Chapter 15

"Annelise! Annelise, you need to get up! Uncle is waiting for us!" a voice whispered loudly, while a hand shook her shoulder softly but firm.

Annelise blinked her eyes before rubbing them and looking towards the voice on her right side. She saw that it was Kili speaking to her, while Fili had his hand laying gently on her shoulder still.

"I have your bag already. You just need to get dressed and grab your weapons," Fili whispered to her softly, raising up his other hand that was holding her pack.

Nodding quickly, Annelise jumped up and threw on her long tunic over her undershirt before grabbing her leather jerkin and cloak. Kili handed over her quiver and belt after she slipped on her boots.

Giving one last quick glance around her room to make sure she had everything, she moved toward the door following behind her cousins.

She stopped one last time before she shut the door behind her to look into the room that had so quickly become home to her. She saw the letters she had written still lying on the small bedside table, next to the book containing the pressed rose from Estel.

Suddenly a wave of sadness washed over Annelise as she thought of the people she would be leaving behind. She was not naive enough to think that the road ahead of her would be easy and she knew that there was a chance that she may not make it back to this beautiful valley again.

She regretted then, more than ever, not being able to say a true goodbye to the family that she had found again after so long.

But as she looked over her left shoulder to see her cousins smiling and waving for her to follow them, she knew that she was making the right decision.

And so, with one final glance, Annelise shut the door to her bedroom and grabbed the hand that Fili was holding out to her, taking the first of many steps that would lead her on a road she never would have expected to find herself on. And she didn't look back.

Annelise and her cousins soon joined the others, seeing that they were the last to arrive.

She walked over and stood next to her father, who was speaking quietly with Balin, and looked over the valley that stretched out before her. The sky was just beginning to lighten as the sun began to slowly make its way over the mountains that surrounded them.

"You are going to miss this place," Thorin said suddenly, having finished his conversation with Balin and turning to see his daughter gazing sadly at the place she had been born a little over twenty-five years before.

Annelise quickly turned to look down at her father before replying.

"Yes... I will. The more time I spent here, the more things I could remember. Playing with my mother in the gardens, riding on my father's shoulders as we walked through the halls, laughing with Estel."

She turned then to look down at Thorin and saw his troubled face and continued on quickly.

"But, I would not trade going on this journey with you for a hundred more days here. I want to be there when you see Erebor again, when you reclaim your homeland."

Thorin looked up at his daughter with tears in his eyes. At her words, all of the fears and doubts that he had begun to have upon learning of Annelise's connection to these Elves and their home disappeared.

"Words cannot express how much I love you. I do not know what trials await us on our journey, but I am comforted by the thought that you will remain by my side."

"I love you, Father," Annelise said, leaning down to hug Thorin tightly and kissing his check before she pulled away.

Annelise soon moved to stand next to Bilbo as the Company set off on the path out of Rivendell. They quickly fell to the back of the group, as if hesitant to leave the beautiful place for fear of the unknown wilds that were ahead of them.

As they reached the pass that would lead them out of the valley, Bilbo and Annelise stopped for a moment to look back down on the city that was slowly being illuminated by the rising sun coming over the top of the mountains.

"Be on your guard," Thorin said loudly from the front of the line. "We are about to step over the edge of the wild. Balin, you know these paths. Lead on."

Annelise turned away to follow the Company, while Bilbo stood back for a moment longer. She knew that the hobbit would have been very content to stay in the elven city. She gently laid her hand on his shoulder and nodded her head over her shoulder when he looked up at her.

"Don't worry. We'll see this place again," she said smiling down at him softly, guessing the thoughts that were running through his head.

"Yes, I do believe you are right."

"Master Baggins, I suggest you keep up," Thorin yelled back from ahead.

Annelise shook her head in disapproval of how her father treated the halfling and she heard Bilbo sigh loudly before they both turned to continue following the path toward the Misty Mountains in the east.

The journey was long and without Gandalf there, Annelise found herself spending most of the days that followed walking with Bilbo. She learned of the places he explored while in Rivendell and of his many relations in Hobbiton. She was very interested in learning about the lives of Hobbits, and couldn't help but compare them with her own. She in turn told him all that she had learned from Lord Elrond and his children about her past. When she was sure no one in the Company would overhear them, she would speak of her wishes to spend more time with her new found family so that she could learn more about her parents. She also talked of her desire to find Estel, wherever he was.

On occasion, they would exchange riddles with each other and Annelise began teaching Bilbo Sindarin to pass the time. When the company would stop for meals and water, Annelise would sketch her surroundings with the paper that Arwen had supplied her with in Rivendell. She even convinced the hobbit to allow her to draw a portrait of him on one of their longer breaks. She made sure the wrap the pages up securely in the leather cloth Arwen had provided to prevent them from getting wet.

Upon reaching the pass that they would take over the Mountains, Annelise was very glad for the leather bindings, as a huge thunderstorm rained down on them heavily as they got deeper into the mountains.

The path through the mountains were very narrow and Annelise found herself clinging to the side so that she would not fall off. She made sure that Bilbo stayed in front of her and reached out to steady him when he seemed to slip. She could feel Dwalin behind her and noticed his hand grabbing onto her bag every time she reached out to steady the hobbit.

"Steady! Hold on!" she heard her father yell from his position leading the group.

Suddenly Bilbo slipped again and nearly plummeted face first down the side of the mountain. She and Bofur reached out quickly to catch him and she felt Dwalin holding onto her tightly to keep her from falling down after the hobbit.

"We need to find shelter," her father yelled after they had all gained their footing once more.

"Look out!" Dwalin yelled suddenly from beside Annelise. She and the others looked in the direction he was facing, and saw a huge boulder flying through the air towards the top of the rocks right above them.

At the collision, rock began showering down on the Company and Annelise pushed herself and Bilbo back against the rocks as far as she could to avoid getting hit by the larger ones. She could here the others yelling around her to each other while trying to avoid the rocks themselves.

"This is no thunderstorm! It's a thunder-battle!" Balin yelled from the front of the group. "Look!"

The Company turned in the direction he was pointing to see a great giant made of stone. It was grabbing onto the top of the mountain, pulling off a large portion of it before throwing it at another giant that was behind them.

"Well, bless me," Bofur said, stepping up further. "The legends are true! Giants! Stone-giants!"

"Take cover, you fool!" Thorin yelled back to Bofur as rocks began raining down on them once more.

"Bilbo, come on!" Annelise yelled, pulling the hobbit back further against the wall as the rocks that were falling began hitting the edge of their path, making it even narrower.

Suddenly the Company began feeling the rocks beneath their feet start moving. Annelise feared for a moment that the path would fall out from underneath them before she realized that they were being pulled apart from the rest of the group. She looked up to see that they were standing on the legs of a third giant and that her father and Kili were on the other leg.

"Fili, grab my hand!" she heard Kili yelling before they were completely separated.

"No, Annelise!" yelled Thorin while Fili cried out his brother's name.

Suddenly the giant that they were standing on was head butted by another and rocks began falling on them as they tried to maintain their grips while the legs moved as the giant fell back.

She saw that her father and the others were able to jump onto a part of the path that was not connected to a giant and she breathed a sigh of relief before remembering that she and her part of the Company were still in danger.

The three giants soon began engaging in battle. Everything passed so quickly, and Annelise soon found herself facing the path her father was on and moving quickly passed them as the giant they were on began falling. She saw the side of the mountain begin racing toward them and she knew they were going to hit it.

She turned and saw Fili looking at her in fear and reached out to grab his hand as the mountain got closer.

"No!" she could hear someone yelling as they smashed into the rock. The impact left her winded and covered in rocks, but she was relieved to find that somehow, other than a few cuts and what was sure to be some really bad bruises, she was unharmed.

She glanced around at the dwarves surrounding her and saw that they were in the same condition.

Her father soon rounded the corner of the path, and took a deep breath of relief at seeing them alive.

"It's alright! They're alive," Gloin yelled to those behind them. Fili came from behind Annelise and helped her stand up and she was greeted by a tight hug from her father as soon as she regained her balance.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," he said softly before releasing her. She quickly found herself in the same position with Kili, instead of her father.

"Where's Bilbo? Where's the Hobbit?" Bofur asked frantically, causing the rest of the Company to look around quickly.

"There!" Annelise yelled, seeing the hobbit's hands hanging off the side of the cliff near Bofur and Ori.

"Get him," Dwalin yelled, as Bofur and Ori dove down to try and grab onto him.

"Grab my hand!"

"Bilbo!"

"Stay here," Thorin said sternly to Annelise, holding her back from trying to lean over the edge to grab the hobbit.

She watched as he swung over the ledge, holding on with one hand, using the other to lift up the halfling. Just as he was safely back on the path, Annelise's heart stopped in her chest. Her father's hand had slipped.

Thankfully Dwalin caught his other arm and Annelise laid down on her stomach next to the tough dwarf and helped him pull her father up to safety, before hugging him tightly as he had done to her just moments before.

"I thought we lost our burglar," Dwalin said once everyone was safely on their feet.

"He's been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us," Thorin said angrily, walking forward on their path.

"Father," Annelise began to protest, but he ignored her.

"Dwalin!"

Annelise was very relieved when they were able to find a cave to take shelter in to get out of the rain.

"It looks safe enough," Dwalin said looking around the cave.

"Search to the back. Caves in the mountains are seldom unoccupied."

"There's nothing here," Dwalin said from the back of the cave, and the others let some of the tension go from their bodies and began setting up a small camp.

"Right, then. Let's get a fire started," Gloin said, throwing down wood from his pack.

"No. No fires. Not in this place," Thorin ordered. "Get some sleep. We start at first light."

"We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan," Balin said, protesting Thorin's orders.

"Plans change. Bofur, take the first watch."

"Right, okay," he said moving to take a spot close to the entrance.

"I'll sit with you for a little while," Annelise said, not feeling tired yet after the rush she had gotten from nearly being smashed by fighting rock giants.

"Thanks, lass," Bofur said smiling up at Annelise gratefully.

Bofur and Annelise spent most of their watch speaking quietly to each other about their journey. Annelise asked him what he thought of the hobbit that had joined them and was happy to find that his opinion was very similar to her own.

She was saddened however, when after a while she looked up to see Bilbo moving quietly towards them with his things packed on his back, carrying his walking stick in his hands. She knew then just how much the words her father had spoken had gotten to him. He didn't notice them watching him until Bofur finally spoke up quietly.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to Rivendell."

"No, no, you can't turn back now, eh?" Bofur said. He and Annelise stood up, moving over to Bilbo and further away from the others, so that they wouldn't disturb them.

Annelise, however, continued out to the opening of the cave, knowing that it would be best for Bofur to try and convince him to stay first.

She looked out into the rain and was glad to see that it was letting up a bit. She looked up and saw that there were a few places where she could see the stars and moon shining through the storm clouds and she smiled a little.

She could hear voices from the cave but could not make out the words. She decided that if Bofur was unable to convince Bilbo to stay, she would try herself.

Suddenly she heard her father yelling. "Wake up! Wake up!"

She turned back to look into the cave and saw the floor fall open quickly, taking her father and the rest of the Company with it. Before she had a chance to run in after them, the floor shut itself up once more.

"No! Father! Fili, Kili! Bilbo!" she yelled pounding the ground, trying to get it to open once more.

"What do I do now?" she said thinking aloud, talking to the air around her. "I don't know where they've gone or how to get to them. I could continue in the path that we were following but I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go. I guess I could just wait for Gandalf like we had planned to do before. But what happened to the others? Who took them? How could they have known we were even here? Unless..."

Annelise trailed off realizing that there may in fact be another way into the cave. She quickly pulled out her twin blades, becoming extremely cautious as the thought crossed her mind that whoever had taken her companions might come into the cave to make sure that no one had escaped the trap.

Her thoughts were soon proven correct when the sound of goblins approaching reached her ears. She was especially worried when she realized that the sounds were coming from the back of the cave.

'That's impossible. Dwalin checked and said there was no way in from the back,' she thought to herself.

All too soon, she found herself face to face with at least five goblins and she could see that there were even more behind them waiting to enter the small cave.

As soon as the first goblin saw her, it began running toward her. She quickly moved her right blade to block its' approach, before decapitating the goblin and moving to the next. She spun her body to the left, dodging the blade of another, before slashing it deeply across the stomach.

She soon found herself surrounded by three more goblins and was nearly overwhelmed when they attacked at the same time. She managed to dodge two of them, while stabbing the third in the chest, only to have it be replaced by another. After cutting down three more goblins, Annelise was knocked to the ground by a strong hit to the back of her head. Shacking her head to clear it as she fell, she rolled out of the way of an axe, taking down another goblin as she spun.

After the blow to her head, Annelise knew that she would not be able to last much longer. Especially if more goblins kept coming. She cut down three more and was happy to see that there were only eight left. She was glad that they didn't feel the need to send more than fifteen to scout out their trap, and prayed that she would be able to get through the skirmish. She had fought against much worse odds before, but that was always with her father or her cousins by her side.

She cut down two more goblins before a blow to the back of her left leg sent her to her knees. The remaining six goblins quickly surrounded her in the small space of the cave and Annelise knew that it would take a miracle for her to get out of that position unscathed.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, a bright white light shown throughout the cave and Annelise had to cover her eyes. She could hear the goblins around her screeching in pain and heard a voice that she had never been more glad to hear in her life.

"Stand up, Annelise. Your battle is not over yet," came the words from the wise wizard that she had been hoping to find.

Annelise quickly jumped up, spinning her blades around in each hand, before jumping back into the fight with Gandalf by her side. The goblins were soon taken care of and Annelise looked over at the wizard standing at her side.

"You have impeccable timing, Gandalf," she said chuckling slightly.

The wizard smiled down at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eye before turning and looking at their surroundings. He walked to the back of the cave and looked at the small opening the goblins had used to enter the cave.

"I'm not surprised that Dwalin missed this opening. It is so small and is hidden quite well," Annelise said, speaking mostly to herself.

"This will lead us to the others. Be on your guard. There are many more goblins in Moria than the few that we just encountered. They will have your father and the others well protected."

"What are we going to do?"

"We, my dear, are going to save them."