I do not own any of the characters or the Hobbit (just the AU storyline and my OC) those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reull Tolkien, and without his genius,this and many other fan fics would not be in existence.

Please review! I love getting them-they keep me encouraged J

Fili screamed as the warg clamped its jaws down on his arm, shoving his left sword through the warg's neck out of pure instinct as blood began to flow down his injured limb. A flaming pinecone hit the warg in that same instant, causing the trembling beast's fur to ignite as the beast cried out.

The warg jumped from the impact of both the sword and the pinecone, black blood squirting the young heir in the face, and sent a white faced Fili sailing back into the tree trunk. Several more flaming pinecones appeared flying from the tree in the next seconds, scattering the wargs in front of Thorin and igniting the brush.

A few more wargs were caught aflame as pinecones hit their targets, but most of the dwarves, while skilled warriors, were not the best at aim, preferring close quarter combat. However, the ploy worked, and the wargs began to retreat back to the safety of their pack, snarling and howling in anger and pain.

The force of the young dwarf's impact, however, combined with the original impact of the other trees and the warg's jumps, sent the tree falling after a minute.

The dwarves, hobbit and wizard still in the tree screamed and shouted as the tree began to fall over the edge of the cliff. Fate it seems was on their side, however, and the tree caught just as it was horizontal to the valley a thousand feet below.

XXX

The young heir gasped as blood dripped onto the ground, clutching his ribs with a pained expression, yet doing nothing to staunch the bleeding, the young heir's eyes somewhat vacant and accepting of his fate.

Thorin had turned just as Fili screamed, and just as he had begun to raise his sword to strike the beast dead, the pinecone had struck it from above. Now, there was a line of fire between the trapped dwarves and the orcs and wargs, and Thorin turned his attention to his nephew. His eyes wide with fear, he slid down on the soft dirt, his sword falling at his side.

"Fili," he whispered, ripping off a square of his tunic to tie around the young dwarf's upper arm to help slow the bleeding. "Can you hear me lad?" Fili's expression didn't change much, though he did attempt to stop Thorin from tying off the scrap of fabric.

"Please," he coughed, "Leave it." Thorin looked at Fili in shock.

"No," he said, tying it off tightly. "I WILL not lose you too!" A growl sounded from behind them, and Thorin quickly turned, the two pairs of blue eyes locking as the pale orc smirked.

Suddenly, a white hot rage burned within Thorin. This monster had killed his grandfather, defiling his body in a gruesome way. He had, by this action, caused Thorin's father to go mad with grief and go missing, only to die later, so lost in his mind that he had ceased to remember who he was.

This monster was responsible for all those who had perished in the Battle of Azanulbizar. This monster was responsible for the death of Thorin's own younger brother, Frerin. This monster undoubtedly had caused Kili's death, for had it not been for his orcs (he could recognize one of the orcs present with Azog now from the battle on the plain near Rivendell) they would not have been delayed, and perhaps they would not have ended up in Goblintown, and Kili might have lived. And this monster had ordered the now dead warg to maul his company to death-including his only remaining nephew.

Standing to his full height, with Orcrist raised in front of him, the dwarf king charged the pale orc, heedless of the cries of his company as he did so, determined to end this vicious monster once and for all.

XXX

The dwarf king began to run, slowly at first, then faster and faster, drawing his oaken shield in front of him, the plain branch that had saved his life now carved and trimmed into a fitting shield that fit perfectly over his forearm.

The closer he got to Azog, the more enraged he got. It never dawned on him that he was charging a mounted foe, nor did he realize that his opponent had the high ground in his fury. Only one thought ran through the dwarf king's mind as he raced through the narrow gap in the flames.

Kill this evil, worthless spawn of Morgoth, and show him no mercy.

XXX

Dwalin watched in horror as his king and friend charged, recognizing the folly in his actions immediately.

"Thorin! NO!" he cried, eyes wide and face pale at the sight of his king charging a clearly advantaged enemy.

Scrambling to find purchase on the branch he was holding, he tried to climb up it, only for the branch to break slightly as his weight proved to be too much. He swore a vicious curse in Khuzdul, before trying once again to climb up, not tugging quite so hard at the same time.

How the bloody elves do this regularly is a mystery to me, the burly dwarf thought to himself as another branch snapped a bit.

But he knew he MUST get there as fast as he could, else the line of Durin may well be ended this night.

XXX

Bilbo watched in growing horror at the scene unfolding before him.

As the dwarves fought to keep their holds on the shaky tree, he simply had to hang on, his small body being light enough to not put any pressure on the thick branches. He swallowed thickly, nausea threatening as he realized just how far it was to the bottom of the valley beneath them. Hobbits do not like heights at all, and he is no exception.

Hearing Ori cry out as he lost his hold, the hobbit's gaze flew toward the top of the tree, face pale at the thought of young Ori's fate.

"Hold on, Ori!" Dori cried, and Bilbo saw the scribe dangling precariously off his brother's foot, the elder's face red with exertion at attempting to maintain what little hold he had.

As Dori's grip loosened, he cried out to the wizard, who had been looking anxiously around as though expecting something.

"Mr. Gandalf!" he cried, before his grip failed. He cried out, only to grasp the end of the wizard's long staff, Ori still holding on his ankle.

A battle roar sounded, and Bilbo turned in time to see the white warg jump at her quarry, her front paws hitting Thorin in the face as he fell down to the ground.

XXX

Balin's eyes widened, and he tried in vain to climb up from where he was at, but it was no use. He could only stare in horror as the great warg clamped her jaws down on Thorin's torso.

"NO!" he cried. He saw Dwalin fighting to get to a spot where he could get up and defend his king, and cried out.

"Dwalin!" he shouted. "Hurry!"

"I'm trying, you old fool!" the younger snapped, before finally getting a grip on a branch sturdy enough to bear his weight.

He hauled himself to his feet, looking up with surprise at the hobbit that was now running full speed toward their fallen king, letter opener raised.

I really hope that he remembers what I taught him, the burly dwarf thought as he began to charge as well. Or this is going to end worse than I thought.

XXX

Bilbo had no idea what he was doing.

He had climbed up onto the tree trunk, forsaking any sense of hold he had on the precariously perched tree, drawn his sword with a shaking hand, and run straight toward a pack of orcs mounted on wargs.

Orcs-that were twice his size. Wargs-that had mouths full of sharp teeth. And said creatures had just disarmed and injured a dwarf king who had held a sword for more years than Bilbo had been alive.

No, he had no idea what he was doing, and it was probably just as well-if he took the time to think about it, he probably would be far too terrified to act.

But as he ran through the fire, and saw an orc place a knife at Thorin's throat, before raising it to cut his head off, the Tookish streak within him burned fiercely. His legs moved quickly, far more quickly than he had ever run before. He ducked his head, and shut his eyes, before colliding with the orc with a loud battle cry.

The force of the hobbit's body had knocked the evil creature over, putting him astride the surprised orc. Had this been a straight up fight, Bilbo wouldn't have had a prayer. But, due to the surprise of the attack, the orc was far too flustered to make any decent counterattack, and Bilbo grasped the hilt of his sword with two hands and rammed it into the Orc's belly as far as it would go, digging into the ground on the other side.

The creature shrieked as it died, arching before laying back still. The angry hobbit jumped up, pulling his sword out of the dead orc with a squelch, before facing the group. Eyes widening as he realized just what he got himself into, the terrified hobbit grasped the hilt of his sword as tight as he could, even taking a few swings in an attempt to be intimidating.

Somehow he doubted the orcs and wargs took him seriously, for the sight of such a small, gentle creature wielding a sword the size of a small knife isn't exactly reminiscent of an intimidating warrior.

But one thing he knew- Thorin, despite his gruffness and disdain for the hobbit, was a king. And Bilbo would rather die for a king he chose to follow than hang from a tree about to fall over a cliff, looking on and doing nothing.

Yes, he had found a golden magic ring that made him invisible in the Goblin tunnels. But the hobbit had also found something else too- his courage.

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A response to guest reviewer Ri-chan- Sounds like you had a fun day :) I think I did let you know- but if you would like a reminder- it's about two or three weeks. As to life- my husband was on vacation/holiday from work this past week, and my sister was in town visiting us (and stayed at our house) so that's why there was the lull in updating. Very, very busy preparing for winter! As for Halloween- we actually do not celebrate it at all. We feel that it conflicts with our faith and our ideas about child raising, and as such do not acknowledge the holiday. If you enjoy it, then I say have fun! :D But we choose to not celebrate it personally, though I respect other's desire to do so :)

Thanks to all who review, favorite, and follow- you guys are such a great and amazing group of people, and I could not ask for better readers! :D :D :D