Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

Let's get to it.


Chapter 16- Escape from the Woodland Realm

T'Challa breathes a little more deeply than normal as he places the necklace containing his suit around his neck, sliding it under the Elvish tunic he is wearing, before looking down at his grandfather's ring, and the ring given to him by Elrond signifying him as an Elf-friend. The sun has risen, and T'Challa knows that Bilbo will soon be carrying out his plan to free the Dwarves.

T'Challa turns towards the door, knowing it's time to act. He makes his way towards the door and opens it. As he walks out of his quarters, he sees an Elf standing guard outside his door.

"King T'Challa. Where are you going?" the Elf asks.

"I feel the need to stretch my legs and take a walk. I wish to walk alone, if it is allowed, but if you must, you may accompany me," T'Challa says.

"You may go, King T'Challa," the Elf says after a moment. T'Challa nods in response before he turns and walks away.

T'Challa slowly makes his way along the walkways of the Woodland Realm, continuing to admire the beautiful architecture that is this place. It fascinates him how the Elves are able to build their homes and halls around and amidst the trees of the forest. The Elves have truly developed a love of nature that T'Challa has not really seen among any peoples on Earth.

As T'Challa slowly makes his way towards the exit out of the Woodland Realm leading towards the river that T'Challa knows is the way Bilbo intends to make the escape, several Elves pass by and exchange greetings with T'Challa. T'Challa responds in kind, trying to act completely casual so that the Elves will not suspect him of anything. Thankfully, years of learning to keep his emotions in check make this task very easy.

Suddenly, as T'Challa nears the way out, he hears something. The loud blast of a horn. It's sound is similar enough to the horns he heard in Rivendell that he knows it has to be an Elvish horn. Immediately, T'Challa detects that's it's coming from the same direction he is heading. And he knows instantly what it is.

T'Challa begins to sprint as fast as he can towards the exit. As he approaches it, he sees two Elvish guards standing on the walkway in his path. The two Elves turn and see T'Challa sprinting in their direction, and, knowing that the Dwarves are escaping and that T'Challa once travelled with them, surmise instantly what he's doing. The two turn to meet him, determined to stop him.

But T'Challa decides it's finally time for other Elves to see what he can do. In an instant, he commands his suit to deploy, and in a matter of seconds, his suit forms around him. He then bounds up, springing as high as he can, and also slightly to his right. He hits the wall about 10 feet up and takes two running steps along the wall before springing off the wall. The Elves watch in amazement as T'Challa flies over their heads, landing well behind them. T'Challa doesn't even look back at the Elves as he sprints off, determined to help his friends escape.


(The river gate)

Kili hurries up the stone steps, sword in hand, trying to reach the lever to open the gate. Things couldn't have happened with worse timing. Right after the Elves had closed the gate, that was when the Orcs, led by Bolg, had showed up, and began to quickly overcome the few Elves guarding the area.

Thankfully, the dwarves had managed to get a sword off of one of the Orcs as it tried to attack them in the water. Kili had taken the sword and leapt out of his barrel onto the shore in an attempt to pull the lever and open the gate.

As Kili hurries up the steps, running towards the lever, he suddenly feels a stabbing pain in his leg. He looks down and sees a deep black arrow embedded in his leg. The arrow had been fired by Bolg, who now grins evilly as Kili collapses to the ground in pain.

"Kili!" Fili yells out to his brother. Kili groans in pain, trying to reach out to pull the lever, but not managing to get a strong enough grip on it.

Several Orcs begin rushing towards Kili, ready to kill him. That is, until an arrow cuts down the lead Orc.

Kili looks in the direction the arrow came from, and sees Tauriel hurrying out of the brush. As he watches, she draws and fires another arrow, killing another Orc coming towards Kili.

Bolg looks at Tauriel angrily. "Kill the She-Elf!" he bellows in Black Speech.

Orcs charge towards Tauriel, thinking they will be easily able to overpower her with their superior numbers. That is, until another arrow flies out of the brush on the opposite bank and flies right through the brain of an Orc.

Immediately, Legolas and a number of other Elves come charging out of the brush, attacking any Orc within range, killing them with great speed.

As the Elves that came with Legolas begin to disperse to engage the Orcs, Tauriel sees several large Orcs bearing down on her. As she draws an arrow to fit to her bow, suddenly, without warning, Steve leaps seemingly out of nowhere, bursting through the brush with a cracking of branches, extending his gauntlets and killing one of the Orcs with a blow to the head.

Tauriel pauses momentarily, thrown by the sudden appearance of Steve. She watches in surprise as he blocks the blows of the other two Orcs using his gauntlets, moving with a speed and reflexes that an Elf would be proud of. She watches him flip up over the head of one of the Orcs, grabbing its head snapping its neck as he goes before delivering a blow right to the chest of the remaining Orc, punching right through its skin and ribcage, killing it.

Without hardly even stopping to acknowledge Tauriel, Steve charges to engage more Orcs, killing every one with a single blow and moving from Orc to Orc with incredible speed, throwing punches with his gauntlets towards their heads, necks, and chests. As he attacks a group of about five Orcs, Tauriel recognizes him from a story T'Challa shared of his companions.

"Captain America," she says under her voice before another Orc charging at her draws her attention. She draws her knife, ducking under the Orc's blow with its club and cutting off the Orc's head with a smooth stroke.

As Tauriel busies herself with the Orcs now attempting to attack her, Kili manages to summon enough strength to push himself up off the stone and grab hold of the lever. Using his weight, he manages to pull the lever, opening the gate. As the rest of the dwarves begin to be carried through the gate, Kili rolls himself up to the edge and rolls off and into one of the empty barrels.

"After them!" Bolg bellows in Black Speech as he climbs up on the wall before leaping down to pursue the Dwarves.

Legolas hurries to pursue Bolg. As he does, several tall Orcs charge towards him. But, before they can get too close, T'Challa suddenly drops out of the trees, having leapt from tree to tree to reach the battle site, still in his suit, and slashes his claws through the Orcs, killing them.

After turning to face each other and exchanging a brief nod, both Legolas and T'Challa leap over the wall and begin pursuing the Orcs down the riverbank, with Legolas firing arrows at Orcs across both banks while T'Challa slashes down any Orc that gets within arms reach.

On the other side of the river, Steve sees the Orcs climbing over the wall to pursue the Company. Without hesitation, he sprints towards the wall, clearing it in a single bound and bashing in an Orc's head as he comes down. He then continues sprinting down the bank, attacking any Orc that comes close. Tauriel follows close behind, using her arrows to support Steve as much as she can. Despite having seen T'Challa in action against the spiders days earlier, Tauriel still has trouble accepting that Men are capable of such feats. What she has seen from T'Challa and Steve are what she would accept from the very strongest and well trained Elves.

Meanwhile, T'Challa and Legolas continue running down the river bank. T'Challa leaps onto the first of a series of branches that hang over the river. He leaps from branch to branch just like a cat, cutting down any Orc he encounters with his claws before throwing their corpses into the river, with several Elves following him, firing arrows at any Orc that T'Challa can't reach. He then leaps down, springing off of Bombur's barrel to make it to the other bank, where he attacks more Orcs waiting on the banks.

Meanwhile, Legolas leaps off the bank of the river, landing with his feet on the heads of Dwalin and Nori, balancing on their heads as he continues firing arrows back behind the Company. He then jumps up and spins around, landing with his feet back on their heads, and now facing the other direction and continuing to fire arrows, sending one arrow so far through one Orc that it hits the Orc behind it, killing them both and sending them tumbling into the river. He then moves onto just Dwalin's head to avoid hitting a boulder before leaping off and onto the bank, charging down the bank and killing more Orcs before using the Dwarves as stepping stones to cross back across the river, where he engages several Orcs on a small outcropping of rock.

On the other bank, T'Challa sees an Orc wielding a massive sword walking up behind Legolas. T'Challa sprints towards the bank and leaps, springing off the bank and flying across the river. He reaches the Orc at the end of his bound and slashes open the Orc's face with his claws. As he does, Legolas fires one more arrow, killing one more Orc.

Legolas and T'Challa watch as the Dwarves are carried away by the current. Then, T'Challa senses something behind him. He whips around just in time to see an Orc that had been sneaking up on them fire an arrow, which T'Challa grabs right out of the air.

Right at that moment, Tauriel leaps into view, somersaulting before popping up and kicking the Orc's weapons out of its hands. She then manages to restrain the Orc and brings out her daggers, ready to kill the Orc.

"Tauriel! Dartho!" Legolas says firmly. He then turns to look at her and says, "Uno hono. Ho hebo cuin."

Tauriel looks like she just wants to kill the Orc, but she manages to restrain herself.

Then, there's rustling, and Legolas and T'Challa turn, ready to fight, only to see Steve walking out of the bushes.

Legolas lowers his bow as he sees Steve. "You are the one called Captain America," he says.

"I guess you could say that," Steve says. He then turns to T'Challa and says, "We have to hurry if we want to keep up with the Company."

T'Challa nods simply before turning to look at Legolas, his mask deactivating. He and Legolas exchange a look before Legolas nods, saying, "I understand. Go. I shall speak with my father, and see if I can persuade him to let go of any anger towards you."

T'Challa nods once in thanks, then turns to Steve, and the two exchange a nod as T'Challa's mask reforms before both of them take off after the Company, sprinting down the river bank and leaping over obstacles that stand in their path. Legolas and Tauriel stare after them for several moments, still somewhat amazed by their skills and abilties.


(High Fells of Rhudaur)

Bucky looks up at the sheer rock face before him. He and Gandalf had finally managed to reach the High Fells of Rhudaur only minutes ago, and are now standing at the base of a particular mountain that seems to be the reason Gandalf came here.

"Follow me, Bucky," Gandalf says, and he walks towards the spot where a set of stone steps begin leading up the face of the mountain.

"Do you really think you're going to find something here, Gandalf?" Bucky asks the wizard.

"Almost certainly, Bucky. What we may find, I do not know, but I am sure we will find something," Gandalf says before he begins to climb. Bucky just shrugs and begins climbing after him.

In silence, the two climb up the face of the mountain, stone step by stone step. After what seems like hours, they finally reach the top of the stairs, where a metal gate leading into the mountain has been broken open.

Gandalf and Bucky gather on either side of the broken open gate. Bucky looks at Gandalf before saying, "In we go, I guess."

Gandalf nods simply. He then steps around the gate and into the opening. However, the moment he does, he begins sliding the hall cut out of the mountain. Bucky reaches out to try and grab Gandalf, but only ends up sliding down the hall himself, which he now realizes is slanted slightly downwards.

Seeing Gandalf manage to stop himself up ahead, Bucky yells, "Get out of the way!" Gandalf manages to move aside right before Bucky reaches the main chamber. Instead of attempting to stop himself, Bucky just leaps off the edge and flies across the chamber, landing on a ledge on the other side, just outside another broken gate.

Gandalf slowly makes his way around the edge of the chamber to where Bucky is standing, with his staff now lit. As he reaches Bucky, Bucky draws Anguirel, and the two slowly move through the gate. Bucky can already see that the gate looks as if it was opened from the inside, causing Bucky to think even moreso that Gandalf's theory is correct.

It quickly becomes clear to Bucky that this place is a tomb. At the back of the tomb, where the light is just reaching at the moment, is a stone sarcophagus, and Bucky can see the sarcophagus is broken open. He steps closer to the sarcophagus slowly, sword raised. As he gets almost close enough to see into it, something small suddenly flies out of it. Bucky jumps, and he and Gandalf whip around to see Radagast standing in the entrance of the tomb.

"Oh, it's you," Gandalf says.

"Why am I here, Gandalf?" Radagast asks.

"Trust me, Radagast, I would not have called you here without good reason," Gandalf says as Radagast pulls off his hat to allow three small birds to land on his head before putting his hat back on. Radagast then looks up at Gandalf and says, "This is not a nice place to meet."

"No. It is not," Gandalf says.

Radagast walks out of the tomb and looks up at some engravings resting over the entrance to the tomb. "These are dark spells, Gandalf. Old, and full of hate. Who's buried here?"

Gandalf and Bucky follow Radagast out of the tomb as Gandalf says, "If he had a name, it's long since been lost. He would have been known only as a servant of evil."

Gandalf then looks out over the edge and down into the pit at their feet, lighting up his staff as he says, "One of a number." The light grows brighter, revealing that the stone path on the edge of the chamber continues to lead down into the pit below them, with more tombs below them, all of them broken open from the inside. "One of nine," Gandalf says grimly. He then looks at Bucky and Radagast and says, "Come."

Without another word, Gandalf moves to leave. Radagast hurries to follow, with Bucky right behind him. Having heard Gandalf's full explanation of his suspicions on the ride up to the High Fells, as well as the history behind it, he knows now what this means.

It takes them some time to get down to the base of the High Fells, climbing carefully down the stone steps along the cliff face. As they do, Radagast finally asks Gandalf, "Why now, Gandalf?"

"The Ringwraiths have been summoned to Dol Guldur," Gandalf says.

"But it cannot be the Necromancer. A human sorcerer could not summon such evil," Radagast says.

"Who ever said the Necromancer was human, Radagast?" Bucky says grimly, fully recognizing what is happening.

"Bucky is right," Gandalf says. He stops and looks over the surroundings as he says, "The Nine only answer to one Master. We've been blind Radagast. And in our blindness, The Enemy has returned. He is gathering his servants. Azog the Defiler is no ordinary hunter. He is a commander. A commander of legions. The Enemy is preparing for war!"

Gandalf then hurries past where Radagast and Bucky are standing, heading back to where his horse is waiting. "Where are you going?" Radagast asks.

"To rejoin the others," Gandalf replies quickly, still walking away.

"Gandalf," Radagast protests.

Gandalf turns back to Radagast and says, "I started this quest. I cannot forsake them. They are in grave danger."

"If what you've said is true, the whole world is in grave danger. The power in that fortress will only grow stronger," Radagast says.

"You want me to cast my friends aside?" Gandalf asks.

"Gandalf, we have to do something. If he's really returned, we need to do something," Bucky says. He pauses, then says, "We have to go to Dol Guldur."

Gandalf is quiet for several moments before he slowly nods.


Hope you liked that chapter and it wasn't too rushed. I tried to go into as much detail as I could. I'll try and do even better in the future.

Next chapter should be up fairly soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!