Surprise! I'm posting a day early! Please enjoy this chapter, I think a lot of people are going to enjoy the interaction at the beginning…

As always, a huge thank you to my beta reader, RivvyElf over at Ao3, for their support. I would be a lost cause without them!

Anyone who wants to drop a word, feel free! I would love to know what you all thought of this chapter.

Thank you and be well!

Kim

Brili almost forgot how loud dwarves could snore.

It wasn't so much louder than usual; the cave's stone walls amplified it. Even if Brili had wanted to get any sleep, she likely wouldn't have been able to. And if this cave was home to anything unwelcoming, she was sure it would know of their presence by now. It seemed safe for the time being. Despite this, they should have kept moving. That would have been sensible.

Unable to shake off her unease and rising irritability, she settled on watching the rain fall outside from the entrance to the cave. Occasionally, in the pauses between the snoring, she could hear the rain falling on the rock ledge. She could feel Bofur's eyes on her. The sensation of being watched prickled at her neck. Her anxiety had travelled down into her legs, nervous instinct causing her to shift every few minutes.

At least he had the common sense not to try and speak to her.

"Cozy?"

Well, so much for that.

Perhaps if she ignored him, then he would disappear. She focused her attention back on the rainfall. Silent meditation was not a skill she was adept at; she could never convince herself to sit still for such a long time. However, she might as well try now.

Bofur's voice was quiet compared to the racket around him. "You're not sleeping, are you?"

He sounded hesitant, almost as if he dreaded attempting to wake her. Good. At least he learned quickly. To silence him, she shook her head. Perhaps if he knew she was awake, he'd leave her be.

"Are you fond of the rain?"

Brili wondered how long it would take for him to stop talking.

Bofur sighed, not in an annoyed way but rather how one sighs when recalling something. "I don't suppose we see much of it in the mountains. What I wouldn't give for my wood kit right now. There's nothing like carving away by a warm fire while the rain falls outside. I build toys, you see, not as work but as a hobby. They fetch a fair price, though."

This rambling idiot.

She shifted to glare at him out of the corner of her eye.

His grin would have been contagious if the sight of him hadn't induced fury. "Ah, good, you are awake. Had me worried for a moment."

"All right, all right," he called out after only her first pass with the whetstone. "Point taken. I saw your performance in the tournament. I've got no intentions of crossing you. I'd be walloped in a heartbeat."

Curiosity piqued her interest, and she tilted her head in his direction. "You saw my fight?"

In the dark, she could barely make out Bofur's expression. But from what she could tell, she'd made a horrible mistake by speaking with him. That grin stretched to his eyes.

"Oh, aye," he chirped, his tone unreasonably spirited considering their surroundings. "Most of us saw it. Ori was talking about it for hours afterward. You fought well, especially considering the size difference. I certainly wouldn't want to cross swords with you."

If most of them saw it, why insist on treating me like some damsel needing protection?

"Did Thorin see it?"

"Your uncle? No, I don't believe he did."

Her frown deepened. "Seems I still need to prove myself then."

That statement had been meant for her and her alone, so she wasn't sure why she had confessed it aloud. It was beginning to become a bad habit for her.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Bofur answered. "You are a capable woman. Thorin will come around. You'll see."

"He still treats me like a child," she said bitterly. "They all do."

"Well, of course they do. You've put them through Udûn these last few years."

Brili visibly bristled over the implication of his statement, and her hand shifted to grip her knife more threateningly. Bofur's palms went up.

"Now, I'm not blaming you, lass. We all could have done better that day. But the love in their hearts never faded even in your absence. It's only natural that they would want to look after you."

Could have… done better?

That's all he had to say to her?

Unbidden, tears welled in her eyes, and she had to blink them away rapidly.

Again, the desperate ache that called her back to Rivendell flared. The panic she had felt when she ran from Ered Luin five years prior clawed up her throat, and hatred flared at her nostrils. Thunder roiled outside as if it were mimicking the fury in her heart. This was all a mistake and a terrible one at that… What business did they have dragging her away from the peace she had found? Let them suffer the dragon's wrath!

What am I even doing here?

"Where do you think you're going?"

She peered over her shoulder. Bilbo was frozen in his tracks, mere footsteps behind her with an expression similar to a child caught red-handed with a jar of sweets. He had his pack slung over his shoulders and a walking stick in his right hand.

And in his left hand was her pack.

With a sigh and softly muttered curse word that might have surprised Brili if she'd been paying better attention, Bilbo turned to Bofur. "Back to Rivendell."

"No, no, you can't turn back now, eh?" Bofur scrambled to his feet. "You're part of the company. You're one of us."

"I'm not, though, am I?" Bilbo answered. "Thorin said I should never have come, and he was right."

Brili only half-listened to their exchange because her eyes were locked on her traveling pack in Bilbo's hand. She very much doubted that he was brazen enough to try and burgle her. Further, it didn't look like Bofur had noticed the extra baggage.

"You're homesick, I understand…"

"No, you don't! You don't understand. None of you do, except her!" Bilbo uncurled one finger from around his walking stick to point to Brili. "You're dwarves! You're used to… to this life. To living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere!"

Bofur's crestfallen face would have given Brili some satisfaction if she hadn't been so distracted trying to figure out why Bilbo had her supplies.

"Oh… I am sorry. I didn't…" Bilbo faltered after a moment.

Bofur shook his head. "No, you're right… We don't belong anywhere."

Speak for yourself. I've found a home already.

"I wish you all the luck in the world, I really do." Bofur turned to Bilbo and rested a hand on his shoulder, who returned the gesture by putting Brili's pack down. That was when Bofur noticed the extra pack. "What's that for?"

"Well, it… It's hers." Bilbo reached down and gripped the handle of her bag before turning to her. "I hope that I'm not overstepping my boundaries… but I'm not sure if I could find the way back without help. And you don't seem happy here… I thought that you might…"

Brili could have kissed Bilbo as she jolted upright. Eagerly, she reached for her bag when she noticed the sheath at his hip. It looked to be glowing, just a little. Not minding any sense of propriety, Brili lifted the blade an inch out of the sheath. Its cool glow lit the surrounding area.

That couldn't be good… If this was a Gondolin blade, then it could only mean one thing.

"Oh no, no… No. Thorin'll have my head if I let—"

"Shit," Brili hissed, interrupting Bofur. "Bilbo, where did you get this sword?"

It appeared that Bilbo already knew what the blade was trying to tell him if the slowly dawning look of terror on his face was to be believed. Beneath their feet, the ground began to groan ominously. Brili groaned out loud as a line started to form in the sand around the center of the cave.

She knew she should have inspected the cave. Damn. It. All!

"Wake up!" Thorin called out. "Wake up!"

It was too late. The ground gave way beneath their feet and plunged the entire company into the mountain's depths. In her panic, Brili grabbed Bilbo and clung to him as they tumbled down a rocky shaft. The fall was relatively short and she painfully landed with a yelp.

The first thing she noticed was the smell: putrid and stinky. It wasn't orcs, thank Mahal for that; they reeked of death itself. This scent, while not quite as vile, was still unpleasant. It had to be goblins. No other creature smelled so much like foul breath. Three pairs of hands began pulling at her, intending to shield her from an oncoming hoard of goblins rapidly approaching them.

"Fuck," Brili muttered.

Instinctively, she pulled a knife from her side, lamenting the fact that she'd dropped the one she kept in her boot during the fall. Goblins were relatively easy to deal with if it weren't for the sheer number of them. Still, with an entire company of dwarves, they should be all right.

… Or so she thought until one leaped on top of her and began straddling her shoulders. She could hear it grunting unpleasantly in her ear, and the smell was almost unbearable. With a growl, she slammed herself backward into a wooden post to knock the creature off her. Unfortunately, there was another to take its place not a moment later, and Brili was smooshed uncomfortably into Thorin's back. Her other knife dropped to the ground at her feet.

Shit. That's two that I've lost now.

A rough hand, Thorin's, clasped around hers as the horde of goblins pushed them forward. All around them was the sound of metal clanging and makeshift horns bellowing. In the distance, Brili could hear the distant sound of… singing. But it was nothing like the peaceful music of Rivendell.

The deeper they were pushed, the more concerned Brili became. This was not a small pack of rogue goblins planning to pillage them. This was an entire community of goblins. There had to be thousands…

The most vile of them, Brili soon learned, was their leader, an unnaturally large goblin responsible for the singing she'd heard. Its body oozed with festering sores, and the loincloth wrapped precariously around the waist looked soiled. To make matters worse, this one smelled like literal shit. Brili gagged into her wrist as they got closer. When the entire group was huddled before him, the singing stopped. A leer was plastered on the massive goblin's face, revealing rotted teeth and reddened gums. He looked mighty pleased with himself as he plopped down onto a throne that was too well crafted to have found itself in a place such as this. The balcony that they stood on shook under the weight of his fall.

This was bad, really bad. Goblins were, by definition, at odds with elves. As Brili had aligned herself with Rivendell since departing Ered Luin, she now counted herself as an elf. These goblins were her enemy now as well.

A strange tingling began to creep up her spine, a sneer settling on her face…

"Catchy, isn't it?" the king asked. "It's one of my own compositions."

Balin, who Brili understood to be quite passionate about the arts, was not impressed. "That was no song… It's an abomination!"

While the dwarves around them applauded that statement, Brili took a subtle look at her surroundings. They were bleak. Goblins, some secreting slime from seeping infections, surrounded them from every angle. To her frustration, this was not something she could handle on her own. It would take a miracle and much-unwanted teamwork to get out of this one.

Where was Gandalf?

"Now! Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" The leader of this goblin city's voice was watery and weak. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?"

Who would waste their time assassinating that foul creature?

"Dwarves, your malevolence."

"Dwarves?"

I swear on Durin's beard, if one of them touches me…

"We found them on the front porch!"

"Well, don't just stand there!" the king boomed. "Search them! Every crack! Every crevice!"

Brili was jostled side to side briefly before two slimy hands groped her. She looked down to see one of the smaller goblins grinning at her lasciviously. One eye was just off of center. The goblin was likely blind in that eye. Those weak, spindly hands reached up to brazenly brush her breasts, beady eyes squinting in delight. Brili's teeth ground tightly as her jaw set. She'd kill this one first.

She'd make sure this piece of shit suffered for what he'd just done.

Just as she was about to reach up and crack the lewd goblin's hunched neck, one of the henchmen cried out, "It is my belief, your great protuberance, that they are in league with elves!"

Brili's eyes snapped to attention. She didn't have anything on hand that would have identified Rivendell. What had they found? This was just getting worse and worse… If these goblins believed they had justification to attack Rivendell because of something she brought with her, she would never forgive herself.

Raised just high enough for Brili to see over the crowd was… a candlestick. Of all the things…

More importantly, that wasn't hers. So, who took it?

Before she could dwell too deeply on that thought, the little cretin that had been running his oily hands all over her hips let out a loud squawk. A larger goblin had wrestled Brili out of the smaller goblin's grasp, a cruel look in his eye. Despite a loud bark from Bifur, Brili was dragged away from the center of the group and into the dim firelight.

"A dwarf-woman?" The king's jowls jiggled as he spoke. "What other secrets do these dwarves keep?"

"I am no mere dwarf-woman," Brili ground out. "Unless you—"

"Shut her up."

A repulsive smell covered her nose as Brili's captor covered her mouth to silence her. He clucked in her ear. The foul stench radiating off him was enough to turn Brili's stomach. The king beckoned her forward, his index finger curling to summon that she be brought to him. Thorin moved to block their path, presumably to protest, but Brili kicked his ankle as she was dragged past.

It would be best to try to settle this peacefully for now.

"Now," the king said when Brili had been presented to him like some prize, "what are you doing in these parts?"

He was looking at Brili in a way that made her feel sullied. Still, she'd better answer if she wanted to survive this mess.

Brili and Thorin were about to speak simultaneously, but Oin stepped forward. "Don't worry, lads, I'll handle this."

"No tricks!" the king warned. "I want the truth! Warts and all!"

He looked upon Brili again; she didn't like that he had separated her from the others. It was an ill omen.

"You're going to have to speak up!" Oin called out. "Your boys flattened my trumpet."

"I'LL FLATTEN MORE THAN YOUR TRUMPET!"

"If it's more information you want, then I'm the one you should speak to!" Bofur called out. "We were on the road! Well, it's not so much a road as a path. Actually, it's not even that, come to think of it. It's more like a track. Anyway, the point is that we were on this road like a path, like a track, and then we weren't! Which is a problem because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday."

"Visiting distant relations!"

"Some inbreds on me mother's side," Bofur concluded. "If you'd let my lovely wife go, then—"

WIFE?!

"SHUT UP!" the king roared, rising from his seat and bashing his staff against the ground.

If he hadn't interrupted, Brili would have tossed the goblin restraining her over the edge of the precipice to throttle Bofur.

"If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring up the Mangler! Bring up the Bonebreaker! Start with the youngest… but don't touch the girl…" The goblin king grinned down at her devilishly. "I can rip that pretty little tongue from her mouth myself when I'm done with her."

"WAIT!" Thorin rose from the back.

Her uncle's outburst, while still unwelcome, was much too late to soothe Brili's rage. Under the hands of her captor, her whole body trembled with a hatred that she hadn't felt since her earliest days of leaving Ered Luin. She would kill the goblin king herself for his threats. After she killed the one who touched her breasts, yes, she would kill that one first, then the king for threatening her tongue.

She glared up at the Goblin King as he said to Thorin: "Perhaps you know of whom I speak? A pale orc astride a white warg…"

Her uncle's eyes, if possible, darkened. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."

Azog? The orc that had killed her great-grandfather? No, that couldn't be right. He was nothing more than a fairytale now.

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?"

Brili focused on the weapons scattered on the floor. If she could get her hands on even one of them… She would attempt to shuffle towards them every few minutes, but the goblin that was restraining her kept shifting her back towards the king. Vaguely, as if the sound was much further away than the arm's length distance that it was, Brili could hear the screeching king singing out of tune:

"Bones will be shattered!

Necks will be rung!

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."

She watched in horror, her fury turning to ice in her gut, as a group of goblins began to push Kili towards what looked to be an impressive torture device. That was her brother, and the only one allowed to kill him was her, damnit. She rushed forward, taking the goblin pinning her arms by surprise. During the scuffle to get away, Brili's foot swung out and kicked Orcrist in the direction of the dwarves. They could at least fight if they could just get their hands on a weapon.

Orcrist was picked up by a goblin instead.

The revealing of the Elven blade had a twofold effect. For one thing, the goblin that had laid hands on the blade shrieked in pain as the magic forged within the blade burnt its skin. Additionally, the king of the goblins toppled backward away from the blade. These events sent the lesser goblins surrounding the company into a frenzy and started attacking the dwarves.

Brili screamed in shock as she was whipped across the back with iron chains.

She was completely defenseless, powerless. She'd promised herself that she would never allow herself to feel this way again. As she was whipped again, she bit her cheek to keep from crying out loud.

The taste of blood flooded her senses.

Brili of Rivendell was not powerless; she would fight to the—

A burst of pure, white light suddenly appeared, sucking out all of the sounds in the room. Brili was thrown onto her back, but there was no pain. Of course, there wasn't any pain. This was magic. No, it was the miracle she'd needed in the first place.

All was silent after the burst of light, but Brili knew what was coming next. The tingling in her fingers intensified, her hands flexing. Her muscles tightened. For a moment, there was nothing else in the mountain's cavernous depths but her hammering heartbeat.

Gandalf's voice echoed in the haze, slowly settling over her awareness.

"Take up arms. Fight. FIGHT!"