An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Goblins Cave

Thalia choked as she was roughly pulled from the river, she shivered as the cold wind rushed around her making her wonder who had pulled her from the ice cold waters.

Thalia looked up as she came face to face with a dark haired woman, who stood smirking before her; she was wearing dark clothing and seemed a little too pleased with herself.

“Who are you?” Thalia asked preparing to defend herself, she didn’t know who this person was but they were clearly powerful if they had pulled her from the rushing river.

Thalia watched the dark haired woman who eyed her for a moment, she didn’t know why she was being looked at like that but there was something about the woman before her that seemed familiar.

“Cornelia, Daughter of Hades,” the woman said introducing herself, a smile formed on her face, she held out her hand to help Thalia up; she had been searching for the blonde for months and she could see clearly who Thalia’s parents were.

Thalia blinked recognising the name, she was still slightly waterlogged from the trip into the river; she stared at Cornelia who was watching her with interest.

“Thalia, Daughter of Poseidon,” Thalia said carefully making the other woman nod her head, she tilted her head as she watched Thalia for a moment knowing where she had come from.

Cornelia had been tracking Thalia for a long time and she knew that she wasn’t the only one, she’d followed David Castellan through the rip and had thrown him off the trail as soon as she could; she didn’t need him finding her cousins before she did.

“How did you find me?” Thalia asked watching Cornelia, it couldn’t have been easy to track her since they hadn’t walked the easy way around.

“My dad told me how to find you, figured they’d want to speak with you sooner rather than later,” Cornelia said shrugging her shoulders, she made sure that she had everything before she looked at Thalia.

Cornelia knew that they wouldn’t have told Thalia everything, she herself had only discovered the truth when she’d somehow managed to fall into the underworld; there were things that Zeus didn’t want the trio knowing even if the other Gods didn’t agree.

“Come on… let’s catch up with that company of yours,” Cornelia said shouldering her bag, she nodded over to Thalia’s things that she had managed to find when the dwarves had been captured; they had to be quick.

Thalia blinked nodding her head, she didn’t know if she could trust the woman before her but she had a feeling that she didn’t have a choice; Cornelia clearly had more answers than she did.

***

Thorin grumbled annoyed as he was pushed and shoved forward towards the Goblin king, he couldn’t believe that they had fallen into this trip especially so soon after losing Thalia; his heart still hurt because she was gone.

“Who would be so bold to come into my kingdom armed?” the Goblin king asked looking over the gathering of dwarves, they had somehow managed to lose Bilbo during their capture.

Not that Thorin was interested in what would happen to the hobbit, it was his fault that Thalia had lost her life like she had.

“Dwarves, your malevolence,” one of the smaller goblins said, it was stood near the front of the group and the dwarves all moved to block Thorin from view; they didn’t need their leader doing something stupid right now.

They could all see that he was suffering from Thalia’s loss more than any of them were, she had been closest to Thorin and they had all had hopes for the pair.

“Well don’t just stand there. Search them,” the Goblin king ordered, his voice echoing across the cavern in which they all stood before him; his beady eyes looked over the group, he wondered what treasures that they could possibly have with them.

“What are you doing in these parts?” the Goblin king asked as his subjects stripped the dwarves of anything valuable that they could get their hands on; he didn’t know why they were here but he knew that they had better had a good reason.

Thorin glared up at the goblin knowing that there was no way that any of them were going to tell him that they were traveling to the Lonely Mountain.

“We’re going to visit relatives in Dunland when we lost one of our group,” Balin said stepping forward, the young ones would only make things worse and Thorin wasn’t going to be much help after losing Thalia; they didn’t need the king getting himself killed.

There was no way that Fíli was ready to become king and the quest would fall apart if he did anything stupid; he also knew that Thalia wouldn’t want them to allow anything to happen to Thorin.

“If you will not tell me the truth… then I will make you squeal it,” the Goblin king cried not believing Balin for a second, the dwarves were hiding something and he was determined to find out what that was.

Balin glanced behind him at the others, they didn’t know what the Goblin king had planned but they all knew that it couldn’t be pleasant.

“Bring up the mangler. Bring me the bone-crusher. We will start with the youngest,” the Goblin king screeched his eyes flickering over the group expecting something to happen; he would get his answers one way or another.

***

“Thalia Graceful Hunter,” Gandalf said hurrying along the path, his blue eyes lit up as he spotted Thalia, he had feared something had happened to her when he hadn’t been able to sense her.

Gandalf looked at Cornelia curiously pulling her sword from his holder and pointed it at him, he didn’t know who she was and was surprised to find that Thalia wasn’t with the company any longer.

“He’s a friend,” Thalia said carefully eyeing the black blade, there was something about it that unsettled her and she had a feeling that it had been forged in the underworld; it was unlike any sword that Thalia had seen so far.

“I am Gandalf the Grey,” the wizard said continuing to watch Cornelia, his blue eyes curious about what had transpired while he had been in a meeting with the white council.

Cornelia eyed the wizard, she didn’t trust him for a moment and she could tell that Thalia didn’t either; she huffed as she put her sword away.

“Cornelia Ashton, Daughter of Hades,” the woman said nodding at Gandalf, she had a feeling that she wasn’t the only one that didn’t trust him; Thalia didn’t seem too pleased to see the wizard.

Gandalf frowned trying to recall what Edward had told him about the Greek Gods, he had been surprised to learn that Thalia was the daughter of one of the Big Three; however he hadn’t been expecting to meet another one.

From what Edward had told them, it was a rare thing and yet here two stood before them with very different fathers.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Cornelia,” Gandalf said, he had a feeling that there was something that he was missing; there had to be a reason that not one but two children of the Big Three were in Middle Earth.