Chapter Fourteen

"Release her!" the Goblin King yelled, cackling at the truth. "She's nothin' but weak. And a weak star is no use to us. She ain't gonna have any stardust on her. Probably all washed away by now."

Arirua felt the hands that encircled her arms loosen and then completely disappear, but she didn't care. As she was shoved to the hard wooden boards that made up the platform they were standing on, Arirua could feel the tears streaking down her face. The Goblin King was right. She was weak and worthless.

Worthless and a liar.

Liar. Liar. Liar. The words rang throughout her mind at a steady beat. Her head was pounding, causing her to double over in sadness and pain. Worthless. You are worthless to them. You could have stayed in Rivendell; you could have waited out your sentence. You could have spared his heart.

Quickly the pain in her head spread to her shoulder, igniting the brand on her shoulder. The fire of the heavens burned into her skin. The pain of the burn was like no pain she had ever experienced before in her life.

As she lay on the cold ground, curling herself into a small ball, Arirua could barely hear the King's singing as he danced around the platform.

"Bones will be shattered. Necks will be wrung. You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung. You will die down here and never be found. Down in the Deep of GOBLIN TOWN."

She barely heard the scraping of metal on metal and the snarl from a goblin. Looking up through tear filled eyes, she could see the goblin throw down Thorin's blade, which was pulled halfway out of its sheath.

Many of the goblins quickly let go of the dwarves they were fighting with and backed away from the sword that now lay on the ground. Even the King shrunk away from it, using the small stack of his people as a step to climb onto his throne.

"I know that sword!" he cried out as he tried to climb higher onto his makeshift throne. "It is the Goblin-Cleaver! The Biter! The Blade That Sliced a Thousand Necks!"

As the King said this, the goblins began reaching for crude whips that they had attached to their 'clothing.' The bigger goblins began grabbing the dwarves, shoving or throwing them to the floor and the smaller goblins grinned wickedly as they began cracking their whips, striking the star's comrades with painful blows. The dwarves tried to resist shouting out in pain, but Arirua could hear a couple of grunts.

The cruel voice was suddenly drowned out, replaced by another voice, one that was softer. Get up. You must save them. They are your family now. But as she tried to push herself up off the ground, the pain from the brand burned through her arm and all across her body, causing her to fall facedown on the floor.

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!" the Goblin King shouted as his underlings attacked the Company. Motioning to Thorin, he snarled, "Cut off his head!"

Suddenly, the dingy candlelight that filled the cave was swallowed up by a beautiful white light. Light as bright as a star's last.

Many of the goblins that were piled on top of each other, having been trying to find a victim of their own, were thrown into the air and down into the abyss below. The throne that the Goblin King had been sitting on seemed to be pulled apart by large unseen hands, and the King himself was thrown to the floor, not too far from where Arirua was still laying.

The light quickly vanished, just as quickly as it had appeared. The light of the candles slowly began to fill the cavern with their dingy light, allowing the star to see around her.

And standing at the front of the platform, where the throne had been standing only moments ago was Gandalf, shining blade in one hand and his staff in the other.

"Take up arms!" Gandalf commanded. "Fight. Fight!"

Grunting and yelling the dwarves all got up, shoving goblins off of themselves and others, all rushing for the stack of weapons that was not far from them. Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming out in pain, Arirua sat herself up just enough to evade a trio of goblins that rushed at Gandalf

Gandalf quickly dispatched the three goblins as they rushed him.

"He wields the Foehammer." Arirua heard the Goblin King shout. "The Beater. Bright as daylight!"

Bofur was the first to reach the pile of weapons and he quickly began throwing them over his head, not caring who grabbed who's weapon. But when he grabbed hers, he glanced over at her and tossed it her way. Nodding her head to him as thanks, she let Lalar land on the ground with a loud thud. And with her right hand, she pulled the silver blade from its sheath with a smile.

Feeling stronger with a blade in her hand, she used the blade to pull herself to her feet, using it as a prop. But as soon as she was to her feet, the star quickly beheaded the goblin that had been the one to pull her hair.

The star quickly began attacking several of the goblins as best she could with one hand and in pain. It wasn't until she was surrounded, with her back to a decaying pole, worry began to slowly work its way into her heart.

She could hear dwarves shouting orders at each other and she heard the cry of the once Great King of the Goblins as he fell but she never really had much time to listen closely to what they were saying or how the King had died. She was too preoccupied with fending off the four goblins that surrounded her, forcing her to the edge of the platform, one step away from the abyss of darkness.

Frowning slightly, she began to try and think of a way to get out of the situation she was in as she knocked aside crude weapon after weapon, when one of the goblins in front of her suddenly let out a squeal of pain and fell to his knees. Not wasting a moment, Arirua quickly ran her sword through the goblin standing on her left and turned just in time to stab one of the ones on her right as it tried to slice its weapon at her. She could feel the blade run across her skin, leaving a red trail behind but she had no time to worry about injuries. Using the weight of the goblin she had just killed, she moved her sword with the last ounce of strength she had and shoved him and his comrade that had been standing next to him off the platform into the darkness below. As the goblins fell, she turned to see Kili standing above the first goblin.

"You saved me." Arirua stated, slightly surprised. She had been sure that he would have been furious with her and would not have cared if she had lived or died.

"Of course I did." Kili said, stepping towards her and bringing his thumb across her cheek to whip away the remaining tears. "I will always save you."

"Why?" she asked quietly, mostly ignoring all the fighting around her, though she could see that Fili had apparently seen that they had taken this moment to talk. She could almost hear him making a comment about how this was not the right time for this, but she didn't care. She had to know.

"Because I care for you. No matter what you are or what you have done." he told her calmly.

"And I care for you." Arirua said, now smiling. He cared for her, even though she hadn't told him. She wanted nothing more than to kiss the dwarf prince in front of her, but just as she was about to lean down and kiss him, Fili ran over to them.

"Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds, but we are kind of in the middle of a battle here." Fili announced sarcastically.

Nodding, Arirua glanced at Kili. "He is right." Hefting Lalar up, so that the blade was up and ready to fight, she smiled. "Shall we?"

"With my brother, I do not believe we have much of a choice." Kili commented.

The pain in her arm forgotten, for the pain itself had mysteriously vanished once more, Arirua followed Fili alongside Kili.

They were her family now. And for the first time in a long time, the thought of her home in the heavens drifted from the star's mind. Though Rivendell had been like a home, she had never felt more at home than when she was standing next to Kili.

A/N: Heyyyyy I'm back! Wow, I've been gone for a long time. But I'm back. I apologize for the fact that the chapter is kind of short but I figured something would be better than nothing!

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