The company left early the next morning. As much as they didn't like to admit it, that was their most comfortable night since before they had departed from the Blue Mountains. Camellia had lost her long night gown and had thrown on the new clothes the elf maidens had constructed for her. Her horse, along with the few ponies left after the orc attack, travelled along behind the company as they hiked up the side of the mountain.

As they travelled, storm clouds began to form in the north. The farther up they went, the darker the clouds seemed to get. The darker the clouds got, the hotter the air got. "Why is it so hot?" Fili groaned as he dropped his cloak from his shoulders.

"There's a storm coming," Camellia answered. "Once it comes through, it'll be colder." She was also without her cloak and most of her clothes. Her trousers were rolled up to her knees and her shoes were tucked away in her bag. Her tunic was discarded on the back on her horse and her undershirt had the sleeves torn off. It was old and worn and hung loosely on her frame. It slide around on her shoulders, falling off every now and then, driving the tired female frantic. Eventually, she pulled the ribbon that held her hair out and tied it between the two ends of her shirt, pulling the top close together and not giving it any freedom to move around.

By midday, the storm clouds had darkened and had met the dwarven company on the mountainside. The temperature had risen as the day dragged on and the dwarves continued to head higher and higher. Camellia had retrieved her cloak and shoes from the back of her horse and thrown it on not a moment before the rain began to fall. It came down in sheets.

"The heat doesn't bother you much now, does it?" Camellia asked, a smirk graced her lips. Fili scoffed as he quickly threw on his cloak. They continued up.

Thunder rolled through the sky. Lightning cracked across the dark clouds and one bolt hit not five feet above their heads. The rocks beneath their feet became slippery and dangerous to continue to travel on, but there was no shelter. Bilbo had been the first one to slip and almost fall into the depths of the mountain range.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin shouted over the sounds of the storm. Not long after, a large rock came flying through the air and hit above them. It shattered and rained down.

"This is no thunderstorm," Balin stated. "It's a thunder battle!" The mountains began to move.

"I've read about these," Camellia muttered. "But the books never depicted the true beauty."

"Beauty!" Bofur snorted. She looked at him with curiosity. Before she could respond, the mountain ledge they were on began to move. Their narrow path just became narrower and split in half, separating the company. The split happened between Fili and Kili, leaving Fili along with Ori, Dwalin, Bombur, Bofur, and Nori separated from everyone else. Bits of rocks continued to fall like rain.

"Such ferocity…" Camellia said in awe. When the rock giant they were on fell, Thorin lead as many as he could off onto stable ground. From their stable land, they could watch the thunder battle continue. No one had noticed the lack of ponies.

Falling rock continued to threaten to injure. Their fellow dwarves remained struggling to stay on the giant, until it had crashed. All rushed to the crash site to try and help their friends. They were relived to find their friends unhurt.

"Where's Bilbo? Where the hobbit?" Bofur asked, looking around in a panic. "There!" Bilbo was hanging on to the edge of the slippery rocks. His feet could not find any traction on the side of the mountain. Camellia was the first to grab a hold of his hand and begin pulling up, but her shoes had little traction and she nearly fell with him. Kili grabbed a hold of her waist and pulled her up, but Bilbo's grip wasn't strong enough to hold on and he fell about a foot farther down. Thorin was the one who had pulled him up, in turn for his own safety. Luckily, Dwalin had caught him just in time. Now everyone was safe.

"I thought we lost our burgular," Dwalin said with a heavy breath.

"He's been lost ever since he left home," Thorin said, turning away from the group. "He should have never of come. He has no place among us."

"That's unfair to say!" Camellia called out. "Bilbo gave up his home on such short notice for your meeting! He left his home to help you! He saved you from becoming troll food! And you have the audacity to say he doesn't belong?!" She shouted. "The only one who hasn't accepted him as part of this group is you!" Thorin turned and glared her down, but she was not intimidated. "Every single person here has done something to help the group! Everyone here belongs!"

"What have you done then?!" Thorin shouted back. "You have been little more than dead weight!" Camellia looked down and snickered.

"With the skill of your nephews, I haven't had much of a chance to help. You're right. The best I had done was a little distracting the trolls, but I hadn't planned to be "dead weight". My initial plan was to join in on the adventure, but when I had heard you were the leader, I wanted to see how much you were like your sister." Daggers flew from Thorin's eyes to Camellia's form. "I understand it has been such a long time, but I would have thought you would have at least a spark of a memory," she muttered, but Thorin heard her. She walked past him and into the cave they found moments before. Her final words had confused him.

"What are you talking about?!" Thorin demanded as he followed her into the cave. She turned to him. Even in the dark he could see the glow of her eyes.

"Look at my face. It should look familiar to you." They stared at each other for a long while, until everyone else began to file in and Camellia turned to squeeze as much water off of her as she could. Sand from the cave floor stuck to her boots and the bottom of her cloak. She sat down on her cloak and removed her shoes. Her feet were soaked.

"You shouldn't have called him out like that," Fili said as took a seat next to her. "You've made him mad."

"I know that."

"What were you talking about earlier?" Kili asked, taking a seat next to her other side.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out."

"Aw, come on, let us know!" Fili whined.

"Nope."

"Please?" Kili begged.

"Want to hear a story?" Camellia asked.

"No, we want to know what you meant," Fili insisted.

"Want to hear a story?" She repeated.

"Why do you want to tell us this story so bad?" Fili asked.

"I just want to hear a good story. It's been awhile since I've heard any story."

"We could tell you a story," Bofur offered.

"How would I know it's a good one? I know my story is good."

"Fine. Tell us the story," Bofur said, taking a seat in front of her.

"Okay. One afternoon, many moons ago, on one of the rare sunny winter days in the far north, a maiden was born. She had skin as fair as the moon and hair nearly as fair as her skin. Her eyes were such a light blue it was hard to tell there was any colour at all. As she grew up in her northerly kingdom she began to carve world travel. The northern kingdom was in a time of peace so shortly after her 70th birthday, she gathered a few things and took off on a horse. For three weeks she travelled south. Eventually she found herself in a small mountain village. There she met a short stocky, newly wed woman. This village woman couldn't believe the fair maiden in front of her was real. She was nearly twice the height of the village woman and was as light as the snow, not to mention extremely beautiful.

"The fair maiden and the village woman made quick friends and before the sun had met the horizon they were dinning together inside the village woman's home. There, the maiden met the woman's husband and learned that her new friend might be expecting. This was the first night of many that the two women spent together.

"After nearly three months, the maiden had to head home. She bid her friend a farewell and promised to write every day. A few days into her journey home, she met a war hero in a seaside city. Without noticing, she wasted another two months with the hero in his seaside home. In the short time that she had stayed with this man, she knew he had to meet her parents, so early one morning the two set off toward the north. Every night, the maiden wrote to her friend and sent it off the next morning. Every few days she would receive a letter back, detailing what had changed since the last letter.

"When the couple arrive in the northerly kingdom, there was an immediate dislike for the maiden's choice in a mate. His kind didn't get along too well with her kind, but love is blind. It took several months for her parents to accept him and once they had accepted him, the maiden and the war hero got married. Not too long afterwards, she was expecting.

"Around the same time, the maiden's friend from the mountain village was expecting her second child. The maiden gave birth to a baby girl. She had her mother's face, but her father's flamboyant hair. Her village friend had gave birth to another boy. After a few years, once the baby girl could walk quite well on her own, the small family took a trip down to the mountain village to surprise the maiden's best friend.

"They arrived a few weeks later and stayed with the village woman and her family. Her husband came down with an illness several weeks before and succumbed, leaving her to tend to her two growing boys by herself. When the fair maiden left her young daughter alone for just a few short minutes, she had run off with her friend's two boys. The three were not seen all afternoon. All three children got along very well for the few weeks that the families were mingled. Every few days, the village woman's brother would check into the make sure that his younger sister was okay. He was a real hard ass, but underneath all that hard rock was a kind hearted teddy bear.

"The families had to separate once again, but the little girl never forgot the friends she made. When the fair maiden and her family returned to their home, her parents handed over the kingdom to her and her husband. The fair skinned princess began a queen, with the love of her life right beside her.

"With a growing child, it was hard to devote a lot of time toward the kingdom, especially one that had a deep sense for adventure. The growing girl would always sneak into the armoury and grab her mother's bow to go and practise. The queen was very tall and slender, her daughter, not so much. She had not only inherited her father's hair, but also his height. Her mother's bow was taller than she was, but nonetheless, she still learned to shoot from it, and she shot well.

"On her 50th birthday, she was given her own bow, one made especially for her. It was a good thing too because not quite a year later, a month before her 51st birthday, there was an orc raid on the castle. Like the adventurous girl she was, she joined the troops. She helped clear out the interior before heading back up the tower to her room. Before she reached the top of the stairs, a scream ripped through the air. It wasn't just any scream. It was the scream of the queen. The scream of her mother.

"She raced up the stairs as fast as she could toward the scream. It seemed to take an eternity to reach her mother's room, but when she did, she wished she had stayed upstairs with her mother. Staying with his back to the door, an orc stood over her mother, sword dipping with the queen's blood. She doesn't know what happen. Everything was a blur. She just remembers holding her mother in her arms, watching her breathe her last breaths as she bleed on onto the floor. The orc lay behind them, headless.

"Time slowed once again. The young girl's eyes were blurred with tears as her mother stared up at her. Her mother wiped the tears from her face and said,

""Don't cry, child. I'm not afraid to die because I have you as a daughter. You may have inherited your father's physical attributes, but you are just like I was when I was your age. I will always live on in you as long as you live your life your way." She took one last breath before saying, "Don't let anyone dictate your life." And with that, she passed on. Her daughter cried out in woe. She wailed on as she carried her mother's body to the bed in the corner. She crossed her mother's hands across her stomach and walked out. She re-joined the battle. Blood stains on her clothing reminded her just how much she hated the orcs and it fuelled a rage that carried her through the battle.

"It had taken her several months to stop crying and even longer for her sorrow to subside enough that she could function well again. She couldn't stand being inside for too long because she began to dwell in her mother's death so she would so often spend days out in the stables with the horses. Aside from riding the horses and training with her bow, she would spend long hours walking through three foot high snow piles and throwing snowballs at the stable walls.

"One morning, she received a letter, asking her if she wanted to partake in an adventure. Enthused for the way away, she quickly packed up her things, grabbed her horse and left, with just a simple note on the dining table for her father.

"It took her nearly two weeks to travel from her home to this meeting place mentioned in the letter. It was a very beautiful place. Tall green grasses, clear blue ponds, and sky as far as the eye could see. She did her best to depict the sights before her onto paper, but they will never hold the wonder and beauty that was that small countryside.

"The story of the daughter of the queen continues to this day. She still travels with the group she met on the countryside and she has never regretted it. I wish I could tell you more of her story, but it's not over yet."

"So, this was a sad story?" Ori asked.

"No. It's a story about a woman who overcame adversity and changed the views of a large group of people. While she may not still be here, her daughter lives on, continuing her legacy and continuing to change the world."

"Who is her daughter?" Kili asked.

"That's another story for another night."

"But we want to know now!" Ori complained.

"You need sleep," she replied as she turned over. "We all do. Good night." The group was flustered at how easily she avoided their questions, but she was fast asleep and there was nothing they could do about it. Everyone turned in for the night.

When they awoke, it wasn't because it was morning. Thorin's voice called out in the middle of the night awakening them all. As soon as they opened their eyes, they began to fall, and they continued to fall until they hit a hard wooden floor. Dwarf on top of dwarf, hobbit on top of everyone else. Camellia was stuck somewhere in the middle. Before they knew what had happened, goblins ran and plucked them off one by one. All of them fought back, but they were severely outnumbered. Their weapons were stripped off of them and the goblins gave them each a rough pat down. A few goblins tried to remove Camella's cloak, but she held it to herself tighter and tried to bear the feelings of violation. Eventually, after several rough shoves and a tear in the fabric of her cloak, she snapped. She turned right around and punched the goblin who ripped her clothes. It knocked him flat on his backside.

"I am a lady!" She exclaimed, "You must treat me like one!" She pushed through to take a spot next to the youngest brothers. She continued to hold her cloak tightly to her body, but she felt safer in-between the two boys. They were stopped in front of a much larger goblin. He had a chin that reached almost to his collarbone and it wiggled like raw meat. It was disturbing.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" The large gross goblin asked. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?!" His voice echoed through the underground town.

"Dwarves, your malevolence," a goblin in front of the company replied.

"Dwarves?!"

"Found 'em on the front porch."

"Well, don't just stand there! Search them!" The goblins began to attack the company again. "Every crack! Every crevice!" Many things were pulled off and thrown on the floor. Once again Camella's cloak was tugged on, but she threatened with her fist and they left her alone. "What are you doing in these parts?" He asked the company. Silence. "Speak!" Silence. "Very well, if they will not talk, we'll make them squawk!" Cheers erupted from the goblins all around. "Bring up the Mangler! Bring up the Bone Breaker!" A shutter ran through Camellia's spine. She could hear the bones breaking in her mind. "Start with the youngest!" He pointed to Ori. A small smirk picked at Camellia's lips. Ori was not the youngest. Kili was. Fili was a few years older. Both brothers were some 50 years younger than the rest of the group.

"Wait!" Thorin's voice boomed. He stepped forward.

"Well, well, well! Look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thor, king under the mountain!" The ugly goblin took a bow. "Oh! But I'm forgetting! You don't have a mountain and you're not a king. Which makes you…nobody, really." Thorin had such a look of hate in his eyes, you could have believed he was staring down an elf. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just a head. Nothing attached." Laughs rippled through the goblins. "Perhaps you know of who I speak. An old enemy of yours." If possible, the look in Thorin's eyes got more intense and more deadly. "A pale orc. Astride a white warg."

"Azog, the Defiler, was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."

"So, you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The goblin king laughed. "Send word to the pale orc," he told a very small goblin on a swing. "Tell him I have found his prize." The small goblin descended on his little swing into the depths of the cave.

The goblins began to investigate the dwarves' weaponry. Most were ordinary sword and axes, nothing special. Camellia was lucky she left her bow and arrows in a saddlebag. She knew now that if she hadn't her bow would be broken. There was one sword amongst all the others that stood out. It stood out so much that the goblin that have picked it up had quickly thrown it on the floor in front of the goblin king. He retreated into his throne, terrified.

"I know that sword! It is the Goblin Cleaver!" The goblins began hitting the company with leather belts, bats, and their fists. The goblin king yelled out more words, but none of the dwarves, or Camellia could hear him over the goblins climbing and beating on them. The dwarves did what they could to ward off the goblins. The vast number overwhelmed them. Everyone was fighting for their lives now. Just as they thought they were goners, a bright flash of light overcame the area, bringing a strong wind with it. Everyone was thrown until they found ground. Everyone was stunned.

Gandalf

"Take up arms. Fight!" Gandalf commanded. "FIGHT!" The company rose to its feet and began anew war against these horrifying looking creatures. Gandalf took out several goblins with both his staff and the Foe Hammer. The dwarves quickly recovered their swords and began hacking away. The unarmed Camellia had nothing to defend herself with, so she used her only weapon: her fists. Using her friends as blocks, she snuck up on several goblins and used her limited skills to beat them down. One swing of Thorin's sword and the goblin king lost his step and fell off the platform.

"Follow me!" Gandalf led them down a narrow wooden pathway. Goblins, basically, crawled out of the wood work and came after them. Because of how narrow the pathway was, only a few goblins could get in the way of the company which ended with them being cut down with dwarven iron. Using a large stick, Dwalin guided it through lines of goblins and pushed them off the edge with the help of fellow dwarves in order to clear a path.

"Don't look down…don't look down…don't look down," Camellia muttered to herself as she ran behind Kili. She was deathly afraid of heights; if she saw just how high she was, she'd pass out.

In an attempt to save himself, Kili used a ladder as a shield and eventually a weapon. Goblin heads were caught between the steps and they were prisons, that is, until they fell off the edge. The ladder was then used as a bridge.

"Don't look down…don't look down…" she muttered as she crossed the "bridge." She didn't heed her own advice. Her knees became shaky and her stomach queasy, so she did all that she could think to do, get to steady ground. She didn't get there. Everyone ended up on a swinging piece of platform. A few jumped off on the other side, but Camellia was stuck toward the edge. Her legs were now a form of jelly and she doubted she could get over to the rest of the company. Lucky for her, Bofur saw her struggle and dragged her to the other edge. Without her knowledge or consent, Bofur threw her to the other side where Gloin caught her and set her on her feet. She didn't stay there. She fell on the ground almost immediately.

Once everyone was on the other side, the platform was cut from its ropes and it fell into the never ending cave. The company began to move again, but Camellia couldn't get to her feet; her legs were jelly now. This was the absolute worst time for her trivial fears to kick in.

"Camellia, come on!" Kili urged, stopped behind the group to address the crippled female.

"I-I can't." She confessed. Fili noticed as well and both the brother lifted her up and set her to her feet. She collapsed again. Again, they lifted her and supported her as they rushed to re-join the group.

"What? Goblins got you scared?" Fili joked.

"N-no…I don't like heights…" She admitted as she tried to convince her legs to work again.

"If these can hold Bombur, they'll hold you too. You don't need to worry," Kili reassured.

"I know it's stupid, but I can't help it."

"You can fight off trolls and yet you can't deal with this?" Fili joked again.

"I wish it were different."

"Just imagine you're not above a drop," Kili bolstered.

"Or think about all the goblins you're about to kill," Fili added, "That'll take your mind off of the height." The brothers let go of her when they were certain she was steady. "Now, let's go kill some goblins!" They ran into the midst of the battle.

Gandalf continued to lead them toward a way out. While swords and hammers and axes smashed through most of the goblins, Camellia got all the left overs. Their run was looking good, not one goblin was in the way, until they reached a bridge. The goblin king popped through the wooden boards and stopped the company in its tracks. They were surrounded now.

"You thought you could escape me!" He brought his mallet down, but Gandalf deflected it. "What are you going to do now, wizard?" Gandalf jabbed his staff into the goblin king's eye and then sliced his stomach open. "That'll do it," was the last words the goblin king spoke before Gandalf slit his throat. The force of the king's fall cause the bridge they were standing on to fall. On the way down, the bridge section took out tiers of other wooden pathways and parts of rock before getting slowed down by a narrow crevice in the cave and falling to the ground in pieces.

"Well, that could have been worse," Bofur said. He spoke too soon. The goblin king's body landed on top of the pile of wood and dwarves.

"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin grunted. They began to struggle out of the wreckage when Kili called out.

"Gandalf!" Goblins were scaling the walls and heading toward them.

"There's too many, we can't fight them," Dwalin stated as he pulled Bifur to his feet.

"Only one thing will save us: daylight," Gandalf responded as he pulled some struggling dwarves from the rubble. Camellia pulled Fili out of the rubble and began running with the group. Eventually, the smell of musty goblin filled cave disappeared and the light from the rising sun poked at their faces. They were relieved to have escaped.

"Where's Bilbo?" Camellia asked as soon as she got a head count. Everyone looked around, as if he was playing a game with them.

"Where is our hobbit?" Gandalf asked. No one could find him.

Had the goblins gotten him?