Chapter 6

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." -George Bernard Shaw

"To arms!" Thorin bellowed, brandishing his sword as the orcs attacked. The others quickly joined him, Kili shooting arrows from beside Nina. Fili gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

"Do not worry Nina, I'll keep you safe." He assured her, keeping her behind him as he fought off the orcs. It was an orc raid, just as the brothers had joked about. Nina couldn't stop herself from screaming at the top of her lungs in fear. These creatures sounded terrifying, and she never knew when one would come near. Fili was a very good fighter, but soon even he was overpowered.

"Fili!" Kili screamed in panic as the orcs grabbed his brother, deciding to take Nina as well. Nina began to cry as she was dragged away from the group with Fili, unsure of when they would kill her. She could hear Kili as he struggled to get through the orcs to them, but soon enough she was thrown onto the back of what felt like a giant wolf and all sounds of the dwarves were far away.

After what felt like an eternity of this torturous riding, Nina and Fili were thrown onto the stone ground and immediately chained up to a wall. She felt the cold breeze of the night sting her cheeks as she attempted to wipe away the ever-flowing tears from them.

"You will regret this!" Fili shouted at their captors from beside her. Nina couldn't find the strength to say anything. The orcs only cackled disgustingly and left the two to wallow.

"Why didn't they kill us?" Nina croaked as she yanked at the chains pinning down her arms, finally gaining her voice. She knew that Fili could hear her from where he was.

"I do not know," Fili grunted in response. Nina groaned again, letting her head loll back. "Just be grateful that we are alive, and I promise I will find a way out of this."

"Where is Thorin Oakenshield headed? Why does he travel this way?" A cold, accusing voice sounded abruptly. Nina jumped, while Fili put a steadying hand on her leg as he answered.

"We have nothing to say to you." He spat. The Orc growled, swinging his mace about idly. Or perhaps it could called his arm, since the mace acted as his arm and hand.

"Perhaps you will after some persuasion." The Orc cackled. Nina let out a choked sob, unsure of what was happening as she felt Fili tense up. Suddenly he was ripped from her side and forced to face the wall. She called out to him but got no answer when the whip cracked.

Crack! Fili gasped in pain as the whip hit his back. It stung like a thousand knives as the orc kept swinging, but Fili tried his hardest not to scream. He could not show the orcs any sign of weakness. Nina was silently crying next to him, obviously trying not to bring any unnecessary attention to herself. He couldn't blame her, she couldn't see and therefore had no warning of what would happen at a given moment.

"Still nothing to say?" The orc taunted. Fili sighed as he sunk back down the stone ground.

"Still nothing." He replied. The orc only nodded before Nina was grabbed and put in the same position as Fili. He shouted his protests, though he knew it fell on deaf ears. She screamed when the whip first hit her back. Fili desperately tried to calm her, giving her words that were as encouraging as he could muster as she sobbed through the pain. Finally the orcs relented, leaving the two exhausted prisoners to wallow in their pain.

"The dwarf will come for them," The orcs snickered to themselves as they left. Nina let go a defeated cry.

"We're bait," She gasped exhaustedly. Fili turned to her in confusion. "If we don't tell them where Thorin is they'll keep us here to make Thorin come for us." Fili shook his head in anger.

"Then we must leave this place, the company would be outnumbered if they came." He reasoned.

"How are we getting out of this?" Nina gasped, fighting to remain conscious. She had never experienced that much pain, fear and exhaustion all at once in her entire life. She heard the rattle of chains and assumed that Fili was moving closer.

"Hey, stay with me Nina," He encouraged. She felt a warm hand envelope her shoulder, causing her to smile a little.

"Yeah, I'm trying." She breathed, letting her head hang. Fili shook her, trying his best to keep both of them full of strength. They were going to need it. Fili looked out into the horizon before the two of them, as they were locked in ruins. One thought tugged at his mind: where was Thorin?

"We cannot just leave them," Bilbo breathed incredulously. He was still in shock from the Orc attack that they had endured, and was even more shocked that Thorin hadn't yet began trying to get Fili and Nina back.

"He's my brother, your nephew, Thorin!" Kili strode up beside his uncle, his face set and determined. "If you will not get them back, I will!"

"Kili!" Thorin roared, swinging around on Kili. "Do you not think I am trying to figure out what to do? Those orcs will kill us all!" Kili fell silent. The others crowded around them, none of them willing to speak up.

"Wait, where are the ponies?" Bilbo put in after a long silence. They all looked around anxiously to find that, in fact, the ponies were nowhere to be seen.

"I thought you were watching them!" "Don't look to me, I thought it was you!" "Don't blame me!" The dwarves all fought amongst themselves.

"Over there!" Bilbo whisper-screamed. "What's that light?" Kili moved alongside Bilbo to see the light.

"Trolls," Kili growled, Bilbo following him as the two moved deeper into the forest.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" Bilbo exclaimed. "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something!"

"Yes, you should." Kili looked at him, realization dawning on him. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small. They'll never see you!"

"No!" Bilbo finally managed to squeak in protest.

"Come on, it'll be perfectly safe, and we can't get my brother and Nina without ponies." Kili met him in the eye desperately. "Please, you are our burglar, after all."

"No…no…" Bilbo stammered as Kili practically shoved Bilbo toward the troll camp.

"I'll be right behind you." Kili whispered as he shoved him further. "If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl."

"Twice like a barn owl, twice like a brown—once like a brown? Are you sure this is a good idea…?"

But Kili was already gone.

"Where is he?!" The Orc roared menacingly, scaring the living daylights out of Nina. It was terrifying to only be able to imagine what this monster looked like. She screamed a blood-curdling scream as the Orc grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her up. Her strength was waning. The orc unsheathed a sword laced with poison and cut her in the side. She screamed again, feeling like her skin was ripping apart and on fire.

"Get your hands off of her!" Fili bellowed from somewhere next to her. The foul stench of the Orc's breath filled Nina's nose, and it was all she could do not to hurl right then and there.

"You think you can stand against me, dwarf?" The Orc growled at Fili, dropping Nina to the ground abruptly. He moved to face Fili, and Nina could almost feel the fear Fili was having. "Do you want to reveal where Thorin Oakenshield is headed?"

"I'll never tell you!" Fili spat weakly at the Orc's feet. Nina was puzzled for a minute as to why Fili hadn't included her in that statement, and then it occurred to her that the dwarves did not know that she knew what their quest was. She didn't know whether or not she should be hurt by their secrecy. She couldn't exactly dwell on that though as the pain increased in her side. Her hands hovered over it in shock as the warm blood trickled onto her stomach.

"Please…don't hurt him…" Nina gasped in a weak voice as her strength finally started to really fail her. Then the world went black as the sound of the all too familiar whip filled her ears.

"What are you then? An oversized squirrel?" Tom the troll sneered at Bilbo as he wriggled in his grasp. Bilbo thought regretfully over the previous few minutes, when he tried to save the ponies, got sneezed on, was about to be eaten by disgusting creatures, and was currently covered in troll snot.

"I'm a burglar—uhh, Hobbit." Bilbo stammered, not exactly sure that calling himself a burglar would be advantageous in the current situation.

"A Burgla-Hobbit?" The second troll, he believed his name was William, said daftly.

"Can we cook him?" Said Tom.

"We can try!"

"NO!" Bilbo squealed as he finally escaped their grasp and ran from them. They trapped him on all sides, but Bilbo kept dodging them quickly.

"He wouldn't make more than a mouthful, not when he's skinned and boned," Bert, the third troll, growled as he knocked Bilbo with his disgusting ladle that Bilbo was sure was full of diseases.

"Perhaps there's more Burglar-Hobbits around these parts. Might be enough to make a pie!" He shoved the ladle at Bilbo harder. Bilbo attempted to run again, when Tom finally caught him roughly.

"Gotcha!" He exclaimed victoriously, dangling Bilbo in the air helplessly. "Are there any more of you little fellas hiding around where you shouldn't?"

"No, no of course not." Bilbo peeped, knowing it was at least half of the truth—there weren't any more Hobbits that he knew of.

"He's lying." Bert eyed him suspiciously.

"No I'm not!"

"Hold his toes over the fire, make him squeal!" William grinned maliciously. Bilbo was slightly shocked at the malice of the trolls.

"Drop him!" A familiar voice bellowed courageously as Bilbo strained to see Kili slice at a troll's leg with his sword, earning a loud howl from it.

"You what?" Tom growled at the little dwarf.

"I said," Kili growled back, equally as vicious. "Drop. Him."

With a horrid grunt, the trolls hurled Bilbo through the air to land on Kili, knocking them down to the ground. Bilbo grunted an apology to Kili who nodded back quickly. The dwarves then burst out of the brush, slicing at the trolls and fighting with such grace. Kili wasted no time in joining them, leaving Bilbo to endeavor to complete his task of freeing the ponies. As he ran, Tom snatched him up and held him by the arms and legs, ready to rip him apart.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off." Tom smirked. Bilbo looked at the dwarves pleadingly, and his heart sunk as he saw the disappointed look on Thorin's face. He had given Thorin yet another reason despise him. They reluctantly dropped their weapons, allowing themselves to be stripped and stuffed into sacks.

"Nina, wake up." Fili whispered in her ear, his voice sounding foggy as she slowly returned to consciousness.

"Fili…" She groaned, subconsciously curling against his chest. She felt safer there. She was also half-asleep and his smell wasn't as bad when she was in such a state.

"Nina you have to stay with me," Fili urged her. She felt pressure against her cut, and realized it was cloth. She groaned at the discomfort and tried to move it but Fili only pressed more. "This will help with the bleeding." He reasoned. He looked her over, seeing how pale she had become. Her cut was almost black in color and festering, and he worried over whether or not she would make it.

"It hurts so much Fili…" She whimpered. Nina thought of her family and her warm, comforting home in Virginia, and she closed her eyes. Fili tried in vain to wake her. She just wanted to go home…

"Nina, Av-'osto." A strange and melodic voice sounded. It was the same voice that had spoken to Nina in the storm. She thought she had imagined it. "You do not know me, but I know your destiny and it does not end with this mortal wound." The smooth voice reasoned. Nina could hardly breathe. "I will heal you this time, but I must warn you that the darkness will again come for you. You must fight it…" Everything went white and Nina gasped at the sudden change in vision. The pain in her side soon subsided, and Nina was immediately overcome by sleep.

It was two hours later when Nina woke. Fili was clanging his chains rather loudly from beside her. She brought her hand down to her side and found only a jagged scar there, no burning pain or blood. It was as if the wound was from long ago.

"You have to get up, we don't have much time." Fili spoke, noticing her stirring. "Listen to me." He shook her.

"What happened to my cut?"

"What are you talking about?" Fili frowned at the girl. "You never got cut." Nina shook her head vehemently.

"Fili, I was cut with a poisonous knife!" She argued. Now it was Fili's turn to shake his head.

"No, Nina, you must have dreamed it. Now we don't have much time, listen to me." Fili dismissed her. She was troubled by him not remembering, but she knew he was right. They needed to get out of there more than she needed to argue with him.

"I got my chains off." He whispered. "I got yours loose just now, I need you to help me and then we have to run. They left my weapons in a pile by the door and I was able to reach one of my knives."

"Where would we go?" Nina looked into the direction of his voice with her brows furrowed.

"Anywhere but here," He snorted. "We can figure it out. But for now we need to get you free." Nina nodded slowly, moving herself so she could move her hands better. She wriggled violently, cringing when the chains seemed deafeningly loud.

"Hurry," She whispered as Fili took over, bending the chains with his knife. She heard footsteps coming closer. She felt her spirits lift a little when the weight of the chains fell from her wrists, and she moved them and rubbed them gently.

"My weapons are over there, let's go." Fili pulled her up by the elbow. He led her with him, knowing that she didn't have the slightest idea of where she was going.

"Just a little farther now," Fili coached her on. Nina hissed through her teeth, an awful stinging in her back from all the whipping. They ran as fast as their exhausted bodies could take them before they were far enough away from the orcs that they could catch their breath.

"Fili?" Nina peeped, laying a gentle hand onto his arm. He stopped. "Thank you."

And for one moment, Fili was glad that Nina was blind. That way she couldn't see the smile he was fighting.

Author's Note

Hey guys, sooo sorry for the wait but...life. So thank you in advance to those of you who stuck out the wait and are going to continue sticking with this story. I'm not super happy with this chapter, but it's a set-up for the next one. By the way, I know I went waayyy away from the storyline, but this is a fanfic soo we'll get back to the book story soon enough.

thanks for the review from katara :) please review guys, and see ya next chapter!