Chapter Eleven

"Where is she? I know you have her! Where is Tabitha?!" Thorin demanded to Legolas. "She's locked up in the dungeons, Master Dwarf." Legolas replied as they are leading the Company to the palace. Thank Mahal, at least she is safe and unharmed. The Elf King better not do anything to her, thought Thorin. Soon, they entered the Throne Room as they stood in front of King Thranduil. "Take the others to the dungeons, leave Thorin here with me!" Thranduil demanded to Legolas and Tauriel.

The elves nodded, as they took the rest of the Company to the dungeons, while Thorin remained behind, now standing in front of the Elf King. "You better not have laid a hand on her, ELF!" snarled Thorin. "No, your lady is unharmed, she is in the dungeons as we speak. It seems that she in close ties with you. Let me inform you, Thorin, her father wishes for her to not be with you, and I will find other ways to keep her away from you." snarled Thranduil. "You cannot do that!" snapped Thorin.

"But lets get down to business. Why are you in my forest?" asked Thranduil. "We were starving, we needed food." Thorin replied.

"That is not the reason why you're here, Thorin. I know where you are heading. You're going to reclaim Erebor." said Thranduil. Thorin's eyes widened. "How did you know of this?" snapped Thorin. "A little bird told me, and you know this little bird quite well in fact." sneered the Elf King. Tabitha! Please don't say its true, she would never do this! thought Thorin. "Its not true! She would never tell others about our quest! She would never turn on us!" Thorin shouted.

"You might as well face it, Thorin. She turned on you. She told me of the quest when she was just here earlier. You don't know my niece as well as I do-she no longer wishes to be with you, Thorin. And she told me that herself." said Thranduil. "YOU LIE! ITS ALL LIES!" bellowed Thorin. "You think I would lie about something like this? No, I wouldn't! Now back to helping you out of this jam. I would help you, but there is something I like in exchange for my help." said Thranduil.

"A favor for a favor." said Thorin.

"You will give me the necklace, Thorin. Your grandfather was supposed to return it to me, when he ruled as King. And another thing, Tabitha remains here with me." said Thranduil. "You will have neither! Tabitha belongs to no one but herself!" barked Thorin.

Their little debate continued until Thorin shouted insults at the Elf King in his language, and that is when the guards took the dwarf leader to the dungeons. They placed Thorin in a cell, and Thorin didn't realize it was the same cell Tabitha is in. When Thorin saw her, he said nothing but looked away from her. "Thorin, you're fine! They didn't hurt you, did they?" spoke up Tabitha. "Don't speak to me, you treacherous little wretch! I wished I left you behind in Rivendell!" growled Thorin. "WHAT?! Now where is this coming from?!" snapped Tabitha.

"Don't act stupid, I already know what you've done Tabitha. First you went to do your business, and you were told to come back and you never did, and then you told King Thranduil about our quest!" snapped Thorin. "Now wait just a minute here, Thorin! I never said anything about the quest to Thranduil!" Tabitha shouted, tears running down her face, and she turned away. "Maybe I was better off staying in California!" Tabitha continued to rant, and she moved away from Thorin, and she sat down looking away from the dwarf.

Thorin sat and looked at her. "So you never told him?" asked Thorin. "No, I never told him, you moron. I cannot believe you had to believe in Thranduil's words. It was Thranduil who was telling you these things about me, wasn't it?" said Tabitha.

"Tabitha, listen, I'm sorry, I should have never believed him-I don't know what I was thinking doing that." said Thorin, as he moved closer to Tabitha. "Then why did you? You know he was saying those things to keep me away from you. It seems my father had sent him a letter about us. Thranduil knew of our arrival the entire time." said Tabitha. "The most important thing is you are not hurt. But please, Tabitha, when you are told to come back, come back." said Thorin. "I tried to come back, Thorin, but I got lost." said Tabitha.

Thorin pulled Tabitha into his arms. "No, it was I who should apologize

For breaking my promise of protecting you, Tabitha." said Thorin softly. "Don't worry about it, Thorin. At least we're here in the cell together." said Tabitha, resting her head on Thorin's chest. And the two sat in silence for a while. "I hope we can get out of here soon." spoke up Tabitha, breaking the silence. "Don't worry, we will get out of here." said Thorin, patting Tabitha's hand gently.

Three more hours later, Thorin was sleeping but Tabitha remained awake and she wondered where Bilbo had went. Suddenly, breaking her thoughts, she could hear a familiar voice calling out to them: "Thorin! Tabitha! I'm here to get help you get out of here!" whispered the voice. Tabitha looked up and she saw Bilbo standing outside their cell.

"Bilbo!" cried out the hobbit softly. Thorin woke up. "Mister Baggins!" exclaimed Balin. "Shh! I'm here to help you escape. We must remain very quiet, so we won't get caught! Follow me!" said Bilbo softly. Bilbo took out the keys, first releasing Thorin and Tabitha, and the rest of the company shortly afterwards. After that, Bilbo led them to a wine cellar filled with barrels. "This is your escape plan?" snapped Bofur. "You're going to get us all drowned!" griped Dwalin. "Hey! I don't want to be stuck in here! And I can imagine none of you will either! So its either that, or remain stuck here!" Tabitha shouted at the dwarves.

"Into the barrels! NOW!" barked Thorin. And so the Company climbed into the barrels. Tabitha climbed into a barrel with Thorin. Once everyone was settled in the barrels, Bilbo went for a lever and pulled it, which opened a trap door, and it released the barrels into the river below. Bilbo realized he made a mistake when the door closed and he finds himself still standing in the wine cellar. Shortly Bilbo pulled the lever again, and the door opened and the hobbit jumped into the river.

Woodland Realm

Throne Room

Several guards charged into the Throne Room. "Your Majesty, the dwarves escaped and your niece went with them!" spoke up one guard. "WHAT?!" bellowed the Elf King, quickly standing up. "Is there anything we can do sire?" asked another guard. Go after them, Soland, but bring me Tabitha. Her father would be terribly upset, if he finds out she got away." demanded Thranduil. "Yes, your Majesty!" said Soland with a bow, and he walked away. "The rest of you, including you and Tauriel, keep an eye out on the orcs!" Thranduil demanded.

"Yes father." said Legolas, as he, Tauriel, and the rest of the elves leave the palace. "Wait, Soland!" Thranduil called out as he chased after his guard. "Yes, your Majesty?" said Soland, as he turned to the King. "Never mind that plan, I have something better in mind. Go back to your daily duties." said Thranduil. "Yes, Your Majesty." Soland nodded and bowed, as he left the Throne Room. I'm going to send a letter to the Master of Lake Town, and made sure she doesn't set foot near the mountain, thought Thranduil as he left the Throne room, and headed towards his study.

Tabitha's POV:

Everything seemed to happen so fast once we escaped the elves. Unfortunately it seemed we got caught, but we managed to escape anyway, thanks to Kili. However we were also hunted by orcs, whom attacked the elves on the bridge, resulting Kili getting injured from it, as his goal was to open the gate, to free us, and continue our journey. Once the front gate was opened, Kili jumped back into his barrel, and I could tell he is seriously hurt from the expressions on his face.

Once we made it to shore, Thorin, myself and Bilbo helped the rest of the dwarves out of the barrels. "I don't care if I ever smell apples again, as far as I live-nor eat one for that matter!" Fili declared, and it was after he said that, he quickly walked over to his brother. "You're injured, nadidith!" said Fili softly. "I'm fine, its only a scratch." grumbled Kili. "Bull crap! That is no scratch, Kili! I saw what happened to you back there, you're injured! Have Oin take a look at it!" I said, kindly and sharply. "I said I'm FINE!" Kili snapped back.

Just like his Uncle, stubborn as an oxen, I thought to myself. "Lets keep moving." Thorin announced to all of us. "But Thorin, you're nephew is hurt! Can we have at least a couple minutes break?" I said. "Alright, two minutes, and then we'll need to move on!" said Thorin.

Suddenly Kili noticed a dark haired man, dressed in a brown coat appeared, pointing his bow at all of us, and the dwarf prince was about to throw a rock at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, dwarf, unless you are wanting to get shot!" the man threatens Kili. "And just who in the hell do you think you are walking up to an injured person like that and threaten him?!" I shouted. "Lassie, get a hold of yourself! Let me handle this, please." said Balin gently, as he patted me on the shoulder. I nodded, and I allowed Balin speak to the man, whom I caught his name as Bard.

Bard and Balin and the Company came to an agreement that Bard would take them by his boat to Lake Town, as the Company is willing to pay him to do so. Once that was settled, we climbed into the boat, and I sat next to Thorin. Suddenly, Bard turned his attention to me. "It's interesting to see a she-elf amongst dwarves, especially that she-elf being Thranduil's niece." said Bard. "Don't mention my Uncle, I despise him!" I sneered. "I wouldn't mess with her, if I were you, lad! She's got a hellicous temper on her!" called out Bofur.

Nice going, Bofur, you really just had to open your big mouth, I thought to myself.

No One's POV:

After the Company paid Bard, they sat and looked at the Lonely Mountain ahead of them. "There it is! Our home. We're getting closer to our goal!" said Thorin quietly, as his arm wrapped around Tabitha's waist. "I can't wait to see what the inside looks like." said Tabitha. "Oh, you would love it, especially once its rebuilt and restored." said Thorin, smiling at Tabitha. Once they got closer to town, Bard suggested they should hide in barrels again, this time the barrels are loaded with fish, to keep from getting caught.

Great, I'll be needing several baths after this, and will never eat another fish again, Tabitha thought. While hiding in the barrels, Bard spoke to a man named Percy, and after talking with Percy, and then another man, Alfrid, the Master's assistant, they made way to Bard's home. It was no soon as the Dwarves and Tabitha climbed out of the barrels, that Alfrid approached her. "Well, well, well. You must be Thranduil's niece, Silver Star. You've been expected to arrive, my dear. You should come with me." said Alfrid.

"No, she is with us!" barked Thorin, as he stood in front of Tabitha. "Thorin, just go! I'll find away out of this!" hissed Tabitha.

"Tabby, there is something about the way the man is acting, I don't trust! Stay with us. Something is quite wrong about the whole thing. Climb into the sewers with us." Thorin whispered. "No, she will go inside with me. Its much cleaner. Get inside, quick Lady Silver Star." said Bard. Alfrid snarled and turned away, as Tabitha entered Bard's home, while the rest of the Company climbed into the sewers. Meanwhile, Tabitha entered the home, where she met Bard's children, Sigrid, Tilda, and Bain.

Sigrid offered Tabitha a bath and fresh clothing, and she led Tabitha to the washroom to do just that.