Queen Under the Mountain - Thorin Oakenshield

~Five~

~An Old Enemy~

Blast!

She and Gandalf managed to catch up to the others. When they reached them, they found that the rest of the company had been taken prisoner below ground in the Goblin Kingdom. Gandalf finally used some magic, right in front of her, but she couldn't even appreciate it, that was how angry she was.

"Fight! Take up arms and fight!" Gandalf led the way charging through the bridges and tunnels of the Goblin Kingdom.

The chase ended with them sliding down a tunnel on a broken platform, crashing to the ground below.

"Well that could have been worse," remarked Bofur. 

SMASH!

As if on cue, the body of the Goblin King, who had been slain by Gandalf, landed on top of them.

"Oh you've got to be joking!" roared Dwalin.

"Gandalf!" shrieked Kili, seeing more goblins heading their way.

"There is only one thing that will save us now: daylight!" Gandalf continued to lead the way until they were safely out of the caves and into the forest - they were lucky, as the sun had just begun to set, providing enough daylight cover in order for them to escape the goblins.

Finally, Dahlia had a moment to face Thorin.

He seemed to know what was coming. "Dahlia-"

She responded by cutting him off, delivering a punch across his face. "Abandon me again, and I'll see to it that you never reach the mountain."

"We told you she'd be angry," said Fili.

"Oh, I am beyond angry. If you were going to pull a stunt like that, you should have left me to the Orcs."

"Dahlia, please don't-" He reached out to her but she smacked his hand away, hard.

"And then when I find you, you're being attacked by Goblins!" She gestured back to the path behind them that they had just fled down.

"We're running out of time - we have to reach the mountain by Durin's day.  Only by the last light will the doorway be revealed," he explained. 

"How did we miss that?" she spluttered.

"It was written in Moon Runes, Lord Elrond was able to read them," Gandalf explained. "You missed some things during your recovery at Rivendell, My Lady."

"And it would seem some of us want to keep it that way," she said, staring coldly at her prince.

"You needed to rest and recover, and we needed to keep going," he insisted. 

"Well I'm rested, I'm recovered, and I'm here. And I don't know about you, but I plan on keeping it that way for the remainder of our journey."

"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten..." Gandalf was counting the company. "That's twelve, and that's fourteen. Now where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit?"

Everyone looked around, but there was no sign of Bilbo anywhere.

"Curse that Halfling!" cried Dwalin. "Now he's lost?!"

"I think I saw him slip away when they first found us," piped-up Nori.

"Tell me what happened," Gandalf demanded.

"I'll tell you what happened: Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it," Thorin stated sourly. "He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone."