The fat under his chin is flopping around...this is so disgusting, but I just can´t look away...
Thorin nearly had to smirk at his wife´s comment while standing in front of the Goblin king´s throne. But their situation was bad. The company had been captured by goblins and there was no way out. The goblins were about to look for a dwarf to torture for information as the goblin kings gaze fell upon Belladonna.
'Start with the youngest!' he exclaimed and Belladonna paled.
'No!' Thorin pushed his way through the company and made the goblin king focus on him instead.
'Look, who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror...king under the mountain.' the goblin king snarled and bowed in a mocking gesture. 'Oh! But you don´t have a mountain. Which makes you nobody.'
Belladonna snarled as she saw the hurt behind the stony expression of her father. She would not let the goblin king insult her father. She was about to step forward as a familiar breeze moved over her face, making her stop in her tracks. Somehow, she knew that it was her mother, holding her back. Thorin did not move, nor did he answer, but he had not expected the following.
'I know someone, who would pay a pretty prize for your head.' the goblin king stated with a pleased smile.
Whats with the forces of evil and cutting off peoples heads? Brann remembered that Gandalf had warned Thorin about his life being threatened in the Inn in Bree.
'Perhaps you know of whom I speak?' the goblin king stepped back and watched Thorin closely. 'An old enemy of yours...'
Well, that would be a long list...Brann stated dryly, but she was curious to hear the rest.
'The pale orc, riding a white warg...' the goblin king waited for Thorins reaction and was not disappointed.
'Azog, the Defiler, died in battle long ago.' Thorin pressed out between clenched teeth.
'Are you sure?' the goblin king sneered and turned to the most tiniest ugly creature the company had ever seen. 'Send word to the pale orc. Tell him I found his prize.'
Who is Azog? Branns voice pulled Thorin out of his petrified state. So, Azog was still alive. Thorin? He is the mighty Gundabad orc of Balins story, is he?
But before Thorin could answer his wife or worry about how they could escape from their fate in the hands of goblins and orcs, a goblin found Thorins sword and chaos broke lose.
'The Goblin Cleaver!' the goblin king shrieked. 'Cut off his head!'
Thorin could only hear Brann and Belladonna cry out his name as he was forced to the ground by four goblins. He fought valiantly, but he was soon overpowered. Lying on his back he glanced over the goblins shoulder and at his daughter, who had to be restrained by two goblins and stared back at him with panic in her eyes. Thorin knew that she was not afraid, but that she would not bear to see her father being beheaded by those filthy creatures. He remembered the horror of seing a family members head severed from his body too well. Belladonna got a hold on one of Filis hidden daggers and was about to stab it right into a goblins face as an explosion errupted in the cave and dwarves as well as goblins were shortly knocked out of consciousness.
Gandalf! Thorin, stand up and fight! Thorin blinked as he heard Branns cry, but it took a while to shake off the blur in his head.
'Fight!' Gandalf exclaimed and his shout woke up the petrified dwarves. The company rushed towards their leader and began fighting their way through goblin town. They followed Gandalf with blind trust, for none of them knew how to get out of the caves. In a wild chase over rock and goblins, the company made it to the bridge leading to one of the various exits. But the goblin king moved surprisingly quick for his weight, he blocked their path and laughed menacingly. Gandalf was the one who fought their path free, only that their path was leading them down, very quickly down. Gandalf slashed the goblin kings throat and as he collapsed, the thin wooden bridge collapsed under him. The company slid down the abyss of goblin town in a murderous speed. Thorin desperately tried to hold his daughter close to him, but he knew that they could not survive that fall. For some reason, the bridge started to slow down as they reached the ground and Thorin could hear Brann take a deep breath and wince as they almost softly hit the ground.
'Well, that could have been worse.' Bofur exclaimed and BHAM! the goblin king landed on top of them, almost crushing them to dwarf mulch.
He had to say it. Thorin could hear Brann sigh.
There was no time to feel joy or relief that they had survived the fall. The goblins were fast and ready to avenge their dead king. Only sunlight would save them now. Gandalf led the company out under the open sky and as soon as they stopped running they realised that they were missing something. Or better say, someone.
'Where is Bilbo?' Belladonna turned around in search for the small burglar.
'I last saw him with Dori!' Dwalin stated and looked at the oldest Ri brother in fury.
'Don´t blame me! I have no idea where he is!' Dori exclaimed.
'I saw him slip away as the goblins captured us!' Nori told the others. 'But I have not seen him since.'
'We have to go back!' Belladonna turned on her heels, but her father held her back with an iron grip around her arm.
'Master Baggins is long gone.' Thorin stated grimly. 'He saw his chance and he took it. He thought of his warm bed and his warm hearth. We will not see him again.'
None of them knew that Bilbo was standing behind a tree, watching them. Nobody could see him, for the hobbit had found something in the goblin caves, something that made him invisible to the eyes of every living person. A golden ring. As the company had been forced away, he had fallen into a deeper cave and had met the creature Gollum. This creature had lost the ring and Bilbo had picked it up. He had thought nothing by it and as the foul creature started to threaten his life, Bilbo had slipped on the ring by accident and could escape unseen. Bilbo had no idea what was happening, but he had found the company on his way out and had followed them. Thorins words hurt the small hobbit, but as he stepped forward to face the king, he froze in surprise.
He saw a beautiful young woman stand beside the king. She was glowing in a white light and even from this distance, Bilbo could see the warm and soft gleam in her eyes. The woman looked at Thorin and frowned, but Bilbo could see endless love in her eyes when she looked at the dwarf king. As Bilbo started to move, the womans attention snapped towards him and she looked at him in shock. Time went by as if in a dream and Bilbo suddenly did not pay attention to his surroundings anymore. He only had eyes for the woman.
'Can you see me, master hobbit?' the woman asked him quietly and walked towards him. Bilbo could only nod and the woman raised her eyebrows. 'This is a foul thing you carry with you.'
The woman reached out for his ring, but Bilbo jerked out of his petrified state and ripped the ring off. He blinked as the sunlight reached his eyes and looked at Thorin, who was standing with his back to him. There was no sign of the woman anymore. Nobody had seen the hobbit appear, only Belladonna turned around and started smiling brightly as she saw Bilbo.
'Bilbo! I knew that you would not leave us!' she exclaimed. Fili and Kili were happy to see the hobbit and Bofur and Balin even said so. The other members of the company smiled in relief, only Dwalin and Throin looked at the hobbit suspiciously. For a second, Bilbo hoped that the woman would not tell anyone about the ring, but in the next moment he wondered why he even cared. As he looked at Belladonna, Bilbo realised that the woman had the same warm eyes as Thorins daughter. Bilbo knew that he had seen Thorins queen and for some reason, knowing that she was with them made him feel safe.
'How did you get past the goblins?' Kili asked curiously, but Bilbo was not ready to tell them about the ring. A strange force kept him from saying a word about the golden ring.
'What does it matter? He is back!' Gandalf tried to change the subject and Brann frowned. The wizard should have felt the same as her. He should have felt the evil force, throwing its shadow over their whole existence. Even if he could not see the ring, he should feel the threat coming from it. But before Brann could say something to Thorin, her husband started walking towards the hobbit.
'It matters.' he croaked. 'Why did you come back?'
'I know that you have always doubted me.' Bilbo sighed and turned towards the king of the dwarves. 'It is obvious that I miss Bag End, my books, my garden and my armchair. I belong there, that is my home. You all do not have a home. It was taken from you. That is why I will help you take it back if I can.'
For the first time in her life, Belladonna saw her father lower his gaze. She could see embarassment and also gratitude in his eyes. The proud king had been touched by the hobbits words and was at a loss for words. Also, he felt ashamed for treating the hobbit so poorly.
'Thorin...I saw your...' Bilbo started to say, but he was cut off by loud howling in the shadows behind them.
The company froze and Thorin cursed. 'Out of the frying pan...'
'And into the fire...RUN!' Gandalf made the company move, but they soon had to realise that they had run into a trap. The company stood at the edge of a huge cliff with nowhere to run anymore. Some wargs had already caught up with them, but Thorin, Dwalin and Bifur cut them down before they could hurt any of the retreating dwarves. Bilbo drew his little sword and managed to kill one warg by stabbing through his eye on accident. The small hobbit was shocked, but Gandalfs cry jerked him out of his state.
'Up into the trees! All of you!' the wizard shouted to the company and the dwarves started to climb up the pine trees. Not a blink of an eye later, more wargs came pouring out of the woods around them and surrounded them. Belladonna leaned down and grabbed Bilbo by his neck to hurl im up into a tree. The hobbit had frozen in fear as he had seen the mighty wargs rush towards him. She was about to ask Bilbo if he was alright, but then she heard her father hiss. Belladonna looked up to her father on the neighbouring tree and saw him pale. He was looking at one of the warg riders and his expression was one of pure horror.
'Azog.' he whispered and Belladonna followed his gaze to a huge white orc. The white orc was sitting on a white warg and almost smirked at the dwarf king trapped on a tree. 'It can´t be.' Belladonna heard her father whisper.
I thought that he had died after Azanulbizar? So the goblin king was right...
Brann gasped as Thorins feelings washed over her like a huge black wave.
Dhe could see Thorins memories, memories from before they had met. Brann saw a huge battlefield, the same battlefield on which she had searched for survivors some days later. The battlefield where she had found a half dead Lindin below dead corpses of orcs and dwarves. Thorin was younger then and was fighting for his life. Brann saw Dwalin and Balin fight at his side and saw Thror fall. It was this white orc who held Thror head in his fist and threw it into the dirt before Thorins boots. Brann winced as she heard Thorin cry out in agony and grief over his grandfathers death. She watched him face the white orc and catch one mighty blow after the other with his shield. The last blow ripped the shield from Thorins grip and Thorin stumbled backwards, falling down on his back. It was then when he picked up an oaken branch and used it as a spare. He took two blows to it before he slashed out with his sword and cut off Azogs left lower arm. The orc was bleading heavily and was carried back into the mines of Moria by his orc soldiers. Thorin and the dwarves were victorious that day, but they had not been entirely victorious over Azog.
Brann took a deep breath as she relived Thorins memory of that day, as well as his pain and his fear. She was paralyzed for a moment and was jerked back into the present as she heard Belladonna cry out in fear. The wargs were attacking the company and jumped up the trees, tearing the lower branches apart. One tree after the other gave in and soon, the company was trapped on the last tree before the cliffs edge. Gandalf lightened one of the dry pine cones and started throwing them at the wargs. The company took some of his offered burning cones and started to defend themselves setting the ground below them on fire. Bilbos cone caught a warg in the back and the beast howled miserably as he ran back towards the white warg rider. Soon, the ground to their feet was burning, but the tree did not stand the weight of fourteen dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard. It bent down towards the edge and the company had to hold on for dear life. Ori lost his grip to the tree and fell, only to get a hold onto his oldest brothers foot. Dori slipped as well and held on to Gandalfs staff. The rest of the company was clinging to the tree, but it would give out every moment.
Thorin could not think clearly. He watched his daughter hang on for dear life, heard Dori and Ori scream from below him and looked back at the white orc. There was no mean of escape for them but forward. Slowly, he stood up and marched down the tree trunk towards the white warg and its rider.
Thorin...what are you...? No!...Thorin could barely hear Brann cry out, for the blood in his ears pulsed so loud. He had to fight that beast, he had to try. He failed in killing Azog in front of Morias gates, but he would not fail again. Destroying the white orc would be the only way to escape from this cliff. It would be the only way to save the company´s lives and the life of his daughter. With a roar, Thorin charged Azog, but he was clearly inferior. The white warg leaped into the air and caught Thorins shoulder with its huge claws. The dwarf king was thrown onto his back with a brutal force that pressed all air out of his lungs. Stumbling, he stood up and turned around, only to get hit by Azogs mace. Balin cried out as his king received that mighty blow and Belladonna cried out for her father. She fought to pull herself up and started running towards Thorin, who was picked up by the warg and cried out in pain as the wargs teeth closed around his body. Somehow, Thorin managed to hit the warg on the massive nose with Orcrist and the warg spit him out in a pained growl. Thorin flew threw the air and landed on a huge rock, his consciousness fading.
'I am sorry, I failed again.' was all Thorin could think as he heard Branns desperate cry in his head. Through a bloody fog, he saw Belladonna rush to his side and lift her weapons. His daughter shielded him and Thorin could only wince in pain and fear about losing his daughter who tried to protect her foolish father. But he could not move. He heard Brann call out for their daughter as a smaller creature jumped into the path of the orc attacking Belladonna. The creature stabbed the orc several times before the filth died. It was Bilbo. Bilbo and Belladonna were the last people Thorin saw of the world of the living before he lost consciousness.