Dwarven Denouement

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Bilbo was revolted at the sight of dead and decaying animal carcasses. He just hoped they didn't find their friends like that. Neana was exceptionally quick in finding them, Bilbo knew she was a great tracker but this was strange.

She came to a stop. Bilbo looked up and saw a giant black spider crawling over them, joined by at least 7 more. "Wow, Fili is going to love this.", Neana said in a sarcastic tone. Bilbo furrowed his brow,"What do you mean." She chuckled,"I shouldn't be teasing him about this right now, but he's deathly afraid of spiders. No pun intended."

"Can you see them anywhere?", Bilbo asked glancing around. Neana pointed in an upward direction. He looked and saw 13 white bundles wrapped in spiderwebs suspended by more spider webs.

A spider was creeping towards the largest of the bundle, who both assumed was Bombur. One of its 8 legs poked the bundle and it began wiggling. Bilbo could hear a muffled scream. That scream woke up everyone else and they also took to squirming. More spiders came forwards.

"Come on, come on.", Neana whispered and she started looking around the ground. Bilbo was confused as to what she was doing. She grabbed a rock that was near his feet. He thought she was about to pull an Ori and hit the spiders with a rock, which he knew would only make matters worse. Instead she threw the rock below the spiders and it landed a ways off making a loud crack sound. The spiders were quickly distracted and followed the sound of the noise."Hurry, that'll only keep them occupied for 10 minutes." Bilbo was curious how she knew that, but didn't ask.

Neana climbed up the spiderwebs with ease and took out one of her throwing knives and one by one cut the company free. Bilbo tried his very best to catch them all, but he missed a few and those few sounded quite cross. Neana jumped down and began cutting them out. Same with Bilbo.

Neana cut out Bifur, Ori, Nori, Oin and Dwalin, who all gave her either a pat on the shoulder or a curt nod as a thank you. Bilbo cut out Kili, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Gloin, Balin and Thorin, who did the same. Neana stood back and counted. There were 12 dwarves, not 13. Neana shuffled through the webs and shortly found the last bundle.

She cut it open to reveal a squeamish Fili. She smiled,"How you doing Fili?" Fili glared at her making her all the more amused. She helped him up and brushed all the cobwebs off of his face. He pushed her hands away and hugged her. She was a little surprised but hugged him back. "Good morning.", he said leaning back. She smiled,"Good morning."

Their reunion was short lived. The spiders had come back and were screeching and crawling towards the company at rapid speed. The dwarves took no time to take up arms and begin the fight. That is, except Fili. He found his sword laying on the ground by his right foot. Covered in spider webs. He really wanted to run and help his friends, but he couldn't bring himself to touch his sword in the state it was in. Neana saw him as she killed a spider. She ran to him quickly. She picked up his sword, cleaned all the webs off and handed it to him. Before he could thank her she was already back to sleighing spiders.

They had killed about 5 spiders per dwarf, and more were coming. The company was in a tight circle, back to back. "Thorin we can't kill all of them, there's to many!", Neana shouted. Thorin didn't reply. A spider started running towards Dwalin but an arrow between its 4 eyes stopped it in its tracks. Dwalin turned to Kili, but Kili shrugged, he didn't shoot the arrow.

Many arrows were shot and all met their mark. Elves in green started coming through the foliage, scaring the rest of the spiders away. The dwarves were happy at first, then the bows turned to them. A blonde haired elf with his bow aimed at Thorin said smugly,"Do not think I won't kill you dwarf. It would be my pleasure."

His smugness faded when his eyes met Neana's. " You." Neana sent him a sarcastic smile and waved,"Hey! How's the arm doing?" The elf subconsciously rubbed his forearm,"Take their weapons, we must bring them to my father.", he ordered the elves. They all stepped forward and did as they were told. Blonide held up a necklace he took from Gloin,"Who's this, your brother?" Glowing was astounded,"That's my wife!" Blondie turn it,"What is this? A goblin mutant?" Gloin was now deeply offended,"That's me wee lad Gimli!" Neana had to stifle a giggle. They took all 20 of Neana's throwing knives. The blonde elf looked curious as he lifted up the chain,"You know how to use this?" Neana nodded. The elf had to admit, he was impressed.

Once they were stripped of their weapons the elves led them somewhere east. They came up to gates and Blondie shouted something elvish and someone inside opened the gates. The company was led throughout the entrance and they came up to an opened up room. There sat the great elven king Thranduil.

He barely gave them a glance until he saw Thorin and Neana. "Send the others to their cells, I must speak to the King under the Mountain." Blondie raised Neana's arm,"What about her?" Thranduil simply answered,"Don't kill her. Simply punish how you see fit." And with that he waved his hand and dismissed the elves, leaving Thorin alone to talk with him.

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The elves rather forcefully took anything else the dwarves had on them, including their armor. An elf was pushing Neana towards a cell when Blondie stopped him. "Hand her to me. She has yet to be punished." She groaned as she was handed over. She saw that Fili was holding the bars and was looking at her with wide eyes. She smiled,"I'm fine Fili." He sat back a little hearing that.

Then came Thorin being roughly pushed down the steps. He was thrown into a cell and the gate was shut loudly. Blondie smiled,"Now that everyone's in their place, lets begin." A tall male elf stepped forward and gave Neana a good jab in the stomach. Blondie threw her down and let the male do his job. He kicked Neana in the ribs, she groaned with pain. The blonde elf signaled for him to stop. The male picked up Neana and made her face Blondie. Blondie grabbed one of her arms by the wrist and pushed the tunic sleeve up. He then turned her hand palm down and cut her from knuckle to elbow. Neana didn't even flinch, she smiled,"Aw, Blondie now we are twins! You are so sweet." The elf ignored her and pushed her into the cell between Thorin and Fili, then walked back up the steps.

Fili reached his hand through the bars, across the stone wall into Neana's cell,"Are you okay?" He felt her hand touch his,"Yes I'm fine, he didn't cut deep." Fili sighed with relief.

"Did he offer you a deal?", Balin asked Thorin, referring to Thranduil. Thorin nodded. "What did you say?" Thorin said something in Khuzdul. Balin shook his head and sat down. "Selfish elves, they do not know of hardships and loss. They sit in their extravagant dresses and plentiful food and watch the weak and starving suffer.", Thorin said gruffly.

"Just for the fact they are elves does not mean that they have not suffered loss.", Neana replied. His statement made her quiet cross. He scoffed,"You have room to talk. You've been living the cushy life on a farm with you uncle. Eating plenty and have clean clothes and care. You don't know suffering!" This pushed her over the edge,"Damn it Thorin I wasn't at my uncles farm! I don't even have an uncle!", she shouted in his direction. Fili was confused,"Then where were you?" She heard Thorin shuffle in his cell,"Indeed, where?"

Neana let go of the bars. Everyone who was across from her was looking at her expectantly, especially Kili. She took a deep breath, and told them the truth.