They set on the trek upon the tall mountains, just next to the misty mnountains. Bilbo seemed hesitant to leave, but off he went. They would keep following the rocky pathway until Gandalf catches up to them, then stop for a rest. He was up ahead (to everyone's surprise) when he noticed a faint peak, not far from where they stood. He stared at it in amazement.
"Is that the Lonely Mountain that everybody spoke of?" Bilbo asked with curiosity. Acacia chuckled and place a hand on his should.
"My dear Bilbo, that is just the first mountain of the Misty Mountains. We still have to pass through that and the forest of Greenwood before we actually reach Erebor. This is just the beginning." Acacia noticed the light dimming from Bilbo's face. "Believe me, Master Hobbit, when you see it, you'll know. It sits alone, surrounded by trees and hills. The peak of the mountain splits through the clouds, as if it reaches the heavens. Next to it lies Esgaroth, or Laketown. It is a true sight." She said before stalking off towards Bofur, Fili and Kili.
"Hello Caca." Bofur greeted.
"Caca?"
"Yes. That's my new nickname for you." He told her with a smile.
"Well what about Gassie Lassie?"
"Oh please my dear, you haven't burped for days. The name is starting to wear off." She rolled her eyes, playfully.
"Well anyways. I've been meaning to ask you two," she said towards the dynamic duo, "How the hell did you lose the ponies?" She said bluntly. "Honestly, how could you even miss a giant troll carrying two ponies while babooting trees down. Even if you couldn't see it, you could most definitely hear it."
"It's not your business." Kili said.
"We had a small disagreement." Fili told her.
"About what?" She asked, completely ignoring Kili's comment.
"Whether or not Kili liked yo-"
"Who are mum was most fond of." Kili cut in quickly, glaring holes at his brother. His face was red and Acacia didn't know if it was from anger or embarrassment.
"Well okay then..." She said awkwardly.
"You know what, who cares about that. It's over." Bofur cut in, saving her from the awkwardness that hung in the air. "Tell us about yourself, Acacia."
"What's to tell? My father was man of the Dunadan and my mother was the granddaughter of Beren of the second age."
"There's gotta be more to that," Fili said to her. "I heard that the Dunedains despised skinchangers."
"Not all of them, but that's a story for another time." She told him before walking up ahead with Thorin. She didn't feel like speaking of her past. She raised herself. Her mother was murdered and her father-well she has no idea who he is and if he's still alive or not. She was a bastard child with no parents.
It just had to rain.
They have just passed over the third mountain and the wetness of the pathway that hung from the edge of the cliff made it easier for them to slip and fall. Bilbo wished Gandalf were there. He knew the wizard could do nothing about the extreme deluge, but he felt safer with him around.
"We must find shelter!" Thorin shouted.
"But Gandalf isn't here yet!" Dori told him.
"We cannot wait for the wizard any longer!"
Suddenly, a giant boulder came flying over their heads. It hit the cliff above them and shattered into pieces. Kili pulled Acacia back while she pulled Bilbo back against the wall of the mountain.
"This is no thunder storm," Oin started. "It's a thunder battle!"
"Bless my soul of Morgoth-the legends are true. Giants! Stone giants!" Acacia breathed out in either shock, amazement, or horror.
They watched as the giant hurled another large rock past them and towards another giant that appeared behind them. The rock hit the head of the one behind them, and it fell towards the mountainside.
Suddenly, the ground below them started to shake. The mountainside cracked between Acacia and Kili, splitting them and the others next to them apart. She desperately tried grabbing his hand but failed and fell towards Bilbo. Fili held onto Kili and Bombur hugged the wall while Nori gripped his arm. (I know that Kili and Fili got split but I wanted it different.) It was in that moment when they realized they stood upon no mountain, but another giant. The knees, technichally. The giant they were on soon joined the battle when the other fell, leaving it two on two once again. The other giant seemed undefeatable, since he knocked theirs out easily. Acacia watched and gasped when she saw the other knee slam into the mountainside when it fell. Their knee leaned onto the rest of the pathway, allowing them to jump off of the fallen stone giant.
They quickly ran to the area where the knee crashed into and was more than relieved when they saw that the others were okay. Acacia ran to Fili and gave him a big hug, was crushed by Bomburs plump arms, spun in the air by Nori, and embraced Kili with a long hug. Just for a moment, they forgot all they're hatred towards each other and was just glad that they were okay. But moments don't last forever. They let go of each other and avoided eye contact.
Awkward.
Kili spotted a cave and was just about to tell Thorin before somebody else had to.
"Thorin, there's a cave there. We should camp there for the night, dunno what the Misty Mountains could bring us after a thunder battle." Acacia recommended. Kili rolled his eyes.
"Yes, of course. Good job on finding it. I thought we'd have to stay out here all night, other than that we would move on." Thorin said, patting her on the back. Kili's face hardened. That should be him getting respect from his Uncle.
She's doing this on purpose. Stealing my chances of proving myself, he thought, letting his anger cloud the truth. First, killing the warg when he was asked to and now finding the cave. She even rubbed it in my face about how she wouldn't have lost the ponies.
They all settled in the cave when Thorin spoke.
"Kili, you'll take first watch."Kili stood up straight. "Wake Bofur up in a few hours. Don't disappoint me." Thorin said gruffly without even looking at his nephew. Kili nodded. For a moment, Acacia felt sorry for the young dwarrow. He's been put under the pressure of his Uncle all his life, yet Thorin hasn't even paid attention to him one bit. She knew that deep down, Thorin loved his nephew, but Kili just failed at seeing it.
She just couldn't find her will to sleep. She didn't know whether it was the uncomfortable ground, the cold air, or the constant snoring. Or maybe it was the fact that Kili kept staring at her the whole time.
Nah, she didn't know about that.
She looked towards the opening of the cave. The rain has stopped and no noise came from outside, beside's natures noise. But no giant stone people trying to kill groups of dwarves who just so happen to be on their way to kill a dragon. Nothing of that sort.
She scrambled up from her blanket and walked outside, carefully stepping over them, not wanting to wake anybody. When the exited the cave, her eyes widened. The beauty of the skies was like she never seen before. The stars were sprinkled all over the midnight blue sky, that it made it hard for her to tell which constellation is which. Because she was so high up, the moon looked huge compared to the sea of diamonds surrounding it. She could easily see the craters in the silver circle. She heard footsteps coming up from behind her.
"I know what you're doing." The voice was strangely close to her. "I didn't think you were like that, but apparently you are."
"What in Arda are you talking about?" She asked without turning around. She already knew who it was.
"You're trying to be better than me." Kili said. "My uncle may not see it, but I can." She turned around and stared at him in disbelief.
"Better than you? Better than you? You think that's what I'm doing? Trying to be better than you?" She glared at him. "You're just jealous because I am better than you. You spend your entire life trying to earn the respect you will never get." She knew she went a bit too far with that, but he still deserved it.
Kili grabbed the hilt of his sword and unsheathed it halfway before feeling something cold and hard between his legs. He looked down.
She stuck a knife to his crotch.
"You know, I find it kind of funny how people worry about getting their throat slit open," She whispered in his ear. Tthey don't realize what could really cause them pain but not kill them." She pressed the blade harder against him. "Now, I highly suggest you leave or I swear in the name of Elbereth your balls will be down that cliff within a millisecond." He said nothing but let go of his sword and slowly backed away from her. He walked back to the cave before stopping at the entrance and looking back at her.
"I will never understand you, will I?" He asked her, looking directly into her eyes. She shrugged softly.
"You never tried." Came her response. They stared at each other for a moment before he went inside and she followed a few minutes after.
Kili woke Bofur up for his turn at watch and they fell asleep with no problem at all.
The ground shook once again, waking each and every one of them. For a second they all thought it was another one of those giants, but then the ground opened below then, causing them to fall into a hole. The hole tunneled up and down, side to side, until that all fell with a thud upon a claw like platform. They had absolutely no time to take in their surroundings. Being hurled at by hundreds of goblins do effect your senses, if not in the slightest.
Bilbo had no idea what to do and was terrified so he did what any other hobbit would do. He panicked, but in a smart way. He bent down on all fours and wished that nobody seen him, and his wish came true. We wasn't far from danger, but he was far enough. He was also alone.
They were being pushed and shoved by the goblins down rocky paths and wooden bridges that they were scared would break by the weight of a single stone. They were pushed across one last bridge before reaching a wooden platform in the middle of the place. They looked around and noticed levels and levels of goblins standing upon wood and stone, with torches lit at every corner.
The voice of the giant goblin that stood before them sounded like the splintering of bones or the crack of ice underfoot. He wore a crown made of dusty and dirty bones while rags hung around his obese body, covering the important parts. He carried a long wooden log with a bull heads skeleton at the top of it.
"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" He asked.
"Dwarves, your malevolence." A goblin from the front said.
"Dwarves?"
"We found them on the front porch."
"Well don't just stand there. Search them!" He bellowed. "Every crack. Every crevice!"
They struggled against the goblins as they began taking their hidden possessions and throwing then onto the ground.
"What are you doing in these parts?" He, who they agreed was the Goblin King, asked. "Speak!" They said nothing. "Very well, if they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring out the dangler! Bring out the bone breaker. Start with the youngest."
They all looked at Kili, who's face never faltered. Though they could see it in his eyes that he was terrified. Acacia prayed for Thorin to do something.
"Wait!" Thank the Valar. He made his way past the goblins and stood in front of the Goblin King.
"Well well, look who it is. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror!" He said before sarcastically bowing to him. "King under the mountain. Oh! But I'm forgetting you don't have a mountain. You're not a king, which makes you... Nobody, really." Thorin glared daggers at him. "I know someone, who pay a pretty price for your head. Just a head, nothing attached to it. Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours." He pointed his stubby finger at the dwarf. "The pale orc, astride a white warg."
"Azog the Defiler was destroyed." Thorin said quietly before raising his voice. "He was slain in battle long ago!"
"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Goblin King turned his attention to a goblin who sat upon a wooden swing tied with ropes. "Send word to the Pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize." The goblin cackled while jotting words down on a piece of parchment and pulling on a rope that hung next to him, sending him off into nothingness.
Bones will be shattered
necks will be rung!
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.
They sung as the brought out their torture machines. One of the goblins was looking at their weapons, which sat in a pile, and picked up Thorins sword. He unsheathed it about an inch before dropping at and cowering back, just as the ones around him did.
"I know that sword!" The Goblin King pointed out as the goblins started hitting them with their whips. "It is the Goblin-Cleaver! The Biter! The sword that sliced a thousand necks! Slice them! Eat them!Kill them, kill them all! Cut off his head!"
A goblin raised a blade of bone and was about to bring it down on Thorin's neck when a flash of light and a loud boom blew the goblins away. Everything was quiet. The company saw the silhouette of the all too familiar wizard that seems to arrive at the most unfortunate times.
All of them were just recovering when Gandalf said, "Take up arms." They were slowly getting up. "Fight. Fight!"
They threw the goblins off their bodies and grabbed their weapons from the pile while Gandalf was hacking away at the Goblins.
"He wields the Foe-Hammer! The Beater! Bright as daylight!" The Goblin King cried.
They fought against the goblins, blade on blade, steel on steel. Well not necessarily since the Goblins had some of bone. The Goblin King brought his staff down against Thorin, who easily reflected it with Orcrist, causing the giant goblin to bounce back and fall over the edge.
Acacia blocked a blade from making contact with her right hip, and sidestepped when the goblin tried to stab her abdomen. With a quick swing, she sliced the goblins head clean off. She gripped the blade called Immorgúl,meaning 'Godsbane.' She named it that because she believed it was a gift from the Valar, to her, that destroyed everything in it's path. When she first came across a few orcs, she thought she was going to be killed and eaten because she had no weapon of any sort until she found a beautiful sword with a blade of mithril and a gold hilt, stabbed into a small, green, meadowy mound. Etched into the metal, were words that said "Ye who removes the blade from the ground, shall be the true wielder of Godsbane." She panicked and did the most logical thing she could do; she grabbed it. The sword easily slid out of the earth at her touch and fit perfectly in her hand. She grasped the sword and used it to fight off the orcs, surviving her very first attack. She was fourteen then.
At first she wondered why it was called Godsbane, and if it was anything bad. She soon came across Elrond at the Valley of Rivendell in her young age, and he told her that the true name of it was Immorgul. Evil it may sound, but loyal to the wielder. She was and is the master of Godsbane, and the blade shall bring death to anything evil and unwanted that crosses their path.
Gandalf whacked at the goblins with his staff, causing them to fly and sliced at each and every one of them. They ran across the bridges and came across goblins with arrows. Great. Acacia had no time to sheathe her sword, grab her bow, and notch an arrow and nor did Kili so he took the smart move of using a ladder to protect the from the arrows. Surprisingly, it worked. He brought the ladder down, catching the heads of a bunch of goblins and ran forward, still holding the ladder that snagged the goblins. They knocked a bunch out of their path when Gandalf went up ahead and pressed the tip of his staff to a piece of the mountain that stuck out. The boulder in front of them and rolled ahead of them, crushing every goblin in their path before they had to turn and the rock fell off onto the edge. The courageously jumped onto a swinging bridge, having it go back and forth a few times to get all of them on there, before jumping onto the sturdy bridge and cutting off the ropes of the one that hung. Gandalf lead them up ahead before running into something and falling back.
It was the obese goblin again.
"What are you gonna do now, wizard?" He asked. Gandalf looked at him Before poking him in the eye with his staff, causing the Goblin King to stagger backwards and sliced at his stomach with Glamdring. He looked down at the large cut that ran along his sickly stomach. "That'll do it."
Gandalf hacked at him once more and the goblin king fell on his body, causing the bridge the dwarves stood on to break and fall. The bridge slid down into the depths and finally stopped at the very bottom in ruins. Once again, Acacia just had to be on Kili. Or Kili just had to be under Acacia.
"That could have been worse." She breathed out, not even caring if it was Kili's chest she let her head fall against.
Suddenly the large body of the goblin king fell on top of them.
"Spoke to soon." She grunted. Kili looked at her with a 'you think?' look before his eyes turned wide.
"Gandalf!" He cried. They all looked to where Kili was looking, and saw thousands of goblins crawling towards them. Fast.
"There's only one thing that could save us now." He said as they quickly got up and started on a sprint. "Daylight!"
Gandalf lead them through crevices and tunnels, running into a few goblins here and there. They followed him until they finally reached an opening the deep depths of the mountain.
A/N: Left you with two chappy's weyhey