Hello everyone, I am back from my trip! I had a blast snowboarding on the German-Austrian border! One of the peaks I got to snowboard on reminded me of Erebor. I think I may have a wee bit of a problem. No matter! I want to thank you all for the well wishes on my trip as well as the reviews. Those were some of the most awesome Christmas presents I got :) And, as my present to you, a new chapter!

Chapter 15

Eventually Bilbo and Fíli stopped tumbling further into the darkness. What broke their fall was a lake hidden in the gloom of the mountain. It reminded Bilbo of the lake he had met Gollum at but, thankfully, they were much further away from that place.

When Bilbo's head emerged from beneath the water, he splashed about, trying to keep himself afloat.

"Fíli!" he called out into the darkness.

However nothing answered his calls.

"Fíli! Fíli, are you alright?"

After a few moments of silence, Bilbo muttered, "Oh no, I just killed Thorin's nephew."

"Actually," a voice came from behind him, sending him almost under once again. When he spun around, he sighed in relief when he saw it was Fíli who was swimming (if you could call what he was doing swimming) towards him, "You didn't. Would you like a hand?"

Bilbo nodded gratefully as Fíli grabbed his collar and slowly helped Bilbo to the shore. When they finally reached dry land, Bilbo saw Fíli's weapons lying on the floor along with Sting. "Where did…?"

"Before you started shouting, I was busy diving for them."

In the dim light Bilbo could see watery red streams flowing down his left arm. "Fíli, your arm…"

"I know." Fíli didn't look at him as he stared up at the tunnel they had just fallen down. As his eyes lingered up there, his teeth began to grind before he picked up a stone and threw it into the water, growling a curse in Khuzdul.

Bilbo was frozen by the outburst. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright! Kíli is somewhere in these caves being tortured by Bolg and I have no idea where he is. Everything was going fine until you showed up!"

"Me? What did…?"

"I had a plan, Bilbo! The Goblins were going to take me straight to Kíli and now look where we're at! Stuck in some cavern Mahal knows how far away from my brother!"

"You were going to let the Goblins take you to Bolg? Are you insane? The moment Bolg saw you he would have tortured you before killing you!"

"He has Kíli, Bilbo! How else was I going to find him? We don't know how much time we have before Bolg tires of him and I am not letting that rukhs kill my nadadith. Not while I still have breath in my body."

Bilbo stood from where he sat, rubbing the grime off his hands onto his trousers. He could tell in Fíli's eyes that he wasn't mad at Bilbo for saving him; he was worried about Kíli. They both were.

Gently, he placed a hand on Fíli's shoulder. "We'll find him, Fíli."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"Well, if we can find our way back up to where we were, I have a pretty good idea on how to get to Kíli."

Fíli turned to look at Bilbo in disbelief. "You know where Kíli is?"

"More or less. Before I found you, I saw Kíli."

"You saw him? Where was he? Was he hurt?"

Bilbo did not want to answer his questions. His silence confirmed Fíli's fears.

With another sigh, Bilbo replied, "He's strong and he would not show Bolg fear."

"And we will not show Bolg any mercy. I think I may have an idea."

Fíli walked to the side of the cave, both of his swords in his hands. Bilbo watched in confusion as Fíli studied the rock before embedding the tip of his sword in the crack between the rocks. After testing the strength, he stepped onto the wall and placed his other sword. Checking the sturdiness of that, he turned to Bilbo and asked, "You coming?"

His question pulled Bilbo from his stupor as he ran towards the dwarf and wrapped his arms around the dwarf's neck.

"Hang on," Fíli muttered as he then pulled out his left sword and found another crack. As they got further and further up the wall, Bilbo could hear Fíli's grunts in pain.

"Are you sure you can…?"

"I'm fine," he growled as he planted his sword in another hole. Every time Fíli made a placement, Bilbo feared that either rock, sword or dwarf could not hold both of their weight, but when they reached the entrance to the hole they had entered that cavern from, Bilbo sighed in relief.

"Do you see anything you can grab?" Fíli asked.

Bilbo's eyes strained to see in the dark, but eventually he found a little lip he could reach. Although the fear of falling was nagging at his mind, he reached and breathed a sigh in relief when his fingers grabbed hold of the ledge. He managed to pull himself up just as Fíli used his swords a few more times to get up to Bilbo's height. Soon they were back to back, using the other as a counter while their feet were on the wall. Fíli looped his arms with Bilbo and said, "When I saw, step up with your left while you lean into me."

"I'm not sure this is going to work…"

"Don't worry, Bilbo, Kíli and I use to do this back in Ered Luin when we were dwarflings."

"Yes, but were you this high off the ground and hurt from falling off a cliff beforehand?"

Bilbo could feel Fíli's shoulders shudder with a silent laugh. "Trust me, Bilbo. This will work. Now, step!"

The first few steps were difficult as they tried to time each other's movements, eventually getting the hang of it. They got quicker and quicker and seemed to be speeding up the tunnel.

That was, of course, until Bilbo's foot landed on a loose rock and his foot slipped. It was a good thing he was leaning onto Fíli and his other foot was secure on the wall, otherwise both he and the prince would have found themselves in that lake below once more.

"Are you alright?" Fíli asked.

Before Bilbo could respond there was the echo of a malicious growl that resonated beneath them. Both Fíli and Bilbo looked down, trying to see what made that noise but could not see anything in the darkness.

"We should probably move," Fíli suggested.

Bilbo nodded furiously as they stepped quicker and quicker.

As they began to see the end of the tunnel a large tentacle shot up and wrapped itself around Bilbo's leg, pulling him down. Losing the counterweight, Fíli slipped, his right hand managing to grab a rock sticking out as he hung from the rock. Attached to his legs was Bilbo, who was being pulled by the beast below.

"Bilbo, hang on!" Fíli called.

Using his left hand he managed to grab the knife in his right bracer. His right shoulder was searing in pain from the weight on it and his left hand could barely grasp the hilt of the dagger, but there was no way he and Bilbo were going to be eaten by whatever lay beneath the mountain.

"Catch!"

Fíli let go of the knife and watched as Bilbo reached out with his left hand and caught the knife. Once in his hand he reached down and cut the tentacle that wrapped around his ankles. The monster howled in pain as it retraced down the tunnel.

"You alright?" Fíli asked.

Bilbo nodded. When a roar echoed up the tunnel, Bilbo looked back down. "I think we made it angrier."

As much as it pained him, Fíli swung his legs so Bilbo could reach out and plant his feet. Quickly they wrapped their arms as the sound of something slithering up the tunnel began to grow louder.

"MOVE!"

Their paces were quick as they ascended. Just as they reached the top and exited the tunnel four tentacles reached out for them. Fíli grabbed one of his swords and swung at a tentacle, slicing it from its limb as another wrapped around his wrist. Before he could be dragged back down, Bilbo lashed out with Fíli's knife and freed the prince.

Once freed, both ran away from the tunnel, leaving the monster below to cry out in a missed meal. Only far enough away they stopped, falling against the wall and panting.

"I cannot wait to get out of these caves," Bilbo heaved between breaths.

Fíli nodded before standing up and replacing his sword. "Come on, we got to find Kíli."

TBC...

Okay, yeah I sort of pulled this out of left field. Honestly I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote this but you know, I figured the Watcher probably resided somewhere under the Misty Mountains before...or perhaps there's more...o_O Yeah, I may have been slightly out of my mind when I wrote this. No matter, I hope you enjoyed it and, your preview!

Kíli wanted to die. His body was in so much pain. Every breath, every thought hurt. He couldn't last any longer under Bolg's torture. For the first time since his capture, he prayed that Fíli had perished from his fall off the mountain so that when Bolg eventually did kill him, he would find Fíli waiting at the Hall of Mandos for him so that they may pass on together.

"I will ask you one last time, where is the Slayer of Azog?"

Although his breathing was hitched, he managed to say with a confident voice, "I am the Slayer of Azog."

He waited for the blow to come. He even saw the twitch in Bolg's muscles but when it didn't come, he looked up. Bolg was no longer leering down at him. Instead his attention was focused on something approaching from the left.

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