I scramble upwards, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. The goblins launch their way back at us trying to keep us away from our weapons. Bombur reaches them first, he throws the weapons towards the others, war hammers and swords are snatched up quickly and in moments the sound of skin being sliced, wails of goblins and war cries of the dwarves echo around the halls of the Goblin King. My hand finds the hilt of my knife; I bring it round the metal glinting against the light from the torches and without thinking slice it across the chest of an oncoming goblin. It howls and falls, blood spurting from the incision on its body. I glance up, from the walls of the mountain I see the rivers of goblins, cascading out of cracks and holes, they wail and howl, brandish their weapons and launch themselves into the fray.

In the midst of it all I look for Bilbo. I swing my sword wildly and try to see where he could be. I hadn't seen him at all since we had been brought before the Goblin King. Around me the goblins begin depleting in number, heads roll across the floor, stray limbs lie detached from bodies. I glance around, the Goblin King has gone, fallen or retreated, I did not know. "Follow me!" Gandalf calls to us, and I spin just in time to spear a goblin that was running towards me through the stomach. "Quick! Rosa, quick!"

I run towards Gandalf. A bridge leads off and down further into the mountain, I follow the rest of the company, running across the rickety planks and treacherous rocks. I can't help but glance around at the goblins that seem to be sprouting out of the walls like some kind of foul plague. It seems less and less likely that we will escape the halls with our lives.

I stay in the middle of the company, probably because whoever is behind me is managing to urge me forwards and fight at the same time. Ahead I can just about see Gandalf's grey hat, and ahead of that I can only see the blackness of the cave walls. Scrambling across the bridges, I hold my knife aloft, it strains my arms and burns my shoulders, but if I drop it I might as well fling myself into the bottom of the next cavern. I swing it when I have to, slicing, stabbing, wounding, anything to try and keep the goblins from attacking. But it will not last, my legs ache from the running, and it is not only me that is feeling the strain of this battle. Although they urge themselves on, even the dwarves look tired; their moves are a little more sluggish than I have previously seen. As we round the next rock face I yelp at the hordes of goblins ready to swing from the ropes above us.

"Cut the ropes!" Thorin yells, and round me ropes begin to be sliced, I bring my blade down on a rope and it splits as the goblins launch themselves from their perches. There is a deafening groan from above as the bridge that had previously rested above our heads lurched forwards. The goblins ropes caught around the falling bridge and they swung off into the darkness of the cavern below. I urge my feet forwards, following the dwarves again as we round corner after corner, fight goblin after goblin and we still don't seem to be any closer to the open. Turning the next corner I collide with Gandalf, he's stopped; the gap in front of us is too big to jump. My stomach lurches as the floor below us surges forwards, "Jump!" somebody yells, and my eyes widen. Jump? That gap? I'll never make that gap! I glance up at Gandalf who grabs my arm and jumps; I close my eyes as we sail over the gap. We land, I stumble but due to Gandalf's hand around my arm I keep my footing. Then we are running again, more bridges, more torches, and more goblins.

Then a thunderous boom fills the cavern. I stumble backwards as the Goblin King sprouts up in front of us. All falls silent save a few goblin cries. "Oh for the love of Old Took." I squeak, trying to calm my trembling hands. I turn. We are surrounded.

"You thought you could escape me?" The Goblin King bellowed, smashing his staff at Gandalf's feet. The wizard stumbled but stood firm, his eyes steeled as he stared down the goblin. "What are you going to do now, wizard?"

Gandalf surged forward. His staff connected with the eye of the Goblin King first, and then he swung his arm round, dragging his sword across its stomach. The great goblin howled and fell to his knees, "That'll do it…" He murmured. Gandalf swung his sword one final time. The blade sliced the Goblin King's great bullfrog chin, a gurgle rose up in his throat, blood poured from the wound and his mouth, dribbling down his great chin and across his already bleeding stomach. The king tilted, groaned and fell forwards onto the bridge, staining the wood crimson.

CRACK.

I looked down; drawing in a breath so quick it pained my lungs. The sheer weight of the now dead Goblin King had caused the supports to crumble and splinter. I fell back, the wood of the bridge connecting with my backside as the wood shuddered and rumbled, and then, with a great crack, the bridge collapsed and we were falling.

Much like when we were ambushed first by the goblins, the cavern walls began to rush past at a rate that burned my eyes. I screamed, my hands digging into the wood below me, every rock we hit sent a ripple through the wood, smashing and tearing it to pieces. How far we fell I don't know, my eyes had closed long before we reached the bottom of the cavern. We collided with the floor, wood and rocks smashed down around us, I covered my head with my arms, groaning from the shock of the fall and collision.

I open my eyes and slowly move my arms from above my head. Pushing myself forwards I try to scramble out from under the debris of the bridge. "Well, that could have been worse!" I felt the pressure before I heard the thud. I groaned, turning to see that the corpse of the Goblin King had fallen from above, straight down onto us.

"Don't speak too soon," I groaned, pushing myself up and out of the pile of wood and stone.

We'd landed at the bottom of an extremely large cavern. It was lucky that there weren't any sharp rocks littered down here, otherwise we would have been sliced to bits. Bofur was right, it could have been a whole lot wor-

"Gandalf!" I spin around towards the pile of debris, my eyes shooting upwards with the rest of the company's. Above us, hundreds upon hundreds of goblins are cascading down into the cavern, whooping and yelling, howling and wailing. They want our blood, they want vengeance for the king we have slain. My hand finds the hilt of my blade, although my arms protest about lifting it. I am too weak, too tired to fight anymore.

"We can't beat all of them!" I yell, spinning to look at Gandalf.

"Only one thing will save us," He said, "Daylight! Fly!"

The cavern disappeared into a long, narrow tunnel. That could be one thing that would aid us; all of those goblins wouldn't be able to get through to us at once. My feet slap against the rocks, and despite Hobbits being known for their very durable feet, they were actually hurting quite a lot. We turned corners and weaved round the labyrinth of pathways and crevices until eventually, ahead, a large crack opened up and the brilliance of the setting sun washed over the opening. I picked up my pace, wanting nothing more than to be rid of this horrid place and the foul things that reside within it.

The howls of the goblins pick up as they realise that we are getting away. With a final bout of speed I burst out into the open, right into the middle of a forest of trees. But even then we don't stop running. Far away from the crack we run, down, down, down the hill, over rocks and past trees. We run until the sun is hidden behind the great mountain and the howls of the goblins are only whispers on the wind. Only then, and only then we stop.

I fall onto my knees; pulling air into my lungs and coughing it back as the sharp sting in my lungs bring tears to my eyes. I hear Gandalf; he's counting, 'five, six, seven'… Bilbo! I scramble to my feet, turning, my eyes searching, roaming over every person looking for a smaller figure between the dwarves. I look back up the hill; nothing. Down, further down the hill; nothing.

"Bilbo," I say, directing my voice at no one specific. "Bilbo! Where is he?"

"Where is Bilbo?" Gandalf said, "Where is our Hobbit?" He's lost. Gone… Dead? No. No, no, no. He can't be.

"Curse the Halfling! Now he's lost!" My mind is spinning, running through what could have happened to him. He could be lost or he could have been slain where he stood, crushed, ambushed, fallen into a cavern to starve!

"I thought he was with Dori!"

"Don't blame me!"

"We have to go back!" I yell, frantically. "We have to go back! We must find him!"

"Where did you last see him, Dori," Gandalf said, ignoring my protests. Tears begun to sting the corners of my eyes, my breathing hitched.

"I think I saw him get away when they first collard us,"

"What happened exactly?" Said Gandalf, his tone worried, "Tell me!"

"I'll tell you what happened," It was Thorin who spoke, and before he even begun I knew what he was going to say. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He thought of nothing but his warm bed and hearth since he walked out of his door. We will not be seeing our Hobbit again!"

"No!" I yell, turning, my eyes blazing, anger bubbling. "Don't you dare say that! He wouldn't leave! He wouldn't. He wouldn't leave you! He wouldn't leave me! That is why something is wrong! He could be captured, hurt, lying at the bottom of a cavern somewhere and you are here questioning his loyalty! How dare you!" Somewhere along the line they had all fallen silent, and now the tears had begun falling down my cheeks so fast that there would be a river in the valley before the stars came out. "I don't care if you don't want to look for him." I say, sniffing and wiping my eyes, "But I am going back, because I can't leave him in there."

Thorin shook his head, "He is long gone." Did he hear nothing of what I had just said? I clenched my fist and stared up at Thorin, his gaze did not waver.

"No." The voice came from behind Thorin. "No, he isn't." Bilbo. I didn't think, I just ran straight towards him. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight, because all that mattered at this moment was that he was here; he didn't leave, he isn't captured, he isn't injured and he isn't lying dead at the bottom of a cavern. I pulled back, my eyes watering, but no tears falling.

"I thought you were hurt," I whispered, smiling weakly. "You're not though, are you?" Bilbo shook his head and smiled. His gaze then turned to the ripped fabric on my shoulder.

"But you are," He said worriedly.

"No, no," I said, "It's fine, it just stings a bit."

"Bilbo Baggins," Said Gandalf, cutting off Bilbo's concern. "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my whole life."

"We'd given you up," Said Kili, smiling broadly from next to his brother. "How on earth did you get past the goblins?"

How did he get past the goblins? I wonder, thinking of how he had just disappeared back in the mountain. How did he get away from the hundreds- if not thousands- of ravenous goblins that had chased us from the mountains? It seemed near impossible, but then I remembered what Gandalf said back in Bag End all those days ago, 'Hobbits can pass unseen if they want to, and although the dragon is familiar with the scent of dwarf, he has never before smelt a Hobbit' perhaps that is why. Bilbo is perfectly capable of passing through places unseen, unheard. There was many a time when I was younger that Bilbo had snuck up on me, I had once dropped a whole loaf of bread because he had jumped out from behind the pantry door, and needless to say our mother was not very happy about that.

"Why did you come back?" Thorin said, breaking me from my memory. He looked questioningly at Bilbo.

"I know you doubt me, I know you always have, and you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books and my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong… Where we belong," He cast a sideways glance at me. "That's home. That's why I came back, 'cause… You don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."

Momentarily we all seemed to be stunned into silence at Bilbo's little speech. Thorin cast his eyes to the ground, and I am sure that mine shone with adoration for my older brother. The adoration that I could see reflected in each and every one of the dwarves' eyes, and the pride that echoed in Gandalf's. We stood there in silence, for more than a moment, for many moments. We stood until the sun brought the shadow of the mountain past our feet and off along into the trees. We stood until we heard the twit-twoo of the birds die in the distance and then we listened, as in the darkness above the mountain, a howl echoed.

Our heads snapped round. It seemed, at the moment, that things could only get worse, and worse they had gotten. From out of the shadow of the great mountains, the silhouettes of at least ten wargs and riders fell upon the forest. The trees cracked as the wind began to whip through them, and the sun fell lower in the sky throwing the darkness further over the valley.

For a moment we were stunned, and in the next we were running again. We ran down further into the valley, past rocks, over boulders, dodging trees. The growls and snarls grew louder as we reached the end of the valley; the Wargs far outdid our speed. "Bilbo! Watch out!" I cried as a Warg leaped over his head, landing in front of him. It turned, snarling, and lunged. Bilbo's bladed pierced its skull and the beast fell, dead.

The dwarves were ahead of us, they stopped, stared out at the valley that dropped off onto nothing. Trapped. That's what we are. Trapped like rats in the pantry of the Green Dragon. "Up! Up into the trees! Quickly now! Climb!"

I ran for the nearest tree, swinging my legs up onto the rough bark and pulling myself up with all the strength I could muster. Up, up, up, faster, trying not to slip or fall. Bilbo followed after me, clambering just out of the reach of the Warg that had snapped at his leg.

I glanced down at the tops of the Wargs heads. They circled the trees, snarling, panting, looking up at their meal. Their ears pricked, a noise that we didn't hear startled them. They stopped growling, stopped looking up at us and glanced towards the mountain.

I followed their gaze, as did everyone else. At first my eyes found the shadow of a thing I couldn't truly see, then the moon peaked out from behind a rolling cloud and the light fell upon the body of a thing that everyone should remember. I glanced upon the beast that the orc was riding. White as snow with glowing red eyes, scars littering its body and lips curled back showing its fangs. It growled, the sound echoing so loud that it pained my ears. Then my eyes moved up, past the White Warg and its scared body, up to the form of something much worse. Something that I knew must have struck fear into the hearts of the dwarves because mine was quivering.

Where it's hand should have been was a claw, a horrid sharply pointed thing that pierced the joint where it's elbow should be. In the other hand it held a mace, jagged and covered in dry blood. Just like the Warg, its body was littered with scars, its eyes sunken and blue, glowed at us from their sockets. It sniffed the air, nostrils flaring, almost as if it could smell the fear that radiated from each and every one of us. And then it spoke. And when it spoke its voice echoed around in my head. Then, I heard something, and I knew that the others had heard it too. Amidst the cracking and splintering of its voice, two words could be heard, two words that made me shudder, that confirmed everything.

"Thorin… Thrain…"

First and foremost, I am so sorry, once again I have failed to update as quickly as I had promised! Secondly, I have got my Appreticeship, which means I will be working soon! Thirdly, I'm sixteen on Sunday! Woo! Sweet sixteen! Big party with dresses and cake! LOKI'D! I'm joking, I'm going to go and roll around in the dirt in some field playing paintball with three of my best friends! Wish me luck! :D Anyways, next chapter WILL (and I swear this on the line of Durin) be updated by May 14th, this is a Tuesday, one day after my French exams! But it shall be done!

Enough of me ranting. *ends rant and apology session* Tell me what you think, they will get longer sooner, I promise that as well!

L.I.D