A/N: A shoutout to pandoradreamsamazing and yorushihe – thank you so much guys, I'm beyond thrilled you like it so much. Here's a new one for you

Gigantic shoutout and hug to my beta's NixNox and especially Tyren, for his invaluable help with this chapter.

Without further ado, onto the new one!

Chapter 10: Misty Riddles, Shadowy Business

Linshara and Gandalf split quite quickly after starting their descent. Gandalf had sped off on the upper levels, as he sensed the dwarves would need him. She felt an urge to go with him initially, but when she remembered Bilbo, alone down on the underground lake, she quickly refocused her priorities.

Owing to her expertise in wielding the Force her climb down was relatively easy as she could make long jumps relatively quietly, without much risk to herself. There were a few instances when she'd almost ran into a patrol of those creatures, but she managed to hide in time. There were so many of them everywhere it was difficult to pinpoint when they were closing towards her. That and her focus was mostly on getting to Bilbo as fast as possible and not getting injured in the process.

As she finally reached what looked to be solid ground, she quietly unsheathed her sword and got into a crouch, letting her senses guide her to Bilbo. Green eyes opened slowly, he was ahead of her, and he was quite frightened. Something else was with him. A sort of dark and malevolent presence, though it seemed to be split. Frowning in confusion, she inched closer, slightly bent in a half crouch. As she approached, she hid behind one of the larger rocks nearby and peeked over it.

There was indeed an underground lake of sorts in front of her, a weird askew triangular rock in the middle of it. She saw Bibo hold his sword in front of him towards a gangly, pale creature with oversized eyes and crooked teeth, naked and wrapped only in a loin cloth. Listening in more closely she could hear that they were playing a game of riddles?

Linshara frowned, Bilbo had part of the dark presence and the creature had another? How was that possible? Bilbo was one of the most light oriented people she'd ever met. Surely it wasn't him?!

She quietly sheathed the sword again, so as to not give herself away with the blade reflecting the overhead light. Inching forward slowly, she listened to the conversation.

Bilbo was looking out to the lake, "what...have...I got in my pocket?" He murmured.

The creature above him scowled and started moaning, "is not fair! Is not fair! That's wude!" It threw something on the ground and Bilbo looked surprised.

The creature crossed its hand on its chest and scowled again, "ask us another one!?"

Thannis frowned. ~What the hell is going on here? Why doesn't he run?~

Bilbo held up his sword again, "no no, you said ask me a question. Well that IS my question, what have I got in my pocket?"

It jumped down from its ledge, "you must give us three!"

Bilbo agreed, "three guesses."

"Handses!"

Bilbo shook his head, wiggling his fingers, "wrong. Guess again."

The creature went into a frenzy and murmured something unintelligible as it tried for its second guess. "Knife! Oh shut up!"

Bilbo inched away slowly, "wrong again. Last guess."

"String!" It turned, "or nothing."

"Two guesses at once," Bilbo pointed at it, "wrong both times."

The creature demanded to know what Bilbo had in his pocket to which Bilbo wouldn't budge. It started to grasp at its loincloth and seemed distraught that it couldn't find something. Something which it seemed to believe Bilbo had stolen from it. But what?

In its rage the creature made a lunge at Bilbo. Linshara made her presence known at this moment as she rose from behind her new hiding place, arm extended palm in what looked like a grip. She'd used the force to grab the creature mid jump and moved her arm so she threw it into the lake.

"Run!"

Bilbo thankfully took the cue immediately and made off. Linshara made off after him, but veered off after a moment when she realized trouble had started above as well and a mass of the other creatures was coming their way. Linshara decided to buy Bilbo time and headed towards the group.

Sword out, she called to the creatures once she reached them. "Hey! You missed one!"

The goblins turned to her, then looked at what seemed to be their leader who yelled something unintelligible at her and charged her. She quickly edged back into the tunnel she came from, swinging her sword in front of her. When she was satisfied they were all in there, she pulled her barrier up and drew her hands back forming a ball. Light crackled between her palms and a bright blue ball charged. Suddenly thrusting forward she released the blue wave of Force energy.

The ground shook and the noise was deafening, the walls of the tunnel beginning to chip and crumble as the wave ripped through the mass of the ugly creatures. They lay piled up on each other and all over the tunnel as the wave dissipated. The tunnel began to shake more violently, indicating it was nearing collapse. Linshara made a quick mental scan of the area, not being able to sense Bilbo, the dwarves or Gandalf then dashed for the exit she noted earlier, using her force enhanced speed to escape the mayhem.

As she ran out, she felt Gandalf's strong presence in the force ahead and charged in that direction. It took her a few minutes to reach the area where they seemed to have stopped. Stopping about two hundred meters away from them, she took a deep breath.

Lifting her head suddenly, she felt that presence again. But the creature hadn't followed her or Bilbo out, she didn't feel it. Her sword tightly gripped she approached the group, a cautious posture in her mannerisms. She saw Bilbo hidden behind a tree as as Thorin grouched how he was long gone. But Bilbo seemed out of focus and out of state. He was the colour of a shadow, gray, black, smudged.

He seemed to notice her staring at him intently. Suddenly, he turned and rubbed his hands together, instantly changing colour to match the others. Linshara frowned.

~What is he doing?~

She sheathed her sword and approached slowly as Bilbo explained why he did return to the company, making no mention of her yet. It was Kili and Fili who spotted her first from the back. They were both lacking their usual grins though. Having gone through what they had, but the small smiles they did carry told her at least the two of them were happy to see her.

Thorin on the other hand was anything but. He stepped towards her angrily, Kili, Fili and Bofur moving to stop him.

"What are you doing here?!" He growled at her, sword raised.

Linshara stood her ground, eyebrow raised, "helping Bilbo, as it happens." She replied evenly.

A warg's howl turned their attention to the mountain. They were so caught up they failed to notice that an even greater danger than the goblins rode like an avalanche from above.

"Out of the frying pan!" said Thorin.

"And into the fire!" replied Gandalf and Linshara in unison, echoing Thorin's realization. They have been hunted since Imladris.

"Run." Gandalf turned to the oncoming enemy, "ruuun!" He bellowed.

The group made a dash for it, following Gandalf to what they hoped was a clearing. The trees thinned as they ran but the warg howls grew closer. One warg gained on Bilbo at one point, Bilbo's terror made her stop short and turn, intent to help. Before she could do much however, the warg jumped at Bilbo.

Linshara made a quick motion with her hand, causing Bilbo's hands which gripped his little sword point in front of him just in time for the warg to impale itself on it, hard. She turned again to Gandalf as he called, "up into the trees!"

"All of you, climb!" Gandalf motioned, "Bilbo, climb!"

The dwarves quickly climbed, someone yelling "they're coming."

Linshara however, didn't move. She could feel a sheer malevolent presence, the very evil she felt on Rakata now weeks ago. He was here. The Sith was here, he was close. So close. Ducking just in time, she side stepped a warg and sank her sword into him.

Meanwhile Gandalf and the dwarves started throwing something aflame towards the ground, as the wargs continued to jump and pound on the trees they were on.

~Pine cones?~ She wondered as she dodged another warg and stabbed him through the jaw.

Another though jumped her and knocked her aside. Throwing the dead one aside with force, she slammed the other with a wave of force and it flew over the ledge they'd been driven to. Standing up, she realized she was cut off from the others by a wall of fire the flaming cones created.

Somehow, all the dwarves and Gandalf had landed on one tree, which was hanging over a precipice, half aflame itself and Thorin was running down it towards a pale orc. She recognized him immediately, not even giving it a second thought - Azog the Pale, the orc that plagued Thorin's past.

A sudden migraine. A flash of future events. A premonition. Bilbo standing before the darkness, defending Thorin's motionless body, his sword shining against the ever-expanding blackness of the void. Shaking of the feeling of dread and foreboding Linshara dashed through the fire towards Thorin, scarlet flames just barely licking her skin. She rolled and jumped to her feet just as a blackness engulfed the fire in front of her. She knew the feeling, and she knew what came next. The elven blade in her hand moved instinctively above her head, a sign of Soresu.

"You've been a very, very naughty Jedi," a soft, yet malevolent voice whispered above the roar of the battle in the background. Linshara dared a glimpse and saw the dwarves, Kili and Fili at the fore, launching themselves at the wargs. Thorin and Bilbo, at least, were protected.

"Come, come," the voice spoke again as the blackness shifted to reveal the dark-robed Sith standing in front of her at last. He levitated in the air, almost as if to signify his superiority over her. Yellow, evil eyes scanned her and a wicked grin made him look even more sinister than he seemed before, "this world is full of darkness." he continued, "I could feed off of it for eons. Imagine the power I could hold."

Linshara frowned as she lowered her balance even more, ready to pounce against the inevitable attack, "I won't allow that."

"You will have no choice, my sweet, sweet Linshara," a giggle escaped him for a moment, "I hold all the cards;" as the blood-red lightsaber appeared, it emphasized his meaning. He dashed at her with ferocious speed landing his saber on her readied blade.

The look on his face however, when his blade struck hers and was deflected echoed surprise. Linshara used this momentary distraction to push him away violently. "You still talk too much, spawn of evil." She growled and used the Force to empower her leap at him.

Behind her, Bilbo bravely fought off a warg and its rider whilst the other dwarves held the others at bay. Mostly. Azog seemed to be directing the mayhem, barking orders in orkish, his giant white warg tossing around anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in it's jaws.

The Sith took Linshara's next blow head on, pushing himself beyond human limits to stagger his opponent. It paid off as the Jedi lost her balance for a mere moment - enough for him to slash across her chest, leaving a scorching trail in her duster and shirt and barely missing her skin.

"Gaah!" She growled as the blade's heat did leave a faint trail of red down her chest. She swung her blade at him as she espied an opening in his defences, making a slash of her own against his right arm.

He slammed his gauntleted fist into her cheek next and she staggered a little. Her whole jaw rattled and she was pretty sure her cheek was at the very least cracked. It was certainly bleeding.

"We're surrounded!" Dwalin's cry echoed over the battle.

This gave her renewed vigor, her attacks more forceful and precise. Her speed was nearly impossible to follow as she slashed at the Sith's exposed legs, pushing him on the defensive. As their blades connected once more the feint worked. Her open palm, now glowing with Force power merely touched his face and the Sith flew backwards, smashing into a nearby tree. The blow was enough to stagger him.

In the back of her mind she could feel the Dwarves losing momentum, their strength waning against the relentless attacks of the wargs and their riders. Dodging and deflecting another blow from Kallus, she glanced in their direction, seeing them almost corralled like cattle. The Sith swung his saber at her again, and she blocked, lowering herself to a half crouch.

A feint, to make him believe he'd gained the upper hand again, before she used one hand to stall his blade, reaching out through the Force to the fallen tree and hurling it at the Sith. As the tree hit him, Linshara used her last remaining ounces of Force energy and leapt through the air, backwards. She turned in the air, adjusting her centre of balance so she would smash into the ground. As she did so, she released a wave of force energy that knocked everything in a one hundred and eighty degree angle in front of her backwards considerably.

Gandalf yelled somewhere in the distance, "onto the edge, all of you!"

"Lin! Come on!" She wasn't sure who called out to her, but she had no time to check. There was a cry of an birdlike nature, a presence of some sort, something else, something she'd not felt before.

She saw giant bird like creatures swoop in all of a sudden, blowing the orcs away, tossing the wargs aside and picking the dwarves up. They started flying away with them. Another descended, and another and another. Some of them carried the dwarves away whilst others spread the flames or grabbed the orcs and wargs in their massive talons, tossing them over the sides of the cliff. Soon enough she found herself alone, surrounded by fire, orcs and the one person she wished never to see again.

"Aw. Your friends have abandoned you, little Jedi," Kallus mocked with an especially satisfied smile on his face. He approached with two massive wargs to his left and right. Linshara's strength was giving up on her. That last effort to help her friends drained her more than she expected. She was beginning to feel sore, beaten and injured from her ordeal. Her head throbbed and her jaw hurt even more as her body caught up with her injuries.

The wargs lunged at her suddenly, ordered no doubt by their new Sith master. It took everything she had left to push them aside, and throw them of the cliff. Their howls and cries gave her little comfort as the Sith drew nearer and nearer.

"I think I'll end this right here," pure white lightning shot at Linshara from his open palm. Instinctively she raised her sword, as she would have her lightsaber, to block the malevolent energy. It was futile. The bolts hit the blade and carried through her arm. Linshara screamed as the pure energy of the Dark Side twisted her body.

She felt as if every fiber of her being was burning, dissolving. She even heard her disassociated, agnozinging howl. He'd shot her before, back on Rakata, but this was much stronger, channelled. Linshara fell to her knees, one hand gripping her sword, the other, trying to support her spasming, slightly smoking body.

There was another flutter of wings, and warm wind enveloped her. It seemed stronger than what the eagles did somehow, more focused, more powerful. So powerful, in fact that it knocked the Sith backwards, causing him to stop chaining his lightning at her.

~Climb onto me, Starwalker~ A gentle voice spoke into her mind, ~hurry!~

Just barely managing to lift her head and look to the side, she saw another eagle, much larger than the others. ~I am called Landroval. I will take you to safety. Climb!~ The creature urged.

Mustering what physical strength she had left, she managed to claw onto the eagle, lying on her stomach, embracing his neck as well as she could, what with holding her blade in the process. Landroval quickly straightened and blew at the Sith yet again, keeping him grounded as he flew away, away from the Misty Mountains.