CHAPTER TWELVE: Ambushed

Merry was the first to flee. Sprinting towards the exit with the rain still pouring down at the cave's mouth, the hobbit immediately skidded to a stop when suddenly, out of nowhere, the same vicious creature landed right before him. With one disgusting hiss, it lunged at its new enemy, but Merry avoided its attack with a stroke of pure luck.

Turning around briefly, he found that more and more hideous sulking beasts were quickly surrounding Frodo, Sam and Pippin. They seemed to pour endlessly from the dark shadows of the cave, perhaps deeper, but from where they came did not matter. What did, however, was the fact that they must escape, before their slim chance completely vanished.

Without wasting another precious moment, Merry dodged the grasp of the greedy goblin and ran past him with agility that none knew he had. Approaching the small and humble fire, the hobbit grabbed a thick piece of firewood with his hand and plunged one end into the hungry licking flames. It was set alight almost immediately. Merry felt a new wave of courage passing over him as, with an angry grunt, he took one powerful swing at the unaware goblin.

It was surely surprised with the sudden attack from the hobbit. Still, it managed to escape the deadly blow, but barely. "Hey!" Merry screamed to divert the attention of the goblins advancing on his friends. Fortunately, it worked. One by one, the goblins turned their attention from their captives to the Brandybuck standing in the near distance.

Merry cleared his throat. "Have you ever got beaten up by a hobbit?"

A larger brown goblin, their leader, hissed angrily at the question. Taking opportunity of the goblin's distracted attention, Sam balled his fist and with all his strength, he took one mighty swing at the goblin. Time seemed to slow painfully down as all the hobbits watched. The gardener landed his punch on the side of the creature's head with a dull thud that echoed in their minds, followed by a small squeal that escaped the goblin's mouth. The force knocked the beast with such power that it fell to the ground with another thud, its body twitching from the impact.

Time sped up again, with Sam standing over the goblin tall and proud, glaring down at it as if it were lowly and repulsive. He turned around, then to Frodo and Pippin's surprise, proceeded to clutch his fist and grit his teeth in great pain. The goblins stared at their leader lifelessly sprawled out on the ground by the fist of this one small being, then returned their look to the hobbits. Then, back to their leader, then the hobbits, as if they were pondering a decision.

Frodo lifted the dozy Pippin off the floor and signaled to Sam. "Let's get out of here before they realize that was a total fluke," he whispered hastily. They scampered their way past the confused creatures, and once they reached Merry, they fled as fast as their feet could carry them.

That was when a single goblin snapped from the daze and the realization hit him. Spinning around and catching a glimpse of the fleeing hobbits, it let out one ear splitting screech and warned the others of their escape. Almost at once, the creatures turned and growled angrily, right before charging blindly at the four beings.

As the hobbits exited the cave and felt the pouring rain beat down on them once again, Sam took one short glance behind him, and gasped. "They're after us!" he panicked, picking up his pace.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious!" Merry answered. "Now fly!"

"I'm flying, I'm flying!"

"Fly FASTER!"

Sam took another glimpse behind him and was completely taken to see the goblins in the middle of overtaking their wine cart, conveniently parked outside the cave. "STOP FLYING! They're stealing the wine!" he screamed again.

Merry skidded to a stop, with a new glint of fury evident in his eyes. "They're WHAT?!" he dared Sam to repeat.

"The wine is being stole'd!"

"Oh, that's the final straw!" And with that, Merry turned around and marched straight towards the advancing crowd of goblins, sleeves rolled up and ready for action.

"No, Merry! Why are you so stupid?" Frodo protested, still clutching the droopy hobbit in his arms. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Mess with the wine, and you're messing with an angry Brandybuck!" was his last phrase before the goblins overwhelmed him. Sam and Frodo watched in horror, as the curly sand hued hair of the hobbit seemed to disappear in the sea of green, brown and black creatures.

Sam began rolling up his sleeves and cracking his knuckles. "I'm going after him," he declared bravely as he stormed towards the angry mob.

"But Sam!" Frodo said in attempt to save his friend. "Didn't your Gaffer always tell you, 'heroism is often followed by a painfully slow death'?"

"Screw the Gaffer!" was his reply.

Sighing in disappointment, Frodo turned to the presently unconscious Pippin and asked, "Is no one afraid of Death here, except me?"

However it appeared as if there was no reason to fear the icy grasp of the Death yet. Before Sam could reach the swarm of goblins, he was surprised to see that the creatures were slowly backing away, as if they feared something. The mob wasn't as wild as before, he noticed. And smack in the center of the crowd was Merry, suspending a goblin by its neck in one hand and punching it repetitively with his other.

Sam stopped in his tracks as he watched the angry hobbit unleash his wrath. Merry successfully cast a shadow of fear over the creatures, which have greatly underestimated this tiny being. "This is for Pippin!" he screamed as he let fly one final blow to the goblin's head, then released his grip and let it fall onto the muddy floor, limp. Raising his head and glaring at the circle of watching beasts, he pointed one threatening finger at the crowd.

"Who's next?" Merry growled.

To his astonishment, it wasn't a goblin that approached him next. A giant beast twice a hobbit's height leapt gracefully despite its size and landed in a crouching position before Merry. It bared its large yellow teeth and glared threateningly at its new prey, its thick black fur rising.

The goblins regained their confidence, and began hissing and snapping at their captive once again. Merry's ears perked as he picked up a collection of snarls seemingly from above. Slowly turning, his jaw dropped in disbelief as he saw, perched on the near cliff, a pack of wolf-like beasts as black as night. Their eyes glowed eerily as they watched the hobbits, waiting for the perfect moment.

"Wargs," Sam whispered. "The goblins have allies."

Frodo sighed. "We're doomed."