Fili

7: Gobblins

The company finds shelter in a cave. You sit in Fili's lap, playing with his hair. At the same time, Fili plays with your hair. He picks up a long piece of curly hair from the side of your head and lightly tugs on it then releases it, causing the curl to spring back upwards. Fili seeming quite amused, does it again, his eyes following your hair as it bounces up and down. You start to laugh. He laughs quietly, shaking his head as you burst into a fit of giggles. Thorin looks over at you. First, with disapproval, but then, you think you see a hint of a smile forming at the corners of his lips. Maybe he isn't as bitter as you thought.

You begin to feel tired so you bury your face against Fili's chest, hugging him tightly. He traces lines on your back, gently holding you. You fall asleep to the sound of Fili's heartbeat. After a few minutes, Fili's heartbeat quickens and you are suddenly awakened. Something deep underground causes the earth to shake. You bolt upright, eyes locking with Fili's. You share a look of worry as the ground underneath you shakes again.

You stand up. Suddenly, the rock beneath your feet cracks open, sending you and the rest of the company plummeting downward.

You and the Company land in a wooden contraption. It seems you have fallen into Goblin Town. Everywhere you look, there are filthy goblins scurrying from within tunnels and scrambling across wooden pathways.

You swiftly raise your axe to a goblin's throat as it clambers towards you, glaring at it with an intense hatred. The look in your eyes displays a warning, that you'll kill it if it touches you.
Without warning, the goblin latches onto your leg with it's claw-like fingernails. You grit your teeth and take a swing at the creature with your weapon, but before the blade hits it's mark, your axe is ripped from your hands by another goblin. It snarls at you, and you snarl back. Before you get a chance to pull out your daggers, a flood of goblins surrounds you and carries you away.

"Fili!" You cry out, but Fili is right beside you, also being dragged along by a large number of filthy goblins.

"Get your hands off of him!" You struggle to free yourself from their grasp, lunging toward Fili before being yanked away from him and back in line.

"Don't worry about me, (Y/N)!" Fili's eyes have a calming effect on you as your frantically searching eyes meet with his.

You try to take your mind off of the filth that surrounds you, but can't. There are goblins everywhere. They clamber across the flimsy wooden bridges that run throughout the inside of the mountain. Some crawl out of cracks in the rock. They make these awful croaking sounds that are loud and unpleasant, enough to give you a headache.

As you are carried closer to the centre of Goblin Town, the number of these foul creatures increases. A large platform with some sort of throne comes into view. The Goblin King sits before you, slimy and greasy with thin strings of hair hanging from his unusually large head.

Disgusting! you think to yourself, using all the willpower in your body not to gag.

You turn your head away, not wanting to watch as he begins to dance and sing some awful song about Goblin Town.

While looking away, you make eye contact with Fili. You glance at him with worry in your eyes, but one look from him gives you reassurance that everything will be okay.

You hear the Goblin King mention The Pale Orc and turn around.
He was killed a long time ago in the battle of Azanulbizar by Dáin II Ironfoot. There's no way he's alive. You think to yourself.

Thorin looks furious.

The Goblin King laughs as he tells a nearby goblin scribe to send word to The Pale Orc.

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them all!"
The Great Goblin cackles.

The goblins attack. There are too many of them to fight off. You struggle to free yourself.

All of a sudden, Gandalf appears from the shadows and taps his staff on the ground, creating a blast that knocks everyone to the ground.

"Take up arms. Fight. Fight!" He orders.

You jump to your feet, trampling a goblin as you snatch your axe from his gnarled fingers.

The company follows Gandalf as he runs across the goblin bridges.

"(Y/N) watch out!" Fili whips one of the axes from his boot and sends it into the body of a goblin hanging from the bridge above you. You retrieve his axe. You are about to hand it back to Fili when you spot movement behind him.
Your eyes widen and you instinctively throw the axe. It hits its mark pinning the goblin's neck to the mountain wall behind. Fili plucks the axe from the goblin's neck and returns it to his boot.

As the two of you run to catch up with the others, you see goblins pouring out from cracks in the walls. They're everywhere. Just ahead of you, Kili uses a ladder to block incoming arrows. You, and a few other dwarves come to his aid, helping to push the ladder into the swarm of goblins on he bridge in front of you. All of them fall, making a clear path so you can run to the exit.

Just when you think it's over, the Goblin King bursts through the wooden platforms.

"You thought you could escape me?" He laughs, "What are you going to do now wizard?"

With one slash of his sword, Gandalf strikes the Great Goblin in the belly, causing him to fall.

"That'll do it."

Fili grasps your hand as the platform you stand on breaks in two. The company falls. You all land in a pile on the ground. Since you land on the top of the pile you quickly stand up and brush yourself off.

"Well that could have been worse." Bofur tries to be optimistic.

He spoke too soon. All of a sudden, the Goblin King crashes on top of the pile of dwarves.

After everyone is on their feet, Gandalf leads the way to the door. Finally, you're out of the mountain.