Disclaimer: I do not own the situations or characters from The Hobbit. I also make no money from this story.
Chapter 17: The Great Goblin of Goblin Town
Marie stood alone in an open field, surrounded by tall grass and wild flowers, the sun high and bright in the clear blue sky. A refreshing breeze swirled around her, shifting her dress around her knees and rustling through her hair. Peace filled her as she walked through her surroundings.
"Marie!" A soft female voice called to her. She turned, looking for the person who had called. Recognition tickled the edges of her mind at the sound of the voice, it was so familiar and comforting. Try as she might, though, she couldn't place it with a face. Seeing no one she went back to enjoying the beautiful scenery, turning as the voice called out to her again...and came face to face with the owner.
"Beth!" She gasped, looking at her sister who in turn looked up at her, a smile stretching across her face.
Joy erupted in Marie's chest at the sight of her sister. She reached out, enveloping the slightly smaller woman in a crushing hug. How she had missed her!
"Beth, I've missed you so much! Where have you been, where are we?" Beth simply looked up at her, smiling. Dread pulled at Marie's heart as she examined her little sister. "I had forgotten, Beth. I'm so sorry." She could feel the warm tears trickling down her cheeks as she pulled her sister back into an embrace, burying her face into Beth's curly hair.
"Wake up." Beth's voice called softly into her ear.
"What?" Marie asked, pulling back to look at her, unsure of the reason her sister seemed to believe she was sleeping. "Beth, I don't..."
"WAKE UP!" Thorin's shout ripped her into wakefulness. Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting around her as the world tipped unnaturally onto it's side.
She shuffled back as quickly as she could, trying to get away from the gaping opening. The world kept tipping, dumping her down into the mountain. Shouts sounded around her, alerting her to the fact that the others must have fallen through the trap as well. Rocks and dirt rushed past her as the group fell down a sloping funnel carved into the heart of the mountain, before depositing them into a pile at the bottom.
Marie lay stunned for a moment, her shoulder throbbing anew, thanks to a few well placed bumps against the rocks on her way down.
The ground beneath her shifted and for a moment she tensed, ready for another painful fall deeper into the bowels of the Earth. It wasn't until several pained moans sounded from under her that she realized that she wasn't laying on the ground, but the rest of the company were piled up together under her.
"Get off me Bombur!" Someone complained loudly, shoving at the ginger Dwarf next to her. The movement caused a shifting which elicited more pained gasps from the Dwarves under them.
"Look out! Look out!" Dori cried out in the panicked tone he usually reserved for when Ori sat too close to the fire, or any other activity that his eldest brother deemed unsafe.
Marie shifted to be able to see whatever it was Dori was pointing to; expecting to find poor Ori too "close" to the edge of their small platform, gasping at the sight she was faced with instead. Hundreds of pale figures rushed toward them, swarming up the walls and down the path leading to their cage. The hood of her cloak fell over her eyes, blocking the disfigured creatures from her sight just as the swarm met the company in a clash of punches, hisses and battle cries.
"Goblins. Stay quiet and keep your face hidden, don't let them see that you're a lady." Kili's deep voice sounded quietly next to her ear, taking another moment to adjust her hood more securely. "Keep close to me."
"Get away!" Dwalin roared. She could just barely see him from under the rim of her covering as the creatures pulled the Dwarves off of the pile, shoving them single file down the path.
"Filthy scum!" Gloin shouted from beside her as he was pulled to his feet and shoved through the lines of screeching Goblins, effectively removing the final barrier between Maris and their captors. One of the Goblins reached for her, it's long thin fingers grasping at the fabric of her cape.
"Get back!" Dwalin shouted, throwing the Goblin that had been grabbing at him. The Goblin flew through the air, slamming into the Goblin that was trying to pull Marie from the pile, distracting it momentarily.
"Hurry." Kili pulled her onto her feet, using the distraction of Dwalin shoving Goblins off into the cavern below them topush her through along with the rest of the group. He kept her close, her injured arm pressed up against his side in an effort to prevent it from being jarred by the Goblin's pinching fingers.
Marie kept her head down, only able to see the Dwarves' boots from under her hood as they were all herded along by the pale, screeching creatures. Her friends were not going quietly either... Everyone was shouting and pushing against the swarms of Goblins shoving and nudging them along. As she promised, Marie kept pinned up against Kili, the hood of her cloak held low over her face with her free hand as she dodged curious, pale fingers.
A horn blasted suddenly, making her flinch as the sound echoed off of the cavern walls around them. What sounded like pots and pans clanging together joined the off-tune bellows of pipes and horns, beating out an almost child-like tune around them.
"Clap, snap, the black crack!" A voice boomed out ahead of them. The tuneless bellowing caught her attention and Marie took a chance in looking up fully to see the culprit. A giant Goblin sat on a throne before them, his giant hanging chin swayed as he belted out his horrible, torture inspired song. Warts covered the giant, a few of them looking infected and gangrenous.
At one point during his performance he stepped off of his throne, using a pile of smaller Goblins as a stepping stool. The sound of bones crunching and high-pitched squeals of pain that came from the living furniture made Marie wince and take a step back toward Dori, who stood behind her. The Goblin continued to sing and stagger around, the lyrics to his song a dark and haunting definition of the forms of torture the group could expect during their captivity. He finished off his song with a bit of dance, spinning around on the tips of his toes. Dori shoved her and Ori down into a crouch just in time to miss being bludgeoned by the grotesque, bone covered staff that he swung as he spun before throwing himself back into his throne.
"Catchy isn't it?" He asked them smugly, obviously proud. "It's one of my own compositions."
"That's not a song." Balin's voice sounded out from somewhere behind her. Her hood obscured her view of the elderly man, but his voice held an angry tone that Marie had never heard from him. "It's an abomination!"
The Goblin King's head snapped in her general direction, looking sharply in Balin's direction as the others shouted in agreement with Balin...all but Kili. The moment the Great Goblin's attention was directed in their vicinity he had shifted slightly, blocking her view of their pale captor. His back and shoulders were rigid with tension as he turned slightly, just enough for her to see his decidedly blank face as he stood silently, obviously trying not to draw any more attention to them.
"Abominations." The Goblin shrugged, apparently not offended by Balin's disrespectful comment. "Mutations, deviations. That's all you're gonna find down here!" He shouted as he threw his hands out to gesture to his kingdom, to the apparent glee of the other Goblins as they cheered around them.
A nonchalant wave of his hand sent the swarm of much smaller Goblins rushing toward the group again, weapons clattering onto the floor as they were pulled from the folds of cloaks and furs. Dirty hands slid up and down the outside of her cloak and Marie had to suppress her disgusted shiver as they stripped her of her sword and pack. She held her breath as long fingers skimmed over her head, although it seemed uninterested in taking a closer look at her features. She also noted that the groping hands had missed something; the dagger that she had tied to her boot was overlooked in the Goblin's haste to move on to the next captive.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" The Goblin King growled, leaning closer to look at them with beady eyes. "Spies?" He shouted, his voice rising in both pitch and volume. "Thieves? Assassins?!"
"Dwarves, your Malevolence." A Goblin spoke up, pulling Ori's slingshot from his hand and throwing it onto the pile with the rest of their weapons.
"Dwarves?"
The smaller Goblin nodded. "We found them on the front porch."
"Well don't just stand there. Search them! Every crack, every crevice!"
The bellowed command set the Goblin swarm back upon her small group of friends, most of them pushing back. Once again Kili stood motionless, allowing the grubby hands to reach down into his shirt to search for hidden blades. The Goblins seemed to have forgotten that just behind the statuesque Dwarf stood the slighter figure, still hidden deeply into her cloak.
"It is my belief, your great protuberance, that they are in league with Elves!" One of the smaller Goblins called up to his leader, holding up a candle stick that he had pulled out of Nori's pack.
"Made in Rivendell..." The Great Goblin read off of the bottom before throwing it away into the depths of the cavern under them with a slight shrug. "Second age, couldn't give it away."
Marie closed her eyes and sighed, slightly agitated, as Nori commented that it was only a little keepsake. She couldn't believe that, even after the Elves had taken them in, fed them and gave them supplies for their journey, he had stolen from them!
"What are you doing in these parts?" The Great Goblin asked the group, addressing no one in particular.
"Don't worry lads, I'll handle this." Oin's soothingly familiar voice sounded as he pushed his way up to the front of their group.
"No tricks!" The Goblin ordered, pointing at him. "I want the truth, warts and all."
"You're going to have to speak up. You're boys flattened my trumpet!" Oin held up his flattened ear horn as evidence.
For whatever reason, that action seemed to infuriate the Goblin King. He launched himself from his throne, crashing to the ground and causing the platform to tremble as he stomped toward them. His face was contorted into a mask of anger and his giant sagging chin quivered as he bellowed at Oin. "I'll flatten more than your trumpet!"
Bofur squeezed through in front of Oin as the Goblin threw a statue of bones and trinkets over, raising his fist to strike Oin. "If it's more information you're wantin', the I'm the one you should speak to!"
The Goblin stopped, hand still raised in preparation to strike. "Hmmmm?"
Bofur was quiet for a moment, Marie could see him struggling from where she was peeking around Kili's shoulder. "We were on the road." He finally said. "Well, it's not so much of a road as a path. Actually it's not even that, come to think of it, it's more like a track. Anyway, the point is we were on this road, like a path, like a track, and then we weren't. Which is a problem, because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday..." Bofur looked to Dori, as if asking for either confirmation or back up. He didn't seem to notice, though, that the Great Goblin's patience seemed to be rapidly wearing thin. Marie could have sworn she heard the giant muttering for Bofur to be quiet under his breath, but he must not have heard it.
"Visiting distant relations." Dori supplied, as they pressed on with their story.
"Some inbreeds on my mother's side."
"SHUT UP!" The King shouted, slamming his staff on the ground to punctuate each word as they rang off of the walls around them.
Dread began seeping into the pit of Marie's stomach. Things were getting out of hand, fast! It was only a matter of time before the Great Goblin's "hospitality" had worn out, and she didn't wan to know what would happen to them when his fragile hold on his patience snapped. She had to think of something...
"If they won't talk, we'll make them squawk!" He shouted, calling to his subjects. "Bring up the Mangler! Bring up the Bone-Breaker! Start with the youngest." He ordered, pointing at poor Ori.
Although her plan wasn't completely formulated, Marie pushed through to the front with the others, wriggling free from Kili's grasp as he tried to hold her back. She allowed her voice to drown out his as he hissed her name harshly. "WAIT, STOP!"
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A woman?" The Goblin asked.
Marie threw her hood away from her face, allowing it to fall back and reveal herself to their captors. Surprised chatter flowed through the ranks of smaller Goblins, making her feel even more nervous and self conscience as she approached the King. All she had to do was stall for time, surely Gandalf had left Rivendell by now and was on his way to find them. Maybe he was already here...hiding somewhere, just waiting for his opportunity to strike.
"A human woman!" Surprise flowed through his voice and across his face as he took in her appearance.
'Now or never...' She thought to herself as she dropped to one knee before his throne, dipping her head into, what she hoped was, a regal bow. She fought down the intense fear that threatened to dissolve her into a quivering puddle, trying instead to emulate the appearance of a wealthy and haughty Lady of class. Slowly and carefully she moved to her hidden dagger, taking her time in unsheathing it and sliding it up her sleeve. She glanced up meeting the Goblin's eyes. He hadn't seemed to notice the weapon.
"My sincerest apologies for the intrusion into your kingdom, My Lord. Allow me to explain."
'This had better work.' She thought, because if it didn't they were all dead.
A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait! I've been writing quite a bit so I should be back to my normal posting schedule, which means that I'll have the next chapter up next week. Thanks to all of the people who follow and favorite my story, both new and old! And also for the reviews, it makes me very happy when someone enjoys my imaginative process.