Daughter of Starlight

Chapter Nine: Barrel Riding

"I wager the sun is on the rise," I heard Bofur say. "It must be nearly dawn."

It had to have been many hours since Legolas came to see me. It had felt like an eternity to me, but it must have felt infinitely longer to the company.

"We're never going to reach the mountain, are we?" I heard Ori ask sadly, and I felt a little sad myself. There was little time to get to the Lonely Mountain, and most of it was being spent in the elven dungeons.

"Not stuck in here, you're not," I heard a soft, familiar voice say.

Exclamations of joy and relief echoed everywhere, and I shot up from where I sat on the cot to look through the bars, seeing Bilbo letting everyone out. He shushed them all, reminding them that there were guards nearby. I then saw him glance around, wondering where I was.

"Bilbo!" I said, and he looked up towards me. Seeing where I was, he ran up to unlock the cell and let me out.

I quietly opened my cell door and closed it, cautiously glancing above for guards as I trailed after the company upwards and out of the dungeon.

"Not that way," Bilbo said in a hushed voice, but loud enough for us to hear. "Down here!"

I watched with a furrowed brow as I watched him head down, deeper into the dungeons. I was as confused as the rest of the dwarf company who all looked to me for guidance, being the only one with knowledge of this place, but I had no idea what to tell them. I just followed Bilbo, and they followed me.

The closer we got to the lowest levels of the Woodland Realm, the more I realized where we were heading.

When I heard the not too faint sound of snoring coming from two Silvan servants in the wine cellars, I grimaced in disgust. I recognized the two men who sat slumped at a table, empty bottles of the finest red wines clustered around their heads. The sight of two supposedly able servants inebriated to the point of unconsciousness irked me, but I didn't say anything.

"I don't believe it! We're in the cellars!" Kili's hushed exclamation was disbelieving.

"You're supposed to be leading us out, not in!" Bofur whispered accusingly.

"I know what I'm doing!" Bilbo said indignantly, a little louder than he should have been, and Bofur shushed him patronizingly.

Bilbo had led us to a pile of empty wine barrels stacked on each other. The company drifted around them, murmuring their growing apprehension. How was Bilbo planning to get us out of here with wine barrels?

"Everybody, climb into the barrels!" Bilbo whisper-shouted.

"Are you mad?" Gloin demanded. "They'll find us!"

I had to agree with Gloin. We couldn't hide out in barrels and hope that we'd never be found. We wouldn't last an hour.

"No, they won't. Please, you must trust me," Bilbo pleaded, but the company resigned to their murmuring again.

Bilbo looked to Thorin for help, who immediately ordered the company to, "Do as he says," and the company climbed into the barrels.

I had been ready to get into a barrel, but there weren't any empty ones left. I would have to share one.

Wait. What was that sound?

"Where is the keeper of the keys?" Tauriel demanded, her voice far off in the dungeons above.

"Bilbo," I said, heightening apprehension in my voice. But he wasn't paying attention to me.

"What do we do now?" Bofur asked.