The Waterdancer

Chapter 13

Whispers. It was the sound of whispers that woke me from my light sleep. I looked up to see the Hobbit with his bag strapped to his back, talking with Bofur.

"You can't turn back now, you're part of the company! You're one of us!" Bofur insisted.

The Hobbit scoffed. "I'm not though, am I? Thorin said I never should have come, and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins, I don't know what I was thinking. I never should have run out my door."

"You're homesick, I understand." "No, you don't understand! None of you do- you're Dwarves! Not even Nemirien would understand, you're all used to-to this life, living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere!" he whisper-yelled.

Bofur took a step back and looked down. What the Hobbit said was the truth. We didn't belong anywhere. That was the whole reason why we were taking on this quest in the first place. The place where we belonged was stolen from us, but no longer. I refused to let my people wander the world any longer. We were taking our home back, and we would once again belong.

"I wish you all the luck in the world." Bofur smiled. "I really do."

The Hobbit slightly smiled back. "Will you tell Nemirien that I'm sorry for me?" he asked.

"Alright, but I really don't think she's angry with you, lad." Bofur lightly told him.

The Hobbit sighed. "I nearly caused her to fall down the mountain." he said guiltily.

"Bilbo, you are her friend, and she's made that quite obvious. She did what she did because she didn't want to see her friend be killed." Bofur reasoned.

The Hobbit smiled. "Please tell her, that I greatly value her friendship. It has meant more to me than she will ever know, and I hope that we will meet again one day."

Bofur nodded at the Hobbit's touching words. "I'll tell her. I promise." The Hobbit smiled and turned around. Then I saw Bofur narrow his eyes. "Er...Bilbo, what's that?" he asked.

The Hobbit turned around to see his little sword was glowing blue. My eyes widened. I knew what that meant. I checked my surroundings to see the sand disappearing into the ground. "Wake up! WAKE UP!" I shouted. It was too late. The ground vanished beneath me, and we all fell through a trapdoor.

We were deep underground by the time we landed. We were all piled on top of each other when they came for us. Goblins. We were all screaming in protest as they grabbed and dragged us down their pathways. I was looking all around me to make sure everyone was still here. I couldn't see anyone missing. I could see the frightened faces of my nephews, while Dwalin was resisting the touch of every finger that came into contact with his skin. I could feel my nerves building up inside me, but I showed no fear. I had no idea how we were supposed to get out of this.

Before we knew it, we were all put before the throne of the Goblin king. If the average Goblins were ugly to look at, the king was an absolute insult to anything that breathed. He was much larger, fatter, and had warts on his warts. He looked over all of us and narrowed his eyes.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" he asked.

"Dwarves, Your Malevolence." a minion answered.

"Dwarves?"

"We found them on the front porch!" another minion proudly answered.

"Well don't just stand there, search them! Every crack! Every crevice!" he shouted. The Goblins began digging their hands in every visible pocket. We were stripped of our weapons, and we were defenseless.