Evie woke up the next morning entwined in her husband's arms, with the blanket of their bedroll pulled up over her to ward off the wind. She sighed contentedly; her head nestled in the crook of Thorin's neck, and tried to memorize the feeling of this moment even as she prayed she would not have to and that every day might begin this way once more, as it had when they were first married so long ago. The hobbit heard the clanging sound of a skillet over fire and her nose picked up the savory scent of sausages, which was, no doubt, her cue to rise. The queen did not mind waking up in the morning, as she had learned such a thing was rather inevitable and there was no use in fighting it, but on this particular morning, in the company of her often absent husband, she found it very difficult to lift herself from her dwarf's sweet encirclement.

Knowing the king would loathe being the last to wake, she leaned up and kissed him on the light stubble at the top of his throat, dusting tenderness along the hard line of his jaw. He stirred, making a deep rumbling noise which echoed through his chest and into Evie, since she was so close to him. The healer grinned against his beard, completely happy. She wrapped an arm around Thorin's neck and kissed him once more, this time on the cheek, burying her face in his tousled hair and whispering,

"It's time to wake up, my Lord, though I would sooner spend forever here with you, surrounded by the forest and blind to all the cares of the world."

The edge of Thorin's thin lips tugged up into a half smile, and he turned to press it against Evie's blossoming grin.

"Good morning."

He greeted her soft lips before releasing her from his embrace and sitting up. The dwarf dressed himself, passing Evie her pack and watching from the corner of his eye as she selected a light green garment and put it on. Something felt new and fresh – there was a certain lightness to the morning which seared his lungs and bolstered his spirits. Perhaps it was from the intimate renewal of their marriage oaths the night before – just as much the long-delayed discussion of their relationship as the consummation of it. Thorin needed his wife, wanted her beside him in all things, and it had been some time since they were truly close, as he felt they were now. The couple packed up their things and joined the others at the small fire, their eyes wandering frequently back to one another.

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Thorin proved to be in a fine mood, which meant the entire company was in good spirits as well. It was as if they had finally been given permission to smile – to sing and to laugh and to feel unburdened, at last, from their king's stubborn sullenness. They made merry all the way to a small crack in the mountain range which Telchar presented as the cavern's entrance – the destination of their journey. They had only explored the very front of the caverns and were interested in seeing how deep they went and if anyone or anything had taken up residence there.

Evie placed her hand on the hilt of her sword as they stepped inside the dark space. Thorin and Telchar each had torches and the orange glow from them cast shadows on the walls, distorting the travelers' figures into monstrous shapes slipping through the darkness. Evie didn't like the look of the place, but they could not turn back. This is why they had come; there was a task to be done here. She had wanted adventure – and not all adventure involved lying in a bed of lavenders. Most adventure, from her experience, was like this – it meant pushing herself to go places and do things she normally would not. To be brave.

It was not that she was afraid of this place, this cavern, though it was very dark. There was simply something about it she didn't like; something that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She dismissed the strange premonition, telling herself it was simply the similarity between this place and the tunnel that had caved in and nearly killed her husband only a few years before. The raw, unworked stone surrounded them in jagged points, and the darkness ahead called out seductively. She could not imagine what waited for them in the gloomy recesses of the cavern, and a great part of her did not want to. They would find out soon enough, that was sure.

The hobbit took a deep breath, focusing on placing one foot in front of the other. Her footsteps were silent, as was the way of her kind, but the dwarves made a great noise as they shuffled along, dislodging small stones in the earth beneath them and scraping along the edges of the tunnel when it narrowed. The noise made Evie uncomfortable – she sensed that they were being far too loud and that something was listening and appraising, waiting for the right moment to take them, even as they stepped ignorantly forward. She had half a mind to voice her fear, but she did not want to be thought weak. Surely it was simply her age getting to her – she worried for her companions and for her husband and so, naturally, she expected the worst and saw aggressors around every corner. She had not been away from Ered Luin in so long; perhaps her instincts were tarnished by disuse.

The group continued into the waiting black, deeper and deeper into the mountain. They came to a crossroads and had to decide which way to go. Evie insisted they stay together, and so they did, selecting the path to the right and using a rock made of some mineral the queen had never bothered to learn the name of to mark the wall of the tunnel they had come from, so they could find their way back. As they worked their way forward, down and down, Evie's unease grew. She felt a strange itch in the back of her mind she could not shake – it almost felt like a warning. She tugged her sword out of its scabbard, as quietly as she could, and made a motion for quiet when Dwalin gave her a sidelong look that clearly questioned her motivation. She held up her free hand, stopping the company. Then, she listened.

At first there was nothing, just the silence of the darkness around them and the gentle crackling of the torches, punctuated with the heavy breaths of the dwarves around her. Evie had just begun to think she must be going mad, or was certainly overcautious, when she heard another sound. It was a low rumble, as if the rocks all around them had come to life and were whispering, muttering to each other. But that could not be – the hobbit listened closer, straining to decipher the strange noise. With a start, she realized they were footfalls. Many footfalls, all moving at once. She shivered, her large grey eyes meeting Thorin's curious blue ones, which were already on her. She shook her head, her words little more than a frightened whisper.

"They're coming."

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A moment later, the entire company had their swords and axes drawn. The three dwarves and the hobbit were standing back to back, weapons raised as an onslaught of goblins rushed at them from all sides. The creatures lunged forward from either end of the tunnel, racing out of the darkness like harbingers of death, their mouths open and hungry and their crude blades and bludgeons raised over their heads – they tumbled from the ceiling just at the edge of the torchlight's reach, leaping from a trap in the cave roof the company had avoided only out of Evie's caution.

The queen grunted as she yanked her sword from the belly of one of her attackers, turning immediately to slash at the next. It felt as if they were everywhere at once – she could not move fast enough to keep them from her. Thorin brandished the torch at them, catching one on fire as he gutted another with his sword. Evie only realized she had forgotten to breathe when she was pushed back by a goblin and the force of the impact made her suck in a breath. The hobbit nearly choked on it as she dismembered the creature and kicked him away from her. His arm went flying across the tunnel, bouncing off the stone wall and smacking another of the hoard in the face.

Covered in blood and gasping for air in the tight space, which stunk of death more and more with each blow, the hobbit stumbled back and swung her sword blindly at her assailants, ignoring the sickening crunch as her blade found its mark again and again. The fire of the torches gleamed off the finely crafted dwarven blades as they clanged against the rusted, stained weapons of the goblins. All were smattered with blood, dark and ominous, but the queen could not think of that now. She had to keep fighting, to keep her mind only on her next blow and on deflecting any which came at her.

A shriek tore across the tunnel like a wound – it belonged to Telchar, who was struggling as a group of goblins carried him forcibly into the patient darkness, which swallowed them without thought. Thorin ordered Dwalin to follow them and rescue the other dwarf, and Evie's heart sank into her stomach when she saw the look of helplessness in Dwalin's eyes as his gaze met Thorin's and he nodded. The warrior would not have left his king for any reason other than a command by him. He took a deep breath, picking up the torch the other dwarf had dropped and charging into the mass of goblins between him and the blackness Telchar had disappeared into. Dwalin, son of Fundin, let out a mighty war cry, cutting down goblins by the handful as he went.

That left only Evie and Thorin. The crowd of goblins had not thinned, despite the fact that they were now standing on dozens of their corpses. Evie tried her hardest to ignore the nauseating gurgling noises of the dying and the grunts of the living as they fell on her, viciously stabbing and striking and screaming as she fought them off. Thorin was at her side, and the goblins seemed to crumble into shapeless masses as soon as they stepped within the reach of his sword. The queen yelped as she felt something bite at her shoulder – her sword preceded her as she turned to defend herself. The foe stumbled back against the wall, clutching at his throat where she had struck him, and Evie ignored the blood gushing from the cut in her arm.

"Evie, follow me!"

Her husband's voice sounded over the pounding in her ears, and the hobbit obeyed him. She charged forward, slipping through the steel and gnarled wood that reached out to batter her. She dodged their attacks and ran in the streamline of Thorin's steps, pushing past their enemies. They had made a small hole in the goblins' ranks, and the king was taking advantage of the momentary space to attempt an escape. Evie turned to cut down a foe as he leaped at her, but she wasn't quite fast enough – the creature bowled her over and they both tussled in the dirt for a moment before her left hand, scrambling for anything of use, managed to grab a rock and smash it against her assailant's head. The crunching sound it made was sickening, but suddenly Thorin was pulling her up and urging her forward and Evie thought no more of it.

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They ran. Evangeline wasn't sure how long they had been running for; it felt like hours but was probably more like minutes. The pair pressed on, deeper and deeper into the tunnels, regardless of the path. Left or right, it made no matter, as long as it took them farther away from the kill trap they had been in. At first the goblins gained on them, but Thorin fought back any who got too close and she guessed the others must have given up, for after a time it seemed as though they had no pursuers. Whether the goblins were too slow, the prey was too difficult to catch, or they were simply waiting to catch up with them later, the healer could not begin to guess.

Just when Evie thought she couldn't possibly take another step, Thorin stopped. The hobbit tried to take the opportunity to catch her breath, but each gasp seared her lungs. It hurt to breathe, as if a dozen knives were stabbing her upon every inhalation. She looked to her husband and realized there were the starts of tears in her eyes. Were they from relief, fear, or exhaustion? It didn't matter – Evie threw herself into Thorin's arms. She needed him close; to feel his heart beating and the sweat dripping from his brow and the noisy sound of his own gasping – all those things which proved they were both still alive and that, with Durin's will, they would continue to be.

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Author's Note: Thank you once more to everyone who has stuck with this story despite the slow updates – you are wonderful and amazing and I am so grateful for you! Thank you so much for your comments and your thoughts and your readership! Here's a little action for you – hopefully you like it!