The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey Edition (IN EDITING)

13. Blood Hallucinations

Bones will be shattered

Necks will be wrung

You’ll be eaten and battered

From racks you’ll be hung

You will lie down here

And never be found

Down in the deep of Goblin-town

The giant goblin king with his hideous appearance, fat lumps and his hanging chin wouldn’t bother thinking twice about that he wanted to see the company in front of him dead. The dwarves and Aria had suspected it though – that he would’ve killed them whether they told the king why their presence there was foretold in prophecy.

Over the narrow bridges that only seemed like spider webs in the enormous cave, came rolling over machines designed to torture to the bones. They moved slowly with more goblins at their sides, pushing and pulling the machines forward, getting it ready to do their job. Smaller goblins underneath the planks made up of the machine were carrying it over the bridge floor. The machines contained sharp spikes of iron sitting closely to each other on a square wooden board that stood upright and a few ropes tied to the sides of the wooden square. Spikes never looked good to them and the dwarves could already feel the cold, itchy, piercing feeling when those spikes would forcingly press themselves under their skin and make them bleed like a stuck pig. Aria could not help but hold Fili even closer to her and the blonde dwarf gulped carefully in fear, although he tried to hide it. As did the rest of the company who twirled and paced nervously around whilst the goblins surrounding them pulled and tugged on their clothing once again as if new weapons would magically appear inside their clothing or any such thing. They goblins were confused and they wanted to know.

The giant goblin’s singing was terrible, but it brought up new fear in the company – dug it up from within them. A feeling they didn’t want to experience any more than needed, but now they felt it – fear. The dwarves fought and they pulled and kicked and tugged, but the goblins were too many, too close together and too powerful. The company felt their time running out, like the sand running out the hour-glass. They felt their journey, their goal of taking back the dwarves’ homeland come to an end and the dwarves felt the heaviness of sorrow sitting like a stone in their chests because they knew that they would never walk the halls of Erebor again. They would never see their kin get back onto their feet. Thorin turned to Aria, Aria turned to him. They were the furthest apart now than they had ever been before and it broke them. The Elf didn’t even care about the goblins returning their interest back at her legs again; their cold, filthy, uneven fingers stinging on her skin, Fili being strangled to the ground, whilst his brother fought the snares, whips and knives due to the fact that he was up first.

There were goblins everywhere, wherever the company turned there were goblins, throwing their filthy eyes their way and their high pitched shrieks echoing all over in tries of cheer.

Kili was brought to the front with knives pressed against his back, but right before the goblins were able to torture every part of him, a terrible scream was heard and a blade was thrown towards the wooden floor with a loud clinging sound, and suddenly every gobbling in the cave flinched backwards with terrifying looks plastered onto their foul faces. Everything was so terribly confusing and at one moment, the company had no idea what was going on. The goblins dropped Kili, leaving marks against his back behind – deep enough to bleed. He fell to the ground, equally confused to what was going on too though.

The big pile of weapons and armoury and tools that had been stocked in front of them, one of the blades had left its shell, causing the horror among the goblins. Now Orcrist – Thorin’s newly found blade – was lying on the wood with its shell tossed next to it, so unwanted it was now, but it got its wish, creating this powerful feeling in such a fearless race.

The blade was now visible for everyone to see – for everyone to recognize and the blade was unwanted.  The blade’s shiny surface blazed so bright in the fire-light from the torches all around the cave. The company did still not understand, cocking their heads to the side to the goblin’s reactions. The giant goblin turned silent and no more singing was heard from him as a horrified yell escaped his mouth. He recoiled back as far as he could until he stumbled over his chair. His big feet crushed the minor goblins that had been piled up in front of his chair, all alive and ready for their fate. The small hill of goblins turned smaller and decreased in size once the giant goblin put his feet down upon them and climbed further up on his chair as far as he possible could. As far away from the blade as he could.

“I know that sword!” the giant goblin pointed in fear, his voice no longer bold and determined, but surprisingly small and pitiful, “It is the Goblin-cleaver! The Biter! The blade that sliced 1000 necks!” the giant goblin kept yelling out, his voice so filled with horror and fear, it reflected off to anger and hatred as he now turned his gaze towards Thorin. The goblin’s filthy finger directed towards the dwarf and the goblins obeyed and the giant’s every command. They knew already that the blade belonged to him and with thick whips in their hands they whipped Thorin with all their force from all directions, trying to force him down on the ground with no chance of Thorin being able to defend himself. The hard whipping hits opened wounds and made him bleed, but that didn’t stop the goblins – they hit more and they didn’t seize themselves, despite the shrieks and yelling from Aria. She was screaming so loudly she felt how her throat was becoming sore and her voice husky, with her back crooked forwards and her face frowned to be heard at all – to drown every other sound but it was like screaming in a crowded room without getting attention from anybody. The rest of the dwarves that was held back by a swarm of goblins could either nothing do to help Thorin. Aria kept screaming, the screams full of sorrow, agony and anger; tears started to flush down her cheeks like waterfalls because the goblins didn’t seize their whipping. Although Thorin covered himself with his arms and hands, Aria watched him get hit bloody and his clothing had almost been whipped open.

All around the cave there were sounds, voices echoing against the cave walls, goblins cheering from all directions and the giant goblin stood in front of his chair with an amused expression on his face. He liked the pain, he liked the sound of others sorrow – he liked the blood. His foul face turned into a grin as he supported his weight on his staff.

“Don’t hurt him!” Aria cried at the very top of her lungs whilst she witnessed one of the goblins charge against Thorin, attacking him in one jump to make him fall onto his back. He was weak and blood was pouring but yet he was fighting with all he had. Aria’s voice was now husky and it hurt her to scream – it was to no use because no one listened, no one looked up. She witnessed Thorin’s bloody whipped face behind the goblin’s legs, him now lying flat on the wooden floor, defenceless, with a goblin hovering over him in an attempt of trying to make Thorin lay still. His lips pronounced Aria’s name but she couldn’t hear him. Aria fought the goblins surrounding her but in vain. She wouldn’t get past them.

“Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!” the goblin king’s demanded cries were the loudest in the cave as he pointed over the company, his face one big displeased expression. And with a ground-shattering stomp into the wooden floor, the king pointed once again towards Thorin on the ground that were now surrounded by loads of goblins wanting to see him dead. “Cut off his head!” the goblin king demanded. With a sharp knife pointed against Thorin’s whipped neck, blood running down to stick to his hair, and two goblins holding down his fighting arms, it all seemed to be over. It was done and Thorin would be gone in a second. Aria screaming his name wouldn’t help but yet she tried – she tried to prevent it somehow, though she couldn’t reach him.

Thorin stared deeply into the goblin’s eyes that were hovering over him with the knife, ready to cut the dwarf’s head off in one swing, and that was when everything turned black as if all the light had been stolen from their world in one sigh. The surroundings were foggy and the main thing that Thorin saw in front of him was Aria’s smile, her head lying heavily on his arm and her body swept into some soft bed sheets of down and fur – she was happy, she was safe.