Elle awoke to the sound of hissing. A spitting, crackling hissing, whose raspy cry snaked around the room like a serpent.
The company had taken cover in one of the caves near where Jasmine had nearly fallen, and had settled down to get some rest.
That was, until the hissing noise woke them all up.
Sitting bolt upright, Elle saw the source of the sound: a path was, seemingly magically, forging it's way through the sandy floor, forming a sort of crack around the cave. Around her, the other dwarves were waking up too, the confusion on their faces clear.
"What's going on?" Ori cried, at the same time that the floor collapsed beneath them.
Screaming, Elle found that her body was plummeting down a long, dark chute, her back banging painfully against some sort of sharp, rocky wall as she fell. What's happening? She continued to scream, her cries joining in with the shouts of surprise and fear of the other dwarves.
Looking beneath her, she saw a small circle of light that seemed to be fast approaching. We're growing closer to the bottom of whatever chute we're in, Elle realized, both relieved and terrified at the same time. The good news was, soon, they would no longer be falling through this painful, dark tunnel. The bad news was, she doubted that whatever awaited them at the end of their fall was any better.
Finally, the company went flying out of a sort of spout, their bodies pinwheeling through the air before crashing into a sort of cage-like net. Around them, Elle could see that they were at the center of a kind of rotunda, with horrid, sniveling creatures watching them from various perches carved into the arching walls around them. The place was lit by eerie light emitted by sets of torches, and the air was thick and muggy. It smelled rather terrible too, Elle observed, gagging slightly.
But what was most disturbing about their new surroundings was the noise. Jeers and shouts filled the air, and a horde of the creatures she had seen watching them from around the rotunda were now hurdling towards them on a sort of wooden bridge that led to their wooden cage.
Goblins, Elle realized, identifying the recognizable ear shapes and postures. Not good news, she added to herself, gulping. If they were now surrounded by goblins in a sort of goblin kingdom, then that meant that the Goblin King, a legendary brute who was rumored to live beneath the Misty Mountains, might not be far away.
But before she could make any more deductions, the horde of goblins reached them, and began pawing at all of them, pulling them one by one out of their cage and onto the wooden bridge. A particularly snivelly goblin grabbed Elle by her cloak and dragged her after him as he pulled her onto the rickety bridge. In front of her, she saw several more goblins heaving Kili, Jasmine, Thorin and Nori after them as well.
Elle suddenly felt the goblin's grip on her loosen, and then, disappear entirely. Turning around in shock, she saw the goblin return to the cage to help its fellow goblin heave Bombur upright and out of the wooden cage. But when the two goblins finally got the portly dwarf onto his feet, her previous captor seemed to have forgotten all about her, and was now helping the other drag Bombur behind them.
Before long, Elle found that the entire pack of goblins had passed by her, leaving her the only person left standing there. Nori, she had noticed, had turned around and watched her slip away, but as far as she knew, no goblins had noticed her escape.
Her initial relief soon morphed into a new feeling of confusion and fear. What was she going to do now? Although she was happy to be free from the pushing and dragging of the goblin horde, she wasn't as thrilled to be separated from the company.
Do I follow them? Elle wondered, turning to take the path further down the bridge that the dwarves and the goblins had taken.
Deciding that yes, she should follow them, Elle unsheathed the sword that she had found in the troll cave and, gulping, crept along the bridge after the company. Her sword, Elle realized with alarm, was glowing bright blue. Is this supposed to be happening? Elle asked herself, regarding the sword with fascination.
But before she could examine the sword any further, a screech from directly in front of her snapped her attention back to reality. She looked up, and, just in time, was able to deflect the attack of a very angry goblin who must have appeared within the last few moments.
Urged on by pure adrenaline, Elle deflected blow after blow before finally sensing a window of vulnerability in the goblin's defense and plunging her glowing sword into the brute's side. It howled in pain and then grabbed her by one of her arms to keep itself upright. Struggling to get out of it's grasp, Elle tripped over a loose plank in the rickety wooden bridge, and the two of them went plummeting over the edge of the platform.
This is the second time I'm falling in only a couple of minutes, Elle remarked, as she fought the urge to scream. Shouting, she knew, would only attract the attention of more goblins to her predicament, and she was sure that she wouldn't be able to fight off any more of them.
Her downward flight, however, was cut short by the sudden feeling of ground beneath her body, and she saw her vision go black.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" the Goblin King screeched.
Two of those are true, Jasmine thought bitterly, watching as the great, hulking Goblin King stood up from his throne, squashing a pile of much smaller goblins under his feet as he did so.
"Dwarves, Your Malevolence," a goblin supplied.
"Dwarves?" the Goblin King repeated.
"We found them on the front porch," the same goblin added.
"The 'front porch'?" Kili whispered in her ear, snorting in amusement.
"Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice!" the Goblin King commanded, before Jasmine could respond to Kili. At once, the goblins around them crushed them beneath their eager, searching arms, sticking their fingers into the company's pockets and sheaths, hurling any weapons they found onto the ground in front of the Goblin King. Out of the corner of her eye, Jasmine saw one of the goblins snatch Oin's hearing trumpet and squash it under its foot.
"What are you doing in these parts?" the Goblin King asked, one the goblins around them had deemed their search finished. "Speak!" he shouted, when no one answered him.
Beside her, the dwarves looked blankly ahead, none of them daring to be the one to relay their business in the Misty Mountains to the Goblin King.
"Well then, if they will not talk, we'll make them squawk!" the Goblin King said at last, a cruel smile crossing his lips. Great cheers erupted from the goblins surrounding them. "Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker! Start with the youngest." He pointed a menacing finger at Ori, and one of the goblins reached to grab the frightened dwarf by the arm and bring him forward.
"Wait!" Thorin bellowed, and silence fell over all of them, even the cheering goblins.
"Well, well, well, look who it is," the Goblin King's smile broadened. "Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain." He gave a mock little bow. "Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you... nobody, really."
Jasmine saw Thorin bristle, his face contorting in anger.
"I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head," the Goblin King said, taking a step towards Thorin. "Just the head, nothing attached," he added, with an amused giggle. "Perhaps you know of whom I speak, an old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc astride a White Warg."
Thorin's eyes widened in disbelief. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago," he spat.
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Goblin King gave a mighty laugh, and then turned to a small goblin that was suspended in a sort of seat hanging on a pair of wires. "Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize." The small goblin gave a cackle, and then skittered slid away.
We're so done for, Jasmine thought, watching as the Goblin King advanced on Thorin.
Thank you for reading! If you're looking for some more Hobbit fanfics, please check out my other two stories, The Daughter of Fire and Greed, and The Moon's Dream. I'll be updating this story again sometime tomorrow or Sunday, I imagine. :)
Also, every favorite, follow and review is greatly appreciated, and encourages me to keep writing! :) Thank you for your continued support!