Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise.

A/N: I am so sorry it took me so long to write this. It's been really hectic at home here and I kind of lost my train of thought. Don't worry I know have it back :)

I am sorry if there are any spelling mistakes in this I have tried to catch them all :) I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 16

Thorin POV

It was almost three weeks since we had left Rivendell and it had been a hard march, Balin leading the way across the moors and fells of the Wild. It had saved maybe a week or more of travelling by crossing the wild, but it was unfamiliar terrain for many of our company. Few of them had made the journey before, the three youngest having been either too young to walk it or not even born yet. The brothers UR, the Halfling and Ariana being the few that hadn't travelled this road. Bifur I vaguely remembered from our march to reclaim Moria. He had been a skilled translator speaking many different forms of Khuzdul, which was probably why he only spoke it now.

The hobbit often tired quicker than we did, but then he was completely unused to the hardships we were facing. He seemed so soft and grumbled often, causing us to slow down. Every time I huffed even slightly at the delay, Ariana would poke me sharply in the side as she walked past, I had once thought that Dis would be the worst sibling I had, clearly I was wrong. Ariana also took great delight in telling the boys stories about when we were younger, more often than not after I had told them off for something. I frowned, she had taken great offense in how I treated the boys, yet their own mother had never told me off for it.

I stared across the camp, looking around at the groups of dwarves clustered together, many of the families sitting together, although I was sat with Dwalin and Balin. I huffed angrily, I had said something this morning about the Hobbit be completely ill-equipped for this journey and all I had meant were his clothes were too thin and he had no shoes at all. Ariana had snapped at me and accused me of being a pigheaded, ignorant troll and walked off. Ariana was sat with Fíli, Kíli and the Hobbit who was wrapped up in a cloak that Ariana had pulled from her pack and shrunk down. If my baby sister got sick because of the Hobbit I would throw him off a mountain.

I chewed on the end of my pipe, straining to hear what Ariana was saying to make the boys lean in closer to her. "…. In return he decided that Frerin and Dwalin deserved to have the favour returned." I froze, staring over at her. She met my gaze and smirked when I shook my head, no she could not be telling them that story. She nodded and they, Kíli especially, leaned in even closer. "What happened next Aunty?" Fíli asked and although it filled me with warmth that they finally had the chance to know their Aunt, at the moment I was really wishing that they hadn't.

Ariana grinned, I groaned and Dwalin laughed, "Well Thorin decided that he would fill a bucket full of paint and another of feathers over two different archways that they would have to walk through. He mixed a little bit of honey in with the paint to make it slightly stickier and then set it all up. Unfortunately it didn't work quite as planned, you see Frerin and Dwalin had decided that they were going to take a different way to the council chambers, unluckily for Thorin however, adad and grandfather were the ones walking down the corridor instead. Thorin heard them coming and despite being ready for the council meeting, in all his finery he triggered the traps and took the prank himself. But in true Thorin style, he didn't do it to look like he had simply walked down the corridor and this had happened, he burst out of his little hiding place and had run full pelt down towards the first trap, getting covered in feathers first and then in paint."

I groaned and hid my face slightly, scowling at Dwalin who was crying with laughter. "So he finally comes to a stop right in front of adad and grandfather, covered in paint and feathers. This really important council meeting's about to start and grandfather just looks at him and goes, 'There are easier ways to get yourself excused Thorin. Get cleaned up and we will talk later about how you can atone for this.' Thorin just stood there as they walked past and as soon as they were around the corner, Dis and I fell out of our hiding place laughing." Ariana paused to giggle and Dwalin coughed, "That was 'bout the time we walked 'round the corner. Funniest thing I'd seen." I glared over at him, shoving him backwards off the log. "That mohawk you had was the funniest thing I'd seen." I muttered and Dwalin growled.

He then launched himself at me and soon we were sparring on the ground, each of us trying to get the upper hand. I could hear Ariana's laugh and Dwalin twitched, he had always had a soft spot for hearing her laugh. I smirked and found the small opening in Dwalin's armour that he used to take it off; wormed my fingers in and squeezed. A laugh barked out of Dwalin's mouth and he jerked like a landed fish, flopping to the ground next to me. I rolled to my feet and looked down at him, only raising an eyebrow when he glared up at me. "You are dead. I hope Fíli is ready to be king." He growled out and made to rise, what he hadn't seen was Ariana's eyes light up as he had reacted to being tickled slightly.

She was creeping up behind him, soundlessly and I moved my hand to my side, where the area of his armour was and she nodded, leaping just as Dwalin got to his feet. Her fingers were a lot thinner than mine, more delicate and so she was able to reach Dwalin's weak spot easier than I could. Soon we were watching as Ariana and Dwalin wrestled on the floor, Ariana tickling Dwalin and him trying to shake her loose. I watched from my spot next to Balin as there were bets placed on who would win this fight. Kíli and Fíli were laughing along with Bofur and Nori. Oín was shaking his head, but smiling fondly. I watched the Hobbit, he was watching it with a fondness that was strange, almost like he cared about those in the mock fight and was entertained by them.

I came back to myself as I heard a crack and everyone froze, Dwalin was braced over Ariana; holding her head and looking at her forehead. She smiled up at him and rolled her eyes, pushing him off her before sitting up. As she turned I caught sight of some blood on her temple, "Namanith?" I moved towards her and she shook her head, "I am fine, I have a hard head." I frowned seeing the graze on her temple from the rock she had hit on the floor. I turned to Dwalin ready to gut him, but tripped up as Ariana entangled her legs with mine, sending me crashing to the floor. "Enough Nadad. I am fine." She told me, her head already healed.

I glared over at Dwalin, but nodded and soon we were all settling in for the night. I placed my bedroll next to Ariana's and she shook her head. "Thorin, I am old enough to sleep on my own you know? I am also old enough to take care of myself and defend my own honour." She told me and I nodded, "I know that, khuzdith, but you are still so young even compared to the boys. You will always be my baby sister." I muttered out to her as I lay down and she snorted and rolled her eyes, settling in next to me and curling up near me for the warmth. "I will give it to you though, you're like sleeping next to a forge." I chuckled and tugged her hair softly. "Go to sleep, silly thing."

The next morning we made our way up into the mountains, walking along a thin rock ledge that jutted out from the side. Which was bad enough, but then it began to rain, which made the ledge slippery. As we journeyed further into the mountain pass the rain turned to sleet and then snow as the temperature began to drop around us. The winds that whipped through the mountains were so strong that it felt like we were going to be blow off the edge. "Grab the dwarf in front of you, anchor yourselves and move carefully." I bellowed back, feeling fingers grasp the back of my coat and pack.

Dori's yell pierced through the snow that was blinding us as it was blasted at us by the winds. "It's a blizzard, we need to find cover." I could hear Dwalin arguing that we couldn't see a thing, so how were we going to find shelter and I silently agreed. This was not the best place to be caught in a blizzard, I had no idea how far we had moved out onto the ledge or how much further we would have to go before we found shelter. I began to move slowly along again when the mountain began to shake and large rocks fell, crashing down above our heads.

I watched in shock as the mountain began to break apart, turning my head slightly when I heard Kíli's voice, "What's happening?" I saw Fíli reaching for him. "Kíli, grab my hand. Kee!" I watched as Ariana grabbed hold of Fíli and pull him back just as Dwalin grabbed Kíli. I felt the Hobbit wrap his fingers into my coat and I slid a hand back to brace against his arm as the rock we were on moved again. "Giants! That's all we fucking need." Dwalin growled out and we watched as the two stone giants began to fight. "It's a thunder battle." I heard Balin shout from the cliff.

Our giant was not winning this battle and as he fell his knees went surging towards the mountain. "Jump!" I yelled and we all jumped tumbling onto the cliff ledge, the giant falling to the depths of the valley below us. I watched as the other skidded around the corner, all relatively unscathed. "Where's Bilbo?" Ariana's voice rang out and I looked around to find Fíli and Ori leaning over the side of the mountain were the hobbit, was hanging on, barely. I didn't stop to think as I swung down from the edge of the cliff and grabbed hold of him, hoisting him up towards Fíli. As my hand began to slip, Dwalin reached down and grabbed hold of my wrist. Dwalin chuckled as he pulled me back over the side of the mountain. "I thought we had lost our burglar." I stared at him, feeling my heart clench slightly at the thought of losing such a kind soul. "He's been lost ever since he left his home. He should not have come, he has no place among us."

I moved off, not pausing to listen to the murmurs that were coming from behind me, all of them comforting the hobbit. I flinched as someone curled their hand into my hair and tugged sharply. I knew who it was without having to turn around only one person would dare to behave like this to me. "Was that necessary? He already fears that you hate, him did you have to go and confirm it?" She snapped out at me and I glanced back, seeing that the other's were far enough behind to answer the question. "He is my Sanzeuh, my perfect one and seeing him fall off the cliff scared me. I am aware that I could have handled it better, but I would rather he turned around and went back to the elves and was safe, than stay and get hurt." I hissed out at her and she stared at me, before smacking me around the back of the head. "You will have some major grovelling to do when this comes to light, you complete cockwomble." I raised an eyebrow at the name, but she didn't say anything else, just walked beside me in silence.

We soon found a cave large enough to fit us all in, it was suspicious to find something this large and for it not to be inhabited, but we were all cold, tired and more than a little sore. We moved about the cave in silence, Ariana checking everyone over for wounds and healing the small cuts and bruises that we had acquired. I set my bedroll down on the far side of the cave, furthest away from the hobbit, from Bilbo and I watched as Ariana looked at him, then looked at me and rolled her eyes. I glared at her and settled down, listening as one by one the company began to drift off, all except Bofur who was stood on watch at the entrance to the cave.

I listened and watched in the darkness as the hobbit packed up his things silently and made to move out of the cave only for Bofur to stop him. "Where do ya think yer going?" I listened intently to his reply. "Back to Rivendell." I frowned, at that answer. "No. No. Ya can't turn back now. Yer part o' the company. Yer one o' us." I heard Bofur say and I felt myself agreeing slightly. Bilbo sighed. "I'm not now, am I? Thorin said I should never have come and he was right. I'm not a Took. I'm a Baggins. I don't know what I was thinking. I should never have run out my door." I felt guilty that I had caused this brave little creature to doubt himself, but he would truly be safer away from all this.

Bofur sighed, "Yer homesick. I understand." I heard Bilbo huff angrily and looked up to find Ariana glaring at me. "No you don't. You don't understand. None of you do. You're Dwarves. You're used to this life, to living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere." He paused and then shuffled, "I'm sorry, I didn't…" I heard Bofur move, "No yer right. We don' belong anywhere. I wish ya all the luck in the world. I really do." There was a pause, "Hey what's that?" I sat up at Bofur's exclamation and looked at Bilbo's blade, it was glowing blue and I froze. "Everyone get up! Get up!" I yelled out and then watched in horror as the floor gave out underneath us and we dropped down into the mountain.

We landed on a wooden walkway and were quickly overrun by goblins, who grasped and growled at us. I could hear Dwalin snarling and the exclamations of everyone else. Ariana was up ahead of me, her hand wrapped tightly in Kíli's and her eyes flashing gold. We were led on a winding route through the centre of the mountain to a huge wooden platform surrounded by hordes of screaming goblins. We stumbled to a stop before a great throne, a huge fat goblin sat on it. "We found them on the front porch." One of the goblins sneered. "Who dare come so armed into my kingdom, speak."

We all stared at him silently and he grinned. "Very well, if you will not talk, we'll make you squawk. Bring up the bone breaker. Start with the youngest." My heart clenched as I looked over at Kíli, but the goblin was looking at Ori. Dori and Nori pulled him back tighter into the group and Dwalin moved to stand in front, but the goblin's were insistent on getting to Ori. I frowned and saw Ariana go to move. She would give herself to save Ori pain and I could not have that. "Enough." I growled out and moved my way to the front of the group, facing the goblin.

He surged to his feet as we arrived and cackled. "Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thrór, King Under the Mountain." He then paused, bowed mockingly and looked down at me, smirking. "Oh but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain, and you're not a king, which makes you nobody, really." The great Goblin looked down at us. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head, just the head mind you. I hear he rides a white warg." My gut clenched and I felt Ariana grasp my wrist. "Azog the Defiler is no more. He was slain in battle long ago." I ground out and the Great Goblin just laughed. "So you think his defiling days are done do you?"

We all stared at him silently, Ariana's grip on my wrist sliding down until she could twine her fingers with mine hidden with the folds of our coats. The Great Goblin cackled, "send a message to the White Orc, tell him I have his prize." He grinned down at us maliciously and we watched in silence as he began to sing as the messenger slid off down into the depths of the mountain. We clustered tighter together as I tried to think of a plan that we could use to get us out of here that didn't involve showing every goblin in this mountain Ariana's magic. I grimaced as the Great Goblin began to sing.

"Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung. You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung. You will die down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin Town." I glared up at the Great Goblin, baring my teeth as his gaze landed on Ariana. One of the goblins picked up the sword I had acquired and partially pulled it out before dropping it. "I know that sword. It is the Goblin Cleaver. The Biter. The blade that sliced a thousand necks. Slash them. Beat them. Kill them. Kill them all. Cut off his head." I struggled as I was pushed to the ground and a Goblin held a blade over my neck. I braced for the blow only for a blast of light to knock us all over. I looked upside down towards where the light had come from and found Gandalf, wielding his staff and sword. "Fight. Stand and Fight you fools." I heard him say and I tossed the goblin on my chest aside.

The Great Goblin seemed to shrink back as we tossed weapons back and forth dishing them out to the members of the company. "He wields the Foe-Hammer. The Beater. Bright as Daylight." Soon we were darting away from the platform, Gandalf leading us away. We were all fighting our way out when I saw Ariana, she was fighting along side Kíli who had grandfather's blade out and trying to keep up with the sheer number of goblins that were swarming us. She had her two curved blades out and span them around in quick succession in a loop one over the other, enabling her to carve her way through the goblins as Kíli watched her back.

She darted along the walkways, slicing through anything that go in her way, pushing Kíli along towards the rest of us, pausing as the floor gave out and she just smirked, jumping through it and sticking the blade of her sword through the top of the goblins head. She rolled with the motion and tugged her sword free, slitting the throat of the nearest goblin, before spinning around again and helping Kíli to make his way towards us.

When they joined us, I watched as she kept to the side of the group, quickly cutting down anything that even came close to ambushing us from the sides. I marvelled at the fact that this clearly wasn't the same little girl I had watched practice all these years ago. She now knew far more than we could ever teach her, she was the warrior we'd all dreamed she could be. That didn't mean I wanted her fighting, I thought to myself as I surged forward again, cutting down the goblin's viciously when the tried to get too close to her. We were running across a wide bridge when our fortunes changed.

We staggered to a stop as the Great Goblin launched himself up out of the depths of the mountain and faced Gandalf. "You thought you could escape me?" He swung his mace and knocked Gandalf back into Fíli and Nori, who helped him back upright. "What are you going to do know wizard?" He asked mockingly, only for Gandalf to shove his staff in his eye, then cut through his stomach with his sword. The goblin looked down and nodded, "That'll do it." He crashed forward causing the bridge to collapse and to send us sliding down into the depths of the mountain. As the dust settled, I saw Ariana and Gandalf climbing to their feet outside of the mass of wooden rumble that used to be a bridge.

Bofur's voice sounded from somewhere to my right. "Well, that could have been worse." This was immediately followed by the corpse of the Great Goblin falling on top of us. "Oh, ye've got to be joking." Dwalin snapped out and Ariana giggled faintly. We began to dig each other out of the rubble, several of us groaning at the pain of falling so far, then having the fat lump fall on us. I glanced over at Ariana but she was staring up, I followed her gaze and found the goblins streaming down to meet us. "Run." I bellowed and we all darted out of the crevasse at the bottom and into a small tunnel, "Quickly into the daylight." Gandalf yelled and we followed him out into the sunshine.

We ran down the rocky side of the mountain, pausing half way down to catch our breath and I listened absently as Gandalf counted us all out. "Where is the hobbit? Where is Bilbo?" I heard him ask and my heart clenched, perhaps he hadn't fallen with us after all. "I'll tell you were he is, he's probably half way back to Rivendell by now." I snarled out and I heard agreements around me, until Nori spoke. "No he fell with us, I saw him slip away as they were dragging us off. He's lost to us." I turned to look at Ariana as my heart sank, Bilbo was still in the mountain. She seemed ready to march back into the mountain, when Bilbo stepped out from behind a tree. "No, no he isn't."

Gandalf seemed to sigh in relief and I scowled, "Why? Why did you come back?" I snapped out, using my rudeness to hide my relief, and Gandalf looked over at me, I could feel Ariana's glare in the back of my skull. "Well, why does it matter? He's back." I glared. "It matters. I want to know - why did you come back?" I stared at the Halfling, at Bilbo and waited for his answer. "Look I know you doubt me, you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong, that's home. That's why I came back, 'cause you don't have one, a home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."

I sighed, nodding and then froze as the howl of a warg came echoing down through the trees. "Out of the frying pan." I muttered and Gandalf nodded, "And into the fire. Run." We ran down the remainder of the slope until it just disappeared. "Up, quickly, up into the trees." Gandalf yelled and we all scrambled up into the trees, Ariana being the last of us. She barely made it up into the tree as the wargs crashed into the clearing, but she climbed so swiftly I would have thought she did have elf blood in her.

I stared in shock as Azog walked his warg towards us, Black speech rolling from his tongue. "Do you smell it? The scent of fear? I remember your father reeked of it… Thorin, son of Thrain." I snarled out a breath as he walked closer to us, "Bring me his head." He spoke and soon the wargs were leaping up, tearing away the lower branches of the pines we were in. Soon the tree's began to give way and toppled like dominos into each other and then we were all hanging on to the branches of the tree Gandalf hand managed to climb into. I blinked and suddenly fiery pine cones were being thrown down towards the wargs, causing them to back off, but not before the damage had been done and our tree fell, tipping over the edge of the cliff, barely hanging on.

Through the haze of the fire and the crackle I could hear my companions cries for help, it sounded like a few were falling, but all I could see was the orc who had taken everything from me. I quickly climbed up onto the trunk of the tree and walked along it, ignoring the cries all around me, even Ariana's voice couldn't get through to me. Azog stared down at me, "I will wipe the line of Durin from this earth. My warg will bathe in your blood and devour your flesh." I span my sword out around and faced of against him, trying to fight his warg as it came for me, but in fighting the warg I forgot about his claw and was blindsided by it. I groaned in pain as the warg to advantage of that and grabbed me around the waist in its jaws, shaking me and throwing me to the side. I groaned as my head cracked against the rocks and dark spots played across my vision. The last thing I saw as I fell into the darkness was Bilbo standing in front of me, his little sword raised to defend me.

I awoke to find Gandalf hovering over me on one side and Ariana on the other, the sky above me clear and light. Bilbo. I surged to my feet, "The Hobbit, Where is he?" Gandalf smiled down at me, "Bilbo is here, he's fine." I spun around and faced him, studying him to see if he was as unharmed as they were saying. "You. What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed. Did I not say you would be a burden, that you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amnogst us?" I paused, feeling Ariana's glare burning into my back, watching as Bilbo's face dropped and the smile slipped. I smiled slightly and moved forwards, "I've never been so wrong in all my life." I said as I pulled him into a hug.

I smiled into his shoulder as I felt him relax slightly, I pulled away and looked at him. "And I am sorry for doubting you." He shook his head and stared up at me. "No, it's fine. I would have doubted me too. I'm not a hero, or a warrior. Not even a burglar." He said looking over at Gandalf who chuckled. I looked up from Bilbo to find Ariana staring out onto the horizon and as I moved up towards her I realised what she was staring at. "Is that?" I heard Bilbo ask faintly and Ariana reached out to grip my wrist. "The Lonely Mountain." Gandalf replied and I smiled over at Ariana. "Erebor, Our home." Bilbo smiled and sighed," Then I do believe that the worst is behind us." I couldn't have agreed with him more.

A/N: So the next chapter will be Kíli and hopefully I will get that done quickly. I'm now on Easter break so I should have plenty of time for writing :)