Again she waved him to follow while Golum began counting passages as they passed.

Suddenly Golum stopped. "Here is the way out, precious." He announced to himself as was his habit. "But we doesn't go in for it is filled with goblins. Lots of goblins. We smells them." Again he wailed and bemoaned his loss. "Curse them and crush them!" He sobbed, his great bulbous eyes filling with tears.

"We must wait here, precious." His voice once again changed, as if it was someone else speaking through his mouth. "Wait a bit and see."

Bilbo didn't know what to make of all this. He had never heard anyone speak like that to themselves, but he had also never met anyone who lived in a cave in the bottom of Goblin Town all by themselves with no one to talk to so he supposed that this Golum must have gone quite mad all alone. Pity welled within him with his considerings.

And so they came to a dead stop in the mouth of the tunnel, Golum swaying slowly side to side and Bilbo pressed to the wall. Biting his lip as fright and desperation swam together in his breast, Bilbo eased away from the wall.

But Golum had senses long honed by the darkness even without the ring and stiffened as he listened, his eyes going green while he hissed menacingly. He could not see the hobbit but hearing and smell had not abandoned him. He crouched, coiled as if to spring although he knew not which direction. Hands splayed out on the cool stones as he lowered further until his nose almost touched the rocks. Though he was blind to Bilbo, the hobbit knew he was as tense as a bowstring.

Bilbo himself froze, scarcely breathing. Desperation grew within him as his hand closed around the hilt of his dagger. He must get away. He must fight. He must stab the foul thing. Put its eyes out, kill it! It meant to kill him!

No. He argued with himself. Not a fair fight. Looking to the shimmering Caelann for direction, she only stared back, face as still and as blank as a rippleless pond. She neither told him to kill or leave off. And that told him more than her words ever could. He was invisible now, Golum had no sword. Golum had not actually threatened to kill him or even tried to yet. And he was miserable, alone… lost.

Understanding, pity mixed with horror welled up in Bilbo's heart. And his hand left his dagger where it was.

Looking up at the glowing figure, he saw her smiling once more. Then she took his hand and bent her knees. "We jump." She whispered. "Hold tight."

As one they sprang. Leaping over Golum's head, seven feet forward and three in the air. Had he known it, they only missed cracking his skull on the low arch of the passage by a breath. Golum threw himself back, hands snatching but catching only air as he fell.

Bilbo, landing on sturdy feet, sped off down the tunnel holding tight to Caelann's hand. He did not turn to see what Golum was doing. At once there was a hissing and cursing almost at their feet until just as abruptly it stopped and a bloodcurdling shriek sounded behind them. Golum was defeated. He had lost.

Heart in his throat, Bilbo did not slow even as the pitiable Golum cried out in ever decreasing volume, "theif! Thief! Thief! Underhill! We hates it! We hates it! We hates it forever!" And then silence. But that too seemed menacing.

Soon the passage that had been sloping down began to go up again and for a while it went steep. That slowed Bilbo down but at last the slope stopped. The passage turned a corner and dipped down again and there at the bottom of a short incline he saw, filtering around another corner, a glimpse of light. Not a red like like a fire or lantern or even torch but a pale out of doors sort of light.

Then Bilbo began to run. Suddenly, rounding the corner as fast as scuttling hobbit feet could carry him, he saw it, dazzling after so long in the dark. Really it was only a leak of light around a door before which a great stone door stood open.

Blinking to adjust his eyes, Bilbo went still as he saw shapes moving. And as his vision cleared, there were goblins. Great big goblins in full armor, sitting just inside the door. With wide eyes they watched the door and the passage that led to it. Alert and aroused, they were ready for anything.

And they saw him.

Oh yes.

For the ring was not on his finger.

Not even bothering to reach for his sword, Bilbo slid his left hand into his pocket and there. There was the ring. It slipped onto his finger and he vanished from view. Instantly the room erupted in a cacophony of sounds, yells and clanging metal adding to the confusion until no one knew which way to go.

"This way!" Caelann hissed against his ear leading him around the great barrels that held drink for the guards, out of the way of the trampling goblins. Closer to the door they crept but eventually the stack of barrels ended and they had to make a run for it. Clinging to his hand, Caelann squeezed it tighter as they dodged this way and that. Once he was bumped by a goblin, who would not see what he had hit, and fell to the floor. Scrambling forward he slipped through the legs of the guard captain and ran for the door.

It was still ajar. But only just. For in the scuffle one of the goblins had pushed it nearly shut. Struggling, Bilbo tried to squeeze through the crack. He squeezed and squeezed and squeezed but he was stuck. By his buttons. He could see freedom just beyond his grasp. The beautiful trees and the sun shining just behind white clouds but he could not get through.

"There's a shadow in the door!" One of the goblins called.

Beyond desperate, beyond terrified, Bilbo tried again and just as he felt his buttons begin to give way a bright light like a thousand suns burst from behind him to the screams of the goblins and he was through, with the door slamming behind him.

It wasn't until he was down the slope and running for the cover of the trees that he realized that Caelann was not with him.