Bella squinted against the sheets of rain blowing in her face. They were nearly a week into the mountains and were again being afflicted by a torrential downpour. But severely unlike when they could ride their ponies through forest, this deluge struck them on the unprotected mountains, making the rocks slippery in places and unstable in others. Lightning flashed, sometimes half-blinding her by the brightness, each flash making it a little harder to see in the late afternoon, early evening dimness. Thunder rumbled, echoing off the mountains around them and competing with the roaring wind that whipped around her ears.

She attempted to look behind her. Kili caught her shoulder as she twisted. Fili was behind them, saying he wanted both of them where he could keep an eye on them. Since this morning, Bilbo had fallen behind so that he was closer to Dwalin and Bofur near the end. "How's Bilbo?" she called.

Fili turned to pass the question down a few dwarves. Finally, he turned back again. "He's alright. I also sent assurances back that you were doing well."

Bella nodded before turning back around. She was certainly rethinking any mountain crossings if Bilbo and she were to travel to such places as Mirkwood, Rohan, or Minis Tirith. She'd never felt so exposed as she did on this mountain face in a thunderstorm. The only "improvement" from the last time they'd been stuck in pouring rain was that she was too focused on keeping her footing and staying alive to feel miserable about being soaked to the bone.

"Hold on!" Thorin called from the head of the line.

Bella spared a brief moment to shove her dripping hair from her eyes. "What else are we supposed to do in this weather?" she muttered. Though she had to admit that in a way it was assuring everyone that their leader cared about their safety. Slipping rocks and a sharp cry had her whipping round as one hand clutched the rock wall. "Bilbo!"

"We got him!" Bofur shouted. "He's alright."

"We must find shelter!" Thorin said.

"Watch out!" Dwalin called.

Bella looked up to see a boulder hurtling toward the mountain above them. It smashed into hundreds of pieces, hurtling down on them. She gave a short scream even as she pressed herself into the rock. The torrent of rock seemed unending, some pieces being at least as big as she was even as many were the size of pebbles.

Danger past, Balin stepped a little out from the wall, looking ahead. "This is no thunderstorm. It's a thunder battle! Look!" He pointed out across the steep valley to a neighboring mountain.

Bella could have sworn her heart stopped as she saw a stone giant as massive and craggy as a mountain tear a boulder from its place.

"Bless me!" Bofur cried. "The legends are true. Giants, stone giants!"

The giant hurled its boulder with a battle cry, barely missing their mountain to crash into the head of a giant rising behind them. This was a thunder battle, a thing Bella had only considered the stuff of adventure stories and legends. Now she was in the center of one, and it was nothing that she thought it would be. There was no wonder or excitement, only pure unadulterated terror that she, her brother, or one of their companions would be killed by the hurling mountains.

"Take cover! You'll fall!" Thorin shouted, prompting another member of the company to pull Bofur back against the rock face.

Then it felt as though something was shifting under her feet. "What's happening?"

"Brace yourself!"

"Hold on!"

They were moving. Rocks were dropping down, eating away at the already narrow trail. Then, a crack started to form between Kili's feet. "Kili!" she screamed.

Kili scrambled toward her as the crack widened. Separating them from their brothers.

"Kili!" Fili called. "Bella! Grab my hand!" He reached for them but already it was too late.

"Bilbo! Fili!" she screamed, rushing forward.

Kili caught hold of her, kept her back.

"No! Stay with Kili!" Fili shouted. "Keep her safe!"

"I will!" Kili called.

The continued movement, the slight tipping forward caused Bella to tear her eyes upward. She covered her mouth to muffle her scream. They were on the knees of a waking stone giant.

Kili pressed her to the stone wall beside him, shielding her from the still falling rocks.

She grabbed onto his jacket as she scrabbled for a handhold. Fili may have ordered his brother to keep her safe, but she wasn't about to risk Kili because of something she could possibly prevent.

Their giant was hardly fully upright when another giant came and head butted it. It started tilting sideways, sending them flying towards the mountainside. Bella didn't bother to muffle her scream as they careened through the air. Her breath was jolted from her when they crashed.

"Go, go." Kili gave her a slight shove forward, urging her to follow the rest of the Company as they raced off the giant and onto a safer trail.

She scrambled after them, half-stumbling over the uneven ground. She shrieked as the rock shifted under her feet barely a yard from stable ground. More shouts urged her on until she found herself half-swept through the air as Nori grabbed her and planted her on the other side of him before he turned and caught Kili's wrist as the youngest dwarf leapt across the new gap.

Bella watched in horror from her hands and knees as their giant was attacked by another. In a sense, a distant part of her mind reflected, it was odd how the stone giants moved and fought. At times almost in slow motion and with very little coordination, making one wonder if all put together they had enough brains for a warg or orc. Her mind's lapse was hurriedly called out as a stone giant ripped off a part of the mountain above them.

She threw her hands above her head as the debris rained down. The worst past, she scrambled back to her feet, needing to see what was happening to Bilbo and Fili. She looked up in time to see a thrown boulder crash into their giant's head, cleanly knocking the entire craggy skull off. Nori shoved her against the rock wall seconds before the head crashed above them, sending more shattered rock down. A scream caught in her throat as the remainder of their company careened past them as the giant swayed in its death throes.

A horrid chill shot through her. She couldn't lose her brother. She couldn't lose Fili. It would be a fate worse than death. She couldn't lose them. It would be as though her heart was torn out and shredded.

For an instant, their leg was still, unmoving. Then it fell towards the jagged cliffside. It crashed, shaking the mountain.

"NO!" she screamed. She started scrambling forward, taking only the minimum care to ensure she stayed on the path and didn't knock someone else off. She'd gotten past two dwarves when the stone giant fell away . . . with no one on its knee. As the others watched the start of the corpse's crashing journey to the depths of the ravine, she raced onward. "Fili! Bilbo!" She barely noticed when she passed Thorin and had him on her heels. She rounded a crag and found the remaining company sprawled motionless upon a wide path. A sob ripped from her chest just before she saw movement. They were alive.

"Fili!" She half-leapt over Ori and Bofur to grab her startled One and hold him tight. "Don't you ever do that to me again! You hear me!"

"I'll do my best," he said, wrapping an arm around her.

"You'd better," she scolded, hot tears of relief streaming down her face. "You scared the life out of me. You and Bilbo–" she stopped as she turned to her brother only to see no sign of him. "Bilbo?!" Terror gripped her again.

"Where's Bilbo?" Fili cried.

"Where's the hobbit?" Bofur asked urgently. He and a couple dwarves looked over the edge. "There!" Bofur cried.

Ori and Bofur half-dove for the edge, reaching out and calling Bilbo's name.

Bella moved to leap forward as Dwalin pushed himself up and past her. But Fili pulled her back, stopping her.

"Stay here," he said. "We'll get him." He hurried forward with the others, just as Bilbo cried out.

"Bilbo!" Bella screamed. Her heart pounded in her ears as the dwarves kept shouting for her brother to hold on, to grab hold of hands. As Thorin crouched down, Fili swung over the edge. "Fili!" she cried, her voice joined by Thorin's.

Then Bilbo started to be dragged up between Ori and Bofur. Finally he was kneeling on the path, panting and trembling. He pushed himself up, half-stumbling toward her, only to turn sharply as Fili gave a short cry.

Even before Bella's throat released small scream, Thorin and Dwalin already had a hold and were dragging Fili up to safety. As soon as the crazy blond dwarf was on solid ground, Bella jerked him closer to the mountain wall where she held both him and her brother close.

"Don't you two ever do that again," she scolded. "If I lost either of you . . ." She half-choked on a sob as her knees gave way. The three of them huddled together as they caught their breath.

"I thought we'd lost one of our burglars," Dwalin said.

Bella and her brother glanced up at him. The gruff dwarf though winded, appeared relieved.

"He's been lost," Thorin snapped wearily. "Ever since he left home. He should never have come."

Bella's heart lodged in her throat. Did he think he could get away with insulting her brother?

"He has no place amongst us," Thorin concluded.

Bella shot to her feet. "What do you mean by that, Oakenshield?"

"Exactly what I said," Thorin returned.

"Implying that I have no place in this Company either," she shot back. "If you insult one, you insult both. That's how it works with us."

"You at least know how to carry a weapon and are not a complete burden," Thorin half-shouted.

"You know what?" Bella snapped. "If Bilbo and I are such burdens to you, we'll part ways with your exclusive dwarven company and continue adventuring on our own once we've passed through these abhorrent mountains."

"You both signed a contract," Thorin growled.

"And Gandalf tricked us into it last minute which should have some bearing on the signing of it," she returned. "Now a Baggins and a Took would never break their word, but they also wouldn't put up with such horrid disrespect as you have continuously piled upon us."

"Fine then!" Thorin shouted. "Wander the wilds for all I care! I told that fool of a wizard that I wouldn't be responsible for your safety from the first. We never should have trusted a fat, homebody hobbit for this quest."

"And I should have known from the first that you are an impossible, haughty, stuck-up, woe-is-me royal!"

"Amralime," Fili said softly.

Bella gave Thorin a final glare before tightly crossing her arms and turning her back on him. She wasn't sorry. She might be later, but right now she was so mad that she felt entirely justified for her explosion. Besides, childish as it was to point fingers, Thorin had started it.

The impossible dwarven king called for Dwalin, but Bella didn't pay any mind to what was happening behind her. She could still faintly hear the stone giants as Fili and Bofur helped Bombur up from where he was stuck among the rocks. She was vaguely aware of the rest of the Company filing past her.

"Bilbo, Fili," Kili said as he finally rounded the corner. The last of the dwarves.

"Kili," Fili greeted.

She turned in time to see the brothers hug before Kili came and gathered Bilbo up in another hug.

"The tension is thick enough for a sword to hack through," Kili said. "What happened?"

"Uncle and Bella butted heads," Fili answered. "I'm personally hoping that a good night's sleep out of this rain will make things a little better by morning."

"Most likely not," Bella half-sang.

"Still hoping," Fili returned in kind. "Especially," he added sobering, "since I do believe you finally received your One epiphany."

"I believe you're right," Bilbo said. "I was intending to mention it before she and Thorin got into their little cat fight."

"Ah, ha," Kili said. "There's an extra spark in your eye. Now I'm wanting to know how you came to know my dear old brother is your One, and what this argument with Uncle was about."

"Let's get inside, find a quiet corner, and we'll fill you in," Fili said. He led the way into a cave that was just a short yard or two away.

"Search to the back," Thorin said as they entered. "These mountain caves are seldom unoccupied."

A moment later, Dwalin called from the back of the cave, "There's nothing here."

Bella turned to Bilbo, meeting his eyes before pointedly glancing down at his sword.

He gave a slight nod before silently drawing the blade a few inches from its sheath. The dimmest blue sheen marked the blade. "We may wish to be on alert," Bilbo said. "Even if we don't have goblins or orcs in the immediate area, it would seem that they are somewhere nearby."

Thorin turned, eyeing the sword. "Fili?"

Fili withdrew Fangon-nen, revealing an identical faint blue cast. "It would appear Bilbo is right, Uncle," Fili said.

Thorin nodded. "Everyone rest with your packs and weapons at the ready."

"No fires then?" Gloin asked.

"No," Thorin said. "Get what rest you can. We leave at first light."

"But Gandalf told us to wait for him in the mountains," Balin said. "That was the plan."

"Plans change," Thorin half-growled. "Bofur, take first watch."

Shortly thereafter, Fili and Kili had gotten all four of them settled in a semi-private corner. Fili and Bilbo recounted to Kili the shouting match Bella and Thorin had taken part in.

Bella concluded it with, "He never should have said it."

"And I still wouldn't be surprised if he said it simply out of annoyance from the rain," Fili said.

"I'm torn between being frustrated at you for not being angry at the implications and being grateful that you're keeping a cool head about this," Bella told him.

"What do you mean?" Fili asked.

"Not wanting Bilbo here is just a step or two away from saying I shouldn't be here," she answered. "We've been helping Bilbo train so that he can hold his own in a fight. He helped keep the trolls from eating the whole lot of you. He is every bit as important as anyone else in this Company. Why can't he see that?"

"Sometimes, especially when going through less than ideal situations, Uncle only sees the negative," Kili said.

"And he has a bad habit of being morose and brooding in general," Fili said, quirking a smile.

"What about your One epiphany?" Kili asked.

"About the only good thing those stone giants did," Bella said. "Helped me realize that no one could ever replace Fili where he managed to weasel his way into my heart. That's all there is to it."

It wasn't until everyone in the Company but Bofur was sleeping that Bella felt someone settle down at her back. "Why did you have Bilbo check his sword when you could have done it?" Fili asked quietly.

She scowled a little. "I couldn't let Thorin keep thinking my brother has no use being here."

"Yet you were the one to think of checking it," Fili pointed out.

"He doesn't need to know that," Bella said. "It may be that together we can prove our joint worth to him."

"He already respects you. Even if he doesn't always show it."

"He also needs to respect Bilbo. Even if my brother's knowledge and adventuring traits haven't gotten a chance to shine yet, once we reach Mirkwood and prepare to face the dragon–"

"Uncle may occasionally be short-sighted," Fili said calmly. "Think for a moment, Melethen. A leader of fourteen, responsible for the safety of each one, – whether you admit it or not. How would you view the one with the least experience? The one that tended to land in trouble the most."

She shot a glare up at his hovering face. "You're turning my peace tactics on me, aren't you?"

He shrugged with a half-guilty smile. "They worked."

She huffed a sigh as she turned her face away again. "Admittedly, I would consider them a liability. A potential burden that could easily be slowing the group down or possibly even be putting the rest in danger."

"That's how Uncle is viewing this," Fili said. "I doubt that he thinks it all the time because he has seen Bilbo in training and knows what he has contributed thanks to all his studies. But we have been traveling on dangerous mountain trails for nearly a week, about half that time in a rain storm or thunderstorm. I'm sure that he is nearing the breaking point about now."

"And the whole incident with the stone giants and almost losing you and half the Company didn't help matters," Bella said, slumping in resignation.

"I don't agree with what he said, or how he said it," Fili said. "But that's how he sees things."

Bella laid there, rolling this new view in her head. Slowly, she accepted it, even if she still wasn't happy with the dwarven king. She then sensed Fili leaning closer, his breath almost teasing the drying tendrils of her hair.

"So 'how did you know that I was your One?'" he whispered in her ear.

She twisted her head around to see his delighted, love-filled expression. "Hm. I may need a moment to put my thoughts on the matter together," she said, offering her first smile since Thorin's insults.

"I can wait," Fili said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

She snagged it, wrapping his arm around her waist as she snuggled back against him. She interlocked their fingers so that her arm lay overtop his. Right hand thus occupied, she reached out and grasped Bilbo's wrist with her left. The vulnerability of nearly losing them washed over her again, catching her throat. "I realized that I couldn't lose you," she whispered. "Just as I can't lose Bilbo, I can't lose you." A stab to her heart forced her to a further realization. "Actually, as traitorous to my brother as it may be, while I would be nothing but an empty shell if I lost Bilbo." A sob caught in her throat, trying to choke her. "If I lost you, there wouldn't even be a shell left. Losing you would destroy me."

Sobbing tears born of the terror of earlier shuddered through her as Fili hugged her close. His lips left light, comforting kisses along her hairline and by her ear. Gentle, comforting words in accented Sindarin ghosted over her consciousness even though her mind was not coherent enough to translate.

Finally she caught her breath, trying to rub her tears on her shoulder or outstretched arm. "Don't tell your uncle I've been sobbing like an emotional homebody," she said quietly.

"You just so happened to have received an unusual One epiphany after going through a miserable then horrifying experience," Fili said. "We are also in relative safety. I believe that you have a right to let some of that tension out."

Bilbo shifted then as though getting in a more comfortable position. Although his new position didn't look comfortable at all. Then the soft sound of a sword being drawn out. He then shot up, revealing a bright blue glow. "They're here!" he shouted.

Bofur and Thorin startled, as did Kili. Bella was already scrambling for her things as Fili scanned the area. No one else woke.

Bilbo cupped his hands together and released his cry of the Unspeakable Terror, the roar sounding louder and all the more terrible in the echoing confines of the cave.

"Wake up!" Thorin yelled, even as the rest of the dwarves were startled awake by Bilbo's noise. "Wake up!"

"Where are they?" Bofur shouted.

Bella saw a growing crack in the sandy floor. "Against the walls! Get up against the walls!" Too late. Her voice was just one of fifteen that screamed or yelled as the rocky trapdoor fell out and dropped them down a chute. She felt someone catch her, clutching her tight against his chest, cushioning at least some of the sliding and landing before they finally all crashed into a great pile in a wood frame.

She heaved air back into her lungs as her eyes roamed their surroundings. Beyond the outcropping of rock they'd just come out of, nothing but a dark cavern was above them. Torches and some unseen light source far, high up offered an unusual blend of yellow and blue on the black rocks. She gingerly pushed herself up a bit to have a better look at their landing place. It was like a basket with one side missing, the side leading to a long path. The rest of the basket hung out over empty, black space. Fear chilled her veins. This half-cage was too perfect for someone to conveniently catch prisoners and leave them only one way out.

She barely had time to see and realize this when squeals and what she could only compare to the skittering of many beetles reached her ears. A scream lodged in her throat when she saw a pale horde of the most grotesque creatures she'd ever seen racing toward them. Then a dozen different hands were grabbing at her, nearly tearing at her clothing. She cried out even as she drew a knife from her wrist and tried to fend them off. One of the creatures grabbed her wrist and gave it a sharp twist. She cried out at the pain as she dropped her blade.

Something grabbed her from behind under her armpits, spinning her out of reach and into an open space. "Don't give them trouble," Fili said in Sindarin as they were herded off. "They have the advantage right now. Save it for when we can turn the tables."

"Stay with me, Melethen," she gasped, reaching back for his hand.

"Always," he answered, grasping her arm.

As they were shoved and shuffled deeper into the mountain, Bella took what comfort she could in her One's hold. She didn't have a whole lot of hope that they'd escape this without a few scrapes.

Author's Note: And now the Company is heading "Down, down, down to Goblin Town."

Thorin and Bella weren't happy campers this chapter. Which is understandable considering the weather and the mountain trails. And it appears Bella has a touch of a temper when provoked. But, she realized that Fili is her One!

Yeah, admittedly, I went exclusively movie based for this chapter. Aside from Bilbo trying to slip away and having a talk with Bofur instead. Thing was (as he confided in me), he was at least half considering it but was waiting for Bella and Fili to fall asleep until he noticed the brilliant glow of his little sword. (Maybe something I'll add to an Extended Scenes/Deleted Scenes for the story. We'll see.)

Okay. Reactions? Theories? What might the goblins have in store for them? How might they escape? I would love to hear your thoughts down below. :-)