~Five~

~An Old Enemy~

Blast!

She and Gandalf managed to catch up to the others. When they reached them, they found that the rest of the company had been taken prisoner below ground in the Goblin Kingdom. Gandalf finally used some magic, right in front of her, but she couldn't even appreciate it, that was how angry she was.

"Fight! Take up arms and fight!" Gandalf led the way charging through the bridges and tunnels of the Goblin Kingdom.

The chase ended with them sliding down a tunnel on a broken platform, crashing to the ground below.

"Well that could have been worse," remarked Bofur.

SMASH!

As if on cue, the body of the Goblin King, who had been slain by Gandalf, landed on top of them.

"Oh you've got to be joking!" roared Dwalin.

"Gandalf!" shrieked Kili, seeing more goblins heading their way.

"There is only one thing that will save us now: daylight!" Gandalf continued to lead the way until they were safely out of the caves and into the forest - they were lucky, as the sun had just begun to set, providing enough daylight cover in order for them to escape the goblins.

Finally, Dahlia had a moment to face Thorin.

He seemed to know what was coming. "Dahlia-"

She responded by cutting him off, delivering a punch across his face. "Abandon me again, and I'll see to it that you never reach the mountain."

"We told you she'd be angry," said Fili.

"Oh, I am beyond angry. If you were going to pull a stunt like that, you should have left me to the Orcs."

"Dahlia, please don't-" He reached out to her but she smacked his hand away, hard.

"And then when I find you, you're being attacked by Goblins!" She gestured back to the path behind them that they had just fled down.

"We're running out of time - we have to reach the mountain by Durin's day. Only by the last light will the doorway be revealed," he explained.

"How did we miss that?" she spluttered.

"It was written in Moon Runes, Lord Elrond was able to read them," Gandalf explained. "You missed some things during your recovery at Rivendell, My Lady."

"And it would seem some of us want to keep it that way," she said, staring coldly at her prince.

"You needed to rest and recover, and we needed to keep going," he insisted.

"Well I'm rested, I'm recovered, and I'm here. And I don't know about you, but I plan on keeping it that way for the remainder of our journey."

"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten..." Gandalf was counting the company. "That's twelve, and that's fourteen. Now where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit?"

Everyone looked around, but there was no sign of Bilbo anywhere.

"Curse that Halfling!" cried Dwalin. "Now he's lost?!"

"I think I saw him slip away when they first found us," piped-up Nori.

"Tell me what happened," Gandalf demanded.

"I'll tell you what happened: Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it," Thorin stated sourly. "He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone."

She wanted to take Bilbo's side and defend him against Thorin's accusations - that, and she was still completely and utterly angry with Thorin, so she didn't want to agree with him anyways. But Bilbo clearly wasn't among them.

"Nope. No he isn't."

The entire company jumped at the sudden and familiar voice of Bilbo Baggins himself. He seemed to have appeared out of thin air. It seemed Hobbits could sneak around unseen, indeed.

"Bilbo Baggins!" chuckled Gandalf. "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!"

"How on earth did you get past the Goblins?" Fili asked him.

"How indeed," muttered Dwalin.

"Well what does it matter? He's back," said Gandalf.

"It matters, I want to know," spoke up Thorin. "Why did you come back?"

"Look, I know you doubt me, and I know you always have. And you're right, I do 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 cam back, because you don't have one, a home. It was taken from you. You don't have a home, and I will help you take it back if I can."

And what do you say to that? Dahlia looked to Thorin, he looking extremely guilty, not meeting Bilbo's eye.

A howling sounded then through the trees - a not-so-distant howling.

"Incoming!" shouted Dahlia.

"Out of the frying pan-" cried Thorin.

"And into the fire," finished Gandalf. "Run - RUN!"

The group took off as the howling grew nearer - the pack of Orcs and their Wargs had found them again.

They were quickly cornered - they had reached the edge of a cliff.

"Up into the trees! Come on, all of you, climb!" the wizard urged.

"Azog!" cried Thorin, eyeing the leader of the pack. "It cannot be."

Azog shouted something in Black Speech which sent the Wargs charging towards them, jumping and clawing up the trees, the force of it causing the trees to be uprooted and fall over, creating a domino effect - right towards the edge of the cliff.

Something bright flew past Dahlia's head - she turned to see Gandalf lighting pine cones on fire with his staff and throwing them down at the Wargs.

"I like your thinking, Mr. Gandalf!"

Soon everyone was hurling flaming pine cones down towards their attackers, and the Wargs were surrounded by flames. While this helped on one front, they still had another problem - the falling trees at the edge of the cliff.

"Thorin!"

Hearing his name being called by the others, Dahlia looked to see that he had climbed down from up in the branches. Armed, the prince charged through the flames towards the Pale Orc, who was ready for him.

Thorin was smashed by Azog's hammer as the Orc gave a great swing of the weapon.

"NO!"

Thorin was picked up in the mouth of Azog's Warg and thrown across some rocks. An Orc dismounted his Warg, curved blade in hand and started towards the fallen prince. It was clear what was about to happen: Azog was about to receive the next Durin's head.

"AH!" Bilbo dove in, slamming into the Orc about to slice off Thorin's head. The Orc stumbled, but quickly regained his footing, before charging at Bilbo.

"Hands off, filth!" Dahlia jumped in and stabbed the Orc from behind, finishing him off. The others had climbed down from their perches as well, and swept in to their leader's and their burglar's aid.

A large shadow descended above them, and before she could reach him, the unconscious Thorin was scooped up and carried away.

Eagles. By the looks of it, Gandalf had summoned a flock of giant eagles to carry them away and to safety.

Dahlia let herself be scooped up and carried away, off into the night.

She could just make out Azog's furious roars fading into the distance.


"Thorin!" Gandalf crashed to his knees at Thorin's side as soon as the eagles set them back on the ground. "Thorin!"

When he received no response, he held a hand over Thorin's face and whispered something. Slowly, the prince's eyelids flicked open and Gandalf gave a relieved sigh.

"How did you do that?" Dahlia asked him.

"Magic, My Lady," was his response.

"You-" Thorin's growl was directed at Bilbo. The prince jumped to his feet, shoving off his nephews' assistance when they tried to help him up. "What were you doing? What were you thinking? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden? Did I not say that you would not survive in the wild? That you had no place amongst us?"

"Thorin," cried Dahlia, aghast at the way he was speaking to the man who had saved his life, but he held up a hand for silence.

"I have never been so wrong in all my life." He then surprised everyone - especially Bilbo - by wrapping the Hobbit up in a tight embrace. "I am sorry I doubted you."

"No, I would have doubted me too. I'm not a hero, or a warrior. Or even a burglar." This made the others chuckle.

"Well you're definitely one of us now." Dahlia smiled, patting his shoulder.

Something on the horizon had caught Thorin's eye, making everyone turn to look:

A lone peak out in the distance.

"Is that what I think it is?" breathed Bilbo.

Gandalf nodded. "Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. The last of the great Dwarf Kingdoms of Middle-earth."

"Our home," Thorin breathed, a smile spreading across his face.

"A raven!" cried Oin, pointing to a bird as it fluttered above them.

"That, my dear Oin, is a thrush," corrected Gandalf.

"But we'll take it as a sign," said Thorin. "A good omen." He put an arm around Dahlia, pulling her close, and smiled at Bilbo.

"You're right." Bilbo nodded. "I do believe the worst is behind us."

Ha ha, oh Bilbo... They certainly have a storm coming their way!

Moving right along into 'The Desolation of Smaug'! See you there! ;)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed, as always! :)